[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] e [Music] [Music] e e e e find different long journey took me a long time stra and the level of sensitivity goes up and down good morning other factors good morning I'd like to welcome everybody to the May 7th 2024 commission meeting I apologize for being a few moments late I'd like to thank everyone who's here today and is joining us on Zoom as always we appreciate your collaborative Spirit we ask you to engage there's multiple times uh where your discussion uh is appropriate we have we have about an hour worth of discussion items in the beginning and you can also speak during the items uh if you feel it's appropriate as long as it as long as it pertains to the item and it's a city related issue so we welcome all of you we have different opportunities for you to speak but thank you for those who came in person and thank you for those those who are listening uh today uh in regards to our invocation we do not have anyone here present uh to lead us in our invocation so I'm going to be reading just a brief statement please bow your heads Heavenly Father we come to you today asking you for guidance wisdom and support as we begin this meeting help us to engage in meaningful discussion allow us to grow closer as a group and nurture the bonds of our community in God's name we pray amen amen amen commissioner mandz would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liberty and justice for all moving on to presentation and protocols item A1 presentation or Proclamation declaring May 1st law day in Coral Gables yeah okay we're waiting for the students no problem okay uh number two A2 a pro a presentation over a proclamation declaring May 6 2024 to May 10th 2024 as Teacher Appreciation Week in Coral Gables uh this is an item that I sponsored and I'd like to thank our school board member who's here with us Mar roas uh thank you once again for not only being here but I want to congratulate you and make sure that we Memorial realiz the fact that you're always present here in the city you have office hours here uh you're always just a phone call away and I can thank you for everything that you do uh for our community I'd like to also say thank you to all the wonderful teachers that we have here and principles and members of the Miami day County Public School uh thank you for your commitment to Excellence uh your your education and your commitment to to the students it's was again it's lifting our community so I want to say thank you if I may and I apologize I don't have my glasses whereas teachers help to establish supportive inclusive and high quality learning environments which provide students with the education and skills they need to secure meaningful jobs connect with the world around them and experience the realization of high expectations and the Fulfillment of steps towards achievable goals and whereas teachers have a profound influence on student learning and engagement helping students to discover develop and realize their potential as as well as inspiring students to think strategically and to integrate experience and knowledge to form reasonable judgments and whereas as we hold our teachers in high regard understanding the value placed on on their skills and abilities and recognizing the impact they have they have in our students lives thus is important to recognize acknowledge and thank teachers for their continued dedication and commitment to the education of our students and where as teachers spend countless hours preparing lessons evaluating progress mentoring and coaching students and now therefore I Vince logo as mayor of the city of corg along with the members of our city commission to hear replica May 6th through the 10th 2024 teacher appreciation week and coral gaes thank you [Applause] Adam School Board member again as I mentioned in the beginning we're honored and blessed to have you not only here today but here 365 days a year because you've really elevated the quality of of the choices that the students have here in this community so thank you for that well I'd like to first and foremost thank you Mr Mayor vice mayor all of our commissioners and of course our city manager our attorney thank you so very much for putting education at the Forefront it is truly to me amazing to see how dedicated how committed you all are to the future of our leaders of Tomorrow there is no better return on investment than investing on education and I can proudly say that in the City of Coral Gable City beautiful my city where I've lived for many many years as well truly has their priorities in the proper order in my opinion so I'd like to take this opportunity to first of all thank all of the people that made today possible and none of this would happen without teamwork making the dream workor it is never about one individual so our team is comprised of several individuals that truly make a difference in the lives of our students we could not do it without the support of our region Personnel so I would like to just take a moment to ask our members from the region who are here Mr Bettis our administrative director please just stand a moment to be recognized thank you so very much and what can I say at every single school there has to be someone at the helm who is making a difference each and every day for that entire School community and those are our amazing principl who just work tirelessly to ensure that we do give our students the world I have several principles who are here with us please stand to be recognize all of our amazing principles that are here [Music] and of course the reason why we are all here today and that is recognizing our rookie teachers of the year and our teachers of the year at each school but I want you all to know that whether those teachers are here or not today every single teacher in Miami day County Public Schools deserves a round of applause please join [Music] me and I'm going to be very brief I just want to say I started my own career as a teacher and I know exactly what they do and I want you all to know that their dedication their commitment their passion their compassion their hard work their tenacity I can go on and on describing our teachers but most importantly the love that they have for the most noble and yet the most rewarding of all professions is truly commendable and I am absolutely honored together with you our external stakeholders and partners to be able to recognize them today but I want to say that this would not have happened without our members of the SCRC our community ations group that are here today please I need you all to stand I remember when I had a conversation with Sam Joseph way back and we talked about recognizing these teachers dreams become reality stand [Music] please so with that I'm going to end and just simply say Mr Mayor thank you for allowing me the opportunity also to have my office hours here uh I believe the community truly appreciates it and I just want to end with a very brief poem and it's very very quick um and this is something that I think is going to motivate everyone every day you greet your students with a smile on your face through paperwork the night before seemed like a grueling race money's not your motivation it's the love for what you do you hear the special calling to which you always will stay true your students are your dedication devotion is to them to each child's unique and special a beautiful gem some days are just demanding frustration takes its course but then you see those little faces their inspiration in is your Force each day you're in classrooms it reminds you while you're there making a difference in the children's life with whom your heart you share there's a special pride in teachers and a love for what you do and appreciations always shared between these little lives and you thank you please thank a teacher and thank you to each and every one of you thank you madam give me one second please don't move let's let's honor these great teachers give me one second so I'm going to add one one thing tonight the Community Foundation is having its scholarship Awards and they were going to be giving out the largest amount I know they had a huge donation so I hope it helps you all the teachers if you can you know take that number that they of scholarships they're going to be handing out and use it as a tool to inspire I hope you know that the community supports you all around not only in words but in the acts of supporting these children and thank you for all you do and um as a son of two Educators uh I know the amount of work and dedication that it takes to do the job of a teacher a lot of people think well teachers are there from 7:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon and then they go off and do whatever they want they don't uh having lived at home with Educators I know that at 11:00 at night they were checking papers grading uh uh tests and making sure that their lesson plan was ready for the next day and I appreciate the work that all of you put into this uh the time I was telling Sandy earlier today I missed my days in the SCRC where we were handling education issues and uh trying to find ways to improve our schools and I want to thank I let who's here from the uh uh superintendent's office for the the work that you're putting in to help build our relationship and Schoolboard member the work that you've done I remember my first strc meeting the district and the the city were not even on speaking terms but we work through that and we have a great partnership today we're working to improve the education and the educational landscape that we're presenting our students and for all the teachers out there the principles this city has your back and we're here to help you and we're here to help your students and the families at your schools we are dedicated I think every member of this commission is to ensuring that you have the resources that you need to ensure that our students have the best education and I want to thank all of you for the work that you're putting in thank you let take the picture cic recognition goes toal [Applause] [Music] Sanchez that [Music] Trac there we go Sylvia Janis Kimberly Smith thank you deline Salin Blanchard [Music] msia [Applause] yoris Francis Sans [Applause] Melissa [Applause] Gillan Monique Watson Andres agero [Applause] Jennifer [Applause] plank congratulations Jennifer the mayor sorry it's all good we're here celebrating you alrighty Aon [Applause] Valdez Christian watchel [Applause] congratulations [Laughter] yeah Joanna [Applause] Street here we go Barbara [Applause] ernandez and Christina padon no here they are your Superstars thank you so much Mr Mayor you know in closing first off I want to thank all of you again you know it's it's your type of hard work and Leadership and commitment that uh makes the city special uh you know what a blessing it is to have our school board member here I'm telling you I would not have been able to pronounce all of your names if it wasn't for you can tell that we have a real true blue educator uh on be you know leading the city on the school board so I also wanted again I know I mentioned this before we have multiple principles here and thank you for your hard work I've had the pleasure of working with all of you uh I met with the Schoolboard superintendent last week and we had many discussions in regards to what what can we do to continue to push these schools uh to new heights and again the work begins I would love to take credit for as an elected official and I know the Schoolboard superintendent would also but the work begins with you parents and you so I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you do day in and day out you know you don't get enough credit and this is just a very simple gesture on behalf of the city of C Gables you know Sam Sam Joseph and the members of the board who are here uh with us they diligently work on behalf of the city and Sam has been after me for like the last two months to make sure that today is a special moment so I want to make sure when you walk away from this it's something that we that you cherish and you understand that it's just not just a piece of paper you know a simple certificate it's your true Testament to your legacy to your hard work to you working with students who maybe day in and day out um may not have a stable home environment or maybe you're in a situation where you know they're teetering you know teetering from going through the wrong direction or or possibly staying right on track so you make the difference in this community and there's no way to calculate in my opinion uh the payoff but it's significant okay so I wanted to say thank you and uh on behalf of the city of cor gaes and my colleagues and all the members who are here today thank you so much for your commitment thank you [Music] good [Music] remember try to try to get try to get as close as you can we when does the bartend show up I don't know it's been a tough day and it's 9:30 in the morning it's okay I don't care you don't it's one two three with me [Music] [Music] you worked hard you worked hard thank you ladies I appreciate you [Music] send me will you send me that picture and can I you don't mind you take a picture are the mics the mics are still [Music] hot of course I can [Music] thank you so [Music] much hi the principal of oh you so we pass by your house all the time nice to meet you thank you nice to meet you thank you so much app thank you Lord a privil to have all of you high work high school we love it I just I just gave a big donation Toph it's part of the job you thank you are you in love no I'm not but is buing right [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] it's okay [Music] they of course [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hurs Mr cler [Music] all right well welcome back if you would indulge me I wanted to have this gentleman speak before but the the proclamations we got I got I got a little ahead of the Proclamation so I I'd like to call Sam Joseph who's joining us on Zoom for a few words good morning Mr Mayor City commission uh city manager and the City attorney um I I thank you first of all Mr Mayor for uh continuing the tradition of honoring the best in our community uh teachers they really are the unsung heroes of our community and uh as you saw today it it doesn't take much to make them happy and to show them that how much they mean to us and what they do to help better our Community I want to thank you um for making today special um for not only them but for all of us who've had an opportunity to watch today and um I I want to congratulate them all because they truly are superstars um and uh thank the commission also for again making today special for a group of folks who are truly truly superheroes and I hope they have a wonderful wonderful Teacher Appreciation Week um you deserve more than a week you deserve every single day but let's make this week the most special week there is for you thanks again Mr Mayor thank you Mr Joseph as always uh leading the way and thank you for your efforts and for your commitment not only to my office but to the city and to everything that we're doing here you're you're a shiny example of everything that's right with our city so thank you very much and wish you the best anyone else Mr clerk no okay moving on to item A3 Madam vice mayor A3 we have a proclamation um to honor a great architect TF Flo Victoria and we have members of the community here to accept it before I read this Proclamation I need to say a few words about his contribution in a project that I've been working on together with members of the community that are also here to to improve the requirements for Mediterranean Design because it had been noted that our Mediterranean Design requirements have deteriorated and had become like wallpaper had been diluted and the love that tofo Victoria had for beautiful architecture was so deep that it he thought thought that it was part of his mission to help improve architecture in the City of Coral Gables so we did a symposium at the Coral Gables Museum last year members of this commission had the opportunity uh to attend and you could see the true love that he had for beautiful architecture and how it interacted with the with people it affects your mood it affects how you feel it adds value to the city and it makes Coral Gables what Coral Gables is and for those of you who are not familiar with why we had the Mediterranean Revival and design um movement in our city it was to make it special and when the glass cubes appeared on alhamra these buildings that Dorth mayor Dorothy Thompson called glass cubes it started the evolution of developing a code provision that rewarded or enh you know the Mediterranean Design some areas of our cities are required to be Mediterranean Design without any enhancements but in other areas you know we we have to incentivize it because um it costs more it literally does cost more to build beautiful buildings and um it's a it's a lovely thing that that Graces our city without further Ado though I'll go ahead and read the um Proclamation and um I thank the family for being here Maria de LaGuardia your special human being if if every building had your touch to it we would make our decisions so much easier so whereas talo Victoria was distinguished figure in the world of architecture and Urban Design his remarkable career and contributions have left a lasting impact on the field and whereas tofo Victoria held a masters of of architecture in urban design degree from Columbia University as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts and architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design he was a visiting professor at esteemed institutions such as Harvard University and Cornell University sharing his expertise with students around the world and whereas the University of Miami at the University of Miami he served as the underground graduate program director and later as the graduate program director influencing countless students throughout his tenure his work was exhibited at prestigious institutions including the University of Pennsylvania and in The Institute of classical architecture in New York and whereas Tio's impact extended Beyond Academia as he lectured and participated in domestic and international conferences in 2023 with his guidance and participation The icaa Institute for classical architecture and art and coral Gable's Museum presented a popular lecture series he curated on one of his passions the Mediterranean architecture of Coral Gables he also inspired in participated in drafting proposed revisions to the Coral Gables Mediterranean Design architectural standards to improve the beauty and quality of Mediterranean architecture in Coral Gable now therefore I Vince logo as mayor and the City of the city of cor Gables along with our city commission do here by Proclaim May 7th 2024 as tofo Victoria and Coral Gables day so thank you all for being here it's an honor to be able to read the proclamation and for any of you who missed the series at the Museum it was recorded and is part of the uh learning uh lectures and learning Series where you can enjoy it uh in the future come [Music] up pleas join us than thank you for being here with us can we have can we have a few words not that often that we have an architect of your caliber here speaking on behalf of an individual who really shaped the community so I would really I would love to hear from you and uh any words that you have in regards to this gentlemen and we Delo lived all his adult life here in Coral Gables and this is home for him and he truly loved his City and he truly loved the University of Miami and he's he he would be very very happy to to receive this honor and ER there was one there was one project that was very important to him which was the make the the manual uh for the restoration um of coral Gable's architecture and this is a series of uh five years of student drawings and um he that was one of his great donations to the city so this manual was to serve as a guide for restoration and that was part of his commitment to the City of Coral Gables but thank you very much uh for this very important recognition thank you let's take a photo thank you thank you yes yes it's a photo your children your grandchild to app moving on to item A4 commissioner Castro presentation of a proclamation declaring May 14th 20204 as Israel Independence Day in Coral Gables whereas since May 1948 and every year thereafter the independence of Israel is commemorated in the United States and recognized in the City of Coral Gables as well and whereas the City of Coral Gables acknowledges significant milestones and events of historical importance therefore we proudly join the Jewish people and communities to celebrate this state of Israel and whereas the City of Coral Gables is a diverse Community which includes a vibrant Jewish population that shares a wonderful cultural heritage which is built upon friendship and respect and whereas the city beautiful welcomes events and celebrations which which promotes the understanding of such different cultures and the celebration of Israel's independence provides an excellent means by which all residents can appreciate the history and Legacy of the Jewish people now therefore I Vince Lago as mayor of the City of Coral Gables along with the members of the city commission do hereby Proclaim May 14th 2024 as Israel Independence state and Coral Gables and is anybody here to receive this perfect would you like to say some words yes hey good morning Maro um City commissioners thank you so much for having me here today I'm Kennedy St director of political Affairs at the Israeli Consulate in Miami I'm here today on behalf of the council General who is deeply regretful that he couldn't personally be here but we want to thank you guys so much for always being amongst the first leaders in our community to stand with the Jewish people and with the state of Israel in times of um celebration and in crisis so thank you so much we're very grateful for your friendship thank you thank you for being here let's take a photo yes I'm doing yeah yeah no moving on to item A5 presentation of proclamation declaring May 18th 2024 at kids to park day in Coral gales thank you Mr Mayor whereas May 18th 2024 is the 14th kids to Parks day organized and launched by the national park trust and whereas kids to Parks day empowers kids and encourages families to go outdoors and visit local parks public lands and Waters and whereas we should encourage children to lead a more active lifestyle to combat issues of childhood obesity diabetes hypertension and hyp cholesterol Mia and whereas kids to Parks day will broaden children's appreciation for nature and the outdoors and whereas kids to Parks day is open to all children and adults across the country to encourage a large and diverse group of participants and whereas the City's community recreation department will celebrate kids to Parks day with the fourth annual Gable's family literacy festival at the war memorial youth center from 11:00 a.m. to 3: p.m. to celebrate literacy and encourage families and children to read a book outdoors in a park in observance thereof I hereby urge residents of Coral Gables to take advantage of the numerous City's parks and waterways and to attend the fourth annual Gables family literacy Festival therefore we the city commission do hereby Proclaim May 18th 2024 kids to Parks day in Coral Gables director good morning good morning uh thank you very much uh so you know it's interesting when we were looking at this item a couple of weeks ago there was a joke we said oh it's kids to Parks day and someone said well isn't that every day and unfortunately it isn't I wish it was um but I stated in the proclamation you know the there's such a uh a demand on on uh children's time with with educa with entertainment everything's at their hands whether it's iPads phones they're streaming social media uh video games and it's hard to get him to go out we we had a there was a time where the value of going to Parks uh became known uh you know unfortunately when we were going through some difficult times with the pandemic but one of the things that we could all do as families and be together is go outside and there was a value in the Parks and what we wanted to keep we want to keep that momentum going and continue to do things that's why we we have more events than we've ever had more activities than we've ever had we keep bringing stuff out there and I think um it was great that we had the teachers here because what we're doing for kids to park day it's a perfect perf relationship it's it's our literacy fast that we did a few years ago um and uh it's getting bigger and stronger and we're we're working with our teachers and it's kind of a cool concept you know come read a book outside you know got the field you know um have a good day and um of course we got everything else open if you want to play tennis we're around golf pool olivar Parks the youth center so um we welcome everybody to go out to a park go outdoors and enjoy that day on the 18th thank you and Fred I think your team does a phenomenal job of making sure that our parks are attractive to Children Salvador Park is always full yes uh but I think it's also uh a responsibility that we as parents sometimes uh don't bring the children out to the parks and it's on us to maybe have them put the the phone down or the the digital devices and just come out to the parks and play and when they're asking us to bring them to the parks maybe it's you know let's take 15 or 20 minutes of our day to take them to the park we have a lot of great neighborhood parks close to everybody's homes throughout the city um with def with activities that they can use but activities that we can do with them as well I think as parents that should be one of our our responsibilities and I'm glad to see that we're doing our fourth annual Gable's family literacy Festival I remember when we were working on this for 3 years just to try to make it happen uh that first year we weren't even sure it was going to happen and here we are celebrating year four and every year it's bigger and bigger we have some great sponsors that come out every single year it's an event that has activities not just for children but for families as well uh and it's a great event to come out at the youth center uh and enjoy the outdoors and promote literacy throughout the summer yes thank you thank you let's take a photo all right [Music] I'm sorry miss you thank you thank you I guess the students aren here yet coming back now full circle to A1 presentation of proclamation declaring May 1st 2024 as law day in Coral Gables we have students my understanding is that they were supposed to be here by 9:30 are they here we can check they might be outside um it's awfully somebody go outside to see if you see kids set that's for them are we supposed to be down there or they're going to come up no no no that's for for right they're going to have the chief and I think someone else speak to them down there I hear while we wait uh the following items have been deferred item f8 E6 and A6 all right I'm going to have to ask you to repeat that mayor item f 8 E6 and A6 have been deferred uh moving on to the manager has made a request to introduce our new parking director thank you Mr Mayor uh vice mayor Commissioners it gives me a great pleasure to introduce our new parking director Monica btran who we convinced to run away from Miami Beach and uh join the city beautiful Monica good morning how are you sir good morning honorable mayor vice mayor and Commissioners Mr manager Mr City Clerk and Madame City attorney I'm Monica belan I'm honored to join the city beautiful as your new parking director I've been in the parking industry for over 35 years I've worked at the uh with the county over 35 years at the Miami International Airport uh the aviation department and later joined the city of Miami Beach as their parking assistant director and later the parking director um I would describe myself as a career public servant I am here um to work hard hopefully make a difference and uh to join all the efforts in keeping this beautiful city beautiful um I obviously love parking I've been doing it for many many years I also have a background in American with Disability Act uh enforcement and transportation and I am here today uh with Heart full of gratitude for my appointment thank you for being here with us it's a privilege to have you and we look forward to to working together thank you thank you very much Monica welcome to the city beautiful thank you thank you I'm looking forward to working with you heard a lot of great things about you and your career so appreciate having you here in our city uh we're going to miss Kevin Kenny uh when he retires uh but we're happy to have you on board and I look forward to working with you uh I think all five of us have open door so anything you need from us please let us know thank you I I think that parking is a quality of life issue and as such um I'm passionate about it so I have big shoes to fill but I'll do my best Kevin thank you thank you thank you uh moving back on to item A1 okay A1 whereas in 1958 President Eisenhower proclaimed law day to honor the role of law in the creation of the United States of America and in 1961 Congress issued a joint resolution declaring May 1st as law day and whereas an a an annual theme is chosen every year to Spotlight a particular aspect of law or the legal process and its impact on our daily lives the 2024 law day theme voices of democracy recognizes that in democracies the people rule for nearly 250 years Americans have expressed her political views and wishes by speaking their minds and voting in elections in 2024 the United States will hold its 60th presidential election and Americans will address fundamental questions about democracy and the rule of law and whereas the Coral Gables Bar Association in collaboration with the City of Coral Gables is celebrating this day by hosting the students of ponon Middle School to observe the process of Municipal legislation and order to Foster their understanding of the rule of law while observing our elected officials collaborate with each other and the public in order to carry out our system of democracy now I Vince slago as mayor of corl Gables along with the members of our city commission to hereby proudly Proclaim May 1st 2024 as law day and Coral Gables in observance thereof I hereby urge everyone to observe this day by renewing their commitment to work toward achieving a more perfect union that strength are democracy defends Liberty and pursues Justice Madam City attorney thank you mayor we're we're so glad as always um as we have done the past few years to have these students visiting us here and to have them experience a little bit you know firsthand of how um legislation is adopted here how how things and important initiatives are furthered here in the city commission and so we welcome them and thank them for joining us well good morning once again um thank you this is the third year uh that we have the honor of being here having our students here and I told them next week they'll be taking the endof year course exam for civics our seventh grade students that are here and this is a hands-on experience uh which I'm married to an educator my wife is an elementary school teacher and we always talk about how real world experiences shape education so I want to thank the Coral Gables law association uh and everyone that helped put this together uh for allowing our students to be here and get this wonderful opportunity so how many students do we have right now we have 30 students it's wonderful okay congratulations excellent we're blessed to have you here all of you um how long is the the time period where they'll be joining us we'll we about two hours okay give or take so hopefully hopefully we can have them for a little bit more of tend the time on another day if if they if they enjoy it again I want you to enjoy the experience uh we need more and more people to engage in public life in one form or another uh not only just working but working in in public life but also potentially running for public office so you're kind of getting a little bit of a background look at how the sausage is made uh here in the city and when I see the sausage made is how laws are passed uh but I think you could gain a lot of you know interest and also expertise in understanding how you know certain things happen in our city uh and how they come all the way to the commission floor uh we we'd love to have them in one form or another get engaged either stop by office hours or potentially maybe during the summer um engage with us uh during you know a week long period if if they're interested in it wonderful just just just a couple couple words to because you're young and impressionable and I used to be your age at one point in time but um a lot of us didn't plan on being up here at your age we had no clue where we'd end up but we had we were inspired to make a change in our in our community and did different things made sure we could out and vote make sure we participate in boards and committees to do good things you know whether it be you know to you know help someone in need or plant a tree I've served on boards and that's where I started and then someone asked me why don't you run for office that may happen to you someday but you may be able to help out in another way in your life um and help lead others to a brighter future and key is making sure you vote do never take that for granted because once you do you'll end up you know we'll lose and dilute the Democracy that we have if we fail to vote so please remember to vote okay so this is going to be a little different I'm kind of curious to know can I have three kids who could tell me from this field trip today what have you learned that you didn't know before anybody just got here oh they just got here oh maybe afterwards then yeah that I I think the teacher will be doing that that questioning so yeah I was kind of curious so we'll catch up we'll catch up on our lunch Break by the way do they you all plan on going into law or something your interest raise your hand if you're interested in being going into law wow you still have time to change your mind um that's but quite honestly you're on the right path you have great support you have great teachers you have a great school system you have a great community that anything that you set as a goal you will be able to accomplish there are a lot of people people that care about you that are rooting for you and though we're sitting up here and you're watching us perhaps for the first time here's a secret it's not that complicated by the time you're our age you'll figure it out probably hopefully even better than we do collectively but thank you for being here and uh we're rooting for you right I want to thank the coral gaes Bar Association for uh sponsoring this important project uh I've always said that having children participate in what they are considering doing later on in life is important um my career decisions were shaped on internships that I did originally I was going to study meteorology uh and I did an internship with ch with channel 23 with John Morales and I realized it wasn't what I wanted to do and then I did an internship with congresswoman Ross Leon and it set my path forward um it's important for each one of you to decide what you want to do um but always keep one thing in mind you have to be happy when you wake up in the morning that you're going to work so make sure it's something you really enjoy don't make a career decision because of how much money you're going to make or how glamorous it may seem cuz at the end of the day it may not be very glamorous if you're doing it when I was your age like the vice mayor was saying I was the quiet kid who would sit in the back of the class hoping I wouldn't get called upon because I did not like public speaking and as you can tell from being here I've been speaking quite a bit today um but it took a teacher and my Parish priest who said you have a talent and you're not using it and that's how I started facing my fear getting out there and speaking in public and I'll tell you getting on that microphone and speaking is just as easy as talking to your friends there is no difference uh just be out there like our my colleagues have said participate get involved speak your mind and just be yourselves I think that's the most important thing and I thank Mr B pres principal Balboa and your teachers who are here uh for helping you through this process right well it's great by the way you don't have to be a lawyer to do this job either no that's true good luck and I hope you enjoy the day looking forward to your feedback okay thank you picture I mean you want to get us up here now or you want to do it after where we I think we'll like here that's going to be interesting it's air condition well last time we didn't get the picture cuz we never made it to them okay how about if if they stay sitting that yeah if [Music] right here here [Music] back here stand back here T folks in the [Music] back don't you switch with her we can see her everybody step to the left you Go's theera he's getting his uh his steps in today where is the camera one more one more one more one more thanks a lot here by the way you can see it you can see it in YouTube later [Music] [Music] Mr clerk the approve of the minutes from the regular City Commission meeting dated April 16th can I get a motion approval of minutes thank you my friend I appreciate you being here thank you need a motion yes motion second all in favor I thank you Mr clerk moving on to public comment uh yes Mr Mayor first Speaker this morning is Mr Jackson rip Holmes Mr Holmes good morning wow this is a big meeting here that we got the new parking director uh I I know her from the taxi Advisory Board most importantly I think she knows parking garages uh she knows parking garages so um the reason I'm taking up your time today is that we're in danger on Miracle mild even the city's tax base it's the most upsetting thing you all probably know about Sears uh we may lose our anchor department store at Sears in four years um if you can help me with the slides uh thanks so um this was a I I finally got my hands uh involved in this and I I know the subject now well enough to make this presentation so there's bad news and there's good news the bad news is that the present owner which is RK centers of that site and I've talked with them and I had a I had a good conversation um but they're uh they're they're already applying for a high-rise residential permit all right so that's the bad news we're under the gun uh but I'm coordinating with people who are having meetings with uh RO alalo with the state representative trying to oppose it um not that you care but the uh homeowners association and coral gate uh okay now we get to the good news um the owner do do you all know this famous man he's the co-owner of the Miami Heat basketball team uh Ronin Catz and here comes the good news if you go to the next slide all right so this is his company and they're into retail they got they got retail centers all over everywhere so this is a guy I think we can reach because if his home if if his bread and butter as as you slide down even to the next slide I mean he he's a he's a billionaire because he owns all these retail cers right so um I'm I'm you know re cursing my speech so to speak when I talk to him on the phone or whatever you know uh CU so we can reach him and I I inform you the citizens of Coral Gables that this is going on I I think a poll would show that like 98% uh of the people of Coral Gables don't want us to lose the retail anchor there I mean among other things it gives a city money to its tax base and uh so we have four years because the Sears the Sears is bankrupt they're they're going under but I'm working I I got a list of all the department stores and who you call to get them to come to Sears right I got I got the inside info and and I'm calling them thanks for listening thank you thank you sir Maria Cruz good morning Miss Cruz good morning I'm still Mrs Cruz I guess I'll be Mrs Cruz till the day I die um Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road and I'm here today I changed what I was going to talk about because I want to thank you for what you did for the teachers today as a retired educator let's face it I spent 40 some years in the classroom sometimes I wonder if the general Community understands the impact that teachers have on their kids it's not what they teach the subject matter it's what how they treat them the example that they give the mentoring that goes uh on in the classroom and I would have been remiss if I did not do this today one of the teachers that you recognize today I'm going to tell you a little story many years ago when my oldest granddaughter went to David fch Elementary at public school for the first time she was very young I would I don't remember whether it was first or second grade I went to pick her up and she was in the she was crying she was very upset she had taken one of those small dolls and she had lost one of the shoes a tiny tiny tiny shoe so she comes to the car she says I will I lost the shoe I said okay I'll wait go inside and see go by the room and you may find it I waited and waited honor of son I see Miss Valdes who you recognize today not only did she see this little girl by herself looking she did not stop and this was after school she should have been home by that time she did not stop till she helped Samantha find the little shoe and then I see her walking Samantha to the car she could have stopped at the gate and just say go to your AA no no she walked her all the way to where I was this is what teachers do this is why I told her today you're my favorite teacher of all the people that I've met in education with the impact you made in that little girl I mean talk about 10 11 years ago we still talk about her in my house that's what teaches do you may not see it all the time but they do impact people's lives and this is to me it was fantastic that she was one of the people here and I reminded the principal said remember she says oh I remember the little shoe I said well we will never forget Miss Valdez and the little shoe thank you thank you Mr your clerk Umberto sylvestri good morning sir thank you for being here with us thank you hello check uh good evening Commissioners uh was raised to always speak to someone with eye contact so naturally I hope we would be uh re syndicated um I'm here on behalf of myself and a large group of parents for the cores Youth Center uh we have learned about the huge need for pickleball facility in cor Gables and we full-heartedly support that initiative it's a huge uh a huge initiative and there's a very large call for that and by all means our residents should get that uh I want to take you back to understand my connection to cor Gables my family has been in the city for over 60 years uh my grandmother when coming from Cuba bought her house on the corner of coconut grow drive and Malanga uh my father walked to cor gaes High School about 6970 and he was a Class of 73 I had the great experience of being in class 2005 I went to ponon middle class of 99 uh shared a cool experience of our PE teacher was the same person Joe Hudak which uh might be some uh some Family Ties there um so I have a pretty big connection to the youth center I was in the after school program at the builtmore from 94 to 96 while the youth center was being built I was the first member when it reopened in April 19th to uh 1997 so I grew up playing baseball at the youth center I've learned discipline I've learned how to be part of a team and I've learned a lot of life skills that have carried me throughout my life I'm currently a father of four kids who attend the youth center 19176 and 3 they've done the programs I've been a coach there my father has been a coach and the reason I'm here today is because we would like to speak up uh against building on top of the cores you center field it is a place that was opened in December 7th 1944 and is going to stand for almost 80 years this year it has been uh a tribute and a huge point of emphasis for our community as being a worldclass youth center and the Commissioners have always done a great job in preserving that um the goal is not to create division but to help unite Us and how we can get the pickle ball facility here as soon as possible I commend you mayor for being creative in your ways of thinking of using the parking lots and turning Anastasia into a oneway even with the considerations of re-evaluating Riviera uh because there are ways that we could do different things besides using the field space you mentioned yourself that you played baseball as so did I the diamond that was suggested the lower triangle is for our teenagers our teenagers are a huge part of our future especially baseball cuz growing up if you play baseball we said 80% mental 20% physical so we need to be very cautious as to what type of message we're sending to the residents of cor Gables if we're cons considering taking away the only Teenage baseball diamond at the cores Youth Center um the field space has been precious to us Kirk you pointed out on that part of the field they have shade all right and it's really one of the most valuable parts right because it's a place where you get a really nice breeze there's also considerations that those trees create a lot of waste at the bottom and if you put pickle ball Courts at that side of the field you may have an ongoing issue of cleaning and taking care of those courts uh We've gathered about over 500 signatures for a petition to not build on the cor Gables field in less well in about 48 Hours uh since we've learned about this um and so the the idea here is to just spread awareness to the community I'm working with the clerk's office to gather an email list of all the cor Gables residents so they can be made wide aware of this they can provide their input and whatever decision that they think is fair to them in their opinion as we're all entit entitled um but I'm very cautious to a sport that is addictive to our youth because we don't know how this could go in 5 or 10 years and by all means I support a huge worldclass facility but not at the expense of sacrificing our kids sports we shouldn't have to choose we have more than enough vacant lots that we can utilize there's a lot of uh County Parks and resources that we can evaluate before going after the loow hanging fruit of our kids parks I spoke to Fred and Alexandra as they walked out uh I went to school with her right uh Fred was there when I was a coun when I was a kid in 97 um I'm just speaking on behalf of the parents uh we'd like to work in tandem with the city we like to work in tandem with the pickleball Community to make it happen but we should treat this park as sacred ground it's been there for over 80 years it came together between efforts of 48 Lots purchased of residents the city purchasing 12 lots and putting them together there's an idea for a youth recreation center youth not to sacrifice the youth for you know I don't know the numbers but it seems like predominantly when I'm there Tuesdays and Thursdays uh some of the older uh residents play I support that I'll be at the youth center today at Tuesday when my son has soccer practice uh it's a uh a situation that impacts all of us parents we pay thousands of dollarss every month hundreds of us so you're currently generating Revenue off the field right now so it's maybe something to consider of how uh the parents and the residents may be impacted and something that's generating you revenue and it's actually investing in the future of the children um so I just wanted to share that with you after exchanging emails with some of the Commissioners this was supposed toly deferred uh but we are where we are now and we I will be back here for our next meeting and just uh hope that we can all work together to make the quickest world-class pickall facility is possible sir thank you for being here I appreciate that and the goal at the end of the day is to find common ground and I think the opportunity before us which is not it's not an idea that was brought by this commission it's an idea that should be taken advantage by this commission and that is between the library and the youth center you have a great opportunity and I've already spoken with you know two separate County Commissioners about possibly exploiting that that strip which could provide two important factors number one three things number one not touching the fields number two much needed parking for pickle ball so you don't have a cannibalization of the parking and number three providing pigle ball fields but it takes a long-term process and a long-term commitment to do things the right way so I appreciate you being here I appreciate you exchanging emails with with everyone on the commission and again the key is to work work together and to find a solution that doesn't hurt the baseball players the soccer players my daughters I don't have any sons even now they be playing baseball m i I would try them try my best to push him into baseball sure my daughters plays soccer yeah so the last thing is just like I'm hearing from people in baseball my good friends who their kids play soccer nobody on this commission yeah nobody on this commission wants to be with with the amount of work that we have already here wants to be swamped with rumors that we're taking away people's baseball fields and it was it's a conversation let me address one last Point M I think it's critically important that we all come to the same consensus we've searched everywhere in the city mhm and the limit you know what we're trying to do is limit the exposure on the residents absolutely you know in the sense of noise traffic there's a lot of different things so when you talk about parks and you talk about you know available land there really isn't that much and due to the significant cost of properties in the downtown it's tough to put a pickle ball facility when you buy something that just doesn't make real Financial sense something so we have to take advantage of what we have the properties that we have and I think that it's my opinion and I don't want to speak for the whole commission but I think when everybody's analyzed everything possible we've all driven through the city we've all looked we spent hours and hours and hours looking for an are we can put a handful of Courts no matter how difficult the situation is I'm of the belief that in between the library and the youth center we finally have to make the step to work with the county and to deliver on on on something that works there it's less impactful on on the residential neighborhoods mhm uh you can get some shade you can get the parking that you may need there and you can also address the fact that you leave the fields you don't encroach on the fields or you don't touch the fields so I think that the opportunities now to work together