all right today is Thursday April 3rd 2025 special city commission meeting call to order and roll call roll call please commissioner Joseph here commissioner
Cyerson here commissioner Viscara here vice Mayor Lama here and for the record Mayor's Fetches is absent so we have quorum sir okay so um Leah you want to lead us in the
pledge of allegiance you're a special guest pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all
okay and I read the resolution please yes so today we have an item on the agenda i'm so sorry give me one second Commissioner um it's a resolution awarding invitation to bid number 25101 to Waypoint Contracting for construction
of the city annex building okay would you like to present uh go ahead yes yes vice Mayor members of the commission thank you for making yourself available
i asked to have this meeting as soon as possible so as not to affect our pending business agreements the purpose of the meeting is to approve the agenda item with waypoint construction based on a bid to build out
the annex space this is not a debate on whether or not it should be a building department you have already provided direction to us and stated that should be office space in conjunction with a
restaurant ultimately as always is the case it is your decision and direction that guides us you asked me you tasked me with making the build building department more efficient and effective
we are currently reviewing approximately 600 plus more permits per year as compared to 10 years ago we are at a critical break point for the future in the building department from a business perspective should you
not approve this item we would lose our investment of almost 200,000 in addition to numerous meetings with vendors architects engineers and a best practice approach to accomplish your goal this includes numerous bids by
our procurement department we further risk losing almost 168,000 if not more in yearly revenue from our lease with Krema what is before you today is a contract to build out the
space with Waypoint Construction i provided you with backup at the last meeting and now I have provided you with significant backup of the backup for your further review this includes numerous public meetings
where I updated you on the process and requested your approval including a discussion item as recent as February to show you the final plan as far as the budget is concerned it was estimated during our last budget
cycle last year the estimated cost was approximately $2 million as you know since that time the cost of construction has doubled in many cases therefore we brought to you last
month a budget amendment which was approved in second reading to adjust the amount of the construction to 3.7 million with a small contingency and this is based on bids that we received
ranging from 3 million to as high as 9 million for the construction of the space so we believe Waypoint is the best most responsible bidder regarding the library they
indicated that the space is smaller than they currently occupy their preference is to own the space and that they would not pay for any move this past week we have expended a significant amount of staff time and money on this light
item including answering voluminous public records request and experienced significant push back on this one item in particular prior proposals if you recall included
frantic attempts at one breakfast place in particular and a nightclub type atmosphere with dancing and late night hours near our library and government facility you correctly rejected those
bids to protect our residents the item before you is very simple it's a contract with Waypoint based on a public bid to build out the space at the annex period we'll follow your direction and if you decide we will find another
solution for our current space problem thank you okay any public comment or do we have any comment that we received via email no no public comment um but I just like to clarify for the record uh vice mayor that the mayor's uh unattendance is due
to an illness just to be clear all right is she on v uh telephone not on the telephone no she's watching online she's absent 100% okay um okay so no public comment then I'll open it up for debate among the
commission who would like to go first uh I'm perfectly fine moving forward you're okay moving forward okay anybody else would like to comment or have any questions for staff i have I have a question okay my
question to the city manager is when was it that we knew that the library lease was coming due because that was never mentioned to the commission we started negotiations with the
library within the past month it was a long-term lease that had been approved by prior administration so we're currently in negotiations with
them but the first time I had a conversation with them was about two weeks ago right but when we first uh began discussion regarding Tony Romas and moving the building department
um into that space your office was aware that the library lease was coming due within the period that we would be discussing construction in that area correct now we expected to do this
project some time ago we put it out to bid but we kept rejecting the biders until we finally got a viable space right but even within a year of the commission having to make
decisions it was within that time frame that the library lease might be coming up the library lease is coming up yes yes but we could have known a year ago that the library lease was in play in order
to have it um affect our decision regarding the building department correct i wasn't aware that any of you were interested in moving or eliminating the library well doesn't it make more sense
to have the building department housed in one building itself that's for you all to decide thank you may I add to that may I respond to that sure yes so part of the direction my position was always that I
wanted to keep the Tony Romans building i never cared if it was a restaurant or whatever it was as long as it was income generating we It's a good good piece of property and it was income generating and that was the direction that was
given um I can't tell you when but the general direction was that we always wanted to keep some kind of income generating component to it vice Mayor Llama was like "Oh let's make an office space." And then we ultimately came to that compromised position of having a
piece that was income generating and having the other part that was the um the building department the library does not meet that criteria and so I would imagine I don't want to speak for you but I read your memo it's it if it's not if the library is not going to be an
