Council Meeting Roundup: Parks, Fishing, Firefighters and More

Councilmembers listen to public comments in their reguar meeting, Oct. 15. (Key News_Annali Hayward)

Tuesday’s Village Council meeting featured 25 public comments hot on the heels of a surprise appearance by Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez and an invocation by Deacon Adrian Zapatero of St. Agnes Catholic Church, who prayed for local leaders as they make decisions in the “pursuit of truth and service to humanity.” Suitably blessed, it was off to the races. 

The non-issue issue

The elephant in the room came in the shape of a certain 1970s former condo sales office, and it trumpeted loudly, despite Mayor Mike Davey’s opening comments that “there is no issue about the library on the agenda tonight.”

Nonetheless, 11 people spoke against the actions (or lack thereof) to date by members of the Council and Miami-Dade County on the library. Of those 11, seven were residents of one particular building in Key Colony – the Emerald Bay.

Three people voiced support for a library project. There was no other discussion specifically about a library (since it was not on the agenda), but you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll be hearing a lot more about it in future. 

A walk in the park?

The hot-button issue of buying land for green space got a good airing Tuesday night. Ten public comments voiced support for the purchase of the lots at 571 and 599 Harbor Drive, or for the go-ahead of construction at 530 Crandon. Two were against. 

Dr. Michael Kelly pleads with the Council to approve the plans for 530 Crandon during public comments, Oct. 15 (Key News_Annali Hayward)

There was drama from the start, with Davey asking to defer the second reading for 530 Crandon, seeming to believe the will-they-won’t-they status of the SunTrust building, right next to the site, would impact the discussion. This was quickly quashed by Council Member Katie Petros. 

“I can speak to the SunTrust building,” she said. 

In doing so later, she said she had spoken with the owners about four months ago and was quite sure that even though the bank has been purchased by BB&T, it is “highly unlikely that they will vacate that lease. I don’t think that property is available,” she said, pushing for approval of the plans. 

That wasn’t even half of it. Council Member Luis Lauredo expressed confusion over figures, and wanted to know, “What’s the rush? Is it ugly?” 

“It’s been 10 years,” said Davey. 

But it was Council Member Ed London who threw the curveball, asking staff to go back to the original four contractors and get them to “value engineer” the prices down again from $1.2 million. Village Manager Andrea Agha wanted to know how staff should compare “apples to oranges to bananas.” 

But the Council eventually settled on asking for a “schedule of values” to vote line-by-line on at the Nov. 19 meeting, including things that had been removed in order to reach the current price tag. Pump (with a ‘p’) track, pergola and all. Lauredo, wanting a simpler park welcoming to senior citizens, voted no. 

Council Member Brett Moss later said the original quote was for closer to $800,000, but that “we’ve got to get it built at some point.” 

Throughout, Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Director Todd Hofferberth stood quietly next to Agha. 

The next item – Harbor Drive – probably cheered them up though, thanks to a yes vote from the Council.

It also featured a spat in everyone’s favorite love-hate relationship: London and Lauredo. 

After presentations from Dr. Steve Simon and Patricia Woodson, the Council debated prices and possibly financing the purchase rather than wiping out the Land Acquisition Trust Fund. Village Attorney Chad Friedman said this could be done afterward. 

Another interesting aside was staff’s dismissal of a rumor making the rounds amongst those opposing the purchase that a unanimous 7-0 Council vote could supposedly overturn the mandate that the fund only be used for land. Not true – it is a “restricted covenant,” according to Friedman. 

After much discussion on the merits of the purchase and the prices, London ripped into Lauredo for always being the one to talk about not wanting to spend money, but then voting for the purchase. Lauredo said the comment did not merit an answer. “Because you don’t have a good one,” snapped London. 

The purchases were approved for $2.18 million for 571 and $1.85 million for 599. 

Gone fishing

The fishing issue somewhat fizzled, with one public comment for and one against the proposed ban.

The Council seemed resigned to pass the ordinance banning fishing off Mashta Bridge on first reading, which they did – albeit with great reluctance from Petros and a lone ‘no’ vote from Vice Mayor Allison McCormick, who worried both about infringing on residents’ rights and on the precedent this may set. “Is this ordinance before us before we have really exhausted all other ways to enforce this issue?” she asked.

Anglers can angle for alternatives at second reading Oct. 29. 

Fighting fire with fire

It wasn’t all fun and games. The blunder of the night was that of leaving Ron Erbel, community stalwart and cancer sufferer, sitting in the front row until 10 p.m. waiting for his item to be heard. 

Ron Erbel waits for his agenda item, 10 p.m. Oct. 15. The issue of extending cancer compensation to firefighters has been continually delayed. (Key News_Annali Hayward)

“I wish you had done this about two hours ago,” said Erbel once everyone finally realized and bumped the agenda item up. “With my medication it’s past my bedtime.”

Firefighters Erbel and his colleague Angela Herrera are asking for the Council to provide the same compensation and benefits to them as provided by a new state law for firefighter cancer diagnoses on or after July 1, 2019.  Their active case diagnoses came before the cutoff date of July 1, 2019, and are not covered by the new law. There was discussion about precedent setting and whether it could expose the Village to claims from more employees. Lauredo pushed for more than just Davey’s promise of a resolution at the next meeting Oct. 29, saying, “We’ve been here before.” 

Davey said he would work with Friedman on the resolution.

Look for continued coverage in Key News. The next Council meeting is Oct. 29.