City Council - Special Meeting

It is September 30th. The time is now 5.14 p.m. This is our special council meeting.

Thank you. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Vice Mayor Puig Corbett. Okay, is there any changes, additions or deletions to the agenda order of business? No ma'am. Okay, being none, we'll move into public comments. All right, good afternoon everyone. We're gonna go into the public comments portion for our first meeting. If you're here to speak on the items regarding the resource recovery facility or the city manager evaluation and salary evaluation, It would be prudent to do it during this public comment portion. I'm going to go ahead and start with the comment cards I have. Plea

Thank you, Mr. Gladstead. You're welcome. Fernanda Gomez.

Thank you very much. Is there any other public comments at this time regarding these two items? Please approach the podium. I'll do Juan Carlos Esquivel first, and then we'll take Carlos Bermudez. Yes.

All right. Any other public comments? Please approach the podiums. State your name and address for the record. Please let's remember not to clap, but to shake our hands. Hold on, ma'am. Ma'am, ma'am. We're going to have Selma, and then you can wait right there. Yes, you can speak next. Thank you.

Thank you, Selma. Selma, Selma. I need you to say the clerk, okay? Please approach the podium. Thank you.

Thank you, Lisa. Anyone else would like to speak?

Any other public comments at this time? Yes, please approach.

Thank you, Mark. Please see the city clerk. Any other public comments? Please approach the podium. Thank you. Which one? You'll be next.

Thank you. Try working with you. Thank you comments Please see the clerk to fill out a comment card Anyone else would like to speak on public comments? Yes, Patricia.

Thank you. Patricia, please see the clerk. Any other public comments at this time? Any other public comments? Are we filling out a public comment card over there?

Thank you. Any other comments? Any other public comments? I have Ms. Gina Romero. Okay, Gina Romero.

Thank you, sir. Please see the clerk to fill out a card. Any other public comments at this time? Okay. Being no more public comments, the public comments portion of this meeting is now closed. And we will now move on to the discussion items.

Okay, I'm going to hand it over to the city attorney just a second. I called this meeting at the request or at the recommendation of the city attorney after the September 17 PCC meeting that was held in regards to a location for the potential rebuild of the incinerator. I did hold a town hall last week. I know some of you went where I explained a lot of the questions that were asked so that people could be informed as to what happened. I know that it's hard to get out to the BCC meetings. They're far. They're really early in the morning. And that particular day, we were there for about eight h

Lopez, thank you. I didn't want to leave anybody out. So I appreciate, first of all, every single one of you that did take the time to come out. I appreciate every single one of you that went to the town hall meeting that was called the night before by the county mayor. And I appreciate every single one of you who came to my town hall meeting. in an effort to help you all get informed. And I wanna also appreciate and thank our city manager and our city attorney for coming to the town hall meeting that I called because at the end of the day, it wasn't about me. It was about all of you being pre

Thank you, Mr. Cassasi. Is there any, I have some questions, but is there any questions from the council? Through the mayor?

Yes. Okay. Well, first of all, thank you to our attorneys for bringing this forward, explaining exactly what it would do. And, you know, I've had conversations with Mr. Corviela. about this and about how we really should approach it. I also want to thank the residents that are here today because I really think your message of unity really resonates with all of us. And I really think that it's important to clarify for the record and address some of your comments because I feel that if there's any issue here on the council where we have all been united, it's actually this. this issue and so for

Vice Mayor, did you make that statement? So unless the mayor wants to answer how she heard that statement. I absolutely would. Please.

Madam Clerk, can you please recall the conversation you and I had on Thursday before I left here when the meeting was called for today at five o'clock for the city manager evaluation. Had we received confirmation of people, of a quorum? You told me specifically that quorum had not been reached.

Quorum had not been reached. Correct. And we actually had a discussion about whether I would be able to hold the meeting. Absolutely. And I said, I don't need quorum. I can call a special meeting anytime I want. They have the opportunity and the freedom to show up.

