ified us that he is uh that he would like to convert item art 7M to a consent referral so if we may do that when we do the consent that will be taken into consideration thank you it's always a good idea to start the day with prayer and we're going to start our meeting and it's my honor to ask Pastor fig Figaroa from the church Jesus Ray Miami Beach to give us some words of inspiration thank you for being here hello everybody let's start with scripture Psalm 118 verse 24 says that this is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it uh it's an opportunity to do what we are called to every one of you are called to H and have a function and a purpose in this city and we are all Witnesses of you're doing a great job even though the times have uh become even more difficult each day uh you guys don't give up you continue to to do what you're call I have a word word in the book of nemiah and the title of this devotional says he will lift you up because he's the one that lifts us up when we need the strength the knowledge the wisdom and nemiah 4:10 says Judah said this is so much rubbish that we're are not able to build the wall Nehemiah knew as the great building Rebuilder under his guidance the people of Israel cleared the rubble and constructed walls non-stop they needed the walls to stop The Invasion for being attacked and and robbed and like a lot of things that are happening you guys are the ones that are in the front you guys are the ones that are uh doing what you have been called to do your purpose for us to be able to live in this vibrant and beautiful city the city of myami beach I don't live here but I've been here for the last 23 years last time I was here in this commission it was seeking permits to be able to be a established church in Miami Beach and it's been 23 years that we have been together and serving this community Unity as you guys serve we serve too the the scripture says and month into their unending work Judah told NE Nehemiah the strength of the laborers is failing and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall Nehemiah 4:10 Nehemiah was dealing with a group of discouraged Builders I believe that sometimes you guys come against all that discouragement because of all the problems and of all the situations and difficulties that arises with this changing world but I come here to tell you that this is the day that the Lord has made and let us rejoice in it because God has given us a new day for us to complete the purpose that he has called us to and this is what we do and this is what you all do too and we thank you because you're in the front of the battle and you're taking hits like we have never seen or heard of but you're not discouraged longing to see the pro progress they could only see the rubbage that is was needed to be removed how many times you come together how many times you come with ideas how many times you come and you don't get together with the ideas but you keep going you keep flowing things are happening because you will continue you haven't stopped you won't stop because why you acknowledge the purpose and the calling of God to do what you do and you do a great job and we all thank you Nehemiah recognized the encouragement of the Israelites and his first remind them he re first reminded them that God was with them I come to tell you that God is with you you we have a church in Miami Beach that pray for you every day for the city government for the city to be governed with integrity and it's a blessing to have you all I encourage our parishioners to vote to come out and vote for councilman for uh the mayor and all positions for because they have the right to and that's what changes thing but Nehemiah first remind the Israelites that God was with them I come to tell you that God is with all of you and you say well I'm not from your religion I don't understand or I don't think like you but God is God and he's overall he's the god of Abraham Jacob Isaiah and all the patriotics that were at one time but he's still God and he's in heaven and he's the one that could help us in times of need and times of trouble and I believe that in times of trouble is when we mostly need of him but this is what Nehemiah did he encouraged everyone to do exactly what he said and he assigned them to work in shifts so they could get rest regularly you guys work together even though you're not in in one Accord all the time you guys still work together you're here every time that you come and make this meeting to get something done to be of purpose and that is commendable Nehemiah organized everything again again and then he assigned them and each family was given their own section of the wall to complete that's every one of you guys because you have a purpose you have something to give a little to to seow for the people to be able to be blessed I don't want to take more time but there's a purpose teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to obtain uncommon results and we thank God for you guys and uh I thank you for having me here and to be able to pray a blessing upon you for strength and knowledge and understanding can I ask you guys to Bow your heads or you guys can't well very quickly father God in the name of Jesus father God we bless each and everyone in this city commission today we bless them because you have gathered them and you have them with purpose and father we ask you to give them understanding to give them strength Integrity to give them ideas strategies and and new forms of doing things father God for we could enjoy and be blessed as we partake in what's happening in Miami Beach