City Commission - workshop

All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Is there an echo? It's new mics. Okay, it's very loud. It's good. Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. It is 1.33, calling the meeting to order. Mauricio?

Okay, do we want to make changes then to the agenda right now?

It's three minutes total not per item three minutes total. Yes All right. Let's move on to 3b, please.

Okay, why don't you go with the next item then?

All right, Commissioner Joseph. Okay, so this year, where we usually had had the students from Edelkopf K through 8 would paint on the RK wall across from the school. That was not available this year. And the students did their own paintings, which were displayed. And there were awards given by Mayor Edelkopf, as he regularly does each year, last month. And I had asked, and the commission agreed to have The painting's exhibited in our city hall lobby for a one month period for the month of July. And I would like to recognize Jenteri Buddha, Amelia Soretsev, Arianna. This is a tough one. You, I

Yaroslav? I only have Yaroslav. I only have Yaroslav.

Yaroslav, we're going to give you this, but we're going to have to give you a new one because this has your name misspelt. Why don't you come up and we'll take a picture with you?

Congratulations. Thank you, Commissioner Joseph. We recognize the students. OK, next item.

All right. And this item is discussion by Commissioner Joseph. Please go ahead.

Let me just get to it. Let's see. Which one is this?

Oh, cone of silence. OK. Yes. So it's come to my attention that the city departments that are doing purchases, I believe that they're not No one can be up on every item regarding purchasing. And the city has a wide variety of items that we purchase. And I believe that having the closed bidding and all, and for commissioners or anyone else in city administration that knows about certain items should be able to see what the bidding is, what the numbers are prior to the bid going out and as the bids come in. Also, the idea that we're telling people how much we want to put towards a project and th

OK. So your suggestion is that the commission and anyone else that feels that they have expertise in a particular field should be conversing directly with the procurement department as they please. So anyone would start contacting Genesis and her team if they feel like they have an expertise? What do you mean anyone? You said the commission and anyone?

Well, commissioners, city manager, assistant city manager, if there happens to be another department such as public works that might be aware of the item that's being purchased and if they may have some input, I think that's a good procedure and much better than what we're doing now.

OK, so if I can get clarification, please, from the city attorney how this process is supposed to work and the report.

And this had turned out to have been an error.

Well, I understand. There's no cone of silence.

So maybe it would be, hold on a second, Commissioner Joseph. If we can, so that we're all talking about the same thing, get the actual definition of what cone of silence means so that we are discussing the same thing. Because there might be a misunderstanding as to what it is Commissioner Joseph is looking to do. You're looking to provide what you consider your expertise to the procurement department, correct? Not directly to the vendor.

And not only me. I don't know everything about everything. I know about certain things, and I know how to investigate where maybe we have so many examples. We have examples of when we were getting boat lifts, and the person in procurement

No, no, no. What I mean for clarification, you're not looking to speak directly to vendors. You're asking to- No. OK. Absolutely not. That's what the cone of silence is. That's, I think, why we need that definition.

So to the extent that you have quick- I just want to be able to verify that the person in procurement is doing the best for the city.

Well, there have been instances where someone is dropping the ball then, which, you know.

Commissioner Joseph, can you let the attorney finish, please? Commissioner Joseph, can we do one at a time, please?

They can switch off and say, oh, I'll take this one this time, and you take it next time. GARY GENSLER- No, no, no.

GARY GENSLER- Right. So let's be naive and say that that never happens.

Let me just clarify for the public and for myself so I understand that I understand it correctly. So for instance, way back when, when we were bidding out the Tony Roma site to various vendors and restaurateurs, I had throughout that process, because it was a lengthy process, had residents who were interested potentially in opening up a restaurant or had restaurants. say to me things like, well, why didn't you let me know? You know I'm interested. And can you tell me more about what it is you all are looking for? My response was, I'm not part of this process. You need to deal directly with the

Are those databases open to anyone or only registered vendors? Do you know?

OK. All right, so walk me through it. So we put out a request for a proposal, and at some point, and I'm talking about after the fact, at some point that was closed down.

And any vendors that have submitted an RFP know that. And if they go to contact any of the commissioners, what happens? OK. So that may be the reason why people stopped calling me.

All right. So from the city manager's point of view, can you please clarify as well? Because I think that it's pretty clear why we would not be involved in those kinds of conversations.

ALL RIGHT. I'D LIKE TO HEAR FROM COMMISSIONER RAMALLA.

