Facilities and Construction Committee - Regular Meeting

I'm going to call it afternoon because I'm not going to concede that it's evening yet. I'm your relief pitcher. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of March 4th? Do I have a second? All in favor?

Aye.

Entertain a motion to move the F items to the floor?

Move it. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Mr. Perez, in the language of my people, you got us tired. So let's go to our final point.

It's been a strategery that we've tried for many years, and I always like to ask that facilities go last because of it. So, Mr. Chair and Board, good evening, or keeping in with the Chair, good afternoon. F-1 is the authorization for the sale and conveyance to the Florida Department of Transportation, FDOT, of a 147 square foot parcel of board-owned land located adjacent to the Miami Jackson Senior High School campus to be used by FDOT for roadway and pedestrian safety enhancements.

Colleagues, comments, questions, concerns? No. Seeing none, F2, please.

F2 is authorization to execute a public school concurrency proportionate share mitigation development agreement by and among Elite Construction and Development Inc., the school board in Miami-Dade County, in connection with a new 19 residential unit development.

Board Member Santos, these are all in your neck of the woods. Any comments?

Thank you. I was going to wait until the next one, but yes. It is yet another month where we have multiple, not just one, but multiple share mitigation agreements, failed concurrency of projects in Deep South Dade. I've been working very closely with staff and feel confident that we are taking the right steps to address this, but we continue to feel this sense of urgency. And it's such an outlier. Our entire district is going through a very different process, basically the exact opposite process. And in this case, we can't forget that where there's opportunity and growth, we have to capture it. And Mr. General Counsel, I know that you've been in conversations with Mr. Perez around the use of these failed concurrency funds that end up funding seats, in this case at the high school level. I don't need an answer right now, but I would like to just have an update relayed to me on how we're going to be able to confirm these funds can actually be used for the projects that we've been hard at work developing. I said it last month, I said it the month before, and the month before, we're approving high school seats at other entities in the vicinity. We cannot, this community asks me on a weekly basis, it's a new one, when are we launching our new options. I'm very excited for the options. I thank staff for all the work they're putting into the options from a facility standpoint, from a programmatic standpoint, from securing the right architects needed to get this moving. But programmatically, if we are aiming to open the new high school in South Dede for school year 28, 29, What's become evident is that if we don't solidify our academic programmatic offerings in the next few months to be able to then get that to the deadline, we're gonna miss the boat. And so I'm just putting on the record once again that whatever this board can do, which I think the whole board has been extremely supportive of these initiatives, let's do it, but we can't miss this opportunity. So thank you for all you're doing to make sure we don't.

Thank you, Board Member Santos. Any other questions, comments, concerns? F3, please.

F3 is authorization to execute a public school concurrency proportionate share mitigation development agreement by and among Gen Holdco 24 LLC and Lenore Homes LLC, the school board, and Miami-Dade County in connection with a new 302 residential unit development.

Board Member Santos, ditto.

Ditto.

Any other comments, questions, concerns? Okay. F4?

F4 is recommend approval to Miami-Dade County of a request from Tropical Holdings Associate LLC for an exemption from educational facilities impact fees in connection with a housing project for the elderly. Board Member Santos.

Thank you, Board Member Spino. I know, I don't know if it was a couple years or a couple months back, but there was some work done to ensure that we're enforcing hand-in-hand with the county the covenants that come along with these exceptions that we approve, which I'm in full support of. Mr. Perez, can you confirm that our process is ongoing in ensuring that these covenants are enforced in the long term through the chair?

Yeah, through the chair, absolutely. Ms. Santos, so the The impact fee ordinance does allow for this exemption. However, in order to achieve or receive the exemption, you have to have restrictions in the covenant running with the land. The restriction is, of course, an age restriction. No one under 55 can live in the facilities. No one under 18 can be co-located or reside in those facilities as well. The covenant runs for 30 years irrevocable with a 10 year extension after that. The enforcement arm of this is Miami-Dade County, their division that handles this. And so we've been working with them. We have provided information on a number of these developments and we look at children that are registered to these developments and then we've shared that with the county. And so they are the enforcement arm, and they would take it from there. I haven't seen any really egregious type of action, but I will tell you there are a few of these where you have ones or twos or threes where children are registered in these types of development that go to our schools. So then it becomes also a balance of, you know, declining our situation, do we want to enforce, and where will that child eventually end up? So it's kind of a balance, but we are in communication with them.

Thank you, through the chair, and how often is that process done?