I just want you Center efficient Autos sure pickle ball people and whatever other groups are missing just to give us a little bit of patience so we can work through the process budget everything and then move forward on the item I think it's pretty simple request absolutely Mr Mayor that's what I told you by the way you know I I agree with wholehearted with L I think each one of us has been out there exploring all the different options that that we may have we're a city that is nearly 100 years old our Green Space is very limited and I've heard the concerns the reason we deferred this item was because of the concerns that we heard from the community I'll be meeting with Coach Alex this afternoon to discuss uh the concerns that are being brought up but if you can on your way out if you can stop at Gabby's office she's our assistant right in the other side of the staircase and let me leave me your phone number and I'll call you so we caned a time to sit down and talk I think like the mayor said right now we need to find a solution that works for everybody but we are also limited on on what options we do have out there um the information that was presented to us last commission meeting was that this field is not being utilized obviously that's not the case that's why we got to this point but I think you have a commitment from five people up here we want to work with a community to find a solution that works across the board if I may add something just to that point okay if you look at the three items that I brought up M when I brought up there was three opportunities mhm only one was possibly on that field and now that we have different information we'll discard that that that possibility discard the possibility of using the field of using the field but but my but my two other options sure should still be considered absolutely which is again it's the commission's will to move forward and deliver on on pickle ball courts mhm but I think that what ends up happening a lot of times and I say this with all due respect okay is when there's a rumor the rumor runs the rumor runs and we need to come together on this front because to be honest with you I think that this is not that difficult MH we shouldn't be right I mean let's be honest with ourselves we can deliver on pickle ball needs and we can also deliver on on ensuring you know that that the youth center is the gem that it is but we also have to be honest with ourselves we have a budget season that's forthcoming so identifying the location getting our team activated to start working with the county I had uh I held a um town hall meeting this past week before uh commissioner cabera was there I had a conversation with with the commissioner in regards to this and I said listen this is not my idea this is an idea that's happened before that's been discussed in the past about about close about you know that street you know being potentially uh closed out and connecting the library which by the way the library is owned by the city the property is and the Youth Center mm it's not that complex we just have to think big and then I think that we can deliver on something exceptional so I just ask for a little bit of patience and and we're being as transparent we talked about it at the Town Hall we're talking about it here in commission meetings you know we have open Office hours nothing is being nothing's happening in the cover of Darkness I just don't want to see un unnecessary pressure because I and I'll be in I'll tell you why sure all the people that work in the city are swamped with issues MH and you're hearing from the commission saying our plan is to on something that is that is not impactful to the residents and the users trust me I got calls from my daughter's soccer coach I got calls from Neighbors in regards to that so there's a way to make everybody happy moving forward sure and I think that we can find Common Ground Madam vice mayor so I'm going to follow up on some of the things that weren't covered yet and um one of the thing is is there is a process for every single one of our prodcts you know coming online or offline different things and ideas and there will be notice we do postings we get the community involved and we get public input the fact that it's being discussed here is not the final decision we have to reach out to the community especially those impacted the most which are the folks that live close by I put a discussion item on regarding opening the courts up uh for play on Sundays the existing courts on Sundays so far I I knocked on the the expensive Town Homes across the street the majority of folks that you know are in favor of it no one said no it just that I some of the folks weren't home so that is something that we can explore to take away some of the pressure and the other is you know if we need to raise the money to be able to improve courts expand courts whether it's there at the youth center or elsewhere and to take some of the pressure off you know so our residents can get an opportunity to play because I know that people who are in within walking distance have not been able to play since it's been so well advertised that you know come out here and play uh My Neighbor Next Door my neighbor two doors down and even I cannot get on these courts anymore because everybody from around the county has now found about found out about our free court so sure membership is something that we have to talk about so absolutely you know and it'll help us maintain the courts it'll help us maintain the safety of the youth center it'll help us control the park uh you know how many people can be members how often can you be on out there on the courts cuz we're out of parking too that's that's a Major Impact for that if I can add something else to to the vice mayor's point that this the common misconception I heard from multiple people say well you have a court in Salvador Park and and why don't you just expand there or you know they just mentioned that I said listen number one that's not really a possibility because we took County funds there so when you take County funds you have to open it to everybody in the county M so this should be a facility should be a facility when I'm talking about pickle ball that is to minimize the impact should be first come first serve for residents ab and it should be something that again it it's solely dedicated why again I'm going to speak without having every fact but I've heard from individuals and Resident told me look I try to go there but a lot of people from all over the the county are coming to play here sure so our facility should serve residents first they should not be serving you know Homestead D kisc even if you're visiting a friend that's fine we got to figure things out mhm but there's a lot of opportunities here let us just give us time to work through the through the issues I promise that you know we're not removing anything abut I look forward to finding can I respond of course so um absolutely uh we recently had a meeting in regards to the soccer program and the future of it and the youth center reassured us that we serve our residents first similar to what you just said right and I really hope that that's at the Forefront of building a worldclass pickle ball facility it should be done for us Cora's residents primarily I know that these other areas and other towns are building their own like Pine Crest and some of the other ones that were referenced in the prior meetings but we shouldn't let others dictate the way that we move right we are our own City and we should think of our residents first and I I applaud you guys for doing that uh my concern is is that I went back and I saw all of the previous meetings on this in February uh you mentioned that you had particular ideas about using a park that was underutilized wasn't any reference in March in April you said let me switch gears in the meeting and let me show you where I walked to this weekend in terms and you laid out your plans of how you thought and inspired different ideas at the youth center field grounds later in that meeting you passed the initiative to Mr Fernandez as to I want this to be your project I want you to push this I want you to move forward with it so um I'm not really sure where the uh Focus for using the youth center field is coming from but uh at the very least it's it's in an idea of using the parks and resources that are underutilized right but uh we're just going to be very close working hand inand as as you know parents working with coaches right to help the pickle ball facilities go up but we're just going to work you know in hand in hand in any way we can right we just want to support you guys but as residents we want our voice to be heard that this is our field we'd like it not to be used we don't want it to be the first your second choice if it has to go up you know we we'll we'll cross that bridge when we get there right but we want to create unity and work together uh and just try to find a common ground so that everybody's needs can be uh taken care of so I like to respond to you because first off I haven't been fortunate enough to hit the nail on the head and hit it out of the park you know a Grand Slam in the ninth inning I don't know if you have maybe you have but you know there's there's multiple there's multiple iterations before you find a solution or for you Charter course to success so um I've looked at almost every single Park in the city every single opportunity and to me I think the youth center makes the most sense and that's why I came back to the youth center you know why I I chose the youth center something that you left out in your comments right now which I think are important and maybe we can I'll get you a copy of the meeting so you can refresh um is the infrastructure absolutely it's key so one of the big things why why I change gears from the downtown is because multiple things would have to be built number one You' be impacting the business Community which I don't think it's the right thing to do number two just like you don't think you should pack a residential neighborhood cuz we talked about potentially using the empty lots across the street from the youth center I got and then and then and then the resident said listen I don't you know it's going to be a lot of parking a lot of noise maybe that's not the appropriate place so we shifted away from that opportunity so why did I think the youth center was the best place because I thought of two out of three options would not impact the fields number one is the issue of ADA compliance number two was the bathrooms number three was the parking and that there shade we have a lot of infrastructure there when you're talking about trying to save us much money to make a real solid investment in an action amenity I don't want to have to pay for things that I'm already that I wouldn't have to pay for when I'm trying to put you know very smart a a square a square into a round Peg so at the end of the day you know it's not about it's not about finding the first location that you come up with and forcing it forcing that Peg through it's about you know thinking a little bit more outside the box and finding the best location and I will tell you now on the record I think the best location which has the least impact is between the youth center and the library thank you we just have to be creative and we have to do the proper planning and the proper budgeting to move forward on that and I welcome you um um being observant and and keeping tabs you know I have Open Door Fridays you should come every two uh every Friday at 2:00 we can sit down we can see the progress of of the meeting you can put it on an email okay copy the manager you can get a public record statement every single week in regards to where we are and what we're doing amazing I look forward to it thank you guys and uh just you know um I'm going to go back to the residents of that open lot by the cores youth center and I'm just going to have a discussion with them to see if they would be possibly open to maybe having a pickleball court there Kurt mentioned that some of the issues are the lighting when it's right next to residential homes right are a huge issue but maybe if there was some sort of tax incentive from the city to help we got to get creative right IAL I talked to those residents and the lighting the noise the parking and you're talking about a facility that will be open till very late um I've had conversations with all those already I I went to visit them cuz I didn't want to float that you know without and and none of them were very you know very but maybe you're more maybe you I maybe you can persuade him and and you know with a tax incentive I don't know I don't know what else but I I look forward to you engaging maybe maybe you have the power of persuasion we we can't boil the ocean guys but I really appreciate you taking the time each and every one of you Kirk I look forward to you helping build a soccer program to what it can be so I hold office hours on Fridays too so come down and see me and we I'll I'll fill you in on some you know being a resident going through the experiences being able to show up um and I just appreciate that you guys have this open Podium and we're able to feel like the voice is heard right uh a lot of the parents are watching this on Zoom um this feels like we have been heard and let's just work together to build a world class pickleball facility that's why I that's why I put together years ago this one hour of open discussion that's the intent of it so you can come in here and have a conversation with the elected officials and have your voice heard I'll see you on Friday 2:00 thank you sir thank you Commissioners thank you Mr clerk uh Luc morang by the way for the young people listening the word of the day pickle ball take that with you and good morning mayor and commission morning this is divine intervention uh my reason for being here is not about teachers but I'm a retired teacher and counselor for many decades in day County school system and I appreciate your respect and concern for teachers back in the day we weren't really mentioned that much or thought of that much so it's a pleasure to see the recognition that is long overdue and welld deserve I was a counselor for shenn Andor Middle School hey middle schoolers I appreciate how patient and quiet you are your energy on steroids from what I remember so it's so cool to see you all attentive and well behaved congrats um that being said my real motivation for being here is uh I'm a concerned citizen in Carl Gables and uh I would like to see the mayor's Council left in place uh I would appreciate that that is what motivated me to come here today this is my first time coming here to speak but I so feel driven to do so on a personal note every time I ask mayor Suarez for anything regardless of what it was he responds immediately I think Johnny on the spot would be a good nickname for him uh as a senior in Coral Gables he's very supportive our adult activity center and has been there on various occasions and and for other things as well so that being said um I would very much like to see his Council in place I bid you all a good day and enjoy the week bye-bye thank you for being here Cindy Mr BR good morning please join us Cindy I read your email I haven't had a chance to to write back to you but very informative and good email thank you so much I appreciate that ma'am uh good morning everyone uh happy to be here uh my name is cindia brew and I'm a resident of Coral Gables um I know that the motion or the proposal proposal for the Youth Center expansion has been moved to May 21st I will not be here I just want to make sure that at least uh an active voice is is obviously heard uh uh before then um I'm here with another fellow concerned citizen as well we're both part of the Blue Devils baseball team my son is my son Max is right there uh come I'm sorry haven't come up with you want to come up Max come on max thank you so as as a previous resident so eloquently put uh I concur with everything that he absolutely was saying we have a lot of history with the youth center uh we also have an older son uh who's in college right now so we've we've again you we just we love this Youth Center obviously the programs that it offers everything that it offers um and we understand that obviously we have to find some common ground with these other individuals absolutely 100% we have to share our beautiful city here uh however many of us are concerned because again of the recent you know proposal to house those Courts at the youth center and even probably more so with how quickly well I shouldn't say how quickly but uh we just found out about this last week um it was so quick to turn from its original intended location on top of parking garages which we thought was a great idea uh to all of us that now to the youth center many of the residents that we know that live there that have their kids there in the programs were not aware of this what whatsoever um so I I'll let my friend here talk real quick and then we'll wrap it up and then we'll get going and make sure we have our voices here thank you good morning or good afternoon good morning um good morning good morning uh my name is Andrea Waller I am a long-term resident of Coral Gables and Coconut Grove and you know we all do love the um Coral Gables useth Center and I could understand why pickle ball would want to be there I will also say that I am a pickle ball player and I do love the sport in retrospect now I feel it's not necessary to put it there it is Extremely Loud it also does form a lot of safety issues with the children so there are after school care programs where there are counselors that are watching these kids and they are not you know if we put all you know you're thinking about it it is a youth center youth center so it's you know you're introd producing a multip a multiple amount of adults there also on top of that I will say that it can bring money right it can bring money to the youth center and the youth center does need money to do different things if you look over the entire United States there's multi-million doll lawsuits that are against the city against the park you know it doesn't necessarily have to be just a money maker it can actually cause a lot of lawsuits and a lot of issues so we have to look at that as well the infrastructure and I know that you had spoke about this uh M Mr Mayor but you know not only it's already difficult it will bring a lot of attention but what about when we have to have a fire rescue truck come in what happens when there's so much traffic we already have trouble with that now and there are multiple times you know the baseball field is not just a baseball field it's a baseball field a soccer field a flag football field I loved the proposal back I think it was in March March 16th where they were putting eight um and it's still in progress eight pickle ball courts on the top of the um Park parking garage you know right next to the Lune Publix there has to be more Discovery there hasn't been enough attention to what could happen or you know of course everybody loves it and it's great myself included but there are things that can possibly bring that area danger really to be honest so I did want to say that and we really do have to focus on the kids right now in order to be an adult in that area if you're not a parent you have to have a background check so can you imagine bringing in pickle ball brings in how many people and what are we proposing like eight courts in that area how many people would actually be there how many adults are going to be around those kids it's not just the Little League it's also so there's Lego bricks for kids there's after school programs there's gymnastics there's the infrastructure inside the Coral Gables Youth Center the bathrooms there's very there are safety issues there are concerns for that also you know how Coral Gables is obviously the minute that they find the minute that they start hearing that there's going to be lawsuits there's going to be push back yes it can make money but I think that it would actually drain more money than make money but I do believe that there should be pickle ball courts just not in a youth center I like the idea of what we had decided before on top of these um parking garages that are underutilized there's so many of them around the area and it's very close I mean how close is the Lun um that that Publix that parking garage what 3 minutes four minutes driving is probably five minutes yeah what for yeah but the issue is and I and I just want to hear the end of what you were saying may I yeah yeah of course absolutely again what I said before I don't want to reiterate because we have a very long meeting but this is a very simple discussion There's an opportunity to do something we're going to explore it okay the commission has been very clear with you in regards to the fields trust me I received a phone call from Dr Omar I sponsor the Blue Devils personally um and it's going to be perfectly fine you know we're going to find a way to deliver on both ends on all the needs and nothing is set in stone and we're moving forward uh to find a location which is suitable and does not impact your son's baseball or anyone else playing songc exactly and I and I but I just want to be very careful reiterating over and over and over and over the narrative that we're that we're going to hurt the baseball program because that's the way things catch you know you repeat it enough and it becomes the truth not just baseball right I understand my daughters play soccer my daughters play soccer there's I know there I there's going to be across program forthcoming it's a lot of great things that are that are coming uh flag football so again I think that there's an opportunity to um coffee on the way uh I think there's an opportunity to put it somewhere finally finally do something which again um in in an area that potentially can house the impact and I think the library also works well when you're talk about that area because you have existing parking that could be potentially used if there's a way to you know come to an agreement after hours and the library closes so you know moving forward there's going to be a lot of discussion but the commission has been very clear already in regards to the fields we're going to we don't need to have that conversation it's difficult enough to budget and get this project off the ground the last thing I want is anyone who opposes the project so we'll find a way to make everybody happy and I'll be meeting with Coach Alex later later today um about this what position do you play Outfield in pitcher who's your favorite player you probably Otani Otani well that's a good choice and he does play two positions so that's good um be proud of your mom what she's doing she's here to stand up for you do the same in the future and play baseball play your heart out and know that baseball's not going to go away in Coral Gables so you'll have a place to play I just want one more thing even though yes right it shouldn't go away but that is the primary there's not really any other baseball parks in Coral Gables I did share with all of you the petition that we created just two days ago it's interesting if you look at the comments and it's it's you know it's it's interesting to see if people are informed and you can look how many people are looking at it versus how many people are signing it so it's it's interesting to see that so take a look at it I did share it with all of you and and check out the comments see what other people are saying and you know remember that if you look at what's going on right now in the United States we don't want to put all this money into something that everybody's just going to get sued for or there's going to be lawsuits so mayor just just a couple things um I was also a softball player I played every position my last position was pitcher so I'm cool it's it's near and dear to my heart um but we do have basketball courts there which also make noise so come by on Friday we can debate some of the issues um that's why I went door too to talk to the folks in the town homes and see what their thoughts were and so far not a single person has opposed it because they have impact windows so the B the basketballs make a lot of noise too the you know the critical thing here is so we need to have balance we can't have you know one sport pushing out another Sport and so the item that I put on the agenda literally was purposely uh phrased as opening the courts I didn't say what for that has still got to be we have to have meetings we have to determine how much time do we need for basketball how much time do we need for pickle ball do we split the courts there's a lot of talked about here so love to hear from you okay well great if I may um your son I want do you see this picture see that oh well see that guy with a bat that's my son he played for the Blue Devils he's in college now he was about your age Grand Slam home run to win a playoff game Crow dad but just on a side note I would oh you want to do it come on get the closeup my son would kill me for that there he goes that's him Grand Slam that's Coach Alex over here with his mouth open there he is proud that um record uh I would make a copy of this because one day he's going to be in college and he's going to look back he'll be very proud thank you was said thank you we we just want to reiterate again you know we understand of course that this this is going to go to discussions further discussions and again we want to make sure that everybody's happy um again I don't know if you guys are active at the youth center we definitely are so I mean you're aware of all of the new issues especially you know it's such a wonderful place to be but um ever since you know past post covid post pandemic uh the youth center has exploded with memberships okay I mean they these guys are maxed out and underst staffed unfortunately you know we love those guys those are those guys are those folks are our friends the staff are our friends uh those guys are maxed out which is obviously contributing to the traffic congestion the human congestion and so again even thinking about adding something additional there uh we're already parking in the Overflow parking at Christ Journey which is my church we're parking at uh you know obviously the the the Coral Gables Library uh the extra Green Space uh that I believe is dedicated for for the church but obviously also for the Youth Center so um again you know there's there's just that that's been causing a lot of issues and so that's obviously another main uh uh concern for us but just like uh Andrea said the other thing too would be intermingling and I understand the mayor's Point here because I saw his his video that's how I found out uh that it was actually really happening um and to the point of again it already had has existing bathrooms 100% you know obviously it's much easier than you know spending more money recreating that elsewhere but again our main concern is that they're going to be adult there's going to be adults intermingling with children and if they're going to be using the same bathroom facilities that's unacceptable for me and I know a lot of other parents as well if anything that's going to be the main concern I'm sure that there's going to be something drafted in place to prevent that um um but again I think you know I think a lot of us who are obviously advocating for this you know we just trying to preserve the Integrity of the fact that it is a youth center it's near and dear to my heart as well because it's a moreal memorial and so my husband and I were retired Air Force and so we love the fact that we have a place here that actually honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice so so again you know for we don't want to obviously keep you guys here all day and we know it's going to be obviously decided later on down the road all things are going to be considered we just want to make sure that we highlighted these points uh to you folks and and hope you guys take it to heart live close by we live very close by you'll see me walk with my two gry hands around there several times a week I I grew up at the youth center since the 1960s and I coached there for 30 years and the baseball program they had was dying there was nobody participating I'm I brought Al I brought Alex to meet with Fred and Carlos Bardo one afternoon I go this is the program that can save baseball and baseball is one of the original Sports of the youth center going back to 70 80 years back in the day it was tackle football was basketball and it was baseball and perhaps soccer but I'm sure soccer came later so it's a traditional Sport and the deed to that property says it's to be primarily for our youth not completely but primarily right so I would be hesitant and the folks with pickle ball from day one said we don't want to help pickle ball grow at the detriment of other sports so they're totally on board are not hurting especially programs for youth right so we are here I think the mayor said it very well and my colleagues as well a balance but um the programs after covid they are growing I talked to Fred the numbers are picking up again pre pre pandemic numbers and um the youth center is primarily for our youth I grew up there and we will protect and preserve Our Youth and their programming we need to find Solutions because World changes but I think as everyone has agreed this was a discussion not something that was going to be voted on and agreed to a lot of moving Parts but I think if everybody comes together we have a consensus at some point will the solution heck perhaps this was a good exercise of bringing everybody together I think she great too also thank you for that the other question I was wondering which I don't know because it is a war memorial does that take a lot more to actually build something at this caliber do we have for approval the war memorial I'm sorry the war memorial was dedicated to the those who served in World War II from Coral Gables it was actually originally the youth center was where the public is on leune and it was on the cover of Life magazine but um a nonprofit bought the property and helped build the use in 1950s and they deeded the property over to the city the only part of the deed that is the part that they have to maintain is a the name okay control and it has to be primarily for the Youth those are the three prongs that the deed holds true that the city must comply right so we don't want to perhaps test the boundary and it's already been tested by the way and I and I hate to repeat but perhaps you're new to the area so I'll repeat the story late 60s the city commission voted 4 to1 to tear down Coral Gable's Elementary and build an office building there and they were going to build a new Youth Center I mean a new Coral GES Elementary between the youth center and the library a smaller version but because they didn't have land the city commission was looking at moving University Drive picking it up and moving it towards leun to create more land late 60s but because of the deed in the youth center it was challenged in court actually the city challenged it and the third DCA said those those three prongs are upheld you have to abide by primarily youth you can't change your name Can't Change Control so the DCA has already Pro supported the fact that it is what it is and you can't change it we can adjust and do certain things that enhance the experience for the community but it should be and it will always be a use Center so we have we have a long we have a long day and I appreciate I appreciate both of you being here please and we'll for to contining the conversation thank you very much good luck Carlos haly how are you ma'am Carlos Haley Carlos sir good morning how are you morning Carlos Haley I've been a resident of coral gaes uh what about 50 years um I'm 66 years old the only reason I'm mentioning my age besides the gray hair you probably noticed that already is because I'm probably the oldest guy that's been a member of the youth center I think Kirk I mean commissioner Kirk came in like right after me or we came in right around a long time so um the youth center holds a special place in my heart without excuse me without a doubt particularly the field that we're going to be using now for uh for pickle ball that's the field where I coach my son yeah I know the feeling I coached my son for a championship now the reason I'm up here basically is obviously my wife is the head of the pickle ball community in corable so I better be for it no but um what I'd like to do is basically clear some misconceptions and I think it's incumbent upon the commission to to clear the misconceptions that have been going on one that pickle Ball's taken over the youth center and there's going to be no baseball if that were the case I'd be the first one and we'd have a thousand people out there complaining that's not the case that's the first misconception I want to clear up the second misconception I want to clear up is the fact that pickle ball is for adults pickle ball is for everybody there's there's been proposals for having programs for kids pickle ball is the fastest growing sport in the United States right now of course it doesn't grow if you don't have youth and if you don't have uh kids coming into these things the proposals Mr Mayor and and Ariel that you guys came up with with do oh I'm sorry Kirk and everybody else I'm sorry I miss somebody came up with doing it at the use and I thought was brilliant there's a lot of things to be worked out but it's also for kids let's not forget that okay that's being lost in the whole thing that that we're talking about now it's uh the uh there's there's going to be programs for kids to go along and and in terms of interaction since I've been going to the youth center there's been programs for adults what what we used to call as kids look at those old fogies well that happens to be us now since I can remember there was a litos playing softball way back then so there's always going to be that interaction between the adults and the kids and frankly I find that to be beautiful I find that to be very constructive that have a community place in the city of kurog Gables where you do have that interaction are there risks absolutely there risks but there's going to be risks everywhere you know I think in many cases that those RS can be mitigated through people in in public office who know who know what they're doing but again I came to say that to please clear up the misconception that this is adult only and that those kids are going to be involved and that we're going to get rid of baseball that is not the case all right thank you thank you thank you you m Mr Mayor I'm going to go to zoom next uh speaker is Katherine uh Shah good morning and I'm asking her to [Music] unmute and they're not unmuting Mr Mayor so we'll come back and that's it okay you tried you tried to un unmute okay um nothing else Mr clerk no sir all right perfect can I get a a motion in regards to our consent agenda before the vote adopting the consent agenda is taken is there anyone who wishes additional discussion or review of any other item on the consent agenda entertain a motion move second all in favor I I thank you okay before we move on to the time certain 10:30 uh 2-1 let's take a f minute break thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] recording in progress all right and we're back yes sir let's move on to item 2-1 which is time certain 10:30 a.m. good morning good morning Anna perus with the historical resources and cultural arts department um I just want to introduce you our vice chair of the historic preservation board Mr Michael Maxwell who will be presenting on this item good morning sir thank you for your patience and I apologize we didn't we didn't tackle the the item that time starting at 10:30 pickle ball mayor vice mayor Commissioners how lovely to see you today I'm Michael Maxwell uh 2845 Granada Boulevard Coral Gables I'm here on behalf of the Coral Gables historic preservation board and the landmarks board Mr snik unfortunately could not be with us today he was planning to but he had to be for a chamber event with the military um previously we had a public meeting at the request of the commission uh following our previous resolutions at the beginning of the year public meeting was held we were uh the city manager was kind enough to come we had public input the landmarks board the historic preservation board and City staff the city attorneys and the preservation officer were there and we had a wonderful discussion about this the result of the discussion is really the resolution that we have put before you and to begin the process to begin to negotiate with fpnl regarding this we understand that this is a lengthy process this has to go to the Public Service Commission this is something that's not going to happen tomorrow but it's in the long-term best interest we the people that met believe that this will save us money over a long period of time and because it standardizes everything and we don't have to go through so much riger marar uh secondly and maybe even more importantly this is one of the key elements that defines the Urban Design of our streets in our city it is unique no other city in our County or South Florida or that I know of maybe outside of Disneyland has the same kind of uh wonderful historic style lighting that we have so one last thing in terms of the resolution the resolution uh as was requested gives a geographical area we had discussions regarding that geographical area came to a conclusion are presenting it here in but one thing is missing from this we do recommend but it's at the it's a it would be in concert with the uh people that own property historic properties south of US1 which would leave us with the villages the Dutch Africans the two French Villages and the Chinese village you know would be there and we would recommend to the commission that these types of lighting be available for those historic areas as well and that would be the limit of that so we had a wonderful discussion the Mr Rojas was there really supported us in in a very very positive way and we were very grateful to have him there and to meet and the public came out very much for this as as well so if I may I'd like to read the resolution please City of Coral Gables Florida joint resolution of the City of Coral Gables historic preservation board and the landmarks Advisory Board making recommendations to the city commission regarding the replacement of certain street lights by Florida Power and Light whereas in January of 2024 the City of Coral Gables commission adopted resolution 20243 directing the scheduling of a joint meeting between the city's historic Pres ation board and landmarks Advisory Board to discuss the recent replacement of certain street lights by Florida Power and Light and whereas in 2023 the city commission adopted resolution 20 23 360 directing City staff to direct floor and Power and Light to Cease the replacement of certain Silver street lights within the city and those lights were the subject of the joint meeting between the two City boards and whereas following a presentation by the city's public work staff and a robust and lengthy discussion the landmarks Advisory Board adopted a set of recommendations to the city regarding the type and locations of certain Lighting in the city and whereas after full investigation and discussion the historic preservation board and landmarks board will refer to Silver lights as those 10-ft tall silver fluted street lights currently installed throughout the city and whereas at the Joint meeting the the city's historic preservation board adopted the same recommendation and today the two boards jointly submit the following recommendation to the city commission as directed in resolution 2024-the be it resolved by the commission of the City of Coral Gables section one that the forgoing whereas Clauses are hereby ratified and confirmed as being true and correct and are hereby made in specific part of this resolution upon adoption thereof section two two that the historic preservation board and landmarks Advisory Board jointly recommend one that the city approach Florida Power and Light and requests that they seize removal of all Silver street lights within the city located in residential areas north of US1 that the city approached Florida Power and Light to reinstall Silver street lights were recently removed that the city and Florida Power and Light adopt a policy to consistently and exclusively install the Silver street lights in those resid idential areas north of US1 within the city that any further street light number four that any further street light installation by Florida Power and Light or the city other than installation of the Silver street lights described above and those residential areas north of US1 shall be submitted to the historic preservation board section three and final that this resolution shall become effective upon the date of its passage and adopted herein that is our resolution ladies and gentlemen thank you and we hope you'll seriously consider it and so that we can move this process forward and continue making our city beautiful even more beautiful thank you for your support any questions I'm happy to entertain them are you are you guys going to have a meeting with thatp M Castro I hate to tell you this but I don't hear very well when there's noise like that I'm sorry and I'll I'll speak a little louder then thank you um do you already have a scheduled meeting with fpnl no ma'am we don't yet we need to we need to adopt this resolution in order to move forward to do that okay and let's say let's just think about Plan B and plan C right I hope this works out because this is what I really want to happen however I know that we have spoken to FNL and it's a little hard right now to try to even negotiate a little with them but um what would be Plan B in the case that plan B is the same plan B that we had during the 80s and early '90s we're patient because as as I've mentioned to you before they told us the same thing you know no we can't do that it's not in our rate base so we waited said put it in your rate base they ultimately did and came back and we ended up with lights on sovia and then later on we ended up you know lights on about 12 miles of streets now so it it's a matter of of being patient and working with them they're under tremendous con constraints with the public service Mission and just like McDonald's if we wanted McDonald's to go into a historic building the very first thing they would do would give us their normal McDonald's the golden arches everything else we'd say no not compatible with what it is that our community's images they'd come back with number two where they'd modify a bunch of it we'd say that's a great step here's what we'd really like and the third time they're going to give you what you really like because they want to be here too fpl's a big big part of our community I'm a person that really never gives up so I am in full support that you commence conversations with fpnl um and you keep on trying and trying as Plan B having patience okay we could uh we could think that we could think about that um that being said I I'll I'll move this resolution so uh before before we do that before we do that I think we need to have more discussion from all the members of of this commission so we we already had a discussion with that Pano they came here they met with the previous city manager we had discussions with our Public Works team uh who were present in the meeting again uh I support I support the resolution but it's a little bit more complex than just passing a resolution they they've been adamantly opposed to moving forward uh we we looked at I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but we looked at the cost I think that was provided by fpnl to replace uh the existing poles you know to these poles that are not historic by the way they're fiberglass poles that were in pretty bad shape but we got to be very careful when we say they're historic they were not historic um it was millions and millions and millions of dollars that fpnl was not willing to pay for themselves so my only concern is with I don't have a problem being patient and hoping to bring them to the table or luring fpnl to the table but during that time of patience we have neighborhoods that I've gotten phone calls from that are dark uh certain areas of the golf course that are dark right now also the people who are calling me are saying you know Vince we also want some of them want the new polls some of them want the old polls you know I haven't I haven't done a poll a scientific poll to find out who is more who's not obviously I have the new poles in front of my house I think they're perfectly fine but my house is a different context than than in the areas that we're talking about so I have a little bit of concern about being so patient because you have areas of the city that have had lighting and now don't have lighting and certain areas of the city where these lights were installed where the light has to be corrected because it could be encroaching on somebody's yard uh keeping them up at night so it's that I I I agree with the resolution I don't have any issue with it but we need to find an answer and the answer is either fpnl steps up to the plate or we're going to have to pay I don't remember what the number was it was some pretty pretty significant it was millions and millions and millions of dollars and assumed the responsibility during a hurricane by the way which is something that again um we're not in the business we don't have the bucket trucks if there is a hurricane here that's fpnl responsibility of bringing us back online so that's that was another major concern of mine Mr Mayor you you bring up really wonderful points and and there there's no one that could disagree with you on on those points however you know I I will say this the patience is really about what I alluded to they'll do whatever we want they and and high costs are well I think it could be this much we don't know what anything costs until we begin to look at it at an engineering basis and I mean you know you and I are both in construction and development we know that so you know in in this particular case we need to make the ask we need to have very serious conversations with them that are backed up by the city by the by your board and and and our local government to say this is what we want to have and and to actually put them in a position position where they have to respond on a business-like manner to us we have 50 over 50,000 customers here this is becoming one of the leading commercial centers in South Florida they put a lot of electricity here okay they bought our system from George Merrick and promised to keep it so if I may I'd like to bring up our our our Public Works director here just to refresh at least my memory in regards to the conversations that we had with piano I know that they came for the commission and they reiterated that they were are not willing to budge especially that this had been already addressed at the public safety commission and again you know when you're dealing with a public safety commission it's kind of you run up against a wall and they are a monopoly at the end of the day they do control the electricity here in our community so Mr Mr Public Works director can you give me a refresh of the cost of fpnl uh position in regards to the request by the two boards correct so the option that FPL gave us was basically we take over the lights and we have to do them from basically from scratch based on the standards that were applicable to us so according to our estimates and those estimates are based on prior jobs with some price escalation based on the recent increase and the certain features that we've gotten recently the 137 lights that were recently repl uh replaced we're looking at approximately 3.2 million including some fees that will have to be paid to fpl there's an additional 516 lights of the same silver fiberglass around the city if we're going to redo eventually those as well because they're obsolete they're not LEDs Etc the overall cost spread out over five years will be a little bit over $13 million and then if we want to uh harmonize because we have a plethora of all the lights around the city um now you're looking at significantly higher number than that I don't have those numbers exactly um but but from what I remember what was shown here at the commission before which I would like for those documents to please be shared with the board if it hasn't been shared already through the manager's office um was examples of harmonizing existing poles and making everything uniform and I remember there was a cost breakdown there was examples there was a PowerPoint presentation showing the different polls that exist throughout the city right not we didn't really have an answer how those polls got here just like how did Coral Gable's white weight lights end up in Broward you know that right somebody can tell me that story but now they're here so so so so the breakdown that we put together was specifically for these pedestrian level silver lights um but we know we have others around the city so yeah we we could look at a projection and just do an interpolation and see about the additional pulse around the city of especially The Pedestrian ones uh but yeah you would be looking at an excess of $13 million and we could come up with a order of magnitude also and also maintenance you know if something were to happen dur a hurricane so I I'm I'm in favor of of moving forward with this resolution after the whole commission has spoken but at the end of the day you know fpnl has the final say and we can come and I and I welcome we can have another negotiation with them we can have a sit down with them uh we can you know really come to you know come try to find some common ground but it's a pretty significant cost at the end of the day it's a significant cost right now because whenever I'm in opposition of something I'm going to give you the very highest cost if we took aund okay heres said it was $13 million to replace aund and some odd if I heard this correctly I think I think it was1 140 no about $3.2 million for 100 almost 140 do do the math and and figure out how much that is per poll and you'll and you'll go what but that's the old infrastructure the wiring con I understand that but you know one of the things that I'm sorry interrupt you but it's coming to memory now one of the things that mentioned and correct me if I'm wrong was that if they are if they abandon the service they remove all the infrastructure underground also we have to run a different code than we are as the city and that's really the big issue that I'm just reiterating what they said not me yeah I mean look we need time to resolve this thing we need to get in front of everybody and the commission needs to support this and and move forward forward or we're just going to continue to be