2012-0821 Special City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes:Special City Commission Meeting August 21,2012 Sunny Isles Beach,Florida advise staff, let's look at this issue and research the law. The City Attorney said he took an additional step to call in references. Commissioner Scholl stated you said you were not familiar with the form,but we have a process that can judge it and so why don't we just put it back into the process and be done with it? City Attorney Ottinot responded that our form is consistent with the law. The issue that was brought to his attention and the critical issue that he looked at was whether Luke Facarazzo was active in the management. That was the issue, he has documentation. That information was given to him and that is why he asked for a withdrawal. He went back and met with Lukes' and clearly told him this issue is a critical issue. The City Attorney further said he would understand if told he was not active in management of this company but this issue is being raised that this is a façade. The City Attorney requested that Lukes'provide him with something in writing and that he gave it to staff that clearly indicates that Mr. Facarazzo is only an employee. Based on this information he informed management that if they want to proceed with Lukes' then he is comfortable with it. Commissioner Scholl said he is just saying that given these issues,he just feels that if there exists any ambiguity that we should go back and make it clean. It is just about the circumstances surrounding the process. There is enough doubt raised tonight where he is not comfortable. Commissioner Aelion said that with regards to the tax receipt, he is an officer of the organization at Winston Towers that is a not for profit organization and he is still getting the same form and the President listed there is Irving Turetsky who has not been President of the organization for many years. Commissioner Aelion concurs with Luke who says that this is a record that was not updated by the County. He reads Section 11.6 on the Public Entity Crimes form regardless of who is affiliated with the entity submitting the statement. He further added that although the form speaks about a specific date, he can understand where Commissioner Scholl is coming from. Vice Mayor Thaler said our own attorney is happy with what we have and he is willing to accept it. He requested confirmation and City Attorney Ottinot said that is one of the major reasons why he asked for the withdrawal. The City Attorney said that he wanted to research this issue and make sure that if he is giving legal representation to the City Manager on whether or not to proceed with Lukes',then this issue is an issue that he will legally sound out. The City Attorney further added that he has a case law on point on this issue and so he knows very well that,based on the information that he has,that he can defend it in court and make that recommendation. With respect to the concern raised by Commissioner Scholl, when the City Attorney realized that maybe that issue wasn't vetted enough originally, he asked for a withdrawal. The City Attorney wanted to look at the issue and talk to Lukes'. At the same time he had management continue the RFP process, talk to the vendors, and he continued with his research. In addition to looking at the law, he called the references in Miami-Dade and Broward and spoke to them personally, including the City Manager of Aventura. He wasn't initially comfortable with it and so he took the necessary time to look at it,research the legal issues,and then became comfortable with it. He can defend it legally and it is not a violation of the law. Mayor Edelcup said that he thinks that we have done the due diligence that was required once the facts were brought to our attention. He further stated we deferred it in July and gave 9