Facilities and Construction Committee - Regular Meeting

That's very rare for us before lunch. To the Facilities and Construction Committee meeting for Wednesday, August 5th. May I have a motion on the minutes, please? All in favor? Aye. May I have a motion on bringing the F items to the floor, please?

Colleagues, comments, questions? Seeing none, F2, please.

Colleagues, any final comments? Entertain a motion to approve the F items.

May I have a motion to bring each item to the floor? Excuse me.

Aye. H7, Board Member Alonzo. Thank you so much, Board Member Espino, for the opportunity to present this item today. As we know, this has been a topic that all of us have been discussing quite a bit, so I wanted to bring it forward and really have a discussion around it because I think we can fine-tune it still a little bit. But the goal here is on the management and the use of revenue generated from district-owned property. and developing a policy. As we know, Miami-Dade County Public Schools is entrusted with one of the largest portfolios of educational facilities and real property in the s

Thank you, Board Member Alonso. Listen, for my part, I think you did a great job capturing the conversation we've been having. and we're going to take it to the next level because it's, you know, the piecemeal approach always will result in questions. If there's a guiding policy for it, then the public knows and the consuming public, the people that are going to approach us with an ask, they kind of have a framework for it. So I'm supportive of the item as amended. I'd love to cosponsor. Any other comments, colleagues? Yes, Madam Chair.

Yes, thank you, Board Member Alonso. Again, absolutely, very timely. And I, too, support the item. Even though I've said many times, we gotta proceed with tremendous caution as well. And we do need policy, because transparency and accountability and public notice is critically important so they know what is happening. But I say proceed, with caution because, as I've said many times in the past, the pendulum moves back and forth in Miami-Dade County public schools. I've been able to witness that throughout the years and with reference to selling properties, which is not anything related to the

Chair. Thank you so much. And just for the record, for clarification, The policy should still have it in. I'm also like you in favor of not selling properties. I think it's very important that we maintain control of these assets, especially 100 years from now when we won't be around and they might be needed for other reasons. But if there was ever going to be something there, I think it's important that we include it in our policy because it might come one day. And if we're going to go through this effort and this exercise, I think it's important that we include language there on if a property

Thank you. And this is just food for thought. I know that we've talked about not selling assets and leasing. My question is, a lot of these leases are 99 years. So we're developing on these pieces of land. At the end of that, what happens and maybe somebody could answer, you know, or what if there's a problem at some point. So that's just something food for thought that we can discuss at another time that I think we need to, you know, think about as a board because, I mean, And if we were to, for example, sell a piece of property that we really don't foresee developing on to someone, what are

Yeah. Who could possibly do the hypothetical for us?

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Board Member Alonzo, follow-up? Not to throw off your time, Board Member Spino, I know we want to stay on record. Listen, man, I'm good. But it brings up a good question. I think for clarity for all of us as board members, right, and I think Board Member Colucci mentioned it, but it wasn't, technically answered, and I don't know if you were, is what happens if 20 years into the 99-year lease, something occurs and they default, or I assume it would come back, but through the chair?

I mean, the challenge is going to be that it's a hypothetical question on a myriad of possible scenarios that could come before us. Each one may have a different governing or contractual document that establishes it. So, I mean, that's Walter Harvey enforcement mechanism time. So some general comments, Mr. Board Attorney?

And before I will just say that, While we may not have a big base of work precedent on this, Miami-Dade County does, whether it's one of their development loans with conditions and covenants that travel with it or the development on their own properties, which they've sponsored quite a bit, even the city of Miami. So we can potentially take a look at that and see how they've structured some of these things and some of the teeth that they've put in the agreement. Madam Vice Chair.

And thank you for that because I think we're entering into an arena that's new to us and I think that we really have to establish like Board Member Alonso and you've brought up so many times, Board Member Espino, especially when we're discussing our strategic plan, to be transparent, to have a policy that the community understands, that our stakeholders understand. That's something that as we move into this new territory, and of course I know we did do a survey for our workforce to see what the interest is, and we have to look at that interest and see, you know, I know the AMI is a determining

Thank you, Board Member Spino. And I've had this conversation as well with Mr. Perez. I think it's imperative that when we are, since each contract is unique, each agreement is unique, that there is, you know, legal representation there because there's a lot of logistics that have to be thought through and gone through. So I'm glad you brought that up, Board Member Blanco. Thank you so much.