income generating piece and quite to the contrary they they want us to give them the the space or the land even then it why couldn't I understand why it wasn't brought to our attention because it didn't meet the criteria it really wasn't part of the conversation so now we have
a nice u well crema you know well I can't see I can't say it's nice yet because it doesn't exist yet but it's going to be a nice thing class were meeting our space um issues that we have with the third floor and uh the direction that we gave
to go one department at a time right the first one was the police department which was in trouble and it's been cleaned up very nicely and we recognized that the building department had its issues and space being one of them and we want to move towards credentiing we've had long meetings about that uh
here i remember one of the workshops was going through incredible detail about that uh so I'm not shocked that the library is not part of it because we we had been pretty clear about what we did want there so and it's not going to generate any income
well it's not income generated the money come from the residents they have to pay for the building department everything that is there so that uh anyone who wants to change a toilet or it wants to change the kitchen they have to pay now
for a stateofthe-art building department which is very funny because the process is supposed to be digital so who are we benefiting who's going to sit down there me as a resident I rather stand up
waiting that sit down in a very comfort comfortable $1,000 chair if I'm going pay $100 fee instead of a $1,000 fee so we are doing a disservice to the residents we are going again against the
trend in the whole um federal uh government in the whole United States we are increasing the side of government we are increasing the bureaucracy and who has to foot the bill the residents not
this is not going to be paid by whoever is visiting so it's it's very interesting of the words about best practices because best practice is a very big word that doesn't mean at the end of the day nothing it depends of whatever we consider best practices uh
it's interesting that we're talking about revenue when we had a a be um restaurant that wants that wanted to spend $3.5 million back in 2022 to build the Tony Romas and they
were um calculating that they were going to be giving us to the city around half a million dollar a year so yeah we lost half a million in 2023 half a million 2024 and moving forward so I don't think
the revenue was was moving this decision also um right now as far as I know we are building an annex on the north side of this building to to to try to accommodate and give more space to the
building department and like I said we are going against the trend um even locally because oh why don't you why don't we go and visit the building department in Aventura for example why because they don't have one because they're outsourcing it why don't you
guys go and visit the one in the Indian Creek you'll be surprised it's no more than a room in a house almost and it's very nice by the way but I've been there so uh and again we are so proud of being
fully digital and now we are giving a state of the art like a prime location to build just just to increase the side of government i this is going to be the legacy of this commission the
commission that stole Tony Romans from the people the commission who stole a restaurant from the residents of Sony Ars to increase bureaucracy so the damage that we are going to the we will be doing to the residents if this move forward is going to be generational not
that it cannot be fixed anything can be fixed other than death clearly but uh um I will never be part of this this we were we we got to this point by being manipulated because I voted against the
restaurant that bid back in 2022 with a very specific mandate and direction so and I do believe that we still here to give direction to the staff not to receive orders and then to clean up for
them so the direction was very specific those were apparently even though that we never had any in front of us they said that those two bits were not um convenient for our city again we never
were able to see those bits um but we rejected them because they were going to come back to us as a full restaurant and again we can find solutions for the building department uh we want to make
sure that every permit is going to be processed in a timely manner and that they're going to be comfortable and everybody's going to have the space they need to do their job but putting them like I say in a prime location in front of the beach doesn't make any sense i'm
so sorry i'd like to respond to that please yeah go ahead okay so I've had the opportunity to review the record including the videos of the meetings that we've done okay i just just now in my office I just finished watching the one where we rejected the
bids okay it was a 4-1 vote four of us rejected the bids you voted against it so what you just stated is wrong that's number one number two last meeting you gave us these these um you gave us these papers right in that meeting you said we
didn't honor a resolution that it clearly says that we gave the direction to go back out to bid right you highlighted you said it's big in yellow you highlighted this for us and you continue to say that and you even gave us this this excuse me this version here
right so this is also wrong because if you look at the packet that was provided and you look at what was executed which was resolution 3446 which is in the packet number two there says the city manager is hereby authorized to do all things necessary to effectuate this
resolution not what you told us which is go out to bid why because this was amended during the meeting we never gave that direction never we were very clear that we were not going to go out to bid four people and we had long discussion about it four people sat up here
including Mayor Goldman saying going out to bid is not the right thing to do it's in the video just watch the video okay so this is wrong and what you just said that you voted to reject is wrong and I don't appreciate and I'm still speaking and I don't appreciate being again using
the language that this is the commission that's stealing anything it is that language that prompted this kind of work which I appreciate because now we have the whole story i don't appreciate that and I don't appreciate that manipulation if anything being shown the wrong documents and telling it what it is I
