Agreement Ready For Action Onpolice Fire Protection For Marlins Stadium

Written by Lou Ortiz on April 10, 2008

By Lou Ortiz
The City of Miami and Miami-Dade County have agreed on how their police and fire departments would share off-duty work at a new Florida Marlins stadium, though the leader of the city’s police union has not signed on.

"This is something we’ve all agreed to," County Manager George Burgess told commissioners Tuesday about sharing duties and overtime at the proposed $525 million stadium and surrounding area.

Members of the county’s police and fire-rescue union told commissioners the agreement was equitable, but not Armando Aguilar, president of Miami’s Fraternal Order of Police.

"We have not agreed to this," he told the commission.

The city and county hammered out the agreement because "union leadership has not been able to reach a middle ground on this matter," Mr. Burgess said in a report to the commission.

The pact between the city and the county is to be etched into a stadium management agreement with the Marlins.

The commission, which reacted favorably to the terms, voted to accept the report from Mr. Burgess that contained details of the city-county pact.

Under the agreement, which the city commission is expected to consider this week:

•County police are to provide off-duty staffing within the stadium and within about 100 feet of the park for baseball events, and the city is to staff other areas, including the garage, retail and commercial development and a planned soccer stadium.

•City police are to staff the surrounding neighborhood and streets during ballgames.

•The city and county are each to provide one fire-rescue unit for ballgames.

The city and county are each allowed eight community events at the stadium under the pact. "For our eight days, we do it all," Mr. Burgess told commissioners. "For their eight days, they do it all."

In his report, Mr. Burgess said: "We are open to adjusting these terms if the respective unions are able to mutually agree to another approach, using the [the city and county] terms…as a starting point." Advertisement