for our three candidates that we have here this evening for our manager position. Um they're listed alphabetically on our agenda. So I just assume that we will go ahead and start alphabetically. May I make a suggestion prior to starting? Sure. So while I have
some um candidate specific questions, I also have some of the same questions for each candidate. Okay. I think it would be a disadvantage to the first person coming up if the other candidates hear those questions and then have an opportunity to think through the answers. Okay. So, what I would suggest
is that the candidates that are not being interviewed perhaps go to the log cabin uh and wait for uh I don't know how you guys feel about that. I was going to echo the same sentiment just you said log cabin village hall. I would also suggest that maybe we
institute a time limit per commissioner. You know, we we said uh we do an hour we would do an hour per candidate. Thank you very much. Say we do an hour per candidate, perhaps 10 minutes per commissioner for for questions for the remaining 50 minutes. So that way we each commissioner has ample time to get
their questions in. I don't have a problem with that. As long as that the candidates know not to be dragging out their their answers and you're not going to get any questions in. I think that it's we have to have some time limits otherwise one commissioner will ask questions and no other commissioner will get questions in. I think that makes
sense. Uh and I think that our manager candidates know that efficiency is important. Um so I think that works. Uh if the commission uh wants to have a consensus on that to kind of go one candidate at a time and have our other two candidates um just temporarily be
excused. Um do we have a consensus on that? Um will we be allowing each one of them introduce themselves for a certain period of time? We'll do this individually as well. I think that was what did we say? Did we say 10 minutes? You said 10 minutes. 10 minutes for each person to do kind of their introduction.
Uh and then we'll take the remaining um what do we say? The remaining hour per candidate, right? So remaining 50 minutes per per candidate to have the commission ask questions. Um and I think that that's probably the best way to do it. Do we have consensus? That'll sound good.
Okay, great. Perfect. So that'll be our order. We'll start um with our presentation. So uh first on our alphabetically listed candidates is um is our interim uh Mr. So, I'd ask that Mr. Kosio and Mr. Leonard, if you would be comfortable
with it, um, following our our our interim chief, uh, to just hang tight for us, please. Very good. Thank you, gentlemen. Okay. So, uh, now that we have just Mr. Childress, we'll ask that you come and join us at the presentation
podium there, please. And hope that the microphone's working properly. [Music] Doesn't sound it. Nope. There we go. Uh good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the village commission. Uh thank you for
this opportunity to uh uh first uh apply for the position and tell you a little bit about myself. Um it it starts when we my wife and I moved into the village uh back in 1983 1984 when we uh
purchased a duplex on 119th Street. And about that same time, I was uh working for Miami Day County, beginning my career in local uh local government and county government. uh started with the Miami Day County Building Department
uh where I uh rose to the chief enforcement officer where I was the chief enforcement officer first under the zoning section and then I was uh transferred to the contractor licensing enforcement section right prior to Hurricane Andrew. And we went from two
investigators to some 50 investigators after Hurricane Andrew. when we dealt with um uh hurricane um um contractor licensing enforcement and fraud, hurricane fraud uh after hurricane Andrew and we were part of a multi-
agency task force um do dealt dealing with uh construction fraud. The task force was led by uh Kathy Rundle and um we were very successful in in in that
that time limit and returning over a million dollars to homeowners that were victims of hurricane fraud. Um from there I uh I was called by the city of Miami Beach. They had an opening for a
director position for the director of uh the newly formed department of code compliance. Uh they were breaking AC uh away from the building department and forming their own separate department. They asked me to apply for the position. I applied for the position. Uh Garcia
Prosa was the uh city manager at the time. I was uh I was appointed the director of of the of the department. Um they had you had uh in Miami Beach the department directors have to be conf
confirmed by the city commission. So I was then confirmed by the city commission. I spent eight years there developing the department. There was no SOPs. There was building it from the ground up. It was a very challenging time. Uh there was dur during the
transition from from the art deco days to what what you see now that's going on um in in South Beach and um in Miami Beach. We were all Lincoln Road at the time was being converted and uh we I had um we had
24-hour assignments in in Miami Beach. So we had we had uh a night shift, a day shift and and um an evening shift and we also started um during that time we started uh
evening evening code compliance hearings and that's where you know I I got my experience with uh uh a lot of our code cases during that time. So um uh from there you
know it was a very challenging time very I I I loved Miami Beach. Then I got a call from Dorado. Dural was start new formed a new city. Um I was asked to apply for that position. Um I knew the
mayor of Dorado. Um JC Bermudas. He asked me to apply. I applied and was appointed director of the uh of the of the that department and I was there for uh 16 years. I was promoted from uh
department director to assistant manager and then to deputy city manager. I spent eight years in the u in the city manager's position. During my time with Miami Day County, um I was I took advantage of their tuition reimbursement
program and got my master's degree in public administration from FIU. Miami Day County paid half of it. Uh which was was really a gift back then. And then I had my undergraduate degree was from St. Thomas University in public administration, criminal justice, and I
I went directly from high school into to college. Uh during my time in Dorado uh they also had a very generous tuition reimbursement program. I was encouraged back to go back to school. I went to the University of Miami and got an MBA uh
they're in their uh executive MBA program. And also Dorado had sent me during that time when I was in the city manager's office. They sent me to um to Harvard University for executive training for 3 weeks. Uh it was very
prestigious. There was over 3,500 people applied for the for some 70 positions and I was selected to be part of that that class that year. Uh very rewarding experience. Uh there was uh um people from all over the world that were in the
program and uh it was just a great experience and very uh very humbling experience. Um uh after I left the uh the uh my 16 years with the city of Dorado, I left
for a year and I went to wanted to step away from public service for a while and I went to work for my old alumni St. Thomas University and I was the associated vice president. I was in charge over numerous departments and I
did that for a year. uh job opening came up for the city of Key West. Uh I heard about it, applied for the city of Kiki West city manager position. I think there were some 70 applicants for that position. Uh they narrowed it down to
um four or five candidates. I was one of the four or five candidates. They were selected for final interviews. um much like this process this evening. Uh they had u a meet and greet with the with the public one-on-one interviews with the
council. From there I was se selected as the city manager. I spent uh the last 14 months uh the city of Key West. My at that time my my contract was uh was terminated after 14 months. If
you read the newspapers, you'll uh the city of Key West, you'll find out what's going on down there now. But um after that, uh I came back was live still living here and we kept our house here during that whole time. Uh we never leased it out. We just kept it and we
were moving coming back and forth for um for um doctor's appointments. my wife didn't want to to to to lease it out or sell it. So, we kept the property and we uh my the original duplex we held for quite
some time until u uh then we we moved to 112th Street and uh we've been in that house on 112th Street now for some 32 years. Um so, in the last 6 months I've been
your your interimm u village manager. So, I think uh during that time you've gotten to know me and and who I am, who my family is. Both my boys uh chose to do their eagle projects here in Biscane
Park. We always try to give back uh to to the community and I was willing to help out in the last 6 months and now uh I I really enjoyed the last six months of assisting. It's it's been quite a challenge, but uh it's been a great
opportunity. I think you have a great staff here, a very hardworking, dedicated staff, and it was a great opportunity to be part of part of that staff and to lead them to the to the next uh uh the next step. But
um yeah, you know, I I think there's still a lot to work to be done. I think this is an important uh decision for you to tonight. I think most of you have had an opportunity to talk to staff. uh staff is looking for some stability to
move the the village forward and uh I think that's important. Um you know there's been quite a few uh turnovers in the village manager's office and and I just want to be part of to move it forward and I think I have the professionalism, the
expertise, the uh the knowledge to to assist the village and you know I I love this place. we I raised my two my family here and uh that's why I'm willing to be part of it. I thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight. I'm
running out of time. Thank you. Thank you very much. So, uh we'll go ahead and we'll um we'll start with our kind of commission questions and and I'm going to just I think maybe just start at the end. Um yeah, and then and work our way this way if that's all right. Okay. So,
Commissioner Huntington. So, uh, Al, my first question I'm gonna pass over because you did a great job of explaining it, but I will state it just for continuity. It was, what made you interested in this position, a village manager here in Biscane Park? I think you explained that very well in your, you know, your passion for the community and your your time here. Uh, so I'll
skip to my second question was, please outline your reasons why you would why you would be successful as the next village manager of Biscane Park. Well, I I think the last six months have shown to you that what the the abilities that I have to um keep the village moving and
to make sure your your projects you have nu numerous projects that you want to complete and to make sure those projects are complete and working with the your excellent staff to to uh to to make sure that we're meeting the goals of the of the commission.
Thank you. Uh my second question is uh one of the unique things about Biscuit Park is our close-knit community with a small but dedicated staff. How would you utilize your experience to complement this community and our workforce? Well, I think you you've got to uh I try to lead by example. So, I'm not going to
ever tell anybody else to do something that I won't won't do myself. And I think we've we've had some sever several discussions where um I've talked about making sure that each of the department directors
uh feel that they h are engaged and have the ability to make decisions themselves. I'm there to assist them but not really micromanage them and then to empower them and to you know when I'm not going to be here forever. So when I
leave that uh they have the ability to just keep keep the ship running and and uh you know don't don't lose that that momentum. Uh would you please discuss your approach to crafting a budget? Specifically expand on projects you think are vital importance to the
village and how you would secure funding for them. Sorry, Ryan. I want Sorry, I Well, I think what we were going to do is to make sure that we each had equal time that that each commissioner would get 10 minutes for questions. Sorry about that. If that wasn't clear that I
apologize. Go ahead. Ry, if you want to talk to the mic, just Yeah. Would you please discuss your approach for crafting a budget? Specifically, expand on projects you think are of vital importance to the village and how you would secure funding for them. Well, I I think the the budget process begins way
way back in in February where we had our strategic planning session and we talk about, you know, what what u the commission uh um and had all the department directors there a two-day session where we're talking about what what's the priorities for the upcoming
budget and and start there so they hear it directly from you and have that uh the opportunity to sit down with you oneon-one. So it's not just not coming from me. And then uh and then and it's a public meeting so the public's invited. Um and then from there they um I talked
to our finance director today asking you know we're going to get the worksheets. Each department director is going to get a worksheet. They're going to see their expenditures for the last six months. how what how much they've been, you know, where the money's been going to
and just what where they want to uh what's priorities for the next next fiscal year. And then, you know, and we uh sit down and we uh draft up they they'll submit a budget. Uh we've already talked about the millage rate.
We want to try to keep the millage rate at 9.0. Uh what what what's the dollar amount for that millage rate going to be? uh set out the timelines uh when the workshop's going to be uh when the the two two readings are going to be when
we're going to set the millage rate, what dates that that's going to be. Um and then give you each of you an opportunity to sit down with each each of the department directors before we have even those budget workshops. So you can go over go over the the proposed
budget from each department and and ask those those vital questions that so you know we're not um uh in the worksheets you're not really bogged down and and you have a sense where the where the budget's going in
those in those meetings. And I'll close with this question. What do you believe is the biggest opportunities for the village currently and what is the biggest challenges at this time? Um, I think I the biggest opportunities we have right now is that you're you're
at the crest where you could where you can uh move to the next stage. I think you know you you've got an opportunity now to uh bring in a professional manager. You got an opportunity to bring in a professional police chief. I think
you've got uh an opportunity uh now to look at other funding sources that we've talked about in strategic uh planning instead of just using you know trying to live off your general fund but look at bonding in the future future and uh and
and really uh improving the quality of life for our residents. And I think that's a, you know, and you've got young families moving in here, which is very exciting to see that somebody's lived here as long as I've lived here. Uh, that's that's very exciting to see that
young families want to move here, be part of it, are coming back to the community, coming back to Miami, Biscane Park to to raise their families. They love this community. And, you know, I think we we have something special here with such a a low crime rate and you can
walk the streets at 2:00 in the morning. they don't have to worry about it. You know, that's very unique in Miami Day County. Thank you, Al. Mayor, that's all I got. Great. Well, you're up. All right. So, um first I want to just thank um the
residents that send in questions. I've been asking uh for the last week or so uh for residents to send in questions. So, I got one question in. The rest are all resident questions. All right? So, just so you're aware. Um, first question from and please just be concise because
I have got a few questions. So, from a scale of 1 to 10, how important do you feel having an active and open relationship with residents is to the job of a manager and what would you do to strengthen that relationship? Yeah, it's I think that's a 10. It's very very
important. I think um um what I've tried to do in the last 6 months is make sure that I'm going to all the um uh village events and to to be at those village events and to mingle during those events and uh Commissioner Huntington had uh
expressed the desire to have a a tent a village tent at those uh events and I think that's a great idea so that be manned by the administration and manned by uh u by the commission. I think you and I think it's important that I I've
tried to attend some of the um different uh committee meetings and I think that's uh try to continue to do that and uh make myself available. Perfect. Um I'm assuming you understand what the role is uh between the manager and the council.
Um how would you deal with a council member you don't see eye to eye with or get along with? Well, I think I think it's important to try to build consensus and I think it's important that uh I understand my role
and what my role is under the charter and I make make sure that they understand their role uh what their role is under the charter and that I think that's where the problems come is when uh those uh those lines are crossed and
I always try to I understand very well what my role is and I I don't I don't cross that BP is a is a village with limited resources. Please tell us how you would generate additional revenues through leveraging existing assets or otherwise
without putting undue burden on the community. Well, I I think you you're always looking for new for grants for, you know, for grant opportunities and uh and looking for ways to save cost and uh and and making sure that your your
department directors know what a limited budget we are and what a small city we are and uh and and that and that's important that you know and I think we've got department directors that now that understand that. Um, also I I I I
personally look to ways that I can make uh cut my cost and I know the the mayor uh flew to Tallahassee on his own dime and and stay at a hotel on his own dime and if he's willing to do that then you know the rest of us are need to make sure that we're keeping our car cost
down. So um next question. Our city trees are a significant asset gifted to us by previous Biscane Park residents. How will you work to maintain and add to our city's canopy given our limited financial resources? Well, we we we
talked about uh what trees we could get donated um and working with the parks and parksways board. I think that's important to to meet with that committee. That's why that committee's there and to work directly with them to get the input from them. Okay.
You've had several hostile uh work environment allegations made against you by former staff. No allegation to date has been proven. How can you assure the council community and staff that you will treat staff with the dignity and respect that
they deserve? I think if you ask any of the department directors now how they're be treating their be being treated, uh they'll tell you that none of those allegations were anywhere near uh um um accurate. And if you talk to any of the
the people that have worked with me in the past, they're always uh tell you that I I treated them professionally. I I may be uh direct and forward but I treat it one with with kindness and respect.
You've come from large cities where you've had the cap the capability to delegate frequently. BP is a small village that does not have the same resources. The manager here has to wear many hats. Are you prepared and willing to do part to to put to do your part and
work the necessary time uh to achieve positive results? Yeah. Yeah. So, so I think in the last 6 months I've proven that. I've been in uh in the village and um some of you have seen me on on Saturdays and Sundays trying to get the job done because you can't get it done
on on a 40hour work week just wearing one hat. You got to wear many hats and and but um you know I'm not I'm I can't I can't do everything but I need some help somewhere but I try to do as much as I can. And then the last question, I I got time
so I'm able to squeeze it in. Do you feel it's important to have staff involved and fully engaged? If so, how do you accomplish that? Yeah. Well, I think I already answered that by by saying you empower your directors and to make sure you know ask them ask them for input anytime the decisions going to be
made. You ask for their input and what they think instead of just making through it's through the directors. It's not uh staff all together. Well, the the the directors are um overseeing those departments. So, those departments should be engaged in the director should
be engaged in their staff. All right. Um that pretty much covers it. That's all I got. Thank you, Al. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, sir. Why do you want this job? Why do I want
this job? Simple question. Why? So I I I um commissioner, I've lived here for 40 years. I've seen the um turmoil that um that's happened. I was here when we didn't have a village
manager. We had a uh a strong mayor, former government. Uh that worked under com uh Mayor Burke. when Mayor Burke left that it kind of all all fell apart um except my wife who was mayor for some
time I think she did a great job you know uh but um I think after that after that we we had some good good city managers village managers I think we've had uh some managers that uh uh left us
in a hole so uh you know I think we're at a point now we need to meet move forward and um I've got the knowledge expertise and willingness to help and and and and do those challenges make uh and face those challenges.