father father in the name of Jesus we call unto you that your angels would be around them at all times to protect them and guide them and to minister to them and they they would receive the blessing that you give them every day to start a new day to acknowledge that you are the one that gives them that day and they they may come before you and they may seek you and they may receive as they surrender their lives and their volunt their will to you father in the name of Jesus father God we bless them and we thank you for each and every one of them in jesus' name amen God bless you all thank you P thank you Pastor for your powerful words and thank you for being in Miami Beach and your community for 23 years and we look for many many many more years uh together let's do the Pledge of Allegiance it's a good followup to the invocation and I'm going to ask our interim city manager Raquel Williams to lead us I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay we're going to start the sutnik hour or I should say the half hour our F our first virtual caller is Johan Moore Mr Moore you have two minutes please state your name address go ahead sir yes good morning Johan Moore 717 Jefferson Avenue uh I would begin my my remarks by pointing out that there is also an adage to do unto others as you would have them do unto you uh my point today is not to speak in favor of Palestine necessarily or against various commission efforts to toward it self-determination but to praise various items before you on the agenda in rather uh particularly uh fetching order items c4a c4b and c4c uh I recommend support for uh we thank commissioner Dominguez for c4a and c4b uh c4c is in fact uh before you from the mayor uh two of those are in fact forwarded to you from the sustainability committee uh I also want to thank commissioner Rosen Gonzalez for item c41 uh funding tree canopy uh an item that has uh suddenly taken on new importance uh countywide and discussions are in fact uh uh being undertaken with the urban Forester and sustainability committee to see how we can best support treat canopy uh I also want to thank her for item C7 AR which would support employees use of medical marijuana on their own time and preclude any uh NE any uh negative uh results from that to their employment and finally I want to thank commissioner on this for item C7 as there was some discussion within Meridian Court Community about these uh baguer residents being forced out of their homes and my comment to my co-founder uh was that it's not our neighborhood so I didn't really know how to proceed that so I was very pleased to see the commissioner F on this as so often as uh the concerns of of precariously housed individuals at heart thank you very much thank you sir next please please State your state your name address and I'm not sure who was first but go ahead please oh you want me to go Lynette long Mii Beach commission for women about a year ago I stood here and said there was only one street named after woman Barbara bear cap in the whole city and I'm proud to announce that I hopefully after today there will be six thanks for the support of this commission and I want to say that the MI Beach commission for women we're not asking for parody because men have 20 streets but we are asking that women who have contributed to this great City be acknowledged number two on my agenda is Josephine Baker on December 23rd 1948 the Copa City Club opened it is at 131 dat Boulevard where Public Storage is we have have the commissioner women do the hard work of Merl Sharma gotten permission from Public Storage to put on their property a historical marker issued by the state of Florida honoring Josephine Baker everybody knows the story they asked her to perform offered her a large sum of money and she refused unless they integrated the audience and eventually they did and uh then every one of her contracts said the following it is understood agreed between both parties that patrons are to be admitted regardless of race color or Creed this was the first time in Miami Beach we think she should be so honored and she invited her different friends to the opening so that she could prove that they didn't deny anyone at the gate from New York City and the cost of the marker is $2,300 paid to Sate of Florida and we hope the city will authorize that payment to honor Josephine Baker and her push toward integration on Miami Beach thank you our next virtual speaker is Amanda Amanda state your name and address please you have two minutes oh no my name is Amanda f um I'm to be here today I'm here as Jewish person who's attended several of these recent commission meetings and while I may not agree with everything I am familiar with and even at times understand what has conditioned the perspectives of the mayor and commissioner Suarez I understand that your concerns are informed by the past experience and violence faced by previous Jewish generations and that because of this you feel a heightened sense of vulnerability given that history however it's crucial to address the actions that this commission has taken that undermine our core values using our taxpayer money to support Israel there thereby contributing to the ongoing violence and loss of life in Palestine contradicts our ethical teachings and speaking out against these actions is not anti-semitic it is actually a defense of our values and our commitment to our ancestors Legacy that we all share um we have faced and overcome real anti-Semitism in Miami Beach uh there used to be redlining practices that once excluded Jews from living in neighborhoods and