Miami-Dade

Geopolitics

County officials seek new method for giving away vans

By Erik Bojnansky

The county’s method of donating coveted passenger vans to community organizations should be more “equitable,” four Miami-Dade County commissioners agreed in a budget and finance committee meeting Tuesday. 

But they don’t think a lottery is the way to go.

“One district could get too lucky,” Commissioner Rebeca Sosa said.

Surplus property is currently distributed to certified community-based organizations on a first-come, first-served basis at the request of county commissioners. “Requests for sedans, pickup trucks and cargo vans can typically be accommodated in a relatively short time span,” County Manager George Burgess wrote in a May 13 memo to commissioners.

That isn’t the case for passenger vans, few of which are retired each year. But that hasn’t stopped the high demand for them, which has resulted in “a disparate distribution of passenger vans by district and a waiting list that is estimated to take 3 to 5 years to exhaust,” Burgess wrote.

Since 2001, 46 surplus passenger vans — each valued between $2,000 and $3,500 — have been donated. Another 36 requests for passenger vans are still pending.

Some county commission districts have received more vans than others.

Organizations (many of them churches and religious groups) in District 11, which covers parts of Kendall and other unincorporated parts of west Miami-Dade, have received the most — 12 vans so far, with another three requests pending.

Since 2000, District 11 has been represented by retired Miami-Dade Police Lt. Joe Martinez. A member of the finance and budget committee, Martinez was absent from Tuesday’s meeting due to an illness.

Next in line is District 3, which encompasses El Portal, Little Haiti, the Upper Eastside and parts of Overtown and Liberty City. Churches and community groups there have received nine vans since 2001; requests for another nine are still pending. District 3 has been represented by Audrey Edmonson, the former mayor of El Portal, since 2006, and, before that, Barbara Carey-Shuler.

Still, groups in District 4, represented by Commissioner Sally Heyman and covering Northeast Miami-Dade, received no vans, although requests for three vans are pending. Community organizations in District 12, which includes Sweetwater and is represented by Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz, also have yet to receive any vans, despite two pending requests.

Wendi Norris, director of the General Services Administration, suggested scrapping the waiting list and “establishing a new process that would offer available passenger vans first to those districts that have not donated any passenger vans in the past or those that have only [received] one.” A lottery would determine which districts receive which vans.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” said Sosa, whose district has received three vans and asked for another two. “The lottery to me is a big no-no.”

After trading “powerball” lottery jokes with Norris, Commissioner Carlos Gimenez also shot down the lottery idea as “too complicated.” His District 7, which includes Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, has received three vans and asked for another five.

“I’m open to suggestions,” Norris said.

Just give first priority to districts that have received the fewest vans, and then “go to the next one and the next one,” Sosa replied.

Commissioner Javier Souto, whose District 10 covering Kendall and Westchester has only received one van, was more concerned about who is receiving the free vans. He asked Norris if the administration did any research on the groups requesting the vans or their needs for the vehicles.

The county attorney’s office checks to see if the groups are certified 501-C3 nonprofits, she replied. As for determining a group’s true need for a van, that’s up to the county commissioner who requests the vehicle, Norris said.

“Oh, you shouldn’t rely on that,” Souto said, adding that the office of the inspector general should conduct background checks on the groups before handing them vehicles.

“It is not that I don’t trust my fellow commissioners,” Souto said. “It is just that I have seen a lot of things in my lifetime.”

The budget and finance committee decided to pass the item on to the full county commission without any recommendation.

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