Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners Meeting - February 4, 2025
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners Meeting - February 4, 2025
The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners convened on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. in the Commission Chambers for its regular meeting. The board addressed a wide-ranging agenda that included special presentations, citizen comments, consent items, first-reading ordinances, public hearings, and several contested resolutions. Major actions included approval of the MIA Runway 5K donation, adoption of multiple zoning and bond measures, a split vote to hire McKinsey for efficiency consulting, and rejection of a compliance report concerning two community organizations.
Special Presentation
- The meeting opened with a special presentation for the MIA Runway 5K, where a donation check was presented to Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. Aviation Director Ralph Cutie reported that the event grew from about 1,000 runners at MIA four years ago to approximately 5,500 participants across all three county airports in 2024, raising $130,000 over four years for breast cancer awareness.
Citizen's Presentations and Public Comment
- Several residents spoke during the public comment period, raising concerns about housing, homelessness, annexation, discrimination, and community investment.
- Kenneth Brown spoke about "unjust" agenda items and inadequate housing in Liberty City and Brownsville.
- Wayne C. Tarver asked what benefits annexation would bring to residents.
- Carline Charlier, a realtor, advocated for equal housing opportunities for seniors, single women, and formerly incarcerated individuals.
- Leroy Jones defended the funding received by his organizations, stating it was awarded through open competitive processes, and requested completion of lots.
- Josette Elizabeth, Teresa LaFleur, Ternice Cannon, Charles Stringer, and Christopher Sweeting spoke in support of Neighbors and Neighbors Association (NANA) and Circle of Brotherhood, highlighting their community work.
- Pastor Jeffrey Mack, co-founder of Circle of Brotherhood, said the organizations are not "thugs" or "gangsters" and asked that past issues not hinder their work.
- Barbara Twiggs and Corey Walden called for more support for Black-owned businesses and economic equity.
- Adia and Naya Blaze, of Assistance R Us, discussed digital inclusion efforts.
- Angel Brown and Rashonda Thomas, who is homeless, pleaded for more affordable housing and services for homeless women with children.
- Chaplain Stanley Young requested more educational programming, including GED and trade classes, for incarcerated individuals.
Agenda Setting and Pull List
- The board approved the agenda and a lengthy pull list, with multiple items released or deferred. Item 14A4 was placed under the four-day rule and later withdrawn; it will be considered at a future meeting.
Discussion Items
- GMX Litigation Settlement: Commissioner Cabrera moved to end the county's participation in litigation challenging the Greater Miami Expressway Agency (GMX) Act of 2023, after negotiations. The motion was amended to remove language acknowledging the court order as final, and passed on a voice vote.
- Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Resolution: Senator Garcia moved to urge the federal government to maintain TPS for law-abiding nationals from several countries. The motion was amended to include all TPS-designated countries, but not an additional due-process amendment. It passed after extensive debate.
- First-Reading Ordinances: The board approved several ordinances on first reading, including bond issuance for Jackson Health System (4A), creation of special taxing districts (4B, 4C), a Comprehensive Development Master Plan amendment (4D), and a suspension of certain annexations (4E). 4E passed 12-1 with Commissioner Steinberg dissenting.
- Public Hearings:
- 5A: Reduced parking requirements for residential units in the Government Center subzone. Passed unanimously after discussion.
- 5B: Reallocated $577,000 in bond funds from Miami Beach to a Metromover station project. Passed unanimously.
- 5C: Amended and passed a resolution modifying bond project 297 and adding a new project for Miami New Drama. An amendment corrected the address.
- 5D: Removed a property at Brickell Bay Drive from the Metromover subzone. Passed unanimously over opposition from the property owner.
- 5E: Approved a substantial amendment to the FY 2024 Action Plan for the View 29 affordable housing development. Passed unanimously.
- 5F: Granted a petition to close a portion of SW 294 Street. Passed unanimously.
- Bencor Retirement Plan (11A4): After long debate, the board approved a resolution to negotiate an agreement with Bencor for a special pay plan for unused leave, despite concerns about mandatory participation and fiscal impacts. Passed 10-3.
- McKinsey Consulting Contract (11A6): The board narrowly approved directing the mayor to negotiate an agreement with McKinsey & Company to identify revenue growth and efficiency opportunities. Proponents cited urgency and Jackson Health System success; opponents objected to sole-sourcing and lack of details. Passed 8-5.
