2012-0821 Special City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes:Special City Commission Meeting August 21,2012 Sunny Isles Beach,Florida situation with respect to Lukes' employee,it was brought to his attention by the SFM lawyer, who gave him information. He looked deeply into that information,he researched the law, and he asked them to clarify the position with respect to Continental. The Vice President of Continental is here and he can testify on record exactly why his employee and based on that explanation, he is not a corporate shareholder or decision maker with the Company. The City Attorney said the law does not preclude the City from hiring Lukes-Sawgrass as the landscaper,in addition as he indicated before,he called the City of Aventura to clarify if that was an issue with respect to landscaping service by Lukes-Sawgrass as their main landscaping for Aventura for 19 years. According to the City Attorney, the City Manager said it was not a problem and that Lukes performed excellently,and there has been no bribery with respect to Aventura. With respect to the law,the City Attorney was very comfortable that retaining Lukes' does not violate any extension of the State Statute, with respect to the law. Regarding the corporate documents,the City Attorney said we have documentation that was provided to him by Continental. This employee is merely a sales person, he is not a corporate officer in the corporation. With respect to the initial bid,the City Attorney said he had no knowledge that it was thrown out but the City has a right in the Code to throw out bids for any reason and secondly, price is not the sole factor in awarding a bid to a vendor. One of the factors is service quality,capacity,performance issues,past performance issues, and the City Manager makes the ultimate decision. Staff is a factor in good will and looks at the issues,and the City Manager makes a decision based on the facts. Staff went way beyond the call of duty to ensure the decision that was presented to the Commission, the recommendation being presented tonight,is a very strong recommendation despite the issue with respect to the employee of Lukes-Sawgrass Landscaping. Mr. Silverio said it is not what his role or employment is now as a sales associate, but his role at the time that Lukes-Sawgrass submitted its application/bid. At that time,according to Mr.Silverio,it made a material misrepresentation to the Commission. He would recommend that if the bid process is not reviewed initially,and the bid is not awarded to SFM,that none of these parties be awarded the bid because in his opinion this is a stain on the process. Commissioner Gatto asked if he is still working for the company, and what was the timing that he got into this situation. The City Attorney Ottinot said that the employee is here present before the Commission. Mr. Silverio said he was convicted in January 2010 for two years, and received a$15,000 fine. Tim O'Keffe,CEO of Continental Group,which owns Lukes-Sawgrass Maintenance,said he has been with the Company for three years. He said Luke Facarazzo is a fine gentleman that made a mistake and paid dearly for it. He first met Luke on July 21, 2011, when he got home. The respect he has amongst the employees of our company,and the person he knows is worth the job that he has got. Luke started again working for their company on November 1, 2011,putting lawn mowers together,and making minimum wage. All he wanted was to get back to the business and people that he loved,that he built 40 years of sweat and blood that he put into this company. He felt Luke deserved the opportunity to come back and have a second chance because of the kind of person he is. As a company they have been very proud to be part of Sunny Isles Beach,doing the landscaping and doing a terrific job for the City and it was hurtful when they lost the job. They will return the City to the great look that 6