would consider that manipulation but I will give you the the benefit of the doubt that you made a mistake and I'll give you the opportunity to correct it i don't need to correct anything because I made no no mistake it's not the This is not a mistake telling us that we I have the floor now i have the floor now i
have the floor now done hold on everybody interrupt are you finished i'm done okay you may go ahead okay so like I said and I'm proud that I voted for it back then okay uh but section two and I saw it there says that it was going to
come back to be so um until we amended it okay continue interrupting me that's very good the point is that yes we are stealing the building from the people yes this commission whoever vote vote
for it which I want and that's going to be the legacy because everybody remember what is Tony Roma's and now it's going to be no more Tony Roma it's going to be your building department so I'm not for it we I don't want to see anyone
overpaying for because we want to have big windows in front of the beach for a virtual co fully digital building department this is a disservice to the people whoever talk to anyone outside of
this building that live in Sony that pay taxes that goes to the building department and needs to change a toilet or whatever they will tell you they rather do anything to pay less for those fees we are going to have to all the expenses that are going to be created
there we have to pay here a resident with the fees that they're going to be charging so I don't believe that being in the basement or being on the rooftop uh is going to be the same fee that we're going to have to be charging so again this doesn't make any sense this
is a disservice to the people from the very beginning that I've been sitting down here is it was always the direction to continue being a restaurant that you guys drag the feet to make it longer and longer until probably you had the votes
to make sure that you can continue having it as a office space so I'm not going to be part of this go ahead Jerry yes thank you okay so I just want to bring up something that no one is discussing first of all I'd like to know
how much rent do we get from the library each year $1 okay good okay so we need to tell the library they need to move out and they
can consider building on the Alamo property next door in order to uh help us out with that issue we have with the Alamo property we will then take over this building for
the construction of the building department to re revise the entire downstairs including the meeting room and have our building department on the first floor the uh police department can then
expand upstairs if they need to my preliminary discussions with the library um yielded that they did not have any intention of moving
well who owns this building we do if it's your direction for us to not renew with the library then you all need to give me that direction that I vote to not renew with the
library it's a We're not voting on that J that's not We're voting whether we want to approve the contract with with this contractor to build out the space for Tony Romas to house the building department and Crema so all of my votes
regarding the moving the building department were um were made with not full disclosure regarding the library and the lease on the library and
when it was uh to expire because I would have absolutely considered that in my vote so I consider all of those votes to be null and void okay because they were made with um not full information
okay well you could vote I mean you could vote either yes or no in this vote and then we could see where it goes from there but obviously going back to what we're voting on we're voting on whether we want to approve the uh the build out right the contract so it could be get
built out yeah i I just don't want us to go on off and I know that they're related but you know those tangents obviously are going to influence on your vote and I'm just saying that you know for the purpose of time and discussion I think we all know where each of you
stand let me just say all of the uh buildings that we've built in Sunny Isles are all flawed every building i don't know if we're not choosing the right contractors or something but Gateway has tremendous
issues that's another the discussion is well but it's all included in you know moving forward and I mean we haven't built anything since I've been on the commission but we certainly um I
one of my um priorities is to watch that we don't well the same errors that we have in the past yeah i I mean I'll entertain the discussion but I think that you know obviously because whatever happened
before I'll use Gateway as an example doesn't mean we we're not going to have to build again like it's not going to impede us from building we just got to make sure that it's done correctly and supervised correctly exactly but going back to this vote um you know I I don't know if there's
any more questions that we have for staff or any more discussions would you like to add anything uh Jennifer or or you Fabola well to to Jerry's point um about the library um yeah we can tell
them that they can continue being there and we give them a third of the space so they can accommodate themsel there is a lot of waste of space there actually the whole first floor is a waste of a space in this building it needs to be redesigned um and if we are so tight in
the second third or fourth floor well guess what there is how many people sitting down in the first floor two or three so we need to reconsider the first floor redesign it and make sure that what and you can hire this way point for that if you want to i don't care but the
point is that uh um if they like you said it belongs to us and we are given it for free we should have some set of how is it going to be used so okay let's continue having them there open another door for them and give them right now a
turn of the space there is I don't know if you guys know but there is even a conference room inside of the uh library that you can request to to use if you want to there's always empty empty completely you know and there is just waste of a space so if we want to again
from the city manager's word words if we want to be effective and efficient uh we should be doing that to begin with our negotiations with the money um so I'm I'm in favor of sitting down and squeezing uh the library about what is
it that is convenient for our residents not about what they want so So all right is then everybody finished vice Mayor may I just add um if there is a consideration and this is not really a topic for today i just