accessing certain social and professional spaces we've worked hard and advanced in inclusivity and equality but now these recent measures like restricting Free Speech through ordinances against protests and penalizing businesses that support BDS undermine these hard one advancements these actions are unconstitutional and they're a betrayal of our democratic princip principles so it's crucial that this commission re-evaluates this stance and aligns more with the principles of secularism nonpartisanship and respect for human life this current path we're on is not only unjust but it is illegal and it disservice to the values that you claim to uphold thank you I'm actually going to explain why it is anti-Semitic and why this commission is actually addressing anywhere we see forms of discrimination or hate including anti-Semitism we are going to address it there are comments made in this meeting in the past several months that are so blatantly anti it's not even anti-israel it's anti-jewish for example if any Jewish person by the way there are many people I'm looking around in this room if any Jewish person or many people in this room would go to the territories that are controlled by the Palestinian Authority andas you would not get out out that is a fact you would not get out alive you would not get out without going to prison that is a fact there is not a single Jewish person in the Palestinian territories it's not possible go to Israel I think this would shock most people have never been to Israel everywhere you go there are Arabs 20% of the population 20% of the voting population are Arabs 20% of the knesset which is the Israeli Parliament the equivalent of Congress are Arabs go to any Hospital doctors nurses go to any grocery store Arabs are everywhere it's part of society so it's it's kind of like honestly it's insulting it's anti-semitic it's almost a joke hearing comments about Israel and committing massacres when you have one side where you can't have a Jewish person or other groups that are in this room we go to Israel and you can live freely amongst Jews Arabs Christians Muslims and every walks of life and actually until October 7th when Kamas attacked there were tens of thousands of Palestinians that used to come over the Border there is a border and they used to come over the border and work freely and they were able to earn a living unfortunately that uh had to be restricted anyway I felt the need to explain why this commission takes in uniformity the positions it takes it's absolutely necessary thank you sir go ahead please say your name address you have two minutes my name is Ken barns I live in North Miami and would like to speak today about two things uh just referring to what mayor Miner just said the Palestinians the 20% of Palestinians who live in the uh in Israel don't have the same voting rights as the Israelis they are discriminated against so to talk about the way the way you're talking that it's there's an equivalence I'm not sure I don't think that's true first I want to talk about Jared Firestone I have a question for you why is the city of Miami Beach considering a resolution that would give Jared Firestone an athlete who rides a single person Sligh head first down a mountain a $110,000 grant to represent present a foreign country in this case Israel in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games a poor resident I could see it a per uh a person representing a poor country I could see it but Israel is not poor not only does he want to compete for a foreign country he undoubtedly has means as is a practicing lawyer and real estate agent and says he has a strong family and friends support system secondly Miami Beach has a l of money and doesn't want to use it to contract with businesses that refuse to sell or buy from Israel a clear infringement on Free Speech this is an abuse of power by your insistence we're being forced to give away our first amendment rights to a foreign country again Israel boycotts and selective buying are legal witnessed the legal great boycott in California as you well know the Supreme Court decided that boycotts were legal after thank you sir they were not thank you sir our next speaker is virtually is Gabriella Gabriela you have two minutes please state your name one moment one moment I just want to correct you you actually said you don't think you you I'm sorry to dispute you you you don't you don't the facts are 20% of the voting population in Israeli elections are are Arabs and 20% of the knesset I'm rounding off are Arab Representatives that is a fact and by the way it's interesting how Israel always seems to be the focus of the disputes nobody comes in here about North Korea or China where real human rights violations are happening but they don't have the same voting rights as Israelis they are discriminated against you can keep saying it but you're F you're wrong they next next speaker thank you everyone our next caller is Gabriella Gabriella you have two minutes please state your name and address please hi my name is Gabriella I'm a Miami Beach resident um at 7700 Tatum Waterway Drive um and I would just like to start by affirming everything that Ken said but I'd most primarily like to speak about resolution C7 AG that would award $10,000 to Jared Firestone um I'm very disheartened to think that in a City where we're arresting unhoused people instead of putting money into housing that we would send someone to the Olympics to represent another country especially a country that is actively carrying out a genocide um in addition to that I would like to express my disdain at