Our charter gives the village manager a great deal of decision making and financial authority. We have had several significant issues come up that were not discussed with the commission or the residents prior you taking action. there was a strong reaction to the way things
were handled. What is your proposed plan for action in the future? Well, uh, Commissioner, I even those items that are within my authority, I think the spending limit, my authority is $10,000. Even the items that were under my authority,
$5,000, we had uh brought in a consultant to fix the minutes of the of the meetings, that was $5,000. I put that that I could have signed that agreement myself, but I put it for transparency reasons. I put it on an agenda for your approval. I've done that
with many items and I I will continue to do that. In the past, the commission has give guidance on what task they would like to see you accomplish. For example, the interaction process on the remaining Australia pines. However, you attempted
to create a village ordinance that will give you the full authority to go against our decision. Would this behavior continue or how would you plan on ensuring for carrying out our directives? That that ordinance uh the direction did
not come from me, commissioner. I had no way input on that ordinance. If elected for the permanent village manager position, how would you address concerns that your interm tender raises doubts about your ability to lead impartially and effectively?
Could you say that again, Commissioner? Yes, I'm sorry. If selected for permanent village manager position, how would you address concerns that your interimm tender raised doubts about your ability to lead impartially and effectively? Well, I think every day I make a
commitment to to do the very best for this village because as a resident, I want the very best and I'll continue to do that. Howie, do you sure the voices of the residents and the community stakeholders are meaningfully incorporated into your decision and policies? Commissioner, I
made my cell phone available on the website. Uh, it's in all my email addresses. Everybody, everybody's I got residents call me on my cell phone all the time. I've made myself very available. I live here in the park. I don't I don't think it's any uh uh
secret where I live. I've had u people knock on my door even before I was become village manager. So, I'm I have that um I'm have that open door policy and I'll continue to have that. Looking back at your time as interimm
leadership role, what decisions would you reconsider or approach differently if given the opportunity? Well, I think that um hindsight is 2020 uh commissioner, but u um I think every
decision I make, I I give a lot of thought into it. Um I talk to other people about before I make a final decision. I tried to weigh in all all the different uh decisions and um and
most of the decisions I don't I don't I don't make on myself. It's it's direction of the of the commission. I bring it before the commission. So there's very few decisions that I make on myself. But uh I I try to make the best decision. I I make the decision as
if the Miami Herald is is is standing right next to me. Can you walk us through a typical day in your current role? To what extent are you personally involved in executing daily responsibilities as opposed to delegating tasks to your people that are
under you? Well, Commissioner, my my daily uh calendar, which uh uh uh consists of um usually uh three two or three meetings in the morning and uh and then
my afternoon meetings start at 2:00 and some of those uh I have four o'clock or 5:00 meetings and then I try to after 5:00 I'm trying to respond to emails or phone calls that I didn't get to during the day. And then on on Saturdays, I
come in I usually come in on Saturdays to work on memos or LTC's and and get those out and catch up that stuff that I didn't finish during the week. Describe your relationship with the current village commission. Have there
been any challenges aligned to your management with their priorities? I think there's been a lot of challenges and I think I I'm I'm sure there's going to be challenges in the in the future, but um you know that's all part of the job. Can you describe a time when you
received directions from an elected board or commission that you personally disagree with and how did you handle the situation? Um the one that uh comes to mind was when I was with Miami Day County and
there was a county commissioner that um I'll leave uh he's he's no longer with us but u I won't name him but he we were walking with uh doing a tour of an inner
city any inner city's uh neighborhood and uh Actually, Janino was with us when we were doing the tour and he pointed to a a old derelic car that
was sitting in somebody's front yard and he wanted us to he wanted me to uh tag the car and then have it towed and and then uh seize it so he could uh he could buy it and he it could become his his
car. So, um, of course, you know, I listened to him, of course, but you know, and then my boss actually went along with it. My direct supervisor went along with it and I just said that, you know, the car was told the owner moved
the car the next day and we didn't he he complied and we didn't do anything. So, have you ever been in a position where your decision was called into question due to transparency or ethical concerns? How did you respond? Um I think you know throughout
throughout your my career I think there's there's sure there's there's people that uh are have challenged you or asked you know uh question how'd you make a decision and I'm willing to sit
down with them and explain how that came to that decision. How do you ensure fairness and compliance with the state law when you're selecting contractors, investigators, or consultants on behalf of the village? And how would you continue to arrange contracts under
$10,000 to community commission's approval set saying you will ask more funding if needed? So, as I said before, Commissioner, even those my spending limit is $10,000, I have made it a practice to bring those
items before the commission uh with with a resolution for approval. Question. Uh what intern controls and ethics safeguards would you implement or strengthen to prevent the appearance of uh misconduct in the village administration?
Could you say that again, Commissioner? What intern controls and ethics safeguards would you implement or strengthen to prevent the appearance or occurrence of misconduct in a village administration? Well, I I I think you you follow the
charter. You you uh have the advice of the city village attorney. You uh constantly confer with him on on almost everything that you're doing. you share emails with him and especially you any items that are any purchases you share
uh those purchases those uh uh bid awarding bids going out for bids so you constantly uh um have a conversation with the village attorney thank you for your candid thank good evening Mr. Chilris Mr.
Mayor, good to see you. Good to see you as well. Thanks for being here with us. So, I got a couple of questions for you. Um, and they're none of which none of them we've discussed before, so I'm going to keep you on your feet and I'm going to do the same thing for all the other candidates. So, um, my my my first question for you is,
do you have a vision for Biscane Park as the manager? And if you have a vision like a kind of a larger kind of grander vision for where this village is, where it needs to be, where it needs to go, what what is your vision? Do you have one for this village? Yeah, I I living
here for 40 years, you have to have a vision. So, you know, I I I my vision is all the all the streets would be uh newly paved and and and look great. And I think my vision was it would be a
city similar to Golden Beach that is is just beautiful. It's all residential, just beautiful properties, a beautiful park, everything's up todate. Um, you know, all our mediums are are wellkept, all our trees are trimmed, and you know
that trying to get to that perfect city. That's what your your my vision would be. and uh you know we're we're people are knocking down the door to come live here. I think it's still a very desirable place but we wanted to make it even more desirable.
So this vision that you have for us it's um how do you achieve that? How do you achieve that vision? And how do you ensure that the commission, the residents and the employees of the departments, how do we ensure that there's there's a buyin to that vision assuming that's what you know residents
agree with with right. Right. Yeah. You want to make sure it's just not my division, my vision. And you want to make sure that there's there's um the commission also wants to achieve that or or you're just you're just spinning your wheels. So you want to make sure the
residents are also are going to buy into it. So I I think uh everybody here wants a better city. There's nobody here that doesn't want a a better village. That's why people are here tonight because they want the best for the village. Um I think there may be a difference on how
to get there, but I think everybody has the same desire that they want the best for the village. So, hypothetically speaking, let's say Al Childress is hired as Biscane Park's permanent manager. You've been in the position, you have the benefit of having been in the position now for several months. So, you've got a lot of things
already in the works. But as the permanent manager, what's your priority on day one here in Biscane Park? Um um my priority with day one would be probably sitting down with staff again
and uh and and talking talking to them again and making sure that we're meeting all their needs and um and that they're they're happy because if you if you don't have employees that are happy then you you're not going to achieve
anything. So they they first they need to be part of the team and they need to be buy into the team and and make sure that they uh you know they are understand what you're trying to achieve and that they they're also are on on the same page. So I think that that's the
most important thing that question in the next couple of work into this idea of of ideals and values of of the head administrator of this village the the manager of this village. I'm curious to hear from you, you know, what you think are the most important uh values that
the manager in Biscane Park needs to have. Well, I think number one would be integrity. Um um and you know, you need a commitment. Uh you need to be honest. Um I I don't think you you want um a
village manager to stand up here and tell you a bunch of lies or things you just want to hear. So even when things are bad, you need to make sure you uh tell the commission the the board about
uh what went wrong. If if you made a bad decision and and something went wrong or one of the department directors made a bad decision, you need to be transparent and and fully disclose that and and say and say how you going to fix it. So, I
think that um I I talked to you today about uh Mayor Gelber from Miami Beach and he was the the the older me mayor Gelber and he said told me what you've brought to Al what you brought to the um Miami Beach is a level of professionalism that we didn't have
before and that's I br I brought that to every position that I ever had. You know, a level of prof professionalism and I hope to do that same here. just checking. Um you mentioned uh one thing that kind of um works into my next
question quite neatly commitment. There's over the last several years and I don't know how far back this goes but there's been um a tendency in Biscane Park for things to kind of fall through the cracks. It's some of the things that we've discussed in the past. I think one of the the the resolutions from several years back about the roads um that that
fell through the cracks. So, how does commitment and and the value of commitment, how does that make sure that things don't fall through the cracks here in in Biscane Park, how do we make sure that things are getting done and things are being followed up on because things we start the ball rolling and
then several months later we say, well, what's the status with that and no one seems to know? So, how do you fix that as the manager of Biscane Park? So, uh, mayor, what I've done in past decision, past positions of of city, uh, manager, uh, what I've done is to, and I've
implemented part of that so far here was to have those afteraction meetings with the the village man village uh, uh, attorney, the village clerk, and all the department heads. And we're going over everything that was said at the meeting
and uh even the comments of the three minute comments to make sure that we capture everything during during the meeting and uh who's who's going to sign it? If there it's an overlap, who's going to take the lead? Maybe it's public works and police department.
Who's going to who on that very issue? Who's going to take the lead and make that assignment? And so everybody knows that um what I've done in the other uh two cities was have uh developed smart sheets. I haven't been able to do that here, but I hope to do that in this in
the f future for those uh each of those meetings have a smart sheet and it captures who's the assignment goes to. And we and those smart sheets are are uh reviewed during each department director's evaluations to see make sure
that things are are being followed up and it's shared with the elected officials. Okay. Uh one of the other things that you mentioned integrity um integrity kind of works into the next question that I had. So the next question I had is um it's it's it's about a specific instance or specific scenario that
happened here in in the village uh with respect to the tree removal. I'd like to to just kind of hear from you. Um, did the did did the the tree removal itself, did the the public comment in and the
public response to that, did it did it affect or change how you would approach an issue in the future? Yeah, I I think I I you know, as I said before, hindsight is always 2020. And I
think uh there's always room for improvement in everything that you do. So uh uh you know, when we when we were started the project on 111 street, we had cut down I don't know how many how many trees on 111 street. I think there was five or six trees we had cut down.
and um people from throughout the village came to look at those trees and see saw how uh damaged they were and they were picking up and uh and show and saying how how brittle they were. And as we moved forward, I had people calling me asking
me to come into their backyard and cut down Australian pine trees that they for years they wanted to remove them. Um and we we we moved forward. We were moving north uh till we got to 121st Street.
Had I ever known that there was a a nesting population, we should we never would promise I'm done. Yeah, it was my last question. Um, so all right. Um, Mr. Jo, you were you mentioned the LTC's that uh you wanted to get on on the website. You mentioned
some other communication methods. Anything else? Uh well actually I would improve the uh audio system here at the village so that uh make sure we got that part for the yes the communication is uh vital to get to the our residents make sure they're seeing these meetings.
Great. Um I I don't have anything further for you. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you sir. Appreciate you. All right. I have a few questions that come from me, some that come from residents. Um, and I've kind of split them in in
pieces. Um, I'm going to start with commitment and motivation. So, you've you've had the opportunity to see the village's strength and weaknesses. Um, from the inside, what motivates you to want this position long term? Well, I I I think,
Commissioner, having lived here for 40 years and having raised my family here and wanting the best for the village, you want to uh I want to make sure uh I have the ability to contribute. I've contributed before. I was a special magistrate for the uh village. I was
elected official. I sat on the board. Um you know, my family's been involved here. Uh we want to give back and I still want to continue to give back. What unfinished business in the village would you personally uh would are you
personally committed to completing on your first day on what unfinished business? Yeah. What specifically touches you? Well, I think the the the outstanding grants I think are very important to make sure outstanding grants. Yeah. the the grants to make sure we follow up on those and we're
we're um uh collecting th those the money that's out there and we're following up on those grants especially the the opera funds. I think that's uh uh really important that we follow up on that and and uh complete those projects.
Good. Um reflections on your tenure so far. So what has been your biggest challenge since stepping in as interim manager and how did you handle it? I think um the biggest biggest challenges has been the
um most mostly the budget you're you're working with with so such a small budget. Um and then uh the um the um things that went on in the uh in the
police department trying to move them in in a different direction that they were going in. Um those were were big challenges. So and I I think um I think we're going to continue to have challenges. I think they're going to be challenges almost every day, but you
it's uh you you meet them head on. you you speak to your elected officials, you speak to the to the village attorney and get some guidance and and to move forward. All right. Um what feedback formal formal or informal have you received
from staff, commissioners or residents? And how have you responded to it? If you have an example, what feedback I get? A specific feedback that you want to highlight from either staff, commissioner, residents that you've acted on. Um well uh since I've
been here um I've got the I got some positive feedback. The positive feedback was that we were uh responding to emails and phone calls and uh you know I I said that was a priority uh when I came uh getting back to basics and uh making
sure we uh were providing superior customer service. I think that's the f the first thing you want to try to do is always uh uh provide superior customer service to both your internal and external uh stakeholders. So, whoever
that may be that you're answering their phone calls, you're answering those emails and uh if I'm I'm doing it, then I the rest of the staff is is going to follow. So, I I try to do that. Um and that that was the positive feedback that
uh I' I've gotten uh since coming here and I think uh as we have spoken I I think from from that very first day that I took over the phone was ringing off the hook and the emails were you know there
was like 6,000 emails in the inbox that had gone unanswered and I would try to go through those emails and uh return the phone calls but the the complaints uh were are not anything near what they were the first day I took over and I
think you've you even said that that you're getting less complaints and people are are appreciative of what we're trying to do. Great. Um describe a mistake you've made in this role and how you've addressed it. This mistake that I made as a as a
as a manager as a city manager or as a village manager? as an interim village manager of Biscane Park. Um, well, probably one of the mistakes I took was was not uh really understanding how how
um difficult the job was really going to be and how um many problems there are uh that need to be fixed. I it first couple of weeks it was overwhelming. I probably the first couple of months it was
overwhelming to that you're trying to uh fix one thing and then you find out something else is broken and it was just putting out uh constantly putting out fires every day uh and not uh not be not
being able to manage those first couple of months. So that that was the mistake that I made that I I didn't really comprehend that it was is as is going to be as um going to be
me need as much uh um looking at and you know to to think all the things that needed to be fixed you know I didn't I didn't comprehend that uh in terms of organizational culture and leadership What specific actions
have you taken in the past month since you've begun this role uh to strengthen village operations or morale? What's worked? What hasn't? I I I think it's important that you every every employee needs to be uh feel that
they're valued. Um and I as I spoke before that I've tried to empower the directors. I don't have contact I don't have daily contacts with all the employees. So, I have I have almost daily contact with almost all of the
directors. So, my uh my my input is to to the directors and hopefully they're pushing it down to their staff that they're my by me empowering the directors, they're empowering their staff and they make sure that their staff uh feel valued and that they're um
that they have an important job here and that they're they're appreciated. We we have a 37year-old employee. I mean 37y year employee that uh uh recently uh suffered an injury and we wanted to make
sure that he felt that uh he was part of the family. So you know we made sure that uh um staff was bu had to build had time to uh leave work and go visit him at the hospital. I made made an
opportunity to go visit him and make sure that uh he knew that we were were there for him. Do on following up on that, do you have or have you placed any sort of structures to measure if you have the right staff? Have you how have you
assessed if you have everybody that you need and the right people in those positions? Well, I you know, Commissioner, I think in the first six months there were so many other things that were going on that I really haven't gotten to that. I'm I'm relying on now
during the budget process to sit down with each of the department directors and make sure they have adequate staff to to uh we had just lost a one of our building clerks took another position. Um I had a a meeting today with uh our
building official and the code compliance director uh about filling that position and make sure we get the right person in in that position. And and right now we've got uh uh uh one of our um uh code compliance clerks is
doing two jobs and making sure that we compensate her for that doing those two jobs. Okay. How do you build trust in a small organization where politics, staff relationships and residents are so tightly intertwined?
Well, I think I think you need to have an open door policy and be available to everybody and and to and to uh um make sure that uh you're always uh doing the right thing and uh that you're you uh
lead by example and uh and that uh you know that you're uh you're not uh going shy shy away from any any of your responsibilities that you people know you're always going to be there.
Um, we did a document some time ago. It was 2020 uh 2000 2023 I believe when we did the strategic plan and we talked about our mission, our vision, our values. That's sort of the the foundation to build the strategic plan and the CIP later on. What have you
learned from this sort of a document that in a way outlines what the culture should be but it doesn't provide that path that's for us to build? What have you learned from this document that you would carry on or what would you change
from it? Well, from I uh I want to make sure everybody's aware of that document today. I sent it to Paul. Uh Paul was asking for a copy of it. I gave Visa a copy of it today. Make sure all the staff members have copies of it. Uh I
think it's um as time goes on, it's it's going to be changing. I think as time goes on, there's some things in there that we may not we may decide that are no longer priorities. And I think you need to review it each each year to see
it's you know, it's it's a it's an everchanging document. That's not it's not uh something that's going to be set in stone. So as as all the time I have Oh, okay. I have more questions. We'll leave it to that.
Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Um mission's ahead of time. Mr. Jo, thanks very much for um for answering our questions. Um so I think at this time we will uh we'll have you step into village hall. Uh just over
here and um have Mr. Kosio join us. All right. Thank you. I see you. Sorry. Okay. Uh sure. Oh, there you go. All right. I'm just I'll get it. Okay. So, first things first. I was
informed by my colleagues I'm mispronouncing your last name. Can you pronounce it for me, please? Kosio. Kosio. All right. That was close. Uh, did we get Brad back? an umbrella. Is it raining? Okay. All right. Well, he can join us, I
suppose, when whenever he returns. Mr. Kosio, good evening. How are you? Great. Doing well. Happy to be here. Well, we're happy to have you. Thanks for joining us. So, we're going to go ahead and we're going to start with your 10-minute presentation to the commission. Uh and then we are going to have 10 minutes with each commissioner,
uh with a list of questions that we have for you as a back and forth. So, we'll go ahead and we'll get started with your 10 minutes. Uh, and then we'll move on to the commission. Okay. Wonderful. I'm going to grab a quick little drink of water if you don't mind. Really quick, please. No. Good evening, mayor, commissioners, and
residents. My name is Leo Kosio. I am here today to share with you why I believe I am the best candidate to be your next village manager. I was born and raised in South Florida moving between Kendall Westchester and Sweetwater. My mother graduated from Barry University with a degree in nursing and both my parents have been
business owners in the medical space. I graduated from Ben Jesuit for high school and went on to graduate from FIU with my bachelor's in communications and political science. Uh I am also uh finishing a master of public administration and policy at American University this summer. While at FIU, I
became very involved in student affairs and served as president of the student government for the north campus. It was an early insight into managing staff, overseeing about a million dollars in student fees, and learning the importance of negotiation and compromise
in our two campus system. Towards the end of my senior year, I had the amazing opportunity to intern at the Library of Congress and began developing my DC network. Upon graduating from FIU, I founded the Young Alumni Community, which today continues to advocate for
all FIU graduates ages 35 and younger with programming, professional development, and an opportunity to stay connected to their alma mater. I refined my communications background at WSVN7 News working as a newswriter where I took a personal interest and enjoyment
in simplifying complex stories for a TV audience. After three years there, I realized I no longer wish to pursue a career in news reporting and I joined the team at North Bay Village, just down the street from the news station. In the three and a half years that I've been there, I've served under two village
managers with very different styles, allowing me to see what works and what doesn't. As chief of staff to the village manager, I've been intimately involved with communications, grants, legislative appropriations in Tallahassee, parks and recreation, budgeting, intergovernmental relations
with other cities and Miami date county agencies like Durm and Mayor Cabba's office. I'm also very familiar with officials at the Florida Department of Transportation, which we've had to work with extensively given that the main road in North Bay Village, Kennedy
Causeway, is also State Road 934, similar to your Northeast 6th Avenue, which is State Road 95, extending all the way from Northeast 183rd through the village south to merge with Biscane Boulevard. I also know the staff at Miami at the Miami regional offices of
both Senator Rick Scott and Senator Ashley Moody. With federal funding becoming less predictable than it has been in recent years, some municipal small municipalities need to take proactive steps in reaching out to their existing networks while adjusting their
budgets to prepare for possible funding cuts. And over the last three state legislative sessions, under my leadership, North Bay Village has brought in $2.4 $4 million in state appropriations. Something about me is when I commit to something, I'm allin
110%. I only take on responsibilities when I know I can exceed expectations. So, before I spoke to anyone about the opportunity, I decided to visit your village and I fell in love with it. It is a charming single family community with the most amazing trees
anywhere north of Coral Gables. I parked my car at the Burke Rec Center and walked all the way here to the log cabin. It was special. As luck or fate would have it, I ran into a dear friend and his mother who were walking their dog in the area. He is the legislative
aid to a well-known state representative. He told me he and his mother have lived in the village for 10 years and they love it. I then had a chance to speak to Mayor Grath, who I had previously met at a workshop of the coastal mayors of Biscane Bay group, which was founded by
the former mayor of North Bay Village, and which will be meeting here in the log cabin tomorrow morning for another conversation of how even interior municipalities play an important role in the health of our bay and our South Florida ecosystem, especially via the C8 Canal, which I know will be a topic of
discussion tomorrow. In speaking to the mayor, I could tell he prioritizes his passion for serving this community well rather than highlighting the title he holds. In meeting with Vice Mayor Gonzalez, Commissioner Amsler, Huntington, and Samaria, I felt a similar tone. You each
want what is best for this community, regardless of the minor disagreements you may have on specific issues. That is a clear consensus. It is a group of elected officials I would be honored to work alongside to serve this village. Lastly, I spoke to a dear friend and
mentor, Mario Diaz, your former manager, who before that role served in my current position as chief of staff in North Bay Village. He and others have written letters of support on my behalf, which I believe the clerk has shared with you. He told me that the role is challenging with such a small team and
fewer resources than some neighboring municipalities, but he acknowledged that like him, I like to be challenged. and he highlighted my local network of both public and private sector contacts who could make the difference in making Bisgame Park as competitive and relevant
as any other small municipality in Miami date county when it comes to grant funding and general support. I personally know and have previously worked with many of your consultants and would be able to hit the ground running on day one. And on day
one, my first order of business will be to propose a plan to the commission to conduct an audit to identify any vulnerabilities in our virtual ecosystem, ensuring that our digital assets are safe. No city, regardless of
its size, is immune from a cyber attack. Seeing what several other South Florida municipalities have faced in this area concerns me deeply. This village would not be able to afford any kind of ransom payment if our digital assets were to be compromised or held hostage by a bad
actor. Beyond cyber security, I want to address traffic management and pedestrian safety. Working with FDOT has taught me that state road coordination requires persistent advocacy and creative solutions. I will prioritize implementing traffic
calming measures where appropriate and ensuring that every infrastructure upgrade we pursue incorporates pedestrian-friendly design from the beginning. I've also noticed during my walks through the village that we need updated street signage in several areas.
Clear, visible street signs aren't just about navigation. They're about public safety and projecting an image of a well-maintained community that takes pride in the details. This village has an opportunity to establish its unique branding and
enhance its community identity and reputation. With the commission's support, we will bring residents into this process and give them a reason to really feel proud of living here. We can build the vill's external profile through strategic branding efforts,
increased regional representation, and cultural programming that showcases what makes this community so special. The Burke Rec Center needs some TLC in budget constrained communities like this one. Success comes through creative partnerships, public private
collaborations, volunteer programs, and strategic grant applications to funding sources like FERDAP, the Florida Recreational Development Assistance Program. The cycle is coming up this September. I took several pictures during my walks around the area showing some immediate
sites that we can improve like the tot. These amenities are not just recreational spaces. They are the heart of your community and they attract and retain families who want to call Biscane Park home. If selected as your village manager, I will hold several town halls
during my first few weeks to hear directly from residents about their priorities and concerns. It will be an opportunity for residents to get to know me and my approach for serving this community. These won't be formal presentations from behind a podium. They will be genuine conversations about
what's working, what isn't, and where we want to go together. I believe strongly that elected officials and administration each have a role to play in the success of a municipality. It is a similar role, but necessarily different.
Count on me to be fully transparent with you and with our residents, ensuring that all of you are heard and your individual needs are addressed in a timely manner without playing favorites or prioritizing any commissioner's goals over any
other. That philosophy goes the same for residents. Count on me as your village manager to keep essential services as efficient as possible. Only when those basic needs are met, ensuring potholes are filled, parks are clean, and streets are safe, can we then innovate and
really elevate Biscane Park to new heights. Thank you for the opportunity, and thank you for your time. Came in just under. Thank you very much. So, um, we're going to go ahead and we'll we'll just kind of go down the line, uh, which is what we we just did. So, uh, I'm just going to
stay with the same process. So, um, Commissioner Hunting, if you want to go ahead and get us started, please. Thank you, Mr. Kosio. Thank you for being here. Uh, thank you for your presentation. My first question is, and you expand, you mentioned a little bit about it. Please expand on what made you interested in the position of village manager here in Biscane Park.
As chief of staff now in North Bay Village, uh, for three and a half years. I think it was a natural fit for me. I think this transition is is very doable. It's very feasible. I think I have the connections and the network necessary to do a really great job and that's exactly
what I want to do. Please outline some of your reasons why while why you would be successful as the next village manager here in Biscane Park. So I think the main thing is um my network. I plan to really leverage that
and it's since my time as a student government president at FIU I I've been able to develop this very wide network of of folks both public public sector and private sector. Um, so I am just eager to uh, you know, lean on them as well and and kind of see uh, uh, get
subject matter experts involved with different projects that I may not know everything about, you know, and I'm I'm happy to admit that, but you have to identify who the right folks are uh, to look at these different issues. Uh, I think beyond that, to be honest with you, I I have no other um, I
have no business. I have I'm not a business owner. I I have no family. I have no children. Uh I think that gives me a lot of free time and and you know I'm able to dedicate uh more of my time to this kind of uh position which I think requires it.
One of the unique things about Biscane Park is our close-knit community with a small but dedicated staff. How would you utilize your experience to complement this community and our workforce? In my experience, even from a slightly larger municipality, I still say it's a small municipality, we all wear many
different hats. And I think that's probably the same case here. Uh I think leaning on uh some of some consultants to help us kind of navigate these different things. Uh but also seeing where our staff's strengths and weaknesses are, I think, is really
important. Making sure that people are doing the job that corresponds best to them. Um, so in the, you know, the first few months that I would hold this position, I would definitely work on identifying what those things are, uh, in coordination with our staff to see if people, you know, are in the right place
and how I can personally help them get there. Would you please discuss your approach to crafting a budget, specifically expand on projects you think are of vital importance to the village and how you would secure funding for them? Sure. So I think the main thing which I think
we spoke about was uh your roads. I think uh the county could be of huge huge help with that through a county incentive grant program that they have. Uh have great relationships with uh Commissioner Steinberg's office which also represents you all and uh as well
as transportation alternatives grants. U so that's that's roads I think that's very important. And I think uh your parks and wreck facilities I think are also very important. I think we can look at, like I mentioned in my speech, we can look at different grant opportunities for that. But I'm just
very eager to see where our dollars are being spent and kind of doing my own audit of of your budget now as the season comes up and and seeing if we can kind of move some money around to uh to ident you know satisfy what the main priorities are for those uh those
different categories. And finally, my final question is what do you believe are the biggest opportunities for the village currently and what is the biggest challenges at this time? I alluded to it in my speech. I think I think right now you all would really
benefit tremendously from really getting the name of the village out there. And I think at least I've seen the mayor at different things. I'd love to see the rest of you out there. I'm sure you have been. But I think that's so important is developing these relationships. not just in my position as hopefully your village
manager, but as elected officials, like there's just so many different opportunities for you all to network uh with other municipalities, with the county, with state officials, and beyond. And that uh can be leveraged later on for these different grants that I'm talking about, uh just general help
whenever we need it, if there's a storm that we need emergency resources for, all those things have to do with the kinds of relationships that we all can build together. um you know yourselves as elected officials and myself hopefully as your manager. Thank you. Thank you. That's all I got.
Thanks. Okay. Hey, Leo. How are you? All right. So, um I'm going to tell you the same thing I told the the previous what you actually know about you might on what do you know about Biscane Park?
Well, uh, a little bit I've spoken to a couple residents who are actually here in the audience. Thank you for being here. And, um, I think just first of all, walking around, you kind of take it in, right? And I've learned that you have not always had a manager council
structure. I think that's uh more recent than I guess the average person might realize since you all have been around since 1933 and that beautiful seal that's behind you. Um I think that you are not, how do I say
this? Some may see you as too small to be anything and I think that's incorrect. I think that you all have so much potential and in sitting in two different board meetings, uh I was able to attend your code compliance board
meeting and your uh planning and design board meeting. I see residents that are really engaged and I think that is like the foundation of what it takes to build something special like what I'm talking about. Um I've seen incredible
professionalism. I've seen dedication from your residents just in those single meetings that I've attended and it really it stands out to me and I've attended many different municipalities, board meetings and commission meetings and everything else. It really genuinely stands apart from what I've seen. All
right, I'm going to ask you to be a little more concise so that I can get through my questions. Absolutely. Um, what are the top two challenges that you believe Biscane Park currently has and how would you address them? I think the main issues you currently have are that you maybe are not uh taking advantage of the many different
opportunities that are out there for funding. Um that's one. And I think uh secondly, I think your communications could be a lot better to residents and and externally. From a scale of 1 to 10, how important
do you feel an active and open relationship with residents is to the job of a manager? And what would you do to strengthen that relationship? 10. Absolutely. 12. Um, again, that's the foundation of of of what it takes to run a village. Um, I
am happy to give out my personal phone number to folks. I'm happy to have a very, you know, open door policy, open line of communication, not just with you all, but with any resident that wants to come to my office and talk shop. How would you deal with a council member you don't see eye to eye with or get
along with? There's only so much I can do as far as presenting the information that I have, and I would lean on my team for that. you know, the village attorney and and others um to just educate you as much as possible and for you all to make the
best decision that you possibly can. Uh I don't see a possibility where I wouldn't get along with one of you. It would be policy related. It wouldn't be on a personal level at all. So, I think just kind of talking through it, that's my style. I'm going to figure it out with you. We're going to sit down one-on-one. We're going to we're going
to hash it out. All right. Okay. Haven't been here that long. Um I've seen some stuff. BP BP is a village um with limited resources. Please tell us how you would generate additional revenues through leveraging existing assets or otherwise
without uh putting uh undue burden on the community. Yeah. Uh I think I covered it. Um you know looking at the budget, seeing where the money's going and beyond that grants and leveraging my network. Okay. Uh, our city's um our city trees are a
significant asset gifted to us by previous Biscane Park residents. How will you work to maintain and add to our city's canopy given our limited financial resources? I have to see what you all have in the books um on maintaining them. I want to certainly want to get residents input
on, you know, where they feel attention should be kind of, you know, most addressed. Um, being a member of Tree City USA and other organizations like it, I think is hugely important. Um, yeah, I think I think trees are one of your biggest assets.
You seem to have limited um experience in the mun in the municipal arena. How do you think how do you think you could be effective given um your li uh your limited experience? I would I would uh I wouldn't call it limited. I would say that in the in the
years that I've been with uh North Bay Village, I have been able to work under two different managers and see two different completely different styles. Uh that's definitely helped me quite a bit and uh I bring a a certainly a youthful energy and a hunger to do a
phenomenal job. All right, last question. Um consistency has been an issue here in the village as you can imagine over the years, right? Um one of the issues that we've had in the past is hiring up and cominging talent. who have used BP as a stepping stone. If hired,
how long do you think you can commit to this village? I can easily commit four years to this village and beyond. I think if uh within those four years, if it's something that we either mutually agree or I or you
agree that it's just not happening, I think I think four years is probably the time it takes for us to really develop something new and take us to the next level. to give you a very specific number. Okay, that's all that's all I have. Thank you, Leo.