SO QUESTION. NOW GOING TO COMMISSIONER JOSEPH'S INQUIRY, CAN HE AS AN ELECTED OFFICIAL talk to the city manager, or talk to, maybe have a meeting with, let's say, the building department, if we're getting some sort of, we have a bid out there for Tony Romas, and inquire about what has been presented, what the conversations have been, can he do that?

So let's say in that process of inquiries, we realize that, let's say, some of the vendors that we had been analyzing perhaps don't are not good. What would happen in that situation? Wait, wait, wait. No, no. Let's say Jerry's meeting with Stan and some other staff.

Let's talk about how it works now, not about what might be.

No, no, because I want to know how much you could ask questions, because you wanted to know Because, you know, I don't want, like, I want the public to understand the process, okay? And I also want to understand that I think that we, as elected officials, we could go walk into the city manager's office and say, I want to have a meeting. Let's talk about this bid process. I have some questions.

Also, we have a problem where The city manager is coming to us to acknowledge and approve funding for something that then goes out for bid. So the vendors already know the amount that's been procured. So then we're asking them to give us their best bid on something that they know has already been procured, an amount that's already been offered to the commission. So in that regard, also, we're paying more than we should be on a lot of things.

I want to let the city manager answer that, please.

You did not put, I'm sorry to interrupt, you did not put an amount?

So I think the question was that we put an amount when we put a bid out. And you stated that the only exception or one of the few exceptions was the holiday lights.

They could see it if they want to go into the budget, yeah.

OK. Vice mayor is on the phone. I want to give her an opportunity if she wanted to ask any questions. Vice mayor? She's still there?

Do you have any questions? Are you able to hear us?

OK. All right. Commissioner Lama, are you in favor of changing the status quo?

I'd like to keep the cone of silence. I think that we could still obviously go to the city manager and have a meeting with the city manager to inquire about some of the companies that are bidding, look at the information. I do recall when we didn't have the cone of silence, We're about to vote for something, and vendors were calling me. And, yeah, I don't think that's the proper way to go about things. I think, Jerry, that you still have the ability to talk to Stan and to staff. You know, you request a meeting, you could talk to them, and you could give them, you know, your opinion. I think it

I've never just, I've never taken those calls.

Yeah, because I think the cone of silence was implemented when, around the time you came in. And I did, yeah, they would call me. They would call me and I kind of... felt uncomfortable to be honest. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I, yeah, it's, it makes it an awkward and uncomfortable, uh, you know, moment when, when these vendors call you and you're about to vote for something. And yeah, I would refer him to, to, to staff. I'm like, listen, talk to staff, but still, you know, some of these vendors, uh, you know, or you don't want to be rude. But yeah, it's uncomfortable.

Well, look, I know we go to conventions sometimes and we have people from freebie and These other vendors they they come up to you and I mean we've had commissioners present freebie to us and I know I was approached it by freebie several times and You know and it's gonna happen you were Yeah Yeah, but I never really let them address me to the point where they think I might you know, present anything to have them be above anyone else.

But I get your point. If you say, listen, you know, vendor A has got this product that's faulty or I don't think it's the proper product, I think you can meet with city staff and ask them and, you know, have a conversation with them.

Let me just give the manager the final word so we can move on.

Is there research done to be sure that the product that we're looking to purchase is the most up to date? I know when I've ever gone to buy a laptop, I'm always buying the best on the market that's going to last me, or the chip that's just coming out so that I have this laptop is going to be useful to me for several years, where if you go in and just buy any laptop from BJ's or any other vendor, Best Buy, they could have a model there that's two years old, and you would never know it, or a chip that's two years old. So I just want to be sure that there's some process with procurement that They

OK. All right. But wait, just one more? One more, and we need to move on, because the discussion item is already done. So just we have actually on the agenda today. So I'm just, as an example, and I'm trying to have this not happen again in this city, where when it came to doing a contract regarding the undergrounding in Golden Shores, Whoever was around at that time was not forward thinking enough to think ahead as to what might be the internet product that was going underground at the time in 2026. But copper has been obsolete for many years now. And still, the contract, how it was written,

I'm not looking to get that tentacle regarding the utilities. I'm just, this is an example as to, the example is to, for our procurement department to be forward thinking. But procurement has nothing to do. Regarding any product that's purchased. That's what I would like to see.

That's my point. All right. Let's move on. I just want to say for the record that our procurement department and our staff have done an excellent job. No one is doing anything illegal. I'm not saying they're not. I'm saying it for the record. Our IT department, I believe that Derek is a graduate of MIT. And no one can know everything about everything. But about computers, I feel confident that he knows. So let's move on to the next item, please.