where we are so I'm going to follow up for the mayor okay um what I'm what I'm reading versus what was said was two different things um your suggestion was that the board negotiate with fpnl typically what we do is no I didn't suggest the board just want to make sure I'm clear do the resolution says the city the city yes cuz so it be through the city manager yeah the city manager's office I think is it and there's another conversation we have to have with fpnl to with regard to you know the location of these Transformers in front of historic homes or homes with you know and the impact that it would have so we have that coming up as well and it would be an opportune time you know to have you know a deeper conversation with fpnl so as far as having a you know conversation I absolutely am open to having a conversation um it is budget season now you know we have we always have the uh the tension on on the Rope uh pickle ball versus polls versus other facilities and and you know different parks that need Improvement streets drainage it's a lot it's a lot then we have some streets that are very dark and have been very dark for a long time I mean I remember walking and knocking on Aragon just a couple blocks away from here and you know it's dark it's dark I mean you put your hand out in front of you and you can't see it so safety is one of the issues as well that we have to think about so let's have the conversation but let's keep in mind that there's a lot that needs to be taken care of in the city Madam vice mayor there's a lot that needs to be done in the city as a matter of fact one of the major lights that we have are wooden poles with little hanging lights off of them you know we haven't had a lot of new lights installed as a matter of fact you know the the kind of recent surge where these black lights have all of a sudden come in has really been the the first kind of movement on more new lighting that we've had in many years oh yeah so you know me as I've said from the beginning you know the fact that the previous agreement did not include the silver lights was just an oversight people just didn't think about how that was and uh you know we need to move back to that so that's my position yes ma'am he mentioned an oversight you you mentioned over I just want to be clear on that did when we had when we had conversations with fpnl I don't think it was I don't think it was an over I think they told us this is what has been approved by the public safety commission and that's all we can give you am I am I correct or no this conversations they were very clear that they're not giving us go back to 2017 and this a little back and forth where we asking about and then they first said maybe let me look in to this and then finally they said no no so so it wasn't an oversight it was a very lengthy Conversation Over several years and you know they they pretty much made it clear at the last meeting obviously subject to further discussion but that they made a business decision and from when I remember again it's all it was a public comment it was we we discussed it here with fpnl Representatives who were here they were adamant they wanted to have a uniform a uniform handful of options for municipalities that supposedly we were getting the most high-end uh model that was available am I correct or it it is I I will tell you the poles that are looks aside they're definitely better quality that we have out there right now okay um I I think that's just very clear I mean looks are in the eye of the beholder and obviously you know um but um you know these are concrete with the integral color on the on the on the materials like integral I mean it's it's it's definitely a better quality product than what it's out there right now now whether people like the looks or not like the look that's a whole different conversation Mr Mayor yes sir you know I mean we we we've been here before I we had the same conversation back in the 80s and 90s and look we ended up with these silver lights okay and it didn't cost us much more okay so we got it it's a matter of being patient and persevering okay and I'm supporting I'm supportive but I just I just don't want to see a community that's without lights for another two years and then and then you know what I'm saying it's a catch 22 then the resident calls us and says hey I haven't had lights in my in my backyard for 3 years commissioner caser you wanted to say something no nobody's stopping any new lights putting in you know I I think the best answer here is to convince fpnl even though they've shown a very strong opinion on they want it was an executive decision that's what Addis told me from FPL fpnl but um let's think outside the box a little bit right what about if we we talk to other municipalities we convince them that they want these lights too and maybe we'll have a little more leverage with fpnl you know I think we can do that uh but in in answer of your question I I don't believe that there's any problem with with them providing that I it's just a matter of sitting down negotiating with them and then having them and and to come to an agreement with them and then have them take it to the Public Service Commission because it's the Public Service Commission who will approve it and if they come out and said we want this for this city they'll approve it so they're they're thinking about manufacturing they're thinking about storage they're thinking about that they're only making these lights for us right and how often do we need them replaced so um I think those are things that when we are negotiating them with them we need to keep in consideration we we'll come up with a good solution and um well F first of all thank you and the boards for for sitting through that meeting and and and coming up with uh this plan for us um I I think there's a lot of different factors of what has been said here that can be incorporated into this conversation um we asked several questions of FPL last time they were here and they were supposed to get back to us my understanding from the manager's office they still haven't on some of those questions um so I think we still have that conversation that is ongoing with FPL um commissioner Castro brings up a good point we are not the only municipality who's probably looking for different options um I know that if we contact the Florida League of cities U or Miami day League of cities um we can talk to other municipalities that have a similar historic nature to Coral Gables and they don't just want to take whichever the best option is in a box um because as they themselves said other municipalities have been historically using these same poles that we have used in Coral Gables that we are not the only ones that were using this poll everybody's being forced into the new poles but not everybody's using it I think the the um resolution that we passed here in the commission on this item was to stop the installation of new poles north of uh corway um so I don't think that the impact is being felt by areas that do not have light poles because those are still moving forward the only thing that we stopped was the replacement of the silver poles with the black Po and I know your team has doing a great job I've seen some of them that have fallen and you've brought a new new silver po pull back and and replace them so I don't think anybody's suffering from a lack of lighting because of these poles in fact I think a lot of people are suffering from lack of lighting because of the new poles because the location of the poles is inadequate it's Shining Light in the wrong direction it's above the tree line so I I don't think that I think we have the adverse effect having these new light Poes in some areas is having a negative impact on on parts of the community what I would like to see is for the manager off off we have a new manager in place who's obviously gotten an understanding of of the concerns that the community has in this issue um have a sit down with with FPL uh our FPL uh government relations person is the incoming chair of the Chamber of com Coral Gable's Chamber of Commerce so they're off they obviously have a stake in coral gaes and an interest in ensuring that we have the best in our community and I'm hopeful that we can use that and I think in the past Mr Mayor there's been Sation up here about undergrounding and how it was going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars to do the undergrounding and through lengthy negotiations and a lot of pushing from the City of Coral Gables we got that number down to zero it's not costing us a penny and I think that that was also a conversation that was had with other municipalities throughout the state and it was a a an effort a larger effort to ensure that it didn't come at an additional cost to the residents and I think it's something that we can we can move forward with through the manager's office start that conversation with FPL and see what the process is there's also been other conversations one of the the request that I made of FPL last time they were here uh they currently have a cement pole which is a basic pole which has the the light feature on top whether we would be able to create a case that goes around that cement pole that's similar to what we had before and that would fix the problem they still have their infrastructure and we still have the look that we're looking for it would be a joint effort it wouldn't come at a cost of 13 or or $16 million as you're saying it would be relatively uh inexpensive in comparison um but they didn't have an answer for us at the time so I think that's something that we need to continue having the conversation the only reason I would not vote for this resolution today is because we are making giving directives for FPL to start replacing the old polls I think we need to have the conversation with them first so that we can figure out what the final solution is what that final solution is going to be whether it's the the old silver Pole or whether it's a new hybrid that we can create with FPL that will satisfy the needs of the community and the look uh for Coral Gables that we would have so if it was up to me I would give a directive to the manager to to sit down with FPL and start that conversation um to see what what the potential solution can be to make sure that we have the best of both worlds we want to make sure that we have adequate lighting uh some of those older light poles don't have the Kelvin level that is necessary to properly light our streets the vice mayor has mentioned that the coloring sometimes isn't the best either because we have those orange uh lights um which don't allow for you know identification or or proper site so we want to make sure that we offer the best for for our residents and I think just having the conversation we don't lose anything we didn't lose anything when we started the conversation under undergrounding and today we're better for it so if I may I want to respond because I I was the one that commenced the conversations about undergrounding and we worked on it for years it's not correct what commissioner FR said we started off the process having a discussion about $275 million and finding a way to pay for it as residents with some help from the city over a 10-year period we abandoned that process and as the Director will tell you when we found out that through you know the insistence of the City of Coral Gable and other municipalities that were interested in undergrounding that they were going to come up with a new rate that they were going to spread across the entire State of Florida so every person in the State of Florida is going to be paying a higher rate what we did get in the City of Coral gaes was that we are ahead of the line in the sense of that we're getting the work done now because we started with our consultants and Mr Diaz will can tell you we started working on the process of undergrounding we started having these conversations over years and years and years and years uh so we were considered first in line other municipalities are also working on on undergrounding their lines hardening their system but the rates are not going to be the rates are not going to go up just for Coral Gables it's going to be spread across the entire State of Florida So eventually their goal ATL's goal like our city our city goal is over 10 years to have 70% of our City Underground um but you know to me I think it's important the trade-off for the additional cost is a benefit especially for the elderly for those individuals that are disabled and for the fact that who wants to be out of electricity two or three uh weeks under a minor hurricane so there's benefits but there's also drawbacks because we've had to spend extra money and we had no other choice because it came through the Public Service Commission but I don't have a problem I think I don't have an issue at all having the manager uh have a conversation with that p&l uh getting as much information as we can trying to see if we can build consensus um to to to deliver the polls the polls that we want um I'm all forward I'm I'm I'm there to have as many conversations as you want I just don't want there to be an issue where you know lighting is an issue in the neighborhoods and I've been contacted by certain residents say listen I had a light pole here before it was going to be replaced maybe I didn't like the pole someone told me I don't like the poll that they're planning but at least it had some light on it let's see what we can do I just want to say you know staff I imagine you're getting those calls too you know when is my light pole going to be replac or brought back um we just have to tell them listen we're working on on a different angle well just in in very quick response and I know everybody's busy we would both of the boards and the public that attended the meeting would encourage you to vote positively on this resolution today the reason being that we're asking you to vote on the resolution rather than defer it because the resolution gives you a political for to go to fpnl to say our community has voted for this and asked us to do it and we've approved this resolution Simply Having and say we'd like to have another discussion with you does not give you the tool that you need to effectively you know bring them to the table and um so I would encourage you to do that and I would encourage you to pass the resolution today by by passing this resolution first we would have to come into an agreement with them right no you don't you you're basically have it this resolution basically says we want to have conversations with you to ultimately move to some kind of resolution on these street lights it does not tell you anything other than that it says it's all about conversation and moving forward with It ultimately the commission does not have to accept whatever comes out you know I mean that's up to the commission to do the intent of of the people that came to the meeting and and are speaking up is to try to move this forward to affect a resolution on section two in numbers one through 1 through four we would have to get in go into an agreement with them to then comply with the rest of the numbers correct so right so I was I was a little confused to why commissioner Fernandez said you wouldn't you wouldn't vote for this my concern is regarding the line where it says that we would be requesting that FPL begin removal of the current light poles I think we need to have a plan before we agree or we we instruct FPL to to replace the polls because we don't know what that final option is going to be they don't currently make the polls that that we have so I I don't even know where to begin the process of sourcing the polls that they would have to replace back to the old polls those polls are no longer available correct they are available the issue is not that they're not available the issu is that decision not to use them yeah so they're not going to install them so correct they're not so Madam City attorney will you please step in and give us a little guidance yes I just want to you know just kind of clarify what the joint resolution States and of course the commission can adopt a variation of that or does not have to take any action it's obviously up up to the commission but the first um request is that the city approach FPL and request that they cease removal of all silver lights within the city located in residential areas north of US1 so I want you also to keep that in mind if that is this is the commission's intent sure if it's something more narrow um that the city approached FPL to reinstall silver lights were recently removed um again that is an approach but but that is is that what the commission is deciding today is that what the the request to FPL will be um and that the city and FPL adopt a policy to consistently and exclusively install the silver lights in those residential areas north of us onean within the city and that any future street light installation by FPL or the city other than installation of the silver lights described above in those residential areas north of yosan shall be submitted to the historic preservation board so there's a lot of different things that the the joint resolution includes I just want to make sure it's clear that if you adopt the resolution as is that you would be adopting all of that um but of course the commission can can do something different so if I if I may just one one quick thing I think I think there's a everybody here wants to resolve this issue okay why don't we ask why don't we do something okay why don't we get the manager and his team with Hermes who has a wealth of knowledge to listen to the previous time FP was here schedule time with fpnl and move in a Direction Where where we can try to build some consensus here and find the road map for success I want fpnl to tell me y or nay I'll help you and what is what what wiggle room do we have I'm all for being patient but I don't know how long it'll take and if they tell us no what do we do then we wait 2 years 5 years 10 years we keep going to the table what what leverage do we have to get pnl to come to the table and negotiate with us that's what I want to understand I've just given it to you I've given you a resolution and the resolution is your Leverage The Leverage says that the community of Coral Gables which is a rate paying entity that regulates a public Monopoly the people want this public Monopoly to do this for it that's exactly what we've just said and that's your leverage you know I I agree with you Mr Mayor we do need to have these discussions but without a resolution to this thing you know without a public commitment by this board to achieve this I don't believe you're going to get a serious interest out of fpnl because it's just like more talk okay in other words this is kind of where you put your money where your mouth is now you don't have to adopt the total part of the resolution but what you do what I believe you need to do is to say fpnl we're serious about this and we want we want to engage and we want to engage with and move this process forward we've been here before may I yeah go ahead make a suggestion um listening to everyone Express their views and their concerns and ideas which I think is a great discussion I know commissioner Fernandez was you were hesitant about one of the lines the City attorney says we can pass um I guess we can amend or modify a line that perhaps we're all uncomfortable with and if we're good with the rest of it perhaps if that's if we want to pass that but he can he can maybe suggest can we add a word remove a word so also I just want a point of clarification the way this is drafted it's almost like a request a general request to the city commission but if the commission adopts a resolution I I'm assuming it would be a direction to the manager so the manager will need to have clear direction as to what the commission wants the manager to do and when he reaches out to fpl um what he should be asking for and what the end goal should be um or not or maybe you want to leave it open-ended perhaps that's that's up to the commission but for instance you know that the city approach it would be a direction the city manager approach FPL and request a cease removal of all silver lights within the city located in the residential areas north of US1 is that the direction of the commission um and then is it you know that the city manager approached FPL to to negotiate to reinstall silver lights were recently removed um but then you know number three that the city and FPL adopt a policy of course this commission cannot direct FPL but I think perhaps it would be at the city manager approach FPL to to to to you know with the goal of of of f city the city and FPL adopting such a policy and so forth and then number four is really a direction that I think would apply beginning now which is any future street light installation would have to go to the historic preservation board and that's something that perhaps needs to be further fleshed up because is it for a recommendation is it for final approval that that's not part of our our process right now so that should be discussed as well or I ask for a clarification um as to the areas that we're talking about we talking about just single family homes like for example you have several developments that are going on right now right several may be in the commercial core so I don't think that's what we intend residential to do here and then you have somewh like on the periphery like for example Alex and craft or 1,000 ponds and some of them I so so are we talking just about because there's single family home residential there's duplexing there's multif family so um I just want to make sure that we got a a clear Direction because there's some stuff on the works right now that it's going to be impact it potentially how would in section 21 that the city approached Florida Power and Light and requests that they cease the removal of all Silver street lights located in residential areas the idea is being that this is really residential areas at this time you know and that the court and that and that while we've suggested an area as requested by the commission at the previous time you know dealing with with lights in the commercial District at this point you know hasn't been hasn't been fully discussed how about multif family areas about new developments like Alex Andra is a residential development multif family is residential really yeah it's Zone commercial so I really think that we should have we should have a little bit more discussion before we vote on this and I think it would be beneficial if you sat down with the manager and we put it on the next agenda we're more than willing to put on the next agenda there's so many open-ended questions here and you mentioned the fact that the city of corate was regulates fpo we don't regulate fpo uh we're we're at many at many situations we're at the as you've seen before we've we've entangled them on issues of power lines so I just think it's a the appropriate thing would be defer we can put it on the agenda immediately for the next commission meeting so you know it's going to be on the agenda and we can flush that out with the city attorney and the city and the city manager to get a better understanding we can have conversations offline you know with each one of us uh with the manager and with the city attorney just to get input in regards to what we believe should be on the uh on the resolution and and I have concerns still that that I think would be good to have conversations offline with with the city attorney and with the manager um I'd be happy if we can defer to to the next meeting that we can have a more robust conversation about this because as as much as we've had conversations about this I think it's important to also have the conversation with the new city manager uh and his take on on what is taking place the assistant city manager who was part of the prior negotiations um I think it would help us better formulate um cuz I agree with you I think the biggest tool that the man would have is a resolution from the commission giving a directive because the commission is the one that's making the decision at the end of the day on this process and if we just sent the manager you know to the to fpl saying the commission would like for you to consider this there's no teeth and I think today is not the day to give this teeth because I don't think any of us are really ready to hammer this out uh completely I I don't know if if if I will U second your motion for deferral I'm not ready to proceed with this today we do have conversations going on with fpnl with regard to the Transformer issue uh they've asked to speak to me ahead of time before we do a a sunshine meeting on it to see if we can reach some resolutions so I've looped the manager's office in on that um you know the response I had on the Transformer issues were just going to skip you and my concern is we really don't have any leverage but we need need to have a conversation to try to move it in the right direction we don't want our community in the dark we don't want it skip but we two issues though Madam vice mayor pardon you really want to put those two issues together they're pretty different no not not exactly no they're not it's all about talking to people about reaching a compromise um and it and it does because if fpnl just says no I'm going to put this here and I'm going to install this this my ask of them is let's have a conversation about it there may be another option it's really the same process that we're talking about you're talking polls I'm talking locations for Transformers because there are other options out there and we can do a better job options we can do a better job so we have a motion in a second Mr Mayor before the vote is taken we have uh members of the public requesting to speak on the item okay all right first speaker is Maria Cruz okay thank you thank you sir Maria Cruz Mrs Maria Cruz 1447 Miller Road very interesting as you all probably remember I lived in my house since 1976 fast forward a few years after we had issues with with uh proposals to build uh housing for the University of Miami uh University Village I think is called and through that process the university uh profer I guess is the word that the attorneys use to put in up to a million dollars to improve our neighborhood I find it very interesting that we're talking about moving the polls because you know that would be a problem because the streets will be dark my neighborhood is still dark and you know where the money is at last time I checked before the new manager came in with the previous administration there's only about a quar of a million dollars left in that um proposed million dollars because the university came back back several times to ask for some of the money because they needed to do something and nobody discussed it with the neighborhood so we ended up not improving our neighborhood so when we talk about dark streets you'll need to drive in my neighborhood and you will see what dark is very dark okay now the issue at hand today are the light poles when we talk about it before and Mr uh Diaz will remember when they started installing those ugly black polls on sanato Drive I contacted him okay I objected to that I asked when was the neighborhood when was it discussed with the community never it was a decision made by the previous administration what Florida Power license that's the only thing we can do we accepted it guess what this city for years has been known for fighting when they think when we think we're right we have lost many battles but we have fought okay so in this instance we chose not to fight we chose to pick from the catalog that we were given because that was what we could do we have fought things here that the community didn't want and yes we fought but when the community wanted to fight we kind of were shy you know we didn't want to do it the issue is in the old times when we drove from South Miami into coros when we drove from Miami into corales we knew we were in Coral GA we could tell we were in Coral gaes the light poles the the residences the way we took care of our streets the parks The Greenery everything was different nowadays we become like everybody else not long ago I wasn't driving so I was looking around South Miami has the same polls we do okay all that are unincorporated that county has the same polls you know what we're not the same we brag about the fact that we're different it's time for us to be different it's time for to say hello stop let's see what we can do and there are options it's very easy to sit back and say oh we were given the catalog and we could only choose no we do have options and vice mayor I I appreciate the fact that we do have options okay and and it's time for us to stand our ground we can fight for so many things that we fought some won some lost but you know we do have a voice we want to be like everybody else it's time for us to go back to what the way we were that what we expect what people want that's why they move here if we're going to be the same as everybody else why should anybody come here okay so please please let's take uh let's tell uh Flor FL power life that we are different and we would like and I appreciate the idea of going to the league of cities because I bet you other people will joining the fight because not everybody wants to be the same thank you next speaker is on Zoom Mr Mayor and it's Alejandro Silva good afternoon sir good afternoon uh members of the board um my name is Alejandro Silva of 1043 North Greenway Drive um I sit on the historic preservation board but I'm here today as a private citizen uh I won't take much your time I know you all are busy um I believe Mr Maxwell did an excellent job of presenting um the resolution um if you haven't already I would really encourage you to review the minutes of our joint meeting with the landmarks Advisory Board uh many of the points you brought up for discussion were discussed in detail there Mr snik points in particular on reopening negotiations were especially AOS uh this is being presented currently as an All or Nothing option uh I really think um the city is being presented with either we keep the existing lights um that FPL is providing or the city pays an exorbitant amount to to restore the historically appropriate lights I truly believe there's a middle ground where everyone can be satisfied and I would really ask that you re-engage in discussions with FPL to explore other options where perhaps each side gives in a little and the fiscal impact to the city could be lessened greatly to provide the historically appropriate lights then the city can make an informed decision um mayor Lago had an interesting suggestion to sit with FPL and City staff uh and I would highly encourage that perhaps a member of the historic preservation board or the landmarks advisory committee U could sit in on one of those meetings thank you very much for your time I agree thank you sir that's it Mr Mayor okay so we have a motion a second to defer to the next meeting and have through the city manager's office staff uh me with that p&l uh to try to find consensus in regards to multiple moving Parts in regards to uh the the the joint resolution that was presented to us today by the Coral Gable historic preservation board and the landmark Advisory Board which I wanted again reiterate our thanks and gratitude for your hard work and commitment uh to making sure that the city beautiful maintains the city beautiful thank you sir I appreciate that thank you for being here sir vice mayor Anderson yesion Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Menendez yes mayor logo yes thank you sir uh moving on to time certain 11:00 E1 mayor item E1 is an appeal to the Coral Gable City commission from the decision of the historic preservation board on March 20 2024 to designate the property located at 1221 Milan Avenue legally described as lot 9 block 39 cor Gables Granada section revised according to the plat thereof as recorded in plat book 8 page 113 of the public records of Miami County Florida as a local Historic Landmark U mayor and Commissioners like to briefly review the procedural posture on this matter um the property was designated uh historic in September of 2022 and that decision was appealed to the city commission as you all know the city commission heard the appeal and remanded the matter to the historic preservation board with instructions to provide a more detailed explanation for its decision to to designate or not designate uh pursuant to section 14 and then it did go back to Historic preservation board which did once again uh designate the property as historic and the property owner has appealed um and that's why we are here today pursuant to section 14-2 8.6 of the City Zoning code this appeal is based on the record of the hearings before the historic preservation board and shall not be a den noal hearing what that means is that no new or additional testimony shall be taken this is an appeal appeal based only on the record as a reminder your role in considering this appeal is whether due process was afforded whether the historic preservation board's decision was based on competent substantial evidence and whether the essential requirements of law were met the commission's rules to determine whether the zoning code was followed whether there was competent substantial evidence supporting the decision of the historic preservation board and approving the request for historic designation after the commission's review the city commission has four options as we've discussed in Prior appeals um the commission can affirm the decision of the historic board um which which designated the property historic as a local Historic Landmark the city commission can affirm the decision with conditions the city commission can override the decision of the historic preservation board which in this case would mean the property shall not be designated historic or as as you know the city commission can remand for further proceedings with the historic preservation board the mayor as chair of the commission with me as parliamentarian has issued a procedural order that was provided in advance to the commission and the parties pursuant to that procedural order the appellant will be allowed 15 minutes for presentation which shall be limited to the record before the his preservation board next the historic preservation staff will be allowed 15 minutes for its presentation which will also be limited to the record below and next there will be time for questions by members of the commission to staff or to the parties then public comment will be allowed but we will be limited to two minutes per speaker because the review of this appeal is not day noal public comment shall not be considered testimony in this case finally there'll be time for additional questions and discussion by members of the city Commission because this is a qua judicial item if you've had any exp party Comm Communications those should be disclosed thank you so much uh before the counselor begins I've had exp party Communications with multiple members uh interested members of who will be here with us today I've received a numerous emails I've received emails phone calls I've spoken to uh the applicant uh in the prior uh consideration of this item as well uh and I've had residents who have called and spoken to me about this the the same here same here yeah and and from I didn't include the prior consideration yes we did meet talk counselor good afternoon thank you for being here with us the floor is yours good afternoon Mr Mayor and Commissioners and staff my name is Wayne pathman I'm office of pathman law uh located at one biscane Tower 2 South biscane Boulevard I'm here on behalf of the applicant the salones um I would like to ask from the beginning that our presentation is a lot longer than 15 minutes this is the the fourth time that we're having a hearing on this matter second time before the commission U this is the most important thing to the salonus is they home and I would ask that we'd be given the time to put on our entire presentation so I'm going to ask a question first how many of us here have watched the historic preservation board's meeting so we so again as you've probably witnessed in the commission meeting I'm pretty lenient in regards to to presentation times and uh holding people to 3 minutes I give you the necessary time that you need to speak but let's also be considered that we have other people who would like to you know put their put their interests on the record so we're going to present I'm just going to do a quick overview then our expert Richard heisenbottle will speak then Mr salonis and then I'll conclude no worries okay thank you thank you for both all of you for your time um when we were last here the commiss Mission mandated the City of Coral Gable's historic preservation board find with specificity uh reasons to designate 122 uh 1221 Milan as historic yet you will see today that the historic preservation board did not provide further support for their findings we feel there is an overwhelming evidence that this home does not meet the criteria for historic designation further support is not specifically identified in the staff recommendation in fact the staff recommendation is pretty similar almost verbatim as original staff recommendation to the first hearing over a year and a half ago what is in the staff recommendation there's a lot of assumption speculation and hearsay regarding the March 20th 2024 hearing there are three main issues I'd like to address first the historical resource and Cultural Arts staff remained virtually unchanged the report remained unchanged from its first hearing second the best evidence of the home's construction is a 1922 tax card proving that the home was built was not built in George Merrick's Vision as staff would like you to believe the tax card which I will show you a copy of which you saw last time is a particular item that is really important to this this hearing a tax card is usually not issued until the house has been built if you'll see on the tax card which is a matter of record and I have a copy of it here and I have copies I can give to everybody if you'd like to see on the tax card it clearly says 1922 on the tax card it clearly shows the outline of a house being built throughout the staff report and throughout the hearing in front of the hbb staff maintained that the house was built in 1923 and 1924 why because they were trying to fit the round peg into the square hole and that is that this house was a house that was a George Merck design and um Mediterranean Revival as you will hear today from our expert and what we put on before the HPB it's not Mediterranean Revival it was not part of that original design that George mer came from came to City of Coral Gables to build it was in fact the Spanish style home that was built in 1922 why is that important and I and I want to emphasize throughout our presentation is that the entire staff report and everything that was presented to the HPB was based upon something from 1923 and 1924 why because that's when Merck began with his Mediterranean Revival style of building homes in Coral Gables or having homes designed in Coral Gables to meet that style this doesn't qualify it's Spanish uh style and not Mediterranean Revival as I stated to the board during the march 20 uh 24 hearing uh the Integrity of the house is completely changed whether it was done with a permit or without a permit that's really not in your purview what's in your purview is that the condition of the house today which does what does it look like what does of any of those original characteristics are they still there the house has gone through over 4 45 different changes uh from the time that it was built until about 10 12 years ago uh when Mr simonis did some additional changes it's important to understand that because one of the key elements is integrity of the house and whether or not it has been significantly changed and we'll get into that as we continue our presentation section 8-13 of the cor Gable zoning code States a home must meet one or more of the several criteria for historic historical designation in order to meet above criteria a property cannot be significantly altered you will hear from Peter Salon the owner who has a great deal of knowledge about his home and and its history you will hear from our expert Richard heisenbottle whose name and reputation preced him in terms of his knowledge of historic preservation I would like to address some of the arguments made at the March 20th 2024 hbb hearing staff report is premised on the home's importance to the Mediterranean Revival style and its relationship to George Merrick and as as I said earlier this house does not meet that qualification because it was built prior to the institution of the Mediterranean Revival and prior to George Merrick having any interest in this in this neighborhood this was built in 1922 the tax card is the best evidence and that's a key element there is no other evidence that was presented at the HPB by staff or anybody else saying that the house was built in any other era it was or another year it was speculation it was assumption and hearsay the tax card speaks for itself Mr heisen represented to the board that this home certainly did not Define Merrick's vision for the city nor is this home an example of the Mediterranean Revival style this early home 1922 not 1923 displays characteristics of Spanish style and predated Mer's vision of the Mediterranean Revival style Mr heisenbottle through presentation argued that this home exemplified Spanish style initially but underwent major alterations destroying any historical value however not a single board member asked for clarification on the evidence provided and there was not a single request made by any board member for further clarification from Mr heisenbottle Mr heisen bot's presentation and expertise were not considered by the board members moreover we believe the board member Donna Spain confused the two architectural Styles and their significance Miss Spain stated the home possesses numerous character defining features of a Spanish style home as argued by Mr heisenbottle transcript page 35 paragraph 5 however further down the page she states meric envisioned a Mediterranean inspired City and thus the home is an example of Mediterranean style well which is it is it Spanish Styles is it Mediterranean Revival it's Spanish style however um I want to provide you with a few quick comments uh made on the record by Mr heisen during the march 2024 hearing please note Mr heisen will provide further details of his findings in his presentation when we evaluate a home for historic designation we must evaluate the the home for its current architectural appearance again I remind you that this house has gone on on has had 45 different changes made to the house over the last 60 years in my view it is not eligible for historic designation why because it's totally lost its architectural Integrity most of the facts stated by the historical resource and cultural arts department in their report alleg unsubstantiated findings there is no reference to any treatises or any architectural digest contained within the report it's all hearsay and speculation they rely on an old newspaper article that they believe somehow incorporates this particular house which it does not they rely on unsubstantiated data saying that the house was built in 1923 and 24 yet when profer and asked and I cross-examined which I'll get to later Anna peris she refused and could not provide anything to show how or why they believe the house was built in 1923 and 1924 I ask that you remember throughout the presentation the definition of integrity and remember how that is to be applied in this scenario law Insider defines architectural Integrity as the architectural elements materials color and quality of the original building construction and I emphasize original building construction on our topic of Integrity I stated during the hearing that almost one half of the entire report by staff over 10 pages uh discusses the alterations to the home that that in of itself is enough to say the house has lost its Integrity in fact as testified to by Mr salonus there have been 45 alterations to this house that's clearly significant I'd also ask you to remember the word significant because it comes up later in my presentation about what happened during the last hearing however the Coral Gable tax card provided to hbb members during the 92122 hearing and the 32024 hearing clearly shows the home was built before 1922 again it's so important to understand that because this document the tax card identifies a house already built you typically only tax and create a tax card once something is completed not before um at this point I'd like to introduce our expert Richard heisenbottle um he will speak with regards to the Mediterranean style the Spanish style does this home qualif for historic designation then Mr salonus will give his presentation and I will wrap up with a conclusion and at that time I'm going to walk you through very quickly the transcript just certain portions of what was said at the other hearing I know many of you watched it you just told me that but I think it's important to identify some of the things that were said because on cross-examination ultimately the staff admitted that the house has gone through significant using the word significant alterations and they could not decipher between the two styles with that I'd like to introduce Mr heisenbottle good afternoon Mr heisenbottle thank you for being here thank you very much everyone um may I ask my associate here Nina Caruso who's um our director of preservation services at the firm to uh be in charge of the slides today and keep me on track um for those of you that don't know me my name is Rich heisenbottle I'm a president of RJ heisenbottle Architects we've been in Coral Gables here for probably the last 35 years um as uh with with our own firm with a specialty in historic preservation and and it's very unusual for me to speak in against a historic designation it's not what Rich does youve seen me put up uh big fights over designating and and saving buildings such as the chal Block downtown or the Coconut Grove Playhouse as an example um but but in this case I truly believe that staff has completely overstepped and exaggerated everything about this uh this designation report so when Mr solanus and his wife asked me to uh review the uh Historic Landmark designation report that was prepared by staff I agreed a review focused on analyzing the information presented in the staff report and assessing whether the criteria for historic designation was met my analysis has concluded that the criteria justification for historic designation have not been substantiated uh by by any means um we're going to go to slide two for the moment here uh Nina because this is a predicate to this is a predicate to um to how we make decisions as to whether we're even going to consider designating a building section 8103 establishes a criteria for designating historic landmarks or historic districts um and states that buildings are significant if they possess Integrity of location design setting materials workmanship or Association in order to qualify for designation in order to to to to to take the first step for forward as a local Historic Landmark or Historic District Individual properties must have significant character interest or value as part of the historical cultural archaeological aesthetic or architectural Heritage of the city these are that's a those are two important questions and I'm going to ask you those questions if you don't mind does 12 21 Milan the way it exists today possess Integrity of design setting material workmanship or Association the answer is absolutely no does the property have significant character interest or value answer is once again absolutely no which to me means we shouldn't have gone any further forward in addition to section 8-13 the eligibility of a potential historic uh Landmark shall be based on meeting one or more of the following criteria staff list three criteria that it feels uh that the building that the home meets we don't think so regarding the significance criteria one the home is supposed to portray the environment in an era of History characterized by one or more distinctive architectural Styles staff's summary of significance claims that the building was built in the Mediterranean Revival style that defined Merck's vision for the city this home certainly did not Define Merck's vision for the city nor is it an example of the Mediterranean Revival style the early home 1922 built in 1922 to displays characteristics of the Spanish style and predates Merck's vision of the Mediterranean Revival style the Spanish style home is a result of the fact that its architect Lewis Brum was a California architect who relocated to Florida bringing with him the Spanish style that he knew so well so criteria one has not been met regarding criteria 2 the home would have to embody a distinguishing characteristic of an architectural style period or method of construction staff's summary of significance claims that although the home has been altered it possesses numerous character defining features associated with the Mediterranean Revival style the summary list just about all the features one could possibly be associated with the Mediterranean Revival style it calls them character defining in my professional opinion these features are not character defining or distinguishing characteristics of this home distinguishing characteristics are those marked by Excellence or more conspicuous by Excellence or made more conspicuous by Excellence there's nothing excellent about this home when we compare it to other homes within the Granada section that are locally designated criteria two has not been met criteria four would require the home to exemplify the historical cultural political economic or social trends of the community staff summary of significance for criteria for historic cultural significance does not clearly State how the home exemplifies a historic cultural or political or economic trend of the community it just states that it does the reader is left to to guess to surmise that because the home was moderately priced it somehow part of a historical cultural Trend no context for local State national cultural economic or social trends it's provided this to to briefly mention the south Florida real estate boom is not enough to prove the point that because this home was moderately priced it was part of a historical cultural or economic Trend there is no there are no citations no footnotes no evidence to support the claim furthermore staff States that the home was built as an archetype upon which Coral Gables was founded this home let me assure you is not an archetype upon which the City of Coral Gables was founded if it was we would not be the great City that we are today after evaluating this criteria professionally I find the criteria four was not met