want everyone to be aware um the library will not fund building anything they also indicated that they don't have enough space now which is why they're using the first floor meeting room which was why the Tony Roma site
wasn't great for them they they would need an addition because they need more space to be able to have the programming room over there they already use also this commission chambers once a month which is over capacity so um cutting
their space in a renewal would not I do not believe they would be agreeable to that from our ind from from our initial discussions and I think cutting the space would be a disservice to the community i mean the the library is used a lot our kids come after school there's
activities there we've we've had lots of discussions about the um the um activities that go on in the library um uh vice mayor last month you spoke about why you would prefer to keep it where it is there's the safety component and you
know I think it's funny that we talk about creating a restaurant as giving something back to the people that that's a funny thing um I think giving a a department that services the entire city that's something giving something to the
people and keeping the restaurant also keeps the the um the revenue component but we're not the the we talk about business and business decisions but we're still a municipality we have to consider the needs and the
resources for everyone it's not just a bottom line conversation so one-third of the space I think we're risking just losing the not having a library in Sunnyos at all i I don't want to be the commission that ran the library out of
town so it's it's working it's fine we have a plan i I don't I don't understand the issue honestly but okay I'm good go ahead Jim so I'd like to say so has any everyone has been to the library in
Aventura tremendous library vice Mayor I'm sorry could I interrupt very quickly uh we need to stay on topic because the library is not part of this discussion could be brought forward as a discussion item if you'd like in the future but right now this item is for uh this uh
agreement okay well but it's absolutely the library like to disagree just finished his the library is absolutely a part of this discussion regarding the building department and um revitalizing the downstairs in this building
so I believe that it is okay all right so I'm I'm I'm going to I I have some questions for staff uh stand so if you could please uh give us a little more detail obviously we had allocated for the rebuilt or the construction of the
Tony Roma's building we had allocated $2 million right we are now at a junction where you're asking for an additional 1.9 okay for that rebuild and I'd like to understand you know how we got to that point
why did we allocate $2 million and now how why are we looking at almost twice the cost and I understand construction is is is expensive nowadays i I I I get
that but why the discrepancy right did we not allocate correctly i just want to be able to understand this and have this be clear to to people listening and to for the residents and for the record
thank you so our projections were 2 million based on a general plan of building out the space mhm we have had a significant increase in the cost of construction for every project that we
do in many cases construction prices have almost doubled so our preliminary projection was based on general purpose use of the space and what we thought then when we went in and
actually designed it where we we were able to prepare a plan and bring that to you for approval and then put it out to bid the numbers came in substantially higher once we realized that the numbers
were going to be higher than the projection we brought to you a budget amendment explaining that we felt like based on the actual numbers it's going to be a 3.7 versus a $2 million project so we brought that to you
for budget approval which we received last month uh to amend the budget but the cost for everything have have gone up it's s it's so significant that next month or it's this month
actually we're going to be bringing to you a request to purchase vehicles now for the next budget cycle because there's a projection based on tariffs and a vehicle availability that we may not be able to purchase vehicles next
year so it's another point related to this project if you delay it further my concern is that the cost is going to go up even more okay and then can you tell me the two bids that were
rejected what were the nature of those two restaurants or businesses what were they looking to operate and at what times one of them was essentially a breakfast
type establishment that did not include dinner options what was the name of that was it uh Roers and Toasters excuse me they ne they never bid actually because they didn't make it in time it was the only two restaurants that wanted to be
open till 3:00 a.m on Friday and Saturday night um have a party atmosphere component dance floors etc okay all right okay and then
um I'll bring bring back the library um so the library absolutely said no they're not amanable to moving they won't even consider it they will what they said is they would like for us to convey the property to them for free
so that they would not have to deal with a renewal of a lease every 10 15 20 years straight up correct as a that can't happen correct to to serve the community okay okay all right now let me
ask a question so so you know using other cities as benchmarks do you know how those library contracts are with like let's say Aventur other cities do you know how much they pay is it the same type of deal with public the
public library system yes it is so I had standard I had an extensive uh conversation with the director and they across the board they do not pay rent they pay for utilities only they will
assist in us applying for grants that may help cover the cost but those are you know $300 to $500,000 to build a new anything for them is going to cost significantly more than that and it would be currently
unfunded it's not in your capital budget to do anything like that whereas building an annex out is approved in your capital project budget um and as it relates to next door if we build anything next door on the north side um
we have the same complications with that property as we had before so would be office space for correct developer so that buildout would be tens of millions of dollars opposed to the 4 yeah one we're asking for even if it's for a
police department or a public library we will have the same issue as of now yes okay there's been no um we have not found a way of reversing that okay and I would just like to remind you all
