Pining for the Almighty Prison Dollar

Termination for convenience Clause

18.2 In addition to and notwithstanding any other provisions of the Agreement, this Agreement may be terminated by the CITY for convenience upon providing the TOWN with nine (9) months written notice as provided for herein.

[The Fire/EMS/Water termination is on the agenda at the Pembroke Pines Commission meeting on Wednesday, March 7th.  Three votes are needed to cancel the agreement. Contact your city commissioners and mayor now.  Please advise them that they have had 4 months since the original deferring of the motion to terminate the Fire ILA to do their homework on the cost and legal rammifications of terminating.  We believe the costs are minimal as compared to the liablity of a prison and we believe that two independent counsel reviews demonstrate solid legal grounds to exercise a provison to terminate that is contained in the contract itself.  The contact information is:

• Iris Siple, isiple@ppines.com, 954-436-3266
• Frank Ortis, fortis@ppines.com, 954-435-6505 
• Angelo Castillo, acastillo@ppines.com, 954-436-3266
• Jay Schwartz, jschwartz@ppines.com, 954-436-3266
• Carl Shechter, cshechter@ppines.com, 954-436-3266
• Charlie Dodge, cdodge@ppines.com, 954-431-4884

Phone calls are much preferable to email.  Offices open on Monday for calls, email works over the weekend.]

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Pembroke Pines has justifiably been ground zero for the fiery and withering anti prison movement made up of moms and dads, men and women, residents, and everybody else who simply don't want an immigrant prison in their back yards.  Pembroke Pines' true actions regarding the planned immigrant deportation prison in Southwest Ranches have been in conflict with their very vocal denouncements of the prison and of the process the Town of Southwest Ranches has used to try and birth their very own immigrant deportation processing center.

Is this disingenuous on their part? Politifact highlighted Pines' actions regarding the prison: http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2011/nov/10/frank-ortis/pembroke-pines-vote-southwest-ranches/



Here are the steps that Politifact outlined that Pembroke Pines has taken to secure the prison for west Broward county:

• Sept. 21, 2005: The commission, along with Ortis, voted unanimously to notify Broward County that it objected to the 1,500-bed jail. ... Pines' objection to the prison appeared to be more of a bargaining chip, because a few months later the city agreed to not fight the prison and the two municipalities reached an agreement on the roads.

• December 21, 2005: The commission, along with Ortis, unanimously approved an agreement with Ranches that included language that stated, "The CITY shall not interfere with Corrections Corporation of America, or its successors or assigns, development and/or operation of the jail facility, or with the TOWN’S Agreement with Corrections Corporation of America concerning development of same."

• June 27, 2011: The commission, along with Ortis, approved an agreement with the town to provide emergency medical and fire protection in exchange for $2.5 million annually starting Oct. 1. ... The agreement also states that it has capacity to provide water and sewer [to the prison]. The vote, which included Ortis, was unanimous.

• Aug. 17, 2011: Commission, along with Ortis, unanimously approved a motion to begin providing fire service one month earlier than planned: Sept. 1, 2011. (The minutes were not available but city clerk Judy Neugent provided us with a draft copy.)

18.2 In addition to and notwithstanding any other provisions of the Agreement, this Agreement may be terminated by the CITY for convenience upon providing the TOWN with nine (9) months written notice as provided for herein.

Is Pembroke Pines *really* against the prison and is it true that they didn't have a vote in it?  To this, Politifact said, "We rate this claim Mostly False."  On the other hand, the residents group has felt that we've worked productively with the Commission and have seen eye-to-eye on many of the issues associated with opposition to the prison.  We are undecided.

CCA has been quite busy with mailers telling us that If we REJECT this DONE DEAL, then it will cost each municipality a lot of money. The prison is more important to Pines than it is to SW Ranches.  This may be why Pembroke Pines has seemingly supported the prison all along. Pines stands to earn as much as six times that of SWR even though they bear almost no risk.  

Like a good "who done it" mystery, we have established the what, the who and the why.  Pembroke Pines Commission's votes seem consistent with their desire for Prison Inc.'s tainted money.

