After Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo became the board’s chairman in December, he created the Chairman’s Policy Council, a new sort of super committee to take up the most important issues the county faces in the next two to four years — including the renovation of the historic downtown civil courthouse, which was once a $400-million tax grab emergency many moons ago. 

According to the county website, the Chairman’s Council will be responsible for:

• Identifying innovative transportation funding solutions
• Developing a courthouse capital improvement plan
• Identifying critical capital needs, and a corresponding funding plan for the county’s jail system to ensure and promote the humane treatment of inmates while maximizing the safety of county correctional officers
• Developing a coherent and proactive sea level rise response plan
• And preparing a workable county response to gun-related youth affecting our community

That’s a lot of responsibility, ain’t it? It hits all the main community issues and some of the more expensive ones.

And it’s all in the hands of the seven commissioners who voted for Bovo as chairman: Jean Monestime, Audrey Edmonson, Bruno Barreiro, Sally Heyman, Rebeca Sosa, Dennis Moss and Javier Souto. They were rewarded with a  juciy spot on this new and important board while Commissioner Xavier Suarez and those who voted for him were left out.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez, er, Stevie Bovo wins commission chair

Thursday’s meeting has the eight-member board looking at three $11-million contracts for engineering services for the Department of Transportation and Public Works (including one that has the mayor’s BFF listed as a subcontractor, again). The three contracts look like they are for the same thing — engineering work on a variety of projects, including the study of using driverless vehicles (though we need to get cars off the road, not drivers) — and also include side deals for 41 subcontractors.

But they will also be looking at and discussing different possible transportation funding sources, including:

• Tax increment financing
• Local option gas tax
• Auto tag renewal fees (which is what Suarez has been pushing for but he’s not on the committee)
• Fees on parking violations
• Whatever is left in the People’s Transportation Plan surtax after Mayor Carlos Gimenez takes out millions for operations and maintenance
• Tourist bed taxes
• Monies from the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority
• Public-private transit-oriented development opportunities

Bovo also wants to talk about “deficiencies” in Transportation and Public Works and an update on the construction repairs or renovation to the civil courthouse. 

There’s also a $1.5 million contract to consider for Perez & Perez Architects Planners for an update to the 2008 master plan for the court system and the county jails. That money will come from the Building Better Communities general obligation fund.

The Policy Council — or the Bovo Buddies Bunch, because you can call them that — meets at 9:30 a.m. in commission chambers at County Hall, 111 NW First St.

Ralph’s back for more public money.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s best friend and campaign finance chair is up for another piece of a multi-million dollar county contract.

Oh, he’s not the one bidding. They’re smarter than to do it like that.

Ralph Garcia Toledo‘s company is one of the subcontractors listed for one of the bids that will be considered and likely awarded by the county commission in March. It goes before the Commission Chairman’s Policy Council at their first meeting Thursday.

The resolution is a contract award for $11 million for engineering services to Parsons Brinckerhoff to help the Department of Transportation and Public Works execute projects in its capital improvements plan and implement the all-powerful Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) Plan, including the study and implementation of future technology, such as driverless vehicles.

Ralph Garcia Toledo with the mayor’s daughter in law, Barby Rodriguez Gimenez, at a fundraiser years ago for a Miami commission candidate

Garcia Toledo’s bite is tucked inside the contract, where his firm, GT Construction, is listed among the 18 subcontractors. We don’t know what his piece of the pie is, but it can’t be as big as the one he’s already feasting on in the water and sewer department. Ralph is already getting $200 an hour mostly, and self-admittedly, for clerical work — to go to meetings and file documents. He stands to make $18 million over the next 12 years just on that contract.

Now, he’s just getting greedy.

Read related story: Mayor’s pal Garcia-Toledo eats lobster with county staffers

And he’ll get it, too. Chairman Esteban Bovo, who wants to run for mayor in 2020, will want Ralph to help him raise funds. And Garcia Toledo took Commissioner Sally Heyman‘s staff to lunch one day –– at Joe’s Stone Crabs.

This new contract is one of three separate $11 million contracts that are being considered Thursday for the same thing: professional engineering services for the Department of Transportation and Public Works for their capital improvements and the SMART plan. And there are a dozen subcontractors on the other two — one for Parsons Transportation and one for Aecom Technical Services, which is the same company that messed up the reverse osmosis plant in Hialeah but the county still keeps contracting nonetheless.

That makes for 42 subcontractors — or 41, really, since Manuel Vera is on two contracts — who are feeding from this $33-million buffet.