[Music] Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon. And I just want to say that I enjoyed when I was talking to you for you were willing to talk take as much time as I wanted. Why do you want this job? Um,
wow. You know, I I just I've grown to like this place. I've walked around a couple times. I've met with some residents again. I've seen your board meetings. I I think it's a really neat place to be and I think I'm in a place in my career right now where
it's the perfect decision for me. We're a small community and all our boards are made up of residents. How do you see yourself working with the boards and have you had any experience working with volunteer residents? Absolutely. Um so when I attended your uh your code
meeting and met uh chair Anderson who's here in the audience um I told her that I would be certainly leaning on our residents who have that experience. Uh I forget her Scarlet is her name on your uh planning and design board. She's an AICP. She's a a planner. I mean you you
have incredible qualified folks uh volunteering for this village and uh absolutely. I've worked with volunteer boards before. I'm the staff leazison to the uh community enhancement board and I take a personal interest in beautifification and uh public art as
well is something that I care deeply about uh in my village. So I hope to bring that here as well. We have always had a communication problem between the administration and residents. What are some of your strategies used to keep residents informed? So in my village uh help oversee
communications and we have a weekly newsletter that we put out with everything that's going on in the village. uh in emergency situations, we put out a a single uh message to all the folks that we have on our uh list serve. It's my understanding that you all do not
have a developed uh email list. I would hope to, you know, immediately start working on that, especially in a small village like this one. It's just it's crazy crazy to me that you don't already have something like that and I would love to work on that. Um and social media is a huge thing. You know, a bunch
of young families in the area. I would love to engage them on social media as well. Could you give me some examples of how you would uh pro promote transparency with the commission and the residents? I think having an open door policy is is
step one. Um equipping you all with whatever you may need to have the conversations with residents in a really educated and professional way is very important to me. Uh I see this really as a team effort. It's not just a me thing. It's not a you thing. It's it's us working together to make sure that our
residents when they give us input uh and opinion that it's as educated as we possibly can make it and that we um and that we just treat each other with respect. Give me a a percentage of inside outside
meaning outside with the residents inside with the uh village hall because we have had in the past where some residents don't even know who the city manager is. So, give me a percentage of how much time you would spend outside and how much time you would spend
inside. Probably say about 7030. Uh 70 outside in the community meeting with residents, uh working on issues, uh 30% in the office, you know, doing my thing. But, um I really think it's it's important it's important to be out there and and listening to their concerns and
and working on those issues. Commission establishes many goals in a budget process. Many items are not addressed year after year. What would you do to make sure most if not all the goals are addressed? Can you give me examples of how you achieve this in your
work experience? Can you repeat your question, Commissioner? I apologize. Sorry, Mr. Apologize. Uh, commission establishes many goals in the budget process. Many items are not addressed year after year. What would you do to make sure most if
not all the goals are addressed? Can you give me examples? Have you have achieved this in your work experience? I'm always going to be honest with you. Um there are some projects that naturally will will take several years to accomplish. I think starting the
conversation I think getting residents involved. I think uh budgeting um doing a first round of budgeting for these kinds of things shows the initiative that you have and that the administration will have to identify what its priorities are um in the
budget. What are some of your goals for Biscane Park that you would like to accomplish? Man, um I think uh again, communication is key. I think that's uh that's probably one of the first things. Making sure
that our residents know what's going on, who they can talk to when they have a problem. Um, beyond that, uh, you know, infrastructure needs, identifying exactly what those are besides your roads. Uh, whether it's storm water, whether it's, uh, you know, drainage. I know there's
some flooding issues here and there. So, just identifying exactly what those are and and working towards them. We're a small community and a village manager must wear many hats. What's your experience with public works, police, and the cold? Yeah.
Um, I've been fortunate to be a part of every main major conversation that's happened in my village. Um, with our police, I have the utmost respect for our uh our law enforcement officers and understanding that that is
uh what keeps our community safe. I know there have been some issues in that department and I certainly do not want those issues which are political in nature to overflow into the other aspects of running this village. I'll say that. Uh and public works.
Um we have developed uh not me personally, but I've certainly been involved with our stormwater master plan and other um initiatives like that that really show residents the initiative that their commission is taking and that their administration is taking. And I
forget the third department that you mentioned. Code. Tough job. Very tough job. Um, I'm very fortunate to work with a code enforcement director who understands how to have those difficult conversations with residents when uh they're telling
them what they do not want to hear. So, I've I've picked up on that style and I hope to uh bring that over here as well. Hey, this one's a cold uh code question. Rank the following code enforcement values. Now, this one I already told you and you have I probably have to slow it
down. First one is issuing citations and fines to residents who stray for mandatory rules. B assuring structure soundness of building for public safety and protecting our urban forest. C being are equitable and fair and friendly while
giving residents time to comply based on financial and other needs. Which give me the order. Which one if you So I believe I believe the last one has to do with compliance. I I definitely believe that we should be practicing education and compliance rather than enforcement and
and citations and fines. Uh that's my position. Obviously, at some point you got to do that, but uh we're going to do everything possible to not have to do that. And I think uh what was the second one you met? Urban second was a structure structure soundness of a
building for public safety and protecting our urban forest. I believe that should be second. Sure. And and I think the first one is uh uh a no-go. Okay. And the last one, uh how would you handle the tree cutting that has had the residents really upset? One, would you
have cut down a 100-y old trees? Two, would you have in involved three the residents and the public uh PMBB board? And how would you assure that it would done right? The only situation in which I would take
such an action is if it was an absolute emergency without knowing all the details involved in that uh situation. I I don't want to get too much in the weeds of it, but I would just say that cutting down a 100-year-old tree sounds like uh something I probably would not
do unless I absolutely had to. Um so I'll probably just leave it at that. Could you give me your process on how you would have done that in reference to the tree situation? How would you have what would have been your steps? Well, I again I I don't know, you know, all the
details about it, but I I would say that I would certainly get resident input in that kind of process. Uh I would definitely get our boards involved whenever appropriate and um I would be very um I'd be very careful to take care of
our tree canopy. Okay. Thank you. Finish. Yeah. Hey there. How are you? Good. How are you? I'm all right. So, thank you for asking. So, um I'm gonna um ask you some questions that you and I have never
discussed before, so I'm going to keep you dancing a little bit. Um so, you already touched upon this a little bit. Well, you covered a lot of this stuff, so some of it's going to be a little redundant. I'm going to try to avoid that as best I can. Um, can you tell me if we if we hire you as as our village
manager for Bisgame Park, what what's what's your vision for this village? How where do you see this village going? What do you think this village needs and and how do you achieve that? I will be honest with you, I did not know where this village was uh 6 months
ago and I think that needs to change. I think that we have like I said we have very educated residents that are very involved in our process of governance. I believe that we need to highlight those individuals and and
those processes that that have worked and identify the ones that haven't and you know move on. Um I I really want to take some time and elevate the profile of this village because again in a as you know I was responding to a previous question I
think it's so important to develop those relationships that come from putting ourselves out there uh in different organizations at the county level and beyond um and leveraging those into real you know funding opportunities and and just opportunities to grow the name of
Biscane park. I think that is a uh a personal priority of mine. So let me ask you this then. How do you ensure people have different views? You know, some people may look at that vision and say we don't want that in the
escape park. Sure. What do you do to kind of ensure that there's well ensure that that's the right vision, right? first ensure that that's the vision that this village wants and then how do you how do you ensure there's a buy in from the people involved from the residents from the employees from the departments
from the commission how do you achieve that absolutely and I'm not going to pretend like I know everything about you know setting this village on the right course I want to get input from residents and certainly from you all on what you all believe is the right vision and the right direction but I think that
uh you know based on my experience and based on my background professionally I think that that is very important and I will do my best to uh educate the residents on that and why I think that's so key. Um you know beyond that there's obviously essential services that I want to make sure are running in a timely
fashion. I want to make sure are are organized. I want to make sure that we are professional when we interact with our residents and the broader community. And um I I think there's a lot of things you already do right and I think we just have to highlight what those are. Okay.
So um in the role of a manager, a municipal manager, um what do you think and what do you what do you see as the most important values that a a village manager needs to have? Certainly uh
honesty uh and dealing with you all making sure that um you know I I all the information that I have that I share with you all of you at the same time. uh definitely don't want to play favorites and and and you know giving one of you some information and another one different level of it. Um so that's very
important to me um because that's how we are all on the same playing field and all on the same page when we make these very important decisions for this community. Uh transparency kind of falls into that same uh category.
Um I think uh just being very diligent in everything we do. Uh I'm very hard worker. I'm happy to put in the hours beyond 9 to5. Done it before. We'll do it again. And um yeah, I'll leave it at that for now. Great. So I want to start
with your last one there, diligence. Sure. So, something that Biscane Park has had some difficulties with in the past is things falling through the cracks, things that aren't followed up on, things that are passed here in this log cabin that aren't put into motion. You know, things it's happened many
times before even this commission where we say, "Hey, we did this several months ago. What's going on with it?" And people just kind of look around at each other. How do you as the village manager, how do you how do you stop that from happening? How do you ensure that we follow up? How do you ensure that none of this falls through the the cracks and that we get things done here? How do you do that?
It's a great question. Um, so I believe that the role of a manager is a lot of followup, whether it's follow-up with uh agencies, uh whether it's followup with uh the county and and other actors. Um I
I think that um I think a good practice would probably be to send out some sort of weekly or bi-weekly report to you all outside of our regular commission schedule. um identifying what and I'm I'm kind of
assuming that you're alluding to certain capital improvements maybe infrastructure type things and it I think that's probably a big part of it at least it is for for us in North Bay Village. Uh these projects take time and we need to stay on top of them and I can
absolutely uh prepare something like that that I send out either on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to keep you all in the loop on where these different things are. Great. Um so one of the other things that you mentioned was you know transparency and my I I view
transparency is involving communication. I know we've talked a lot about communication. Um but let me just ask you uh communication you know there are different ways we can communicate with the community. Um you mentioned open door policy as part of this kind of communication and transparency. Um, open
door policy sounds it's a it's a it's a great phrase and we hear it a lot and you need certainly need to have an open door policy to allow people to freely come in and express their ideas. But outside of having this open door policy and inviting people to come to you, how do you go out? How do you reach out to our boards, to our commission, to our
residents and and kind of take that proactive approach in communicating? How how do you achieve that? I think the first thing I have to do uh as village manager is hold uh town halls with folks in the community. Doesn't have to be here in the log cabin, can be really
anywhere as long as it's a little bit later in the day when the sun's not, you know, out bright. Um happy to do that and I'm just eager to connect with residents out in the community. Um, I think that, um, attending different, uh,
wreck programs, uh, I saw your Pilates class in action, uh, just yesterday. I think that different things like that, I just showing up really. I think just showing up to these different things that are going on in the community is how we get out there,
right? I'm running out of time. So, let me ask you this. This is a bit of a different question. In your presentation to us, you mentioned um I think something about like a like a master's program that you're you're finishing. I am. Yeah. It's it's a masters over the summer. Uh what's it called? It's the uh masters in public administration and policy. It's fully online at American
University. I'll be done with it in about a month. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. So assuming that's that partially answered my question because what I wanted to ask you was if you've got if you have educational commitments you're coming in at a very interesting time and it's already we've already started you know
budget we've already kind of developed this more year-long approach to budget but you're coming in during budget season. You'd be coming in during hurricane season. You know my question really was and and it would apply to June if if that happens. you know, how how do you feel you can juggle all of these these issu these these things that
you need to do as as our village manager? That's a very good question, mayor. Um, I specifically chose this program because it is at such a prestigious institution and uh and it's also very flexible. You know, it's not like I have to tune in to anything at any specific time. I uh am able to do it
as I please, you know, as long as I do it ahead of time. And uh it's really no issue. And I've actually already uh told a few folks there that, you know, I would potentially be exploring this role and and and hopefully getting it. So, got not an issue. I got a little bit
more time. I'm going to use all use it all. Um you mentioned something about um difficult conversations. So, you know, the manager is is often put in a position where the manager has to make difficult decisions, have difficult conversations. You know, I know you
mentioned uh a lot of respect for for the police department. That's that's fantastic. How do you have the these difficult conversations with people who say someone is falling short of their job duties? How do you approach um how do you approach having those those make having to make those difficult decisions
that come along with having that top position? Um you know, do you shy away from them? Do you meet them headon? You know, give us the benefit of your insight. I believe that if there is a, for lack of a better phrase, a first offense or
something that, you know, they fall short on or something happens in their role, I think we can address it head on and just say, you know, how can we fix this going forward? Is this uh I want to make sure this doesn't happen again kind of conversation. And then beyond that, uh I'm not against a uh a personal
improvement plan or identifying, uh you know, what KPIs that position should be meeting. Um but I am absolutely going to have that one-on-one conversation with uh the department head if it's appropriate or with the individual staff member to make sure that uh we can move
forward in the right direction. Okay, great. So got 20 seconds. I don't know. That's enough time. That's good though. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor. appreciate it. All right. Thank you. I'm going to try to be um straight with other questions because those were
all amazing questions. So, thank you to the rest of the commission. Um what makes you confident that you're ready to transition from the chief of staff and assistant level position into the top executive management position? What I'm trying to assess is what's the
difference between supporting a va village manager than being the village manager? It's a good question. Um I think I think my experience is is unique in that I have worked for two in the same city and I think that that
brings a certainly it it it brings into conversation my ability to adapt and understand that there are different priorities and different needs with two different uh leaders. Um I think when you have a
change in administration which I have a lot of experience with I think there naturally are some obstacles and some challenges but I think that um you know if we have honest conversations and we are working on these different priorities together I
don't see why there's a reason why uh folks would have any issue. Um, I I think my role has has perfectly prepared me for this kind of position in a another small smaller
municipality. Um, leveraging the the many different uh connections that I have um that I've put into practice in North Bay Village that I would bring here. And um I think educationally I'm I'm more than ready for something like
this. Great. Um on an an example. How do you get organized? There's a bunch of stuff to get done. As you heard, you know, a lot of this sometimes falls through the cracks. So, what systems do you use? Yeah. So, like I mentioned to the mayor, um I think
putting everything on paper, making sure that we are all uh looking at these different projects together. Paper being a process sort of a system to organize sort of a Monday. Yeah. Well, I would I would send out a a very frequent uh report to you all to make sure that
we're all looking at these things together and um you know, I I lean on you to to identify, you know, what your priorities are. We'll have those conversations one-on-one and and we can include uh you know, as many of these
different priorities in our vision plan as possible. Okay. um walk us through a project or an initiative you've personally led from inception to implementation. I bring this up because you talked about four years for those long-term projects.
Yeah. Which one would one of those be that you've recognized we need in the village? So I would point to two. I think uh for us parking is an issue and um I was tasked with uh developing our parking plan for one of our three
islands. Um, it was a process of balancing resident interests with visitors, having conversations with residents, uh, to understand what their needs are as far as parking their own vehicle, and sorry to be so specific,
but you know, I think it's relevant. Um, parking their own vehicle, having guests over. These are very honest conversations that we had to have in the community. um ensuring that our police department was on board. Without them, you know, we
couldn't do this. And so um and conducting a lot of uh education as opposed to enforcement when you start these new kinds of programs. I don't see a reason to penalize residents who are just, you know, trying to figure things
out. And then uh secondly, I took a very uh a lead role in our storm water um bond process. So we were able to get a $60 million storm water bond approved
and that means that we had to tax our residents and it also means that our residents decided to be taxed because they understood the importance of storm water in our community. That may not be the case here to be clear, but um I led
the communications efforts to educate folks on why uh that is so important and we were able to pass that uh 2:1 67% 33% um and it is I believe the second u biggest gap of any uh bond ever passed
Miami date county and that came from a lot of meetings, town halls with residents um you know and and getting our commission involved as Great. Um, I'm trying to understand uh in practicality again how communication
would go. We talked about the 7030 and I'm picking up what I've heard from the questions that were asked. I think one of the challenges is of the role is that once you're in it, you realize you don't have many hands. How comfortable or how aware are you of what sort of ORC chart
is around you and how do you think you need to assess if you have the right people in place to help you? Absolutely. Um I know that some of your department heads are not staff. Um I'll be honest that's you know a little concerning but
I think that uh it's necessity right? It's just what it is. uh budget constraints and and just the nature of of being a small municipality. So, I understand that. Uh I'm ready to handle that. I'm ready to be challenged in that department.
Um I don't think just because you have a consultant as a department head that that um necessarily puts you at a sort of disadvantage in any way. I think it's again just really identifying what folks uh strengths and weaknesses are and
understanding what the plan is right now and and working from that. If it has to change, it will change and if we have to keep certain things moving the same way, we will. Um but uh you know I I trust my team. I
I I want to trust my team. Mhm. So I will identify, you know, what has to change and if we can all work together to move things along. In terms of budget, if you can walk us through what your involvement is on your
budgets, the ones you handle. Is it something you put together? Is this something that you have finance put together for you? What sort of um support you currently have? And how prepared are you? because we're into the
next budget season for every department, right? So, we're not just that wouldn't be just one piece, your piece, but it's everything. So, how have you prepared for the role? Absolutely. So, I personally uh prepared and and oversaw the implementation of our parks and
recreation budget. We do not have a parks and recck department. So, I ran that uh I oversaw that completely acting as a sort of parks and recck director. Um, so I was tasked with preparing that individual department budget. Beyond that, uh, I have different items in
other departments budgets currently and so I'm just very familiar with having the kinds of conversations that need to happen with department heads with uh, everything from public works to PD. Um, I think the first thing is identifying what our assets are, understanding what
we actually own and and lease in some cases. um because not every municipality will know what those things are. I think I think good recordkeeping is very important and I think that's where you build on you know what we already have
and what we really need and we may be able to trim the fat in some places. So I'm very much you know open to that. Great. So you've heard us talk about projects and we already have a CIP in place. So what would the first 30 60 90
days whatever you want to share with us be like if you had to organize that how would you approach that what we currently have ongoing what's in the pipeline to be done how do you structure what comes first
I would identify uh well I would certainly go through your CIP list uh right now my city has about 30 projects on CIP. I would hope that here it's not as many, although I'm open to that. I don't know. You might be surprised. We have a lot.
Um, I would identify what the funding sources currently are for each of those different projects. I would identify what the grants are associated with each of those and I would look to uh challenge our uh grants writer who I've worked with previously uh to see what other opportunities are out there for us
to pursue and understanding that a lot of grants have deadlines that come up before we know it. So making sure that we are realistic about what uh you know what goals we need to achieve in the short term versus the long term. Great.
