R-484-68 RESOLUTION NO. 484
A RESOLUTION OPPOSING A PROPOSED
PLAN OF CONSOLIDATION OF MUNICIPAL
POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS AND
MUNICIPAL COURTS IN DADE COUNTY.
WHEREAS, the County Manager of Dade County has proposed a
County budget for the 1968-69 fiscal year, and
WHEREAS, there is contained therein a proposal that all munic-
ipal police departments be consolidated into one department under the Dade
County Sheriff and that the municipal fire departments be consolidated
into one fire department under the County Fire Chief and that all matters
now in the jurisdiction of the municipal courts be handled by an expanded
Metropolitan Court, and
WHEREAS, such a plan would be contrary to the best interests of
the citizens of Miami Shores Village for the following reasons:
a. The plan would deprive the residents of Miami Shores Village
of their rights of self-government and self-determination in establishing
and maintaining police and fire services at the levels desired.
b. The plan would result in the lessening of the high standards
of police and fire protection now available to Miami Shores Village residents
and would substitute mass mediocrity for local and individual efficiency.
c. The plan would cause increased taxes to further subsidize the
police and fire protection costs of the unincorporated areas.
d. That the promises made by the County Manager in urging the
plan that the level and degree of services presently furnished Miami Shores
Village by experienced and efficient municipal police and fire departments
are unrealistic, incapable of fulfillment, and doubtless illegal.
e. The plan would probably result in an increase in fire insurance
premiums in Miami Shores Village as present fire insurance rates in the
municipalities are much lower than rates in the areas presently served by
the County Fire Department since the inescapable fact is that the present
level of fire protection in the municipalities is far greater than that in the
unincorporated areas.
-2-
f. The abolishment of municipal courts would cause great in-
convenience to the residents and police officers of the various municipal-
ities in having to travel great distances to attend metropolitan court and
having to wait extended periods due to crowded court calendars of the
metropolitan court.
g. The plan would replace tested and proven efficient police
and fire departments with a massive bureaucracy with the attendant waste
and inefficiency which inevitably follows.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:
1. That for the reasons set forth above Miami Shores Village
is unalterably opposed to the County Manager's plan to consolidate munici-
pal police and fire departments and municipal courts and the County
Commission is hereby petitioned to disapprove said proposal.
2. That the Village Clerk is hereby instructed to send a copy
of this resolution to the members of the County Commission.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this 2nd day of July, 1968.
r
Edwin B. Cole
Mayo r
ATTEST:
Village Clerk
Lease agreements in Florida
East Coast RR file