- Frost Museum (11A9): The board approved an amendment to the Frost Museum's grant agreement to allow it to seek county funding. Supporters noted the museum's success and changed circumstances. Passed 11-2.
- Naranja Lakes CRA Appointments (11A5 and 11A11): After a lengthy dispute over representation and leadership, the board passed both appointment resolutions, with district 8 and district 9 commissioners each appointing two members. A compromise was reached: the district 9 commissioner would designate the chair and the district 8 commissioner the vice chair, with the roles flipping annually. Background checks were required.
Key Outcomes
- Approved unanimously (13-0): 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 5A, 5B, 5D, 5E, 5F, 8A1, 8B1, 8E2, 8G2, 8H1, 8H2, 8I1, 8L1, 8O1, 8O2, 8O3, 8P1, 8P2, 8P4, 8P6, 11A1, 11A7, 11A12, 11A13, 11A14, 14A1, 14A2, 14A3, 15B1, 15C1, 15G1, and the TPS resolution.
- Passed with dissent: 8P5 (9-4) delegating fleet vehicle contracting authority; 11A4 (10-3) for Bencor plan; 11A6 (8-5) for McKinsey; 11A9 (11-2) for Frost Museum; 11A10 (12-1) appointing Sandy Lila; 4E (12-1) on annexation suspension.
- Rejected: 14B1 compliance report regarding Circle of Brotherhood and NANA (10-0).
- Deferred: 11A3 (Behavioral Health Advisory Board appointments) and 11A8 (MIA pedestrian bridge funding urgency) were deferred to a later date.
- Allocations: Several commissioners pledged funds to the Nova Foundation (for October 7th victims), totaling over $20,000 in allocations.
- Appointments: Appointments were made to the Charter Review Task Force and Commission on Human Rights.
Meeting Transcript
Oh, there it is. There it is. All right, all right, all right. All right, Ralph, join me. Join me. This is your show. I'm gonna hand this over to you. It's my pleasure as the chair to be here, but in reality, this is all director QT's uh show here. Um my constituent Ralph Cutie. Yes. Yeah. Uh breast cancer awareness. Why are we doing this out of cycle? Just because now's when we got the funds ready and everything. All right, all right. All right, it's breast cancer awareness month every month. It's not just on that said month. Um listen, it's it's a pleasure as your chairman as for Ammy Day County, joined by my colleague Jesse Bermudez, the rest of my colleagues. Uh apparently it's still cold outside and they're in their sheets. Uh, so they're gonna be running late today. But uh, listen, it's a pleasure to be just a part of this. I know that uh the airport and oh wow, Jimmy, you're here. All right, on behalf of the mayor, where's the mayor? She's gonna be here this morning. All right, she's on our way, she's on her way. But I I know that no, and also I know the airport is is one of our largest fundraisers in the entire county, and and that merits, you know, some real recognition. So before we do what we're actually here to do, I want to say thank you to the director for for putting that on, obviously, with your five K team, which I saw some of them, Frankie's Frankie, Frankie back there. Um, but but not just you, Director, even though I love you and you're my constituent, and you went to Columbus as my sons do, but your entire team, because it it takes a team effort to put all of this together. So uh a round of applause for our director, but the entire aviation team and five K teams. Without further ado, Director, take it over. Sure. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So I promise I'll be brief. First of all, I want to thank our mayor, Chief Morales, our chairman, and our board for all of your support for making strides against breast cancer over the last four years. We started this thing out just about four years ago with about a thousand runners at MIA. And since then, we've grown the event to all three of our airports, Opalog Executive, Miami Executive, and MIA. And we finished up this year with about fifty-five hundred participants total for the year twenty twenty-four. And we raised 130,000 total over the last four years for making strides against breast cancer. So that is a huge, huge number, and obviously, you know, we take a lot of pride in participating in that and in being a big part of the fight against breast cancer. So that's one second. Maria Nardian, she may not be here, but our parks and recreation department, they provide the stage and the bleachers for our events. And obviously, Frankie Reese, who's here from We Run Miami, they put to they put together a first class event every single year. All three events that we do now at our three airports, they do a great job. And then obviously are making strides a bit against breast cancer partners, uh Brittany Perez, she's represented today here by my Morgan. So it's not we don't do it alone in a vacuum, and last but not least, obviously our like you mentioned, Mr. Chair, our MIA team. You know, they do a tremendous job working collaboratively with everybody. So it's a team effort. We really take a lot of pride in doing it.
openpublica.com