What it looks like, since this has been divided up into three contracts and 41 subcontractors, is that Gimenez is beginning to make good on the campaign IOUs he collected during the last mayoral election, where he took close to $8 million or more in contributions, many from companies and developers doing business with the county.

Or, if not, Ladra bets they’re doing business with the county now.

Ralph can’t be the only lucky duck.

It was an odd thing to watch as speaker after speaker at Tuesday’s Miami-Dade Commission meeting be silenced — their mics actually cut off — and, in some cases escorted out of the chambers. Disturbingly odd. Chillingly odd.

Members of the community had gone to speak on Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s directive Jan. 26 to the corrections department, telling them to start holding illegal immigrants who have federal detainer requests even after they post bond or are released at arraignment. Many people were offended and vowed to fight back. Hundreds have protested twice at County Hall — but none of the county electeds were there to hear them.

Tuesday was their first chance to speak to our elected leaders about something that they felt was of vital importance.

Until Bovo put a kibosh on that.

Read related story: Looming face off at County Hall over sanctuary switch

The chairman made an announcement at the beginning of the meeting: Public comments would be limited only to those items on the agenda. He closed the public comments saying that it was “important to get the business before us done and not turn this into a circus.”

The “circus” he said, will be on Feb. 17.

“We set an entire day aside for them to come and speack on the detention issue or against Trump or whatever they want,” Bovo later told Ladra, adding that it was the first time in his memory they set aside a special meeting for anything that was not a budget matter.

“It’s their right to be heard and by giving them a special meeting, we are giving them that,” said the chairman, who has already publicly supported the mayor’s decision.

“I know this item has people all fired up. This is a passionate, controversial item. I feel the passion. And I want to give them a forum,” Bovo said, adding that the separate meeting next Friday complies with the county’s obligation to provide a “reasonable opportunity to be heard.”

Later, on NBC6, Gimenez sort of shrugged his shoulders and said “They can say whatever they want on the 17th.” He did not sound like he would listen. He sounds like a man with a mind made up.

Read related story: Protester have demands for Carlos Gimenez on sanctuary

More than a dozen people wearing white flowers pinned to their clothing spoke Tuesday against the measure anyway… sort of (only one Miami Trump volunteer spoke in favor). They couched their message in words dripping with double meaning to support two other measures on the agenda that (1) provide for citations rather than arrests of juveniles on first-time misdemeanors and (2) prohibit the suspension of a driver’s license for failure to pay a fine for some low-income drivers. Either one could be seen as a move to help protect illegal immgrants and undocumented youth from the consequences of the mayor’s new groove. The speakers spoke slowly, choosing words carefully in many instances, to get their subliminal message across.

Brian Hunker told them it was his first commission meeting. “I’ve never been politically active in my life so I guess in some ways just being here is sort of evidence that I’ve become motivated to participate and I hope you all take notice,” Hunker said, speaking in favor of the resolution to not arrest juveniles.

“It shows a wise exercise and foresight on behalf of the commission to prevent the systemic criminalization and incarcelation of well-meaning members of our community.”

Wink, wink.

“People’s lives should not be ruined if they’ve done nothing wrong. We don’t want to ruin people’s lives, whether its putting them in jail or sending them some place else,” said a gringo named Glen (didn’t catch his last name), who was careful not to use the taboo terms that had gotten people tossed already as he urged commissioners to extend that welfare to “a group of folks who are prevalent in Miami-Dade who I cannot mention by name.”

Because anyone who uttered the word “immigrant” was cut-off and, some, escorted out of chambers when they refused to stop talking even after the mic was turned off. Curiously, the word “undocumented” — which isn’t the same thing — was said at least twice without a reaction from Bovo.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez will be grilled on sanctuary cities decision

“Arresting our youth is harmful to our community and it has very serious consequences, especially for undocumented youth and its something we cannot divorce from the issue,” said Maria Angelica Rodriguez, who was not interrupted by the chairman. “Please support our youth, of which undocumented youth are also affected.”

Gaby Garcia Vera, an LGBT activist, was unfazed when he asked Gimenez not to leave because any issue having to do with law enforcement would affect illegal immigrants. “I will not sit in fear of this commission to say the word immigrant,” he said before he was cut off and led out as the audience cheered and some recorded it on their cell phones.

“We need to talk about community relations… This is not just about numbers,”

There’s more. Please press this “continue reading” button to “turn the page.”

After Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez buckled to President Donald Trump‘s threats to keep federal funds from “sanctuary cities” and he issued his directive to have illegal immigrants with federal detention orders held by county corrections officers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, immigration activists and their friends have protested at County Hall — twice.

