HomeMy Public PortalAbout10-October 30, 2019 SCMCITY OF OPA-LOCKA
"The Great City"
CLERK'S ACTION SUMMARY MINUTES
SPECIAL COMMISSION MEETING
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
5:30 PM
Sherbondv Village Auditorium
215 Perviz Avenue
Opa-locka, FL 33054
1. CALL TO ORDER:
Mayor Matthew . A. Pigatt called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday,
October 30, 2019 at Sherbondy Village Auditorium, 215 Perviz Avenue, Opa-locka,
Florida.
2. ROLL CALL:
The following members of the City Commission were present: Commissioner Alvin
Burke, Vice Mayor Chris Davis, Commissioner Joseph L. Kelley and Mayor Matthew A.
Pigatt. Also in attendance were: City Manager John E. Pate, Assistant City Attorney
Candice Cobb and City Clerk Joanna Flores. Commissioner Sherelean Bass arrived at
5:34 p.m.
3. INVOCATION:
The invocation was delivered by Commissioner Joseph L. Kelley.
4. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.
5. PUBLIC INPUT:
(Agenda Items Only)
6. RESOLUTIONS:
a) A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF OPA-
LOCKA, FLORIDA, RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 19-9710;
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN EMERGENCY
AGREEMENT WITH TRIMERGE CONSULTING GROUP, P.A., FOR
TEMPORARY PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTING STAFFING SERVICES AS
SET FORTH IN EXHIBIT "A" HERETO; PROVIDING FOR
INCORPORATION OF RECITALS; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
DATE. Sponsored by City Manager
The above resolution was ready by title by Attorney Cobb.
1
Special Commission Meeting Minutes — 10/30/2019
It was moved by Vice Mayor Davis, seconded by Commissioner Burke for discussion.
Commissioner Burke asked for a legal opinion as to whether there would be a problem
with a contracted individual supervising city employees?
Attorney Cobb said that there was previous discussion on this matter and Attorney Weeks
was not concerned about it. There are multiple factors that the courts would be looking
into and supervising would be one of several. Also with the contracted individual
delegating out responsibilities that's more of a less personal relationship and that is what
the court is going to look at. Therefore, if it's something that the individual can delegate
out then they are not going to be counting that as more so as she is an actual employee of
the city.
Vice Mayor Davis stated that this agreement is a temporary solution and the goal is to
find a Finance Director later on so this is not something that is set in stone. He reiterated
that this is a temporary solution to provide day to day management. To his understanding
because he had the opportunity, to ask the attorney, it was her professional opinion that
there wasn't a conflict.
Commissioner Kelley said he raised that question in the first agreement because there
were some bullets points that led to that very concern. In looking at the bullet points, they
look redefined in a sense. He referred to the second and seventh bullet points in Exhibit A
of the agreement with Trimerge. The second bullet point talks about evaluations but then
it says "makes recommendation to the City Manager regarding hiring and firing". He said
that ultimately he will believe that the City Manager will have the final say so as oppose
to the firm. If that is the correct interpretation, then the question becomes how much
weight that recommendation carries. The other bullet point reads "supervise the
operations and activities" and he heard the Attorney's response but he don't know if he
quite understood it because how do you supervise without giving some kind of direction
but I am going to assume that that is not a problem.
Attorney Cobb clarified that what she said was with this individual supervising and
delegating out certain tasks that shouldn't be a problem or conflict because the individual
has to actually do the work or delegate out so if it's something that she can't delegate out
that's where you get into the area of her being an employee.
Commissioner Kelley said he was really not referencing this individual as an employee as
much as he is the function of overseeing or giving directives. Supervising to him means
that he can tell this employee to do this or do that with all of the accounting functions
listed because that fits in any area in the department. That's why his question was
whether there was a problem with it, not delegating. He asked the Attorney if she is
saying that it is fine for this individual to supervise.