We probably do it, I want to say, biannually. I think we did it last July or August. We shared information with them. So we'll share the same information now coming up. We'll do the same type of check-in with them.

Thank you. And certainly the intent is not to over-enforce it, but to find a balance. And if something has changed, to make sure we address it. Thank you so much.

F4, please.

Mr. Chair, that was F4.

Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, you're right. F5.

So F5 is the companion item to D65 that was presented earlier. This is the authorization to finalize and execute a mutual management plan and shared facility plan with KIPP Miami for use by KIPP of the former Pointeana Park Elementary School facility to operate a School of Hope.

Not seeing any comments. F6, please.

F6 is authorization to finalize negotiations for a public-private partnership for the redevelopment of design and architecture senior high school, DASH, and to negotiate an extension of the existing lease agreement with Dacra Design.

Not seeing any comments. F7, please.

F7 is authorization to explore a public-private, a public-public private partnership for the redevelopment of the district property located at 7001 Southwest 4th Street, Miami, Florida, including engagement with the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County and authorization to negotiate an interlocal agreement.

Madam Vice Chair.

I'm going to, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to start, and in my briefing I had quite a few concerns with this. First and foremost, I want to state for the record that I'm always open, always open to conversations, exploratory negotiations, all of that. But, you know, especially when it comes to maximizing the district's assets and serving our students and community, always gonna be open to that. So I wanted to state that. However, again, process and procedure are imperative. It is my understanding that a representative of the district spoke before the City of Miami Commission in support of this resolution, which is attached to the item. prior to this item coming before the board. And that I was not even made aware that someone would be speaking. in front of the City of Miami Commission in support of, it was resolution, I was told about it, but I was never informed that somebody was gonna actually go to speak in support from our district and said these words, I'm here to speak on behalf of Miami-Dade County Public Schools in support of resolution E, now I can't find the number. It's at the end of the item. And this is very concerning to me. Under Florida Statute 100141 and Florida Statute 100.42, the board is the governing body responsible for the control and disposition of district property. Under Florida Statute 5001, Point five one, the superintendent and staff serve as the executive arm of the board. This clearly means that direction must come from the board, not before the board. Substantively, after reviewing the city's resolution, it is clear that the primary objective is affordable and workforce housing, which I agree that there is a need for, and we've addressed that as a board. But everything that's referenced in the item, everything that's referenced in the resolution has the word may or should or should not. perhaps, and the additionally, the 4.8 million, which when I read carefully, is not exclusive to the site. It means that there is no certainty to what funding, if any, this project would receive. Now, I spoke in depth with Mr. Perez And I explained my concerns. This is something that we need to be very, very, very careful with because we are setting a precedent that we are supporting things before this board is even aware. And it happened, I have the video. It was sent to me through the chair. Anybody want to respond for that?

I'll respond through the chair. Board member Colucci, so yes, as we spoke in the briefing, basically the...

Through the chair from an appointed order, which was after this item was even released to the public, which was the first time that I saw it through the chair, and it is a property in my district through the chair.

Through the chair as I was I was I was mentioning the way these these projects Have been brought to the board historically is through a three item process So when when you when you reference may and shall it's absolutely what this item is about. This is a non binding item this is an exploration item and This is to basically start that conversation with those entities. And then, of course, we have our guiding principles that we've always followed through the board mission of there is no sale of land. These are long-term leases. There is the main focus mission is education. Some of these sites have an educational component or they deliver revenue for education. And there's also third, the housing for our workforce and to make sure that that's included in these types of projects. So basically what what what what you have in front of you is nothing that's going to bind the district That's going we're not selling land We are this is just informing the board as we've done in the past on many other projects Letting them know that we're seeking authorization to explore and take it from there Through the chair.

Yes, but my question was someone from this district spoke at the city of Miami without informing me on behalf of the district without informing this board that in support in support in support those were the words of this resolution and my question is and to my colleagues as well and and you know what is going on here I'd like to like to chime in for a moment because I mean and I think I said this former Alonzo made a comment and I brought up the fact that I have proffered an item of how to how to do these things holistically

And at the time, the superintendent specifically told me that items dealing with property in a school board member's respective district is run through that member at the initiative. And without you knowing, your confirmation that you did not know that this was happening is essentially putting a property in your district, well, being responsive about a property in your district to a third-party government agency, which we have said we don't do.