ordinance ordinance R5 uh AB thank you thank you next please get your name addressed you have two minutes thank you good morning Commissioners m M vice mayor Mr Mayor my name is Lynette cardo and I'm a vice president with Moffet and nickel we are a uh resiliency and one of the top leading Waterfront engineering and consulting firms and you know we've we're really grateful for the partnership that we've had with the city of Miami Beach and the projects that we've done I've personally been able to lobby with um the city of Miami Beach for the importance of the beaches and the health and the resiliency value that they bring I do wish however to respectfully request that we pull item c2f from today's agenda um that is the just a situation where I find that the um information used for that memo doesn't truly respect the wishes of the evaluation committee so with that I'll I'll close but thank you for the opportunity to speak c2f it has been separated from the consent agenda it has been c2f has been separated thank you we're going to go virtually to Maj Kagan Maj please state your name address you have two minutes please good morning and thank you for recognizing me I am Mo Kagan Daniel I live at 5151 Collins Avenue for close to 30 years I have been an active leader in the Jewish Community just stepped down from the Jewish community relations Council leadership I want to commend commissioner Suarez mayor Miner and commissioner Joe magazine for R5 AB in support of Israel and opposed to BDS um because Israel is fighting an existential uh War based on the attacks of October 7 right now I just returned from my third trip to the nation um and it's an extremely unfortunate situation what's going over there but Israel is fighting the world's ideological war on terror and if you looked at the New York Times in the last few days there is an article where the Pentagon is actually um thank you your time is up I apologize uh next please thank you good morning commission commissioner Fernandez hi yeah I just wanted to request on the item that Mo Daniels just spoke on R5 I believe it was AB to be listed as a co-sponsor as well thank you thank you good morning everybody how you doing Sarah de is Sor Harbor neighborhood association president I'm here on behalf of um my board um we want to support uh C7 AP and the visibility of police in neighborhood I think is a great idea and is I think is very welcome uh in the neighborhood I think that would be really really great I also support r5b which is the Maurice GI Park up pi and B ramp that belongs to the residents and I want to make a comment in regards to the water taxi the water taxi the ridership has been very low and I understand that um the water tax has been off five days I think it was five off or five days I think it should be extended and I think the only way you're going to increase ridership if you do a partnership with the business and have give him the business incentive in order to give that pass to its employee so let don't bring in their car into the city I think if you do that the water taxi will actually work for the city and will actually lower the amount of people especially the workers that are coming into the to the city and the hotels and everything so if you do that I think that would definitely give you give it more incentive for people to take the water taxi this is my input thank you thank you our next virtual speaker is Alexi ionin please state name address and you have two two minutes my name is alexe Aon um 1661 West Avenue Miami Beach I would like to address the uh I think item five um r5b or D restricting access to shore for people that live on water uh basically if we don't leave we are you are restricting access to food and water that means we starve to death because you're willing to give up to $5,000 tickets to access to shore might as well shoot us this is not thetic way of addressing the problem build the moing field get rid of their elect vessels be civilized about it don't let hatred and rage to take over your reason I can't believe this is happening in United States of America in Miami Beach Florida in 2024 this kind of a method against a small community of people that choose to live water do you realize what you're doing they do but they don't care thank you thank you so much next please state your name address and you have two minutes go ahead sir I'm not on the camera I don't control the camera would you like to start my name is Carlos Leon I'm the Miami Beach boers Association president um I'm not here because of that because to be honest I know one of the commissioner likees is going to bully you guys to to do what he wants you guys to do so my access to land will be cut off I know that so that's not a big deal I'm here for a bigger reason um one of the constituent Gail told me I don't have power in this city and I do not have power the power lies on your hands but the good thing about this country is that we have freedom of press and freedom of speech so I decided to do a newspaper tabloid okay exposing everything that David Suarez and his Goonies are doing against us okay so 10,000 copies will be handed out for free in Miami Beach because I'm tired I sat down with each and one of you guys for three hours to find the solution for us to have access to land and you guys don't listen so as you guys don't listen to us I realize you guys don't listen to the parking people you guys don't everything is ticket ticket ticket let's toe we're in the economy right now that is hurting everybody's hurting in this economy okay the residents are hurting and you guys want to ticket