The Commission has one more vote they will cast which demonstrates if they are on the side of the residents, truly in opposition to the prison, or whether they are on the side of prison money. On March 1st, the agenda is set for the March 7th meeting.  Termination of the Fire/EMS/Water in accordance with the 9 month convenience clause must be put on the agenda today.   If they take the money, they are no different than any other sold out politician like Debbie Wasserman Schultz or Senator Bill Nelson.

We've already deferred giving the residents and taxpayers their rightful recourse to have their commission vote the cancellation up or down for nearly 4 months.  There is a history to this resolution as well.

On November 16, 2012 Angelo Castillo deferred Iris Siple's motion to cancel the Fire/EMS/Water agreement with SW Ranches. This can be seen on the Pines website at http://www.ppines.com/ppines-2/commission-meeting.html. Select the November 16, 2011 meeting.  At 2 hrs 13 minutes, you can see Angelo introducing his motion to defer.  At  2h 17 minutes, Angelo restates motion to defer.  At 2 h 17 minutes Jack McKluskey 2nd's Angelo's motion and Shecther, McKlusky, Castillo and Ortis all vote to defer cancellation.

Here we are nearly 4 months later, an independent counsel's ruling and impassioned statements by Castillo, et., al., that they don't want a prison and they don't want the current fire agreement with SWR.  They said there would be a workshop to put the legal minds together.  They have not done this yet and have left us all in a bind.  The time for talking is past. It's now time to walk the talk.

Late breaking news, the independent Counsel Brown has revised his ruling in light of new questions presented by Pembroke Pines.  This review is here: http://www.scribd.com/notprisontown/d/83427306-Legal-Opinion-re-I-C-E-Detention-and-termination-of-ILA-SUPPLEMENTAL-pdf   It seems pretty clear that Pines can terminate the Fire/EMS/Water agreement without the immense uncertainty and fear of losing a lawsuit.  The independent counsel appears to meet the objectives set out by Commissioner Castillo and provide good news to opponents of the prison that the Commission can cancel the agreement.

Here's a critical step in killing the prison project.  Pines must cancel the fire agreement on March 7th.  March 8th or 9th, ICE will be bringing in their IGSA contract with SWR for review and ratification.  CCA claims that if they don't have Pines municipal water, then they will drill wells, remove 250,000 gallons a day from our aquifer and our residential well field and then pump treated sewage back into the aquifer.  In fact, CCA's subcontractor Milian, Swain and Associates, Inc, on February 7th met with Broward County staff to investigate the regulatory hurdles.

18.2 In addition to and notwithstanding any other provisions of the Agreement, this Agreement may be terminated by the CITY for convenience upon providing the TOWN with nine (9) months written notice as provided for herein.

We believe that cancellation of the water agreement will create a debilitating impediment to the siting of the prison and hence a mitigation of its negative impact on us and our community.  In order for CCA to manage their own well field as well as wastewater treatment, they'll need authorization from SFWMD, Health Department, and FDEP.  Chapter 27 of BC Code also regulates effluent quality.  We were informed that NO applications have been filed which seems to imply that CCA knows something about the Pembroke Pines commission that we don't know.

Money with Degradation Device

We request the commission cancels the fire/EMS/water agreement when it comes up for a vote next week.  They've had ample time and we've been exceedingly patient with them allowing them to get all the facts they need to cancel the agreement.  It's a no brainer.  The residents don't want the prison... not at any price, not for any amount of blood money.

Independent Counsel, Brown, reaffirmed today that Pembroke Pines have the sound legal option of killing the prison by killing the Fire/EMS/Water agreement.

18.2 In addition to and notwithstanding any other provisions of the Agreement, this Agreement may be terminated by the CITY for convenience upon providing the TOWN with nine (9) months written notice as provided for herein.

If Pines wants the surest bet to kill the prison, then they'll terminate the Fire/EMS/Water contract with a very provision contained in that document; a nine month termination for convenience clause.  All of the commissioners know what their constituents will say if they are asked, prison money? or prison free living?

Email links to Pembroke Pines Commissioners are found here: http://www.noprisonswr.org/p/send-emails.html