Through the chair, that is correct. And I'm going to preface this by saying I did receive a call from Mr. Bueno. I didn't see the resolution. I didn't have any details about the resolution. I didn't know when it was coming. You called me and you said it was coming that evening. I don't even remember because it was so in passing. The point is that I should have been briefed on this with staff, with my chief of staff on all of this. I did have conversations with the commissioner about it, but I wasn't included with the district about the plan that this was. I'm talking about staff here. I'm not talking about, and I cannot authorize us to enter into an interlocal agreement, negotiate terms of an interlocal agreement when we don't have any, because that's what it says. It says, the recommend, authorized the superintendent to negotiate an interlocal agreement among the district, city, and county. So we haven't even discussed this And now we're going to be negotiating. You're asking me as the representative, which I'm not going to do, to negotiate an interlocal agreement. What if this board, we don't have parameters. We don't even know what we're looking for. I understand that it talks about workforce housing. I understand that it's just a possibility of the... Everything is very, very loosely worded here. And I'll go straight to... the amount of money is $4.8 million to be appropriated from the Public Benefits Trust Fund to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to support the redevelopment of the property. What are our interests? What are our safeguards? What are our guardrails to protect our interests? I don't even see that on here. So how am I going to authorize and I pose this question to my colleagues, when we don't even have safeguards and parameters that know how we're gonna go into a inter-local agreement, then to come back to the board and then say, oh, we reject this because we don't like it? For me, it doesn't make any sense. I don't know if anybody else wants to, yes.

Yes, through the chair. I'm miffed if that happened, and I trust that it did, especially when you indicate that you have receipts. To hear that anyone had any representation about the district's support of another municipality's position is problematic for me. I call balls and strikes, and that would be very, very problematic. I come from a school of wisdom where Dr. Stinson would often say to me, and many of us, if you don't get it directly from the person, discard it. And there's a lot of things that are happening in this district, in this community, even saw some of it recently where people represent the interest of organizations as if they're speaking for the organization. And because they're attached or associated to the organization, that representation of authorization support is very often disingenuous or inaccurate. I would take exception with anyone representing the board's position to another governmental entity without the board's explicit authorization, let alone even more concerning the board member representing that district, because it's a small network of public servants, and I'm not gonna go too far in the history books, but you know, I was recognized at a recent municipality, and I know I'm deviating, but you'll get the point. I was recognized at Miami Gardens. They recognized me for what we've done in District One. And when I whispered to the mayor, who I've known for years, and I said, you know, this is my first time at a council meeting. And he said, really? I said, yeah. My position has always been I let people operate in their spaces because I'm going to operate in mine. And I have that level of respect for elected officials. So if there's some municipalities or governmental entities that are being put in a position to perceive support that we have given that we have not through proxies, that's a problem. And I think that needs to be addressed. I would have a problem with it. I'm hearing the video footage, and if someone represented that, it's wrong. It's not good, it's wrong. And I'm not gonna get into who, I guess the superintendent will, but it's public information, and it's problematic, especially as we're dealing with some of these land use issues. I don't really, I don't strike a chord on certain things, but this is one that will strike a chord with me. I'm always trying to find the through line with the board and the administration, but Madam Chair would recall, Board Member Santos may recall, there were some previous things that occurred prior to you, Dr. Doltris, that the board learned about after the barn door was up, the horses were already out, and the cart was gone down the road. You, as we gave you compliments previously, had really tried to abate that and actually eliminate those communication gaps. But that issue was pretty much with land deals and arrangements that people were out there navigating and representing the board, the school district, and you. And that's a problem. I'm pleasant, but I'll call balls and strikes, and if it comes to my backyard, I'm calling names. Okay? It ain't in my backyard, but I'm calling names because I don't tolerate disrespect because I don't disrespect. But if that happens and it happened, that's a problem. So I'm not going to sugarcoat it. We've established some protocols on how we're going to interact. You've made that commitment. And if anybody deviated outside of that, I'm sure you're going to address it. I don't know the details. I'm interested in them, and I am going to follow up on them within the sunshine, maybe through Mr. Harvey. But I'm interested to knowing what happened in your backyard so it don't happen in mine.

thank you through the chair and and i just want to reiterate that is public record it's it's on the no no i'm just saying it's i have the footage and i've refrained from showing it today because i was appalled when i saw it that this individual spoke on behalf of miami-dade county public schools that we are in support of the resolution without even telling me And if you don't know about it, that's even more disturbing to me.

Madam Vice Chair, Mr. Bueno.

