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Executive Director Charles Wolfe's administrative and meeting files, 1996-2001.
Amount:
11.50 cubic ft.
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement:
Arranged by type of record, then chronological.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
Following the results of a 1996 FBI investigation which revealed widespread corruption in the city government of Miami, Florida, several city officials were forced to resign. City Mayor Joe Carollo appointed Merrett Stierheim as Interim City Manager to oversee the city administration. Stierheim and a team of professionals reviewed the city's records and soon after the city announced it was facing a financial emergency. On October 8, 1996, the mayor sent a letter to Governor Lawton Chiles requesting an acceleration of all current year state payments to the city. The Governor granted the request and issued Executive Order 96-318 requiring the city to adopt a plan to resolve the financial emergency by November 17, 1996. The city's plan, known as the "Stierheim Report," called for an increase in solid waste fees to bring the budget into balance. The Miami City Commission rejected the plan at its meeting on December 12, 1996. The next day, Governor Chiles issued Executive Order 96-391, which created the Financial Emergency Oversight Board. The Board monitored the affairs of the City of Miami with respect to the financial emergency and would exist continuously until three years after the city produced two successive years of balanced operations. The Executive Order required the Oversight Board's approval of the local government budget, forbade the city to file bankruptcy without prior approval of the Governor, and allowed the Governor to make inspections and reviews of records, information, reports, and assets of the city. It prohibited city government from issuing bonds, notes, or any other form of debt without Board approval and required a five year plan prescribing corrective actions for the local government.
Board members served at the pleasure of the Governor. Governor Chiles appointed four prominent citizens of Miami to serve on the Board and appointed Lieutenant Governor Buddy MacKay as chair. Charles A.Wolfe, Director of External Affairs for the Governor's Office, was appointed as Executive Director to the Board on December 10, 1996. He was assisted by one employee until April 1997 at which time a staff member of the South Florida's Office of the Governor worked on a part-time basis at no cost to the Board.
Summary:
This series consists of records compiled and mantained by Charles A. Wolfe, Executive Director of the Emergency Financial Oversight Board, documenting the Board's operations and activities. Included are financial reports, correspondence, news clippings, meeting agendas, handouts, and minutes of the Board. Reports in this series document the city's monthly budgetary status, contract reviews, the city's Five Year Plan, and revisions made to the plan between 1996 and 1998. Meeting minutes and summaries are incomplete.
for detailed listing.