May I have a motion for co-sponsorship on H-7? Move it. All in favor? Motion to move the item as amended? Moved. Do we have a second? All in favor? Aye. I think that's everybody. H-12, well, Vormer Geller's not here. He asked to just advance it along. I wonder whether the board had an appetite to support it. I mean, essentially it is saying to look at comprehensively the review of synthetic turf as a result of not only its prevalent use, but also the public health and environmental concerns that are being expressed in it. The item's pretty straightforward. Do you want to transmit it with a recommendation or do you want to vote it up? What's the will of the board?

We just transmit it to speak at the board and have him present it. I'd have some questions on it, but with him not being here.

I entertain a motion to transmit without a recommendation. Move it. Second. All in favor? Aye. That exhausts all formal business facilities and maintenance comprehensive update.

Seeing no comments. Office of Community Partnerships, Education, and Business Access, Dr. Amica Roberts.

Any new business from the board itself? Yes, please. just on the new business as we get ready for back to school I know that everybody's working really hard with our schools but I can tell you as I drive around there's still a lot of concerns when it comes to our roofs as well as the HVAC systems and it's creating problems beyond just the roof and the HVAC where there's being damage done inside of our classrooms and walls and just want to make sure that we all understand as a board the importance that we continue to advance some of these some of these discussions around the HVACs and the way i

Carl's going to become an air conditioning expert. After NBCPS, the biggest air conditioning company in the state, he's going to have it. Follow-up? Board Member Alonso, you have a follow-up? You're good? Madam Chair.

Yes, thank you very much. And thank you, Board Member Alonso, for those questions, because I have similar questions. And again, thank you to Mr. Niccolo. I know that I call him the second that issues occur at some of the schools that I've had to deal with in the past, especially on opening day and opening week. So moving forward, especially those schools that we have already identified as having issues on day one, week one or week two of the school year, so that parents are not extremely irate and upset when their children are going into schools where the rooms are extremely hot, especially du

Okay, Mr. Air Conditioning, you're in the hot seat. Through the chair, yes, sir, I can feel it.

Well, he has air conditioning that he can cool off.

Thank you through the chair. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. And I appreciate everything that you do, but let me ask you a follow-up question. the ones that we've had where a solution would be having that air conditioning scenario taking place during the weekend so when they come in on Monday, a pod school that has zero windows, it's very difficult for those principals and for the students and the stakeholders there. And we talked about this. There's gotta be a solution to that one.

Thank you. Through the chair, I have two more questions. One would be the mold. I want to make sure that all of our schools, when we open up, that the teachers and the administrators and all of the members of the workforce at those sites are not in a situation where they need to worry that there might be in rooms where there is mold. Has that been...

Thank you. Through the chair. So at school sites and also in all of our buildings that we have personnel at. So I hope we're monitoring that everywhere. And then the structural integrity of our schools, as I proffered a board item quite some time ago, there's nothing more important than that. Do we have any schools with any structural integrity issues this year? I know I had to deal with some last year.

Thank you, and that would include, through the chair, buildings like this one where we're at right now, with reference to the structural integrity? Okay, and the last question was the elevator. Sorry, but just two days ago, or was it a day ago, We had two of them almost, at first it was a flicker and boom, boom, boom, and then all of a sudden not operational. Absolutely.

Good answer. Solid answer. Yeah. Number one on the board. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. You had a question.

Thank you so much. For my part, just thank you. Thank you so much for all that you've done over the summer, the entire team, to get our schools ready for back-to-school, especially those schools that are undergoing significant transformation. It's welcome. The community is responding, and they like to see the investment. So thank you so much. Seeing no further comments before 1 o'clock, I entertain a motion to adjourn.

I think we can all celebrate this record.