How would you work with a part-time commission that may be deeply involved in operations at times? It's a very interesting question because we don't see the dayto-day and that's a challenge. So I think you you talked about communication and keeping us on
board. Yes. But many times that there is a very we have a charter that sort of defines powers and you will hear feedback in terms of how things need to be done. Absolutely. How do you manage that? I I listen to it. Uh you're here for a reason. You know, I I'm here to work for
you and in turn you work for the residents. Uh so I understand that very well. And uh obviously I come from that same environment and I think getting you all involved as much as possible. I will absolutely, you know, commit to that.
Perfect. Thank you so much. Perfect timing, Chosio. That's it. Thanks very much. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, commission. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Really, really quick question. I know that I have some folks here that would speak on my behalf during a public
comment type. So, we're going to Is that later on? Yeah, we're going to take that after we finish the interviews and then I um I know um uh Madam Manager from El was here. She had to step away, but she left a statement. Oh, wonderful. Appreciate that. I'll I'll read it when we get Thank you, Mayor. appreciate of course. I think the officer is stepping
up. Great. Where'd it go? Did you give it away? That was very kind of you. I saw the weather briefing that went out earlier that because the I get it from Commissioner I'm sorry Melanie
Burke from um Mayor Kava's office. She sends it out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for Jordan. brought more umbrellas. I didn't I didn't realize several of them. No, I got an umbrella. All right.
Excellent. No, we're it's it's a it's a communal umbrella. And Ryan's right standing right in front of me. Sorry. We're good. Mr. Leonard, good evening. Hi. Thanks for being here with us. So, let me just give you a quick
breakdown on uh how we've been doing this. So, we are going to give you just kind of 10 minutes to do whatever introduction you'd like and speak to the commission and the public. Uh after you finish with that, what we've been doing is each commissioner is gonna have 10 minutes each to ask a series of questions to you directly to have a back and forth. Uh and then that'll wrap it
up. So we got a timer and Oh, okay. Yeah, we're very we're going to be very official about it. So um whenever you're ready to start, um this is your 10 minutes. Well, first of all, thank you very much, mayor, members of the commission, members of the public. Uh thank you for the opportunity. It is an
honor to be in, you know, the final round of anything. So, all that being said, thank you. Uh, my name is Jordan Leonard and I'm one of the finalists for your village manager. Um, I I thought I would just briefly go over uh my background uh and then kind of get into
the whole um Biscane Park at at the end. So, first of all, I'm born and raised in South Florida. Uh born in Mount Si, same hospital my kids were born in. My kids go to the same schools that I went to, same school my mom went to. Um, you know, I grew up in Bay Harbor and and
Miami Beach. Um, and you know, this is my home. Even though that I've never lived here in Biscane Park, my entire life is pretty much within 10 minutes of here. So, from my home to where my kids go to school to um where I own property,
um, everything's here. So, I'm homegrown and I'm not going anywhere. Um, I have about 25 years of government experience. Uh I started my career in the state of Florida uh working for the Florida legislature. I was a legislative aid. I worked on bills including the white
collar crime victim protection act. I even did one of those license plates. So you know one of the thousand license plates they have. So if you play golf I helped write that. Um I also worked for Miami Day County. I was a policy analyst for the county's task force on urban economic revitalization. Um did
everything from making CDBG recommendations. We uh I worked on the mom and pop small business grant program. Uh had a $40 million revolving loan fund. And then from there I worked in three municipalities. I worked in Elportal which is kind of like your sister city. Um when I worked there I
was the village clerk but I was a constitutional officer. So I actually worked for the council. Um but at that time Elportal had just created a manager but the clerk did a lot of duties. So even though I had the council meeting every month and six committee meetings
that I had to do, I also did procurement. I made the bank deposits of Bank of America. I also did other things such like retirement. I did the input for payroll. Uh you name it. Even if you answered the phone, chances are I'm the
guy that did the orders for building because back then you didn't do it on a a website. You called it in and put it on a carbon copy. So I really got a lot of experience working in a small municipality. Then I worked in a medium municipality two times. I worked in Elportal, no uh Opalaka. I worked in
Opalaka as the assistant to the manager and then the assistant manager. But pretty much it was the same job. I ran day-to-day operations. I had about 200 employees that I supervised. Everything from police to building to uh community development to IT to finance. Um we had
a system of government where we had bimonthly meetings. So two meetings every month. every agenda item that came from the administration went through my desk. Um I was able to be successive in in cleaning um lowering the military, increasing law enforcement by 25% in my
first year. Um worked hard and it's uh was a very interesting place to work. But at the end of the day, I really did enjoy it. I also worked in large municipality. I worked in Homestead. Uh I was the executive director of their CRA. I had about a $8.5 million budget.
and um CRAAS you don't have here, but I like to say that that's probably the biggest place I've worked at a municipal level. I also have government experience um as a civic activist um in Bay Harbor Islands. I volunteered on three different boards. I was chair of the um
parks and recck committee. I chaired the planning and zoning committee. I was also the chairman for the charter and ordinance review committee. When I was on charter and ordinance, we actually redid the entire town charter and code when I was chair and got it passed by
our electorate. All the amendments passed and then um our mayor passed away and someone on the council said, you know, do you have a idea of maybe serving in a capacity? So, I was appointed and then later elected and reelected. My last time elected was um
oh gosh, I I still hold the record for most votes ever in the town's history. Um I served three terms as vice mayor, three terms as mayor. Um I was also president of the Day County League of Cities. I served on the board of directors of the Florida League of Cities. I also served on the um South
Florida Regional Planning Council, which does approves your comp plan um and long-term planning for Day County, Broward County, and Monroe County. And I also receive lots of awards. and it sounds great. It's a great resume. It's a great background. Right now, I'm a
small business owner. Um I have a family co-owner family-owned business we've had for 17 years. And I own commercial property. And I have three great kids. So, I I think I got a pretty good life. So, you're probably wondering, why am I applying here? And I'll tell you why.
Because I have something to give. I loved doing public service. I I don't have an interest in being elected again, but I actually really like doing the job and I know I can do it. And you know, one of the things I found interesting is
I spoke to all of you individually and I've spoken to some of the people in the community and you'd be surprised when you speak to people individually. Um it's interesting to see what they tell you the same and what they tell you differently. And pretty much almost everyone's been consistent in telling me the same thing of what they want. They
want someone who's open. They want someone who's humble. They want someone who's going to go and have what they have the open door policy. You know, in in Bay Harbor, we used to have a manager and when someone would call and they'd say, "Hey, you know, I have an issue on
on my in front of my house." He get in his car and drive to someone's house. Show me. Why don't you have that mentality here? And you should. And that's the type of person I am. No matter where I worked, whether I worked in a small place, a big place, whether I
was a staffer, or I was a mayor, I'm still just Jordan. And if you look at it like that, how can you go wrong? All my government experience and everything as far as everything I've done, it doesn't amount to anything if you don't work
well with people. It doesn't amount to anything if you're not productive. It doesn't amount to anything if you don't get things done. And what I'm offering is to be the best that I can do to get things done, to be productive, to work
with everyone. I mean, I came to your last meeting and several of you have asked me the same question. You know, what did you think of the meeting? You know, I I come to realization just like many other cities, not everyone gets along. I get that. So, how are you supposed to be applying for a job when you know into it that not everyone gets
along? Well, I have experience with that. I know what it's like to work with elected body where people don't get along. I know what it's like to work with people that really, you know, you have to find common denominator and and deep down inside, I think we all have the same common goal, which is you want
to have a great community. So, we have a a foundation. So, my management style, and again, not speaking different of of any previous managers because I've known a lot of people have worked here. I know Anna Garcia, I remember when Heidi worked here. It What I look for is to make the best out
of everyone. I want to actually leave a place better than where I found it. I want to be the type of person that comes in here and actually makes a difference. And if I can do that, then I'll be
happy. Yeah, I want to be compensated. But that's the compensation for me because the alternative for me is is what? I I don't want to be elected. I I you know I do okay with a business but I what I really really feel like doing is being productive and doing something
where taking a municipality and actually getting things out the door. You look here and by the way I've looked at your um your uh strategic plan. I've looked at your all all your projects and everything on the list. I I mean I I've
driven down these streets for hours. I mean, I I find it shocking that it's not broken out as far as streets, as far as projects, doing things, getting things out the door. Um, and and those are the types of things that that that really excite me. I I know it sounds odd, but
for me, I liked it. I actually liked working in Opalak. I liked working in Elportal. Um, and by the way, El Poral is, like I said, your sister city. When I was clerked there, I remember one time, uh, you know, bulk pickup didn't pick up a a couch. So, guess what? The
mayor says, "Hey, we need that picked up." Guess what? You take off your jacket, you roll up your sleeves, and you go out with code enforcement. You put on the back of the truck, and you go. You know, that's the type of job this is. This is the type of job where you're the one really doing the work.
You don't have staff. And that's what I want to do. I don't want to sit in an office every day look at a computer. I I can do that now and get paid. So, I'd rather do that here. And I'm hoping that the residents and you as the commission would agree that having someone that has
not just the experience but the mentality of working with everyone and also being open is something that's solely needed in a municipality like Biscane Park. Um, you know, and that's where I come from. I I'd like to be the type of person that has the open door policy, the white glove service, someone
that's informing the community, and you don't have to spend a lot of money. So, I'd like to bring back. By the way, on your website still doesn't have all your names on it. And by the way, the last month we report is from last year. Um, everywhere I've worked, we always done weekly reports. That's the type of thing
that I would expect to do. So, that being said, thank you again for the opportunity and I look forward to hearing all your questions when you grill me for the next 50 minutes. Oh, good timing. Thank you. Thank you, Jordan. So we're going to way we started
before was we start on on this end of the day and just kind of work our way down. So all right commissioner is going to get us started. Thank you Mr. Lennon for your presentation. Thank you for being here. Uh my first question is what made you interested in the position of village manager here in Biscane Park. All right. So um there was a resident
that that knew me from Bay Harbor and called me up and told me a story about how they were put off. Um and again this is not my stories someone else's story. told me how um the person had an issue
and um called and they gave the person the wrong information and then they ended up having to was told to go to the county. Went to the county told them how to do it. They did it and then found out that it was the wrong information. and they had to go to the village. And so this person wanted to communicate and
talk to the manager, talk to the staff, had to set up an appointment, confirm the day before, took off work. Person's small business owner, drove up here and literally is in the car and gets a phone call from the assistant cancing the appointment. And they said, "You got to
come work here." And I said, "Really?" He's like, "Yeah." So I started calling and started talking and realizing, you know, this would be a great opportunity to to make a difference and to be honest that person used to live in in Bay Harbor. So they knew what type of how
government ran when I was there. So that that's how I got interested in the position. So yeah. Thank you. Please outline your reasons why you would be successful as the next village manager at Biscane Park. Okay. One is
communication. I think that being in a rare situation where I've been in your seats, I've been on the council, I've been the vice mayor, I've been the mayor, I've been the, you know, the resident. I and and I've also been the
staffer. Um, I like to think that communication is really imperative. If you want to build trust with people, you need to actually, you know, have an open line of dialogue. I I I've always told people that you may not like the answer,
but how you say it and what you do makes all the difference. And there you can say the same thing in in many many different tones. And my experience working in very difficult situations like for example in Opalaka, I found that treating people with respect goes a
long way. And I think that my my biggest feature is being open and transparent, treating people equally. Uh regardless of how the DES works with the majority, everyone gets treated the same way. And I feel strongly that if you have someone
who's a professional that I'm going to get treated the same way back. I also feel that one of my best qualities is also I'm uh to some extent a perfectionist. I'm one of those guys that if I got to come here at night, I got to walk the streets. That's that's
what it takes. And I think that with my prior experience working in other municipalities that ha have had to risen above the bar from where they were used to, Biscane Park is a perfect example to show what I can do. So,
one of the unique things about Biscane Park is our close-knit community with a small but dedicated staff. How would you utilize your experience to complement this community and our workforce? Well, first of all, you know, one of the things is is when when you're in management, you know, you're the boss and and you know, you work in
government, you know how it works. Uh but at the end of the day, you're still part of a team. So, you know, you can look at it from the perspective, well, I'm the boss, do this. But when you're the only guy, like for example, when I worked in El Portal, I'm the guy that
answers the phone. I'm the guy that picks up the moldy couch, but I'm also the guy who's the constitutional officer that sits in the suit every month. You're the same guy. If you treat people with respect and you know that you're willing to get your hands dirty and you're willing to actually do the work,
then you know you get a little bit of credit. When I worked in in Opalaka, um I had to work with some unfortunately difficult people. I I inherited a a city where unfortunately some of the employees were were somewhat difficult.
It's one of the few cities that openly hired convicted felons. You know, I had officers that committed crimes. I I had an officer that actually murdered someone. You know, I'm not joking. He he actually robbed a Brinks armor truck and killed the guard. I I mean, I've worked
in difficult situations. I I come from the background where I'm no better than anyone else. You know, I was a mayor and I never wanted people to call me a mayor. I want you to call me Jordan. I'm just a regular guy. And yeah, have I fired people? Absolutely. I've fired a
lot of people. But when it comes down to managing people in a small municipality, you got to you got to work together. You you can't say, "I'm the manager, you go do this." You got to say, "Okay, let's get this done. Who's going to do this? Who's going to do that? I'm going to do
this." And if you have equal respect, tr respect will be given out the same way. You have to earn it. Yeah. I can't walk in here with a handmade suit and say, "Hey, go do this." No one's going to respect you. It's not going to last long. You You got to actually prove
yourself. And that's the kind of thing I'm going to need to prove myself. I'm going to prove myself to everyone from not just the commission but also the clerk also the officers the guy that that cleans up everyone. You have to earn it. So that's where I come from.
Would you please discuss your approach to crafting a budget? Specifically expand on your on projects you think are of vital importance to the village and how you would secure them secure funding for them. That's a great question. So first of all you have a great lobbyist Dave Casserti you've had for many years. Um Dave's great and he's very good at
getting money. Um but let's not lie. Um you know the these are tough times. You're going to get your preliminary numbers in June 1st. You get the final numbers in July 1st. Everyone's expecting a decrease. Um you know so we're going to have to live within our means. Uh we're going to try to get
money. Obviously I've seen Listen, I've looked at your your budget. I've looked at all your long-term planning. You know, I've seen a lot of stuff. Oh, we're going to get the FR app. Listen, I remember when when they got the money to redo this. I remember when they got the money to do, you know, a lot of other projects here. So, we'll try, but you
have to be realistic. You have to be realistic of of what we can do, what we can't do. I think that in a budget cycle, um, I would look at your planning and be a lot more specific. I don't like, personally, I don't like what's
written. Um, you have some pie in the sky things like septic to sewer that's like, you know, whatever over hund00 million. But then when it comes to road improvement, it's a single line without a budget line item. How is that? Let me tell you, I've driven down your streets a lot. I would I would have that
itemized by street and that I would do things differently. I would I would actually itemize it better. Um, so I would wait to see what the numbers are going to be. Um, but I'm expecting to have a decrease. That's just what I
would expect. I know the county is expecting a decrease. They've had a hiring freeze for for months now. So, um, you know, and obviously with the, um, political conditions in the country right now, going to Tallahassee and going to Washington, it's very difficult
to get money. Um, so we'll have to work with what we have. You know, I'd love to tell you I'm going to get all this money. And by the way, when I worked in Opalaka, we brought in so much money, I had to hire a staffer just to handle the requirements of reporting. That's how much money we would bring in. Millions
of dollars. And I'm not saying that you can't get money, but I I want to be realistic to you. I'm not going to lie. It's going to be it's going to be hard. The next the next fiscal year, I don't think it's going to be so fun. But I I believe in being detailed oriented. I think if we detail the projects more,
we'll be able to um come to a realization of what you as policy makers want to be budgeted and what you don't want to have budgeted. So that's where I come from. My final question is what do you believe are the biggest opportunities for the V
village currently and what are the biggest challenges at this time? H well biggest opportunity is to be quite honest having a community that likes where they are. I you know I I've had
the pleasure of knowing some people that live here and I think some people love it and I've heard a lot of people say they they've moved here for specific reasons like they've moved here for the trees and they move here you know for for several different reasons. But I would be remissed if I didn't tell you
that there are some people that live in the community that are not happy. And I think that's a great opportunity to to expand on. I think making it where again the transparency, building the trust. Again, I I think these are all qualities
that will make it I guess people more inclined to say this is I made the right decision. You know, I I talked to a resident that told me that they were they were so upset over that incident that happened. You know, I can understand if you moved here and you invested your life savings, your
most valuable asset is your home and somebody's chopping the tree down in front of your house. Yeah. Yeah. I get that, you know, but I'm not going to Monday night quarterback it. I I do think that trust and transparency is a big thing. Um I do think also there needs to be um some some stronger
leadership at the management level. I do believe in in going over agenda items and I do believe in running a tight ship when it comes to comprehension of of how policy is going to be carried out. I I do believe strongly that I run in my
lane running dayto-day. You guys make the policy. I run the city. That that's great. But if you want help in in getting suggestions or getting data, um I I'm also one of those guys that can help provide that. So anyway, thank you. No, thank you, Mr. Mayor. That's all I
got. Right. Hey, Jordan. Hey, how you doing? Good. How are you, buddy? Great. So, I'm going to ask you to be brief and concise because I got quite a few questions and I want to get through them. Um, so please just keep it like one question in 20 parts. Okay. So, um, first of all, have you attended any
meetings outside of the commission meeting? Attended? Oh, you mean over the span since the application process or ever? Oh, either one. Um the last time I was here was um
I was uh elected and we had a um uh conversation with the head of emergency operations over reimbursement for FEMA. Um I believe that was for Hurricane Irma. Um you guys and El Portal were the last. So that was the last time I was here other than that. Okay. Have you
walked the village? Yeah, I've drove I mean walk actually walked the What stands out to you? The the sidewalks. Uh I mean not the sidewalks but the the streets well you have lack of sidewalks but the the streets um uh there needs to be I in my opinion a significant
investment in that also in the community center area the park area I've walked that area um and uh you know like I said I I think that there's uh there's a lot of infrastructure projects. Okay so that's on the negative. What about on
the positive? Oh are you kidding? the the the tree canopy, the I mean, the place is beautiful. I mean, you have you you have one of the only cities that has these medians with trees and every street is just lush. I mean, it's like
it's like the Coral Gables of North Dade. All right. Um, what would you say was your biggest accomp accomplishment in your municipal career? Oh, just one, please. I'm sure there are many, but just give us one major accomplishment.
