New Homestead City Hall expected cost: $50,000,000

In the Miami-Dade County tradition of underbidding to get the contract, Bleu Network in Homestead had the winning bid to build the New City Hall in downtown Homestead's Historic District.  The background checks have begun, but we figured we could help out by doing our own public records check.  It appears the winning bid comes from a company owned by one of the Mayor's neighbors in the Fairways at Keys Gate.  Talk about keeping it in the neighborhood if not the family.  This winning bid is no surprise.  Bid low and submit change orders galore later.  Hence how we believe the $50M figure is within the realm of possibilities.  You've heard it here first!  






Excerpt from the South Dade News Leader

According to public records, the city contacted a total of 1,934 vendors to respond to the Request for Proposal (RFP) and a total of five vendors responded.

The five bids received were from:

•  Bleu Network in Homestead - $24,819,850  Winning Bid
•  Munilla Construction Management (MCM) in Miami - $26,209,000  Runner Up
•  Manhattan Construction in Naples - $25,883,881   Third Place
•  Link Construction in Miami - $25,641,571  Fourth Place
•  J. Kokolakis Contracting in Tarpon Springs - $28,280,000  Consolation Prize

After the bids were placed, the evaluation committee, comprised of Julio Brea Director of Public Works; Dennis Maytan Director of Parks and Recreations; Barbara Quiñones Director of Utilities; Elizabeth Mangual Assistant CRA Director; Christi Vizcaino Assistant Director of Finance; Tom Lambert Building

Official and Detective Antonio Aquino of the Homestead Police Department, ranked each company’s bid according to a criteria checklist.

With the recommendation signed, the background evaluations mentioned above have begun.

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Homestead City Hall Update | South Dade News Leader - The Pulse of the Community

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In 2002 City Council Rejected FPL's $115MM, Ten Years Later and Now with 22,000 Customers What Would They Offer?

FPL bid for Homestead utility
2002 Homestead City Council Rejected This $115MM Offer

Friday, July 19, 2002

by Deborah Circelli, Palm Beach Post

JUNO BEACH -- Florida Power & Light Co. said Thursday that it has made a $115 million bid to buy out the city of Homestead's electrical utility.

If the deal goes through it will be the first time in a least 35 years the giant utility, a subsidiary of FPL Group Inc. (NYSE: FPL, $52.39), has bought a municipal utility, according to an FPL spokesman.

Homestead City Manager Curt Ivy said the city has asked FPL to come back with a revised proposal by Sept. 1, however. FPL was offering to pay $7 million to $9 million immediately for some of Homestead's assets, which the city believes are worth more.

The bid for Homestead Energy Services includes buying out existing power contracts. FPL would also take over 16,700 customers and buy most of the city's assets such as powerlines, poles, transformers, substations and customer accounts.

The Homestead electric utility's 65 employees would be offered jobs if they qualify, and FPL would pay the city severance costs for employees who are not hired.

The deal will not include buying the utility's approximately 50-megawatt power plant, which FPL officials said is outdated and would be inefficient to operate.

"We think our proposal provides a good opportunity to Homestead residents," said Betty Marsenison, an FPL spokeswoman. "We're always looking for good business opportunities and ways to enhance shareholder value."

She said the total annual savings to Homestead's residential and business customers would be about $6 million annually, or 20 percent on customers' monthly bills.

If an agreement is reached, residents might need to vote for approval through a city referendum.
Homestead has been providing city residents with power since 1915; its utility is one of the oldest municipal electric companies in the state. The city has been seeking ways to save money in all its departments because of a $6 million deficit.

The plant is a money-maker, generating $25 to $30 million a year in revenues for the city. But Ivy said the plant is aging. It is harder to get parts, he said, and it would be expensive to upgrade the plant.
"We don't take getting out of the business lightly. This is an institution to us," Ivy said.

FPL has sought to buy a municipal utility before. In 1994, it submitted a proposal to Lake Worth to buy its electric system and plant. Lake Worth ultimately turned it down because the two could not agree on the price and terms.

Lake Worth residents have recently struggled with outages after lightning struck the city's primary transformer on July 9.

FPL spokesman Bill Swank said the company has not determined how to finance the Homestead bid. It could be done through existing cash flows, debt financing or through customers' rates.

If FPL sought to pay for it through rates of all its 4 million customers statewide, the Public Service Commission would have to approve the request. The PSC would also have to approve any rate proposal if 
FPL intended to charge different rates for Homestead customers than its current customers.

Under the bid proposal, FPL would also pay the city about $2.6 million annually in property and municipal taxes and franchise fees.

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