that it being an annex it being the building department had already been voted on and approved by this commission no no I I understand that i I just want to make sure that we have this conversation so everything is clear and I myself for my egotistical
purposes I clear out any questions any lingering thoughts I may have so I just want to understand everything very well yeah if I may just add to that um reversing that now would be a mistake by I mean it would mean that this commission
wastedly about half a million dollars i want I am aware of that so okay now going back to the library I mean I I've gotten comments from the residents that how come we have such a small library and then they compare us to Aventura and
they actually think a library is is not sufficient enough for Sunny Al's Beach they want something bigger they want something nicer i'm glad that they were able to remodel it be because before that it it just didn't look good you know uh I think it was outdated it looks
a lot better now uh I know I'm not on point but I want to since these issues were brought forward I want to I want to kind of give my thoughts on that as well and and some of the you know comments I've received from from residents
um well you know that my stance has been the same okay i've always wanted the Tony Roma's building to be dedicated for office space whether it's a building department whether it was the police
department or whatever i just don't see um you know we've had some bad experiences with being a landlord and just going back to some of the history the chronological history of our
discussions you know first it was going to be 100% a commercial restaurant place okay and um along the way we came to the decision or the conclusion that it was going to be split right we're going to
have the building department there and then we're also going to have some space dedicated to a restaurant or a cafe how we that's what we actually called it and I think it was all very clear here
um that you know we had come to that conclusion okay I don't think we're stealing anything from anybody okay those are heavy words and we got to be very careful with words okay because
people are going to misconstrue that i think that everybody here in this commission is um trying to honestly serve the residents the best um they can and you know uh obviously everybody has
a different you know philosophy on what needs to be done and I think honestly that everybody's very passionate about it and sincere about it so I don't think anybody's stealing anything from the
residents in my opinion I think that um the the building department needs to have their their own space where they could work in a comfortable uh manner that will lead to more uh efficiency for
them and they they are in a tight space right now i mean if you go there you clearly see it and I've worked in environments like that and and and it's very hard to work like that you know it's very distracting and it's uncomfortable and the studies support
that you know the better spaces that you have the more comfortable it is the more efficient that the workers are so with that being said it's time to take a vote who would
like to All right go ahead Jerry okay so I would like to say that um the from my understanding the library in Aventura is owned by the county that's a county property mhm because when I asked about cameras there
and all they said "Oh no that's the county that's not Aventura." Okay so in the same regard in Sunny Isles the county should have a library not within our building they
have no obligation to set up a library okay well look what they did in Aventura they built a tremendous library you know what this is a nonissue yeah let let's let's move on from that i mean but but our reality is different okay so what I'm saying and I said it before that my
votes were previously made with not full disclosure from the city regarding the library lease if I would have known the library lease was coming due it's my intent to have the building department housed in one building this
building the library does not offer us any they don't pay rent okay understood but let's take a vote i think that you're going to be We're doing the county a favor okay well I think I I think we need a library here so but but besides that so we need to be in
negotiations with the county but those opinions right now when we take a vote those they're going to crystallize with your vote right now previous votes as I said before were without having full disclosure of the availability of the
first floor in this okay understood but now the culmination of that is going to be your vote okay vote now just one more question to the um city attorney right so that you're making an informed decision and you know what you're doing can you please explain the possible
repercussions of not moving forward with this well you you've already as the deputy city manager said you sort of already put everything in motion so you have an existing you have existing contracts with your architects and everything else
that you've expended money with Krema you have a lease agreement that has timelines set forth therein um so there's the loss of revenue obviously that you're going to have in the front end from the money you've already
expended and then you essentially would be in breach of your lease agreement which would lead to terminations so you're going to lose all that and I I can't predict what Krema would do in that regard whether they just walk away or they try anything else but to the
extent that they've expended any money you know I I don't know what their reaction would be but um certainly um you would be in breach of your lease agreement okay so I would may vice mayor yes go ahead may I ask a question of the city attorney
i just want to make sure I understand this correctly this item is to approve this commission has already approved to build an annex and has already approved an agreement with Krema right this item is to build
that out correct if we don't proceed and nothing else changes we go back out to bid for another contractor to build it out because we have not received direction from this commission
to not proceed that way so then we would have if they wish to do something other than that they would need to bring forth a resolution to halt the project right so the only Correct so and that
would have to be approved by a majority vote correct so you the things would have to come back obviously if you're going to change the direction i mean the only thing you're voting on today is this particular contract yay or nay whatever the repercussions are to the extent that you want to change direction or do you provide any more instruction