But on Tuesday, the mayor’s supporters — or Trump’s supporters, same thing — say they will make themselves heard at what they call a “counter protest.”

It all points to what could be a powderkeg public comments session at the commission meeting, even though painstaking efforts were made to avoid it.

Read related story: Protesters have demands for Carlos Gimenez on sanctuary

The about-face on county policy — set in a 2013 resolution — is not on Tuesday’s county commission agenda. Chairman Esteban “Stevie” Bovo has called a special meeting on Feb. 17 — maybe precisely because he knew that a lot of people would show up. But, at the same time, he should have known that people don’t want to wait that long to talk about something that is already affecting lives. According to the Miami Herald, at least 27 people have been detained in county jails for ICE requests since the Gimenez directive.

So both supporters and opponents of the mayor’s move Jan. 26 have promised to go to the commission meeting Tuesday and let the mayor know how they feel anyway.

“Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has caved to Donald Trump and ordered local police to enforce immigration detention orders,” says the Facebook event invitation urging folks to “tell Gimenez to reject Trump.”

“It’s up to us to show him we want to keep immigrants safe! Join us at the February 7th County Commission as we tell Gimenez and the commissioners to protect our immigrant families. We will not be silent. We will not be ignored. We will organize. We will be heard. We will win. We will be a sanctuary.”

The counter protest to “support law and order at Mayor Gimenez office” is organized by local Trump volunteers and Hispanas por Trump.

It looks like the Trumpettes are going to be outnumbered, though: On the Facebook events — which, admittedly, are not scientific projections — we have 231 people going to tell Gimenez off and 70 going to support him.

How much you wanna bet the county gets extra security for Tuesday?

Last week was interesting. We had a bunch of protests of not just Donald Trump but also Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who was the first and only big city mayor to acquiese to Trump’s demands on sanctuary cities.

This week, we get to have fun watching Gimenez and Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Esteban “Stevie” Bovo do everything possible to avoid talking about the mayor’s 180-degree turnaround on the county policy, in violation of a county resolution. It’s not on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting because the chairman scheduled a special meeting just for that. Guess they expect it to take a long time, huh?

Ladra has a feeling however, that even though it’s not on the agenda, it will be discussed. If only in public comments. Activists are encouraging people to go and tell Gimenez off while his supporters have also encouraged people (more on that later) to go and show their support for “law and order.”

Let’s hope it doesn’t end in chaos.

As always, please keep sending news about meetings, campaign rallies, political club powwows and other events to edevalle@gmail.com. This is your Cortadito Calendar, after all.

MONDAY — Feb. 6

3 p.m. — The City of Miami’s Historic & Environmental Preservation Board will meet to receive a presentation, open to the public, of a “historical assessment report” on the Coconut Grove Playhouse. While this is a discussion item only, Playhouse boosters are expected to show up en masse to support continued efforts to restore and reopen the landmark (hopefully more than just the outside facade, or is that battle lost already?). Chairman Keon Hardemon could allow public speakers to make comments — if he’s so inclined. The meeting is in commission chambers at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive.

TUESDAY — Feb. 7

9:30 a.m — The Miami-Dade Commission meets and tries not to talk about that immigration detention thing. Even though there’s a special meeting called just for that on Feb. 17, it’s going to be hard to get through the whole meeting without taling about it just a little bit. Maybe that’s why the agenda is packed with a lot of items to keep commissioners busy. Topping that list is a whole lot of water and sewer contracts related to the consent decree forcing the county to upgrade it’s system. At least six different contracts for a total of more than $50 million (more on that later). There’s also a $38-million contract with Garney Companies on the table for the design, build and installation of a 48-inch diameter water main pipe. Yes, you read that right: A $38-million water main pipe. Also on the agenda: An ordinance creating a special stadium taxing district for the county and Miami Gardens to share, a $1 million grant for the construction of two “replacement libraries” in Doral and Hialeah Gardens, a $6 million contract for roof repairs at Miami International Airport and a $14.5 million “legacy” contract for security communications maintenance at MIA. Yes, you read that right: A $14.5 million contract for security communications maintenance.

9 p.m. — And you thought the debates were over when the president was elected. Wrong.  This Tuesday, Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz — both of whom lost the nomination to run for president — will face off live on CNN in a heated debate about the future of Obamacare. Florida International University students in a group called Turning Point USA Panthers are hosting a “fun watch party” at the Graham Center Pit. But it looks like it may only be fun for Republicans, since they bill it as a debate between “Socialist Senator Sanders and Constitutionalist, Free Market Advocate Senator Ted Cruz” and included the hashtags #BigGovSucks and #FreeMarketsFreePeople. Don’t wear your “I’m with her” button.