Through the Chair, I don't recall exactly the date. Through our consultant, I was called and I was informed that there was going to be a resolution that the City of Miami was going to place on their agenda at that point in time. I was shared some of the information that the resolution was going to have. Through the chair, I cannot recall the exact date. I can probably go back to my records. I received a call from one of our consultants letting me know that there was going to be a resolution in reference to the property that Mrs. Colucci's talking about. later on that date on the city commission. Like I explained, I do not control other entities' resolutions or what they bring to their board. I cannot control that. However, we were informed that that was coming through. At that point in time, within minutes, I contacted Mrs. Colucci and I informed her that there was going to be a resolution. I shared with her what I knew Mrs. Colucci, let me not. So I shared with Mrs. Colucci that that was going to be taking place, that that individual, the commissioner, was going to place it on his agenda. I brought it up to her attention. As a result, the resolution, as Ms. Colucci said, someone from the district did go speak. However, I want to make it clear, the resolution was not solely on this one project. It had other projects, and through one of the memos that we have sent to the board, it was talking about other items that we were in support of. However, more so, The agenda item that we have brought to the board, if I recall correctly, the third number basically states that return to the board with a proposed interlocal agreement and recommended development coming back to the board for permission.

If I can interject, and I don't mean to step on you for any, but I mean, we like to say we're Miami-Dade County Public Schools and nobody tells us what to do. And this item seems to reward the behavior that we don't want to encourage, even from people that we know, because this is a small community of elected officials. But essentially what this item does is say, if a government takes an initiative to decide to develop on our property without consultation, we will entertain it. We will entertain it. And those conversations should be happening. The city of Miami, a commissioner should approach you, should approach the commissioner, whether he's a friend or not a friend, and then a concerted effort to decide to move something forward. But again, this is a third party deciding to motivate the administration without the direction, or at least the consultation of the board member, to bring an item forward to then get our direction to essentially puts her in a position to say, I don't want it in my district. I mean, it's a tough position to be in, especially when I was told that these kinds of efforts will not be advanced without essentially advice and consent of the board member of whose district the property is located. So I don't understand how we're here. Madam Vice Chair.

Yes, and I'm sorry. The third page of the resolution, I'm gonna refer to it. It clearly states our property. It clearly states our property. $4.8 million to be used for the redevelopment of the property located at 7001 Southwest 4th Street, Miami, Florida and other eligible sites, other eligible sites for workforce housing provided that such redevelopment applies with all terms and conditions to be set forth in the HCD, HCLC approvals which shall be consistent with the city commission approval. And it is further subject to applicable procurement requirements, affordability restrictions, and compliance with all federal, state, and local laws. And it continues.

So, Madam Vice Chair, what you're saying is this is a standalone resolution for that property?

To me, it talks about other, it refers to our property clearly on the last page. On the last page, it refers to our property through the chair. And my thing is, I have no problem discussing this. And I did speak with the commissioner months ago about this. But there was nothing brought to me from the district before we even went out to say we're in support of this. And that's a big, big problem. I don't even understand how else to say it. And I will say it like Dr. Gallin said. It's disrespect. It really is. It's disrespectful. Because I am the duly elected constitutional officer for that district, District 8. The property is within my district. The land is ours. taxpayer land that's overseen by this board. And statutorily, we are the ones that move this forward, not the other way around. And I see that this is starting to become something that could snowball into something that gets out of our control, and I don't like that, and I'm not gonna stand for it. Through the chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ms. Colucci, so see if I can put this in perspective. I know you and I have been talking about this property. The commissioner had interest in it. It took months, right? It took months. So the impression was that there was awareness of this. When the staff brings it to my attention, I asked one question. One question. Is this binding or not? Because this has to be approved by the board. We made that commitment, Mr. Espino, and we've done it. So I was told it was not binding, not binding at all. It was brought later in the day. I asked staff, please let's make sure Ms. Colucci is aware. And one of our representatives from our intergovernmental team, she was the one that went in support of, but again... The final, there is no decision whatsoever without bringing it back to the board.

Through the chair again, I'm sorry. We've said it several times today, perception becomes reality. Now we've given the perception to the city of Miami. that this board supports this, even though it was, no, I wasn't there, you weren't there, nor would I speak to something that I didn't have the details of before I had the information in my hands, which I never did through the chair.

Of course, before we go. Yes, as through the chair, I'm going to try to land this plane. If in fact, I understand what you're saying, Dr. Dolchus, but We'll cut to the facts. If in fact there was a declaration publicly stated that we are in support of this, that's the problem. I don't know what was said, but if that was, now, we have done in the past, we'll send a staff person to observe, to watch, and in some cases, they'll try to put a, we have somebody from Miami-Dade County Public Schools here. I'm just here as an observer, we'll give an update. But until the board acts, I think a public declaration of support, will put us in a box, and sometimes people will try to do that, and if that happened, that's problematic.