either in my my opinion the H 1221 Milan displays architectural features associated with the Spanish Spanish style influenced by the 19th century Spanish territories in the Southwest United States Lewis Brum an architect originally from California was inspired by these Spanish this Spanish style architecture you can see it on the right hand side of this slide you can see the comparison between the those are Spanish style homes they do not have the Mediterranean Revival influence in them and they are directly from California in its original Spanish style the home represented characteristics of a distinct of a distinctive architectural style with distinctive characteristics of its period however with its 45 alter ations in all and Peter's going to review each one of those I'm not going to bore you with those the home has lost its architectural Integrity by any measure this is supported by the fact that staff's report dedicates eight pages to discussing alterations to the home between 2009 and 2011 calling them quote notable changes then the resport report discusses each change in detail contradicting staff's point that quote it possesses significant Integrity for the designation when evaluating a home for historic designation we must evaluate it for its current architectural Integrity we cannot designate a home based on its original design and how it used to look unless those changes have gained historic significance over time and are truly worthy of designation now when you look at these changes in a few moments and Peter's outlined every one of them in red for you there's one thing you can be assured of they didn't gain any significance overtime that would justify staff's suggestion that they have design Integrity let me demonstrate a little bit more in depth here the errors in staff's report I believe that staff's selection of the eight homes on Millian Avenue is arbit is completely arbitrary first and foremost 1221 Milan was built in 1922 as indicated on the tax card this is the only substantiating evidence for when the home was built staff references 1923 and 1924 in their report and suggest that the tax card is wrong they have no other evidence just suggesting that the tax card is wrong it doesn't appear to be wrong the staff report emphasizes eight initial homes on Milan that were commissioned by merik these initial eight homes on Milan Milan Avenue come from 1924 uh excuse me a September 24th 1923 Miami Herald article that reports that there will be 40 new moderately priced homes in the Granada section and specifically mentions 12 on Ferdinand 18 on Genoa 8 on Milan six on Capri and 14 on pizaro there are two other newspaper articles one on October 15th and one on November 1st 1923 reporting on several moderately priced homes being constructed on in the Granada section in the last paragraph on page six of the designation report a 9th house 1212 Milan is introduced leading to more confusion about whether there were eight or nine homes on the lawn now what is the point of of Staff trying to to talk about these homes on Milan as as if they were as if they were the first I'm going to show you that they were not the first staff's point in trying to do this is to give them significance if they were the first she was they might just be significant they're not the first my research shows according to the tax data that one home was built in 1922 it's Peter's home one home was built in 1923 four homes were built in 1924 three homes were built in 1925 the point of this analysis again is we're showing that Milan predates the newspaper article from 1923 and we're noting that these initial eight homes were constructed at different dates if they were constructed at different dates then how can they be constructed how can they possibly be the initial eight when other homes were built in 1923 24 25 26 to raise the question as I said a moment ago why is Staff singling out these eight homes on Milan Avenue when there are also 12 on Ferdinand 18 on Genoa six on Capri and 14 on pzero they are all the initial homes the first reference newspaper article of September 24th 23 suggest 30 new homes moderately priced and from new and original designs by George Frink Martin Hampton Lewis Brum that's the architect of this house will be constructed in the Granada section end quote the same article references in the same article 40 new homes will be the first of a large number of residences to grow in the Granada section there is inconsistency even in this newspaper article about the homes being built and the time frame that the homes will be built the October 15th 2023 newspaper article announces a new building Campaign which involves a construction of 50 moderately priced homes the hous is all Spanish design were constructed by George Frink Walter Deo Hampton Ean and Lewis Brum emphasis on Spanish here here is yet another newspaper article on November 1st 1923 that states that plans for the homes will be drawn by George Fink Richard kenel Mark Hampton leaving out any reference whatsoever to Architects Brum Deo and Ean 12 homes will be erected on Ferdinand 18 on Genoa eight on Milan six on Capri and 14 on pizaro again the point of this analysis is that there is no significance to singling out these eight initial homes on Milan Avenue referenc in the designation report as the initial homes rather it is important to acknowledge that all the initial homes on Ferdinand Street Genoa Street Capri pizaro and all the other 30 40 50 58 or even more moderately priced homes were the original homes staff would lead us to believe that these initial eight homes were the initial homes however our analysis of the homes still standing on Milan today demonstrates that 38 homes were constructed between 1923 and 1926 of the 38 only eight are historically designated and only one of the original eight designated is classified in the initial homes listed by staff let's pause and review this chart for a moment one home built in 1922 two homes built in 23 eight homes built in 24 18 homes were built in 25 nine homes built in 26 as far as criteria four is concerned historic cultural political economic trends of the community and making a case for historical and cultural Trends singling out one moderately priced home 1221 and inferring that it is somehow part of a historical or cultural trend is purely conjecture when there are 38 other homes on Milan and those are just the homes on Milan let's look at the Granada section map for just a moment if the staff and the board wish to highlight the importance of moderately priced homes and to help save them ultimately I recommend stepping back from this individual designation and directing staff to evaluate the eligibility of designating all the homes first mentioned in the newspaper article of September 24th as a historic district you might consider calling it a cotage home District you might call it you might take the entire Granada section as a potential historic district but don't single out an individual homeowner without the proper context moreover when we viw the Granada section map in 1924 the entire area contains 50ft Lots all likely intended to be moderately priced by americ that's why they were the 50ft Lots here's a closeup of the previously mentioned streets indicating the homes built in 1924 an analysis of these initial eight homes on Milan shows that six appear to be consistent with the criteria for historic designation one is already locally designated one has already been demolished and in my view 1221 is not eligible for historic designation should not be considered even as a contributing home if it was a historic district let's switch to a quick discussion of the Coral Gables Cottage criteria for a moment because staff tries to bring up the idea of the coral Gable's Cottage criteria to try to give this home significance staff believes that 122 one meets the criteria for Coral Gable's Cottage and mentions the affordable homes becoming known as Coral Gable's Cottages again Section 8 202 of the city code goes on to describe the criteria for designating cottage homes Coral Gables must be hey Coral Gable's Cottage must be detached single family dwelling that is distinguished by its movement in plan projection recesses asymmetrical Arrangements of entrances frequently employed surface ornament for embellishments and at least 12 of the following specific features which are original with the cottage right away 1221 Milan does not meet the basic criteria or contain 12 specific features we count four I'm not going to bore you with them my assessment finds that 1221 Milan does not meet the basic criteria and is disqualified immediately from being a cottage home furthermore it only meets four of the 12 criteria required for designation as a cottage home when compared to the other potentially eligible houses on Milan or in proposed historic district District or the homes that are already designated 1221 Milan lacks any degree of architectural Integrity the inclusion of a house such as this which lacks architectural Integrity would harm the value of truly eligible properties this would hurt the public perception of the quality and significance of significance of what con constitutes a Coral Gables Landmark to include to conclude I do not believe that the criteria for the designation of Historic Landmark under the criteria of the city of cor Gable's code has been met 1221 Milan Avenue does not meet the basic criteria to make it eligible for local designation it is not historically significant because it does not possess Integrity of location design setting materials workmanship or Association furthermore it does not have significant character interest or value as part of the historical cultural archaeological aesthetic and Architectural Heritage of our city like conclusion also is that it does not meet criteria B architectural significance criteria one and two because 1221 Milan has simply lost all of its architectural Integrity I'm concerned that an attempt to designate a home that has lost nearly all of its architectural Integrity is simply bad preservation practice and significantly lowers the bar of what is deemed to have architectural Integrity or historic and cultural significance in the City of Coral Gables if the board wishes to save moderately priced homes or cottage homes in the Granada section we recommend directing staff to evaluate it as a potential historic district and establish a clear period of significance between 1921 and 1926 under that sort of criteria 1221 Milan would not even be eligible as a contributing home in his historic district thank you very much and I'll be delighted to answer any questions you may have thank you very much how are you sir if you could give please because we have a lot we have a very very packed schedule today I'll try to speak quickly thank you so good afternoon mayor and good afternoon Commissioners my name is Peter sanus along with my wife an and my two children Gabrielle and Sarah two out of the three I'm sorry Sarah and Nicholas two out of the three seting behind me we own the house at 1221 Milan Avenue uh this has been an extremely trying time for my family we're more anxious than we've ever been you know when we go for walks around the neighborhood we mostly talk about what will happen with our home and what put us in this situation we made plans to build a new home that's it made plans to Build a Better Home an and I have worked hard all of our lives and we've contributed to our community my wife's been involved in in uh Coral fundraising for the Coral Gable Community Foundation and serving many years on the PTSA I was a volunteer coach at the youth center for many years as well we've never asked nor do we expect special treatment but now as we look toward our future our city that he loves so much is telling us that either we have to remain in a home that cannot meet our needs or move somewhere else I'd like to tell you why we need to build a new home first of all it's small and we'd like a bit more space space our new home would be only 2,400 ft so family gatherings can shift from our parents' homes to ours so that there's room for grandkid visits so if need be there's room to take care of our parents is it correct for this city to deny us those needs secondly our home requires massive amounts of repairs to start we need a completely new roof new Plumbing new electric and new windows eventually we'll need to do something about the cracks in our exterior walls and our sinking floor and iton won't end there we don't want to be forever sentenced to a home in need of constant repair renovating would be idiotic as it would cost substantially more than rebuilding and besides what's the point our home isn't worthy of restoration it has zero significance and lacks the number one reason people think a building should be saved Beauty it's not ugly but it certainly isn't beautiful like every home it has a few architectural features it's Preserve in those more important than my family's welfare and rights to improve our future living conditions that is what historic preservation department is saying but it's completely out of step with what residents want and is quite frankly unethical the historic pres preservation department wrote a long drawn out unobjective inaccurate report about my home which I have no choice but to refute at our first hearing I meticulously demonstrated the numerous falsehoods exaggerations and misleading and unsubstantiated claims in the report I won't go line by line like I did last time but please ask me any questions about anything I've skipped over as I know my home better than anybody first I'd like to clear up a common misconception regarding the historic designation code um I need the PowerPoint presentation thank you is it the middle button I clicked to go on to the next one this one okay thank you um I'm sure you've heard many times that according to the code all that is need all that is required to designate a home significant is if it meets just one Criterium but that's wrong what the code actually States is that it needs to satisfy three conditions one it must maintain its integrity and two it must have significant character interest or value and three it must satisfy one of the other criteria of the code and this explains why the historic preservation Department's report in order to justify designation attempts to convince you that my home is something that it isn't it needs to show significance what's the point in claiming that my home is a Coral Gables Cottage when it clearly is not what's the point in claiming that my home is an example of Mediterranean Revival architecture when is clearly just Spanish what's the point in writing about the people associated in one way or another with my home when they're not significant figures because it needs to show significance that's why the report can't speak only only about my home's architectural features because architectural features alone does not satisfy the code so if it were a coral Gable's Cottage it could have historical significance if it was a Mediterranean Revival style home could have architectural significance but since my home is neither it lacks significance my home shouldn't be designated simply because it lacks significance if the historic preservation department objectively reviewed the evidence and followed the code code they would have stated from the beginning that my home lacks significance therefore doesn't meet the code and therefore isn't eligible for designation but they weren't being objective there's nothing in our code and nothing in the guidelin set in the National preservation historic act that designates a home simply because of his age but that's not all a home also has to maintain its Integrity design Integrity workmanship Integrity material Integrity a home loses its Integrity when there have been changes here are the changes to my [Music] home this was the original plan which we then darkened so that we could create rendering so you could see what it would look like from 1922 and sometime before the 1940s onions were added decorative feature removed from the parit front porch added originally it was just a landing decorative features removed from a different part of the parit it was changed from screens to Windows up to 1967 shutters were removed Barrel tiles removed decorative G garage door removed from 1979 casement window replaced by jousy the chimney had finished its alteration sometime prior to 2009 planter added window frame change window opening reduced in size s tile roof added front porch and closed new stairs new doors new windows new s tile roof these are the 20 changes only to the front elev from the west elevation window removed loia removed door removed casement windows removed shutters removed screen replaced by window vase and pedestal removed porch added door added window opening reduced in size nine changes just on the west elevation screened and porch added to the East Elevation French door added detached garage attached casement windows removed and replaced with jousy shutters removed decorative window still and Hood removed screen replaced by Windows Barrel tiles removed pyramid shaped parit removed these are the East Elevation changes to the rear elevation the barrel tiles were removed screen window removed French door removed forun closed decorative vent removed finally Windows added these are all the changes to the rear elevation my home has undergone 45 indisputable changes in design workmanship and materials in fact there's little that's original with my home now the historic department will try to convince you that I'm the one who caused it to lose its Integrity with only one change in closing the front porch there are multiple problems with that statement least of which is that the front porch itself was not original originally it was just a small Landing so how is it that I compromised the Integrity of something that had already been compromised of the 45 changes 40 of them were done before we bought the house the alterations and loss of Integrity began 80 years ago furthermore as you just heard from Mr heisenbottle our home has originally built was Spanish not Mediterranean the historic Department also stated that my home is a good candidate to be restored to its original condition however doing so would create an enormous hardship no value would be created by the enormity of the expense and we'd be left with a home that doesn't fit my family's needs we would have to remove the back room detach the garage resize all the window openings reconstruct my chimney relocate the side door reconstruct the side logia change the S ties to Barrel tiles and decorative features along the parit demolish our front room and recreate screened and sleeping porches in the front and the back it's a completely irrational demand is this the the future of preservation in Coral Gables now I'd like to explain why my home is not a Coral Gables Cottage there are three reasons each one individually sufficient to disqualify my home from being considered a coral Gable's Cottage number one as already pointed out it was built in 1922 which predates Coral ga's Cottage constru construction number two is that does not satisfy the Coral Gable Cottage code criteria I think only four of the required 12 as Mr heisenbottle stated and its design is not indicative of Coral Gables Cottages regarding the year my home was built the only evidence is a tax card and it's pretty clear 1922 the permit cards are elgible and in all the historical documents there's nothing stating any date aside from 1922 yet the historic Department can't accept that because if they did they couldn't say my home was a coral Gable's Cottage and then they lose their argument for significance since my home lacks significance and lacks Integrity my home's architectural features are irrelevant but in case you're wondering for the record here's what the historic Department says my house has here's what's actually on my home let's go one by one stucco is not original diffult to show with photographs the different workmanship in the stuckle but I submit to you that these photographs represent the workmanship which means uh different workmanship which means that most if not all of the stucco is not original which accounts for a huge loss in Integrity of workmanship sir how many more slides do you have how much longer do you think your presentation will take uh I'm almost finished actually I just ask was all of this uh presented to the historic preservation board like the last slide and these slides that you're showing us now these were if I go back are they part of the record below that's the question yes because these these were uh questions that were asked to miss perus by Caesar Garcia Pon and she said these were all the features that but the question is was this slide presented to the historic preservation board exact slide on there no it was not okay so just remember you're supposed to base your decision on the record below okay um combination of roof types and Heights uh yes but I'd submit that it's not the best example here's a good example of that exemplifies the codes intent my home does not have a series of arched openings these are homes with series of arched openings it's not responding okay and mron is the same goes you know if any of this was not presented to the board then you could just please move through it because they're not to consider anything that was not presented to the board okay I I'm maybe a little confused on a different way to present something that was already presented and what's new so there should not be and as as we've discussed and and your lawyers have been aware you should not be presenting anything new that was not presented to the board this is intended to be a presentation of the arguments that were raised and whatnot and and just like a summary but really the commission's consideration is of the record below okay um if you don't mind I'll go through my slides they're here but I don't know exactly which ones were part of it and which ones weren't I mean all these pictures for instance have are from the previous presentation at least on this one so so if it was part of the previous presentation that's fine just okay I think they are okay so here's the evolution of my chimney you can see originally it had um I'm a little bit had a Spanish style curved feature on top with diamond shaped cutouts it lost a top feature sometime prior to the 1940s lost a diamond shaped cutout sometimes prior to 1979 and then sometime prior to 2009 the S tiles were added on the roof here are good examples of wing walls this is my home on the east side of the front this is not a wing wall in the rear of my home attached to what used to be the garage there's a poor example of a wing wall not visible from the street here are all the roof tiles on my home they're all s tiles they're not Barrel tiles these are the diamond shaped vents all the original casement windows were replaced with jealousy and my window seals are not original as if they were they would have been constructed in solid concrete like the like the masonry hoods in conclusion these are the four architectural features original with my home masonry hoods which are only on four of the 16 total Windows the two knobs on the arch of the front window the diamond shaped Vents and a poor example of One Wing wall visible from the street most cities that I'm aware of including Miami Beach do Noto impose such a hardship on a property owner who does not consent to design destion historically designated our home would impose an unbelievable hardship on me and my family thank you very much thank you so much I will just try to summarize and at the hearing in front of the HPB I asked Anna peris the historical resource and Cultural Arts director of the following question um it's on the transcript page 20 paragraph 4 so again would you agree that the alterations were significant yes comma there have been significant alterations so if you look at the criteria that's been presented and that you'll hear from your own staff if you have significant alterations then the Integrity of the home has been destroyed and you should not be able to declare a house historic I'd like to just quote Warren Adams Your former director who said as noted to qualify for designation as a Historic Landmark a property must possess certain criteria it must possess Integrity it must have significant character of which this house has neither interest or value and it must meet one or more of the several criteria in order to meet the above criteria a property cannot be significantly altered and that's from the historic preservation Board hearing on 4:30 Minorca on uh November 16 2022 so the point that I'm trying to draw here is that you can't have two different uh ways of enforcing your code saying well a house can be significantly altered and we can still declare it historic or it's significantly altered it cannot be declared historic the truth is that the staff admits under my cross-examination that the house had significant restoration has been significantly altered and they spent 10 pages of 23 24 pages of their report on discussing all those alterations you just saw Mr solonus put on a demonstration that there have been 45 changes throughout the history of the this home you are charged with looking at your own code and making sure the decisions of your lower boards like the historic reservation follow your rules you may want to declare this historic you may like to declare a lot of homes historic but you still have rules that you have to impose if in fact a house has been significantly altered you cannot declare it a historic home you have to take it as it is today not what it could be but what it is today Anna peris stated during the HPB Hearing in conclusion the single family home at 1221 Milan Avenue was one of the eight homes on Milan commissioned by former uh founder George Merrick in 1923 that just is not true we have the evidence to show and it is the best evidence on the record it was built in 1922 it was not as Mr heisenbottle demonstrated one of the first eight cottage homes the property tax bill which you've seen numerous times shows the house built in 1922 you must consider that in any decision you make as the best evidence before you there is no other evidence of the lower tribunal that shows or the lower board that shows the house was built at any other time than 1922 I'd just like to take you briefly through some of the cross-examination questions that I asked of Anna peris at the lower uh hearing and then I'll conclude I asked are you familiar with the tax card showing that it's 19 22 I have seen the tax card and it response I say are okay are you familiar with a what a tax card is she says yes okay so you would agree that the tax card shows a building or a home being built as of 1922 as reference on the tax card yes I then say well but I'm asking you a question what do you see on the tax card says yes 1922 the reason I bring that up and I want to emphasize it is because the entire report never brings up 1922 as submitted by staff it only brings up 1923 and 24 because again they're trying to make this house something it's not it wasn't built during that time it was built in 1922 and we have an admission on the record in the HPB again so would would be the what would be the best evidence when that house was built would you agree given that the report was written by staff she says I'm not sure I say well again what do you have from staff that would show it was built in 1922 23 or 24 hold on one second please she starts looking for things she says I assume you you did you knew what the report said because you signed it at the time of the hearing she didn't seem very familiar with the report that she had signed so she wasn't actually sure what she was testifying to when she put on the record the things that she stated about the house because on the record she says I don't know I didn't basically review or write the report I just signed it I then asked I assumed you did it because you signed it she says so in reaching staff's conclusion conclusion that the home was built in 19224 Miss peris totally ignored the 1922 tax card Mr Mayor and Commissioners that in of itself is evidence that the staff report is not accurate because the staff did not even consider the best evidence my cross- examination continued on page 27 okay but again my question was the tax card do you agree that if Merica acquired in 23 he he he that's when he built the house I'm trying to find the date that the permit was pulled apologies okay I would stipulate that if the tax card is already out the permit had to be pulled prior to that that's how it typically works in the system so as I showed you before the tax card shows a house already on the the graphics of the tax card so that is clearly the best evidence that a house was built in 1922 not 23 or 24 she says again we've seen discrepancies because between those I I asked do you have any specifics I said I asked aners to provide specifics as to when 1221 Avenue was built considering the existing 22 tax card she didn't have any the only thing she relied upon in over cross-examination was the newspaper article which you heard Mr heisen about completely refute that it doesn't reference this house it has nothing to do with this house but yet in the report given to the HPB again given to you it has no relevant evidence nothing that talks about this house and it's Spanish style not Mediterranean Revival or when it was built to me that's gross error on behalf of the staff to try to persuade the board and you that this house meets some kind of qualification of Mediterranean rival when it does not lastly I just as far as the cross-examine cross-examination I'd like to to just say that um I asked Anna you have to accept the house today when you're designating something as to the condition the house is in now which is the correct standard whether it was done with a permit or not and she says right so here you have your director your officer saying that the standard is you accept the house today we have put on ad nauseum evidence at both the HPB and here today that it does not meet the standards nothing has been refuted the hbb never asked any questions the staff never refuted what Richard heisenbottle Put on the record in connection with the standards that to be applied the Integrity of the home and all the alterations I asked her so again would you agree that the alterations were significant she says yes there have been significant alterations thank you sir i' just like to conclude with the best evidence presented today is the tax card you must consider when the house was built because everything in the report talks about 23 and 24 the staff report relies on the home being built at that time period staff is not willing to acknowledge the home was built honor before 1922 why because it evidences that 1221 One Milan Avenue is not a George Merck Mediterranean Revival home the 1922 tax card undermines the argument for historic designation this home was designed in a Spanish style as our expert explained this home was not part of Mer's plan it is not a Mediterranean Revival it does not have any histo historical integrity and was built at a time before George Merrick designed the Mediterranean Revival homes in that area the HPB has failed to follow your mandate and specifically identifying why this house should be designated historic for all the reasons stated in our presentation you should find that the historic designation of this home is improper because the best evidence shows the house was built in 1922 and has not retained its architectural Integrity I would ask that I'd be given some time for rebuttal uh later few minutes thank you thank you staff good afternoon I think now um commission um can I please have the staff report thank you you um Anna Peres historic preservation officer for the City of Coral Gables um just because we have kind of gone over this timeline I'll try to be brief with my presentation um to begin I would like to present a brief timeline to refresh your memory on the case history the current part owner purchased the property located in 1221 mil Milan Avenue in 1998 in June 2021 the owners filed for an after Thea building permit to legalize front porch enclosure and other work the permit was reviewed and denied by the all required reviews on June 27 2022 the owners filed an application for the historic significance determination in order to demolish the home all demolition permits for non-designated buildings Andor structures must be approved by the historic preservation officer or their Design This may be this may be require review by the historic preservation board if the building and or structure to be demolished is eligible for designation on August 1st the historic significance determination letter was issued stating that the property did meet the minimum eligibility criteria for designation as a local Historic Landmark staff's report for local historic designation for the property was presented to the HPB on September 21 2022 at that time the board found the property met the designation criteria as outlined in the report and moved to designate the property following the results of the hearing the property owner submitted a notice of appeal to the city clerk the appeal Was Heard by the city Commission on May 23rd 2023 and a resolution was passed to remand the matter back to the historic preservation board to further review the designation and to provide a more detailed explanation as to the reasoning for either designating or not designating the property as a local Historic Landmark staff met with the property owner and his team on different occasions over the last nine months before confirming a hearing date on March 20th 2024 staff presented their report to the historic preservation board followed by a presentation by the property owner and his Representatives against the designation the historic preservation board found the property met the designation criteria listed in the report and moved to designate the property a transcript of the hearing was provided in advance of today's meeting many of the presentations you heard today including by U Mr heisenbottle were completed were done at the preservation board and the they did take that into consideration when making their motion um the property opponent owner is appealing that decision today as per the resolution of the city commission at the May 2023 hearing I would like to focus on the criteria for designation and the board's recommendation as per article eight of the histo of the corable zoning code the purpose of the designation of historic landmarks and districts is to promote the educational cultural and economic welfare of the of the public by preserving and protecting historic structures or sites portions of structures groups of structures man-made or natural landscape elements work of art or integrated combinations thereof which serve as visible reminders of the history and the cultural heritage of the city the criteria for designation of historic landmarks include a local land a Lo local Historic Landmark must have significant character interest or value as part of the historical cultural archaeological aesthetic or architectural Heritage of the city state or Nation as a reminder for designation a property must meet one of the criteria outlined in the code in order to assess each designation staff submits a detailed designation report establishing and defining the historic significance and character of the proposed Historic Landmark for review by the historic preservation board as the complete report has been submitted in advance of the meeting I'll provide a brief summary of the for the record today Coral Gables was originally conceived as a suburb of Miami and attracted investors from Across the Nation during South Florida real estate boom in the 1920s its founder George Merrick Drew from the Garden City and City beautiful movements to create his vision for a fully conceived Mediterranean inspired city which is now considered one of the first modern planned communities in the United States by Fall 1923 section F which is highlighted here in purple was significantly expanded mer green named the the Granada section and redirected hundreds of workers to La streets sidewalks and water mains Milan Avenue was the southern border of that section and is is the red line on the plaque map the single family home located at 1221 Milan Avenue was designed in the Mediterranean arrival Style by architect Lewis Brum a key member of Merck's design team it is a very early example of the Coral Gables Cottage prototype and was commissioned directly to by George Merrick the house represents Merrick's vision for the smaller moderately priced homes built in the same highquality construction and features as other structures of the that shape the new city in the 1920s in this slide you can see the home over the last century visual assessment of the property along with review of permanent documents and historic photographs indicate that there were minor changes to the character defining features of the home prior to the unpermitted Alterations by the current owner a more detailed discussion of these unpermitted alterations is provided in the designation report the historic preservation board recognized that the building has been altered over its history but agreed that the historic integrity was not lost the property continues to convey some of its original historic attributes as presented in the report the existing home currently possesses numerous character-defining features of the Mediterranean Revival style these include but are not limited to textured stucco finish combination of roof types arched openings Spanish style chimney detached garage with parapets to match groups of round decorative vents Barrel tile roof and recessed windows with protruding Sills and masonry hoods in summary the single family home at 1221 Milan Avenue was commissioned by City founder George Merck in 1923 it is one of the earliest homes built in the city was built as an archetype upon which Coral Gables was founded and while it has been altered it is still clearly recognized and one of Merck's early cottage homes designed in the medic training Revival style the historic preservation board after a lengthy discussion to clarify issues of the home the date of construction and this this the changes that have been made to the home voted to designate the property as presented in spite of the alterations based on the criteria found in the code the complete motion was provided to you in the transcript submitted to by the property owner as part of today's uh meeting materials and as requested the board provided additional details to support their reason to recommend to designate the property the motion passed 6 to0 and just a brief summary um the motion was to um designate based off the criteria below um it exemplifies historical cultural political economic and social trends of the community it was agreed upon by the commission that it's important to designate these small homes this is not a huge home but is absolutely exemplifies a trend of the community particularly in Merck's Vision he thought it was important to have the same architectural style in the larger and in the smaller homes and it exemplified that historic Trend it um for architectural signific significance portrays the environment in an era of History characterized by one or more distinctive architectural style it portrays an environment in an era of History characterized by one or more distinctive architectural Styles American Vision in a Mediterranean inspired City and this is an example of Mediterranean Design I believe that it fits and number two embodies the distinguished characteristics of an architectural style or period or method of construction the again the motion included that the property embodies those distinguishing characteristics or architectural style or period of method of construction although it's been altered it possesses numerous character defining features of a Spanish style home miss Spain goes on to name the details existing on the house that were mentioned earlier we ask that you uphold the designation of this property thank you very much sir you want a minute if required I'll be brief uh while I appreciate staff's hard work and what they do in terms of trying to designate properties you did not hear anything that supports their findings did not hear anything at the HPB hearing that supports their findings the best evidence presented today was by us we completely and thoroughly demonstrated this house is Spanish style was built in 1922 it's significantly altered it had lacks Integrity it is not one of the original cottage homes it was not a George Merck design it was not Mediterranean Revival that should be enough for you to deny historic designation thank you thank you very much uh Mr clerk do we have any public comment yes Mr Mayor first speaker is Ernesto peris think you stepped did did did they leave any comments behind in regards to whether they're in favor or against no sir okay all right next next speaker uh Bruce Bernstein good afternoon sir hi I'll give you a break keep it short thank you sir I appreciate that hi I'm Bruce Bernstein and I've been living in my house which is directly across from Peaks at 1208 Milan I've been a resident I lived in the house for 45 years I've been a resident of Coral Gables for over 50 years so I'm familiar very familiar with that neighborhood the style of houses the changes that have taken place his house at 12:21 Milan isn't one that catches the eye it certainly isn't a head turner or a historical landmark it's not particularly unique and it lacks those standout architectural features that would make it unique as for its Spanish detail what is there is pretty minimal as you can see and it's been presented honestly there's nothing new about it uh nothing about it that is so special that it couldn't be replicated if they were to if you were to let Pete do what he wants to do and build a new structure there and that seems to be what's happening in in the neighborhood a lot of these homes have been redone in a in a in an actual Mediterranean style which adds value to the neighborhood visual value and which adds Financial value and tax value too uh call it old but uh calling it historical is a is a stretch particularly since what's there now isn't what was there in the 1920s and it wasn't what was there when I moved there in the 1970s I've watched it like like change uh what really and this is the important part what really makes n 1221 special and is worth preserving is the family that has lived there for decades and wants to continue living there they are not just great neighbors they're an integral part of our Gables Community that's what we should Pro pror uh prior and uh be preserving I'd really encourage the commission to skip the historical label for this property thank you thank you sir almost made it you're fine thank you sir aruro Fula Mr fangul good afternoon good afternoon my name is aruro Fon H I'm a resident at 902 pizaro street I'm also an architect and friend of Peter since uh around roughly 1997 I grew up in Coral Gables I grew up at 921 Malaga uh my parents sold the house as soon as I got back from Catholic un DC where I studied architecture concentrated in historic preservation for a semester and I did an internship at the historic American Building survey so I have great respect for what historic preservation does but I think here they kind of missed the Mark um that being said I have worked on with the historic preservation department on sever homes throughout my years here and um I have I met Peter when I lived on the beach over the years and then 12 years later I'm back here on living in Coral Gable since 2012 with my family and my two boys ran into Peter and at Publix and he says hey I got hit with a violation I need an architect to help me out can you help me out so we started the process the first thing I asked him is it historic he goes no it's not and I go well let's double check so we double check the Manifest the Manifest which is part of the historic reservations thing for Publications it's not in the publication obviously when they designated the area they overlooked it because again there's nothing seriously significant about the home and that being said I took on the case cuz I know it can get very complicated with historic homes so we came up with a conceptual design we go in we meet with the city and the city aret says hey this is great but take a look you're asking for full demo everything has to go through historic and that's when the that's when the bomb dropped and basically my biggest concern here as a resident is the ability for for a non-governmental board to put an imposition on a home that's not you know they have no equity in it or whatever that that's that's the question that I have I'm very much for historic preservation but for the fact that a non-elected board can basically any Resident and any member of the staff can walk around the city and put an encumbrance or designate my property without my consent as the owner I found that extremely appalling and kind of unconstitutional in many ways please allow don't designate it let this guy pursue his happiness let him have his house and uh let's move on thank you thank you sir Doris yman may I talk here I just want to no ma'am I need you to speak on the microphone thank you you may give us your address also thank you so much Doris yans 1410 Milan um I just please I want you to reconsider the solonas and I don't understand how come the staff never brought up the um the most important evidence of the tax card and um the alterations that were done before um the solim monus purchase the house so I just think it's a it's going to be a better Improvement to the city beautiful cor Gables and I just those three things I need you to consider thank you thank you very much and salonas good afternoon thank you um an sanas um 1221 Milan Avenue I'm the wife of Peter sanas and we've lived in this house since 1998 um we fell in love with the house the minute we bought it um we've enjoyed living there we raised three kids in the house it was very tight but we did not have financial means at the time to expand or do anything else so we we lived in the small house um now the kids are almost out of the house or for the most part out of the house um we would like to build something that we can live in for the rest of our lives the house that we live in now is falling apart we really need to make big improvements we need to do a lot of construction we would like to add a little bit of square footage so we can have our family and and our grandkids come and visit us we don't want to leave The Gables we love our neighbors we love our streets we love everything about Coral Gables and it's really been a difficult time for us as you can see we've um relied on Experts from from City of cor Gables you know because we just we want to stay here we want to stay in our in our location we want to be in cor gaes we just this has been really hard for us and very stressful so I just want to um I hope that you can consider you know where we're standing to because we are the property owners and we've lived there for you know almost three decades thank you thank you for being here thank you U Mr Mayor last speaker is going to be on zoom and it's Miss Kia gon M carbonel good afternoon m carbonel she is unmuted so let's give her a second here yes we can hear you hello oh okay okay um yes hello I am calling on behalf of the board of directors of the historic preservation Association of Coral Gables you have our letter on uh on files uh but we asked the city commission to side with the stor preservation board they unanimously voted to designate property and please affirm the decisions of the board to convey Landmark designation to 1221 Milan Avenue as recommended by the city's preservation staff the City of Coral Babel's preservation staff presented a well documented report detailing the home's historical significance the historic preservation board concurred with the staff report and voted unanimously to Grant historic reserv uh designation Landmark to 1221 Milan Avenue with that said I would like to um just mention a few things kind of misconception one is the old Spanish style versus Mediterranean it really is a matter of semantics old Spanish was how these uh styles of architecture were were known for so whether it's old Spanish versus mediter Mediterranean it it really is the same style and just recently uh those two styles were kind of merged together officially the other is the tax card I keep hearing that the tax card the tax card uh is one thing and um and and basically incorrect well task cards are incorrect and I know from personal experience many of the tax cards number one don't exist and number two have inadequate information for example tax cards don't have the name of the architect and that for a historical significance perspective that's important but do we just throw away the tax card we don't we you know we understand that that back then unfortunately there there would you know there were some some errors and um and then the last thing which we haven't touched upon and I know I'm out of time but that home the first homeowner was sirel guest and he was the police officer um he was a first owner and he was the police officer who um who was the first police officer who died in the line of duty here in Coral Gables he is honored in N DC on a national monument and so that house actually should should you know have a marker somewhere um at least to mark that but um so that's that's how I wanted to end and uh please consider affirming the decision of the historic preservation board thank you thank you very much that's it Mr Mayor I will'll close a public comment Madam City attorney yes mayor so this is now your opportunity if the if the commission has any questions for staff or or the parties um or the property owner um or for any other discussion and then you know the options are to either affirm um the decision deny our um remand has been done I think that you know obviously it's still an option if necessary but so what is the will of the commission I do have a qu simple question or two for staff at least preliminary question if I can have just with my rudimentary knowledge of coral Gable's history I would imagine let me if I'm right or wrong um that I would say early 1920s to mid 20s until we were Incorporated George Merck basically commissioned everything I would imagine pretty much everything that was built George Merck is everything that George Merck commissioned automatically fall into the category of historic every every property that's considered for designation is looked at individually we couldn't say that just because Merck commissioned that house it would be it would be designated okay and um my other question is um and I listened to corellia when she spoke and yeah there are errors and mistakes and all kinds of documents that government issues have we been able to prove that the 1922 card that that card was issued by an eror