Homestead City Manager - Should He Stay or Should He Go?

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Going To Cost $514,471 To Fire City Manager

The Miami Herald is reporting that after being paid 10 weeks vacation or $34,506 on November 13 by City of Homestead officials, records show that Mike Shehadeh could receive an additional $479,965 in a severance package, which includes his salary, vacation, sick days and other benefits. This question begs to be answered, readers are encouraged to comment on whether this action is a practical use of the bully pulpit given to the new Mayor and council members on election day. Some will say yes and some will say no, but since he was placed on leave along with Asst. City Manager Johanna Faddis prior to the November 4 swearing in ceremony, revenge of a political nature certainly seems to be in play.

With Sergio Purrinos now running Development Services at a higher salary than his predecessor, how exactly will these personnel moves be paid for and explained by the Mayor, at a time when revenues continue to shrink while expenditures remain the same or expand? Weigh in with your comments.

The future of City Manager Mike Shehadeh at the city's helm will be the main issue that Homestead's City Council will discuss 7 p.m. this upcoming Monday.

Read more here:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/communities/south/story/1338960.html

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The Racetrack - We Are Getting Rich!

Have you noticed that extra cash in your pocket? The same old numbers from 2002:

"The Homestead-Miami Speedway has an economic impact of $248 million, provides 3,862 direct and indirect jobs with a payroll of $107 million. The facility generates $18.1million in state and local taxes. "

The new Hampton Inn - $369/night - Paris Hilton and her trust funds thank every guest.

Does anyone believe these numbers? What jobs? Any of them in Homestead for our residents?

Picture provided by Economic Impact.

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Homestead City Council puts new City Hall in holding pattern

Council members are waiting for more information about a new city hall before deciding how to move ahead with it. By Tania Valdemoro TValdemoro@miamiherald.com Homestead's new City Council on Tuesday night unanimously passed a moratorium on any activity relating to the new City Hall until it gets a report about the project from acting city manager Randy Chong. ``We need to put some type of freeze,'' said Mayor Steven Bateman, who suggested the temporary measure. ``It's about stopping any recurring costs that we have that we don't need.'' During the recent election, Bateman, vice mayor Judy Waldman and Council members Stephen Shelley, Elvis Maldonado and Jimmie L. Williams III, campaigned against building the new facility -- at least for now. It will cost at least an estimated $20 million. Homestead faces continuing losses in property taxes and other city revenues while the local and state economy remains in a slump. The proposed 60,000-square-foot City Hall is scheduled for a triangular stretch of land in downtown Homestead bounded by Washington Avenue, Parkway Street and Civic Court between Northeast Second and Fourth streets. Homestead sold city-owned land in the Park of Commerce and plans to sell the current City Hall site at the corner of U.S. 1 and Campbell Drive to pay for the bulk of the new project. In August, 18 companies submitted proposals to build the new facility. City officials have not awarded the work to any firm. Bateman said one of his concerns about the new City Hall stemmed from the apparent lack of a budget for the project. ``I couldn't find a budget for it,'' he said. Finance Director Jan Smith replied, ``Generally, the capital-projects budget is a three- to five-year budget, not an annual one. There's never been an annual budget for City Hall.'' According to Smith, since 2005, the city has spent about $6.4 million on the project, including $100,000 this year. Homestead acquired three parcels of land to assemble the nearly two-acre site for the new City Hall. These are the CAC Medical Centers land, the Borges Supermarket land and a three-quarter-acre property between the supermarket and the South Dade Busway. In other business, Development Services Director Shari Kamali and Public Information Officer Lillian Delgado were terminated on Nov. 6, according to Chong. ``Their services were no longer required,'' he said. When asked whether both employees had been fired, Chong said he could not comment. Delgado, who had been with the city since 2003, earned $67,412 per year. Kamali, employed since 2006, earned $109,699 per year. The recent departures indicate that a post-election shake-up at City Hall could be continuing. Shortly before the Nov. 4 swearing-in ceremony of the new City Council, City Manager Mike Shehadeh and Deputy City Manager Johanna Faddis agreed to a two-week administrative leave with pay. They are expected to return to work Wednesday. But Williams and Waldman have said they want a new city manager. Kamali already has been replaced as Development Services director by Sergio Purriños, the ex-Doral city manager who abruptly resigned in June 2008. He made $163,770. He told the Homestead City Council that after he left Doral, he opened City Consulting, a firm that provided plan review for municipalities. Purriños, who had worked as a city planner for the city of Homestead from 1998 to 2002, started work on Monday at a salary of $114,699. He gave an overview of the Development Services Department to new Council members at a workshop Tuesday night. Chong said Delgado's position would not be filled right now. Reference Article

