On Tuesday December 18,
2012 Special Committee Meeting for North Bay Village slated to begin at 6:00 pm
was called to order at 6:15pm. The meeting began with one commissioner short
that showed up at 6:25pm.
The first order of
business after the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call was two ordinances that
were discussed to its fullest on the previous meeting. These were land
development regulations code of ordinances entitled “Land Use” relating to
development of mixed use commercial and multifamily structures within the
commercial district. And “Zoning”
entitled “Bay View Overlay District”. The
commission had no further discussion or question and was ready to push it
through. Mr. Rey Trujillo was compelled
to delay the process by lecturing on what had already been discussed. Finally public comments were closed and the
commission voted 5 to 0 on both “no brainer” ordinances.
The next item on the agenda
was reconsideration of presentations by proposers of RFQ for Legal Services pursuant
to section 10 (D) of North Bay Village Agenda Procedures. Mayor Connie Leon-Kreps
attempted to rail road the process and read from what appeared to be a
rehearsed script to push for a decision. Not allowing the legal firms to make a
fifteen minute presentation with ten minutes for Q & A as previously agreed.
Rey Trujillo defended the motion by again lecturing how well the RFQs were
processed and handled.
The commission was reminded
that the process of the RFQs left various open doors for the other legal firms
to challenge it, thus possibly creating more legal expenditures. Mr. Kevin
Vericker very eloquently summarized his concerns. Common sense prevailed and the
commissions will hear oral presentations from all the legal firms that bid on the
contract. I have my preference but will not reveal it, thus allowing the commission
to make their uninfluenced recommendations. This should be a priority from some
of our influential residents that are attempting to pressure the commission
with their preference.
The piggy back master
plan beautification project for the causeway with The Florida Department (FDOT)
Local Funding Agreement was scratched. This piggy back project
was estimated to cost North Bay Village over 2.5 million. The City Manager
Dennis Kelly proposed spending $ 400,000.00 thousand on just the architectural
plan alone and risk not finding the money on grants later. So much for fiscal responsibility
and is not even 2013 yet. Mayor Connie Leon-Kreps led the charge to eliminate
this proposition. No action necessary and the propose expenditure disintegrated
on the spot.
The City Manager Dennis
Kelly proposed combining the executive assistant position with the grants administrator
position to save 6 thousand dollars a year. Credit goes to the city manager for
thinking outside the box. Mayor Connie
Leon-Kreps quickly interjected to make sure that this bad idea was not adopted.
The Grant Administrator was a position that survived the budget planning discussion.
In previous meetings it was agreed how important this position was for North
Bay Village. Our city officials suffer
from some form of collective amnesia because things that were discussed and agreed
keep surfacing to be discussed again.
“PUTTING NORTH BAY
VILLAGE FIRST”
Mario Garcia
December 19, 2012
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