That was Wednesday, 9-25. Okay. And your town hall was after that, Mayor. So you had quorum during your town hall, and you still made those statements. So, again, you know.

I understand that you don't want to. Oh, no, no, Mayor.

I'm not done speaking. You had your statement.

I will finish. Thank you. It was just confirmed by the clerk that she told me there was a quorum.

Again, so I want to, this is my point. You guys here today have been told that we have not been participating, that we have not been supportive. This has been an issue that we have all agreed on and we continue to agree on. And so for me, I am going to support whatever, again, whatever is in the best interest of the city and of the residents. At this time, I would like to make the following recommendations. And again, this is based on the discussions that I've had, I've been able to have with our attorney, as well as the proposed... LETTER AND THE PROPOSED RESOLUTION. IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING THA

Does that conclude your comments, Councilwoman? Does that conclude your comments, Councilwoman? Yes. Okay. Before we go to the Vice Mayor, Madam Clerk, I'd like for you to pull up any record of the Council, after I sent the meeting asking for the special meeting for this discussion, their confirmation of assisting. Was there any confirmation received?

To your recollection and from the conversation we had on Wednesday afternoon before my town hall meeting. Correct. You had confirmed that no quorum had been met. As a matter of fact, another meeting was called at the same time and I was told. I didn't have quorum for my meeting.

OK, so I want to confirm. I don't make up statements, unlike some others. I don't make them up. That is what I was told, that I did not have quorum for the meeting. And I specifically told, no clapping. No clapping, please. So if you all did not respond to the email request that we were having a special meeting, clearly no one knows that you're going to be here. And you've done it before, where I've called a special meeting, and you don't show up. So we're not making assumptions other than on base of past practices and involvement. And no one here has made assumptions or statements that you al

Any other comments so much sorry. Yes, council be natal.

Thank you mayor. First of all the things our administration and legal team for making these happen as well. This has been going on for since February of 2023 so to be here and start pointing fingers and blaming each other, we know it's not going to resolve the problem. It's like me saying here, blame it to Mayor Levine Cava or our county commissioner, JC Bermudez, which at the end, if you think about it, that's why they represent us. We have county commissioner, we have a mayor, and to be fair, Mayor Levine Cava, since August of 2023, a year ago, She has been recommending the airport West. So

So it will be unfair for people to come here and criticize them, especially the leadership, which at the end is the administration as well. Because since day one, they have been on top of this. Not only the legal team, the expertise as well, the environmental expertise, the community especially, because I personally have been in over six town hall meetings organized by residents that are sitting here. So, they're in that particular road over there in the background. So and they know who they are. So to be here and start going back and or hear comments about lack of leadership or lack of the ma

That's exactly what I was going to say to my point. I think there's a sense of urgency here. I understand trying to play nice and continue to negotiate. We've been doing that for a year and a half.

And so I'm at the point where there's nothing to negotiate with. And they said it there. It's on transcript. They said there's seven votes today to put it back into route. So... I think that the next steps, and you said it yourself, you can't just walk into the court and file a lawsuit government to government. So for me, this is the next step. We cannot sign a blank check. I will not sign a blank check for our city. And the commissioners made it very clear, we were all there, They made it very clear that if Doral, and the administration is great and the mayor has tried to advocate for the pos

Can you just elaborate real quick what benefit there would be to filing the dispute in a negotiation? what the statute does for us protection-wise?

I think just in summing it up, it's formality. It creates a more formal process versus the county saying, go meet. The administrations go meet. It's a much more formal process.