that would have to come back to the commission in a separate vote that's probably noticed and everything else so does it make sense to defer it then is there any is there any benefit to putting those two things together well that's that's up to you all the
deference is again we're under and and the deputy city manager that's why it's a special meeting i mean I understand there's we have time constraints but uh and the deputy city manager can speak more to that but the more time we I won't say waste it's not wasted
time but the more time that we expend on this the less time we have to do what we have to do under the lease and that becomes critical and then costs go up and everything else so there's repercussions to that as to whether if you if you're going to reconsider the whole concept
then you're going to have to start back from from scratch no I don't want to reconsider obviously I want to move forward i'm being very clear about that but I mean we're opening ourselves up to lawsuits we're opening our ourselves up to another like 400 $500,000 loss just
because we didn't know about a library that's that's not even uh that's not going to produce revenue anyway well okay i mean I'll I'll hold on let me let me give some comments yeah yeah yeah sorry sorry to interrupt but you know during this whole period you know since
we started with this discussion you know the question was is it going to be the building department only is it going to be a restaurant only and it was my understanding from all the discussions and the back and forth that we had reached a happy medium
that we're going to have the building department and we're going to have a cafe so we could monetize the property as well right we have some some income the only thing okay that I am a little
bit um let's say that is bothering me a little bit is the cost of the the buildout okay because obviously costs are going up but um I mean it is it is you know it's almost double so that that is something that I obviously I'm not
happy about okay but anyhow but regarding the building itself and I know obviously we're voting whether we're going to go ahead and approve this contract or not but I thought we had reached a happy medium you know we had gone back and forth with
the exception I believe of of of Fabola she she did not want the um both of the the li not the library see you got me saying library now the the the building department and the restaurant there i
think she wanted uh 100% um a restaurant there all of the time she never changed her position that was my feeling originally as well but but hold on hold on let me finish yeah that's been your position i will explain your position but but but regardless I'm I'm just trying to go back and I'm just trying to
shed some light that in my opinion we had come with the exception of Fabola because I I believe you voted for half and half Jerry we had come to the decision to have the building department and a restaurant there or a cafe rather
so now we're at a point where we have all these other things coming into play we have the library you know we have other things and you know what we are kind of you know working on ifs i
believe you know we need to work based on concrete information we don't know if the library is going to want to move there well they they want they want to move there if we give them the the property basically and that's a no no i mean no no way um so I
mean we need to take a look at the concrete information and might make our decision based on that not on whatifs and that's where I'm at right now and um are we going to decide to move forward yes or no now there's other
considerations you're talking about a library putting the moving the library etc etc just keep in mind that if we go in another let's say uh direction that that's going to take time we need to
think about all of the consequences that all I'm saying is that for everybody here to think about all the consequences we already have contracts in place we could get sued we could have to pay out money etc etc so let's look at all of the
information let's think back about all of our discussions what we voted on what we did not vote on etc etc and take that all of that into account okay if that's what I'm saying yeah mhm so uh we had u
it's true we had these discussions for a while and the direction was chain on us because originally we voted to make it a restaurant we voted we had workshops no okay but we that's what I say we and I
include when I vote yes or no for the commission yeah the commission like so we voted uh to to make it a full restaurant and that's what it went out to bed so we have clear direction so we put the money we bet we put our effort
on that then it change down the line but so changing apparently it's a constant here so it's not actually um it's apparently the rule okay then if I can add hold on let her finish let her finish Jerry and then No no you continue
let let her finish and then Yeah so so um and I now I know what is going to be my gift for you guys this year is going to be the art of the deal because we need to learn to deal with the uh when we are um making contracts and
agreements so for example talking about again the the the library uh like Jerry I didn't know when it was the time frame when it's going to be uh due the contract etc but I do believe that our our um that we do need a library um I
really don't like the way it is right now and we have a budget amendment almost in every meeting so it is not about spending or not spending the money it's about being smart the way we spend the money and about benefiting and
giving service to our people do we need a library here i do believe so is it a good location yes does it service our community yes so um am I now happy to know that it's going to be a restaurant there in that location absolutely so
imagine again like I said in the meeting before if we do are the one that build a stateofthe-art uh library in front of the beach for our people you know standing alone etc we make all the safe uh guards concerns etc
so I I am of the belief that we can have a amazing beautiful um library there and if that's the only option that the county has and then they they it's not going to cost them money because we had the money to spend on it
um so uh I know we had tens tens of millions of dollars in capital improvement okay remember we had tens of million only to build um heritage park and make there a water park with the four floor building so we had the money