them and Tow them just because I don't know why because there's like four airbnbs out there and a lot bigger things are happening like the I'm not against Israel but I think we need to be careful with freedom of speech and freedom of assemble because that's the core thing of the this country and thank God that we live in this country because if not I don't know how we would how it would be here because I'm Scared O of him because he passes by my boat seven times eight times with FWC Senators passing by clothes showing his muscles you know that's not what a commissioner should do you know and he laughs look he's laughing does he have muscles thank you our next thank you so much now I'm going to expose each thank you so much commissioner I let it goed thank you there's a a court case that it says I can say anything in in a public go thank you our of speech and this in this chamber thank you everyone our next caller is Wayne Roberts Mr Roberts you have two minutes please state your name and address sir hi this is way robertt sou the 5ifth um I want to talk about the silver lighting of the day I it seems that the lighting in on in the zoom is much better so the audio visual is is improved thank you uh additionally um San Andreas my favorite cookies in cappuccino Manhattan is appearing in manhatt on Fifth Street where the Burger King is I guess in 2025 I was really excited by the choice of the restaurant I guess it's about 7,000 square fet um really excited by that um as for uh anti-Semitism in in the United States as particularly Miami Beach no it's not a right to block the convention center and the Millions people that millions of dollars that are generated at the art Bay abazo event or um yelling at at old Jewish people as a exit um a synagogue uh Shame Shame Shame three inches from their face spitting at them that's not that's not that's not democracy that's not the the right of free speech um you know uh it reminds me of 1932 with this boycott where Jews were boycotted from from earning a living in Germany it reminds me of the mob mentality that uh prates uh 2024 uh uh directed by Iran our Arch Enemy that killed 600,000 syrians in the last decade that uh that displaced 12 million half the population and I don't even want to talk about Lebanon or the houthis that killed 600,000 yemenis it's it's pathetic uh thank you very much have a nice day thank you our I'm not sure who was next but whoever please go ahead state your name address you have two minutes Lisa Sao 440 Southshore Drive Miami Beach I own um 10 properties here in Miami Beach three in particular are in North Beach one is a fourplex on beitz drive and the other is a single family home in North Beach and I'm here to talk about the parking decals for North Beach um another activist erroneously emailed all of you that I'm against the parking decals I am not I'm actually for the parking decals preventing crime and promoting safety knowing who is parking in our area and making sure that they are legal residents of the area not short-term um rentals or vacation rentals um providing more parking for residents who pay property taxes or residents who pay rent to their landlords who pay those taxes preventing dumping of unwinded unwanted items in our public parking and our public SES identifying who's coming here to dump because those cars are not registered preventing commercial vehicles from occupying residential parking spaces several overnight vehicles are commercial vehicles and abandoned vehicles in our area people are sleeping in their cars and parking in these spots overnight some people have even parked in my driveway and I've had to call the police to identify that somebody has been in our personal driveway because of the lack of parking in the area um I understand that this will cost the city a great deal of money to implement but I believe over time the safety of our neighborhood is more important and the quality of life for those living in the area and we really should be focused on residents first rather than visitors and that's why I really believe that the parking decals will help prevent a lot of the contention and the issues that we're having in this this area it's really about the people who actually live in that area and let's do like we've done for South Beach and mid Beach thank you so much thank you our next virtual speaker is Charles fiser Mr fiser you have two minutes please state your name and address hi my name is Charles fiser I live at 635 ID Avenue I've lived in South Beach for 16 years and unlike the current city commission I'm choosing to focus about about issues related to Miami Beach and purposely trying not to involve City politics in the plight of Palestinians so therefore I'm calling on agenda item cr4 which is a discussion about the uh removal of bulb outs you know we were told bulb outs are the things in the intersections that um that allow pedestrians to cross the intersections quicker and easier they slow down uh cars as they turn they make cars go at 90° turns they provide space for trees and vegetation if you look at the in South the fifth which is a gorgeous neighborhood because we spent a lot of money to make it a gorgeous neighborhood all of the intersections have Ballout for a reason it's a beautiful thing everyone who lives in a city wants to have bulb outs so I'm calling to ask for the bulb outs to be installed on Seventh in uid this past year a woman was hit at by a car Crossing in the crosswalk because other cars had parked in the area next to the intersection where uh the bul outs would prevent that from happening that's the purpose of the