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Meeting Minutes September 10, 2009City Commission

want to do is be handed a -- let me not even get into it.

Vice Chair Spence-Jones: And that --

Chair Sanchez: All right. That --

Vice Chair Spence-Jones: -- was the reason why I said let's not -- we don't have an answer now. I think that if you hear from us what we want to see happen, that puts us in a position that we

don't create a problem.

Commissioner González: My point of view is that I believe not only in reference to the

irefighters hearing, I believe that it should be the spirit of all the unions, collectively to make

any kind of sacrifices to protect your coworkers.

Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Yeah.

Chair Sanchez: And your members.

Commissioner González: Okay. If I were in a position that reducing my salary 8 percent will 

 save four or five of my colleague's jobs, I will say take it away. Because let me tell you, as I told one reporter a while ago outside, whoever has a job today has to thank God and say, "God,

thank you for letting me have a job" because there are thousands -- as a matter of fact, millions

of people out there without a job.

Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Yep.

Commissioner González: And let me tell you, it's not a City of Miami illness.

Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Yep.

Commissioner González: It's an epidemic on the United States and all over the world. I have

relatives in Spain. I have relatives in Germany. I keep in contact with them, and it is all over the

lace. It's all over the place. So you know, whoever has a job today has to go to church --

Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Be thankful.

Commissioner González: -- whatever denomination --

Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Be thankful.

Commissioner González: -- it is, and say "God --

Vice Chair Spence-Jones: Thank you.

Commissioner González: -- thank you." Thank you.

Chair Sanchez: Commissioner Sarnoff.

Commissioner Sarnoff: You know, Bobby, the -- at the workshop, I suggested that there was a

tale of two sister jurisdictions, Broward County Sheriff's Office and Broward County. The

 Broward County Sheriff's Office did not layoff anyone, through furloughs, through salary

reductions; nobody was laid off. In Broward County, they're now going past 1,400 employees

terminated. Just a point of view. But here is the 800-pound gorilla, and this is what no one

wants to talk about in this chamber, and that is the very atom of how we get to pension, any

roblem we have, and that is salary. And Bobby, here's a perspective. If you truly are a rescue

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Meeting Minutes September 10, 2009City Commission

department -- and I know I went through your indoctrination. I remember what it was like.

 Eighty percent of what you do is rescue -- then bear this in mind. If what the Mayor says is true,

and if your executives make $243,000, plus 26,000 in overtime -- and not be in the best of math -

- that would be about $269,000. And if, in fact, your lieutenants make $150,000 and 13,000 in

overtime, $163,000. Now, Mr. Mayor, I just didn't hear what you say the captains made, but I 

did hear they made 29,000 a year average in overtime. Keep this in mind, Bobby. The average

anesthesiologist, a man who went through eight years of college, four years of training, earns$259,498. The average general surgeon earns $228,839. The average psychiatrist, which I 

think we all could use here, $173,922; obstetrics, $203,270; a pediatrician, a person that brings

a person into this world, $132,953; the average family practice, $137,119. That is a perspective.

 I was taught stay in school, go to college, learn, get trained, and you will have the best-paying 

ob. I could kill my guidance counselor for not telling me to be a fireman. I was wrong. Keep a

erspective about you. Keep a perspective. I -- look, Bobby, I understand what Coral Gables

makes. I know City of Miami Beach. I know what the County makes, and I know how you all 

ladder each other, and it's good practice 'cause you're a good president. You're a good 

resident for the union. But trust me when I tell you, this business model is broken. This City is

 going to be functionally bankrupt next year. No two ways about it. We are the California of 

municipalities. We're on the verge -- and maybe we should just consider approaching a

bankruptcy judge and saying "are these salaries fair?" Now, there's a structural problems here,

and it's got to be worked out on the pension, but for today and today only, it is in the power of the firemen in this City to set the example for every other union member, to shoulder the

responsibility to every taxpayer in this City. You guys make a fine living. You deserve to make a

ine living. You're the greatest group of guys I've every experienced. If there's honor, it's in the

 Fire Department, but you need to show it, and you need to demonstrate it to everyone. You need 

to lead by example. You need to take your foot off the neck of the City. I know you want 

 something in return, but there's a new normal out there. There's a whole new world out there.

There's an abject disconnect, Bobby, between folks that work for government and people that 

 support government, the taxpayers. They are absolutely hurting out there. They are absolutely

collapsing under the pressure of government. And you know all the statistics I could quote you.

 I could quote you how all public unions have increased 23 percent a year for the past five years.

You know that. You could quote it better than me. There is a taxpayer revolt. The first day I got 

on this dais, I warned everybody there was a taxpayer revolt. All you're seeing is a perfect 

 storm. Three things have come to bear: (1) the taxpayer revolt; Tallahassee's reaction to it, (2)new contracts that can no longer be afforded devaluing property values, so your revenues go

down and your expenses go up, and (3) you have the most cataclysmic stock market crash since

the Great Depression, and for anybody here who thinks it's going to 10,000, watch the day it hits

10,000 because it'll be at 8,500 the day after. This is a false stock market, and I know it 'cause

 I'm playing in it, and I know when to get out of it. This is not a sustainable situation, and 

anybody that thinks it is, you better have a fast draw on the trigger because you better get out as

quick as you can. So I ask you, as a Commissioner, to really consider what you're going to do

with the Manager. And I know why he doesn't want to enter into another contract. Your 

contracts reference 300 MOUs (Memorandums of Understanding). He can't even read all the

OUs in time to enter into any contract extension. You know, the two people on the dais that 

made the most sense today happen to be Commissioner González and Commissioner 

Spence-Jones, and they're actually just coming to you and saying there's no hiding. There's no

deception. Spence-Jones is begging, and I know why she's doing that. González, to his credit, is-- he's exploring every option he can. You know, I wish I didn't know what I knew, and I don't 

know how this comes out, but either we're going to be the Broward County Sheriff's Office and 

hold our head up high or we're going to be Broward County. And you know what I brought with

me? I brought Chicago's notice of outplacement programs for the city employees that the City of 

Chicago had to fire, so they gave assistance to the thousand people they let go. It's happening 

all over the United States. It's not just us, but we are the poster child of the municipalities that 

are in trouble. We are the cutting edge of the sword. We are the tip of the spear. You can either 

ush the spear threw our heart or you can let up. Thank you.

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