commentary

The interlocal agreement between Doral and MS IS a contract, just a contract between cities, meeting all the requirements of a contract. A private for-profit enterprise doing business with the city shouldnt have a contract?? Since when? Is ANYBODY suggesting nthat a handshake agreement is legally defensible if there IS no witnesses and there are NO KNOWN details? When the City manager vouches for a new hire personally, as he recently did with Mr Giglio, the responsibility for his hiring lies at his desk! HR comes under HIS responsibility and HE should make sure that all checks are done and satisfactory. You might think he would take that responsibility to heart, especially when its HIS credibility at stake! Didnt happen, and now somebody wants to blame HR? The buck stops at HIS desk! Thats what he gets the BIG BUCKS for!

another snafu

Once had hope the city malfunctions and screwups were just misunderstandings or old-fashioned out-of-date ways of doing things. Those possible explanations no longer exist as credible alternatives anymore. NOBODY can waste that much taxpayer money day after day, year after year, in EVERYTHING he touches! Its IMPOSSIBLE for anybody to be THAT stupid or inept! Gym says he vetted Mr Giglio personally. In that process is it possible any history of sexual harrassment or improprieties would have come to light? If so, wouldnt he have made the Mayor and Council aware of it BEFORE hiring him? Were the Mayor and Council forewarned about this possibility? He has always fancied himself as a ladies man, all the way back to high school. What was the problem at Wilton Manors, that he only spent one year there, and left under questionable circumstances? Less than ONE MONTH on the job and he already has complaints about harrassment! This is NOT a good sign! The responsibility for the Rec Directors job performance ultimately falls on the City Managers desk. He was responsible for getting him hired and he is responsible for his job performance, or lack of same. If Gym wont respond the Mayor and Council are the next step up the ladder. If THEY wont respond the cops, EEOC or State Attorney would be the next step. The young ladies should have their complaints documented, with dates, times, and what was said or done, and any possible witnesses. Another City fiasco from the City Manager. Will it EVER end? Will it end in a lawsuit against the City for failure to protect their employess?

deception - yes

It is hard to put any blame for this fiasco on the kids, the coaches, or the parents. The board was perhaps deceived by the owners - told the payments were made, etc. You might think however that the board would ask to see the cancelled checks, etc. tho., to verify what is being said is true, just as a matter of good business practice. The owners of the swim team may have deceived the board like the City Manager deceived the residents, into believing things at the pool were being managed properly and all the rental bills paid. There is NO evidence of good management at the pool, and less evidence the tiny pool rentals that were supposed to have been billed and collected, actually were billed and collected. This all falls on the Asst City Manager and the City Manager. The buck stops there. Perhaps the Herald can get some answers that the residents havent been able to get.

pool audit needed

Missing also from the records presented so far is ANY contract with ANY entity that uses our pool and ANY proof of payment of past debts to us from prior meets and daily practices! If any bills have been presented to MDAC, where ARE they? IF they have been paid, where are the receipts and where is that money reflected ? IF those bills havent been paid, WHY NOT? Also missing are the complete swim team rosters for MDAC for the past couple years. We should be charging EVERYBODY the standard rate - schools, meeets, practices, and private swim teams. There is NO justification of using taxpayer dollars to subsidize a private for-profit enterprise. It also makes NO sense to indulge a handful of Springs swimmers at the expense of 13,000 hard-pressed and struggling residents. The buck stops at the City Manager and his assistant's desk, doesnt it?

I got mine

If you need money to pay your house and car bills, put food on the table and keep the lights on you do what you have to do. The "I got mine-screw you" mindset smacks of fascist leanings. If history is any teacher, what should we learn from the past 7 1/2 years with Dubya? Greed and corruption from an unregulated and unsupervised market has led to a global financial crisis, no? Who has been in charge during this time? The buck stops at the top, unless its City government. Then it never stops, among freebies to special interests, backroom deals, incredible cost overruns from constant change orders, bathrooms that cost FOUR TIMES what they should, arrogant, secretive, and unresponsive city officials, an ill-advised and poorly timed new gym project we cant afford, there is plenty of blame to go around but it SHOULD stop at the top. Those are the ones that claim credit when something occasionally goes right- where are they when things DONT go well, which is MUCH more common?

no free passes

I dont see where all of this redneck vs cuban talk is particularly helpful in solving the important issues facing our community. All of the taxpaying residents of Miami Springs should be concerned with how the City is being managed, or mismanaged, because its our tax money that's involved here. We work hard for our money and expect city officials to be good stewards of our taxes and build reasonable, necessary structures at reasonable prices. When that doesnt happen we could, should, and probably would object as a part of our First Amendment rights. Occasionally however, it can get tiresome rehashing the same management screwups and other expensive fiascos that have been regularly occurring and, as such, I thought the k-8 poster was trying to find domething, ANYTHING, that is positive or has the potential to be positive for the residents and the kids. The responsibility for performance, or lack of same, STILL stops at the top, no doubt about that, as it should be.