it's not that we don't have the money we just need to be smart how we are going to be spending the money for our people for the benefit of our people for to service our residents so um again you will be receiving that of the deal from
me okay okay all right i think a building department serves the people better than a restaurant i mean that's again it's just a difference of opinion but you want to talk about giving the space to the people I think a working building department uh is better than
bes but but hold on may I but then again we're going to have both there i mean we're going to be making some money okay and we're going to have the building department there and there I mean you go to the building department now i mean you have four people in one office i
mean it's it's it's pretty crazy and you see them like sitting sideways against the like wall that's on an angle and like it's it's it's not conducive to being efficient there that's that's my opinion and that's my observation of of
that of that space right now and um I mean we need to take a vote we we're building the the the trailers here for them i'm I'm sorry can you repeat we are building here in the north the trailers for the building department right now you know so So and and then
what's going to happen with that you know i know but I mean no but that's what that's going to work permanently the first floor here for them is perfect to have them in everything in the same building it's small but regardless okay let's do this i mean it's already almost
12:30 let's let's take a vote or I mean more discussion but let's Yeah so how much are we spending on those trailers uh that we're uh that we're
building for the building department i don't recall the exact amount i don't have it but you all did approve the purchase of that trailer we don't rent it we purchased it right and it is not a long-term solution because you've got some of them up here and some of
them down here customers can't go there so they have to come over here to have a meeting with a customer it is far from the height of living it is a stop gap until we can find more room and I I would just like to add that if
you change course now you're going to have to incur more architect fees because now we're redesigning more stuff so I I mean I just ask that we consider all the possibilities and
the consequences this is okay so I I felt this um on so many issues that when something may not be the correct way to go but
because we're and and we try we there are attempts to force us in a direction that might not be the right direction okay and it's just you know I have to take a stand against it that that that's fine Jerry
that's fine i'm just telling you consider all the all the consequences or consequences there are consequences of information to consideration paying and paying and paying for things as as costs mount for something that's that wasn't right in the first place commissioner
okay but anyhow so let's uh go ahead i'm sorry Vice Mayor if I could just respond to that um forced into um well not okay may I go ahead administration has gone where you
all have directed there was a vote to to proceed in this way we have given you our best advice we are being fiscally responsible we do not want to waste money designing plans and wasting staff
time on bids and everything else That is not our intent to force something on you we took the direction that was given to us by a majority of this commission and we proceeded accordingly that incurred costs changing direction now will waste
that money and incur more costs but we administration we don't like wasting money but if that is the direction of the commission but then okay so what I'm saying is if we don't receive full information and are asked to make a
decision okay I would have liked to have known it would have changed my vote uh if I had known that the library lease was coming due in a certain amount of time while we were in discussions to
move the building department yeah I think that's what I'm saying so I was misdirected okay with by that the loss of that information okay and it's occurred on a few other things as well well okay so but I mean I think the discussions were
very clear i mean in my opinion and um you know we we we came to where we are today and um but where we are today yes okay okay so so I'm looking not to make another error okay that's fine has made
errors in in construction in the past i'm I'm trying to have us not make another error originally when we spoke about the restaurant at Tony Romas it was because Sunny Isles does not have a great evening draw but okay or night
nightife of residents okay i've heard that so many so many residents write to me that Sunny Isles is basically a bedroom city we shut down at night okay I think we're getting we're getting off topic a little bit i It's not off topic
because this is the discussion we had when we were talking about making Tony Romans a full restaurant now we have Aventura drawing residents away for for the evenings okay but Jerry I I I don't think I don't think it could compare i
mean they have a lot more space they could build out you know these entire projects that are just 100% restaurants so vice may go back to go ahead go ahead uh just based on the discussion my thinking is if you would give me a
little time I can discuss a little further with the library and chat with each of you on the intentions regarding the library maybe a deferral to the next meeting um would be in order
okay um and what would you like may I Yeah go ahead we defer then this can come back next week if we vote against this then it cannot come back in three months so I will not go for a deferral for this this
needs to stop okay um so I make the motion make the motion to what to defer no to not defer to vote okay anybody just to be clear hold on go ahead you're making a motion to approve the resolution because that's the way
that it's written okay but I don't want to approve it so I made the the motion to not approve the resolution but there's that's not on to not approve well just be careful how you vote because it's going to get confusing because the the resolution is to approve
so let's do this so So hold on and just let me be clear also just let's do it in order okay let's do it in order so I'll make the motion to defer okay is there a second i'll sorry i'll second i mean we
deferred already one time i mean we could defer again and and we need more time vice Mayor well I'm so sorry General you can't yes you can but okay well for to get more information on the library's position i