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Final suit over Homestead air base rejected - South Florida - MiamiHerald.com

Final suit over Homestead air base rejected - South Florida - MiamiHerald.com: "A state court judge has thrown out a case against Miami-Dade County that was filed by Homestead Air Base Developers Inc., also known as HABDI, which claimed it was owed more than $100 million after the airport deal collapsed in 2001.
``Finally, I think we can move on,'' Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorenson, a long-time opponent of a commercial airport at the base, said Thursday.
The decision is the latest chapter in a legal fight that started eight years ago when the U.S. Air Force decided it would not convey the 604 acres to the county for an airport -- instead later giving it to Miami-Dade for general non-aviation development.
HABDI had won a no-bid contract from Miami-Dade County to lease and develop the property as a commercial airport in 1996.
But the development group still needed the federal government to transfer the land to the county and to approve airport use on the large parcel in South Miami-Dade. It needed to clear these hurdles while also confronting fierce opposition to its plans from environmental groups.
When the Air Force decided against conveying the land for an airport, HABDI responded by suing the federal government. The case was ultimately rejected by a U.S. district judge in 2006 and affirmed on appeal a year later.
Separately, HABDI sued Miami-Dade County in 2006, alleging the county had failed to hold up its end of the bargain in the airport development project. Now that suit has been rejected also.
In a one-page ruling dated Nov. 4, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Gerald D. Hubbart dismissed the case, concluding there ``is no genuine issue as to any material fact.''

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FERNSTOCK (Woodstock in The Redland)

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Election Collateral Damage and The Public's Right To Know

Secret Personnel Meetings Out Of The Public Spotlight


Acting City Manager Randy Chong


Who Will Be Next?






Looks like a purge of everything considered top management is taking place inside 790 North Homestead Boulevard. The latest casualties, in addition to City Manager Mike Shehadeh and his assistant Johanna Faddis, who were placed on administrative leave with pay, are Public Information Officer Lillian Delgado and Development Services Director Shari Kamali. It seems they were dismissed from city service on Friday by Acting City Manager Randy Chong.

Mr. Chong should issue a public statement as to who is giving him his marching orders. Is it Mayor Steve Bateman, the entire City Council or someone else? Taxpayers have a right to know the reasons for these personnel moves. If they are guilty of violating the public trust let us know, if it is purely political payback, let us know. These meetings behind closed doors require a spotlight.

A quote from a recent thread:

keysgatemom said...

When Bateman is in charge, there wont be secrets and closed doors (like our current council). What a crock that they claim to have brought transparency to our governement!! what ever happened to a governement by the people and for the people? oh, right, you mean by Lynda Bell and for Lynda Bell...

October 5, 2009 10:06 PM

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Deep Dive: 46% of South Florida homeowners are `underwater'

Nearly half of all owners of single-family homes in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area were underwater at the end of the third quarter, meaning their homes were valued at less than the mortgages owed against them. Forty-six percent of South Florida homeowners, representing 387,157 homes, were underwater at the end of Sept. 30, compared to 47 percent in the second quarter, according to a new report from Web-based real estate services firm Zillow.com Nationally, 21 percent of homeowners were underwater as of Sept. 30, down from 23 percent in the second quarter, as home values stabilized in the short term and more underwater borrowers lost their homes to foreclosure, Zillow said. Zillow's home price index showed that the median price of a single-family home in the area was $168,400, down 17.1 percent from the same period a year before. Values were down 2.1 percent from the second quarter. The Zillow index measures values of all homes, not those sold in a particular period. While values continue falling, the firm said September marked the eighth consecutive month of decreasing year-over-year price declines. Additionally, 50 percent of all homes sold in September sold at a loss, the firm said. A small percentage, 5.5 percent, saw their values rise over the past 12 months. Reference Article

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