Yeah.

Whether it's not binding or not, if it's not binding, I just, but if somebody made a declaration of support for something that has not gone through I'm sorry? Through the chair?

I'm sorry, Dr. Gallin. Through the chair, as the superintendent mentioned, the item is non-binding.

Through the chair, I understand that. I'm not disputing that. I'm saying the statement, the declaration, public declaration of support of the idea, the only body that can declare public support of the idea is this body. You know, if it were me, I wouldn't say anything unless I have receipts. I'm here to represent the school board at its committee meeting on April 15, 2012. The board moved a resolution unanimously to support this concept. And they will be voting on it at the board. But until the board votes on it, that's it. That's as far as I would go. I would not have gone with support because people are going to manipulate that. And then you're going to put, I'm talking politics now.

No, no, absolutely. What I was just trying to get to, aside from that, is like the chicken or the egg theory. So at some point, we do have to bring whatever property, whatever initiative we're going to take, we do have to bring an item to the board seeking authorization, right, to negotiate an interlocal or to explore a redevelopment. that's all it is it's non-binding the board needs to authorize us and say look we are interested in the development of that property then then we will we will have those conversations and ultimately that will all come back to the board if i'm if i may we hear the procedure and you're not wrong i don't think the procedure was followed to the if it was followed to the letter then it was not followed to the spirit or intent so my question is it's it's in your district you want to defer it

I want to defer. I'm not going to support this as written. And it's going to put us in a position where we don't have parameters of what we're even looking at. It's very vague. And I need to sit down. I need to be fully briefed by staff what was discussed. And I need to know and have input on what's going on here. This is critical to me. And I'm going to put something else before this board. And we don't need to discuss it right now. But this is something that we have to look at. because we're getting into, yes, educational enterprise, we're getting into land, we're getting into workforce housing, and I understand that there is a need for land in our community. I'm very well aware of that. There's a need for our teachers to have workforce housing. Very well aware of that, and I've said it, I've supported that. But the manner in which this was handled was very, I find it disrespectful to me. And I'm not going to support something like this. So I think this needs to be deferred to a later time where I'm fully briefed on this or even withdrawn, whatever how you want to prefer. But I'm not going to support this as is, the way that it was handled.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Board Member Alonzo has an opportunity to speak. No, thank you so much, Board Member Espino, for giving me the opportunity. And this can turn into... The Wild Wild West. And not everybody has the same intentions that this board has. And just this morning I was speaking with the superintendent about some properties in Hialeah. And in other areas that we're looking at. And you said it very precisely and Dr. Gallant said it as well too, Vice Chair Colucci. We're the deciding body. on school board property. And right now we're sitting, and I don't think we realize this sometimes, but we're sitting on gold. And everybody is grasping at what we have. And we have a responsibility as the elected officials and the constitutional officers, as you said, to protect these properties. And I think we've been doing a really good job of it. And staff has been helping us with this. But we've got to be careful not to get sucked in to this world that's out there. Board Member Espino is very familiar with it. He does this for a living every day as a land use attorney. I'm in the real estate world, and I have separated myself from it purposely, and everybody on staff knows, because of the way in which the market is right now. So I'm just going to caution staff to be very, very careful. We should not be standing in front of any municipal boards. Staff should not be meeting with any municipalities until this board has given direction because those municipalities don't have the authority to decide. And actually, Tallahassee this past session just actually added even more flexibility and more importance to the fact that the school board is the one to decide as to what will happen on these properties. So I just caution staff, and I know that, as we said earlier, you're trying to keep up. We're putting pressure on staff that let's get more reactive. But the board member, at a minimum, the board member from that area should be fully briefed And then if we're going to go before another municipality, another government agency, the same way we do when it's setting priorities in Tallahassee. It comes to us first. And then our lobbying team goes to Tallahassee with the directive of this board as to what it is that our priorities are and what we feel is right for this community when it comes to education. So I just... I want to say be very careful because it could get to that point. And to Dr. Gallin's point, have receipts. Make sure that we vote on it and that you have something in writing because, look, you might call me in the middle of something. I run a business. Board member Colucci has a job. And we might say, oh, okay, okay. And then you think that, okay, they're good. But we didn't fully process at that moment what it was that was going to actually happen. Once again, to the earlier conversation that we had, it goes back to communication, and it's important that we really focus in on that, and especially on these sensitive items that we're discussing here.