HOW MANY PEOPLE DO WE HAVE? A LOT? MAYBE WE'LL JUST STAY UP HERE.

Okay, thank you very much. Thank you, man. It's amazing. Where do I sign up, man? If everyone could come up, we'll take a picture from this side.

Thank you, everyone. Appreciate your hard work.

We can't do those activities. We'll stay up here, because otherwise there's too many of them.

I mean, there's not too many of you. You know what I mean. There's just the right amount.

We appreciate your hard work. Thank you. Wait, wait.

All right, thank you. And I'm sure that that video could have probably been like an hour long and still would not have been enough. OK. I understand that one of the other students is here. So I'd like to be able to recognize her. Yaroslav left.

I have Ariana. Sorry. Ariana? You Arianna? Hi. OK. Do you want to come up? Are you alone or are you with your mom? OK. Do you want to come up? We'll take a picture. Congratulations, Arianna. All right. Now we are to PD or not yet?

At 6. OK, perfect. That sounds great. Thank you. OK.

Okay. I believe that's the city manager.

OK, that sounds like a horrible idea. Deferring that project is a nightmare, especially during hurricane season. I know that specifically Commissioner Joseph and I live in that neighborhood. And I know I personally, I'm sure he did as well, experience the outage in the middle of the summer is probably one of the worst things that could happen when the AC and everything else is off. So I am in support of moving the item forward. But let's hear from the rest of the commission, Commissioner Joseph.

Yes. So is it back on the agenda for this evening?

Tonight, okay, so I'm in favor of adding it back on, Commissioner Joseph.

Vice Mayor. Me too. Okay, so it sounds like we probably will have our super majority, so please move it to tonight. Yes. All right, now we're to 4J.

OK, this is Commissioner Joseph, this is your item?

No, this is the city manager's item, actually.

I just want to understand. AT&T was offered to be here and they rejected the offer?

Okay. So AT&T knowing that Breeze Line was going to be here? They didn't show up.

All right. Hi. How are you? If you could just give us your name and address for the record, that's our process. You can give the address of the business.

Thank you. OK. Do you have any questions, Commissioner Joseph?

Well, I'd just like to say that I have, in Golden Shores, I've been through AT&T. I've been through AT&T Satellite. I've been through Breeze Line. I've had frustration with both services. And I actually was going to cancel my BreezeLine service the other day, and I took in T-Mobile Wi-Fi out of frustration because I had no dependable Wi-Fi at my house, which if you were to check my BreezeLine account. There's numerous months and months and months of calling with terrible service. Actually, I was put on the pilot program, which not out of my asking. I just happened to see on Saturday there was

So now I'm looking to somehow bring fiber from inside my house to outside, if that's possible. Is that possible?

Right, but to bring the fiber into my house to my terminal, is that possible? The last few feet are copper. No, but to replace the copper with fiber, is that possible for people?

If there's something I could do to have 2.6 gigs inside my house,

OK. But if I were to bring fiber to the street from my house, have a contractor bring fiber from my garage to the street, that would give me a higher amount of gigs or no?

OK, let me see if there's any other questions. Commissioner Lama, do you have any questions?

Question for you. So how does it work with the high-rise buildings? I live in the Winston Towers. I don't know if you're familiar with 174th Street. You have seven towers there. How does it work? Is it the same setup where you have fiber and then copper going into the actual structure?

Oh, sorry. Thank you. Just a little, yeah. Thank you. Vice Mayor Biscard, one second.

So you offer your own extenders as well? We do.

Actually, the city does not have the correct channel indicated. If you could just let them know what channel that is so they can have it on their website. Because currently they have the wrong channel.

All right, so this was a nice little commercial for BreezeLine. We do, correct? All right.

Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to come. Thank you. OK.

I would just like to say one more thing. One more thing. Yes. I have been, for over two years, trying to get the best service in Golden Shores for internet. And two years ago, myself and Senator Pizzo contacted AT&T when we noticed that on their website, they had clearly stated that copper was obsolete for Internet service. We contacted them, and they promised us that they would be bringing fiber into Golden Shores, and to this date, they still have not. And I believe their not being here today is an indication that they're not looking to move forward in the best interests of Golden Shores res

Okay. I just want to clarify that's not the opinion of the city. It's one commissioner, so I want to be careful that we're not saying anything about someone that's not here.

But I know firsthand what they had promised. I get it.

And thank you for bringing this item. Thank you. All right. So with no other items, we're adjourning until 630. Thank you, everyone.