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Home My Public Portal About10-October 27, 2015 Special Commission Meeting CITY OF OPA-LOCKA "The Great City" CLERK'S ACTION SUMMARY MINUTES SPECIAL COMMISSION MEETING October 27,2015 6:00 P.M. Sherbondv 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 Tuesday, October 27, 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 Luis B. Santiago, and Mayor Myra L. Taylor. Also in attendance were: City Manager Roy Stephen Shiver, City Attorney Vincent T. Brown, and City Clerk Joanna Flores. Commissioner Terence K. Pinder 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. 5. CITIZENS' INPUT: Agenda Items Only 1. Giovantia Dukes of 13116 Alexandria Drive, Apt. 133, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the City Commission on behalf of the Opa-locka Parent Booster Club. They are deeply perturbed upon hearing the news of the potential impeachment of the City Manager, Mr. Shiver. During his short tenure with the city, they are proud to say he has shown the optimist organization continued support. At the previous Commission Meeting she stood before the City Commission to invite them the optimist club home going festivities, but to no avail. The only individuals from the panel that came out were Vice Mayor Holmes and Commissioner Kelley. Mr. Shiver is in consistent contact with their treasurer and spokesperson for their booster organization to do some amazing things for the youth. He has attended many Meet Me Monday meetings to address the concerns of the people. He is approachable, he is a man for the people and on behalf of the Opa- Special Commission Meeting Minutes—10/27/2015 1 locka Hurricanes Booster Club they feel as though they will be doing the citizens an extreme disservice by removing Mr. Shiver from his position of City Manager. 2. Steadman Stahl, Executive Vice President of the Dade County PBA, appeared before the City Commission and said they recently started negotiations and they seem to be going in the right direction. If they remove the City Manager at this time they will be taking a step backwards. He would hope that they vote against the legislation to remove the City Manager because they are going in the right direction. 3. Alvin Burke of 1240 Jann Avenue, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the City Commission and said enough is enough. He's beginning to see it's not the City Managers who are the problem in the city. Every time they pay a City Manager to leave they are throwing away the city's money. When Mr. Shiver was hired he spoke against him, but the short time he have been with the city he can see positive movement and it would be a travesty to remove him at this time. They had so much enthusiasm when they brought Mr. Shiver in the city. The people elected the Commission and they cannot allow them to continue to throw their money away when they don't get their way with the Manager. If they leave the City Manager alone and allow him to do his job, he will do his job. Apparently he is doing his job too good because they want to get rid of him. The citizens will not stand for this anymore. It's time to take their city back. 4. Steven Barrett of 633 Sharar Avenue, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the City Commission and said he is very sad to know that after a month they are trying to remove the City Manager. In 1999 Vice Mayor Holmes along with himself went to Federal Court because they saved the city $2 Million Dollars for Civil Rights Violation. If the City Manager is removed tonight they will be violating his City Rights. He said Enough is Enough. 5. Deborah Sheffield Irby of 14202 NW 17th Avenue, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the City Commission and said during her tenure with the city she served through 7 Mayors and 9 administrations and she have never seen the turmoil they are experiencing now. There has to be some stability in this city, because if they don't want it someone else wants it. They have to get use to rejection, get use to people saying no. The people waited a long time for it and she's happy it's finally here because she is a tax paying citizen in this city. 6. Johnnie Mae Greene of 2091 Wilmington Street, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the City Commission and said she is truly disturbed. She does not know Mr. Shiver, but they had several City Managers' and it seems as if when some of the Elected Officials get upset they want to get rid of the City Manager. Some of the Elected Officials should resign because from the time she has been in the city some of them have not done what they are supposed to do. She is tired of paying for the mistakes they are making with hiring people. 7. Brian Dennis of 3135 NW 134th Street, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the City Commission and either way it goes, the Commission is going to look bad. A few meetings ago some citizens complained that Mr. Shiver said "You People" and he immediately spoke to those citizens. It's not the man who said it, something is definitely wrong with "You People", meaning the Commission. He appeared before the Special Commission Meeting Minutes—10/27/2015 2 Commission in 1997 regarding the water bills, now it's far beyond the water bills because some of the same people are still here. If the two Elected Officials who voted against hiring Mr. Shiver were to vote in favor of firing him, you can be mad, but if the people who were in favor of hiring vote against him it looks bad. The person that voted for him sponsored the legislation to fire him and that looks bad. The incompetence makes everybody look bad. 8. Natasha Ervin of 670 Dunad Avenue, Opa-locka, Florida, appeared before the City Commission and said she came to the city 1976 as a child. She has never been able to contact the City Manager to share her concerns because they were never available. She did not know Mr. Shiver prior to him coming to the city; however she feels like she has a relationship with him because he's approachable, he's a people person, and he cares about the kids in the city. They are supposed to have a meeting with him tomorrow and she looks forward to that meeting. 6. RESOLUTIONS: a. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF OPA- LOCKA, FLORIDA, TERMINATING THE EMPLOYMENT WITH ROY STEPHEN SHIVER, AS CITY MANAGER OF THE CITY OF OPA-LOCKA; PROVIDING FOR INCORPORATION OF RECITALS; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Sponsored by L.S. The above resolution was read by title by Attorney Brown. It was moved by Commissioner Santiago, seconded by Commissioner Kelley to discuss the above resolution. Commissioner Kelley said he seconded the item so he can voice his concerns. He is not in support of firing the City Manager, but he wants to make a statement. He is a Pastor and has baptism at his church; he did not want to come out for this. If they want to terminate anyone, please make sure in the future they put it on the table so he can see that there is a valid reason. The city has a lot of issues they can be dealing with, they have financial issues, infrastructure issues that they need to focus on. If the City Manager does not do what he needs to do in a timely fashion then that's one thing, but please do not waste time with these meetings if they don't have something concrete. If the Manager were to be terminated the city will have to pay him over $80,000 in severance pay. They gave Mr. Baker over $70,000 when he resigned. The city does not have money to keep paying out; if they do then they can start paying the employees their back pay and start paying the vendors. He did not support the City Manager coming in, but when the majority of the Commission voted to make him the City Manager then that's what it is and he has to work with him. If he doesn't do things that he thinks are right, then he will bring it to his attention. There being no further discussion, the motion failed by a 4-1 vote. Commissioner Kelley No Commissioner Pinder No Commissioner Santiago Yes Special Commission Meeting Minutes—10/27/2015 3 Vice Mayor Holmes No Mayor Taylor No 7. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Commission, it was moved by Commissioner Santiago, seconded by Commissioner Pinder to adjourn the meeting at 6:35 p.m. / i4 i� AYO'• ATTEST: 1 CITY CLERK Special Commission Meeting Minutes—10/27/2015 4