Coral Gables

Judge and Jury

Referendum asks voters to give city manager power to fire employees

By Claudio Mendonça

Mayor Don Slesnick is working with City Manager David Brown to eliminate the 82-year-old special trial board.

Residents of Coral Gables will decide Jan. 29 whether city employees accused of wrongdoing can be dismissed without going before a trial board.

The vote on the special referendum, which would eliminate the 82-year-old special trial board from the city code, will take place the same day as the presidential primaries.

The proposed referendum follows a bribery and “phantom-worker” scandal that occurred during the tenure of former Building and Zoning Director Margaret Pass. The director and other department workers have been accused of possible theft and corruption in addition to other ethics violations. Pass, who was paid $128,000 a year, has been on administrative leave for nearly one year while under investigation by the  state attorney, the Miami-Dade Police Department's public corruption unit and the county's ethics commission. Pass was Coral Gables’ director of building and zoning since 1988.

“I am in favor of the end of the trial board for department heads who fail to meet standards,” Coral Gables Mayor Don Slesnick said Tuesday.

Slesnick said the trial board is outdated and burdens the city with costly fees and long legal disputes. In its place, the mayor recommends implementing a more modern system to resolve labor disputes within the administration.

“The removal of employees should be done through a private and independent arbitration system using entities such as the American Arbitration Association,” he said. “Once an employee appeals, then an arbitrator is chosen. It’s quicker, more modern and less sloppy. Political beards are not good for either side.”

Commissioner Maria Anderson agrees.

“The trial board is an antiquated mechanism which hasn’t been used in 18 years,” she said. “We are looking at a more modern and efficient system that would not take away rights of employees.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Coral Gables resident and human rights activist Roxcy Bolton favored keeping the trial board.

For Bolton, the board’s demise would allow officials to fire employees at their own discretion without a fair legal process.

Bolton cited as an example former City Code Enforcement Supervisor Millicent Bain, who, in her view, was unfairly dismissed by City Manager David Brown.

Brown responded that Bain had not been laid off, claiming instead that she retired after serving Coral Gables for nearly 25 years.

The trial board has been around since Coral Gables was incorporated as a city in 1925 by founders who sought to protect public employees.

“They can’t put it all in David Brown’s hands,” Bolton said. “We need a diverse jury system.”

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The UM Bridge

Proposed pedestrian overpass will connect college to Metrorail station

By Claudio Mendonça

Computer-generated images of a pedestrian overpass that will span U.S. 1 and Mariposa Court

University of Miami students, faculty and other employees will welcome a 19-foot-high, 105-foot-long pedestrian overpass spanning U.S. 1 at the intersection with Mariposa Court at Metrorail’s University Station.

Designed in a Mediterranean architectural style, construction is expected to begin in fall 2009 and should take one year. The bridge will be positioned slightly below the train platform.

“We have always wanted to implement an overpass at all Metrorail stations. But in 2005, there was a car accident involving a UM student, which rushed the need to construct this overpass,” said Miami-Dade Transit Public Information Coordinator Michelle Simmons.

Projected to cost $15.5 million, the structure will be funded by the county’s sales tax. The project will open for bids in spring 2008. The bridge could be made of metal or concrete, but officials are still analyzing what materials to use.

“Right now we’re seeking a resolution from the board of commissioners,” Miami-Dade Transit Project Supervisor Isabel Padron said at a Coral Gables City Commission meeting Tuesday. “In July, we met with Coral Gables officials, received input from the board of architects’ review panel and held our first public meeting.”

Padron and her staff met with Coral Gables City Manager David Brown and developed an action plan that included architecture matching the Mediterranean Revival style of other City Beautiful buildings.

Padron said 70 percent of the people who attended public meetings and expressed their views preferred that the overpass be designed in a more contemporary style.

During construction, traffic on U.S. 1 will be interrupted for one night, from midnight until 7 a.m. Motorists may have to detour on and around Ponce de Leon Boulevard.

“Traffic won’t be interrupted when towers and elevators are installed,” said Simmons. “However, we will have to interrupt traffic one night to place the bridge.”

The overpass project will include elevators for handicapped users. Shuttle buses to transport people in wheelchairs also will be available in the event elevators are not functioning. Due to insufficient space, a ramp is not being considered.

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Bay Harbor Islands

Reforms Unneeded

Committee rejects term limits, ethics legislation

By Erik Bojnansky

The Bay Harbor Islands Charter Review Committee recommended not enacting term limits for elected town officials on Monday.

The charter review committee also declined to pay salaries for town council members, enact additional ethics legislation or change the town’s committee system.

Advocates of such changes to the town’s charter believe the local government is ruled by a clique.

“I think it’s important we update our code of ethics,” said Kathleen Kennedy, a local promoter. Kennedy, who volunteered on a committee that planned the recent 60th anniversary of Bay Harbor Islands, said she has not been able to serve on another committee since.

Members of the seven-member Bay Harbor Islands Town Council are elected to four-year terms with no limits on how many times they can run for re-election. An election is held once a year, in which as many as two seats are up at a time. Under the current election system, the candidates who receive the most votes win the seats. Those council members can either serve on standing committees themselves or appoint someone. Three of the members of the charter review committee are council members, for example, and all of the members of the influential planning and zoning board are council members.

On the issue of term limits, charter review committee member Denis Neuhut made what he called a “compromise proposal” — three consecutive four-year terms, or 12 years.

A few members of the audience felt 12 years was too long. “Twelve years, you have kids becoming teenagers and that is when they start to get wild,” said resident Aurora Contreres.