Uncovering the fraud and put, you know, the the public corruption in Opalaka that that is by far I lost my job for that and I'm very proud of that. I uncovered one of the largest public corruption schemes in Florida history. Um I was the key whistleblower to an FBI
um public corruption task force that uncovered millions of dollars of stolen water and utility services. The mayor herself um was charged with uh 14 having 14 different water and sewer accounts. Um I actually was the one that wrote the
agenda item that actually listed her account number and asked for a forensic audit. So that that to me I'm proud of that. I sleep very well at night for that. Awesome. Um you're currently working uh for your family business as you said. Do you intend on continuing to
work in that business? And if so, how do you plan to budget your time between the two? No, all of my businesses um I can get a dispers, you know, distribution. So, it wouldn't be a salary. So, it's uh you know, right now I it's not much of a
of a quoteunquote job that I go to. It's not a job I go to every day. So, it's perfectly fine and and I be more than happy to put in into the contract that this would be my only employment. Okay. Um, as far as the village is concerned, what do you what are the two biggest
challenges that you think that we're facing and and how would you address them? Just the two top ones that come to your mind. Two top is I I think from a policy perspective, so not what I do, what you do is that give and take between the
older homes and the newer homes. you you go down the streets here and you see some of these newer homes and I'm sure just like any other municipality um you want the tax basis but you may not want the big house. I I think that's um that's a give and take on a policy level
that that many municipalities often face where we need the money but we may not want so much growth. Uh the second is the limitation in in in the money. um you know you have a lot of need uh but you don't have the potential of making
as much money you don't have the commercial you don't have the industrial um so you have the limitation so I I think that those are two huge challenges that that we all face BP is a village that has limited
resources please tell us how you would generate additional revenues uh through leveraging existing assets or otherwise without putting undue burden on the community. Well, I mean, one is obviously from a from a policy perspective, if if the commission and the elected body wants to go about
continuing to have, you know, again, the the the theory of um people building new homes and putting new new properties on the tax roles. That's that's the easiest way to to increase your your revenue. Obviously, getting grants. Um I was very
good at that. Obviously, I dished out $8.5 million in in Homestead. I dished out millions of dollars in the county and dished out uh uh collected a lot of money in Opalaka. So, I'd like to think that pursuing grants more aggressively. Um that's something that I have a lot of
experience doing. But I'll be honest with you, um there there, you know, we can go to the county, you can go to tally, you can you can do a lot of things, but at the end of the day, um there is that limitation. Um, so and part of it is determined by you as a
commission how far you want to go as far as moving forward in in in redevelopment. So, okay. Our city trees are a significant asset gifted to us by previous Biscane Park residents. How will you work to maintain and to add to our city's canopy given our fi our
limited financial resources? Well, I mean, the first thing is I I probably wouldn't put in your long-term strategic planning, what was it, like $15,000 for increasing plants and 30,000 for trees and 30,000 for cutting them down. You know, if if this is what you want as a policym body, we probably shouldn't put
on paper that you have twice as much money budgeted to cut the trees than to plant them. So, um I believe that it's one of your most beautiful qualities. First of all, um I wouldn't do anything illegal. Um, I wouldn't go through the the process of of not making sure that
that, you know, uh uh cutting down the trees was not uh permissible. Um, but I I also do think that you can you can go through Tree City USA. I mean, there there's lots of programs. The C, by the way, the county offers free money for for um uh for trees and whatnot. Um, and
you'd be surprised what programs are out there. I mean, I once did a a project in Bay Harbor where we redid a park and the money we got, believe it or not, was tied into artwork. So, if you got the artwork, they give you the money for the park. I'm like, that's great. We we'll
get some artwork. We got a we got it for the dog park. I mean, if you get creative and you know what you're doing, um there there's opportunities out there. You said you have plenty of experience in this uh in this realm. So, I'm I'll just ask you the question. Sure. How would you deal with a council member that you don't see eye to eye
with or get along with? H you have to treat them with respect because they're elected to the position, but at the end of the day, you don't sell your soul. Um if you treat people with respect and they don't respect you back, you know, you keep your head up
and and you move along. I've had to deal with people like that. In El Portal, um I had a commissioner that or council member that unfortunately had a a health change. The person had a stroke and the person had some serious changes to their
personality and the person said something that was absolutely disgusting and vile towards me as me as a person and my religion. And you know, I got to tell you, I've never been called something like that in all my life. I'm 47 still to this day. But you know what?
I had to work with that guy and I did. Um I work with anybody. I've worked with people that that have later been arrested and gone to prison. So, if I can work with them, I can work with all of you. So, you know, okay, I think I'll be good. Well, hopefully none of us end
up there. No, I don't think so. From a scale of 1 to 10, how important uh do you feel uh having an active and open relationship with residences to the job of a manager? And what would you do to strengthen that relation those relationships? 10. It's a 10. 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10. the the manager is
your first line of defense. I I used to say when I was elected that if something goes good, it's the mayor and and counsel. If something goes bad, it's the manager's fault. It's always the manager's fault. Always. Because they're the person that really run the show. You guys show up once a month. They're the ones that are responsible. It's all on
that person. Um and the buck stops with that person. So, to be honest, how are you gonna how am I gonna build that trust? Every day. Every time someone calls and you meet with them and you treat them with respect, how about also
having, for example, a lot of things people mentioned was about the trees that they didn't know. They didn't know. Well, let me tell you something. Let's be straight here. You guys had meetings. You passed a resolution authorizing it. You you got someone to do it. This wasn't exactly done in the dark, but you
still had people complaining. So, whose fault is it? It's the manager's fault. Because you know why? the manager needs to come with a better plan to get the word out. So, guess what? Do a an email service. It's free. It doesn't cost anything. You register and the manager
puts out, you know, a weekly email or bi-weekly email. This is what we're working on. That way, everyone knows. It's such a small place. I also believe in being available. You know, if you have an event here and you do a little, you know, donuts and and coffee, have everyone talk to you. You know, the
reason why my friend was so upset was because they got the wrong information. And why? Because the person who really would have told them who knew the answer wasn't available to begin with. From my point of view, if I screwed up like that, I I shouldn't be
in the job. Oh, I'm sorry. You could listen. You can always ask me later. You You know You know my number. Why do you want this job? Oh, it's real simple. I I want to do
something productive in my life. I I I have all this experience and I enjoy doing it. So, why not continue doing it? You know, when I when I left public service, I I I changed my life around. I
started traveling. And, you know, there's only so many times you can travel. I mean, I'm I'm blessed. I'm I truly am blessed. But if I'm not happy because I'm not being productive, that that's not who I want to be. I was
raised to be someone that always worked. I I typically always worked. Even when I worked at the county, I worked a second job. I wor always worked my butt off. And I want to do something more. I don't want my last chapter to be that that was it. I I want to be able to do something
where I feel like I'm being productive. And this is a great opportunity. You know, if I worked at a at a city where I was getting paid so much more money, but the place was crazy and huge and I sat in a computer for 80 hours a week, I'd be miserable. This is the kind of place where you can go outside and you can
actually interact with people. You know, I I live in a I live in a huge city. You think the city manager of Miami Beach is ever going to come to my house if I had a problem? No. But in Biscane Park, you get to meet people. You get to see who they are as people. And you know what?
Deep down inside, life's more important than just making a paycheck. I I actually want to do something where I enjoy waking up in the day. Thanks. We're a small community and all our boards are made up of residents. How
do you see yourself working with the boards? And have you had any experience working with volunteer residents? I I served on two boards in Miami Beach. Like I said before, I I I chaired the chart or review committee. I chaired planning and zoning. I chaired parks and
wreck. I served on boards for 10 years before I even got on the council. So, yeah, I I know exactly how important it is because I was that person. I know what it's like to volunteer my time. So, yeah, I I value that. And by the way, I'll be the first one to tell you that
if people don't have the time to volunteer, then we need to make a change. I I'm not afraid to tell you like it is, but I do value public input when it's productive and when it's consistent. We have always had communication problems between administration and
residents. What are some of your strategies used to keep residents informed? Well, one is open door. One is being available. I'm the type of person I I give out my number. Um, you know, it's a small place. You know, you can have my number. It's not some secret. I
I'm the type of person that you call up and I'm not in a meeting. I'm not busy. Guess what? I'll come see you. Uh I think that using technology is also beneficial. Um you have a website that's not updated. If I started the job on
Monday, let me tell you by Tuesday that website's going to be updated. You know, that would be the one of the top priorities. I also believe strongly in using technology that's not necessarily going to spend the most money. you know, in in Bay Harbor Islands when we have a
a project going up, they they're required by law to mail um letters to everyone in the community. And by the way, the person who does the project pays for it. Well, how come you know the village here doesn't do something where you do an email or something? Maybe not
may not want to spend the money on the postage. I get it. But you can do the emails. I mean, there's lots of things to build trust. But most importantly is having the mentality of working with people rather than working against them. Could you give me some examples of how
you would promote transparency with the commission and the residents? Well, one of the promises is treating people equally and fairly. And and by the way, that goes the same for residents. The information they get is the same information you get. You have the right
to get everything that they get. There's no difference. That's how it works. And I think that building trust amongst all of you is the realization that I'm on your side. You may not necessarily all like each other, but that's not my problem. My problem is
to make sure that when you wake up every day that I'm doing my job, that that this is a safe, beautiful community and it continues to be. So if you understand and you allow me the privilege of actually working here, I would be the
type of person that would build that trust with you each individually. And by the way, you're all different people. You have not only different ideas, but different ways of doing things. And you know, that's part of the job, making sure that I'm available to make sure that you guys do the best that you can
do in these volunteer jobs. The commission establishes many goals in a budget process. Many items are not addressed year after year. What would you do to be sure most if not all the goals are addressed? Can you give me some examples how you can achieve this
in your work experience? Sure. Let's let's be first of all let's be realistic. I mean we're not going to do septic to sewer in the next 10 years. Not in this this climate. Um not unless the the county is going to I don't know win win lotto or something. You know that's not going to happen. But, you know, look, you got, you know, one of
the things that I loved in in in North Dade is the LPRs, the license plate readers. And I I noticed you got something budgeted there. It's $6,000. It's not going to cost six grand. You know, my idea was that again that you license plate readers. You have an item on there. It's six grand for poles. I
mean, trust me, it's going to cost a lot more than six grand. But, um, uh, and by the way, Bay Harbor, Bal Harbor, Surfside are on their second generation of LPRs. Um, Deral has had it for years. Bay Harbor's had it for over 10 years. Um, it's a great opportunity to license
plate readers um, help solve crimes. I mean, and and it deters crime, too. Um, there's a perfect example of being realistic of what the number really is and then actually work it out how to do it. You have in your budget. I mean, I I have the paper here. I mean, it's like you can't lie because it's literally
right here. And you look at the the budget here and you look at these numbers. I mean, when you have the item for the for the streets, it's one lot line item. You know, you have some infrastructure projects for drainage, and that's great, but the ones for the streets, it's not itemized. I would be
much more specific. I'd be much more realistic. I I would actually really look at this and bring it back to you and say, look at your priorities. By the way, I read your strategic plan. It looks great. I'm sure you paid good money to get it, but at the end of the day, you need to start chipping away
some of these things. And there are some easy things. So I I would actually say, yeah, let's let's go down the list, but I I have a few items, you know. So anyway, what are some of your goals for Biscane Park that you would like to accomplish? Well, first again, that
trust. I I think that's important. If you don't have the foundation, then you don't you don't have anything. Um I think being uh the type of manager that sets you up to succeed when it comes to agenda items. I mean, I went to one meeting and you guys spent 30 minutes
talking about the the, you know, about the insurance increase of 18,000 and that should have been something that should have been discussed with each of you and should have been something to all due respect should have been on the consent agenda because it should have it should have been a no-brainer. We're you
know, you have so many things that that you can invest your time speaking about. Those are the just get it done, you know, but I I also um you know, anyway, but I I can go on and on. I have a lot of examples. So, yeah, we're a small
community and a village manager must wear many hats. What's your experience working with public works, police, and cold? Uh extensive. Um I oversaw day-to-day operations for Opalaka two times. So, I oversaw the police department there. Um,
we our first budget I went from 40 to 50 sworn without increasing taxes in Homestead. Um, even though I ran the CRA, the CRA has special powers to hire uh police and code within the district. So, we did that. Um, uh, in addition,
uh, when I was in Bay Harbor Islands, my big ticket item was accreditation. That was my my big thing. Uh, when the new chief came on board, I said, "This is it. We we need to get accredited." And by the way, it took years. you know, this is not something you do in a month. Uh, it took years and we invested the
time, the effort, the money, the resources, and we got it done. Even more impressive was being reacredited much harder. As you learned, probably most of you have already known that North Miami Beach got deacredited, and that's the first time
that they've that's ever happened. So, they they didn't pass. They lost their accreditation. If you're you're not on top of it, you'll lose it. It's much harder to to keep it than it is to get it. So, I I do believe that my experience with law enforcement is extensive. Um, I had the pleasure of working with many chiefs. Um, you know,
the chief over in Homestead has the record of the longest serving chief in in I think in Florida. Um, our manager in Bay Harbor for 10 years was a was a former um uh NYPD ESU commander. Um, so I I think I have a good experience when it comes to public works. Yeah. I mean,
I've I've done projects. We did in in Opalaka, we did the uh main lift station. Um that was like 1.2 million. Um in Homestead we did one lift stations that was about a million dollars we funded. Um and I've like I said I've
oversaw a building. Uh when I was elected official I was also appointed to the county board of rules and appeals. Uh for anyone who's a contractor you know what that is. Um they actually is a quasi judicial board that has uh mostly professionals but has two elected officials. I was one of two. Um, it
oversees and rules on appeals to um, building officials. So, you don't like the opinion of building official, you go to them. So, I did that also. Sure. Sure. Hey, Jordan. Hey, how you doing, Mayor? I'm doing well. How are you? I You tell
me. Well, we appreciate you being here. So, I'm going to give you the same uh warning that I've given the other two. Okay. That uh I'm going to ask you some questions that we haven't discussed before. Uh even though we've we've had plenty of those discussions because I'm going to kind of keep you on your feet a little bit. Sure. Um so uh a couple of things. Uh the first thing that I want
to talk to you a little bit about is vision. Um you know we like to hear from you if you hold the position of village manager for Biscane Park. What's your vision for this for this community? Where do you see this community going? How do you get us there? Perfect. All
right. This is the meat and potatoes. The vision is to actually plan and execute something longer than a short-term goal. Everything we've talked about is really short term. Long-term, you know, listen, you can build trust
six months. Yeah, I'm sure everyone's going to think I'm a great guy, but what's going to be done five years from now? I don't think you've ever really had someone really have the conversation in in the in the scheme of not just talking about it, but planning that
they're going to be the one doing it. I my vision is to actually execute your vision, give you the information you need to make the decisions that I can carry out. You guys you guys run the policy. I can I can be the best manager,
but if you guys say no, then guess what? We're not we're not doing that. But my vision really is long-term planning. Realistic long-term planning, not the septic to sewer. Real like fixing all the streets. How long is it going to take to fix all the streets in this
village? How many years? How much money is it going to cost? Does anyone know that? You should. That should be on the top of list. You know, those are the things that that I really think are the meat and potatoes. the stuff that listen, you can't drive here for for two
blocks without noticing it. Those are the types of things that I think and and they're not done in a year. They're multi- multiaceted and and by the way, I've looked at everything here. Detail, detail, detail. So, yeah. Uh, so you you talked a little bit about well, you talked a lot about trust, building
trust, transparency, communication. How do you the the vision that you hold you know for for Biscane Park that you just communicated to us? How do you ensure that you get commission buy into that you get employee department resident? How do you get community buyin to what
you think is most important for this village? Communication. If you come up with all the information and you explain it to people and you invest the time, you buy people in. It's like it's like the agenda item with the with the with
with the insurance. If you don't if if you're just reading something on a piece of paper and then they have to come on the Zoom and discuss it, that's you've already lost it. What you need to be doing is actually doing the research, communicating. So, I speak to you, I speak to you, I speak to you, I speak to
all individually. And then there's also communication with the public. Also, keep in mind, let's let's keep this in mind because we're going to be real here. You can't buy you can't do deaf by a thousand paper cuts where we we talk about so much it never gets done. There has to be a finality to it. But at the
end of the day, there has to be that communication and there has to be that that that process to actually communicate and and it and again it's not just the trust, it's the education. You have to do your homework. You have to have the information and you have to go over with everyone so everyone's on
the same plan. And and you're right, sometimes you're going to get one commissioner, two commissioners are not on the same plan. But if the majority says this, this is what we're doing and that's what the job entails. But from my point of view, how do you do it? It's by me doing my homework. If I show up and
I'm winging it, uh, you're never going to do well in this place because you're the guy who does everything. You you got to be prepared. So, um, communication is a big piece of something that I think needs a lot of help here. We've talked a lot about it. Um, we've talked about I've heard you
say things in candidates and and I I love this phrase. It just you hear it a lot and I I you know, I wonder what does it achieve is open door policy. It sounds great, right? You know, you have an open door, you invite people in and it's needed certainly, but it's it's a little more passive, you know? So, how
do you you know, email campaigns, I know you mentioned that. How do you be proactive in reaching out to residents, keeping them informed? What what do you do with that respect? How do you be proactive to reach out to them and not just put the onus on the residents to say come to us if you need something?
