| REPORT: |
Mayor Gimenez announced that the new director of Miami-Dade Transit Department was Ms. Alice Bravo, and her official start date was July 20, 2015. He stated that throughout her career, Ms. Bravo had been responsible for managing a number of diversified public/private partnership projects, involving design, construction, finance, operation, and maintenance, including the $1 billion Port Miami Tunnel project, the innovative I-95 Express project, and the State Road 826/State Road 836 major interchange reconstruction project valued at $550 million. Mayor Gimenez indicated that Ms. Bravo recently held the position of Deputy City Manager, Chief of Infrastructure at the City of Miami. He said that she first joined the city as a capital improvements director overseeing a $573 million capital improvement program. He noted prior to joining the City of Miami, Ms. Bravo was with the Florida Department of Transportation where she served as District 6 Director of Transportation Systems Development.
Mayor Gimenez recalled that since first being elected four years ago, his Administration had streamlined the government, reducing it from 46 departments to 25, in an effort to make the government less bureaucratic and more responsive to the needs of the citizens. He said he was now studying which existing functions within the government could be consolidated under the purview of the new director. These functions would be the responsibility of Miami-Dade Transit, and the agency would eventually be renamed to the Department of Transportation, noted Mayor Gimenez. He stated that Ms. Bravo would be reviewing all of the transportation components that the County was responsible for, and work more closely with those agencies that provided transportation services in this community, in order to more aggressively address its growing needs. He expressed his utmost confidence in Ms. Bravo’s ability to lead Miami-Dade Transit and the new department. He noted Ms. Bravo was a licensed civil engineer, with a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami, and a Master’s degree in business administration from Florida International University.
Ms. Bravo thanked the Mayor for giving her the opportunity to assume this very important position with the County; and the Board for supporting her. She said she looked forward to working on some of the most important issues facing this community with the other agencies, the State, and the federal government to find a solution. Ms. Bravo stressed the importance of maximizing the assets that the County already had, noting through a planned process continuous improvements could be made. She said she looked forward to working with the Administration and the commissioners to address the traffic congestion facing this community.
Chairman Monestime congratulated both Ms. Arbogast and Ms. Bravo on their appointments. He said that he looked forward to working with both of them.
Commissioner Jordan commended the Mayor for making excellent selections in his appointments; and for selecting two women.
Commissioner Moss congratulated the Mayor on his excellent choices, and noted he looked forward to working with both individuals.
Hearing no further questions or comments, the Board proceeded to vote to accept the appointment of Ms. Alice Bravo as the Director of the Miami-Dade Transit Department. |
