Civil Service Board - Regular Meeting

Can you get us ready? Good morning, City of Miami. Happy New Year. Today is January 6, 2026. We'll commence the Civil Service Board meeting. We'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. Adoption of the agenda.

Motion. Second.

Motion by Board Member Jimenez, second by Board Member Solomon. All in favor?

Aye.

Approving of the minutes.

Motion. Second.

Motion by Board Member Solomon, second by Board Member Jimenez. All in favor? Aye. Personnel Matters, B1, copy of a memorandum from Chief Manuel A. Morales, Director, Department of Police, requesting an extension of probationary period for Jarivet Zuniga-Eraso, public service aide for nine additional months beyond December 25th, 2025.

Good morning, Board. Good morning. Ms. Jarivet could not be here this morning.

If you could please state your name.

I'm sorry, Kiana Sanders Bell, City of Miami Police Department. Ms. Jarevette could not be here this morning. She had a family emergency. So I was notified by her supervisor this morning.

Is she aware of the?

She is aware of the extension and she did not object to the extension.

Okay, wonderful. So we'll entertain a motion.

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion by Board Member Soliman, second by Board Member Lanier. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Thank you. C, military leaves of absence. C1, Catherine Triana Vasquez, police officer, requests retroactive military leave without pay from October 16, 2025 through November 15, 2025. Copy of orders submitted. Motion. Motion by Board Member Jimenez. Second. Second by Board Member Soliman. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. C2. Catherine Triana Vasquez, police officer, requests extension of military leave without pay through December 31, 2025. Records reflect her original request for military leave was from October 16, 2025 through November 15, 2025. Copy of orders extending leave submitted. Motion. Motion by Board Member Jimenez. Second. Second by Board Member Lanier. All in favor? Aye. D, disciplinary matters. Take note, D1 through D5. F, reports. F1, take note on the hearings pendings list. Our next scheduled board meeting is February 3rd, which is our next, we have two hearings as of today scheduled for that day. Board members take note. F2, 2025 Annual Report to the City Commission. Board members, take a look in your packets and you'll find the annual report. If you have not had a chance, we can take a moment. It's a five-page document. You can review it. If there's any comments, suggestions, so we can approve this to be presented before the city commission.

Welcome. Thanks. Thank you.

If there's any commentary, if anybody needs more time, please let us know. If not, we'll entertain a motion.

Motion to approve.

I think you might go.

Motion to approve.

We have a motion by Board Member Cabrera.

Second that motion.

Second by Board Member Soliman. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor? Aye. F3, Board Members, also in your packet, please take note. You have a 2026 Final Civil Service Board Calendar. Take a chance to review it. I think we've done so, if I recall correctly, on our last meeting last year. But if there's any changes at any point or anything anybody notices, please bring it to note. H, today's hearings. H1, appeal hearing on behalf of Liz Linda Bremer, police sergeant, concerning her 10-hour suspension effective March 19, 2023.

Good morning, Stephanie Panov on behalf of the city attorney's office. Ms. Bremmer's counsel, Mr. Buchel, is on the Zoom link. Can you hear us, Mr. Buchel?

Yes.

Okay, perfect. Good morning. The city is requesting a continuance in this case due to one of the detectives' unavailability.

Okay. Mr. Buchel?

No objection.

No objection. Just to be clear, we've had one department continuance prior to this and a joint board continuance. Is that correct?

That appears to be correct.

Okay, so this would be the second, I guess, department continuance. We'll entertain a motion.

I have a question. How many witnesses are you calling?

This is Ms. Aguirre's case. I'm not sure. I do know that one of the detectives just informed her that he was retired and on vacation, so she's asked for continuance to see if she could speak with the chief to see if... I don't know if she can still prove the case without this detective. If he doesn't cooperate, I'm not really sure.

Okay. Um... Um, so this would be the second department, the third department continues.

Okay.

I'm looking according to the hearing spendings and I see it there. Right. But we're, we're just doing H1 right now, right? Which is a 10 hour. Oh, it's a 10 hour. I'm sorry. Cause yeah, I'm looking at it. There you go. Yeah. So we've had, so for the record, this will be the third department continuance. We've had one employee continuance and one joint board.

I know Mr. Gibbons requested, if possible, for this case to be reset next month. Perhaps that could be either city, you know, you can prove it or not prove it, or you can get it resolved, whatever it is, but perhaps a short continuance could resolve it.

So, according to our hearings, pendings, you know, our calendar... We have our next meeting is February 3rd. After that, our following meeting will be March 3rd. So I'm not sure if we'll be able to include it. We have two hearings scheduled as of right now for February 3rd.

My hearing that's scheduled for February 3rd, I am requesting a continuance on because it's pending settlement with a commission agenda of February 12th.

Okay. Is that the abuse of power one? Correct. Okay. Okay. So if that's the case, then... We would have one on February 3rd, so maybe we can schedule that if possible.

All right.

Our staff's notified, and we'll try to accommodate that. Moving on to H2. Need a motion? Oh, I'm sorry. That's important. Do we have a motion? I'll make the motion. Motion by Board Member Jimenez. Second by Board Member Soliman. All in favor? Aye. Now, moving forward to H2. Appeal hearing on behalf of Liz Linda-Jones. Bremer, police sergeant concerning her 20-hour suspension effective September 16, 2024.

The city is ready on this case.

The city is ready. Mr. Buchel, is that the... Are you representing that? I believe it might be... Is this Ms. Mena?

So it appears that counsel has not shown up. nor has the appellant. Under 14.7, we can hear the evidence from the city and proceed with the hearing in their absence.

Okay, well, in fairness, so we haven't heard from the employee or the council?

I've asked staff to check and to see if they've been properly noticed because The attorney is one that has appeared before us many, many times, and she's never late, and it doesn't seem right somehow.

I sent a text message to the council to see if she's intending on appearing. She did not respond, but if we take a short break, I can call.

I would, I would, I would, I would, let's, let's take at least a five minute break. Yeah, let's try to make.

For the record, the letter was mailed November 4th, 2025.

Okay, but I mean, if we have contact and we can make a phone call, then let's, let's try to reach out and see if we can, you know, and I mean, ironically, I mean, it's different councils, but it's the same employee from the, from the first one that's being continued. So let's.

And I believe that there's also two witnesses out there, two officers that are out there.

I believe those are city witnesses. Oh, perfect, okay.

So we have the city ready to proceed. We're trying to get a hold of the council or the employee to see on H2. With that, we will take a five-minute recess and try to get a hold of the council or the employee.

Thank you.

Hi, can you guys hear me?

Yes.

Hi, good morning.

Good morning.

I apologize for the miscommunication. There must have been some clerical error. I actually had to undergo surgery yesterday, so I'm actually recovering today. That never made my calendar, so I am respectfully asking for a continuance, and I apologize for the misunderstanding.

Okay. No objection from the city. No objection from the city. We'll entertain a motion.

Motion. Second.

Motion by Board Member Lanier. Second by Board Member Jimenez. All in favor? Aye. Get better. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

With that, we conclude all the items on the agenda. We'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

Motion.

Motion by Board Member Solomon. Second. Second by Board Member Lanier. All in favor? Aye. We'll remind everybody our next Civil Service Board meeting will be February 3rd, 2026. See you all then. Thank you.

Thank you.