mean I I think it's it's uh I think it's reckless to vote no on this based on the library information that we don't have so if you want to get more time to get the library information to make a proper vote let's defer well it depends what
the discussion is going to be with the library well we don't know that that's the point of the deferment and just for clarity if it's a tie vote it can't come back it doesn't have to wait 3 months if it's a tie vote if it's a tie vote
what i'm sorry if it's a tie vote it just it's status quo it doesn't proceed forward but it can come back at the next doesn't mean that motion fail it is a tie vote if it's a lack of a second then it's different if if somebody moves and there's a lack of a
second then it fails but tie votes are treated differently may I ask a question so when you say it could come back can it come back for the commission meeting on the 17th if it's a tie vote if it's a tie vote on the deferment I think that's no defer is a procedural matter so that's on the on the actual item itself
hold on let's please I I want to get clear i want to be clear to see what what how we could proceed right so if it's a tie vote on voting to award the contract correct then it's not going to get approved but it it will come back on
the 17th right it can come back one it can be the 17th it could be a subsequ right if it's a tie vote it could come back as soon as April 17th correct correct okay what about if it's deferred same same thing it could come back on
April 17th it depends what you all defer to i mean that's up to you all we We could defer to to have it come back on April 17th again that's up to you all alex I have So it's the same It's the same outcome basically alex I have a question go ahead okay
because being I've been in the commission meeting for almost 10 years as a resident or now sitting down here as far as I ever seen since I've been here when there is a tie vote the motion
fail fail or not it's in your code 7422 subsection I it spells it right out i can read it for you if you want please read it please yes whenever action cannot be taken because the vote of the commissioners has resulted in a tie the status quo shall continue in effect and
the proposed ordinance resolution or motion that produced the tie vote shall be removed from the agenda without prejudice to its reintroduction on a denovo basis at a subsequent meeting a little different for quasi judicial but this isn't quasi judicial
subsequent meeting whenever we want basically right it doesn't specify the only time specify when the three-month limitation deals with when the motion fails if there's no motion or second okay so we in the past we've been misled
because I heard specifically when it's a tight vote the motion fail well it does fail but it you're not but it can it can be brought back obviously it doesn't proceed forward okay because this vote whether we fail it cannot be brought
back in three months so now it fails or doesn't fail no it's not it's what your code say your code is very clear that if it's a tie vote and I don't know that we've had a tie vote in a while that it can come back at a subsequent tie vote that's the difference because it's tied
vote no I get it i get it i because I had the same question it's when when it fails on a 3-2 it dies it fails but if it fails on a tie it survives and it can also fail that's what you're saying right and it can also fail if there's a lack of a second right so that's
happened in the past also okay so So Okay so whether we vote to defer or we vote yay or nay well what we vote nay uh it it could come back on April 17th
basically right right yeah so if we vote no on that today let's say it's a tie no let's say it's a tie right on awarding the contract it could come back on April 17th and whether we
vote it's a tie on deferment it it'll come back April 17th no the deferment doesn't come back deferment is a procedural motion it gets resolved today either it defer it's deferred or not but we'll defer it we could defer it to whenever we want right right but I'm
saying your vote to defer that's a fail you're not You're not going to defer your motion to defer no no no i'm I'm saying But no no i'm sorry i'm sorry no no no let's say the deferment p I'm sorry let's say the deferment passes yes we could bring it back as soon as April 17th that's up to you all okay so it's
basically All right okay all right well okay so I made So you made the motion to defer defer okay there's no second but if you pass me the gavvel you can second i don't have a gavvel okay then it may fail theoretical so now theoretical to Can I make a
motion to pass the the You can't You can't make a motion because you're the chair you'd have to You'd have to pass the gavvel so deferment fails right because they didn't second and you didn't want to second because you don't want to give me the imaginary gavvel so fine I forgive you so okay so deferment
fails and so now I'll make the motion to approve the the item okay so I'll I'll second that motion to you'd have to pass the gavvel to do that as well all right gave me the Okay so here's the gap thank you all right i approve the motion to second
i'll second the motion yeah i'm going to request a a roll call uh Vice Mayor Commissioner Viscaro yes commissioner Styverson no commissioner Joseph no
vice Mayor Lama yes the motion is a tie all right okay so now it could come back April 17th right right i mean technically it does fail i mean it doesn't proceed forward it's okay the contract doesn't proceed forward but
under the code again 7422 I um I think it's Yeah i No sorry get you the right subsection yeah i um it can come back at a subsequent meeting which will be April April 17
okay yeah that's that's I guess since the manager put it on that would be up to the manager okay yes okay can I ask what uh discussions might be with the library it would be um as to having the county
build a new library would that be part of the discussion we will bring a library discussion item back for you so that you can direct me how you would like us to proceed with the renewal or not of the library yes
but I will bring that to you at the same time I'd like to have a discussion with Allan regarding the Alamo property again the uh just for clarification to the the motion the the item that can come back is the actual waypoint contract that's what that's what you all decide that's
the only thing that's been voted on today yes just so to be clear all right vice May can we just state on the record that the meeting is adjourned oh meeting is adjourned thank you all for coming