2007 0621 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting June 21,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida and once those ten days are up, a citation will be issued and a fine will be imposed of $250 per day. He said to bear in mind that once the citations are issued, they are allowed to request a hearing in front of a Special Master, but the City's presentation will be forceful, and they will be requesting that everything be done immediately. Commissioner Goodman asked if there are any other buildings that are causing any difficulties at the present time. Mr. Parker said yes, the Arlen House 100 has been going on for 2-3 years due to deteriorated concrete restoration. Mayor Edelcup asked if the Winston Towers 200 swimming pool issue has been rectified. Mr. Parker said that they are changing contractors and reinforced the structural foundations of the swimming pool, which is ready to be opened, but they are still having problems with the parking garage. Commissioner Goodman said that the garage is unsafe, and that they were just issued a permit for the people to park in the street until the end of September. Mr. Solera said he had a meeting along with Mr. Parker with Winston Towers and he expressed to them that the City must not be burdened with the situation in blocking traffic on 174th Street. He said 174th Street is not made for anyone to park on the outside and there are a number of other buildings that would like to do the same, so if we continue to extend their permit to park on the Street, and we don't make them park somewhere else, it lends a hand to provide the same type of scenario for others and it still makes an impact on the City and residents. Commissioner Goodman said he hopes by the end of September that they are finished, if not, the City will have to take action against them. Vice Mayor Thaler said he understands the problem but the problem is they didn't do anything and we are helping them to just keep running. Mr. Solera said for that purpose he had requested information from Commissioner Goodman and Assistant City Manager/Services Vera as to what was our position whether to extend the permit or not, and the response was to give them a little more time based on the meetings. Mr. Parker said once you tear into some of these older buildings, you don't know what you will find, and in their case they found a very unsafe situation that they cannot allow the people to go back and park in that underground parking facility without this construction joint being repaired. He said some time has been wasted because the Association spent time trying to make up their minds as to what they wanted to do, and the contractor and engineer had come up with a solution but they took some time in deciding what to do. He said his next step would be to declare that part of the building unsafe. Mr. Solera said if it is the consensus of the Commission not to extend this permit we could rescind the approval. Vice Mayor Thaler suggested to leave it for now but not to extend it again in September. Mayor Edelcup said don't let that be a precedent for other people to come in, what is done is done, but we don't have to extend that for future requests from other buildings. City Manager Szerlag said we rely on Clay Parker and Robert Solera to advance the philosophy that we call compliance before conviction, and underpinning that is a reasonable timeframe, and they have to make that determination in terms of what is reasonable because he holds them accountable for the safety of the community and they have to take a look at if they go the conviction route the attorney's office will be involved and a Special Master. Mayor Edelcup said there is still discretion in there and what we are trying to say here is that yes they should make that decision but they need to make it strictly under professionalism, and that we have to take a uniform approach that you have your job to do, you need to do it, you follow it to the letter of the law, and don't bend to political pressures to give extensions. 19