Yes, Councilman Pinero and then Councilman Cabral. And then we'll go back to you.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to add something else. Yes, by me saying that if you meet next week and for us to get an update, of course, I'm anticipating that we're gonna have to come back and approve this resolution. I'm gonna tell you why. For those of us that were the last county commissioners, to hear from county commissioners after a year that they still need time to review, to get more information, Asking the mayor for and her administration to get more details after a year That tells me that they're not gonna change their mind in a week So for me, they're pretty much laughing on us the

Thank you. Councilwoman Cabral. Thank you, Mr. Gastesi, for the inform and to present in the Florida Statute 164. I actually had a conversation with our city attorney and at that time was president, our city manager and deputy as well. And that's one of the questions because I confirmed with him, and I confirmed with the city clerk at the time that I was able to understand Florida statute 164. I was actually having the conversation with him and I explained to him that before I meet, I like to understand what is it that we're going to be talking about so I have a little bit of knowledge and I c

Mr. Manager, did I also express how, and I sit down with all of you and explain what I was thinking about how things should be handled? Okay, so I think that what I have expressed here was exactly what transpired that day that we had the meeting.

I'm not saying that you're having that. I just want to be in the record that that was the words and what I actually transpired at the time that I met with all of you, actually. So by that being said, I, my, where I stand is that I think that we should still have the conversation with the county. And sure, we have to put dates that the meetings should be proceed. And based on that, then definitely we should then to push them to go and have the resolution floor is actually 164. Okay.

What's the current motion on the table, Madam Clerk? Do you have it? I think there was a recommendation. Oh, I thought there was a recommendation made. What was the recommendation?

So I would recommend moving forward with continuing the negotiations for 30 days, having a status check within 15 days after your first initial meeting, And then during that status check, you can give us more or less what your prognostic is of the situation, and then we can take up the issue of whether we want to move forward with that statute.

With all due respect, I think that 30 days is too long because by charter, we can't have meetings if there's a runoff in our city. I think 30 days is a lot. What I would recommend is we have an October 17th, I think, council meeting.

No, we have 23rd. Oh, sorry, the 23rd. Okay, so I would say by that meeting, you should have already had two meetings with the county. Okay. Right? So by that date, we should have a response to be able to move forward. But you should have the numbers from them at the neck. I already saw the numbers. There's two offers, and I already saw them. It's $200 million or $400. So those are the numbers you're going to get, and with a transfer station, by the way. So I think that by the next meeting, you're going to have that. And then you give them our position on it, and we come forward, and we decide

I think that's fine. I think we should still have a status meeting before then. And then if, since the meeting's October 7th, the 14th,

I think they can individually update us, and if they feel that a special meeting needs to be called, then we can do that. But for sure, put in the motion by the last meeting in October that we have set.

Yes, I would also offer one thing that maybe is a viable option assuming we get some type of appraisal. One of the recommendations that came out of my town hall from a resident was maybe they're willing to sell us the land. So maybe there's an opportunity if they want a more amount that with an appraisal we can buy that land from them. Where it currently is. Just if everyone's OK with them offering that.

At least see if the option is available, if it's something they're open to. It doesn't hurt to ask. Yeah, it doesn't hurt to ask.

All right. I think there's a motion. I need a second. Second by Vice Mayor Puig Corbett. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Okay, thank you very much. We're going to immediately go into the next item.

Okay, should we take a quick break? Councilman, I mean, Vice Mayor Puig, we're going to wait for you, so go to the restroom and come back. Five minutes.

Yes, but let's try and stay in our seats. Okay.

All right, Councilwoman Forrest, this is your item. Thank you, Mayor.

I was just informed that we received a letter of resignation from our city manager, so therefore this item is moot, so I'm going to move to withdraw it.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. I'm shocked to hear the resignation. I made it very clear that you had my 100% support to maintain your salary. And... I'm sorry for what you have gone through. And I personally have had conversations with you. And I apologize to your family as well. I did not support you coming in for many reasons, which you, I think, now have lived and experienced yourself. But you turned out to be a man of integrity and values and hard work. And for that, I thank you. And you and I have had several conversations about that. We had a conversation the first day you walked in. And at th

I don't know if anybody else has any comments.

