2012-0510 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting May 10, 2012 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida and regarding the 174th Street project we are still arguing about getting easements. Mayor Edelcup inquired what our Engineer is doing while she is waiting for some of these other things to get done. Mayor Edelcup said if staff would have been more open in discussing with the Commission the capabilities of our own people that we could have gotten this done in- house, and a lot of the money that we are spending for these particular engineers, is work that can be done by our own people. He said we don't need a landscaping engineer to tell us what kind of trees we are going to plant when we know we are putting Medjool Palms up and down the whole front of it, and we know we are going to put in Royal Poinsettias. Again, we are not accomplishing the goal that he thought we were accomplishing when we added on additional staff to get work done by our own people and not relying on outside sources. Commissioner Scholl said either we direct staff to do it in -house or we vote on this. Mayor Edelcup said if we hire an engineering firm to come up with what they are coming up with then who is actually going to perform the work afterwards? Are we going to hire another outside firm or are we going to use our own staff? Additionally, we have not been told at this point how that is going to work, and we don't have enough information. Vice Mayor Thaler said we should defer. Mayor Edelcup said if we have a chance to do a workshop maybe we can convince staff that this can be done in- house. It is a good test project for our people to show what they can do. It is not a complicated project but it will be a very beautiful project when it is done, and something that they can look at with pride. City Manager Cohen said that staff welcomes the opportunity to have that conversation but just to be clear, our organization capacity is still limited. We hired a Civil Engineer, however she is not an electrical engineer, nor is she a landscape architect, and so there are disciplines that she does not have expertise in. Again, we can bring work in -house but that will take time away from other projects, and we can have a more focused project and what those specific projects are when we sit and have that meeting. Mayor Edelcup said we can do it in a workshop, but here it is loud and clear that a number of us would like to see this done in- house, not with outside people, now that we have the inside people hired. Otherwise he would be on the same side as Commissioner Scholl. We have no need to hire these people if we are not going to use them for these projects, and so Mayor Edelcup entertained a motion to defer. He would like representatives from Public Works and Engineering to be at the Workshop to find out if they will sign on to certain parts of this project, and then we will know what can be done in -house and what we have to contract out. We can schedule a Workshop and whether it is the Agenda Review Workshop, we need to do it before we are sitting here formally again. Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Aelion seconded a motion to defer this item to June 21, 2012. The motion was approved by a voice vote of 5 -0 in favor. 10E. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Authorizing the Chief of Police, in Accordance with Section 932.7055, F.S. to Expend $28,252.00 from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund (L.E.T.F.) Forfeiture Fund, for Purchase of Task Force Computer Tablets, Community Policing Items, and the 2013 Sunny Isles Beach College Scholarship Program; Providing for an Effective Date. 11