Yeah. I mean, and that's and that's the uh you know, that's the age-old question. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Every government, by the way, has this. This is not a you problem. So, like you said with the trees, people like, "Oh my god, they're cutting down the trees." But you had a public meeting. You passed a resolution.
At the end of the day, I I do believe the email system is good. I do believe having the weekly um update is good. I do believe that having an up-to-date website is needed. I I think that if there's a one-stop shop where everyone knows, listen, oh, you live in Biscane
Park, we know, get on the email list. We're going to, you know, I'm going to get the update. I have a question, we'll call the village. You know, it's funny. The first time I called the village, you have like a a you know an answering service. I mean like why isn't pick up
the phone? Is it is it because of budgetary? I'm not saying that you should necessarily change. I'm not trying to go you know uh drastic but I would expect in a small place someone picks up the phone. But I also think it's also um when it comes to staff and
when it comes to information, I think that it is also important to have dialogue with staff to make sure everyone's on the same page too. Um if people are not on the same page, you run the risk of what happened to my friend where they got bad advice because the
person happened to pick up the phone didn't didn't know. There has to be a communication of how it goes up the chain just like in a police department. Um, so that way we're on the same page. So it's it's not it's not as simple as oh yeah, I'm going to send emails. I think if people call and they get the
wrong information, I failed. So there there's a little bit more work into it, but it's it's definitely this is all doable. This is not this is all within our wheelouses. So you mentioned something in in your response about, you know, the death by a thousand paper cuts, doing too many things at once.
Yeah. And that's been something that we've had to deal with in Misg Park for a while is there's there's a lot of there's a lot of fall through the cracks. There's a lot of something's not followed up on and I've mentioned it to to each candidate already that we'll pass something. We'll discuss something and a couple months later we all sit around and say, "Well, what happened
with that? Does anybody remember?" I mean, I remember we've sat here and we said, "Well, hey, do you remember when we talked about that? Well, what happened with that?" How do you ensure that we're following up, that we're getting things done? You talked a lot about productivity and getting things done. How do we do that here in Biscane Park? How do how do you do that for us?
When when I worked in Elportal, which again your sister city, um we were a little basic. We had an Excel spreadsheet. So every time something would come up in a meeting or whatever, I put on Excel spreadsheet. So that way there's a way to track it. You know, that's a simplistic way. And by the way, your previous manager did that. It's
actually on your website still from from last year. So that might be a way to do it. Not saying it's a bad way, but the death by a thousand paper cuts is something that that is real. It's not a Biscane Park thing, so don't worry. Um, you know, I've seen it in every city. I
saw in Bay Harbor. Uh, I had a individual who is a prominent member of the community that was willing to make a significant donation, you know, up to a half a million to put a beautiful landscaped entrance. Welcome to Bay Harbor Islands.
council couldn't come up with a solution. Oh, we're gonna hire someone. We're gonna get the students from FIU. Whatever. End of the day, the guy passes away. We never got the money. So, if you drive down Broad causeway, there's no real entrance. Oh, we didn't like it. It
looks more like Star Trek, you know. So, yeah, it's real. I from my point of view, I can't make you do your job. Again, I'm we have limitations. If you guys don't want to pass something, that's that's that's fine. That's your prerogative. But if you say and you say,
"Mr. Manager, do ABC." It's on me to do ABC. It's on me to bring it back to you. If I don't do ABC timely and I don't report to you why it's not being done, you get rid of me. That's how the job is supposed to be. Again, remember what we said. If it's wrong, it's my fault. So,
it's up to me to if I want to do Excel spreadsheet, if I want to do the weekly report and bring you up to date, if I want to tell you, hey, listen, you know, that septic to sewer thing you told me is top priority, uh, it's not going to happen because I don't know where the $100 million is going to come from. You know, whatever it is, I have to be
realistic and communicate with you. And if that means that I need to devote more time to communicate with you individually or in a meeting, I'll do it. But where I come from, if you want to the proof in the pudding, you need to follow up. And there shouldn't be a conversation in this room, if I have
this job where you say, you know, 6 months ago, we mentioned something, whatever happened. If if I'm doing that, then I'm not doing my job. So, you hire me and don't worry. I'll I'll make sure that that at least you're communicated as far as what's going on. Got 40
seconds. Sorry. Last question. Um uh talk to me a little bit about from your perspective um you know you've done the elected official thing, you've done the administrative thing. What qualities do you need to have in the administrative side of this as a village manager for for this municipality? What's most important to you? What do you think you
need to succeed? You need to be the jack of all trades. You need to be a humble person that actually is willing to do the work. if you know if you're going to wear a handmade suit. You know, it's funny when I when I you know when I
worked in Elportal I took a huge pay cut and I worked like a dog. I worked seven days a week and you know I learned so much from that job. But but at the end of the day I I do believe strongly that if you want to be working in a municipality like this, which is a small
place, you need to clutch up and understand that you're going to be the guy who's going to be the one that does it. you know, that's just how it is. Um, this is not Aventurer where I got a huge building. I got staff to do this and someone to No, and that's why I want the job. I I want that. I I don't want to
work in front of the computer all day. So, anyway, great day. Sure. Thanks very much. Oh, thank you. Hi, Jordan. Hey. Hey. Wow. The fifth one is this is finally. Yeah. So, um I'm going to try to add to everything that you've already heard. A lot of those questions were
some way way of another mind. Um, you've served in several high-profile and complex roles, but it's been over a decade since you were last in a full-time city management role. Yes. How do you plan to readapt to the operational and administrative side of
running of min? That's a great question. It It's like riding a bicycle. Management is is who you are. It's like you either you have those skills and they're the same skills that I had when I worked in government that I am as a
small business owner. It's the same skills that in in carries throughout your life. Um you're right there are some changes that happen and it's you know even though I left public service some time ago I was still elected. Uh, and believe me, I played a very active
role in not just Bay Harbor Islands, but also um in all 34 municipalities and all 416 for the state of Florida. Um, so I I like to think that I'm I I'm it wouldn't be hard for me to get up to date, but
I'll also be honest with you, I'm the first one to tell you I don't know everything. I'm the first one to tell you that if I have a question, I'm going to call someone. I don't pretend to tell you I'm the best. you know, I I was married a long time. I know I'm not the best. So, I I understand completely that
being the manager is also being realistic that there's going to be a team effort. So, from my point of view, I believe I'll be able to fit into the job on day one and be able to do the job on day one. It hasn't changed as far as
how to write an ordinance or how to work with the attorney. None of that has changed. But everything else, I'll I'll get to it and and I'm very confident that my experience will allow me to do that. Great. Describe your management style. How would you pass um staff how
would you your past staff describe you as a leader? That's a great question. I I'd like to hope that people would describe me as someone that treated them fairly and equally. Um, you know, when I worked in Opal Locker, when I worked in Homestead, and I worked in places where,
um, you know, again, like someone said, complex, um, I'd like to think I treated everyone with respect. Um, and and I think that goes a long way. If you treat someone who's a commissioner the same way as the guy who literally checks the
water meters out in the sun, um, it it your reputation precedes itself. And I'd like to hope in all my years of service um I'd like to hope my reputation is is is intact. So wonderful. Describe your
experience with writing and restructuring municipal budgets. What mistakes have you made? I'm more interested on those. Um and what did you learn from those? Well, first of all, I I can tell you that if you really want to learn something, uh you make a
mistake. Yep. I've learned so much more from making mistakes in my life than I ever learned in college or anything else. So although I'm not trying to make mistakes here, um I can tell you that when I was no block, I approved the budget. I'm the one that that actually
co-wrote that. Um I know I had my separate budget in the CRA in Homestead. I know I played a limited role in Elportal obviously because I was only the clerk but um but I I did play a role and obviously I played a role in the budget in Bay Harbor Islands. I mean I
can't tell you how beneficial it is to be an elected official and know how to cut line items for an appropriation amongst all of the uh um accounts. You know, in fact, actually, I can tell you one example. Um, we had the lobbyist and
in order to get something I wanted um for a general revenue project, so it was like a park project or whatever, I needed to save some money. So, I said, "Hey, let's take the uh lobbyist and we'll cut it amongst all the the actual line items." So, in other words, you have um like water, sewer, storm water,
because guess what? He's lobbying for those things. You know, we're So, you cut it over seven accounts. We have a bridge account because we have a toll system, but guess what? A percentage goes out of that. Guess what? I found the money. So, yeah, I have a lot of experience writing budgets. Um, but
again, I I chalk it up to the same thing is that you have to work within your means. And and that is something that if you hire me, I'm going to consistently be telling you live within our means. You have a uh you know, your millage rate went from 9.5 to now 9.4. you know,
uh, you tell me what to do and I'll make it happen in the budget. If you can briefly on that point say how do you do that without overpromising and over uh reaching? You be realistic. You you underpromise and overd deliver. You
know, um, one of one of the things that people don't tell you in government is the manager has some wide discretion. You appropriate the budget. You say, "Okay, this is what we're going to do." Um, what you may or may not know is the manager can move things around as long as you appropriate the money. They can
they can do a lot of things and and good managers can find money when they need to. Um, I understand your limitations. I understand completely that that um, you know, money is certainly an issue, but I'll do the best that I I can possible to actually tell you what can we do, how
many fiscal years, and and plan long-term plan. on that point as well. Um, what are the lowhanging fruits in the first year? Oh, I was looking I was looking at from some lowhanging fruits. Um, I think that if you took and by the
way, I I really don't like your your plan here. It's not itemized as much as I would want it. I would love to break it down more and say, listen, let's let's cut it up. Let's see how much money can we appropriate a year to do how many streets. You know, look at it
peace meal. You know, in in Bay Harbor, that's what we did. We redid our infrastructure when the economy tanked. So, we we got some good prices. Sometimes 50 cents on the dollar. We redid the entire infrastructure for the entire municipality. And then we were posed with the the problem. How do you
maintain it? So, guess what? We're going to cut up the city into seven seven pieces. So every year we're going to do a piece. So by seven years we're maintaining it. So guess what? Let's cut it up. How much money do we have? Well, maybe we only have a few blocks. We'll
take it from there. But if you don't cut it up on your list, you you don't even have a frame of reference to start. So that's what I would do. Um, in terms of leadership, as someone with strong personality and political
presence, how do you balance assertive leadership with building consensus among commissioners and staff? Well, listen, I all I can do is do the best job possible to bring you the information. I I can be
somewhat persuasive, but it's not my job to tell you guys what to do. there. Don't get me wrong, there are some things that are sensitive must pass like you you got to pass the budget, you got to pass the insurance, you know, some things, yeah, this this is a must pass
item that I have, but on policy, I I can help put you in the right directions, but if you guys don't come to a consensus, that's on you. The best thing I can do is try to give you the tools and the information to make those educated decisions. And hopefully if you
guys see common the common denominator that you want to do best for the community, you should hopefully, God willing, come together. But let's make no mistake about it. You're not always I'm not always going to get a 5. But let me tell you, when I walk in, if I'm your
manager and I walk in, I will have a piece of paper and I expect to know how the vote's going to be on every item because I expect to have a good enough relationship with each of you where we can be frank and cordial and and and go over it. And now, if something new comes up, you can change your vote. Yeah, I
get it. But I I'm not the type of person that likes surprises. I'm the type of person that that I expect that trust is uh reciprocal. So, I hope to run a good ship and run your town, but I also think at the same point of view, I think you guys need to be open and honest with me.
And if you choose not to, then you know, then maybe it doesn't work out. But that's what I expect. Great. I think I have one more. Um, the village has historically struggled with turnover, burnout, and process of in inefficiencies.
How would you triage these issues in your first 90 days? Well, you know, it's funny. Everyone that I've talked to here has always talked about money, money, money. You got to, you know, pay more money. And and by the way, the the
market today for government, it's it some of the numbers are insane. I mean, I mean, we all know this. Um, you know, all I have is my word to tell you that if you offer me the position, I accepted the position, I'm going to come and do the job and I'm not going to leave in a couple months to go somewhere else. But
you also have attrition with staff. Um, you know, let's face it, you you know, you don't you don't pay the most. The insurance isn't great. You know, how do you keep people, you know, you have to you have to make people want to come
to work to enjoy where they work? You know, believe it or not, I'm going to tell you a little secret. The best place I ever worked was Opalaka. Most dangerous place I ever worked, but it was the most fun. I really enjoyed it because I come home
and and don't get me wrong, sometimes I came home and I was like, "Oh my god, you won't believe what happened." But sometimes I come home and I said, "You know what? I really actually did something meaningful with my life. I actually did something." In a way, people who work in public service tend to have that frame of mind. So, if
there's a way for me to encourage that, that's how you keep people in a job in a in a village like this. Thank you. Sure. Well, Jordan, thanks so much. Um, you're our last interview for the commission now. Yeah, we have a couple of things that we're going to move on
to, but um, uh, we're going to certainly invite all the candidates to stick around with us if they want the benefit of the discussion. So, for the time being, I think you can take a seat if you like. Um, but we'll we'll go ahead and move on. So, thanks very much. By the way, I'm sorry. No, I was going to ask for an adjournment for five minutes
if possible. We didn't give the other. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that guy. Let's do that. So, we'll take a quick five minutes. We'll invite the other. By the way, thank you. Thank you again for the opportunity. I I really do appreciate it. Great. Thanks, J. So, we'll take a quick fiveminute journment. We'll have the other um candidates come back and we'll finish up with our last two items.