We will have to take a vote on the date of your resignation.

I actually place a motion. But before I place a motion, I would like to say that I'm also in shock because we had had different conversations as well. I was not gonna be in support of any modifications to the agreement or the salary because as you stated, it has been an unbelievable year for Doral when it comes to city managers and administration. Same reason why Part of these Council terminated Barbie Hernandez. Similar reasons why miss Brooks decided not to apply for. These that position the city manager's position. So it's unbelievable to hear from. Our city manager that. Part of these Coun

Because when you hear those comments less than three months ago, and now to hear exactly what happened and the reasons why we're having this meeting, I'm honestly no surprise. So I place a motion. Certainly for you to stay the 90 days without any changes, because at the end of the day, I don't I don't think that you or whoever comes doesn't deserve to go through this.

Yes. Mr. City Manager, this was a discussion to evaluate your salary. You were not going to, or at least I was not going to propose lowering your salary less than your other colleagues. That's not something that was planned. I had never heard anyone wanting to terminate you. In fact, the first and only time I've heard someone mention terminating you came from you, where you said, I know I'm gonna be terminated November 5th, regardless of who wins. So that was your own, those were your own words?

I also gave you the opportunity to, and offered you the opportunity to keep your salary with the option of making sure we made some, you've made some improvements and observations that I noted and you declined.

Manager, I'm still speaking. I'm sorry. Let her finish and then I'll give you an opportunity. Absolutely. So I want to point that out and I want to put that into the record. I really do think that, and I did think that you had the experience necessary to help. to be the city manager um i think that the other the deputy manager and the assistant city manager that we have have been extremely helpful and i do think that i wanted to see some improvements in that sense too so again i've never mentioned anything about termination that was from you And I've offered you to stay and keep your salary wi

I would have never used the words clean house.

Again, you can seek whatever you'd like, but to answer your question, no, I would like to answer your question. This was gonna be the meeting where we would discuss your performance, so it was going to be done in the open, in public, and I think the direction needed to come from the council, right? And so that's why I put it up here, so that we could discuss it as a council. And then the direction would come from the five, the three, the four, whatever it is, because that's really the proper way to do it. Since I don't want to direct you alone, this is why I was brought here today.

may i please please no the conversation that i have with you is that i told you that there were seven different departments that need to be looked at and one of that it was the administration one because no one except the past uh manager had two assistant so we need to really look into our budget to be reasonable and for us to look into the different areas that we need to cut costs and expenses, in your case, you have two assistants, so we have to make adjustments. So that was what I expressed to you, not just with this department, but with different departments that need to be looked at. That

No, sir. And that's really insulting. And I don't think that that's your right to be doing that right now because we are and you're out of order. First of all, you're out of order. And this this we're coming right now because of what the accusation that you're giving and what you're writing here in your resignation. I do accept your resignation, but I don't accept that we give you 90 days. I think that the way that you're behaving. We were here just in a very unprofessional way. We were here, like the councilwoman said, just to go over an evaluation and see how we can improve and how we can ma

Okay, there's a motion and a second. We're going to call the roll on that and then we'll see how that goes. Nevertheless, I will have to now, since he resigned, I will have the opportunity to appoint a city manager. Therefore, I would like to go through a process. And I will have to sit with HR and go through that process. In the meantime, I would like Mr. Valdez to stay on board because it will be a process that I have to now open up again, the city manager position, and go through this as per the charter states. We need that transition process, and I think this is the best way to move forwar

Mr. City Manager, you will remain with us at your current salary for your 90-day period. In the meantime, I will get with HR and start a process for a search and going through the motions as per procedure in our charter. This would conclude this meeting. Thank you all for being here. I need a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn by Vice Mayor Puig Corbett, second by Councilman Pinedo. All in favor say aye. Meeting is adjourned. We're going to start our budget hearing in five minutes. Thank you.