Attorney Cobb replied, "yes". She stated, as one of the commissioners' pointed out, that
this is a limited relationship and supervision is just one of the factors that the courts will
be looking into. The supervision shouldn't be an issue because she is not the person
controlling everything, but the person working with the city. This individual is not the
person necessarily handing out all of the final say so and everything, she is only
2
Special Commission Meeting Minutes —10/30/2019
supervising her professional responsibility. In order for her to maintain her professional
responsibility, she is going to have to supervise the different task that the employees are
doing.
Although Commissioner Kelley heard the Attorney's interpretation, he said he didn't
agree with it because supervising means you have to give a directive and be able to
respond back as to whether or not that function has been carried out. However, legal has
stated that it is legal to do and she is the Attorney.
He further weighed in on bullet point #3 from the Exhibit which states that the Manager,
obviously when it comes to hiring and firing, but to him the Manager has to be more
involved in the operation activities and he needs to be because that is a big department in
the sense of different people; there are not a lot of people, but there are a lot of functions.
Manager Pate acknowledged the concerns as it relates to the agreement; however, the
City Manager's Office has full visibility and oversight of the Finance Department. He
said he is not a certified public accountant so he needs someone with the technical
knowledge to advise him in regards to the department operations and the running of the
department. At the end of the day, hiring and firing, personnel decisions, even time off
requests, overtime requests all come across his desk and Mrs. Lazarre will not be
involved in any of that personnel process. The only process that she will be involved in is
the process of accounting and supervising accounting operations.
Mayor Pigatt thanked the City Manager for bringing this to their attention. The city is in a
financial crisis and not having a Finance Director, Budget Administrator, and Grant
person in place in the department can be challenging especially to the City Manager who
is just coming on board as a manager. So moving on this item will make sure the city has
a Certified Public Accountant that can analyze the department and ensure that the day to
day operations of the Finance Department are taken care of.
He further said he has a few concerns to make sure this contract will ensure and meet the
city's objective when it comes to the completion of the audits in a timely manner, the
development of the Five Year Recovery Plan, assisting and addressing all the operational
audit findings, and to ensure the city has a respectable budget amendment process as well
as the beginning of the budget process until the city is able to get the required staff or
whatever options they decide to move forward with. He asked will this contract address
each of those items and if not, which one, and is there a need for a separate agreement for
any of those.
Manager Pate advised that the contract as written will address all those requirements as
stated by the Mayor.
As long as those overall objectives are being addressed, Mayor Pigatt said he did not
have an issue with this item as it stands due to the fact that it is a temporary contract to
address the gap in leadership in the Finance Department.
There being no further discussion, the motion passed by a 5-0 vote.
3
Special Commission Meeting Minutes —10/30/2019
Commissioner Burke Yes
Vice Mayor Davis Yes
Commissioner Kelley Yes
Commissioner Bass Yes
Mayor Pigatt Yes
b) A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF OPA-
LOCKA, FLORIDA, APPROVING THE CLOSURE OF ALL BANK
ACCOUNTS HELD BY WELLS FARGO BANK; APPROVING TRANSFER
OF MONIES REMAINING IN ACCOUNTS TO CITY NATIONAL BANK;
PROVIDING FOR INCORPORATION OF RECITALS; PROVIDING FOR
AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Sponsored by City Manager
The above resolution was read by title by Attorney Cobb.
It was moved by Commissioner Burke, seconded by Vice Mayor Davis for discussion.
Commissioner Burke asked why is this resolution necessary.
Manager Pate explained that during the assessment of the Finance Department and its
operations, it was directed that the city look at all of its open bank accounts. When the
city switched to City National Bank from Wells Fargo, they left accounts open with
active balances in them and there are service charges that are charged to those accounts at
$14,000 per year. The city is not utilizing Wells Fargo anymore and it would be fiscally
irresponsible to keep those accounts open and continue to pay $14,000 per year in fees.