Thank you so much. Dr. Doltris.

I guess I'm gonna repeat it again, but Ms. Colucci said a word that I get it, in passing. There's a big difference between in passing and sitting down and giving you a full brief. I got it, Mr. Colucci. I understand. And truly, we're going to withdraw it and give you enough time to understand it all because that's not the way we want to operate here. However, I must tell you that when it came to my attention, I clearly said, okay... Non-binding and the board makes that determination. We've been very cautious with all of this. If it has to come back to the board one, two times, so be it. We are not preempting that. So in this case, that is what occurred, but we had no intention. no intention whatsoever of proceeding with this, Ms. Colucci, without your involvement in it, so we're withdrawing it, period, and giving you enough time, instead of giving you an explanation in passing, It's going to be an in-depth briefing.

Thank you, Dr. Dautrich. Through the chair, this is for me, and we're going to have, obviously, an in-depth briefing on this. We have to just proceed with caution right now. We really do as a board. We have to be thoughtful because this piece of property is right by the Ludlam Trail. It is worth a lot of money. So how can we even go into negotiations without having... you know, for an inter-local agreement without even, I don't even know how much the property's worth. I don't know how much, I mean.

We understand the confusion.

Yeah, I mean, this is, and so they, you know, I'm appreciative of.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Madam Chair, you had a comment?

Yes, thank you very much. Very, very briefly. And by the way, the comments that you just made, let me wait for a minute for everybody to be listening. I'm waiting, Mr. Superintendent. Thank you. No, I want to make a statement, but you're all talking, and I just wanted to wait.

I am so sorry, because we're trying to clarify some things that are in here.

It's all right. First of all, it's kind of deja vu. It kind of reminds me of something that occurred a while back ago, and I know that Board Member Callan will remember. This very building here, right here, at one point was going to be sold. And I raised a massive concern. You mean to tell me we're going to sell this building without an appraisal, a current appraisal being done? And we're going to use an appraisal that was done 10 years ago? Absolutely not. Was the board notified at that point? No, absolutely not, and what happened, we totally took that item off. You remember that? Okay. We have to learn from the past, and I heard the word in passing, and you're right, and thank you, Mr. Superintendent, for acknowledging the fact that there's a huge difference to sit down and give a full briefing to someone as opposed to in passing kind of say something. because you're not gonna have an effective outcome as we're seeing here now. But the biggest problem I'm seeing in this and Vice Chair Colucci is absolutely correct. First of all, no one can stand in front of another entity and say that this group that has never seen something, never seen it, I've never seen it personally. I have no idea, nobody's briefed me and I don't represent that district. But we vote as a whole. There are nine board members that have to make decisions. And I think that the first issue of perception becoming reality, even though it wasn't meant to be that way, is that someone would say that we were in support. without the knowledge of the board members. And again, I'm going by based on the conversation that has taken place here today because I was not cognizant of any of these issues before. As we move forward, and again, thank you Mr. Superintendent for acknowledging the fact that you're gonna take this out because it is disrespectful, especially. to the board member representing that district, but also to the entire group because of the fact that we are the nine constitutional officers that have the massive responsibility that we owe to those taxpayers and to our constituents who put us in these seats. to make sure that everything that we do is in everyone's best interest and that cannot happen without the knowledge of what is occurring. So moving forth, I'm glad you're at this point going to no longer proceed with that item until all of the proper steps are taken. And prior to anyone going to another entity in the future and making And again, I haven't seen anything. I'm just going based on the conversation that I've heard here today. But prior to anyone going and saying that you're in support of something, even though whatever the circumstances are, may be is not acceptable if we have not been properly notified before and we have not said we are in agreement. So I just wanted to state that even though I'm not the board member for that particular district, I understand the frustration. And as a member of the board, I also feel that we were left out of a process that we needed to know about. And so I know you, Mr. Superintendent, and I know you're going to do your very best to remedy the situation so that it's not repeated. And the communication, back to the word communication that we've been talking about today, is enhanced so that these situations don't reoccur.

