HomeMy Public PortalAbout06-June 01, 2015 Special Commission Meeting Minutes CITY OF OPA-LOCKA
"The Great City"
CLERK'S ACTION SUMMARY MINUTES
SPECIAL COMMISSION MEETING
June 1, 2015
6:00 P.M.
Sherbondy Village Auditorium
215 President Barack Obama (Perviz) Avenue
Opa-locka, FL 33054
1. CALL TO ORDER:
Mayor Myra L. Taylor called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, June 01,
2015 in the Auditorium at Sherbondy Village, 215 President Barack Obama (Perviz)
Avenue, Opa-locka, Florida.
2. ROLL CALL:
The following members of the City Commission were present: Vice Mayor Timothy
Holmes, Commissioner Joseph L. Kelley, Commissioner Terence K. Pinder, and Mayor
Myra L. Taylor. Also in attendance were: City Manager Kelvin L. Baker, Sr., City
Attorney Vincent T. Brown, and City Clerk Joanna Flores. Commissioner Luis B.
Santiago arrived at 6:03 p.m.
3. INVOCATION:
The Invocation was delivered by Mayor Myra L. Taylor.
4. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.
Mayor Taylor said she would like to take a moment for a point of personal privilege. This
meeting was not called by the Mayor, but she gets the blame. She said she does not have
a problem with the first resolution because it gives employees and opportunity to retire.
She said she will support the second resolution with an amendment to not go below
$25,000. Mayor Taylor said she will not support the third resolution and as far as she is
concerned that is definitely out. This is the third quarter of the year and staff just figured
out the city has too many employees. She asked, why were they hired when the city
supposed to be at 188 employees?
They are not going to balance the budget on the back of the employees. Every time there
is a shortage they always target the employees. As far as she is concerned number three
can be removed from the agenda. She is going to create a Financial Task Force with
people that have no interest in the city. The Task Force will have ten days to look at the
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books and find the money, and then she will call a Special Meeting before the next
Commission Meeting so they can report their findings.
Manager Baker said what he have before the Commission is consistent with the
workshop and one-on-one meetings with the Commission. As previously discussed they
are dealing with a problem that has carried on for many years. They laid out a budget for
this year; however there are several items that occurred and were unbudgeted and have
created a challenge. This is a proactive measure to make sure they will be able to close
the budget in the black.
Vice Mayor Holmes said if the Mayor had those concerns, why they are having this
meeting. Those concerns should have been given to the Manager. He is not in favor of
laying off employees, but when the budget is in a deficit because funds were over spent
then something has to be done. He suggested that the meeting be cancelled for 10 days to
allow the City Manager to do a search.
Commissioner Pinder said he would like to hear input from the citizens because they may
have ideas or suggestions. In addition, in December they took a fiscal snap shot of the
budget and everyone knew this, but now it has come to flourished. Over the last months
he tried to bring innovative ways to bring money into the budget. This deficit has carried
over for the last three years. The Police Department is at 95% in overtime and they are
half way in the budget.
Commissioner Santiago said something new always appear on the report. He asked, why
they hire people when they already have people to do the work?
Commissioner Kelley said bonus, league payment, additional hiring, overtime, non
budgeted contracts, and car rentals are the problem. If the Mayor wants to create a Task
Force she has that right, but anyone that brings them information to consider voting on
then he need to have a buy in as to who is on that committee. The city pays a Manager to
give them information and he has a staff. Over the last five months he said that he did not
agree with a lot of the numbers and recommendation that came forward. No one on the
dais wants to lay of anyone,but if it's the will of the Commission to have a Task Force he
would like to see the revenues from the sale of city land, every non budgeted contract
including the City Attorney's contract all incorporated on the table. If they are going to
make tuff decisions, everything has to be laid out as a possibility.
It was moved by Vice Mayor Holmes, seconded by Mayor Taylor to postpone the
meeting and come back in ten days.
Commissioner Kelley said the meeting was called and citizens are in attendance so he
thinks they should hear their concerns.
Commissioner Pinder said it was his suggestion to allow the residents and employees an
opportunity to speak. He made it clearly for the employees to voice their concerns with
no retaliation.
Commissioner Santiago said they need to let the people speak.
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Mayor Taylor removed her second.
5. CITIZENS' INPUT:
Agenda Items Only
1. John Cook of 14580 NW 27th Avenue, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the
City Commission and said they have been warned many times. The budget allows for 188
employees now they have 230. They had an opportunity to save five jobs. The city's
future is outsourcing and a lot of people have the wrong impression about outsourcing
because they feel people will lose their jobs, but that's not how it works. Every private
company that comes in to outsource always gives the employees to work first and
sometimes they make more money. The Commission made a decision last week to not
outsource the Code Enforcement Department and it could have saved jobs. A lot of cities
survive from outsourcing. He asked, how many directors and supervisors are on the
chopping block?