Secondly, he said he does understand that Wells Fargo is the community bank of the city
but he did open up the conversation to them about stopping the charges and keeping the
accounts open. The bank basically stated that the city would have to redevelop a financial
relationship with them as far as bank accounts in order for them to consider waiving the
yearly fees of which $7,000 is paid on a bi-annual basis. This will actually stop the
upcoming $7,000 payment from going through. This is an example of the lack of controls
and checks and balances in place in regards to the city. These are additional accounts that
have to be audited by an auditor when it is not necessary for these accounts to be audited
when they could just be transferred to City National Bank. This will stop the gap of
$14,000 which is not a lot to some but every penny counts in the city's current situation.
As well as being able to consolidate the accounts, if necessary.
Vice Mayor Davis asked, have all 18 bank accounts been closed?
Manager Pate explained that the bank accounts are still open; however, the resolution will
provide authorization to close the bank accounts and transfer the monies that are in the
accounts to City National Bank so that the city can stop incurring the service fees on the
accounts.
Vice Mayor Davis asked, is there any particular reason why the city chose City National
Bank as its banking institution.
4
Special Commission Meeting Minutes — 10/30/2019
Manager Pate stated that it is his belief that the city utilizes City National Bank because
they are the bank that provided the bond and loan that assisted in the purchase of the
current complex. He also believes that a part of the agreement was for the city to move all
of the it's institution business to them as a part of the overall scheme of things and this is
based on his belief and what he's heard.
Commissioner Kelley said since the city is closing all 18 bank accounts with Wells
Fargo, would that get it any closer to getting the money released that City National Bank
is holding?
Manager Pate stated that City National Bank is holding money and they are working on
that issue. This would not get the city any closer, this just stops Wells Fargo; therefore,
this is not a deal breaker or even something that City National is aware of. This is
something that the city is doing internally just to clean house and make sure the accounts
are in order.
Commissioner Kelley said he raised that question because he's heard that in the past that
the city is banking with other institutions so he was wondering if that was something City
National Bank had pushed forward. The other concern regarding this issue is that many
of the city employees cash their checks at Wells Fargo Bank so how is that going to work
once the city closes the accounts. Will the city maintain that or are there any service fees
for city employees going there now to cash their checks since City National Bank is the
city's primary bank?
Manager Pate stated that Wells Fargo Bank is aware that City National Bank is the city's
primary bank and based on the increase made, he doesn't see there being any issue with
employee checks being cashed. Also, the employee checks that are cashed are not Wells
Fargo checks, they are checks from another financial institution operating through ADP,
but he doesn't foresee an issue. Again, the city did attempt to keep the accounts open that
had money in them if Wells Fargo would waive the $14,000 annual service fees and they
got pushed back on that because the city went to City National Bank and they felt it
wasn't a feasible deal.
He further stated that quite reasonable and honestly, these accounts should have been
closed during the audit process as the audits went on, which lack of audits should have
caught these open balances and ensured that these accounts were consolidated.
Commissioner Kelley said he didn't have a problem with closing the accounts, he was
just wondering since many of the city's employees go there and he wants to make sure it
doesn't have adverse effect on any of that process because everyone can't make it to City
National Bank as quick as they can go to Wells Fargo.
He further stated that he hopes there is an attempt to get a City National Bank ATM in a
city facility or small branch in the city.
Manager Pate said that will be his goal based on the request.
5
Special Commission Meeting Minutes — 10/30/2019
Mayor Pigatt thanked the City Manager for catching this and encouraged him to continue
to bring these types of items to the Commission's attention so that they can make sure
they are responsive to all the issues that have been plaguing the city and also we are
being intentional about putting financial controls in place over all of the finances.
There being no further discussion, the motion passed by a 5-0 vote.
Vice Mayor Davis Yes
Commissioner Kelley Yes
Commissioner Bass Yes
Commissioner Burke Yes
Mayor Pigatt Yes
7. ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business to come before the City Commission, it was moved by
Commissioner Kelley to adjourn the meeting at 5:51 p.m.
Matthew - . Pigatt
Mayor
Attest:
Joanna Flores
City Clerk
Special Commission Meeting Minutes — 10/30/2019