WEDNESDAY — Feb. 8

9 a.m. — It’s a busy day for the Miami Beach commissioners, who meet to discuss a bunch of things, including an amendment to the city code on maximum building heights and allowable exceptions in commercial zones and the design and development of a skate park at 72nd Street. They will also consider new zoning regulations for West Avenue and the 600 block of Washington Avenue and the purchase of two new “skywatch towers” for the police department and $2 million worth of new equipment for the fire rescue department as well as regulations for sidewalk cafes and a $30 million contract for improvements to West Avenue. Also on the agenda: the second reading for Commissioner Ricky Arriola‘s moratorium on medical marijuana sales (more on that later) and demolition moratoriums on North Beach and on Tatum Waterway properties. Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who joined protesters of the Gimenez immigration betrayal last week, also plans to ask her colleagues to declare Miami Beach a sanctuary city. Told ya it was a busy day for them. The meeting is in commission chambers at City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive.

THURSDAY — Feb. 9

9:30 a.m. — Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo’s Policy Council meets. This board aims to identify critical capital needs and innovative transportation funding solutions, develop a courthouse capital improvement plan and a cohesive and proactive sea level rise response plan as well as work on gun safety.

6 p.m. — It’s the first fundraiser for Coral Gables candidate Mike Mena, and attorney has Congressman Carlos Curbelo and State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz among the hosts. The event is at El Novillo Restaurant on 67th Avenue and Bird Road. Wait a minute. Aren’t there any restaurants inside Coral Gables that are good enough?

SATURDAY — Feb. 11

Noon — The Miami Young Republicans are still celebrating Donald Trump’s victory with a Make America Great Again BBQ at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne to kick off the year. “We will be unveiling our game plan to drive the discussion on South Florida’s most important issues and elect the next class of Young Republicans to local office. If you have been thinking about stepping up your involvement, or want to serve in a club leadership position, this event will provide a great opportunity to speak with board members to join the team,” says the Facebook invitation.

UPDATE: After the posting of this Thursday morning, the commission chairman called for a special meeting on Feb. 17. How they are going to get through the Feb. 7 meeting without talking about this is still a mystery.

There’s no question that Miami-Dade Commissioners will discuss the mayor’s directive last week to honor detention requests for illegal immigrants in county jails. The only question is when.

It may not be on Tuesday’s agenda — yet. But it can’t be ignored.

Not just because more than 300 county residents protested the decision Tuesday at County Hall. Not just because more than a dozen community groups and leaders have denounced the move. Not just because Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava asked Mayor Carlos Gimenez Monday to answer a series of questions about the impact and consequences of this cave-in to a legally questionable federal threat to withhold millions in funding. Not just becasue she wants her colleagues to join other U.S. cities challenging the legality of the president’s executive order.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez betrays the community for Donald Trump

No. They have to talk about this because the mayor’s directive flies in the face of a 2013 resolution in which commissioners instructed him to do just the opposite. There is already a growing discontent among commissioners about what happened and how it happened. Some don’t want to send the message that the strong mayor can do whatever he wants for the next four years.

They can do several things. They can propose a resolution to just undo or rescind the resolution from 2013, which would be a show of support for the mayor’s actions and is rumored to be what Commissioner Sally Heyman has in mind. They can also direct the county attorney’s office to challenge the federal order, which is how Levine Cava leans. Neither one had presented a discussion item or legislation for Tuesday’s meeting, but either could. Gimenez could also put it on as a discussion item from the mayor’s office.

What won’t happen, one commission aide said, is nothing. “Otherwise, that’s going to be the biggest elephant in the chambers on Tuesday.”

Commissioner Xavier Suarez said he did not think that that Gimenez intended to violate the resolution but that he, at least, had some questions about the details. “I think it’s time for a clarification, whether it comes from the mayor’s office or it comes from us,” X told Ladra Wednesday.

The mayor’s memo to Corrections and Rehabilitation Director Daniel Junior, even though it’s only three paragraphs long, indicates that even Gimenez knew he’d have to get some kind of commission approval (note the last sentence).

“Yesterday, January 25, 2017, President Donald J. Trump issued Executive Order Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.

In light of the provisions of the Executive Order, I direct you and your staff to honor all immigration detainer requests receive from the Department of Homeland Security.

