Facilities and Construction Committee - Regular Meeting

All right, folks, we've got a big agenda ahead of us. Let's get started. Welcome to Facilities and Construction for September 2nd. I am your chair. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of, thank you, August 5th. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Entertain a motion to bring the F items to the floor.

Move it. Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

I would even tell you, Mr. President, today you can even take your time, man. I'm kidding. Thank you.

I hate to tell you, you lost now, for sure. Board member Alonzo. Filibuster. Do we have any muzzles for all the board members?

I will try to speak slower. And deliberately. F1, please. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, Madam Chair, and school board members. F1 is authorization to finalize negotiations and execute a joint use agreement with the City of Coral Gables for joint use of the Coral Gables Preparatory Academy parking lot and Phillips Park. Madam Chair.

Thank you very much. I am so elated about this project. It took a while.

Yes, it did.

Because it took a while, but we finally got it through. I was just at the Gables City Hall meeting that we had in reference to this particular item, and I want to let everyone know that I'm deeply grateful to Mayor Lago, vice mayor anderson and all of the commissioners as well as the city manager and every single person who spoke in support of this endeavor this is going to help our students in coral gables preparatory academy who do not have the in within their facility the area to be able for their children to do their pe classes and get engaged in the sports arena as they should. This now opens the door for our kids to be able to use that facility. It is a win-win for them, a win-win for us, and again, another wonderful example of when the public sector is joining together with our elected officials to make a difference. our children i do want to thank raul i know that you have together with many of the members of that community including myself um answered so many questions and have been very involved in the process so thank you mr perez i appreciate it but most importantly on behalf of the of the students and of the principal and of the entire family at Coral Gables, we are very, very happy and very grateful for allowing our children now to be able to use that wonderful facility so that they can have their PE classes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you so much. F40, please.

F40 is the change order approval item.

Any discussions, colleagues? Yes.

Just very briefly, thank you, Board Member Spino.

I just wanted to share with the board and I did have this conversation with Mr. Perez and with the region superintendent to reevaluate some of these additional investments that we make in schools, especially when enrollment is not at the levels to support additional classrooms. This is a GOB, and these are some classes that were left out of the original GOB, and we're asking for some additional dollars. But we want to make sure that those classes are truly needed, because there are other buildings within District 4 and throughout their entire district that need some of these dollars. So I have asked staff, even though I'm going to be in favor of this, to meet with the principal and to understand if the need's really there, And if it's really not there to reevaluate these additional dollars going to the school. So I just wanted to put that on the record.

That's fair. I mean, I had a similar conversation with Mr. Perez about as we look at consolidations or, you know, whether they're occurring or have occurred or will be occurring, whether the dollars, whether they're obligation or just capital should be allocated elsewhere, especially those schools that were reinforcing with mergers and consolidations. So right on. May I have a motion to approve the F items? Oh, I'm sorry, Madam Chair.

Sir, I'm so sorry, very quickly. But I do also want to caution everyone. We have some facilities, many, I have several that are 100 years old already. They're amazing facilities offering tremendous programs. that do need the investment of the general obligation bond just simply to keep up with those sites, even though they're quite old and the numbers might not be 100% up to par, but the numbers are pretty stable. They need the love and tender care because in the central area, there are a lot of schools that were built many, many years ago. It's not like the more modern ones. And so those do require a lot more dollars to be invested. So just want to put that out. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Entertain a motion to approve the F items? Move it. Second. All in favor?

Aye.

All opposed? Seeing none. New business. We have two follow-ups. Colleagues, I'm going to request that for the follow-up on item H7, it be brought back next month when Board Member Dr. Benos Bendegal can join us. IS THERE ANY COMMENTS ON H-9 EXPLORATION OF DISTRICT TEACHER EMPLOYEE INFILL HOUSING PROGRAM?

OKAY.

YEAH, I DON'T KNOW. YEAH, OKAY. YEAH, AGENDA, WAIT A MINUTE, IS IT WRONG? IS THIS NOT THE RIGHT FOLLOW-UP HERE? IT'S ON MY AGENDA HERE. YEAH, IT'S ON THE AGENDA, RIGHT? YEAH, AGENDA ITEM, SORRY, H-9 EXPLORATION OF DISTRICT TEACHER AND EMPLOYEE INFILL HOUSING PROGRAM. OH, OKAY, THAT'S WHAT IT WAS. Okay. Colleagues, any new business from the board? Yes, Madam Vice Chair.

We made it. That's my new business. I want to commend the new superintendent on his first day on the job and a big one in committee. And I know that as a board, and I want to just state for my colleagues, I have tremendous respect for each and every one of you. I know that TOGETHER. WE HAVE TOUGH DECISIONS TO MAKE. I KNOW OUR NEW SUPERINTENDENT HAS TOUGH DECISIONS TO MAKE. BUT TOGETHER WITH OUR COMMUNITIES, WE'RE GOING TO DO WHAT'S THE BEST THING FOR OUR STUDENTS. AND I'M AN ETERNAL OPTIMIST. THE GLASS IS NOT HALF EMPTY. IT'S HALF FULL. AND WE'RE JUST GOING TO FILL IT WITH MORE GREAT THINGS FOR MIAMI-DADE COUNTY. SO I JUST WANTED TO STATE THAT AFTER THE LONG committee meetings we've had. Thank you.

Of course. Yeah.

And just to kind of echo the sentiments, um, there's a place I've been affiliated with that talks about creative hope. We can't just be hopeful. we have to be part of that hopeful process. And so as a board member, and I think I speak for all of us, very grateful to have you on board. This was a great meeting, trial by fire right away. We had a lot of important things to discuss. But as we are hopeful, we are working towards creating that hope. And I look forward to doing it together.

Thank you. Thank you. No, it's a good first day. The building is still standing, so we're solid. You know what I mean? That's it. Little things. Mr. Superintendent.

Through the chair, I just want to take a moment also of personal privilege to also congratulate Dr. Eric Acosta, my chief of staff, for making it through his first committee meeting as well. He did a great job, by the way.

Last time I saw him, his brow wasn't so furrowed. Thank you, everybody, so much. Facilities and maintenance comprehensive update. Mr. Prez?

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

Excellent. Seeing none, Office of Community Partnerships, Education, and Business Access, Dr. Amica Roberts.

Good afternoon. Through the chair, the report from the Office of Business Access was submitted. If there's questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Seeing none, I think we've exhausted the business. May I have a motion to adjourn?