Miami-Dade Commissioners passed a measure Tuesday that redirects $30 million in general 
obligation bond monies toward urgent repairs at the historic but falling apart civil courthouse in downtown Miami known as Cielito Lindo.
They also approved a request for qualifications from firms to build a new civil courthouse in what would be the first P3 or private public partnership project in the county.
They also created a Miami-Dade Court Capital Infrastructure Task Force that will study the long term needs of all our judicial facilities — civil, county and criminal — as well as the jails operated by the county, and come up with recommendations for improvements to the whole shebang.
Whew! None of this might have happened had voters approved a rushed $400-million tax bond for a new courthouse pushed on us last November because if we didn’t pass it, people were going to die.
Read related story: Commissioner Juan Zapata: Close down courthouse if there’s a risk
Commissioners would be talking about how to spend that money on one single courthouse, with $25 million going to Cielito Lindo, rather than a comprehensive and thought out improvement of the entire court and judicial infrastructure. They would be losing out on the potential savings that a P3 project promises. And our criminal courthouse and jail would likely be next up for another referendum taking more money from taxpayers.
Sources told Ladra that there were some people who wanted to hold up the process Tuesday and as early as Monday were trying to get the courthouse RFQ sidelined so that they could float another bond referendum for the civil courthouse — in 2016! Which is ludicrous, since th
e whole campaign for the courthouse tax was based on the fact that this is an emergency life or death and health hazard situation that needs to be addressed right away. Luckily, the bond attorneys seem to be losing their palanca at County Hall.
“That’s insane,” said Commissioner Juan Zapata, who told Ladra he had also heard of the attempted slowdown. “We wouldn’t start construction until 2018! And who knows how much construction costs would go up.”
Zapata sponsored the item on getting the RFQs for the new courthouse built by a public private partnership, or P3 process.
“I’m going to pursue a path that minimizes the impact to taxpayers,” he told Ladra.
Three months ago, we were voting on whether or not to tax ourselves an extra $400 million to build a new courthouse that we had very little or no details about. Tomorrow, the county will start looking for a financial consultant and a legal consultant to draw up the criteria for an RFQ that, among other things, identified alternative funding mechanisms. Then the mayor will make a selection of the top three, say, and present those firms and their experience and qualifications to the commission before going forward. Those three firms will then present competing presentations for the building, financing, operating and maintenance of the new courthouse.
Is anybody else hitting their forehead and thinking why didn’t we do this in the first place?
Read related story: Recall reason #17: Gimenez flip flops on the courthouse tax
Even Mayor Carlos Gimenez — who changed his mind at the last minute last September and recommended in favor of the bond question on the very last day it could be considered for the November ballot — seemed excited with the new mandate. Too bad it wasn’t his idea. Again he lacks the leadership to initiate these kinds of policies or projects.
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