Remarks by Christi Fraga
2,372 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 85 of 95
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“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…”
“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…”
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“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.”
“I understand that you don't want to. Oh, no, no, Mayor.”
“I will finish. Thank you. It was just confirmed by the clerk that she told me there was a quorum.”
“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…”
“Any other comments so much sorry. Yes, council be natal.”
“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…”
“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.”
“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?”
“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…”
“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.”