Thank you, Madam Chair. To wrap up, Board Member Gallin.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to land this plane. I guess I'm going to get a little sentimental before I do that. I'll try to make it quick, but I want to make it powerful. When my mom and dad divorced, my mom left. And for a period of time, I didn't see my mother. And she sent me a letter, and it was pretty simple. It says, to err is human, to forgive is divine. And I have to sometimes draw back to our discourse regarding issues that occur in our district, we're not perfect human beings and we're not perfect people. I always try to look at the intent of what is happening. So I want to say I have every bit of confidence in you, Mr. Superintendent, and your intent around communicating and conveying and adhering to the policy. But when you drill down in the organization, whether it's an employee or a consultant, there are gaps. And our obligation is to have an opportunity to correct that. But in that correction, I want to be clear, there's no shaking of my confidence in your integrity and your commitment to honoring the board's policy and what we have experienced in terms of amplified and serious communication and engagement. But obviously, relationships require communication and transparency and candor. And so I want to kind of convey that in that regards and just kind of leave you all with a few words of policy, public relationships, politics, perception. And when those things don't reconcile, it's different worlds. So the individual spoke may not have contemplated the politics. Individual spoke may not have anticipated the perception. The individual spoke might not have looked at the policy. The individual who spoke may not have thought about the public relations around these particular issues, but this is why Board Member Alonzo says this can become the wild, wild west. And the last one was the policy, and that's why I initiated the policy to kind of bring this in. Because it was becoming the wild, wild west. So lessons learned moving forward. And I have confidence that we'll address these issues and you'll take the appropriate steps. And to err is human, to forgive is divine. But, you know, we just don't repeat the same mistakes twice. And I guess the last P is parent. I've got to go pick up my daughter.

Thank you, Board Member Gallin. F26, please.

F26 is the Commissioning of the Architect Engineer of Record for Arthur and Polly Mays 6th through 12th grade Conservatory of the Arts and Pine Villa Elementary School.

Board Member Santos.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I'm very excited to see this item before us. I know that I have a pending touch point with Mr. Perez after I review the documents you sent over to ensure that the full facilities list that has been discussed over the last year is fully captured in this before we vote on... Well, this is the architect one. I meant for F27, sorry. They're combined. So for both items, I will... make sure I follow up with you and ensure that before our vote next Wednesday that everything that we've been discussing is addressed so that we can, again, keep moving these innovative projects forward.

Thank you, Board Member Santos.

F27. F27 is commissioning of the construction management at risk firm for Arthur and Polly May 6th through 12th grade Conservatory of the Arts and Pine Villa Elementary School. Seeing no comments, F28. F28 is termination of agreement without cause with the architect of record for Riverside Elementary School new classroom addition project.

Yes, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much. That's one of the schools that I represent and one that needs a lot of help in this particular arena. Can you please address it saying here without cause? Yes. Can you please elaborate for me the scenario here?

Sure, through the Chair. Madam Chair, so a few years ago we commissioned this architect for an expansion project, right, an addition at Riverside. With the current enrollment trends, fast forward to today, The school is under 100% utilization. It's approximately at around like 75%, 77%. So there is no need at this point to continue this project, which would have been a 400-student station, a new 400-student station addition. So in lieu of that, we are going to... create a renovation project that the school needs. As you mentioned, that school has a lot of other capital needs that we could address in a renovation project in lieu of the addition project.

Okay. Thank you. Through the chair, has that renovation project been addressed with a principal as to the exact needs that they need? And is that being considered?

Through the chair, Madam Chair, as you know, we met out there. We actually, by coincidence, we were out there. I was out there with my team because we were looking at putting together the scope for that particular project. So that is now in our queue. and as we start to align the five-year capital plan, we will identify funds for that particular project. But, yes, we were there for a few hours. We walked with the principal. The principal took us to all the locations, and our planning team took all the information back to the office and have prepared a scope of work.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Last item, F80, please.

F80 is authorization to approve the prequalification of contractors for educational facilities construction.

Thank you. May I have a motion to recommend the F items except F7? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor?

Aye.

All opposed? Any new business colleagues? I'm sorry.

Thank you so much, and I wanna thank Mr. Luis Diaz who kindly stayed because I couldn't ask in the previous committee, but this is new business related to food and nutrition. I was speaking to one of my appointees on the Wellness Advisory Committee, and they had a lot of discussion about an ongoing situation of highly processed foods being sold as an incentive during school hours. I understand many schools are having to get very creative in their fundraising, and I certainly, did a ton of fundraising when I was at Corey Senior High to make sure we had funding for all the activities my classmates and I wanted to do. So that said, Mr. Diaz, can you please reiterate what policy and guidelines we have in this district when it relates to food, fundraisers, and celebrations at school?

