2009-1029 Special Commission Meeting

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Summary Minules: Special City Commission Meeling Oclober 29,2009 Cily of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida believes the Crossing Guards are important and he is supportive of the first suggestion here ofthe two Crossing Guards for two hours each shift. He too has looked at that location noted that it is really the job of the Crossing Guards, and he doesn't really see the necessity of having a Policeman there. Basically the school was set up for Crossing Guards to handle most ofthe major intersections and not Police, and he also recognizes his comment that part of the traffic configuration of flow over there is unrelated to the shopping center, that it is either related to the Texaco Station and/or Publix flowing in and out of there. Chief Fred Maas said when this discussion came up at a previous meeting, no one from the Police Department or Public Safety was asked to be there. When he learned about it later, he would have told the Commission that the value of a Policeman there at that particular time for that designated purpose would not be of value equal to the cost, because when the Police Officer leaves, you have the same safety issues and the same dynamics of the intersection, pedestrians, difficult turns, and turns that are coming from the thoroughfare into the driveway blocking traffic coming east. It is basically because of the school, and we know that the majority of the stores in the shopping center are not open, and so we have a different set of dynamics in the afternoon when most of the stores are open. They are also correct, that the number of students crossing there are not so much the issue, nor the side they are on, but the number of pedestrians that are residents and visitors to our City that are staying here. With regards to the three hours charged for a Police Officer, we are under contract, there is a minimum, Mr. Katz was treated the same as everyone else, this was the reason they tried to contact his office when the decision was made to have an Officer there. Mayor Edelcup said that ChiefMaas' first comment was most germane to the issue, that the cost really doesn't justify itself based on what we are getting for that cost, and again, it just reinforces what he was saying, that we need the Crossing Guards there but we certainly don't need to burden Mr. Katz with the cost of a Policeman there. The Crossing Guards do the job, and our Police would probably be better off doing Police work. ChiefMaas said two things have occurred, we added a grade to the school which is an additional 250 children, and next year it will be even worse, it is bringing in more vehicles which had added to the dynamics of that intersection. Mayor Edelcup said if we did get the traffic light on 182nd Street, that would alleviate a lot of the problems at the 183rd intersection, and maybe what we need to do is the next time we are meeting with FDOT is to ask Chief Maas to be in attendance as part of the team to express his opinions as well. Mayor Edelcup noted that we have similar problems at 1781h Street as well as 1751h Street, and so 183rd Street isn't the only intersection that has this problem, and once we have addressed 183rd, we need to look at 1781h and 1751h as well because we should be trying to have a uniformed system throughout the City. Mayor Edelcup clarified that the only thing we are talking about right now is whether or not to retain the Police at that intersection. Vice Mayor Thaler asked the City Attorney if a note was sent over to Mr. Katz giving him the rates of the Police Officer before the agreement was signed, and City Attorney Ottinot said that the City Manager was dealing with RK with respect to fees, and City Manager Conner said he did not send the fee schedule personally, it was his understanding that it was part of the process that was provided to them. Police ChiefMaas said all the jobs that are handled through the Police Department are handled by 4