Infrastructure and Technology: An Interview with Peter Iglesias

March 19, 2019May 30, 2024 JP Faber

Interview by J.P. Faber // Photos by Lizzie Wilcox

March 2019

Peter Iglesias became the City Manager of Coral Gables last September after serving two years as Assistant City Manager in charge of public works and economic development. Among other accomplishments in that role, Iglesias honchoed the StreetScape project on Giralda and Miracle Mile. Having worked previously for two decades in construction management, he brings to the city a deep understanding of how the private sector works and the importance of quality infrastructure. We recently sat down with the City Manager to get an idea of his priorities and vision for Coral Gables.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN TRANSITIONING TO CITY MANAGER?

I have been living in this city for 40 years. I have been assistant city manager handling operations and infrastructure [for two years]. So, I have really had a very smooth transition. I know all the directors, and all the players. It’s really been seamless. If I had come from a different city and had no historical knowledge of this city, it would have been another story.”

WHAT CHANGES HAVE YOU MADE?

I was in charge [as Assistant City Manager] of development services, which is building, planning, code enforcement, and zoning. I was also in charge of public works – which includes public service, engineering, and sanitation – and of historical [preservation], economic development and parks…. I’ve structured it so that now police, fire, HR, and finance report directly to me. And I have a very good assistant city manager in Ed Santamaria, who has most of [my previous roles] except zoning, code enforcement and IT.

WHAT ARE YOUR PRIORITIES NOW?

Infrastructure and technology. We have for infrastructure the [new] public safety building. We also have fire station number two, the trolley building, parking garage number seven, and we are remodeling 427 [Biltmore Way, city offices], a building that is very old. We are turning it into a development services one-stop shop, with the board of architects, planning, zoning, building and code enforcement. And then we will remodel this building [City Hall].

YOU ADVOCATE HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION. WHAT IS THAT?

One of the other things I’d like to do is bring in more technology. We’ve already done quite a bit of that… For instance, the parks department is now completely computerized, so that instead of having to bring your kids in and stand in line to play tennis at Kerdyk Center, you can book it online…. We have a new program we just purchased that’s going to integrate all our inspection services [building, fire, historic, etc.] under that one program, and it can integrate with our parks program. We are also looking at a brand new financial program, which will also integrate into that platform…. This is horizontal integration, making sure that everything talks to everything else. So now you [the citizen] with one dashboard will have the ability to look at anything in the city.

HOW CAN THIS HELP?

Let’s say there is a fire in a two-story building, and the fire chief wants to know if the second story floor is wood or concrete? It makes a big difference to them. So, he clicks on that, and our chief can find out…

We’ve revitalized the downtown. We are getting more cultural events. I think people are appreciating the city for what it is – a well-run, excellent community to live in… and I think the next few years are going to be very interesting…
Peter Iglesias

ANY OTHER I.T. PRIORITIES?

Part of IT is also smart parking, because we need to use our parking as effectively as possible. Parking costs $25,000 to $30,000 a space to build. So, the more efficiently we can use our parking, the better… For instance, if you have a condominium, you may have 60 or 70 percent of that parking open from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. If you are an office building you probably have 70 percent of that parking open from 6 p.m. on… So, we can [develop] a shared parking concept. But, to do that, we have to have a way of accessing that information, and that is part of the horizontal integration… We also want to get 90 years of paper scanned. We’d like to see a paperless system.

IS THE CITY MANAGER A PROACTIVE OR REACTIVE ROLE?

I am a proactive city manager. I’m going to bring ideas. They [the city commissioners] are ultimately my bosses, but I like to work proactively. I did it in the private sector successfully, and I think you can do it in government. I think that if you are reactive you’re always behind the curve.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE CITY AND CITY MANAGER IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION?

As a city, we have a vital role in preserving our history, and we are certainly doing that. Look at the Biltmore, look at this building [City Hall], look at Merrick House, which we just spent $1.5 million rehabbing. And we purchased the 2506 Ponce Building, a very important building that was [Gables architect] Fink’s studio. We can be smart about historical preservation and keep those important aspects of our city.

WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER PRIORITIES?

We will be adding infrastructure where needed, but we will [also] be maintaining our infrastructure in a proper way, and need to address that. When you don’t maintain [buildings] they deteriorate at a much faster level… Maintenance has to happen or you will end up paying the piper. Right now, we have a lot of deferred maintenance, and I will be looking at that to make sure we address it in the upcoming [annual] budget.

WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS?

The template of what I’d like to do in the next two to three years is to create
the [needed] infrastructure and bring on computerization and technology. When you couple that with our historical knowledge, it’s just going to make us better and better. I call these the “IT” years, for infrastructure and technology. It will be a two-to-three-year program.

ARE WE ENTERING A GOLDEN AGE FOR CORAL GABLES?

We have a wonderful city. Traffic has become a major issue [across the county] and we are very centrally located. I think people out in the suburbs are looking more to cities like this one. The fact that we have a streetscape, the fact that we have excellent police and fire departments – people feel safe. We’ve revitalized the downtown. We are getting more cultural events. I think people are appreciating the city for what it is – a well-run, excellent community to live in… and I think the next few years are going to be very interesting… When you add the technology factor, and you add the infrastructure, it really takes us to an even higher level. We are looking at functioning at an extremely high level after the next few years.