Okay. Yeah. Right. I'll ask everyone to prepare for unjournment. We lost Brad. Okay. Give him a second if he wants to uh rejoin
us. Yes, Dorian's going to go hassle him for us. Okay. No, no worries. Okay. So, we got two items left on our agenda. Uh, we do have a public comment session uh section, excuse me. Uh, so we are going to go ahead and
we're going to get started with that. Our public comment, we'll start with folks here in the in in the log cabin. Um, and then we'll move on to Zoom. But please just uh keep in mind that our our rules require uh a name and address and uh that public comment be limited to three minutes. So, we will go ahead and open it up with the log cabin first uh
and go from there. So, floor is open for whoever would like to step up. Hey, walk right up to the podium. Uh, you'll get your three minutes here on the on the board. Uh, and that'll be it. Thank you. My name is Josh Rios,
9740 North Northwest 75th Terrace throughout Florida. Um, my name so I'm the assistant to the city manager of the city of of Homestead and I've had the pleasure of working alongside Leo both in my capacity and in other capacity whe
whether it be in the city of Sweet Water or in the Miami County school board. Um, I've known Leo for 5 years and I'm here both as a friend and a and a colleague supporting him because I've seen his work ethic both. Um, here in my current position with MDCCCMA,
um, I haven't seen someone that is so prompt in his response when I have a question about impact fees. Leo is always the first person to always answer my request on behalf of my city manager. I understand from his position how difficult it is to manage the day-to-day operations and management of the city
and how difficult it is as well to tend to the needs both of the commission itself, but also to the to the ones that report to him. So, I just say with utmost um gratitude and respect to you all that thank you for having me here
and I I truly do believe you have the candidate that you're looking for in Leo Kosio here right in this room. So, thank you for having me and I hope um I hope you're able to make the decision that's best for your village. Thank you. Thank you. Hey everybody, Michael Eva, 590
Northeast 121st Street. Uh, first off, thank you to the commission for setting this up and for taking the time to in the full view of the public uh to review all the candidates that are here to be our city manager. This is such an important role for us as the park and I really appreciate, as I mentioned, the
transparency that you guys offer us in this process and the ability to engage. So, thank you very much for that. I also wanted to speak on behalf of uh you know, I was having a conversation with my elderly neighbors the other day and uh they were talking to me about a letter that they got in the mail from
the park um from the park from you guys. Uh a letter which said that there would be a code compliance officer coming around um tomorrow. Um and that you know they thought that that was kind of a change in the way that the city was
managing code compliance and that it seemed that you know where once upon a time um someone might be given a warning or something. This letter seemed to spell out that there would be consequences for non-compliance. Um, you
know, these are elderly neighbors who were worried that now a little dirt on the roof was going to suddenly end up as a fine that they didn't have the money to pay. Um, they thought that well, especially that the timing was just a little strange, but you know, whatever.
So, um, I just wanted to make sure that, you know, if there is a change in code compliance policy like that, um, that we really consider that there are some folks here that might need a bit of help in trying to clean their roof or manage
a pile of trash somewhere. Um, and that we're just a little more considerate of that. um heavy-handed co- compliance is not the way in my personal opinion to manage uh beautifification of a village especially a village full of like when we moved here I think that someone
quoted to us that the average tenure of a person here in the park was 30 years that's crazy that I look forward to that personally so you know some of the older folks in the village we need to make sure that we're not overburdening them
with that so um that's most what I want to say I also want to mention mentioned, Mr. Chis, you mentioned that uh bonding, you're the one that mentioned it, but I think everyone's kind of had in mind that bonding was a potential option for us to look to pay for some things in the future in a place in a municipality, my
experience with, you know, commercial opportunities to make money. Okay, that's great. But, you know, bonding is a mortgage and it basically we're exchanging money in the future in exchange for some asset. Now, we got to make sure that that asset is either going to make us money or somehow make the the village so transformationally
better that it's going to make us enough in tax revenue to pay back that bond. That's a big commitment and you're mortgaging the future of the park for that. So, I would just I would hope that you guys would use that um judiciously. Thank you very much.
Hello. Good evening. My name is Solanchot. My address is 11660 Northeast 8th Avenue. I've been a resident for over 10 years. Um I'm here to support uh Jordan. I met him in um the previous
time that I lived. Um I met him at the park. We were we had uh many things in common, young families. Um but we were very different as well. Um I complained. We were talking at a lot. I was helping
my daughter. um ride the bike. I met him with uh his kid and I complained that Bay Harbor didn't have anything at the time for young families, especially for the ones that live at the building side. Um we didn't have a playground. We
didn't have a community center. We didn't have anything on that side of the island. We have everything on the other side of the island with the with the big houses and everything. So he said, "Well, the best way to do it sometimes is to get more involved." And I listened to him and I got involved. I
got really involved and we're very very different. And I uh got into the commission, we worked together and because I think because of his commitment, perseverance, knowledge, we
got to do things that cities don't do in a lifetime. in those four years and I know his determination and his commitment in those four years we did a community center, a library, a toddlot with a bathroom and a water feature that
we always went into war because of course it was not a popular topic because it cost a lot of money. He helped us to get the grants and we were able to do it and I'm so proud of those four years, all the things that we accomplished together. That's why I'm
here to support him because in the similarities we have he's a small business owners and you know I'm a business owner. I have to work really hard for that 9.4 mile rate for everything I work really hard. You know what we don't do? We don't waste time.
Never. We don't take our salary for granted. We work hard and we decide and we are committed. And that's what I want to see because as a small business owner, I have to deal with local government at the state. Try to call the
IRS, try to call Florida Department of Revenue, try to call 311. I'm not proud of most public employees. They don't deserve my admiration. So, I want someone who's going to be sitting there who's going to earn every scent and
every benefit, and he's going to work for you, and he's going to work for us. I want someone committed and I want someone to invest all the time and I know him and I know I know how he works. So that's why I'm here to support him. Thank you very much to all of us for the time that we spend in this meeting.
Thank you for your service all of you. Thank you. Any others in the law before we go to Zoom? Going once. Going twice. Okay. Um All right. So, uh, if anyone wants to speak on Zoom, just, uh, raise your hand and, uh, allow the clerk to, uh, unmute
you. And, um, same rules apply for those on Zoom as they do here in in the log cabin. No, none. Okay. All right. So, yep. All right. So, Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. Yes. Thank you. I appreciate that. So, um there was one
additional um individual that was here uh that dropped off a letter of support. Uh she was unable to stay. She asked that I read it on the record for her. It's uh the manager in Elportal um Christy Aloo. Um I will just go ahead and just read it quickly but not um
incoherently. Um good evening mayor growth and members of the village of Biscane Park Village Council. I am Christia Aloo, village manager of the village of Elporttowal, where where I have served for over eight years and am the president-elect of the Miami Dade city and county management association. For several years, I've been an ally to the quad villages and their managers,
Biscane Park, Miami Shores, Elportal, and North Bay Village. And over the years, we have supported one another in our m municipalities with resources and a strong shoulder to lean on. It's in that spirit I come this evening to wholeheartedly recommend Leo Kosio for the village manner position for the village of Biscane Park. I'm confident that he will make a valuable
contribution to this municipality. I met Leo Kosio when he was working with the former manager of North Bay Village, Ralph Rossado, and he was always engaging and helpful with his colleagues and held a lot of respect in his chief of staff role. And when that man when that manager became the president of the management association, Mr. Kosios attended all the meetings, learning from
us and helping us with the substantive content and planning of those meetings. There was an occasion when I was planning my first meeting for the association. As I had just come on to the executive committee as its treasurer and coming from the smallest municipality with no technical support, I really needed some guidance and some help. We managers try to help each other
when we can. So I got a call out of nowhere from Mr. Kosio offering his assistance if I needed it and he helped me. After full work days and whenever he could take a little break, we got that meeting planned. We got the run of the show done and it was a tremendous success. I was so happy to have his support through that and it let me know
what a big picture person he is while always taking care of the details that make the challenge successful. He could see the vision and made technology and resources work for us to make that meeting a success and it was the most largely attended meeting in my time in the association. In other forums I have
interacted m with Mr. Kosio and he has always been in top form professionally, intellectually and diplomatically. As a new manager, he has what it takes to take to lead with the energy and the capacity to learn. That's why he has been able to hang in there through several elections and changes. Mr. Kosio
is respected and well-liked. Small municipalities like ours need that versatility and resourcefulness to do this job well. Thank you for allowing me this time to speak to speak to Mr. Kosio's strengths and to provide my recommendation. Please feel free to reach out to me if I can be of any further and future assistance. Thank
you. And madam clerk, I'll leave this with you. Sorry. Thank you. Okay. So having concluded our public comment, we our last item uh for this evening is the discussion uh by the commission on the interviews and um let me
see. So I remember when we set the special commission meeting uh back in May, I know that we set it uh in the event that we had felt the need or or needed to or wanted to to vote on anything. Um I I personally, you know, I'm certainly willing to hear from the
commission on on anything that we would all like to discuss. Uh maybe procedure would be the first thing. Um so recommendations uh open to taking them on what on procedure? Procedure. Yes. So at the last uh meeting we had we
discussed uh allowing uh the residents to uh some time to provide input on um on on the candidates, right? Yes. So, I think that um I think that that's what we should continue to to go forward
with. And then um unless we decide as a group that we want to open this up to other candidates uh or if we want to stay with the three that we currently have and move forward with those three and make a decision on the three, then
we should just uh at the next commission meeting um once we meet uh there make the decision. uh as to uh who our next village manager would be. I think that's very reasonable. Um I I certainly think that we we've heard from three very
capable and very qualified individuals tonight. Um so I think that we are in a in a very unique and favorable position that we have three people uh that are interested in this position who who seem to me to be very wellqualified and and again very capable people. So to me I'm
open just so we we selected these three people. That's the choice we made. We had a whole list. I agree. There was times other candidates that I would have liked to had the opportunity, but people didn't want it because they were out of state. We have these three candidates. These are the three people we have to choose from. Yeah. And and I think it
should be I don't want to drag it on for after June. I I think June we I really think we can make the choice tonight, but I really want to hear more from the residents over the weekend. And I think we can make this in June. Pick the candidate. I think that we should be hesitating. Sounds like you agree with
Art then. I'm sorry. I thought you were opening it up for more. I want to open it up. I'm aboard with that. First and foremost, thank you for the candidates for coming forward. Thank you for the the the to the residents for
staying with us for all this time. It's almost going to be four hours here. Um, so I really appreciate the feedback, uh, the texts and just the comments overall so that we can, uh, hear you out. I mean, it's important to hear the feedback. Have you experienced it from
your side as a resident? So, I am 100% on board voting for in the next commission meeting uh and having this time until then to get gather additional feedback. Okay, I'm on board with it. Next commission meeting sounds like a good time to hear input from the residents and let us formulate our final
decision. Okay. So, then it sounds it sounds like what we will be asking is to have uh placed on the June commission meeting an item um on the village manager. How are we planning to vote? Is it we'll just pull by name? How will we do it? What's the Well, I think I think
what we've done in the past, and certainly correct me if I'm wrong, but I think what we've done in the past is open to a motion to hire one of the candidates. And if motion to nominate Yeah, I think so. Your your mic's off.
It's still off. There you go. Have each c have each commissioner give their choice. You know, I I don't want it to be where okay, I select this person and she seconds and automatically. Well, we need you any person needs three votes.
But that's so usually we go first to discussion where we have a discussion item. So, we all have the opportunity to make our statements. I I think then which will later on move into a voting a motion to nominate. Make sense? Yes. But
I don't want it to we get to nominate for a second and then we just automatically vote. That person gets the the lead vote because he's the only one. I mean I want each candidate to give their choice and we know I want it to be we still need consensus. No no we
consent I want it to be we always having to pass a person gets the first and then when it gets a second and then you vote for that person. Well we can simply just put the list of the three candidates. Everybody can say the name of the person and whoever has the consent if that's what you that's what you want. You want
to hear the people say who they want. Got it. I'm I'm good with that. I don't have a problem with that. I wanted to. Well, then I think that that's part of the discussion piece and then we have to be part of the discussion still formally. Someone will have to make a mot. That's that is how this process
works. Yeah. I think we're I think we're all saying the same thing. Um so we'll have the discussion on the candidates and and how we feel about each of them. We still need a motion to retain them. So, I think that that's it's a discussion item and uh it'll be placed on the June agenda item and that's how we'll approach it. And just so you're
all aware, so then procedurally um you're going to have to do one of two things on during the June meeting. Oh, let me get it close. Sorry. So, procedurally that you'll have to do one of two things at the June meeting. Once you make your selection and you have a consensus that it's passed by
resolution, then either um you're you'll direct somebody and I assume that would be me to negotiate the the contract on behalf of the commission and then once I've had an opportunity to speak to that candidate and come to some
level of agreement as to terms and conditions, um I would bring it back before the commission the next meeting for for approval. And if there's any modifications or anything that the commission desires at that time, you know, that candidate would presumptively
be here, there can be discussions about it and we can try to finalize the agreement because otherwise it's going to have to be put off again and again until we have an agreement that that both the candidate and the commission agrees to as to terms and conditions.
Okay. So at that time we'll provide direction to whomever we deem can I ask a question a procedural question so on this so there is no way to pre-negotiate so having a a set number from each one of the candidates come forward I mean the negotiations
could happen now so that by June 3rd we have a you're saying negotiate with the candidates now yes understand what the salary expectations are come forward saying what's you know what you willing to go for and and never done that before. I mean, I guess
there's there's no there's no harm in me reaching out to them and asking them what their what their salary expectations and benefit expectations are. Um, I could I mean obviously I I could share
that with you privately but can't have any discussions and back and forth about that. So, in other words, let's just an example. If candidate A, and I don't want to use a name, so if candidate A says they want $210,000, I'm just throwing out a number
and I'm not tying that to any of the candidates for the purpose of discussion. Um, and then let's say I'm speaking with Commissioner Amsler and she said, "Well, I I don't accept that." You know, go back and tell discuss with them 190. You can't do that. Can't do
that. But knowing that because we can I just want you all to understand the parameters of me doing that. So can I do that? I can reach out to the candidates. It's a little unusual but I can do it and ask for you know what their expectations are. So I have that information. Um can I can I just finish
on my thought process? So for me is you would gather from each one of the candidate what the salary expectations are. That actually for us is another piece of information that is critical to consider that applicant. So by June 3rd
we'll have the first approach into what they're expecting the salary to be which if we move forward with we can negotiate. Of course, we there will be a conversation as to is it yes or is it no? Would we agree to that with if we
have consensus at least starting at the at that point, right? You you'll need all three candidates back June 3rd because I think so. They're not going to know who this correct. You're not going to make a selection. I think if you want the job, you have to leave. I'm not I'm just I'm just talking process. I'm not
commenting on the process. I'm just trying to envision it in my mind and make sure we don't go astray anywhere as far as what the rules permit unless u you know physically they cannot I mean you can join via Zoom worst case scenario it would be wonderful to have
everybody available at the meeting so the conversation can kind of take place. I'm I just out of curiosity don't in in the brochure that we initially did we put together didn't we have like a salary range? It does. It's a range.
Yeah. So, there's a there's a range, right? So, uh, from what I hear from the three gentlemen that are here tonight, I don't think that there's going to be an issue somewhere between a falling into that range, right? And for me, I don't think that that if it falls within that range,
it's not going to be a determining factor for me. Yeah. So, if I think the candidate is the best candidate, the most qualified candidate, as long as it falls within that range, I'm I'm I'm that's not going to stop me. Oh, you know, he's going to cost me $20,000 less
than that guy. Is that going to be the determination? I'm 100% with you. I think it's a for me, it's just I would want to know uh what the expectations are. I think they're all aware of the I mean, the the salary range. I mean, and I can call I mean, it doesn't have to be publicly. I can call each one of you and
you can let me know specifically where you are. Um I just thought that was a a very good point to have in consideration for all of us when we're voting. uh we went through a situation uh with Mr. Childress where you know there was a salary uh kind of advertise and then
there was negotiations after there was a little bit of a back and forth. I think we can avoid that uh in the name of just openness that we're required to have um and just you know have one step forward uh more information to the side. Yeah. I
just want to be clear that I don't think we need to pre-negotiate. As Commissioner Gonzalez said, we have a brochure that posts a range and and the candidates should be expected to fall within that range. Uh I think that, you know, I don't buy a car based on the
price. I based on what's safest for my family, what's the best possible car I can I can buy. Uh so that being said, I it's not going to change my basis one bit whether they come in $20,000 more or less. I think it actually kind of taints the conversation if you're hiring by price, not hiring by qualifications. But
it sounds like my direction might be changing. So I just need to Yeah. So I think what we're hearing I think what we're hearing is certainly give them a ring, see what they say. But I think as far as direction for for for negotiation, we'll take care of that at the June meeting. So I am not reaching out to the candidates. Doesn't sound
like from do that individually if you all talk. I think that's I think that's the it makes me more comfortable. So that's Can can you verify when you say you think I just want to know? Yeah, sure. For it. Is that is that the consensus of of the commission that we are not having Brad reach out to each candidate to pre-negotiate?
Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right. Um All right. So, I think we have the direction for the June agenda item. Um and unless there's any further discussion, thanks to the public for being here and thank you to our candidates for being here as well. Um I think it's been a productive meeting and I I'm happy to see everyone engaged. for
comment. I'd like to just say I'd like to really thank the residents for coming out tonight and giving us this their ideas and hopefully, you know, uh reach out to each of the commissioners over the weekend and give your opinions on what you what you think. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn.
Second. All in favor? I I thanks everybody.