so part of the the the transcript that was provided to you today um during or after the um cross-examination Miss Couts our assistant preservation officer did come to the to the board and explain that um that the and I if I could I'll read it I'll be very quick about it um but um that let that too uh Merrick didn't own the Granada section in 1922 he hadn't yet acquired the land it's in purple it was in the slides that kind of showed section F being expanded into um so in September 23 the newspaper articles announced that the start of construction of the Granada section and the permit for this drawing and the permit drawings for this house number 402 lists lot and block in the Granada section which didn't exist until after 1922 had passed therefore we extrapolated that it was built post 22 in 1923 so there was evidence based off the drawings the um the platting of the site the development of this when the development of the site happened and also when the sell s Sals sales excuse me of the properties in that area were being done all in 1923 so my last followup question is it po um but it is possible that a tax card was issued in 1922 yes we've seen that happen before and then permits aren't issued and construction doesn't happen till the years a few years later thank you those are the only questions I have yep I have a few questions as well and one question I get your one question out okay I'll do the followup would the changing construction date alter the historic design designation no that was something that was discussed by the board um and it's mentioned multiple times in the in the transcript as well that uh with kind of semantics at this point 1922 1923 these are the early development a uh stage of the city and would still be considered uh you know contributing so the fact that it's 20 2 2 or 23 or 24 would make no difference in whether is designated is what you're trying to say well I think what we're trying to say is that within the period of the early 1920s through 1926 was one of a major development era for the City of Coral Gables and this property falls within that era and so 1922 construction date and a 1923 construction date based off the information that we have about this specific property again I I look at them we all look at them individually um was not a big factor that the board thought would um alter their recommendation they had the discussion and they found that either 22 or 23 it's still an important historic property for the city of cables okay may yes on page 20 the transcript you agreed with the question that there were significant alterations to the property correct yes and what were those significant alterations that you were referring to so typically any alterations at the front elevation are considered significant that's something that we when we're reviewing um additions to property historic desly properties um they're usually at secondary elevations um so seeing something at the front elevation is not our typical historic um modification to a building that we would allow but um it's something that still didn't mean that the building lost its Integrity it's still reads as a Mediterranean Revival style an early Cottage building and has the history of the development of the city that was packed up by the report what happened to the garage cuz I was looking at the photos um the door was removed at some point um through the development of the period and that's all within the report um was slowly added and then attached at the rear to the house okay um what was the code violation for what which addition there was um a uh platform porch that was added to the to that garage side elevation that Now does not allow access to that garage so there's no covered parking on that property which the city of cor Gables requires a covered parking spot and then the addition to the front elevation that um covered porch that was added was done without permits as well there may be other things listed in the code violation that I don't have off the top of mine but those were the biggest ones that um I believe were not allowing for the permit to be approved because the property as it stands does not meet the um code the zoning code okay um so you have the the garage being closed because I'm you know I'm aware that our city has cited folks for closing garages that were carports so this was a gar this was always a garage it was always a garage with a with a door on it yes what happened to the door where is it I don't see it that was removed at some point is it a room now or is it locking I have not been inside the building okay um you have the addition of a porch was that done with permit no um so I really have a question for the City attorney um on this whether have been where when when a building has been significantly altered can there be substantial competent evidence to support a historic designation so the competent substantial evidence would come from the the evidence that's presented at the hearing before the historic preservation board so it's the it's with the testimony and staff reports any documentation any um from all the parties that that could be considered competent substantial evidence and so you you've heard from staff that's in staff's opinion um or what staff presented that the significant alterations did not um affect the integrity and there still the Integrity remained so is your answer that if there's significant alterations it does not disqualify a building being designated I am I am not the historic preservation officer but I think it would what we're hearing is that it would depend and I think in this case she's saying her you know what she saying that she presented to the board below was that it did not in this case so I'm going to ask Miss panis then to articulate uh a little more clearly why the significant alteration do not disqualify um this home for for historic preservation so is I'm guess I'm going to focus on the front elevation changes that are done because that's what we were more discussing as significant um seeing you apart from them being done without um permits the the way that the designate that the and maybe we could put a photo up of the property um so the enclosed front porch on the screened in porch is something that happened early on that was not part of the work that was done without a permit the one with the the knob Corners um that's something also that the board has reviewed and approved at multiple occasions we see them throughout the city that those porches are enclosed with glass and some sort of um so it was handled S sensitively I think looking at the addition on the um right side of the property where that whole front porch or platform was um was added to or enclosed you know they're using similar materials they're using similar roof style they're using um you know details that may have been appropriate to that style of building um so it's still in a sensitive manner so it still reads as a like I said the Integrity of the building still re as a Mediterranean Revival cottage style it may be different from and we can work with an applicant always to make modifications to buildings and we do that every single day um but they found that the way that it was done could also be reversed okay and multiple of the board members one an architect and one a contractor both said that reversing and it's in the transcript that reversing this would be less less of an intrusion intrusion to the building than demolishing it I have no more questions quick question um how do you how do you determine the significant alterations is there like a threshold that I could say um 10 out of like scientifically give me or it wouldn't be scientific I think it's all done Case by case and so we kind of looked at the modifications when we review when we write a report we pull the permit history we look at everything that was done with or without permits try to understand from where the building when the building was designed and to the day that it is you know where it is today what those changes have been and how those changes you know we go back to that historic that Integrity of the building and that um when and it's was discussed at the meeting that was the Integrity loss is the building no longer recognizable is it no longer um you know are you reading the Mediterranean Revival style are you reading the cottage type those are the things that we consider when we're looking at alterations to buildings and it was found within the evidence that was provided by staff all the represent all the presentations you saw today the board decided that they had substantial you know evidence to say that it's so much the criteria so is there like a guideline just to know how how do we know that we're being fair when we're determining this house and we're determining this house and we're comparing the same characteristics or the same things that were altered is there anything we typically look at these cases as individual cases we're not designating one because the other one meets or does not meet criteria so that's why our reports are so thorough and give you a history of from the beginning of the city to the you know the condition of the building today that that report should be able to stand alone yeah and my other question is um so is it Med Revival style or or is it Spanish what is it something again that was discussed but it kind of does fall under the umbrella of under Mediterranean Revival style Spanish eclectic all of those were terms that have been used for this beggar Mediterranean umbrella and you know those are inspired by Spanish Italian architecture sure it's just you know we we find Mediterranean Revival describes it better for the city because that was the intent of the founder okay um I guess my line of questioning was along the lines of what the vice mayor was asking uh regarding competent substantial evidence um the substantial changes um that have been alleged here U the applicants said four of them were made since they own the the the property or five of them um that includes I'm guessing the enclosing of the front porch and the addition to the step on the uh on the side which blocks the garage I think he was mentioning the original the the original details that the four or five not the modifications I'm sorry I'm not no I think the modifications were included so the enclosing to the creation of that front um room I guess where the front porch which wasn't a front porch before either now exists that area there was done since the current owner owned yes it was done by the current owner and same with the connection of the garage I think there's a portion at the rear that was added by the owner as well uh and this porch addition I guess maybe that's what you're might be referring to too I mean to be honest and having watched the the historic preservation board I don't think really answered the questions that were sent back to them I think they just Revisited and made the same determination um I guess the book stops here when it comes to these things and we're going to have to make the decision um I may have a few more questions when you got you all are done go ahead May so um Miss pinus histore preservation board is probably one of the most powerful boards we have in our city they can do things with properties that you know setbacks and so forth at other properties can't allowing larger additions to be put on Etc why can't this porch be legalized the porch at the side of elevation or the front porch either one the one at the talk about Alla since we're trying to make a decision here so the porch at the side elevation would not be permitted because it it blocks access to the the original garage structure which would have it is required by the city code to have covered parking that garage was converted illegally at some point and does not meet code it's a closed garage it's not even a garage anymore it's it's per plainly obvious it doesn't have a door to it but the city code currently requires that there's covered parking on site and that closed garage was done illegally and would not have been permitted by the city okay um and then at the front elevation we just haven't I think the application was submitted but looking at it as a whole the board the the depart the city itself had rejected the application they would just have to go through a process to legalize the front elevation and that I because I don't know if they're an architect or an engineer where involved in that construction of when it was done and so does it meet you know our current building code requirements all I won't speak to that but typically with a front elevation change you would go through the board of Architects process and none of those steps were taken in this no I understand the steps weren't taken when you go back to legalize something you know as build or the way it has been evolved you know you have a porch That's there you have a garage that has been absent for a long time they apparently pulled permit for that uh we have homes of this area that have a carport on there instead I this this is a difficult case okay but I also agree that the historic preservation board really didn't take the time maybe it was due to the hour because it was close to 9:00 when they were going through this record uh and they just basically checked the boxes two hours I'm sorry go ahead no I was I was just trying to figure out I think that the the hearing itself was over an hour and a half but no for this specific item I know I know but as far as the board itself going through the details as to why this house still qualifies despite the significant alterations which has been admitted in record as being significant alterations good afternoon mayor vice mayor Commissioners just as I sat with the historic preservation board during this hearing and I would just note that we reiterated the guidance from this board to them as they heard um at the beginning of this hearing and then again before their motions and I believe it was in the transcript below that they identified specific features of the home that they found to be still existing and thus met the criteria so I'm not sure if Miss pus has their um actual details of their motion but you know prompting that guidance which we again reiterated to them um there were some more details and specific features of the home that they identified in making their motion so it may not be um in accordance with with exactly what you wished in making that um remand but it was reiterated to them and I believe that they um know sit with them they expanded on what their normal motion would have been to include specific details of the home so again it may not have been in accordance with exactly what you wish but they did um go beyond what they would normally do in a motion to identify specific features regarding those details how many details in a universe of details how many details were still identified give me one second to run through that list and to use a sports analogy while I'm listening I'm thinking of all kinds of analogies using a sports analogy Bob greasy was the quarterback of the undefeated Miami Dolphins he was still the quarterback in 1975 but 1979 but in 1979 they were not The Undefeated Miami Dolphins even if Bob greasy was there so my concern is how many features are left today that were there in the beginning that were they well so the list that was provided to you that I had also reiterated in my presentation is about 9 to 10 items it also depends if you're going to look at the type of architecture you're considering that is a you know raised Mediterranean in Stucco um masonry construction that's also part of the so it depends on if you're looking at is the casement window still there no is the opening some of the openings are original other openings have been altered that's something we see again every single day had the property gone through the proper channels of you know modifying we would have seen this at Board of Architects or had been maybe notified earlier about these alterations thank you anything else from the commission can you explain to me what was the confusion between the 12 U Milan 1212 and was that property you don't know that I don't know I that's just we we put together a presentation of addresses and the development of that site and area and that's just one of the addresses that came up I don't know if it's because maybe the numbers are similar that was kind of came up in discussion once with um Mr heisenbottle but that's not my Regent to make okay anything else from the commission okay um Mr pathman you have any comments you'd like to add uh yes I do Mr Mayor thank you um first of all I'm I'm sitting here and I'm in a little bit of disbelief of what I'm hearing from staff we have had three hearings today is the fourth we have thoroughly represented what is the best evidence the best facts the best documents delineated Styles Integrity substantial alterations and yet the staff continues to deny even though I qu cross-examine Anna peris who said yes there are substantial alterations that is the standard to be applied that has been applied by the that staff in other homes that were being declared historic that it's how you take the house today the fact that Mr salonus may have done a couple alterations is not within your purview you have to take the house today yes he did them they were wrong but it doesn't change anything you don't penalize him for that you have to look at the house today in addition it's hard for me to Fathom that when the commissioner asked about the 1922 tax card they still gave you hearsay speculation and no evidence no documentation nothing that supports their position why is a tax card so important if you read the report it never mentions it it never says 1922 if it's so insignificant why didn't they put it in the report why do they talk about 192 23 and 24 and try to say that it's Merck it's not Merck it's not Mediterranean Revival there is a distinction I would bet everything I have that every major architect would say there's a distinction between Spanish style and uh Mediterranean Revival the tax card speaks for itself it's telling you it's screaming at you that this is your record your document that describes on that tax card the house that was built it was built in 1922 you don't get a tax card with that design if it was wasn't already built everything you just heard was speculation and hearsay they don't have anything that supports their ultimate conclusion and you got it right the board didn't either I said three times in that hearing you are mandated by the commission to find with specificity the issues that make this house historic they did not do that and you cannot skip this you cannot say okay they did it and now you're going to declare a house historic and create a huge hardship for a family that's loves your city I do a lot of historic preservation in many cities throughout South Florida and represent lots of homeowners buildings Etc this is not the way to do it this hurts your design for historic preservation Richard heisenbottle is an expert who is typically working on behalf of cities and residents to create historic designation he's telling you this is not the way to do it the issues that they talked about the garage the porch Edition and so on they got that wrong you know the fact that that was changed is a major alteration but it wasn't just that that was the only VI that was the violation but for 50 years before that the house had been altered 40 other times is that not substantial one alteration could be substantial this one 40 I implore you to look at this with the standard that should be applied that you have to take the house as it is today it's lost its Integrity it's Spanish Revival it's not meric and it wasn't built in 1923 or 1924 okay this house was built in 1922 regardless of everything that they put in the report it is unsubstantiated the tax card speaks for itself thank you sir thank you does the commission have any other further comments no comments you have something else you like yeah so there's a there's a huge possibility that this house could have been built and it wasn't even Coral gate was at that point it didn't even belong to George okay I think that's something um so anything else no okay so um Mr peris may ask you a few questions so obviously more statements and then maybe you can help me walk through a few points that kind of I want a little bit of guidance on so the 1922 document on the tax tax card is concerning to me um I'm not sure because I haven't seen it before but they provided tax cards for pieces of land maybe that weren't purchased or how can how can we have that 1922 card what what have you seen you said you've seen it before that this has happened before I I I'm not aware of an example that that Common Place something that I think just to identify too was at the at the May 23 2023 hearing before you Carol CS the assistant preservation officer also pres presented um multiple different things against the um the issue with the tax card it is something that our office has seen in the past and um and just to go back to um Miss Kia's comments that she has also seen these this is not um unaware but I think there are times that those cards are created and dated but then the permits and the drawings and the construction happen after the fact and so that's where the drawings were dated and that was included in a slide to you again a year ago almost but um 1923 and what I've seen in the um you know kind of understanding the development of Granada and when construction started when sales of those properties started it all happened in 1923 as well and then um there was one other thing but it left my mind apologies but okay so my my second point that I'm finding a little bit tough to to navigate is the issue of of the standards what what are the standards and are we supposed to look at the property today or are we supposed to look at the property has in its Evolution over the last multiple decades so as I looked down I I took some notes just for my own personal review of the facade of the building uh the door is instead of being tucked away it's prominently featured in the front it has an archway uh the roof now has tile which it didn't have tile before that's a predominant feature in Spanish design um and I apologize my eyesight and my handwriting is not that good but the windows you know you you had case windows and then you went from casement windows to jousy and then now you move back to a different style of window um The Landing to me is also pretty significant the the first landing and I'm going off memory from the design it's a much smaller Landing in regards to what you have now MH um the steps are also were significantly uh Less in nature than they are now uh the roof pitch looks completely different in the sense of that the way the front the front of the at the right at think closed porch well there's I'm talking about the facade but I mean again it looks whether it was done legally or not it looks completely different the the roof pitch the vice mayor covered the garage that was item number six for me um you don't have a garage it's it's pretty significant and from my understanding is that there's only a handful maybe two handful excuse me of homes in the city that do not have a carport or a garage it's very limited something that we discussed years ago and I'm always looking around the gables to find a house that doesn't have a garage cuz you know again it's history you don't see too many of those MH I think the chimney um also was something that I found very interesting the multiple iterations and how it's changed uh the gentleman homeowner showed about five or six iterations of the chimy which to me show a significant change from a much simpler very classical look to a more you know Spanish with a tile and it's it's more embellished in my opinion and I think they took away some of the really nice Design Elements there was a diamond that was inside the chimney that was you know there wasn't just like a decorative feature it was actually part of the chimney right from the picture that I could see again it's not you know you see something face to face you can or you see it working you get a more of an impression of of whether it's actually um something that is just decorative or it actually serves a use I mentioned the tile on the roof so to be I see I see the standard and we've talked about this many many times before but I want to I want to bring something else into um into the conversation that I don't think anyone else here on the commission can talk about because they they weren't here they weren't here when this occurred so years ago and I asked the clerk to look this up for me just to make sure I got the dates right because this came to memory years ago on July 10th 2018 we had an item that was coming before the commission and it was brought before the commission because staff wanted to designate a building in the city that the historic preservation board had deemed non-historic mhm that property uh was Lal cleaners and that property was important in my opinion I voted in favor of designation I went against the board's recommendation to not deem it historic MH the reason why I did that was because of George Merrick that was George Merrick's office where he had his construction business MH and over multiple years that property evolved it was a gas station Mr clerk what else was it I'm sorry sir it was a gas station and what else was it and then it became the the lell cleaners there was something else in between a dry cleaner yeah but that was Panic shot yeah so it had multiple iterations and when you look at the photos you saw that you know the building that George Merck had called home for so many years that was again a place that where he worked with all his Architects to really design the city and build the city was no longer the gem that it was but I still believed that uh that I thought it was important to save it and bring it back to its original Glory because of the simple fact that it was George Merrick's home of business where the city was envisioned and where the city uh was refined and became the city beautiful my opinion I think in the opinion of many so I voted I voted to designate it to go against the historic preservations um Wills of not designating that building I find myself in a very similar conundrum here because but on the other hand I can't find a reason why to designate this property and I see all the alterations and that's the same argument that was used why not to designate L and that building carried signal significant historic weight I know the owners weren't very happy when I was a vote one of the votes we lost obviously the building has been torn down but it would have cost the owner millions and millions and millions of dollars to bring that building back to its original glory and obviously it would have cost some money because they wouldn't have been able to build whatever they want to build in the future there a multi-story building they would have had to keep the building in place so I bring that story up today because that's that's what I think about when I see this property should have the owner have built but he built without without permits of course not that's not even you know that goes without saying we have rules and regulations here in the city and those should be a buide that we should follow those we should and that's a shame because we're it's all incumbent on us to hold up our standards here in the City of Coral GA and I'm not reprimanding you or giving you a lesson I think it's across the board because I've made mistakes and we all made mistakes but at the end of the day we we've got to try to do what we can to hold uphold the quality of this of this of this property of our cities excuse me even if he would have done that does that mean that that building would have been historic I don't know who knows so to me I I find myself in a in a in a kind of a catch 22 here because I hearken back to the days of of the lassau cleaners vote and I'm I'm trying to figure out a way you know a path moving forward but I really don't see one so just wanted to put that on the record because you know that was a property that uh you know I was a hero to the preservation is that but you know maybe today I won't be but yeah no and I know that that's something that came up at the last hearing as well and and that um and it and we kind of just go back the last year I think year one year ago I I had to do my homework because I've only been here 10 months now so I I kind of went back to both um the init the original histor preservation board meeting the commission meeting and then um this slot well I was present at the March meeting um so I I understand that you know looking at the physical building and and seeing those modifications we designate properties with modifications every day we review applications to modify historic buildings every single day and I think part of our role is to protect those buildings to do it in a sensitive appropriate way that the historic character of the buildings are not lost um that's something that you know we find that could be part of the process for this structure having to Ren if if any of the um violation cases had to be corrected um so we also look at you know how how big of an alteration or modification was made to that structure and could it be something that you know again we're reviewing it based off of what is existing today and we talked about that and the the motion specifically talks about details of that today but again looking at the criteria there's also you know you're looking at the architectural significance and the style and then there's also the historical and cultural significance so the next step from the commission is nothing else we would have to make a motion to either affirm the board's recommendation or override does anybody in the commission would like to make a motion I just have a another question following up on your point you brought up a very good point that 1922 tax card shows the I guess outline the building of the of the building and that's true to what the construction was at the time correct yes so I guess the argument could be made that the house was built in 1922 before it became part of Coral Gables or at least was designed prior to becoming part of Coral Gables I guess that kind of affirms what the applicant is saying about the the 1922 I mean I know there's a lot of things that G it's not I wouldn't say there's evidence of that so right um there was another thing you brought up and I I totally forgot now but I think your point on on Lal cleaners um I know the battle that you that that you had at that time to try to convince your colleagues on the commission um that it was historic and the arguments were that were made were the the changes I think going forward obviously would not affect this we should have a conversation about changes that are made to a property after somebody owns it and whether that affects the uh the Integrity of the property that's something we can talk about uh later but that's something you and I I would like to speak with you about maybe that's something that we can fix to make it easier when we get to these decisions um but I guess I I'll make a motion um I just want to make a comment before we vote um I think the 1922 card was not refuted I know they're ideas thrown out there but nothing goes to the heart of 1922 card it's there um I also think that um like vice mayor said we sent it back to the historic preservation board hoping that today's decision would be a lot easier and in fact it's almost I think more difficult since then uh and all along I think these types of decisions you know like uh I used to do archery the bullseye the yellow in the middle if we don't hit the yellow Bullseye then I think we should really hesitate on moving forward on certain items because then we're TR trampling on the rights of others and to me I wish this was a bullseye hit but it's outside the yellow so I'm not comfortable going forward if it's off Target so I'm who said that he said uh in this case the pen missed the mark and I think that's what we're seeing here so I'm going to add just a couple additional comments you know because it's illogical to me that you would have a tax card with a drawing of a building on it from 1922 and be assess the taxes for a building that doesn't exist it's still logical not to say that something can't be historic from 1922 for other reasons but then we go down the bullet list of items that the historic preservation board listed a textured stco finish there's nothing in particular about a textured stockle finish that screams that it's historic unless you're using the Phineas paste colorized stucco there's something very significant about it because most everything back in that area wasn't you know we didn't have drywall we used stucco over laugh you know and that's that's the way these things were were built combination of roof types A flat roof some Barrel tile although the barrel the S Type Barrel tile could be changed back to the original um and that that error could be mixed but we don't have the various different layers that you typically see in Mediterranean Design um Mediterranean Design I'm I'm aware is an Eclectic type of design process because I've had had spent some time with Theo Victoria you know and you get to see the high quality design that goes into and has been done uh that has been subsequently called Mediterranean Revival uh but this is not the type of combination of roof types that typically go into a historic designated home series of arched openings I see one on a front facade of any significance other than the one that was added after the fact it's just a rounded opening uh so it it misses the mark on series of of arched openings the distinctive knob Arch opening facing the Street um that's one item the window has been altered multiple times it's not as as tall Spanish enti chimney the mayor's comment about that being significantly altered and nonfunctional anymore with the diamond cut uh cutouts is a significant alteration as well the detached garage no longer exists um that's a very significant change change on this home um so you know for that reason and others that are listed in here uh a wing wall itself these were not significant Wing walls that you typically see in in some of the historic designated homes I think this one misses the mark as well so I'll second the motion yes there there's speculation that the tax card could be incorrect but there hasn't been evidence provided showing that the tax card is incorrect cor with the evidence provided um there's a possibility that it wasn't even built in Coral GES at the time even Coral gaes was part of Coral Gables so with the report does has references to all of the materials that um argue that it was built in 23 but we have conflicting we have a tax card on one side right and we recogniz stuff on the other which leaves doubt so I just want to just clarify that um of course you're basing decision on the record Below on the evidence that was presented below and the the the the determination to be made is whether there was competent substantial evidence to support the board's decision and in doing so you shouldn't step into the shoes of the board but rather just determine whether there was competent substantial evidence for that decision so moving forward we have to either reaffirm or we have to go the other way so do we have a I know I know the vice mayor made a second the motion but I wasn't sure if it was a mo you so you motion to overwrite correct okay then we have a second to overwrite okay I didn't hear the motion okay yeah no I I was stating reasons why there wasn't heard his motion I agree with all of those so we have a motion in a second commissioner Castro override yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Menendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes mayor logo yes have a nice day thank you all right I'm going to try to we we have we have I want to try to run through a few May before we go to appreciate cuz I know there's certain people that are here and I'd like to get them done as quickly as possible there should be pretty simple things as they're there they're on second reading can we go through uh E2 E2 yeah one second mayor my apologies e2's in ordance of the city commission amending chapter 74 traffic and vehicles to create article 9 school's own safety authorizing the enforcement of school's own sorry okay we'll hear them all too that's fine yes no come in but do okay sorry so to create article 9 school zone safety authorizing the enforcement of school zone speed limits buying through the installation of speed detection systems on schools owned roadways providing for severability Clause repeal provision codification and providing for an effective date this is a public hearing item there have been no changes since first reading correct happy to answer any questions um as uh as as um our schools and traffic Comming evolve should we need to add any additional zones we will do so via ordinance in the future can I get a motion move it second okay Mr Mayor I have a member of the public requesting to speak on the item Maria [Music] Cruz okay accepted a second commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Menendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes mayor Lago yes while the police get in let's do 3 really quickly it's pretty simple it's mobile it's mobile food trucks have there been any changes to E3 let me just read it mayor for the record an ordinance of the city commission creating the city code sorry updating the city code to comply with state law by amending chapter 14 businesses article 8 mobile food trucks and creating section 14-1 54 limited operation of temporary commercial kitens providing for severability Clause repe provision providing for an effective date this is a public hearing item but there have been no changes since first reading thank you Naomi we appreciate it I'll move it second commissioner mandz yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor logo yes E4 E4 is in norance to the city commission amending chapter 46 of the code of the City of Coral Gables entitled pensions amending section 46-27 purchase of credited service or period of military service Andor employment with other public employers and providing for severability Clause repeal provision codification and providing for an effective date this is a public hearing item there have been no changes since first reading I'll move it second Mr clerk anything no sir vice mayor Anderson yes Commission commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes mayor logo yes I want to do E5 and e13 together yes um E5 is in ordinance the city commission amending ordinance number 2022 32 which approved the planed area development for the project known as Regency Park on the property legally described as lot 1-2 lots 35 to 46 including public Alleyway lying in between blocks 10 and lots 1 to 4 block 15 cor Gables Craft section Coral Gables Florida to allow for an art for the art in public places contribution to be made pursuant to an escrow agreement and and F I'm sorry e13 is the accompanying resolution amending resolution number 2022-2023 the everything okay yes correct I move it second second commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes mayor logo yes do we got to do the e13 or No Yes separate move it we did the two votes uh Mr two separate vot we just only done one vote we uh I have a motion by commissioner Fernandez on e13 who second it me okay E3 commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson and vice mayor yes commissioner Castro yes mayor loo yes okay um let's let's move on to come back to the 12:30 uh protocol documents we deferred A6 correct moving on to A7 thank you Chief I appreciate everyone's patience thank you so much good afternoon mayor Commissioners uh this afternoon we're going to present to you our dis distinguished officer of the month for January I'd like to have officer Melanie elate and officer Christopher Hernandez come forward during the month of January crime data show that the increase in vehicle burglaries in the northern end of our city uh as such utilizing the data driven policies Concepts and crime suppression team which two members are which in front of you I think uh officer delion and the sergeant come on up uh this is the crime suppression team that we started uh I will tell you officer uh Hernandez mik or no Peter Hernandez got called away or he was here also uh this group actually went through uh the County's rid robbery intervention detail School and has continued to show a lot of promise for us attacking crime as it occurs on January 27th at approximately 2:27 in the in the morning uh the crime suppression team was working in an unmarked capacity in the North End of the city officer herandez obviously stated or observed two males going from side to side down the street as they continued to watch Sergeant aliman who is the unit supervisor uh came in a mark unit one subject was detained right away by Sergeant Alyan the second one took off on foot ran across elado and continued up on eight Street officer Hernandez was in foot pursuit at which point officer alate then joined in the foot pursuit continued across 8 Street where he was finally came to the end of a tasing by Officer El zate who if we remember we might have shown you all this on what our body cameras actually recovered as the subject was taken down by the Tas uh and then decided to try and run again uh to no avail on a second tasing so to speak officer Hernandez was then quick to come up and place handcuffs on the individual the interesting part about this case is that this subject has been uh known to us before has hit several times and because of these our burglar arrests or burglar incidents have come down and they were able to clear vehicle burglaries and theft cases from 2023 and 2024 according to the nominator major atherly The Bravery and persistence displayed displayed by both officer elate and officer Hernandez serves as an imp inspiration to all additionally it is evident that the officer's level of physical fitness tactical training and passion for police work afforded them the opportunity to successfully apprehend an habitual offender therefore it is his great enthusiasm and mine to award both of them the officer of the month for January 2024 [Music] [Applause] good afternoon good afternoon thank you for your hard work congratulations well deserved thank you thank you mayor thank you Commissioners for having us thank you Chief thank you to Major athle and Sergeant alaman for nominating us to senior staff for providing us with an invaluable opportunity to be part of the crime suppression team the experience of working alongside the city of Miami tactical robbery unit and the Miami D County robbery intervention detail has been instrumental in enhancing our skills and knowledge and crime prevention so the prospect of networking collaborating with other agencies has enhanced our ability to apprehend subjects involved in criminal activities by leveraging the resources and expertise of these agencies we have improved the effectiveness of apprehending individuals involved in various crimes within cor Gables uh incidents like these are always a team effort would like to thank um officer Peter Hernandez officer Delong which are the other two members of our unit uh thank you to the alpha shift that night that really came forward and helped us out acting Lieutenant P at the time and our CST Sergeant Sergeant alaman for his support and guidance on the night of the incident when our Squad was operating with only two of us Sergeant alaman stepped in as a fellow officer taking on additional responsibilities such as assisting with paperwork and a essential task that did not go unnotice so thank you to all [Applause] Chief Qui question before we take a photo how long how long have we had this team organized the crime suppression team six months I think we tried it uh we actually did uh an audition if you will for a few months in the pilot test actually Chief hanin was the one that worked along with major Hoff uh so we tested many people within the organization I think we had about 14 14 officers put in for it uh these four were first chosen along with the sergeant um they were the first ones to go to the rid School uh which is not something easy to do it's right up there with SRT and SWAT um and they were on the road in January I would say what about two months just about two months from getting out of that school where they did they continue uh this week alone we have made the Departments made 20 22 arrests the in the past week or 22 cases cleared and this group was responsible for about six of those proactive a lot of those issues that we deal with that you all uh get calls about whether it be neighborhood and concerns uh this is the group that kind of transcends both patrolling as well as working with our detectives and boots on the ground and I don't think the department could be prouder of a group of individuals that show us every day but they're also doing it safely uh and uh of all the specialized units we have I would say for our younger officers this is where they want to start so there is a line out the door to get into it and as we continue to grow as a department Staffing wise we're going to continue to build this up because it does focus on those issues those quality of life crimes that we want to focus on and this is just a wonderful example of how it starts that was my next point and and through the manager um you know when we started this six months ago I had high hopes again we have a lot of petty crime here in the city from people who are coming into into this community uh looking for AF individuals who for one reason or another we've talked about it over 60% of the cars are left unopen you know there situations that can be sort of avoidable but for some reason you know you guys have done such a great job that we uh we let our guard down a lot um I'd love to see this team continue to grow because I think this is an opportunity to send a strong message that you know the city of cor Gable is going to do everything in our power to make sure that we train that we have the best tools and that we're the most prepared force of any of any force in Miami day County not the State of Florida so I just want to commend you for your hard work your entire team obviously the leadership team in the back always does a great job but it's good to see you know something that the chief the previous city manager worked on over 6 months ago and I think that bringing this to fruition and seeing it uh you know in front of us pay dividends you know makes me makes me really really happy so thank you for that thank you let's take a picture thank you no this is the first one two show you [Music] that's a good one Mr cler moving on to A8 how are you sir hell good afternoon everybody how you doing I'm doing well uh good afternoon I'm Jose Rodriguez assistant INR director and I have some more employee recognition so um I'm going to do a two for one here because we have two winners from the parks department so would like to recognize Sonia osario she's our part-time employee for the first quarter and I also have Kenny Lin which is our employee of the month for March so I'm going call them up here as they come up I want to say a couple words about both of them um so Sonia actually just hit her one-ear Mark with the city she's actually a marketing specialist in the country club and Kenny Lin longtime employee Kenny's been with the city uh over 30 years this is actually his second time winning Kenny's first time winning this was February 200 n so let's call him up I we'll start with Sonia um so Sonia who's in marketing I wanted to call up um p uh her supervisor uh who also was the one that did the nomination uh Fabio Rodriguez who's our marketing specialist I'm sure you guys are familiar with him he does a lot of our our beautiful stuff our posters and everything throughout the city um so come on up and talk a little bit about t hello hey how you doing uh so yeah um here well she's been doing a lot of work for the the Contra Club of I mean old their marketing stuff she's doing it is very um professional very skilled and talented also with um design and I mean she does marketing plan business plan everything um and yes it's been a great asset to to the department this whole time and and to the city and you know she responds very well to feedback to project s and and she takes the initiative to to do it beyond that so even if I give her certain projects basically it's kind of like a set it and forget it you just give her a project and she'll go beyond and be like oh this would also work there and and she'll take it upon herself to research things and everything so yeah she she's amazing thank you so much uh I want to say thank you to the city of corles for giving me the opportunity to express my talents everything that I have created in the country club I really did it with lots of love I have a connection with this place and the marketing for the venue the marketing for the club and the entire location that is the source the first business building of corag it been a pleasure for me to do that so I'm very grateful for the city of corag to give me this opportunity pleas congratulations yeah let do one let's do one and then we'll take the separate photos okay for Mr Lin all right so uh Kenny is our next one so Kenny is uh the longtime employee of the city and literally a funny story about Kenny he literally wanted to keep working in the city that he he stopped being in the drop program and came to me one day said FR I don't want to leave in 5 years please let's let's fix this I said no problem we'll get you out we'll get started we also call uh Kenny's got some nicknames one of the nicknames call him we call him the resident Whisperer because whenever we got some projects around the parks he's able to go and talk to the residents and um kind of smooth things over so he's he's he's always been really great at that Kenny runs um uh the operations for our Parks um we have two parks Crews uh from the parks that the community recreation department um takes care of we got 19 um that are you know the ones with the playgrounds and the ones that are a little bit more active and uh Kenny runs two Crews um he's responsible for that he has to listen to me complain about things he also is always on top of when uh we get resident complaints about dogway stations everything else and whenever something doesn't look good I call him Kenny we need to take care of this he takes care of it he's done a great job I'm really happy that he finally got this award again after so many years of getting it before so um uh really thank highly of Kenny and all that he does and um we love him here in community recreation so congratulations Ken thank [Music] you thank you I know you're tired I just want to say this picture is clear like the People's Court but uh I'm just a grateful servant of this city and it's a pleasure uh I grew up in the city and I love this