2. Willie Witherspoon of 12950 LeJuene Road, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before
the City Commission and said he came to work for this city because he saw a future for
the city and to grow. He blames everyone because it should not have gotten this far. He's
been going through this problem since he came to the city, he asked the question when
they are going to get this right? He said enough is enough, but everyone is here for a
reason and he is tired of being knocked down. He does not want to go home one day and
his lights are off or his furnish is sitting outside because he does not deserve it.
Vice Mayor Holmes said he was hoping to hear the employees make a recommendation
for the city to start back picking up the garbage.
3. Ricky James of 1156 Jann Avenue, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the City
Commission and said he's been with the city for twenty one years and enough is enough.
He has a problem because the city always talks about outsourcing, why they can't keep
the jobs in house. Bring back the garbage and give the people a pay raise. The
Commission outsourced the maintenance of the medians to a company that does the same
thing he does. The Urban Rangers use to cut the medians and they never received a pay
increase, but the company is being paid $60,000.
4. Steven Barrett of 633 Sharar Avenue, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the
City Commission and said they have to start cutting from the top and work down. The
city is less than 5 square miles and the Commission drive SUV's that cost $40,000-
$50,000 while the State of Florida have small cars. They have to set guidelines, if a
person is over 65 and work for the city they can go on Medicare to get off the city's
insurance. He expressed his desire to serve on the Task Force. They need to stop the take
home vehicles because they are spending a lot on gas. He stated that somebody is going
to get laid off.
5. James Oko appeared before the City Commission on behalf of the AFSCME and
said the city is doing too much outsourcing and you don't do that when you know you
have a payroll to meet. He requested that the Commission reconsider outsourcing projects
and look for a better way to manage their finances.
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6. Alvin Burke of 1240 Jann Avenue, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the City
Commission and said the last three years the city has been at this point and it always
comes down to laying off employees. He suggested that they look at the directors and
start consolidating some of the departments to eliminate some of the high level positions.
7. Natasha Ervin of 670 Dunad Avenue, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the
City Commission and said she walk every day and yesterday she realize the city is giving
money away by having the security company watch the building because they are not
doing their job. The staff sleeps so they can let the alarm system work and have the police
department patrol the area periodically.
8. Sandra Alli of 403 Fisherman Street, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the City
Commission and suggested that they start training young people through the Career
Source Program.
9. Eric Redmon of 2766 NW 131st Street, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the
City Commission and said in October the city did layoffs and pay cuts. He provided a
document to everyone to show them that the City of Miami was faced with the same
scenario and it fell on the Budget Director. The same Budget Director came to the
Commission in previous meetings and stated that the city is 51% ahead. The Budget
Director should be fired because she controls the budget and this has happened too often.
10. Jermaine Cadenhead of 12905 LeJuene Road, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared
before the City Commission and said a lot of the jobs that's contracted out could be done
in-house. He recommended building a mall and casino at the Cuyahoga property to bring
revenue and jobs in the city.
11. Deborah Sheffield Irby of 14202 NW 17th Avenue, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared
before the City Commission and said they are responsible for the City Manager and he is
responsible for the Finance Director and the Budget Director. If the City Manager is not
giving the proper information regarding the city's finances then there is a communication
problem. She said she does not want anyone to lose their job, but the Personnel Rules are
clear that it's supposed to be last hired, first fired. She said if they are going to hire over
the budget then they should consider hiring residents of the city.
Commissioner Kelley said the City Manager has informed the Commission that the plan
needs to be implemented by June 15th. He does not want to vote on something without
having a comfort level of who's giving him information. He suggested that the Mayor
incorporate citizens to serve on the Task Force.
6. RESOLUTIONS:
1. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF OPA-
LOCKA, FLORIDA, AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO IMPLEMENT A
VOLUNTARY EARLY RETIREMENT AND SEPARATION INCENTIVE
PROGRAM PAYABLE FROM THE GENERAL FUND AND WATER AND SEWER
FUND RESERVES; PROVIDING FOR INCORPORATION OF RECITALS;
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Sponsored by C.M.
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The above resolution was deferred.
2. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF OPA-
LOCKA, FLORIDA, AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO BEGIN
IMPLEMENTING A SALARY REDUCTION FOR ALL EMPLOYEES; PROVIDING
FOR INCORPORATION OF RECITALS; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Sponsored by C.M.
The above resolution was deferred.
3. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF OPA-
LOCKA, FLORIDA, AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO IMPLEMENT A
STAFF REDUCTION PLAN; PROVIDING FOR INCORPORATION OF RECITALS;
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Sponsored by C.M.
The above resolution was deferred.
7. ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business to come before the Commission, it was moved by Vice
Mayor Holmes, seconded by Commissioner Pinder to adj•urn the - • at 7:07 p.m.
Alf
MAY*,
• TEST:
CITY CLERK
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