Through the chair, Mr. Espino, yes, Ms. Santos. So statute requires all districts to provide a wellness policy. That's a reciprocal for us is policy 8510. It has a lot of information in 8510, but particularly if you go to Appendix A in 8510, it talks about food and beverage sold on campuses as well as in vending machines the one hour prior to before the school starting as well as one hour after dismissal. It talks about the type of beverages, which basically are non-carbonated or have no added caffeine. It differentiates on that component, elementary, middle, and senior, on the count of ounces that you're allowed to provide. It also talks about in that policy, food and snacks, that basically we do not allow no more than 200 calories as well as 230 milligrams of sodium. So it's specific in Appendix A. Just so you're aware, the way in which schools are aware of this, because obviously, you know, there's a lot of schools out there, and like you said, sales are cumbersome. At the beginning of the year, we provide a weekly briefing. It's actually an opening of school manual for school leadership to provide with their faculty at the opening of school. We provide a weekly briefing that we send out as well. It's also in our student activities manual, as well as the food and nutrition supervisor serving that role and capacity to kind of like spot check when they go out to schools. Obviously, they're not there all day. They do the best job they possibly can, but we'll happily rely on leadership, you know, at the school site to kind of make sure that these things are in policy that are in place. Thank you, Mr. Lewis.

Thank you so much for that thorough explanation and for making sure that principals and schools have the information they need to follow our policy. I will be sure to reiterate that these are policies and how people can be reminded of how they need to implement them. Thank you so much.

You know, Mr. Diaz had that ready to go off the top of his head. He was just ready to spit that out. Madam Chair, you had a comment.

Yes, thank you very much. Mine is going to be quick but important. And I know I don't think I see Carl, Niccolo, do I in the back? No. Okay. The elevators that I have spoken about in this district many times in the past have been enhanced with the new ones that we have put in. However, On the back side over here where the board members go through the back and not the front one, there is an elevator that is making Very strange noises in every single floor as you go down. We have witnessed it. I witnessed it yesterday again. And it's a little scary. And something is probably going to go awry. So we need to take a look at that. Again, this is a new elevator. I don't understand why we're still having issues with some of the new ones, but here we are. So if we could take a look at this, because, again, I was in that elevator with several people, and I was praying that we didn't get stuck in there. And you don't want to get stuck with me in an elevator, trust me.

Thank you, Madam Chair. You don't.

You absolutely do not.

Thank you. Board Member Gallo.

Just a minute, please. Just one second, because I know he did want to say something.

Through the Chair, Madam Chair, absolutely. I will relay the message to Mr. Niccolo. The elevators, I believe, are still under warranty. Yes. And if they're making crazy noises, we will definitely bring that to their attention. Thank you. And aside from that, with your energy, I would love to be trapped in an elevator with you. It'll eliminate my stress.

You may want to think about that twice.

And just very briefly, and we've talked about this, we still have problems cropping up with the AC over at Nautilus. They've had some problems again. I know, you know, you're in touch with Mr. Niccolo. He's very good at keeping in touch with me. Bay Harbor, at least temporarily, seems to be doing. Ruth K. Broad, a little better. But I still want to be sure that we've got replacements on the way because this patchwork, We can't just continue to patch forever. So that's the issue. Thank you.

Through the chair, Mr. Geller, yes, absolutely. We do have a project already that will be replacing a number of components and systems at Bay Harbor. And I've been in communication with Mr. Niccolo after, you know, as we spoke. They are addressing issues at Nautilus, but they also have submitted requests for replacement of air handlers and other components. Thank you, sir.

Facilities and maintenance comprehensive update.

Mr. Chair, the facility and maintenance comprehensive updates were provided with the committee packet. If you have any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them. Board Member Santos.

Thank you, Mr. Perez. Can you walk us through why there's four less projects in the total project scope for this month versus last month?

Through the chair, so yes, under complementary and accelerated projects, there were four projects that were removed from that particular category, and that's due to the fact that these projects had not had any expenditures, and in lieu of our approach of closing out GOB funds and transferring GOB funds more in a consolidated approach, we swapped funds on those four projects. We funded them with a funding source that's non-GOB, so for that reason, they've been removed from the report.

Thank you for that efficiency.

Thank you so much. I'd like the record to reflect Mr. Nicholas with us, and he'll have to pick up the bar tab for not being here at the cross-examination. So, you're going to pay for it one way or another, man. Office of Community Partnerships, Education, and Business Access, Dr. Abner Roberts.

Through the Chair, the report was transmitted to each of you. If there's any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Seeing none, entertain a motion to adjourn. Second? All in favor? Aye. We're done, 6.05. Thank you, everybody.