city but as you can see I have a wonderful team I have wonderful leaders and uh like I'm I'm able to do what I do because of Troy Hall and uh I can't express my gratitude enough for him but this is the best place to be there's no other city like car gaes so people must understand that and the workers that we hire the workers that we work with we instill that in them and I want to say thank you I'm grateful I know y'all had a long day we got a long day but Kenny Kenny before we take a picture just just a quick moment you know all the residents every time I talk to them they they talk to me about you they say how much you love the city and how hard you work and that you always do things with a smile you're never in a bad mood at least I haven't seen seen you ever in a bad mood uh with anyone so everybody has great things to say about you and we're blessed to have you in the city my friend thank Fred if he's the resident Whisperer we may need him over in the commission [Laughter] side enjy more [Music] s appreciate congratulations conratulations [Music] okay item 810 all right it's me again sir I would like to recognize our je um April winner coming to us via it so George tensil is our employee of the month for April um this nomination actually came from the HR department George has been pretty pivotal in US switching over from Eden into our new system so he's been the guy getting all the data out of Eden putting it in for for us so the nomination actually came from HR so I want to personally thank George for all he's done for us um and I want to call him up so be recognized and also Nelson afternoon I'm Nelson Gonzalez assist n director like Jose said George has been a great addition to team since 2021 and I have Lite Ramos who his his director advisor and he has some very uh detailed words for him afternoon um George has been with the city for two years okay and I have to say that it's been a great great asset to us not only to the department but to the overall organization um he's a first things his personality he's always he's never say no to any assignment and when he doesn't know something he's the one who says let me find out and I'll get back to you by the end of the day so that's a that's a great asset for us George was it TR a part of our transition to the new HR and the financial system and uh we cannot be more proud to have George and our team thank you George thank you very [Applause] much congratulations I'm extremely honored to receive this award and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to work in this beautiful city and honestly nothing could be done without my team and I a to them cuz really it's all of them and the leadership of the IT department so thank you very much to you guys and thank you to my parents friends and family for all the support and I really appreciate it thank you amazing amazing you have a great team by the way absolutely you have a great team and you know everybody here is the people behind the curtain they make everybody up here look great you know the town hall that we had last week went out Flawless because of all your hard work so uh congratulations and it's a big achievement on on on your behalf but it's again it's an achievement shared by your entire department so so we're we're blessed to have here in the city thank you let's take a picture comeing there [Music] 15 minutes right we're ganging up on you I got all right before we go to before we go to lunch I'm going to take one more item E9 I mean I'm I can keep going you want to finish the day E9 no no we need a put some fuel in the engine some of us are not the ever ready bunny that you are9 isance of the city commission approving the purchase and sale agreement between the City of Coral gaes and Municipal Corporation existing under the laws of Florida in 4241 Aurora LLC of Florida limited liability company for the transfer of development rights has defined in article 16 and sections 8-14 and 14-24 of the zoning code from the Coral Gable Museum property located at 285 Aragon Avenue Coral Gable Florida 33134 and directing that all proceeds from the trans for the development rights be placed in the city's historic building fund and providing for repeat provision of reability clause and providing for an effective date this is a public hearing item the asset manager will present Zeta good afternoon good afternoon mayor Commissioners um Zeta sardinia's asset manager so um on August 17th the historic preservation board approved the issuance of certificates of transfer development rights for the 285 Aragon Avenue Coral Gable Museum property in the amount of 71,1 36 sare ft as well as the maintenance plan for the property on August 24th the city commission found that it would be in the best interest of the city to make the property's tdrs available for sale so that proceeds from the sale for the tdrs could be used to fund the continued restoration and maintenance of city-owned historic buildings at that time the commission also authorized the city manager and the City attorney to negotiate purchase and sale agreements for the sale of tdrs and directed that the proceeds from those sales should be placed in the city's historic building fund on October 24th 2023 per resolution 2023-24 the city commission approved an application requesting receipt of transfer of development rights for receipt and use for the Mixed project referred to as 4241 Aurora on property legally described as Lots 12- 22 block 6 Coral Gables industrial section 4241 Aurora Coral Gables Florida recently 4241 Aurora LLC expressed an interest to the city in purchasing 2,812 square fet of the city's available TD the proposed terms negotiated and stated in the purchase and sale agreement are um a purchase price of $40 per square foot for the tdrs or $1,324 180 a 10% deposit of $13,250 closing no later than the date of issuance of the building permit for the project or one year following the date of City commission adoption of the ordinance approving this agreement agement whichever is earlier as the City attorney stated the item approval requires forit both because the sale exist exceeds 1 million do staff recommends approval and please let us know if you have any questions Mr cler are there any comments no Mr Mayor do you have any comments from the commission I want to just uh state that this program was created by El ugoni our first historic preservation officer many years ago for the right reasons historic preservation and the fact that these tdrs are coming from the coral GES Museum I want to put on the record I mean we all are in agreement that the museum definitely needs um a lot of work repairs that's needed so I don't want uh you know um give credit what credit is due the museum and its board has done a great job but I'd like at some point make sure that they're taken care of um you know down the road because they definitely need it yes so I'm going to add to the record that I was you know and of course sunshine is a problem because it prevents us from speaking other than right here uh been pushing as well for uh these tdrs to make sure that the money goes back into the museum because it does need significant um repairs and use for it to be able to function as a museum at which it is so we're we're talking about the ceiling of the walls the ceiling of the windows all those features need to be taken care of on a pristine basis because of the humidity levels that we we have in in Southern Florida so um I'm happy that we're finally reaching this Finish Line it was a long time coming and uh let's make sure the work gets done y yes I have a motion and and I agree I think that we need to prioritize that these funds do go to the museum there's a lot of work there that needs to be done sooner rather than later uh I visited the archives and there has been water intrusion in that area uh and we are at risk of losing some of our historic documents and some of the historic things that we have in that uh venue so the sooner we get these funds working for the city the better yes um the the the funds right now um as the ones that were sold before and these are going into a general fund um and so when this goes through second reading uh which is going to be in next commission meeting on the 21st we'll um the finance director will bring back um an uh item um after working with the manager to delineate uh how those funds um of the once before and these will be allocated great I'll move it second commissioner Menendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor logo yes thank you for E12 a12 is a resolution of the city commission approving the final pla entitled Arana subdivision pursuant to zoning code article 14 process section 14- 210 plaing sub division being a repa consisting of two existing Lots which total 97377 square ft into a modified two lots in the property legally described as Lots four and five Palm Vista together with that portion of the vacated 50ft platted RightWay line between Lots four and five and dedication of 1,748 squ Ft between between Coral Gables Florida including required conditions providing for repeater Provisions cability clause and providing for an effective date we we should have a presentation right or Mr applicant yeah oh because the applicant yeah yes so everyone who will be speaking on this item should be swor in because it is quasi judicial okay please stand and raise your right hand do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll provide today will be the truth and nothing but the truth thank you so the applicant always goes first my apologies I confused the order okay um thank you mam City attorney Joe Jimenez address 2020 Salo Street sweet 102 um we're back here with the we've this is the second time this has been before you to refresh your recollection this was an old platted rideway that's sort of been grown over nobody even knew it was there until we went to design a new home a fence had been actually put up across it that fence will be removed now the original culdesac as it was platted was platted so long ago it wouldn't have satisfied your current equipment so in vacating that which you've already done we then dedicated what is now a te turn around for your garbage trucks your fire trucks and everything else and the essential move here is we're while conforming to the minimum lot size we're just moving the property line over a little bit is essentially the only thing this plat is actually doing and finalizing the the the turnaround and and and everything else so I'm here to answer any questions good afternoon Jim Garcia planning official sorry um so this is the last step in the replat process um you had seen the tenative plat and you approved it back in May 23 of last year and Rec approval that's thank you Mr cler do you have any public comment no Mr Mayor I'll entertain a motion I'll move it second vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes mayor loo yes G1 is pretty simple we'll do the last two and then we'll have lunch okay g1's a resolution of the city commission appointing um someone to serve as a member of the historic preservation board for remainder of the current term which began on June 1st 2023 and continues to May 31st 2025 so Mr Mayor my office forwarded applications we had received to the city commission the vice mayor profer the name of Anna Alvarez who is one of the applicants and meets the criteria of an architect which is needed at the on the board right now so I um spoke to some prior and current um folks that are on serving on historic preservation about the best qualified candidate out of those that uh meet the architectural requirement and Miss Alvarez came out on top so that's why I nominated her just an impressive resume I've never met her but seems to be qualified yeah anyone else have a question or statement I'll second Mr clerk commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes mayor yes H2 H2 is resolution of the city commission authorizing acceptance of an amendment for Grant agreement number 23 HSC 9001 154 from the state of Florida Department of state's vision of historical resources for a six-month extension to the agreement from June 30th 2024 to December 31st 2022 for the restoration of the historic Gondola building and authorizing city manager to execute the amendment of the agreement with do for said financial assistance under the agreement for financial services pretty status quo I'll move it second commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes mayor loo yes moving on to H3 H3 is a resolution of the city commission for a grant application requirement from the Florida Inland navigation district for attachment E7 resolution for assistance the Grant application was submitted on 4124 from the waterways assistance program related to the purchase of a Marine Patrol vessel the grant amount applied for is $150,000 the city matching amount is $90 ,000 for a project total cost amount of 340,000 you have any comments I'll move it second commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor logo yes I will see you at 3:15 back for lunch so we can finish first readings and move on to the uh City commission items thank you [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e e [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] how was your food it was very good that was lip part item E7 E7 is the norance of the city Comm commission amending the code of the City of Coral Gables Florida Chapter 6 entitled alcoholic beverages section 6-12 retail package store and section 6-13 retail package beverage stores retail beverage stores retail liquor stores Club vendors by changing the prohibited hours of operation on Sundays for retail package stores providing for repealer provision cability clause codification and providing for an effective date this is a public hearing item the deputy City attorney can present thank you good afternoon again mayor vice mayor Commissioners as we discussed at the last commission meeting we have brought back an ordinance amend ing the sales of retail package stores and Retail package beverage stores um in our city code to allow for consistency among the dates so every day sales can begin at 7:00 a.m. on sun um from Saturday to Sunday they can stay open until 1:00 a.m. so this just makes it consistent from every day in the week again for retail package stores and Retail package beverage stores so this only has to do with off- premises consumption not with anywhere serving um for on- premises consumption Madam vice mayor uh this is in followup to our discussion the last time I have not received any comments from any residents um to the contrary on on this item um do we have any public comment no ma'am okay um if none of you have any additional comments I'll move it I'll second Mr clerk vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes mayor logo yes moving on to item thank you moving on to item E8 E8 is an ordinance of the city commission approving the vacation of a public rideway pursuing to zoning code article 14 process section 14-21 abandonment and vacations and city code chapter 62 article 8 vacation abandonment and closure of streets easements and alleys by private owners and the city application process providing for the vacation of the 70 foot wide builtmore Drive between Lots 1 and two in Block 25 and lot one in Block 27 riera section part one cor Gable Florida providing for repeater provision severability clause and providing for an effective date this is a quasi judicial item so everyone who will be speaking on this item should be sworn in please stand and raise your right hand you who affirm the testimony you'll provide today will be the truth and nothing but the truth do thank you Mr director how are you sir good afternoon her missas PO wor director so the reason we're here is for the um closure of the unimproved portion of the bill more drive right away um the section of buma way was created by the Rivera section one plat book 28-31 it was originally intended to curl the Waterway however this connectivity is no longer feasible uh the section of Billo Drive uh between blue Road and the Waterway was left unimproved um so we're planning to close approximately 14,500 of the rideway um 3/4s of this vacation will be used towards the blue Road Park this is an a view of the uh area in question for the park the Green Space right next to it in between the single family homes that is the RightWay that we want to vacate the site is currently used to provide Waterway access for Canal maintenance we had an original design concept that was on October 2021 for the Floria Recreation development assistance grant we have a matching Grant of $200,000 a part of the park um we had a community meeting on May uh 2023 and this is a project that we're planning to have completed by June of 2025 in accordance with the grand requirement so we ask the commission to hopefully approve the rideway uh vacation so this is a project that I've been working on with with the team correct for some time it's right next to my house um this then feeds into if you go back can you go back sure just I want to show the picture of the overhead of the park uh this would feed into the area where we now we have the approvals for the sidewalks we just be missing the the sidewalks you know across Granada we and we keep moving forward to where this Bridges and if you get the bridge done here on there is no sidewalks in that area correct so I think it would be a good opportunity to start having a dialogue with the residents in that area who are are you know have significant space in front of blue road to see how we can show them look the sidewalk has been built built in front of the park M and and while while it you know it will take you to the bridge and then you go over the bridge and then we'll and then we have a side yard there which will continue adding the the the sidewalks that we will all the way to Riviera Country Club all that connectivity we hopefully uh get Buy in from the residents uh as we said down Granada down blue Road and just continue to add more more connectivity in regards to sidewalks so something to note when you V RightWay the buing property owner have uh the right reversal so generally speaking this will mean that that rideal will be divided by the city who owns the partial the park on one side and the prop and the other one but U the owner has agreed to give us half of the half so we're basically that's how we're getting three4 of the full rway instead of just half so this is expanding this will this will expand the park make it look larger and I think that one of the big things that we need to work on here is is once once we're done with everything here we've been working on this for some time is to get the sidewalks the sidewalks installed so we can start working with the neighborhood so they can say look you know here it is here's a testament the sidewalks are being installed especially for example down billmore way uh it's billmore Drive excuse me it's a major it's a major issue there and blue road is a major issue there's no sidewalks so every day when I come home and I drive down that street you know you see people walking on the street and it's it's it's just difficult you know it's difficult to navigate that area there's a lot of traffic uh so that's a cut through Street and that's why just a little bit of a a little bit more background if you look at billmore drive you can see the roundabout there um the billmore drive was the first place that I remember that when we were talking about doing traffic caling we installed the plastic humps remember yes the plastic traffic coming and we tested it out at builtmore drive with a residence there probably like six or seven years ago right and then that then that you know it Beed fruit we tested it out and now they have a permanent they have permanent uh traffic call but that was one of the first places that we uh got County approval to try to to just put something temporary to test it out to see what the impacts would be but there is no sidewalk so the people there walk in the middle of the street yes yeah it is it is dangerous um if we have any public comment and I'm ready to move it yeah I make a motion second I'll second yeah whatever commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes mayor loo yes thank you thank you sir when do you think we start herings Mr Diaz when do you think we start um I think we're getting the final plans probably this week and it's just a matter of putting out to procurement so probably about four months we have a Contractor on board maybe a little less you think we can do all the sidewalks down blue Road by then or no we'll be close you know we can connect those three Bridges would be amazing absolutely okay thank you great work E10 E10 in ordance of the city commission providing for a text Amendment to the City of Coral Gable's official zoning code amending section 14-20 2.6 building site determination to facilitate building site determination applications assistant City attorney gusos can present the item good afternoon Mr Mayor vice mayor Commissioners assistant City attorney gusa bi so proposed uh before you is a modification to the existing uh zoning code that would allow building side determinations there's a particular criteria underneath that requirement that requires three out of four The Proposal reduces it to two out of three removing the Covenant provision um we believe that that particular item is already adequately addressed elsewhere in the code so it's a bit redundant to have it here and at the end end of the day meeting the two out of the three requirements does not Grant you a building side determination for one or two or three buildable Lots that's just basically a safeguard so that the commission isn't inundated with the acceptive request this will basically just allow Property Owners a channel to move forward apply as long as they meet those two out those three criteria then they will eventually come to you all for approval if you have any questions please let me know so it's basically giving you access to come to the commission correct that's that's it's it's facilitating making the building site determination process the administrative component of the process a bit simpler to meet um it doesn't really change anything in terms of demolition requests and all that all that stays exactly the same you still have to go through that process if you are seeking demolition um so everything else Remains the Same it just basically opens the door a little bit easier for our residents to come before all of you to seek a building side determination it was something I had put on for discussion and took it off since an ordinance was already drafted because staff hadn't fully evaluated the complexities of uh this particular item uh so I'm happy to Second it okay commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes mayor Lago yes moving on to E1 E1 is a norance of the city commission amending the code of the City of Coral GES Florida Chapter 2 entitled Administration article 3 boards commissions committees division 3 trial board by creating section 2-14 procedures and amending chapter 2 entitled Administration article four officers and employees by creating section 2- 255 employee protection in order to provide for an administrative procedure for handling complaints made in accordance with the Florida whistleblowers act Florida statute section 112. 3187 providing for edar provision severability clause codification and providing for an effective date good afternoon again um I just wanted to know it didn't appear in some versions that this item is sponsored by commissioner Mendez um so just wanted to give you a brief background about what this relates to this relates to the state um of Florida's whistleblower act so all of all employees of the city are covered by the state whistleblower act as it stands today the city has the option and state statute to adopt an local administrative proceeding to have sort of an interim step between a whistleblower protection um invocation and uh lawsuit so this creates a sort of in between administrative step The Whistleblower protection act as it's set forth in state law allows for um certain categories of disclosures to be made to certain elected I mean certain um City staff and once those um disclosures are properly made should there be any adverse employment action taken against that employee at at another point there are some protections involved including this local administrative proceeding um when looking at this with the sponsor we looked at utilizing our existing trial board which is a trial board made up of five residents um some appointed by the commission some by the employees some by the trial board as a whole um which is already in effect and existing so this ordinance sets forth that the trial board would be the local administrative panel um for purposes of an administrative hearing for those invoking whistleblower protection acts this is called employee protection which what which is what it's called throughout Miami dat County and it provides certain procedures to whom disclosures need to be made to whom complaints need to be made Etc all in accordance with state law this does not change any of the trial board's existing um rights and responsibilities and in fact um the one other change in this ordinance provides that consistent with past practice and their ability it just codifies the trial board's ability to create rules of procedure for the normal trial board proceedings as well as these proceedings pursuant to The Whistleblower act happy to answer any questions it's sort of a complicated area of the law but we tried to make this ordinance as simple as possible just to reiterate to the employees that those whistleblower protections are available and there is an administrative process here that should be followed I um I want to thank first off the city attorney's office uh both Christina and Stephanie worked very hard and working through the the jungle or Wheats of County rules State rules Federal is a little bit convoluted and I think this effort is basically this like everything we try to do as a commission to streamline and simplify so that people can better understand what our rules and regulations are and I also want to thank the city manager who directly collaborated and worked very closely with the city attorneys office from the administration standpoint um like I said before um other cities in the United States in starting with Miami Beach locally enacted their own um their own local whistleblower um template and this to me is basically a procedural template upon which over time in the future future commissions can add perhaps language here and there as we come across issues that come along but I think it's important to have at the very least a procedural template and I think this is we accomplished that thanks to your work so I have a couple questions for you having done some EEOC work and done cases in front of other cities uh with trial boards and we do already have a trial board um this is asking the trial board to make some some rules uh I do think there's some preliminary rules that we as a body should require and I believe in and always have advocated for pruit mediation pres uh for everything because having someone go before a trial board twice is illogical to me and why is it illogical because you got to go there anyway so you're having someone prejudge something and then come back and judge it again if what we're really trying to accomplish is um an intermediary to help resolve issues and make recommendations back and forth to the city manager versus the employee and try to resolve difference sounds like more of a role of a mediator than it does going in front of a trial board it's much it's a much more expensive process to go before a trial board for both sides because you're you're litigating at that point you're putting on evidence at that point and I think it's it's easier to reach a resolution with the mediation process we bounc around different ideas and one was not necessar mediator but um using a different individual groups of individuals uh but I think after research done by the city attorney's office they gave back the reasoning reasoning behind using the trial board sure so vice mayor I'm happy to um speak with you about if you mean like before the trial board what that would mean but it does have to be a panel it cannot be a mediator following state law it has to be a panel of individuals but if you're talking about like a pre-trial board step that's a different situation and we're happy to to discuss that with you all I and I think if if it's the will of the commission if the trial board is invoked for this purpose certainly we can include a provision that mediation is an option um and and you know perhaps even encouraged you know yeah and that's basically I'm saying we You're Expecting The Trial board to come up with rules that folks here that are educated as attorneys would know how to do but our trial board folks aren't necessarily attorneys so I don't I don't disagree with you so it does provide that they should be done in consultation with the city attorney's office those rules of procedures adopted so we can certainly look at that or we can look at if it's the will of the sponsor including something in here and making sure that um those rules of procedure include the option for mediation we do that comfortable with that yeah I would like a mediation option in there before we go um on Full Throttle I think folks should have this opportunity to sit down and talk so if I mean between first and second reading unless any of the our colleagues disagree I think that would be a good addition yeah I have a common um City attorney is the trial board is it part of the charter or is it by ordinance the trial board is is in the city Charter our city code has certain procedures for trial board certain general rules about its composition and so forth but the asraw board is in our city Charter okay so is it possible cuz it's it's it's under my understanding that you told me that the trial board is established after there's a complaint so not necessarily um what it perhaps it's happened that way just by operation of the fact that tri board is rarely invoked and so we've have convened tri board and their terms are and I have to rely on the city clerk to remind me but I think they have staggered terms for two or three years it's two years uh the the commission gets two appointments the employees get two appointments and then the board as a whole appoints the fifth members and then a stagger terms of 2 years each right so what happens is that since we haven't had matters come before them their terms have expired I think all of them have expired at this point yes all the terms have expired and we haven't convened the board because there haven't been any cases that have come up correct so it's not necessarily that it's convened just when there's a matter it's just that we've convened them and then there haven't been hasn't been anything else and their terms have expired so I I believe I believe the Optics of if there is a complaint and then we choose depending on who the complaint it is a new trial board is it it really doesn't look good so my recommendation would be if we're going to go forward with this we need to go ahead and appoint the trial board that mechanism is certainly available to we can do yeah so the commission's recommendation would be to have the board and and but still only meet when necessary exactly correct okay that makes s so they would have to meet at least once we have four members on that board we'd have to have first of an election for the employees we'd have to have the commission appoint two of those members and then once there's four members we'd have to have one meeting so they could hopefully at that meeting or maybe sometimes it take more than one meeting appoint their fifth member m it just doesn't look good when there's a complaint or a complaintant and then according to that person then we're choosing the trial board it's it's okay it's a logical Evolution yeah so just but just so we're all clear I think you know whoever is appointed to that board should know that they're not once we get through these organizational matters and we can adopt the rules of procedure and all of that then they may not meet again for a period of time because if they would only be as needed and we have boards like that yeah an emergency exactly emercy management board member was complaining for a year that he didn't have a meeting and he was wondering why they hadn't called him for a meetings so yeah I describe it as the zombie apocalypse board so it's probably a good thing when there's no meetings of the emergency yes exactly so we can certainly with the work with the clerk's office and and um advertise those positions Etc to get you um nominees for that ahead of time so um I agree with all the comments made um I'm glad that you brought this up this is something that I've been trying to get done since since I started here and I think it's important for employees to know that they have the protections necessary uh whatever the case may be so I'll be happy to Second thank you and by the way I and in our discussions you know we said why have a procedural template we in and my thought was it's important first off for the employees to understand what the procedure is because even when we started looking at it between County and state rules it was convoluted even for folks with law degrees uh but also I think it's important to you know let the employees know that the commission and the administration every opportunity they move things forward and and and and trying to make things uh better going forward in the future so thank you for of course and to the extent that any Personnel rules need to be changed to comply with this we'll certainly work with the manager um to make sure that that's effectuated yes Stephanie could just clarify this has not apply to the um yes so that's very clear in the ordinance and I'll just make it clear for the record here that this would have to be bargained for so unless and until it is um uh incorporated into any of the collective bargaining agreements is does not apply to any employees covered by those collective bargaining agreements as you all know they have their own um grievance procedures Etc so this only applies to those non um non CBA covered employees thank you commissioner Mendez I want to commend you for bringing this forward well thanks I mean like was mentioned it had been discussed before and I'm just happy for everyone that we're able to present legislation but thank you no it's it's very good I having done them it's a very stressful time for employees and the more that we can do it on a low-key manner which is why I'm kind of poking you in the direction of U pre-trial board mediation uh I think it would be better for the city and it would be uh better for the employees I agree okay so um I think we already have a motion in second yeah okay uh Mr Mayor I have a member of the public requesting to speak on the item yes who's that Maria Cruz okay okay commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Lago yes thank you moving on to item F1 discussion F1 discussion to require door hangers in the zoning code oh there thank you Jennifer good afternoon je gcia applying official so we've been discussing ways to um increase our our engage with residents so we're talking about maybe having um door hangers be required for neighborhood meetings for just multif family and mixed use buildings so if it's a you know within a certain square footage or if they're requesting a a conditional use it be required to have a neighborhood meeting before planning zoning board at that point then they would um do door door hangers within a th000 ft M so we're one a few Fe back from the commission perfect I think there's been a cultural change um followed by Tech advances and um it's evident that people the culture of how you're receiving mail has change quite a bit you're receiving you're receiving things online you're receiving things through email maybe the priority we're giving to the actual postal service is not as high especially for the younger generation so I believe that um the door hangers would increase awareness H Community input and enhance engagement H transparency and I know so so let me help you out there tell me go was it Friday we met I think so you brought me in a tray of envelops like this big mhm returned and these were to businesses that were existing like Metro PCS on the mile and the Postal Service returned it no such owner there there you know it was you know to occupant so yes I you move it I'll second let's just want to put on the record I only received two emails and I think other I imagine you the residents excuse me my fellow colleagues on the commission also received it I don't have an issue with this but they were adamant about you know putting door hangers and people out of time town and sending the wrong message you know that potentially someone is not home and the door hanger is there and they're you know just I just wanted I told that I told that Resident that I would bring it up uh for for a fruitful conversation they were concerned about you know we're starting to hang we're starting to do door hangers now for everything and someone takes a vacation for one reason or another uh that it's out there and that potentially could be an issue of a hazard just wanted to put it out that promising I would say it the parks the parks department go is putting door hangers this is one of the concerns that the the city manager did bring did bring up to me but the city is already doing it so um I know we're not allowed to put them in the mailbox no so legally we can't do that um when I was knocking door to door and hanging door hangers there's some very alert residents that with their ring doorbell would you know say hey what do you need you know because I was ringing a doorbell as well and then when I realized they were out of town I said listen I I'll take the door hanger off um you know I don't want your house to be noted as being something that's going to be broken into but by the same token I think when we travel too we need to have somebody a neighbor picking up stuff cuz stuff does get you don't want your postal box over stuffed and to for it look like a you know newspapers hanging out there I pick up my neighbors newspapers all the time and Tucker behind Hedges and pots and so forth so it doesn't appears if they're not and I think we our Police Department offers a watch service for when we are out of town maybe there's a way to cross reference the list whenever they're going to put out door hangers I don't know if that's even possible so that they don't knock on a door where the resident is out of town or leave a door hanger um if we know they're going to be out of town that should somewhat avoid that issue uh but you're right and I think this has been something that this the prior commission had been talking about in the past how do we adequately communicate with residents and I know commissioner fors uh was trying to get something where you would have a text message depending on the area you were living in and I know that I talked to rundo about this on Friday and he told me they're still working on a few things to to to enhance our communication but as much as our technology has improved we're still in a day and age where the information isn't getting to people I had one of the people who came for public comment who stopped me outside and said I wish I would have known about the agenda prior to uh Friday and the fact is we do send out the agenda the city sends out the agenda on Tuesday it sends it out again on Thursday if there are any changes um but it's still not getting out to people so the question is how do we improve on that and what can we do I mean other than sending smoke signals at this point I don't think people you're sending text messages you're sending emails and a lot of times people are just bombarded with things they're getting so much on a regular bases just last week saw a text message I hadn't responded to in 3 weeks because I didn't notice it come in too many things are coming in on a regular basis uh this is something that's right there on your door handle and you're sure to see it so Chief we have nsas so if that door hanger is hanging out there too long yes uh um so the recommendation obviously has been from from security standpoints that we don't put door hangers up really the only thing that police and fire agreed to is actually during an activation in a hurricane where there's something that we're looking for somebody needs special assistance in a house uh during a hurricane activation uh the only recommendation we can really make where we're kind of comfortable with is that if it's a specific event or a specific notice once that notice passes we should remove those that are still left there and I don't know if that's the NSA getting out and going in or if it's whatever if the parks puts it up or something else that after that event passes somebody has to do a sweep which is obviously there's a cost to it to make sure if there's any existing door hangers they're taken down um the other issue we have and and we know that has happened is squatters looking for a place to squat are looking for those hangers more so than to break into the house but to take it over especially if it's there for a while uh as vice mayor Anderson said you know we try to encourage everybody to get your neighbors to pick up your new newspapers when that was it and this would be the same thing we can't put them in the mailbox if you hang them on the door and that event has passed or that time has passed as a city we should kind of go back and I think that would be the best solution to doing it completely of actually doing it OBS absent of not doing it would be to make sure we take it down if there is those one or two homes that have it still up there and I guess it's limited to about a, or 1500 square ft so it's not a large area maybe we can put something in there where they're put out and 48 hours later if they just do a drive-thru if they haven't been picked up just remove them a question um by the way we've encountered I had a meeting with community recreation and the youth center because even in their Athletics programs parents don't get messages we don't get messages and we're and I brought Ray mundo into the meeting to go you know we need a solution so even in that aspect inhouse we're having those issues uh Jennifer how many times a year would you think would any given resident property owner receive door hangers for mixed use or multif family my guess is probably at most one project it depends on the area so if someone lives downtown or North Pond there's a lot of projects moving forward in that area versus you know maybe along US1 or along down south you wouldn't get as many not notifications cuz I much development happening there I have a thought and we've discussed it before on another matter um could the door hangers be triggered if the project is asking for variances or additional height or additional as opposed to um as of right that's something that that I had discussed with you and CHR and and the city attorneys in terms of door hangers so currently currently if your project is as a right there is no uh need to for door hangers or any kind of mail notice cuz your project is as of right so there's no public meeting and so what this what the what the commissioner has been discussing with staff is proposed legislation that would um provide for the requirement of a door hanger for the neighborhood meeting for those projects that will ultimately come to the city commission well I think that's an important clarification going forward so that even reduces the number of times that this may happen because that's probably a minority of the projects as opposed to every project in the city but another thing that I was also discussing with them was maybe when yes it's as right but when there is a bonus that they're going to apply for yeah then we can provide notification because at that point it won't be by right right no that's my point that's something completely separate this is this is because I've gotten emails and residents in my office telling me I've never gotten any communication uh we know the building's going up when we see the construction so to promote that involvement from the beginning especially when it comes to the developer and the neighborhood I think it's healthy not only for the residents but for us when when a when a project comes before us makes it a lot easier when there's Harmony you know and there's Community involvement so and I guess I don't have the answer to this so I'm asking um this is not going to be a city sponsored correct event so anybody can do it so we do have a littering ordinance with with hand bills in downtown that if a company and they start putting them on cars or if they do a Miracle Mile and they hang those and we find I believe it's five or 10 the person who's on the handbill gets cited by the city so if if different developers are going around putting these things up without any kind of authority to do so within this we could get inundated with people putting door hangers up and then having to have code enforcement check to make sure they're the appropriate ones because that would be the next unintended consequence when people start putting door hangers up as advertisement I mean for the most part we don't allow door-to-door solicitations so if it's a pizza place and they start hanging door hangers we could get a lot of them and I think we need to start using safer watch better yes I think that if we get a call from somebody saying you know I just got got a door hanger they can send us the picture through safer watch and it will relieve on the time of having to send somebody out there and start verifying and it's a resource that we already have and I know we we've done a good job of promoting it in the past I don't know if we can continue promoting it I don't know if through our E news we can once again promote it um because it's even eyes on the ground that you don't have you know when somebody reports an suspicious person it's a lot better for the officer to have a picture than to just have a random description which as we've talked about lighting issues different things the description sometimes off and commissioner when people sign up for it we can send them direct messages from safer watch correct I mean usually they're police fire related but we can put those messages out but I'm just trying to think outside where if we start getting those it's kind of like what's authorized what's not and and when people start seeing them ingenious people may start putting door hangers up and then we're going to be chasing them around trying to to read it back in So if it's specific for the ordinance it has to be about something that City that they have to do by code then we can exclude everything else before it even happens even though it's not going to be somebody from the city and then put it on the developer to make sure that they go back and remove them after the time and if not that they can be then code enforcement could take action against that developer similar to what you have on the books already with the uh anti-litter ordinance on hand bills can I make a suggestion uh for next meeting if taking what Chief said into consideration working with the city attorney's office the fine wording that sort of uh you thread the needle through the little pitfalls that we've discussed and see we can come up with the legislation that uh avoids the pitfalls and gets right to the point that's a so legislation is being presented to the Planning and Zoning Board so let's make sure that it is the way that we want it to before take any consideration I think it's tomorrow isn't it Jennifer so it's I think there's a draft that staff has has reviewed with you commissioner and that's what you proposed so you know these concerns I'm sure can be discussed with the Planning and Zoning Board tomorrow and perhaps they have some suggestions or I know I'm sure they will have additional suggestions and ideas and another thing when it comes to condos we're going to be leaving the hangers in the lobby because we can't really unless unless the apartment building is an an open apartment building that there's no other way commissioner if I mean if this is approved and I think that would be the ideal way that the police department can get out the message on safer watch is through a door hanger be honest with I mean one door hanger and we can put those out in certain areas cuz right now we're just doing it on our Outreach through crime watch but if I was able to make a door hanger and then hang that up and then go back and check again with the nsas that people are going to see it when they get home and that may kind of increase our numbers and we can quantify that if we start seeing and up taking certain areas and we can attack the the city in a more uh systematic way if you would Mr manager is that something you'd be able to work on yeah absolutely and I agree with uh what the chief was saying I think we need to when we do this ordinance it needs to be a little bit more specific so that we require the developer to not only place it within a certain distance but also after 3 4 days go back and and pick it up but uh you know the part has been doing it successfully I think it it'll work it's just going to take a little bit more resources to police that particular activity beautiful all right so um I guess we'll bring it over the next commission meeting uh Mr Mayor before you move on and just for reference we currently have a little over 3,800 email addresses that subscribe to get the commission agenda every time we publish it okay but we have 20 8,000 on the en so it's about 10% okay uh moving on to item F2 I just want to be brief because we have a lot of items here so I'm just going to go quickly what I'm trying to do here is Mr clerk do we have the picture or we forgot to upload it no we did receive the photo and I believe we sent it so this is simple I'd like to in this year's budget work on having a l item to I know it's tough there's no windows but at a minimum there should be more lighting and it there should be something that potentially spruces up the PS uh I don't not I'm not talking about doing a um mural I'm not talking I'm just something simple classy well done something that again pays tribute to the city Coral Gables but I think that the way that our our PES are right now I don't think that they are in my opinion in the opinion of many uh in line with our standards so what I would do there what I would do is just really concentrate on lighting especially at night um you know maybe some roing uh maybe something that again um the walls just something that again um is is again I'm not talking about benches I'm not talking about furniture I'm not talking about anything that could be a a Haven for homeless to to um we need it to be lit so that it's a deter and that people feel safe