Miami-Dade County complies with federal law and intends to fully cooperate with the federal government. I will partner with the Board of County Commissioners to address any issues necessary to achieve this end.” 

Partner with the Board of County Commissioners, indeed. Some commissioners, staffers and other County Hall insiders say he should have waited and partnered with commissioners to address the issue before jumping to Trump’s drumbeat within 24 hours, becoming the first and so far only mayor of a major U.S. city to buckle.

Que verguenza.

But beyond that, some go so far as to say the mayor may have abused his power by acting alone without calling for the rescinding of the resolution by the whole commission. It’s not like he didn’t have time.

Gimenez might say, whenever he is called upon to answer to commissioners, that he used his power as mayor to make this “emergency” decision. But there is no evidence that there was an emergency here. There was no deadline. Other cities have challenged the federal government’s authority to withhold funds while legal experts point to supreme court precedents that give states and municipalities the upper hand and also limit the conditions the government to withhold funds. There is no logical reason that Gimenez could not have waited to make it a mayor’s item on the Feb. 7 meeting.

Read related story: Levine Cava questions Gimenez on sanctuary about-face

Our own county attorney’s office told commissioners in 2013 that the county was complying with the Secure Communities requirements by sharing information — addresses, phone numbers, photographs — with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. We have never stopped doing that since 2009. 

In 2013, commissioners adopted a new policy to release non-violent offenders who were also illegal immigrants unless the federal government covered the costs of prolongued incarceration and instructed the mayor to implement the policy. They did so mostly to save money. It was budget crunch time and they were told to look for extra funds to keep some of the programs that Gimenez wanted to cut in a drastic year after his 2012 re-election.

In a story published that year by the Miami Herald, Heyman said it wasn’t a purely financial decision.

“Not only is it about saving money. It’s about saving people,” she was quoted as saying.

What a difference three years makes, huh? 

Of coure, the 2013 resolution that halted the detentions is all about the costs. It states that 3,262 detainer requests were honored in 2011 and 2,499 were honored in 2012, at a cost of a little over $1 million and $667,000, respectively. Of those, 57% were inmates not charged with felonies in 2011 and 61% were in 2012. These are people that were held for 48 hours after they were bonded out or released at arraignment.

They also had the green light from then County Attorney Roger Cuevas, who had told them in July that “compliance with ICE detainer requests is voluntary and not mandated by federal law or regulations.” Basically, the detainers or 48-hour “hold requests” are just that, requests. Cuevas’ analysis included wording from federal law and forms that showed the word “request” used repeatedly. He told commissioners that if they decided to hold detainees for the 48 hours, there was no legal obligation for the federal government to reimburse costs.

Cuevas also attached a letter from ICE Assistant Director David Venturella in which he answers this direct question: “Is it ICE’s position that localities are required to hold individuals pursuant to Form I-247 or are detainers merely requests with which a county could legally decline to comply?” The response: “ICE views the immigration detainer as a request that a law enforcement agency maintain custody of an alien who may otherwise be released for up to 48 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays). This provides ICE time to assume custody of the alien.” 

All of this can be found in the minutes of the December 3, 2013 meeting.

But the new policy did still provide for the detention of illegal immigrants when they had been either previously convicted of a forcible felony or charged with a non-bondable offense, such as murder. This is according to a memo from former Corrections and Rehabilitation Department Director Timothy Ryan to the Department of Homeland Security. So, we were still turning over the most violent offenders. Now, we’re just turning over the minor offenders, too, perhaps even people who are arrested for traffic violations.

Read related story: Protesters have demands of Carlos Gimenez on sanctuary

And everyone expects the Trump administration’s detainer requests to increase so we may soon be turning over even more of them.

There’s really only one reason why Gimenez would have jumped the gun and reached over the commission’s head to do something that law enforcement experts say damages community policing at a time when police resources are low and street shootings are at a high. It is to please the president so that his son, CJ Gimenez, could get more and friendlier access for his new federal lobbying gig. Ladra can’t think of any other reason why he would reverse a county commission policy within 24 hours with a directive that is going to become his legacy — the first thing that comes up on him now for all history in every story and Wikipedia: “Carlos Gimenez, the immigrant South Florida elected who was the first and only mayor who acquiesced to Donald Trump’s threats against sanctuary cities…”

But he will soon have to explain for himself. Activists who have led a wave of public outcry that has resulted in two protests so far and whispers of a possible recall, promise to attend Tuesday’s meeting to demand answers.

So if commissioners don’t address the elephant in the room, the public will.