Page 4A South Florida Sun-Times/Thursday, December 6, 2012
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Purchasing Department getting the most our of our tax dollars
HALLANDALE BEACH - The new budget year began in October and over the course of October and November the city has continued to execute purchase agreements and partnerships with many agencies. Cities are uniquely qualified to evaluate the cost of goods through direct purchasing, or in what we call a piggyback purchase. Government Purchasing Directors have set up a network of corporate purchasing that allows smaller agencies like the City of Hallandale Beach to take advantage of negotiated prices that have already gone through the required state bidding process. This availability of piggybacking not only saves money on the cost of items, but also saves the city money by not having to expend staff resources and money by going through a lengthy bidding process. We have an excellent General Services Department with a staff of three under the leadership of Director Andre Lues. Over the past two months they have evaluated and helped to present purchase items including chemicals for water treatment, vehicle rental services, crossing guard services, software contracts, diesel fuel and many other items for day-to-day operations of our community. BUDGET KICKOFF
Mayor Joy Cooper FOR 2013-14 The city's fiscal year begins in October and the budget cycle begins in January. Staff’s budget kickoff meeting was held this week. City Manager Crichton held a meeting with every Department Director and key Staff within each department that has established their business plan for the upcoming fiscal year. Two years ago City Manager Antonio and the City Commission began to reevaluate and fine tune our strategic plan and implement strategic policy and goals. Staff, in turn, established their sets of goals and then strategic implementation plans through the budget process. This year City Manager Crichton conducted an internal City Staff survey through a third-party management consulting firm to provide anonymous input from every single employee and one on one interviews with the commission of their views on strengths and weaknesses of the organization. Last week the City Manager and Directors
held a daylong retreat evaluating the survey results and working with the consultant to utilize the results as a tool for improvement to operations and efficiencies. The information will also be used as a tool for budgeting effectively. CITY TIGHTENS CODE ON COMMERCIAL VEHICLE PARKING As a result of old codes which required one spot per housing unit in a built out city like Hallandale Beach our on-street parking is at a premium. Over the past years the City established a Parking Committee to work collectively with residents and community stakeholders to increase onstreet parking in many areas. Regretfully, individuals and companies have been utilizing valuable on-street parking spaces to park and store commercial vehicles and trailers over night. The City has adopted changes to our code that will make it easier for Hallandale Police Department to ticket and tow illegally parked vehicles. Staff is in the process of ensuring that all the proper signage and notifications are put in place so vehicles can be automatically towed if they are in violation. COMMISSION AMENDS PROTOCOL MANUAL The City of Hallandale Beach took action to
extensively review the City Protocol Manual over five years ago. The City hired special counsel, Bruce Rogow, to systematically review the old protocols and work with the City Commission and City Staff towards creating an updated Protocol Manual and new Ethics Manual. During that time period many cities did not have formal ethic codes and simply followed the state laws. The Code of Ethics adopted was for both the City Commission and City employees. Over the course of the past years, the City Commission has adopted motions that have changed protocols, but the manual had not been updated. The protocol was changed on a 3-1 vote (Cooper No) to allow Staff to go directly to the City Commission and bypass their Directors. Another change included the ability for Commissioners to text and email during the time they are on the dais at meetings. (Cooper and Ross No). These changes were written in along with changes to fit our newly adopted meeting format. Other language changes were made to include references to the new Broward County Code of Ethics. REACH OUT AND HELP THE NEEDY THIS HOLIDAY! During this holiday season there are so many ways in which you can help needy
residents right here in our community. We have two main food pantries in our small city that provide food to many deserving families, The Austin Hepburn Center and the Hallandale Food Pantry. They gladly welcome donations. Think about doing a food drive in your condominium or simply stopping by their locations and dropping off nonperishable items. For information on the Hepburn Center you can contact 954-4571460 and the Hallandale Food Pantry run by Mr. Snow can be contacted at 954-4550615. The Hallandale Police Athletic League always hosts an annual “Shop with a Cop” Day. WalMart is a great partner in this event but the Police Department is always in need of financial donations to help offset the costs of breakfast and funding for many young children. They are actually conducting a fundraiser December 8 to raise money for the day of shopping. For information you can contact our Police Department at 954-457-1400.
Also Hallandale Beach-Aventura Rotary Club annually sponsors the Santa Claus Sled that travels throughout our community giving away gift bags. If you want to get involved in the fun, donate funds, or donate goodies, I encourage you to visit the Hallandale Beach Rotary Club that meets every Wednesday 12 pm at Brio Tuscan Grill located in the Village of Gulfstream Park. It is a great club and new members are always welcome. This Sunday at Mardi Gras Racetrack the Toy Run in the Sun will be taking place. Motorcycles will be lining up starting 7:30 AM with a start time of 9:30 PM. Even if you're not hopping on a bike I encourage everyone to stop by this event. It is truly an entertaining and great cause. As always please feel free to contact me at any time with your questions and concerns at my office 954-457-1318 or cell/text 954-632-5700 or e-mail me at www.MayorJoyCooper.c om
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