and there's a few PES on the mile and I think that we should concentrate on that uh maybe you could put a little bit of like a some I don't know if it would be hard to have like a little planter or something that brings a little bit of beauty to the area I don't know if you get you have enough light there for the trees to grow but just something simple so probably not for trees but we certainly can do something with lighting and something to beautify the beautify it it's not going to be a trip Hazard I think leading up to the Centennial this might be a good place to Showcase some of the work that Martha panting and her team have been doing uh on on different aspects of our history could be a one-year thing just for the Centennial um but I think we need to highlight our history as we had to our our 100th anniversary and and how we've gotten to where we've gotten I think this is a good place to do it where it could make it an outdoor space that people can utilize too I I'm not I'm not a big fan of murals here in the city you know to me if it was up to me I would remove the murals that we have now in Miracle M I think they're tired and I just want to be I want to just try to leave it as professional as possible so that it just looks something very clean you want we have a lot of things going on with Centennial there's opportunities to do that in the in you know the museum in Activity Center a lot of different places I don't think that we're going to get that many people uh looking at it the here but again I don't maybe I'm wrong but I to me my my goal is just in this budget to have a line item to have staff through the manager just focusing on what we can do to again no infrastructure just you have lighting there you know make the lighting beautiful work modernize the lighting LED lighting clean it up paint it um if we don't have control of P make the neighboring tenant whoever is controlling the Poo to to be a partner with us and you know we there's some cracks in the tile the tile haven't been cleaned as you can see it's pretty dirty and again these are people that people are using this to walk into the mile so it should be you know the first impression that they get it should be something you know aesthetically that is as pretty as possible considering the limitations all right um I just appreciate your support on that I think it's something good going into budget season item F3 F3 um as I indicated earlier I'm sorry Mr Mayor I did have a speaker card on that last item Mr Jackson Holmes Mr Holmes yeah I agree with you you're right perfect hey we like your brevity since I apologize for not being ready I apologize uh since I am on one of the posos um but first of all I think you're you're absolutely right we have to be aware of budget but uh when people are walking from a parking garage their first impression uh is there going to be uh inviting or uh dark or whatever right so um just a quick mention um I uh I found an artist right to do like a a mural of let's say Havana right um Old Havana you know uh and it was like I don't know $4 to $500 I never did it but uh I mean what could be what could go wrong I will mention one other thing we have these windows right if you walk by Massage Envy I don't know if you laugh with me but so so we put up advertising right but I mean it's agreeable right and but uh we quickly got a notice take it down uh however to end this I I think you you know as long as it's not too expensive why don't why don't you push it in some way or another thank you so that's the hope but since you're talking about in beautifying uh just if you haven't been to the galda pl um garage you'll see that manager's office has followed through on some requests I made to paint the rails and clean the stairwells and clean the doors and it's starting to look better so thank you so you you called um3 F3 um I did knock on doors the town homes across the street from the youth center uh of the people that were home CU not everybody was home I had 100% uh positive response from four of the um eight town homes there the rest were not home at the time so I think it's time for us to take the next step um let's send out a notice let's get their engagement um and also staff needs to evaluate what the needs are on the courts uh we need to disc discuss whether or not we're going to be having a Youth Center membership issue that was one thing that was consistently brought up in order to use those courts so that we can prioritize residents uh using the courts but I think we need to go through the normal notification processes I I was just doing a you know a reach out to feel if there was any appetite for it no one had an opposition to the uh pickle ball or the basketball being played there but there is going to be you know folks that want want to play basketball as well as play Pickleball and one of the things that I brought it to to fret along the same lines was the possibility of having originally the courts were um kind of between basketball courts the pickle ball courts that were were lined now that they're aligned in each one you have two on each um I talked to him about the possibility during slow season on basketball maybe having one of those two of those pickle ball Courts open at all times for pickle ball at the same times that basketball's open the other court so he was going to look into that as well and hopefully we'll have some news back from him I've seen both playing at the same time correct just to mention uh Fred has mentioned in the past hey Fred we're mentioning you a lot um that uh hey how are you doing he was T I didn't see damn damn you're good in plain sight like uh during the sharp suit today invisibility cloak you're in government um that some years ago you know you mentioned when the current Youth Center was completed and part of the discussions with the community or in Neighbors in that area was about you know Sunday use versus not Sunday use to put things into perspective back in the day there were rumors flying around Flyers not door hangers but Flyers going around that this new Youth Center is going to bring in all kinds of crime drug use that they're going to be you're going to be smelling hot dogs throughout the neighborhood that the that the field lights are going to go into the neighborhood for blocks and blocks and as soon as they turned them on they Point straight down people oh they're pretty good so a lot that was discussed back then was a result of misinformation and I think since then 30 years later or whatever it is that I think folks have understood that the youth center is actually a welcomed plus to the neighborhood yeah I I think as the vice mayor said I think we should do a formal notification process um ironically we were talking about door hangers before I mean we've used them for Community meetings for parks and they're very effective the reason why we started using them is because the mail wasn't as effective um mail outs get lost people don't get them there's always a complaint so we can we can do it either way we can either do it as a as a mail notification or or as door hanger to get um feedback and there's an endless array of possibilities for open that court on Sundays you can either do all basketball you can do half pickle you can do full pickle the only thing I say if you're using pickle ball on Sundays does require staff effort because we got to build the Nets we got to bring them out and we got to break them down so then I got to look at you know uh getting another staff member out there that's the only that's the only difficulty that we have on that if it's basketball obviously it's not because basketball the the baskets are connected so I don't have to set them up but I think we we talked about doing like a pilot project on a Sunday yep just to see what the interest is and the amount of people that are going to be using the court so yeah so what we're going to do we'll do a pilot um once we once we we do the notific I I think it's important to get the notification out um and then make sure there isn't a big opposition and then with a pilot in ter the pilot in terms of my staff like I can I have staff that's already come to me and said look I can do it for comp time I can do you know so we can we can figure it out until to see if it's viable or not and you used to have a field monitor uh on and off so you right historically at some point you've had somebody on the ground we have someone there now but it's a security guard isn't necessary operational person who can build the Nets and put them out that's the only thing that's that's the only issue we've had people no we we always have someone watching yeah so I I do think you need to come back to us about a membership op option maybe pick a ball only a little less but that way we can control the flow because it used to be my neighbors two three blocks away could walk down and catch a game it's impossible now in in the in their reporting and I've seen and I've talked to folks there they're not from Coral Gables right so what's happening is the residents are last instead of the residents being first and the residents get pushed out as opposed to being able to use the courts at all yeah that's the challenge that you have with the free um and and I I've said it before that's that's one of those challenges where you offer free pickle ball the word gets out everybody's coming from everywhere because it's free and our courts although they're not dedicated courts and their hybrid courts they're pretty nice cuz they're new we just did them our contractor did a good job the Nets are high quality so people have a good time there so word gets out people come because it's free you could do Resident Sunday if you're doing pickle ball that's the day residents but how do you control who comes in I mean I no no he has to staff it you got you have to staff it and you have to have you have to have a a person being the the gate Master there saying I need your ID to check um right you know and we're getting ready to do that I think in the next couple weeks there's going to be a a notice on the pickleball courts that we are going to start having staff out there on those busy Tuesday and Thursday night not to limit but to start annotating and seeing how many residents do we really have there versus non-residents and we're saying and we're going to put on the on the notice if you don't bring your ID you can't come in and play so please bring your ID because we we want to see who's playing here good idea yeah since you're here before we turn on this on this item can you do me a favor I was playing basketball the other day on the park next to batter SE near Edgewater you know what I'm talking about the name Sunrise Sunrise the basketball the basketball hoop is kind of shaky we'll take a look at it and it needs a new net okay the rims you know just needs a little bit of DLC we could have said it when Kenny was here I could have I just you don't I've been meeting absolutely absolutely Gabby was going to write Gabby was going to write you an email last week so okay I'll give him a call no problem that's what happens when you dunk on the baskets it's far from it far from it no problem um anything else vice mayor I'd like to get some numbers so you know after all membership will help us pay for you know that staff member okay thank Mr Mayor before you move on uh I did have a speaker card here from M Haley and she's on Zoom so if you don't mind I'll recognize her yes ma'am yes sir M you're on Zoom can you hear us hey everybody um am I can you hear hi everybody can you hear me yes yes great so Fred and I have talked about this um I'm in I'm in full support because I think it should be residents first um you know whatever we can do to help him Implement that we will do that um I don't necessarily want to exclude others but you know to have it work the same way that we've worked in other um facilities where we always have residents first and once it's full with residents we cut it off um and that's what we've done in in adult Activity Center in the youth center that that all works fine um we're about to cut our pickable hours substantially when in about six weeks when the summer camp comes up so we will not have um pickle ball hours at all during the day and all we will have will be Tuesdays and Thursday nights so um Fred and I have also talked about maybe adding one night a week if it's possible I don't know or maybe that night is a half and half with basketball it's said I I hate to keep taking space from others um but the Sunday half and half and residence only is great and you know if you want to do resid free and a fee if there's room for non-residents whatever you guys want to do but the pickle ball Community is with you guys so thank you thank you very much that's it Mr cler yes sir all right moving on to F4 um North Pond historic designation study that is something that worked on it started about a year ago and um iterations of the memo went out to get it started we needed a higher a consultant and I've been asking when are we going to hire the consultant when are we going to hire the consultant when are we going to pay a consultant and nothing is happen so I put this on to get an answer okay I have estimates from the consultant coming uh with specific the three different scopes of work uh in two weeks I reached out um back in January I believe over email might have been early February um providing a brief update that I was um I had talked to three different consultant companies that the city has used for similar projects in the past and so I'm trying to use those people that have at least some knowledge of the area and are familiar with our process to be able to get it Forward um with the consultant I spoke with yesterday they said a scope of work like this would probably need would be completed by um October it would take about five or six months to get the survey done the report done and then have a a a recommendation of how to move forward with a thematic designation or if it's no designation or if it's a full District or how to um go through that process and then it would go um depending on how that that outcome it would need to go to um before our boards for approval or designation so what's our timeline on getting this launched off the ground once I have the estimates in two weeks I had a brief conversation with our procurement officer about the process and so we're going to try to keep it under the 50,000 that was discussed at the July meeting um I would be able to do it through the manager's office and if it for whatever reason is above 50,000 then I would have have to come back here to you all with that request okay so two weeks from now we should be able to get an update yes okay I'm going to ask you to put it on for an update when you can yep perfect thank you thank you any moving on to item F5 F5 um as you may recall F6 f f uh no five F five PA on the um commissions lays on to the PACE green Corridor uh committee and the state has come forth with some legislation that is sitting on the governor's desk that uh our board our green Corridor board has urged for our various members to get resolutions from our cities to support uh makes some improvements to the corridor uh throughout the state these W green corridors and having stricter standards that are on par with what our district has and two important additions uh allowing the financing of seaw wall improvements and a septic to sewer conversion as well so this resolution merely requests the the governor to sign the legislation into law and let the know that we support it if you move it I'll second I'll move I'll second vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes mayor logo yes moving on to F6 okay um this is about temporary speed tables I asked uh the manager what we have in stock um apparently we don't have anything left in stock anymore uh but I felt that this would be a good necessary step once we have the drawings once we have the voting in on something to give people some immediate relief like they did on builtmore uh drive is it um builtmore Drive about six or seven years ago that's that's really was a catalyst to uh for for me at least to go out and speak to the county and work on for four years on lowering the speed limits and getting the agreement the blanket agreement throughout the city uh with the County's approval to to start implementing the speed tables and start budgeting every year that was like that was one of the main first streets that really played a role in uh in the city moving forward in that direction yeah and I I was out and they worked I was out there before the temporary ones went in and I was out there afterwards and it was a significant Improvement and I've seen the level of email traffic that our traffic engineer gets from the time that they do the balloting to the time finally you know the construction begins and it's sort of reminded me of my children uh in the back seat are we there yet are we there yet are we there yet I mean it just I think will help out tremendously on multiple levels okay so um can we give does everyone agree to give direction to the manager to seek out and get some of these temporary speed tables to implement in want to get some pricing and find out how much they are and yeah let's get some some money determination you hear from staff we excuse me we have asked them to purchase uh Temporaries to be that stop gap between uh after all the datas in and the actual construction peras we we think that probably the best is we're going to have a contractor to do a r of purchaseing at least the first run just to have a contractor take care of it because they're going to have to put the speed tables plus the the signage mhm um four years ago it was about 1, 1400 bucks per location we think that by now maybe at least double that um unfortunately we still haven't got a actual quote with how much it going to cost but you know we figured you're looking about maybe the $3,000 range but you know we still un fortunately don't have a full price for that well I mean you'll have to determine the quantity that you need and are they reusable so if you're spending it and you're able to move it from location to location correct so the idea would be if if if we're going to deploy this would be like the first batch that we're going to put forward we're buying those you know as we're moving to those those get picked up and push somewhere else so the the secondary expense will be less than that because now we reusing the same speed tables over and over so so that that initial cost will not necessarily you know uh be be a lot cheaper right so do you have an idea of how many that you would need or you want to come back to us with that you're guess we we will need to yeah because we [Music] have so so right now we're we're going to be stting St in and uh phase three of the of our current plan uh there's only about 10 of them so those should be done probably around the end of the summer uh probably about five month in um it takes about a week and a half roughly so as long as we the permits you know those should be done fairly quickly I think for phase four and five which are the next one that are coming you're looking at total about 50 of them and I think maybe we can start with a maybe a batch of 10 or 15 something like that and then we start start out staggering them right right maybe we can we can try something like that okay if that's okay with you and then you know with those part armorers we can work on some estimates and bring it to your attention maybe at next meeting or just we just share with everyone for me yeah I think we should put on for next meeting and we can share in the meantime all right good okay F7 F7 I put this back on um because there seemed to be um a lot of questions and there was there was some clarices on the original letter that was on there that were corrected and we all signed it and we all sent it out um and to make you all aware too that in addition to this I mean fdot is going to come back with a report uh after they do the testing on all the various intersections so for the fdot roads I know you were identifying uh commissioner uh Lun road that is an fdot road so fdot will have to handle the reporting on that but we covered every major intersection and those in between because there was you know recommendations for no left-hand turns there's already work that's been designated to be done um and the other issue to remember is uh even though we did get a report back allowing um us you know in The Five-Year Plan for fdot to address the sidewalk on Blue Road they still have to go out and do the Outreach to the community to make sure that they are all wanting to to receive you know a sidewalk on the south side of blue road so the continued Outreach Will Go On on every single thing that we do including all these these improvements so I wanted this up for not only your purposes but so the public actually got to see the final signed letter that went out to fdot okay that's it all right moving on to F9 man of City attorney so I put this on on the agenda after having extensive conversations with our City attorney talk about Inspector General so I'm going to be bringing the next commission meeting a a ordinance asking for the installation of An Inspector General the two options that we have are option A we go at it alone and we have our own Inspector General which is here in the city along with the staff member or maybe they don't need a staff member but potentially they will or the City attorney was working on speaking with the Miami day County Inspector General which I prefer for two reasons number one it's independent it's not an individual who is in one firm or another associated with anybody and number two uh we wouldn't have to pay potentially the tail which would be the pension the insurances we would just have to obviously um pay pay the fees associated with having the Inspector General and and it's not a precedent something that's happened in the past I know we were working on finding out what were the possibilities of doing this so mayor the the manager and I met with the County Inspector General and had a very preliminary conversation so currently they do not have that model with any other city um they do have um they do provide IG services to the school board um and that started off with something that was temporary and it's it's it's been much longer than temporary now um the there you know like I said we had very preliminary conversations um more than just the city providing having to to basically fund whatever staff would be necessary to service the city I think there's capacity General capacity issues that he you know he obviously could not give us an answer on the spot there's a lot that he would need to flesh out on his end if it's the will of the commission for us to continue to explore that um it's my will it's my will I think it's critically important um I think that we need to we need to in one form or another either it be with the city or either it be with Miami day County I'm going to push forward I'm bringing it to the next commission meeting um and I'm and I want it I wanted addressed as quickly as possible and I would appreciate it if I'm more than willing to schedule a meeting with the Inspector General myself of the county um but I'm but I'd like to have you and the manager present uh to make sure that we move the agenda forward whether it be again hiring somebody for the city or bringing in Miami day County to do the same thing they do with Miami day County Public Schools I would like to have it ironed out by the next commission meeting so that I can bring that legislation forward so mayor we can certainly reach out again and try to get continue to explore that up that possibility but I don't know that we'll have an answer from the county by next commission meeting but you will have an answer of y or n some sort of answer right it might be we if if it's now they might not be able to tell us they may say we need another three months you four months but I want to I'm going to put this on the agenda every single time until it gets addressed in one form or another I think this is critically important I think this is critically this is going to be the most important piece of legislation I'm going to pass in the next year uh outside of anything that deals with you know Public Safety I think this is a this is this is probably the most fundamental most important thing that we can do as a city and I think it's critical that we get it done Madam vice mayor so I I I think the county should also be urg to do that not only for our city but other cities because you know the Cornerstone of being able to have transparency and Trust in our government is to be able to know that there's someone independent out there that is going to be uh examining things when there's an issue um so having someone from the county look at this as opposed to having someone in here that's you know working with add the employees um Etc I I I just think that's a much better course of action and i would support having the independent one okay I um I had had some preliminary conversations with the manager about this uh early on in his term about the possibility creating this office in in the city so I'm definitely on board on on getting something done on this I think you're absolutely right it's something that um other municipalities have I believe Miami beaches uh currently has an office of Inspector General um and maybe we can model it off of what they've done um but you're right I think this is something that is necessary again I say it's necessary and it needs to be done because for too long in this city the word corruption has been thrown around and Pinn people against the wall to get things accomplish which in my opinion way too out of line that word is thrown out here in this and it only started happening this year so when we get the Inspector General here I want to start immediately with the commission starting with the mayor's office is the first thing we need to get done because I have a lot a lot that I personally want to share with the Inspector General I think it's critically important that we have that individual here moving the ball forward to ensure that we stamp out any corruption any Mal feance that exists here in the city so Madam City attorney I ask you to please you know make sure that this is on the agenda and repeat agenda and repeat agenda until it's a rest here in the city understood and the manager I believe the manager wanted to if I may add to what the City attorney said uh it's not only a matter of uh capacity for the Inspector General uh he would have to uh obtain a board of County Commission approval to go beyond his scope of of what he's responsible for that's number one for the Inspector General we like I said we've spoken to him uh the cost initial cost right off the bat to do our own inspector General's office is about $550,000 just to start it uh then the question comes of reporting uh who's responsible to uh and a list of things to keep that Inspector General independent of politics or or issues so there's a lot of things to be worked through I'm not saying it's impossible clearly possible we do have the Miami beach model that we can look at and we have looked at it but uh as you said if if the the will of the commission is to to approach the Inspector General again and speak to him we can do that and and in the meantime we'll start developing an internal process an internal Inspector General Mr manager I'm pretty I'm pretty sure that if this commission writes a letter to the County Commission asking for an inspector General we'll have a unanimous support 130 from the city and from the and from the county mayor in regards to the $550,000 uh I think that's the best investment the city could make there is no better investment in my opinion cuz when you talk about a Cess pool of corruption you got to stamp that out because at the end of the day it it affects it affects uh your bond rating it results in you know this decisions being made that again are cutting your nose and SPID of your face so we have to be very very thorough on how things get done just like the peac cards talked about corruption and we talked about Mal and the PE cards and look at the end result in regards to the PE cards so we have to be very thought very methodical so I wanted to make sure that everybody's on board and we bring it back at the next commission meeting we don't have an end result to the B card inv we we do but we AIT is still not even halfway through so wait wait but hold on not even halfway through I'm going to address you very quick you brought that up our our finance director stood here and very clearly said that the preliminary review I found no discrepancies it was very clear very clear in the public record here it's in the public record there's irrefutable irrefutable so let's move on to the next item because we have a lot of things to do here today what she said was actually that there was no nothing was done that was not under what was allowed the question is should it have ever been allowed and that's why the manager stepped in and changed the process and the protocols because things were being done that should probably not have been done excuse me so nothing nothing was done that shouldn't have not been done that's number one number two I'm still waiting for the manager to give me a memo he still hasn't given it to me and I asked for it again again other other managers were held accountable for this I've requested already it was not brought to me in this commission meeting and that was an example of what was allowed before and what's allowed now so we've already on our second commission meeting that has that has not been provided to this commission and you know that's true because that's that was said in this commission meeting I said I would like that information and it was not provided to me so I know that I don't have a majority of votes here but if I make a request I should be able to to get that request from staff so that's very clear and that was not provided to because you're the first one to hold to hold every manager accountable for not being provided documentation so we are now in a second meeting where I was not provided the memo that requested was very simple and I repeat it I would like the information what was done under the previous City manager's tenure and what are the changes made to the protocols in regards to the PE cards Madame vice mayor so you know very concerned about employee morale especially when allegations of theft and Cesspool of corruption are levied you know you got to have the evidence first not make the allegation and then try to you know document things later on um I have not seen any Cesspool of corruption type of evidence and being that uh I'm not the only one that's been here for a period of three years right now uh and nothing has been stated thus far um let's be cautious on how we treat our employees if you're worried about employee morale if you're worried about protecting the employees and bringing protections on whistleblower actions and so forth let's not be the cause of the problem I'm more I'm more concerned about elected officials than actual employees but I know trust me we all are we're all very worried about about elected officials we are is this all related to the water tower yet no not yet we haven't gotten there yet that's my item also but since you brought that up I mean I'm looking for the findings in regards to the the Coe come for that forthcoming in regards to your case this week so we'll be we'll be dealing with wait the one you keep on sabotaging and hiring different attorneys so moving so I wish that was the case so moving on to item F10 Mr Mayor before you move on I have a request from members of the public re to speak forward uh first speaker is Maria Cruz Miss Cruz good good afternoon like I've said before it is Mrs Cruz I'll be Mrs Cruz for the length of my life the fact that my husband died doesn't make me does not make me miss Cruz never have been Miss Cruz have been Mrs Cruz for 55 plus years and will be Mrs Cruz for as long as I live I think this is a very important issue that we're discussing today I think that I'm sorry to uh see the different explanations heard because I've I sit here every commission meeting and I'm sorry but the PE card um audit has not been completed um only a few months were done and I'm sorry to say because today I was I've been trying very hard to not um engage uh some of the stuff but since it was brought up and since I was the one that looked at the PE card and I was the one that brought up the stuff that was obviously to the residents I not appropriate to have been bought with taxpayers money I have no choice but to bring it up um when we talk about Inspector General we don't talk necessarily about um buying uh stuff that perhaps we shouldn't buy that's uh something that you would find in an audit um I think we're talking about what has been uh disguise or discussed today about a sess po of corruption corruption goes beyond employees corruption goes to uh elected officials uh higher Ops we're not talking about the secretary that perhaps put some ice cream for a party we're talking about other stuff that all you need to do is take uh National newspapers and you see that there's Representatives senators all kinds of people getting indicted for doing things that they shouldn't be doing okay that's what in my mind what corruption means and I looked it up in the dictionary we're not talking about what I brought up what I brought up was stuff that was authorized signed off by directors that had no sense being bought for an office because for somebody to tell me that they needed a Soup pot a six qu Soup pot to warm food when they have a microwave to warm food that was ridiculous so I'm going to let it go at that I think a An Inspector General is a wonderful idea I think that what uh what was said by the city manager is very important it has to be an inspector General that's independent not reporting to the people that may influence or may think that they can influence the Inspector General okay the this city deserves to have an independent completely independent Inspector General that we can go home and be satisfied that whatever that person brings about is not has not been influenced by powers of be by the media but anybody else that is the a true reflection of what's going on and I think I'm being objective I don't think I'm accusing anybody but I read the newspaper every day and I mean beginning with the New Jersey and other states there's a lot of corruption being brought up and as much as I think we're better than everybody else it doesn't preclude the fact that it could be okay and that's why we need to be able to uh to do it and once again when people mention Coe they need to be careful because when investigations are going on sometimes they don't end up the way we want them to end sometimes there are surprises and investigations do not go the way we expect so let the process take place and then we'll discuss Coe okay thank you Mr Jackson Holmes so before Mr Jackson Holmes in in reference to your comments you can play back the record it's very clear I said I would prefer an independent Inspector General again with no ties to either the city or to anyone in this commission but as always in the words of Mark train Twain you know never allow the truth to get in the way of a good story Mr Holmes Okay so oh I got the answer um Joe centorino uh used to be the the assistant state attorney for public corruption in Miami day County maybe you know and uh dare I say uh if I'm 73 years old of the 10 people who have helped me the most in my entire life is among those is Joe cerin uh he's now working as Inspector General as you may know okay for Miami Beach uh it's really funny you you know maybe better than I do although I'm not certain because he did so much to help me but anyways because he he can he can get on this horse listen I apologize to Mayor Lago but one of the problems I'm having is that you don't you you're so I I how do I say this except that I swear under penalties of perjury as to what I'm about to say you are so dishonest that it's dragging me down and one of the first jobs of of An Inspector General hopefully ideally since it's in the uh the citizens Bill of Rights for the ethics commission is that people have to can be held accountable for not telling the truth um and you you may come again to regret this this suggestion you're making uh because uh um and and yes we have a city that is a cesspool of corruption due to it being a developer ocracy wherein uh certain uh elected officials um get so much money from developers they they care less about the voters they care less about democracy they they subordinate democracy to uh developer ocracy and it becomes a cesspool of corruption thank you always a pleasure that's it Mr Mayor mayor uh do you mind I have to I let the clerk know I have to leave at 455 and I'm sponsoring F16 do you mind if we jump to F-16 quickly can we just get yeah I need your input on the forensic audit I want you I want you involved in that go ahead so we'll jump the alhamra water tower Hamra water tower is very simple it's the manager just asking for an update of the next Commission meeting I think it's in really poor shape um I know that we have some money coming our way um and I'd like to see if maybe at the next commission meeting we can we can get an update on the alhamra water tower a little more in depth uh in regards to when you we expect to start construction on that project um f11 this doesn't require much discussion I've had a conversation with our with our staff I met with our finance team um we had a really nice meeting um we're trying to figure out a way to do a full in-depth forensic audit of the entire city um I think it's critically important that we start off fresh and that we have every single piece this is one of the things that was actually is in my uh the mayor's Council strategic master plan that's been to request to actually do the forensic audit I've asked for our staff a meeting a week and a half ago to see if we can get some pricing and I'd like to see if they have that pricing if they're not ready we can do it to the next commission meeting um but I'd like to understand a little bit of the pricing structure for the forensic audit for the entire city um and I like again independent not in the city outte consultant I don't want to be I don't want to have any involvement with it but again we need to write the ship on certain points because when a message is sent you know it really affects our employee morale and I've been meeting with a lot of employees on Fridays and outside of city of City Hall and when someone makes comments you know that we're a pool of corruption and all these comments that are made over and over and over again I want to with a blanket just like with the inspector auditor just like with this forensic audit I want to make sure that we have all our te's crossed and all our eyes dotted thank you mayor thank you by the way thank you for meeting with me the other day it was very nice and very informative my pleasure um so as you know um the reason that I am presenting on this item or discussing this item is because I also um am I ALS also handle internal audits for the city I report directly to the city manager in that um in that function and so from an internal audit perspective we're in the process of going out to RFP for our internal auditor contract at which time they would do a risk assessment um some of you have been through that process before uh maybe just the mayor the Auditors will actually meet with uh several staff members as well as the elected and the appointed officials and get your input as to areas of concern areas that we should highlight in our traditional audit process and so to the mayor's request um for a forensic audit so that's a whole different type of audit right so that is a more in-depth audit and the word forensic infers that we are looking for some malons um and so in order for us to engage in pricing for a forensic audit we would have to go out and probably RFP for this type of an audit but just based on so we have used our current internal audit company has a forensic audit team and we have used that team um in two audits that we've recently done one is the police overtime audit not because we suspected any Mal feance but because that particular team is more in depth in analysis and so we asked them to be to assign that team to this particular audit which was on our regular audit um plan and the country club audit so when we audited the previous Country Club operators um and so based on that pricing their price their hourly rate is much different than our traditional internal audit team because of their um expertise and just because of the analysis work that's required and based on some just high level calculations of how many hours would potentially be needed to audit every single process that the city has so over the last last um 7 to8 years we have done about 6,000 audits 6,000 hours of audits um in our traditional audit plan and I would say that that only covers maybe 20% of the processes that we do in the city so an audit of that magnitude in my opinion would be anywhere upwards of $5 million um and so in order for us to go forward with an engaging in a in a firm or firm that would be able to perform an allout audit of the city um we would need to go out to RFP and we would need to write some scope to to bring in maybe one or two firms because I don't know that we would the current firm that we have now probably couldn't handle in one year an audit of that size it may be a multi-year audit um and so if that's something that you'd like us to do to go out to RFP for something of this but it would not be something that we could do through a professional service or through any other um procurement okay first off thank you for spending the time I know you worked hard on this my pleasure and I think it's critically important to move forward with this and I'll tell you why because at the end of the day at the end of the day you have to rebuild the public trust and when comments are made when comments are made that clearly state that city is corrupt that there's mafin that you know and then you have unions that you know send out letters that are again factually incorrect over and over and over again which I will be responding to and sending out a response this week in an attempt to mislead residents and you see residents responding back and forth you know again it to me this is the type of trust Rebuilder along with the Inspector General or maybe a different um a different iteration of the Inspector General that that we can work over the next two or three weeks but I think that it's critically important that you work with the manager and bring forth at the next commission meeting options options to perform a forensic audit of the entire city that delivers a report that says this is exactly what's going on in the city in the last year two years and this is where we stand that's my opinion it's very simple okay okay does everybody agree with me no I don't agree with you well uh why not okay so if there's any if there's any concerns about corruption or misconduct involved Ving specifically elected officials of forensic audit of the city books might not fully address those concerns and $5 million is a hefty amount to contribute to this um especially if the wrongdoings extend beyond financial matters a forensic audit typically focuses on examining Financial records and transactions to identify irregularities or fraud to address perceptions of corruption it may be necessary to conduct a broader investigation led by an independent body such as An Inspector General so yeah I agree 100% but the investment of $5 million is it's not appropriate especially at this time um or an external investigative agency H this this investigation can look at could look into various aspects of government operations including procurement processes permitting contract Awards and interactions between elected officials and other parties the goal will be to uncover any evidence of unethical Behavior or abusive power and to take appropriate action based on findings such as maybe any the Inspector General would be able to look at things outside of the city books such as maybe somebody paying for your child's school as compensation or such as your mortgage being paid off by somebody else so no I don't agree with this forensic audit and I think the way to go is With An Inspector General yes vice mayor go ahead just just respond because um our directors who authorize expenses on PE cards were directly hit with the allegations on a cesspool of corruption and when you pair that together with the peard um audit which I understand the school board of midate County had an issue of great magnitude um the evidence comes first before you start leveling accusations against somebody of fraud um throwing around and asking for an audit and claiming that there's a sess pool of corruption before you have evidence of of corruption just suspected corruption because you know some popery was purchased or a pot was purp purchase that you know we can agree to disagree whether or not that was a wise purchase corruption to to make an allegation of Corruption of fraud or anything of that nature is unwarranted okay so we need to be careful with the words that we choose and how we level them against people because if we're trying to build employee male the last thing you want to do is make allegations that are unsubstantiated and then not clear their names okay so that's why the audit is necessary um it depends on what level two that we need to do it Are we more concerned about the uh directors who have been attacked uh based upon U spending authorizations or not so it depends on the scope of the audit and how far we need to go um glad to hear from the rest of you but I I don't like it when people level accusations and then say well we're not done with it an audit yet so therefore there's still something out there um do your investigating first before you start leveling accusations against our employees that's what I that's my words of wisdom for you because when you make these type of accusations against folks it tanks their morale people don't like working here anymore and it's going to be very difficult to attract Talent here because they don't want to be confronted and they don't want to be accused of doing something because you're constantly second guessing every expenditure that goes on without sitting down talking about it first before the accusations go flying yes sir I guess my my only comment is I'd like to hear from you at the next meeting what options we do have available um I have spoken with financial Auditors over the last couple of weeks uh I know there are ways of conducting forensic audits that are not as um in depth to try to figure out where there may be issues so then they can audit the specific uh areas which they believe there could be questionable things in um so that's something else to contemplate um again I'd like to hear what the options are uh next meeting I think we have two options on different things that we need to consider the Inspector General and the uh the forensic audit um but i' I'd like to have more information before we make a decision on this I agree bring back information see what the options are okay so we can certainly do that so in our internal audit process we do do a that risk assessment and that is typically where we identify areas where we could develop a scope for our audit plan and make it something that's a little bit more manageable as far as what processes need to be audited so again just in the different options what I'm hearing is audit every single process or audit a or have a specific scope of areas that we focus on which are which are the and that risk assessment and I think we've presented it here before has like high risk moderate risk low risk and so obviously we try to make a balance Approach at auditing the highrisk areas more often and the lowrisk with less frequency sound good well I respect what you're saying and it makes sense I disagree um I'm at the point let's audit everything externally with an outside firm just like with the Inspector General and if whether it's the Inspector General or a person like Bob Martinez that you can bring in here a highly respected individual uh who has served this country on multiple different fronts as an arm to assist the city in again the shadow of corruption which to me has has made the city make decisions in my opinion that are checks that we won't be able to cash later uh so I look forward to Madam City attorney this director I look forward to the next commission meeting to coming to to bringing this plane in for a landing and getting started ASAP on both fronts so I don't know do you have the direction that you need because we heard different things here so I want to make sure dire she going to bring she's going to bring options I understand the but I just I just wanted to give her my my opinion on that I don't agree with option A I they I say we should do the entire city and in regards to what we talked about the Inspector General you have some homework to do along with the manager he has great contacts at FDLE so he should be able to make he should be able to make any phone call and resolve the issues moving forward I welcome I welcome and if you need somebody to go speak to the county bring to the mayor we can bring the mayor here and our County Commissioners who I think would be more than willing to help us out in regards to the Inspector General front thank you on the audit I do understand the request so we'll bring options thank you thank you so much commissioner man you said you were leaving yes I have to go to which item is yours F F16 yeah through the manager if Zeta come up um is that okay just regarding the miracle theater there's an urgent need it has to do basically with uh helping mostly children with disabilities wheelchairs uh be able to get to the second floor of the facility for shows and activities and and summer classes and uh they've reached out to the city and I think they've worked obviously through the manager's office and I think there's a path forward to to take care of this much needed assistance go ahead I'm sorry I ask you a quick question yes I haven't I haven't reviewed the contract yes sir some time it's been probably a year or so that I've reviewed the contract is that a triple triple net contract triple you know for everything that they that they're responsible for taking care of everything or not in their contract okay so with respect to this particular issue which are 88 issues yes the reason why um we could not uh approve that and the manager didn't have the authority to do so is because the contract states that the ada8 changes are their responsibility however um they are having u a lot of issues with the lift that's on the second floor it doesn't accommodate it's very old and it doesn't accommodate the the ability for the larger wheelchairs that