Committee member Jed Frankel said term limits are the only way to break the “political machine” that keeps council members in power. “By having term limits you will enable other people to get in,” he said.

But many committee members opposed the idea of term limits. After observing that everyone on the committee was either elected for office, ran for re-election or ran for office and lost, committee Chair Jordan Leonard feared that enacting charter limits would unfairly prevent residents from re-electing a popular official. “The reality is the public gets to say who can stay and who can go,” Leonard said.

Councilman Isaac Salver, another charter review board member, said voters set term limits at the ballot box. He also feared there were few qualified individuals willing to serve on the Town Council. Turning to Councilman Robert Yaffe, who has served for 13 years, Salver, a nine-year council veteran, said “few people” can understand and “give valuable input on an issue like Bobby.”

Just then activist Teri D’Amico and Frances Neuhut, wife of Denis Neuhut, ran out of the chambers, laughing.

“That was literally the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard,” said D’Amico, interpreting Salver’s statements to mean that no one else could run the town government. She added that the council was supposed to have addressed term limits a year and a half ago but didn’t, allowing Salver and Yaffe to run for re-election.

In the end, the council voted 3-2 against recommending term limits. Voting against term limits were Leonard, Salver and council member Alberto Ruder. Voting for term limts: Neuhut and Frankel. Council member Robert Yaffe said he was inclined to vote in favor of term limits but left just before the vote.

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Miami

Wait Just a Minute!

Board defers funding request for park projects

By Youseline Aldajuste

The city of Miami’s Homeland Defense/Neighborhood Improvement Bond Oversight Board deferred additional funding for two park improvement projects at Tuesday night’s meeting.

The Henderson Park improvement project, which was first projected to cost the city $882,600, now will cost an additional $627,531, city administrators said. The Department of Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) is requesting approval for the additional funds because the project’s requirements have changed.

“Our clients [the city] are asking for the additional funding because the scope of the project requires a covered 2,400-square-foot pavilion, a new stage and new offices,” said Marcel Dougé, senior CIP project manager.

The board had previously approved funding for Henderson Park that included new restrooms, storage, a new 875-square-foot stage, an eight-foot-high fence and a 770-square-foot ramp-covered stage, but it deferred the request for additional funding because Dougé failed to provide adequate validation for the change in the project’s scope.

“It is not our responsibility to question our clients’ requests,” Dougé said. “We can only bring their changes and requests in front of this board for approval.”

In addition to the shortfall in the project’s budget, the board also found the estimated eight-month timetable unrealistic to complete design work for Henderson Park. The expected design phase, which starts late next month, will cost approximately $113,000 (included in the additional funding request).

Although the board suggested that CIP shorten the time frame for the design phase, Dougé argued that the projected time involves much more than design work.

“That time includes obtaining permits, which could take at least six to eight weeks surveying and negotiating,” said Dougé.

Based on the board’s decision to defer the request for additional funding for Henderson Park, the CIP did not submit its Robert King Park project for approval. The department is seeking an additional $429,847 to complete the $3.6 million project.

While the board postponed approval of the two main park projects at Tuesday’s meeting, it gave the green light to the Bicentennial Park Shoreline Stabilization-Phase III project. Its scope consists of labor and materials to rebuild the deteriorated seawall.

To assure board approval next month, the department agreed to develop a process with clear and adequate justification for changes or funding increase requests. The department also presented the board with a new and improved “project overview form” to ensure a clearer and more accurate summary of future projects.

Funding approval for the deferred items and many others will be discussed during the Homeland Defense/Neighborhood Improvement Bond Oversight Board Meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 27 at Miami City Hall Commission Chambers, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami.

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Aventura

Red Light District

City OKs traffic cameras

By Randy Abraham

In a few months, cameras will go up at Aventura’s busiest intersections in an effort to catch motorists who run red lights.

The Aventura City Commission gave its final approval for the ordinance Oct. 18.

Once in place, the cameras will photograph traffic at city crossroads. If the footage captures motorists running red lights, they will be sent a notice in the mail, said City Manager Eric Soroka.

Soroka has issued a request for proposals, open to potential vendors until the end of the month, he said.

Red-light runners would be issued a code enforcement violation, not a traffic violation, Soroka said, since state statutes do not authorize the issuance of a traffic violation by an unmanned camera. A bill introduced in the Legislature this year for that purpose failed in committee, but its sponsors might reintroduce it next year, Soroka said.

The city also plans to create a traffic impact fee designed to mitigate the effect of new developments on roads. The proceeds of the fund will be used to expand the city’s free shuttle bus service. The service, which picks up city residents and drives them to local restaurants, doctors’ offices and other locations within the city, was started several years ago and has grown steadily ever since.

In other business, Aventura officials discussed amending an agreement reached last April with Clear Channel Outdoor, the owner of a billboard on the southwest corner of Ives Dairy Road and Biscayne Boulevard, which granted the city $150,000 in annual revenue from advertising on the entire west-facing side. A previous agreement permitted advertising on half of the billboard's westward face, with a message welcoming motorists to the city on the other half.

However, because of the slow economy, Clear Channel has been unable to sell the advertising space, Soroka said. “They want to have the leeway to allow the billboard to advertise casinos,” said Soroka, who said he understood that area gaming establishments, including the Seminole Hard Rock and Gulfstream Park, have approached Clear Channel with inquiries.

The prohibition on advertising cigarettes, alcohol and nude entertainment establishments would remain.

The agreement will expire in January 2015, part of an agreement the city reached five years ago with Clear Channel, which sued after the city passed an ordinance banning billboards.

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