we have now that are automatic to be able to come in and turn and so on and so forth we are in the process of doing a a a um project there where we're going to change the chiller system and the theater has to shut down during the summer in order for us to conduct this because it won't be air conditioning in the theater that sh but that shter system is is within our responsibility oror yes like the roof is and different other yes yes absolutely so um the the um tenant asked um if they could get assistance from us in order to um to build this ramp right get rid of the chairlift and have a an extensive ramp so that there would never be a problem people could go go up and it would assist them also with Walkers Etc so they've requested this the reason we're here is because the manager doesn't have the authority it's a construction item so the limit's $225,000 and we don't have the authority to be able to assist but my statement is in the contract that exists no sir they're not responsible not responsible no they're responsible we are not respons the tenant is responsible Okay the reason why I mentioning this is because again this is a slippery slope right we have other tenants in this in in this community you know if we don't abide by the rules I know this is an ADA issue but if we don't abide by the rules of the contract uh you know I think that we're putting ourselves in a situation where you know this very well Zeta every other tenant is going to come to and say listen I have an issue I can't afford it I need you to cover the cost so again we're we have probably invested in the last in the last four or five years since I remember millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars in the playhouse we spent a lot of money uh in renovations in correcting water intrusion issues in issues with a roof exteriors you know so I I understand that this is our building it's a it's a a jewel and we need to maintain it but also we need to be very very thoughtful and be very careful when we make these type of decisions because we're opening up Pandora's Box in my opinion and today it's 50,000 you know next month you could be you know 400,000 with another tenant so it's my opinion and I know that the vice mayor I probably didn't make any friends with the vice mayor right now in regards to AA issues but I I have I have I have questions you know what is the the elevation change between the first and second floor I don't have the answer to that question ma'am I don't the the elevator lands on the second floor we went there with the manager and the assistant city manager and we also took uh our uh chief of uh General services and uh we took a look at what it is we have now a simple layout obviously they will have to go through the permitting process and and evaluation of of their plan once it's ready they don't have that ready I think it's going to involve Architects and drawings Architects drawings engineering engineering being an individual who has to push an individual around and a wheelchair that weighs more than she does the feasibility of using a r ramp to get somebody to the second floor aside from the extensive length that it has and switchbacks and back and forth It's Not Meant to go from the first to the second floor it's when you land on the second floor from the elevator there are three steps and it's kind of like right here so I guess it wasn't described very no vice mayor if I may it's elevator will go up to the second floor it's to get from the second floor there's three steps to go up I believe believe the ratio you're looking for and don't hold me to it I think it was 1 to 12 yes it's a 1 to 12 SL but there's a maximum length and being that the memo described it as we have to have a obsolete elevator and we're replacing the elevator with this ramp is' was was an odd description here no the the ramp the the lift itself is obsolete in the sense that there's it's it's difficult to repair because they no longer make it they they wanted to try to figure out if they could replace a lift or create a larger lift or get a larger one that would accommodate these wheelchairs that are now much larger than they used to be 25 years ago when they did the buildout and put that lift there so what they're trying to do is basically and this is a really good explanation it's it's exactly this there are three steps and then there's a lift on the side where like the clerk is sitting that's where it is so what they're doing is they're doing the ramp from let's say over there all the way so that the the people can get off the elevator and then just come up the ramp and that's where the second floor stage is at which is the smaller one the one that has 300 seats okay so the lift is to get those up those three steps not the actual elevator okay yeah when well when they said they couldn't replace the lift and it's second floor you're saying second floor right away you're you're communicating to somebody that you're going up an entire level so that's an extensive length I also don't see any information in here about any efforts to apply for any grants I mean there are I know this is a 501c3 but and so we're not talking about tax exemptions but there are so many programs out there for doing ADA compliance issues and one of the things I always reminded folks of especially the title 3 people the private individuals out there in the in the companies is there are tax credits not exemptions credits that you can get that essentially will pay for the the uh the modification over time there's also grants out there the museum put out for a Grant W which is going to fund almost 50% of what they need to get done has a has there been any effort at all to apply for a grant for this well I do believe that they that they do that on a regular basis I don't know that I I think there's also a a a um certain um timing issue because she wants to try or the theater wants to try to uh conduct this while the the theater is closed during the change you air conditioning um project um I mean we can certainly speak to her and and ask her about her um what's what's the elevation change the the cost that I no the elevation change because we're talking $41,000 for this ramp now I priced one out for my father's house and it was a little over a foot and a half elevation change here we're probably talking about twoot elevation change and at the time that I price it out from my father's house we're talking about a figure that was about 1,000 or500 bucks $41,000 for that short of a distance that you're describing now sounds excessive it doesn't have um an elevation number here in this um proposal that she sent us it says it's a 24t handicap ramp The Proposal handicap ramp is what but it I I think that's the the the length from what she explained to us the length not the elevation change yeah vice mayor uh cable TV is going to go ahead and put it I'm sharing the image on Zoom so if you see the elevator Landing is there and if you see where the steps are it just the steps carry across so they're there that is the um you have an arrow you can use I you clicker to make it [Music] larger so they're using railing because the length of it is longer than what is permitted okay and the full length of this thing is 24 feet they don't have room for a switch back or or the level Landing resting areas you see there that says level Landing see that little uh rectangular piece there that's why they have one of those elevators that are half half a floor elevator yeah know I I've I've had those put in on on places that were historic because those were better options they canot fit a elevator that me your design that you could turn around they cannot fit that half elevator in that space right so their solution is to create their ramp that is going to extend 24 ft 38 in uh wi that Manny already took a look at it and he did the calculation and said will meet the 102 slope right and is this going to be built out of plywood or right s they can put a new elevator there moment so someone's going to construct this and if I was going to refer to the individual familiar with construction pricing on the commission I'd refer to the uh mayor 24 ft ramp made out of plywood $41,000 seems pricey to me very very and plus okay so let's go over this boy scouts could build this we want to avoid corruption that would be an example to me if you provide if you give $411,000 without a bid without actual pricing without actually a number without a linear without a takeoff without design documents approving a $41,000 blanket approval to me when I do Schoolboard projects you know when I do University projects to me that screams no backup no one's going to approve that that won't even make it through accounting because there has to be some sort of breakdown that shows how did you get to that number so I don't I think that's way overpriced maybe maybe that includes I'll give them the benefit of the doubt maybe that includes soft costs what are soft costs plans sign and sealed engineering documents that kind of stuff but what I'm being present what I'm being what I'm being presented today doesn't show me anything in writing show me in writing I just can't support this because what the vice mayor said even even solidified my statement even more if you came to me and you told me hey I went after all these grants and I got 50% funding with these grants and it's going to say the city you know what maybe I would support you because it's 88 but I think if we're opening up Pandora's Box in the city for all our private you know tenants to come in and say you know we have an issue I need you to please grab me the same same exception and same privilege that you did so I mean that's I think we need to think about this in my opinion but if you want to vote on it if I if I make sense I unfortunately I like I said I have to leave um unless there's more to discuss I'd like to make a motion uh to approve it and obviously having Zeta this manager's office oversee the dollars how they're used you know going forward on this matter in this project which is needed there's a timing basis so I make the motion I I'm yeah I know you're in a rush this is so horrifically overpriced I have a plywood it could be donated for this right okay I have never ever in my mind could imagine that someone would actually pay $41,000 for a 24t ramp we need to look for another solution okay like I said I made someone else's poor planning doesn't mean it's an emergency every every single time how long did we know that this lift was an issue and all of a sudden now it's like pay the excessive price because it's now an emergency I love actor Playhouse very much would like to get this done but that doesn't mean that we take residents dollars and pay an excessive price for something my daughters even went up to West Virginia and built porches okay this is not hard car car this is not that difficult it's a 1 to 12 slope that's it I appreciate your input I made the motion Zeta with the the information that you have is it completely detailed on everything uh we attach to the agenda I mean I can I don't have copies I could have the clerk circulate this to you but it's this is the proposal that she provided um it's attached to the agenda item it's attached to the agenda item um I mean I can circulate this I mean we can certainly ask for her to um obtain other quotes if that's standard I mean the standard operating procedur is to get multiple different quotes get sign and sealed documents you know but can can we have her come up with a couple of other proposals by next commission meeting for us to consider I think that's realistic this this isn't a major project they should be able to give her something correct you be okay with referring to next Comm meeting to have three options on the table so that when is it it can calm the concerns that the that our colleagues have when it's in August so it gives us time by the next commission meeting when is the next meeting May 21st I'd like to move something today so that they have the understanding that were supportive there is a timing issue the summer is upon us um what's the administration's position on this um can we can we amend the the resolution to the the the best offer I mean approve it I'm open to amend contingent contingent on two other offers at least so that we know we are getting fair pricing but approve it now I would happy to second that okay how about even how people donate maximum would be what we currently well that's why I think we should explore that that should be explored as well and I think some of these companies may be willing to donate when it is for a nonprofit I think people will be willing to donate just don't the message is do not wait till the last minute you knew you had this problem a while ago bring it to us earlier and we can do more okay don't come to me at the last minute it's like clients that come to me at the last minute after ship is already sunk I accept uh the uh Amendment to the motion we have a first and a second so you if you get so if you get two prices a dollar less or three prices a dollar less than this it the process moves forward well I mean that's up to the commission thetics are not good what you want me direct me to by by the way let me just give you an example you gave the design in public and you just gave the price out in public so everybody knows what the price is everybody knows what the design is it was in the item yes so at the end of the day the price you go out and get it's already compromised that's why you usually submit pricing in a signed and sealed document I guess that tells us a lot about our construction industry so um we can have Barbara we can have Barbara actually request that instead of on behalf of the city so that they're not correlating both things so to be to be clear as presented or as drafted this is not the city doing the work this is not the city procuring the contractor okay because if that's were the case we'd have to consider procurement rules and whatnot and we're not doing that this is a request for reimbursement so if that's the will of the commission then we can move forward if the commission wants something different then we need to explore what that something different might look like since that is the case I don't think those contractors that are going to be giving us offers are actually looking at this commission meeting right now I mean the probability is a lot less so we have a motion in a second on the floor correct and before we vote because I think it's time to vote uh with all due respect um the most important optic to me is making sure the kids and wheelchairs get to the second floor to participate that's the most important optic to me right now so I'm ready to vote so so just can we have clarification on the motion yes it's to approve with an amendment yes with an amendment and what is the amendment the amendment is that we have three um options and we go with the less uh expensive options so we'll request that the tenant um obtain additional quotes and we will agree to so then the maximum I guess the the maximum would be as stated in the resolution so for the Optics just understand let's or my Amendment would be for them for the three option offers to come back I'm fine with that so that we can make a decision here so the Optics so they're clear there are temporary ramps so rented all the time I've worked that out with other performance facilities and they had uh not only ramps that were temporary they could take them down up as they needed to be and it didn't cost anything close to $41,000 so that's the Optics we can have accessibility without it costing excessively okay I've worked those types of Arrangements out with numerous facilities in over 100 cases in my career that's why I have a feel for what the costs are and I said I also have the plywood that can be donated we have a motion in a second let's vote but hold on just I'm sorry so you said have them come back have it come back is that cuz I heard that but I don't know if that was part of the motion approve moving forward with the lowest vote and they're going to get two additional prices so there's no just approved but we'll they back to the commission once they have the lowest and the amount will be approved commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Mendez yes vice mayor Anderson I think prices have to come first and then we vote so no at this time mayor logo no thank you very much thank you good job great work um item F12 is commissioner castros let's see good afternoon mayor Commissioners vice mayor this is a resolution sponsored by commissioner Castro directing City staff to explore potential Traffic Solutions to address safety concerns along Lun Road in the city and directing staff to work with outside agencies and resources as needed to address those concerns yeah first I want to thank the vice mayor Anderson on her efforts to address pedestrian safety concerns safety should always be number one um in this in this resolution we're really directing City staff to investigate possible Traffic Solutions for addressing safety concerns along the June Road in the city vice mayor Anderson on a previous um resolution or ordinance we had addressed some had addressed some of this but really really what I'm looking for is for the city to come together as a whole and if we we're missing something maybe that you didn't do um to address it um traffic signals crosswalks speed enforcement measures um traffic engineering firms local enforcement to gather expertise and support in developing effective Solutions so this is a really really big deal what's been happening the fatalities um it's it's something it's very concerning and it's something need to do something about so this is really directing staff to get everybody in the city together and outside outside agencies to to work on this so I'm going to try to bring you up to speed on some of these things we have County Roads and we have state roads and the the people that are responsible for the engineering on the state roads is a state I sat and I had a comprehensive meeting with the Florida Department of Transportation and covered every single intersection along Lun Road and many other streets and for every lighted intersection I asked for pedestrian lead signals so pedestrians cross first the audible buttons to go across the crosswalk enhancements and for each one of these intersections to be improved I asked for the speed limit to be reduced and I had staff in these meetings so that they could also make suggestions for every single non-lighted intersection I asked for no leftand turn signals to be put in the fdot made it clear that they have already studying the the corridor they have some uh plans to do some additional medians in the area but I said you need a no left-hand turn sign so that the Google Maps and other programs out there are not instructing people to make dangerous left-hand turns on non-lighted intersections which result and additional fatalities out there so one of the key issues that happens at these intersections because I cross them daily since my office is on the other side of Lun and I do a lot of walking in the city is that people are making right-and turns on red and not looking for The Pedestrian they're making they're blocking the intersections they're not yielding to the pedestrians they're when they're making their left hand turns and you're constantly having a look over your shoulder to make sure that that left hand that person making that left hand in turn is actually looking for The Pedestrian the only way that you can avoid that is stop all the cars let the pedestrians cross first why should The Pedestrian have to be the individual that has to sit out in the heat sit out in the rain while waiting for all the cars to go pedestrians go first so if you go down to the intersection of Red Road and Sunset Drive you'll see an example where pedestrians go first not only you go first but you can do across what they call a scramble across the intersection so I don't know what more staff can do than staff has already done in the meetings that they've had with me with the fdot on that intersection we also have the county coming into play and I've asked you know people to report issues on County Roads including participating in the pothole poooa everything that protects uh pedestrian safety but Lun Road has been covered I think there are other streets that we need to work on uh after this but we need to wait wait for the report back from their study fdot's study on the speed issues and on the intersection improvements it's not going to happen overnight unfortunately okay just not but uh that's the reality of it then we have the timing of the lights and as Comm commissioner Cabrera noted during his town hall and has noted on other occasions they're working on the timing of the lights to to make the timing of these lights more effectively so and just give a little bit more background on that I'm sorry to inter you no no I was actually going to ask you to follow they just we had commissioner C at our town hall which everyone was invited to and um he gave an update in regards to there's a new company that was just hired it just happened at the commission they already hit the ground running uh to basically address a synchronization of all the lights it was a multi hundred million contract that's already being worked on in regards to meeting with the county I have another meeting coming up with commissioner Cabrera I have a meeting coming up with commissioner regalato uh to discuss issues on Lun um that she wanted to discuss along with some concerned residents who requested a meeting to understand a little bit more about safety but the comments made by the vice mayor this is nothing new this been being worked on already for a long time uh this is just an issue about having patients to wait on the study um which is at your fingertips it's public record right so yeah we have all the roads we need to work on I can make some suggestions that are County Roads we have Kendall Drive for instance that is not an fdot Road there's no sidewalks on the South Side um that's something we can press forward on there's other County Roads such as Granada you know we have sidewalk issues there you know between the underline and blue we have Riviera there's missing sections of sidewalk very unsafe conditions for students to be going to and from uh School uh for residents who are pushing their their strollers through the grass I mean I've heard these stories you have South alhamra between University and in blue road so if we want to create safe connectivity for high school students to get to and from the school and for University of Miami students to get to and from the University okay and their homes we got to start making this connectivity so they're not being forced to walk on the street so they have safe crosswalks they can cross at uh I also met with the University of Miami to discuss their issues on what they need to be able to get students across to and from the campus and they identified certain intersections where they need assistance but that's going to take you know a 50 $60,000 um pedestrian study Just For The Pedestrian crosswalks um they're taking it back to their board to see whether or not they're going to be willing to chip in the money for the pedestrian study so that our staff can take it the next step further to incre improve safety on those crosswalks we have a big city okay I'm gonna make a suggestion that you know if you have residents reaching out to you about another area other than the work that our staff has already done on Lun road that we have to focus our attention on those areas outside there and you know keep up the the support for fdot to finish this study okay and get it back to us and then we start knocking out the improvements the medians will be coming they already said that they're going to be doing some median improvements so that we can prevent some of these left-hand turns so you feel you've approached or or you've handled every little Gap and there's nothing else left to do have you read the letter I did read the letter did you read the chart it too did you read the chart that was attached in the extensive nature of the chart this is not my expertise that's why I was leaving it up to staff to see if they found anything else okay why don't you ask staff if there was a stone that was Unturned on that letter regarding leun rad that letter was reviewed that that letter is is a ensive to the point where it gets into a very granular detail uh in regards to the issue at hand and it it has more than enough information uh as required now the issue is getting cooperation from the county which we've already been working on so I agree with the vice mayor's comments there's a lot of other issues to handle for example I can give you a quick example we just got blue Road thank you to Hermes and his team and Melissa do a great job we just finally got blue Road sidewalks why do I keep going back that that took us how many years two or three years to get done there a lot of projects around around the city that that we can start working on Granada sidewalks let's finish the alhamra ones we're we're ready to go to finish those two blocks let's do the blue Road let's do things that are right there here's another one Doctor's Hospital it's funded let's do the sidewalks in Doctor's Hospital find areas that you think are important in in in the community that are lacking but I just don't think it's worth you know double and triple and quadruple redundancy when at the end of the day day the lag work has already been done and I just feel like you're spinning your wheels I'm just offering a bit of advice to help you and so that you can work on issues that I think are important that could benefit the city because at a certain point I'm going to be honest with you we even lose power because the county has the is the ultimate decision maker right Madam vice mayor oh yeah and we we can say we want something we can do something like for example at the Town Hall I wish you would have gone uh Kirk uh excuse me um commissioner the commissioner was there and um we were talking about issues of of getting their help um on on different fronts and certain things he was receptive to and certain things he wasn't so receptive to so uh you know the at the end of day we're at the will of the county especially when you talk about County Roads so just just a little bit of advice I mean you're going to have a couple examples here and I'm going to just give you the history for the M mere purpose so you understand how we have to make decisions sometimes my first crack at trying to get anou change with the county was including the use zones commissioner for has brought up before um you know the speed radar signs um some additional uh leeway for our our staff to make diverter changes you know where were necessary as well as a smaller speed table so that we can Center them more on the blocks how to give up at the moment because it's going to take an additional traffic study to be able to get the youth youth zones established the diverters they said no way you know we're not going to get that and so we're left with two items you know we're we're left with the speed radar signs which they're going to give us a lot of flexibility on and we have the uh the smaller speed tables which will open this up for a lot more neighborhoods than before because it makes no sense to put the speed table so close to the stop sign that it really loses Effectiveness and to give you a little bit of credit and collaborative effort I wrote that legislation 6 years ago I worked on it for 4 years the preliminary mou and the lowering the speed limits and the traffic cing I worked on that with my colleagues on the commission with Craig lean we worked hard when the vice mayor mentioned that I said hey run with it I'm working on 15 different things you want to modify that with a great idea I'm all for it have at it you want to you want to go and you know uh yeah your head against the wall of the county to do something good for the city I'm all for it but the idea of double redundant triple redundancy it just I think it it it just results in we have too many people trying to do the same thing and again I don't think I don't think it's effective in my opinion so um do you want to address anything else on that so that I can get to the next item okay perfect item f13 I'm sorry Mr Mayor uh commissioner are we deferring the item well do you want to take a vote I mean at this point it's four of us I mean it makes kind of sense okay to defer okay all right item F14 excuse me f-13 this is a simple resolution I won't be laor the point I think it's a great idea to offer our teachers some sort of discount rate uh who are teachers obviously that live in Coral Gables you know we want to make sure that we we had a teacher here who's my neighbor she lives a block away from me you know you're not going to get thousands of people coming to the youth center let's say if you're a teacher and you want to come and use these facilities we'll give you a discount I don't want to go crazy this is simple i' I'd be happy uh to second if you would entertain an amendment to offer to teachers who work in Coral Gables I think a lot of our teachers who are teaching at our current schools may not be residents because they can't afford to live in our city but they're servicing our residents so afternoon it does include teachers who work in Coral Gables it actually expands Upon A 2019 resolution that was limited to schools within Coral Gables so this expands it to to all schools within Coral Gables public and private and those schools which fall under the purview of the SCRC which as you know includes a few School crazy and then we end up with I don't want to talk about pickle ball so let talk about pickle ball we but what happens with pickle ball is really happening with pickle ball I was going to call yesterday for an hour with a resident about pickle ball okay one out I welcome it but their main concern is that we have people from outside Coral Gables here on the courts so I'm all for it if you're servicing the kids and you work here in one of the schools and you don't live here but you or you're a teacher that lives here you want to want to support you we want to support you so I'll second as is then so just to clarify the way the resolution is currently drafted it does include some schools outside of Coral Gables so if we want to amend it we of course if it's the will of the commission we can amend it I want to be careful and I just want we can leave it the way it is now but I want to be very careful because the last thing I want is to overload the you you know these facilities and then have people in the facilities say Hey listen you know it's it's not benefiting the residents first but when you tell them that it's a teacher who teach teaching in a Gable school I think we can get more leeway with that understand because no one's going to say no to a teacher or like a firefighter or a police officer you understand we just got to be very careful with that but I don't have a problem with it I'll amend it any way that you'd like no we'll leave it the way it is okay we have a motion in a second yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner mandez I'm sorry vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes mayor loo yes moving on to F-14 we're almost done with the day F14 uh the county has required us to do the resolution first before they will approve um have an amendment to the interlocal agreement on um traffic engineering functions which one is this the speed radar sign no this is thisi speed hump speed hump yeah thank you vice mayor um this is item um F14 a resolution approving an amendment to the intergovernmental agency agreement with Miami D County to perform traffic engineering functions as you all just discussed this was a long um hard fought after memorandum of understanding that we got with the county regarding traffic engineering it sets forth details regarding traffic calming criteria Etc the only amendment to this agreement is to add in the list menu of traffic calming devices a modified speed hump um as staff has explained it to me again I'm not a traffic engineer these fit better in certain areas of the city but the same criteria the same balloting everything else will still apply the same this just adds to our menu of options MH okay um I'll move it second vice mayor Anderson yes commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor logo yes thank you for working on this by the way I appreciate that anyway we can continue to uh evolve on that on that uh on that agreement with the county it's it's really a beneficial and thank you to staff for all your hard work on that it it was a lot of work Mr CL I'm missing one okay H1 right I think we also missed F5 F15 F15 we miss F15 oh yeah we did I'm sorry we did it's same same story but on radar signs we need the resolution before the county will approve it okay again this um this would allow the city to um after getting designed and location approval from the county install electronic speed feedback signs throughout the city again we will still have to go through um some process with the county regarding the exact location and design but this generally would allow us to install them and maintain them um even throughout the city and again both of these agreements you know we have drafted them in a way that we feel is appropriate for the city should there be any small changes back and forth the city manager and City attorney are authorized to execute them with some small changes in line with the will of the commission okay I'll move it second commissioner Castro yes commissioner Fernandez yes vice mayor Anderson yes mayor L yes now the last one H1 before we move on to H1 can I include in the next commission meeting an update just on Blue Road uh Dr hospital and also on the street that escapes my memory right now that we had a we had a meeting on the site that we were going to ask the county to allow to be one way and then we kind of I need an update on that to know where we're at because I've got a call I got two call from residents who live on Venicia telling me you know we need to move forward in one form or another yeah I just want to get an update on the books so you could give me an update on all the sidewalks also Granada I know that we haven't done anything with Granada but like just I would like to have a a plan of action presented to the manager so that he can advise us on the cost to do Granada because I think it's really low hanging fruit sure problem thank you sorry about that so again afternoon heras po director um so the reason we're here for this item um I'm sure you're aware sometimes we have a little bit of a Togo war between some residents that are concerned about the overproliferation of signs around the city um versus the residents who want uh no parking signs in front of the homes and you know um so what we've done is that um in coordination with uh Kevin keny's office we came up with a sop a stand uping procedure for when are we going to agreed to put no parking signs and we wanted to bring that to your attention get your input you know make sure that this is something that so so what we're looking at is to have no parking signs and if we could put a slide really quick it's just a single slide will be very quick so the ideas that we'll be adding the only places we'll consider adding no parking signs is the areas that are located within 1/10th of a mile which is 528 ft from a school Parks commercial uh or institutional uses or multi family residential developments unless we have documentable safety concerns such as for example in some intersections where people are parking in the visibility triangles or specific areas or people were consist L parking on sidewalks broking access to driveways M boxes or where it's becoming a problem where solid ways cannot uh do their pickup because somebody's parking somewhere where they're not supposed to or otherwise recommended by the police department so it's something very simple very clear I want to hear the the commission's opinion about this and and if if you on board we'll be more than happy to implement this and moving forward the city staff will have a very clear guidance as to when we're going to approve them and then we don't and sorry go ahead no no I don't want to interrupt you I no the last thing I wanted to say for those who don't meet this criteria who still don't want people parking in front of their properties we still have the SW package where people welome to plant it um you know in accordance with uh prior uh commission uh resolutions and uh you know so they still have a tool so I want to just hit on a few points okay I've been talking to you about this for a long time you get all my emails and out of respect for Marcelo salup who has a he's a big big advocate of the city especially beautification he's always sending us signs um this is something that we have to be very very careful because you know I'm a I'm a big proponent of less signs is more I've tried and I'm going to bring it up now and it's something that I would like to work on to see if I can work on it with you through the manager's office and with our new team when you look at certain neighborhoods you have three signs three signs on a sale right why can we devise a new sign that says no parking from end of block to end of block we can do that too you I mean I've tried I've brought this up four or five times in the last four years okay and I and I and I've you can literally instead of having three signs you just have one sign and gives you the authority everybody reads it you cannot Park from the end of block to the end of block it's simple that's one thing okay I would love to do that I would love to work on that you know I brought that up multiple times to see if we can get that done that's number one number two when do we finish all the signs I know has nothing to do with no parking but since we're talking about sign the 25 mil hour signs that are that are all you know uh just they're barely you can read them they're I my list is not here I think we're pretty much done with that okay well if we see anywhere around the city I'll send them to if if the olders you know over time sometimes may still fade I mean it's been a few years already uh but I believe that the ones that were I I believe that's done I'm going put one of as little signs as possible okay that but when you're going to meet a person that you take away their sign and that's like taking away their child okay because they believe that the sign is the deterrent that's the reason why I wrote the legislation for the swell package I have the swell package in my yard and I have the most traffic of anybody that I think in this in in This Ti okay we'll do a contest in between you I think he St Augustine Doctor's Hospital Riviera 57th Avenue us one Lenard Center I mean I can keep going and guess what I welcome it I love it I don't have a problem with it it's I love the active lifestyle of it but there's used to be parking issues um really worked hard they got it under control and then I did you know what I parked the fern I put the ferns in my Swale I never have an issue again and I got rid of my trash bit I don't have any more illegal dumping but people believe that the parking sign is like a deterrent and that what they'll do is they won't Park they're just like literally stand right in front of it and most people are just waiting for cars waiting for this they're not they're not they're not leaving their car there for 24 48 hours so I think that if we could put get rid of the signs and I'll show you one one of them one of them we worked on I remember I pointed it out to you in front of Venetian pool fromont of Venetian pool where we did that that little work of infrastructure the Civil work that we did on the triangles remember we walked that site two years ago across the street there was a house with three signs and I said listen this person shouldn't have three signs they were 15 ft away from each other had them away and they were and the person was like no don't take my signs away you take all the signs away you put one in the middle block to block I want to show you another sign this was me walking with a manager to visit a resident two days ago and I just walk by this sign I don't know about you but this sign tells me to do nothing well yeah and I just I just gave this I just gave this to Billy right now because it already Gabby puts her package together every two or three days and sends to the manager's office everything deep trash pits signs you know all kinds of things um that's so that right there I send I Tred to send the best address I possibly can that sign right there shouldn't be replaced because that sign hasn't hasn't been in service for 10 years so if somebody goes and removes that sign you know it's one less thing with the service it's one I sore and I think these are opportunities we those are lwh hanging fruit that I think we have to look around the city and submit to the manager's office and say hey look this you can't even read it it's faded so there are a couple of things that are in the proposed sop one is uh we limit the neighborhoods that signs can go into it has to be adjacent to something I mean 500 ft from something that's generating a lot of traffic and that those are those are legitimate places where we need to control this whale and the only issue I would say is the other thing that the proposed policy that we're going to implement says is it gives a specific distance between signs and historically what has happened and I agree completely with you may mayor is signs wind up way too close together but one sign per block I do think is going to create something of a due process issue for us because you're not if there's one sign in the middle if you're on either end of the block you can claim I didn't see it and you may be correct okay but let's be positive and let's use our better judgment if we're sitting there and we're about to install a sign and you see there's five oak trees on the sale and you can't see it then I understand but the idea that you can't install for example in front of the Venetian pool I'll take you to go see you now like he's seen it where you have three signs as far as from here to Matt no abs absolutely those those are not appropriate and there's no trees in the middle there's no trees in the middle it's just a green green green grass sale and I think that we that we the new sop specifically says signs have to be a certain distance what I would like to do through the manager's office is just entertain my my my wish can we make a template designed to show to the commission that says no parking and use whatever verbiage you want no parking from edge of block to edge of block and then signs like you know like that so that it'll give our staff the necessary tee to be able to find you know to hit somebody with a citation but we can start eliminating the sign pollution sign pollution you know I just I just right so there are locations where you do have that where it says no parking on block but that assumes that the entire block does not want parking very often it's a specific owner who lives at this corner the one across the street doesn't want the sign so that will that may work in places where the entire block like un for example right they control that area so they want no parking on the entire block um or there's a concurrency Amal property owners that they don't want park on the 12 or sometimes it's it's it's somebody at the corner and then the ones across the street cuz remember no parking sign means they kind of Park themselves and maybe they want to be able to park on their TR themselves so so that will work I think in some areas but in some others unless we're going to be telling owners the whole block accept that are not uh that may not be a I'm sorry but look I'll give you another place for so that my colleagues can go cuz my colleagues when they drive and when I drive you're just trying to get home you've had a long day you're trying to do pick up your kids you don't really focus go to the Venetian pool in the Venetian pool the parking the parking has has a concrete stump about this high with a pole on it that has a sign and then you go 10t over and it has another sign you know that that's city property we could put there from edge to edge I would say one sign is not likely to work there the the email that was forwarded to me today for another location that Hermes and I are working on Santona it has a No Parking sign the problem is is where the people are parking they don't necessarily see the no parking sign at the middle of the block right but I I think the mayor is not wrong on this so you can put one at each end of the block and nobody can say we didn't see this you put it at the center I understand they didn't they came in they turned around they parked there but if we put them on the ends of the block and you you you reduced from maybe 10 signs to two but I think accomplish with this we're using we're using signs to block people from from parking you know it's like we have like a tree sign a tree sign a tree like and you'd be surprised they still Park on so so the proposed policy that's attached would provide that um there cannot be signs um closer than 75 ft apart is that accurate right but I don't think the the mayor's point is not about the new signs talking about the old signs and it's it's something I had brought up to Peter in the past was do we have a sign inventory we did a sign inventory several years ago yes and do we regularly check those signs cuz like like the one that the mayor showed there are tons of them out there and Leo Bueno sends us pictures all the time of signs that are either yeah not Marcelo Sal I'm sorry Leo Bueno Bueno signs that are faded signs that are falling signs that are crooked um you know I I think this is something that's really simple to do just go out there any sign that's faded take it down you know it's it's simple solution and that way we start reducing signs you'll probably have a good 5 to 10% of the signs that are out there that are no longer in good use I I I think we can turn it into a policy the signs completely faded we could just take it down without replacing it yeah that one is in front of the building that we're in remember the building we went to go see M the for the trees with the with the older couple that's on that so right there you can't even see it so let's move forward all right move forward let's go I think it's a great idea I think we're I think we're going to finally make Leo Bueno happy he's not like the ones who stay he's always he's always he's just he this is this is his you know his thing and by the way I respect it yeah I respect that if he likes it and this is what he makes him feel that he's making the city better I wish we had more people like that yeah I agree okay okay um anything else to the good of the order Mr clerk did I miss anything no sir okay um Madam vice mayor I don't think we have anything else uh I know we got some events coming up I'll try to just push them out on Instagram and so forth uh because I got to go rush to the Community Foundation event now what time is that at 6: 5:30 5:30 5:30 okay uh depends on which yeah it's already started okay so let's rock and roll commissioner cro yeah I just I was just copying in an email um in an email from John O'Brien and I want to and I want to say this to you mayor in the sweetest and most positive way possible and I think I'm just asking you to be mindful when we do blame other people or mention other names because I just got a I I was just copied on a letter that they're very insulted with I haven't even finished reading it but it's the people who signed the this letter are H John O'Brien president of the South Florida Council of firefighters David Perez president Coral Gable professional firefighters Association William mallister president Miami dat firefighters Eddie Blanco president Ki ske professional firefighters Adonis Garcia firefighters of Miami Beach Eric Johnson highly a professional firefight oh there's another one and Miami Association of firefighters as well just to let's be a little mindful when we blame people I'll respond to you now you go ahead um May 18th literacy Festival it's a great event come out 11:00 to3 at the uh youth center it's an event for the entire family and something that everybody can enjoy staff Matt Salange your team great job electronic recycling as always it's only getting better you know so happy that you guys took the initiative to get that started a few years ago and it's doing a great job um I'm not blaming anybody I'm speaking the truth and the facts the bottom line is that the Miami day County firefighters exactly what I said on Jackie nespo along with a developer in this community who once four years ago spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to tarnish my reputation and also Billy mallister did it here and in front of me with another individual who was present who was who was a witness and tried to intimidate me in regards to annexation they're the ones that spent the money on the recall efforts they're the ones that used three packs from Tallahassee that was covered the Miami Herold the Miami heral wrote about it very clearly in the failed effort they were the proxies who put all the money in an effort to get me out because they're trying to intimidate me so they can write all the letters just like in the last letter from the fop and police which I will be responding to this week they said that I was the only one that voted against the budget that's not factual they stated a bunch of incorrect statements there it's the continued continued disrespectful lies that are said in an effort to intimidate me in an effort to tarnish my reputation and in the situation that I'm in I feel Vindicated I feel happy and nobody is going to put me in a position where I'm going to stop speaking the truth so they can try all they want in an effort to stop stop annexation they can do all they can say everything they want but I have facts that they have been involved on multiple occasions in an effort to derail me to disrespect me to tarnish my family's name and they can continue to deny it all they want but the facts are the facts I sat in a meeting with Billy mallister he came here for me and he said if you do not vote the way that I want you to vote in regards to annexation you have two options I destroy your reputation number one or if you want me to move forward with annexation you have to give me your entire fire department and your fire and all your fire stations and all your assets and there was four people in that meeting and it happened at CFE aachi so they can say anything they want they can say anything they want but at the end of the day the facts are the facts listen I hope everybody has a wonderful wonderful meeting God bless all of you and thank you for allowing me the honor to serve you it's been a true blessing have a wonderful week you should probably read the letter e e e