bul outs and so we're having people hit by cars as they walk to get a caito a Cito or something like that at the lasas and so we need we need better safety for pedestrians uh in our neighborhoods so I strongly oppose getting rid of the bra bouts I'm kind of waiting for the go Bond uh uh that we all voted yes on which included bulb outs and the rest of the Flingo Park neighborhood that has not happened yet we voted yes on that why is that not happened and now we're talking about removing them it's a little bit of bait and so we need ball bouts I'm thank you sir your time is up I apologize sir go ahead state your name address and you have two minutes good morning my name is George Linderman 2300 West Bay Avenue I've been a resident uh of the same stretch of water since 1997 each year the health of the Bay get successively worse um I've watched it over the last 25 years I understand that the city does not control the waters in the bay that that's other government entities but we do control the land that Mighty Beach Jones and as complex as it might be the residents and the and the voters of Miami Beach need to see some progress on the bay so I I would I'm also a board member of sunset 3 Association you guys have a letter from us I would encourage you to support um r5b ordinance as a step in the right direction I know it won't solve all of the problems of the bay but it certainly will be a step in the right direction thank you thank you our next virtual speaker is Amanda Amanda did you speak before yes okay then we're gonna go to Melissa razuri hello good morning morning uh my name is Melissa rosui 2131 Cal Drive um also on the board of Normandy Shores condo apartments and I'm just calling in today in support of the north beach um parking decal program and I just wanted to thank commissioner Suarez and all the Commissioners and mayor Miner thank you so much Mr C go ahead state your name address two minutes Steve bubo in Venetian Causeway Miami Beach uh thank you for not having trembling knees up on the commission deis thank you for living in the spirit of Dr Stanley sutnik who didn't come didn't protest different things on the city for National events but actually protested senior citizen housing actually uh spoke about helping people and just so you know I've been here since I'm six months old so that's around 35 36 years now and um the changes that have happened I am friends with Dr sutnik son Robert I actually went out with his late uh his late daughter and uh among others and um be for Miami Beach be for Miami Beach first this crazy thing with the with the boats okay I I'd love to pull up in my boat and live in Miami Beach for your charge in the bay but you know what do it somewhere else go down to the keys go down somewhere else you don't have to do it on Miami Beach we have a valuable property that we're protecting and I've seen the ups and downs and it's your responsibility and it's our responsibility as Citizens to say enough let's protect these properties let's make sure anyone who wants to do whatever the hell they want to do on Miami Beach doesn't have a chance to do it and if it means standing up and have them having people accusing you of taking away their first amendment rights what about our first am Amendment rights what about us having rights thank you thank you mayor more than 30 minutes have elapsed we have do wish to continue or should we go how many more callers we have three in the in in Zoom uh let's let's hear it okay Eric Erica summer you're next please go ahead you have two minutes good morning um yes so I am 7141 Indian break Drive which is Calvary Chapel Miami Beach and um I thank you for the opportunity to just be able to come on and share from the perspective of small businesses as well as houses of Faith um I know it was mentioned in the North Beach parking proposal program um that houses of Faith would be considered but there hasn't been anything tangible um that has come up of how that's being uh proposed um so that we would be considered too because we have congregations and when we keep talking about quality of life for many people spiritual health spiritual um concerns it's very important for quality of life and so if you can't congregate if you can't even get parking or anything um it's a concern and for us we do have outside of the traditional hours um we have services on Sunday and we also have two Services during the week in the evenings until 9:30 and so the parking is so limited even metered parking and you're having all of the small businesses now compete for the same parking additionally as a person who was um in the hospitality industry for several years I know the financial burdens of trying to figure out how to park Park when you need to go to work and yesterday I was down in South Beach where I only parked for 1 hour and it was $44.50 cents an hour and I can't imagine the hardship that that's posing for people who don't live on the beach but work on the beach and they're not working within traditional 9 to 5 hours so my concern is again about how the small businesses as well as the houses of Faith are being considered in this program um I know my time's up but thank you for hearing me thank you so much uh our next caller has a screen name of Marty's iPhone state your name address please you have two minutes uh thank you my name is Marty rendin I live in Miami Beach um I uh wonder why an ordinance to restrict the actions of those of us who support BDS which is a nonv vient form of protest is on the table when in fact there are people in Florida and in Miami Beach area who are funding illegal actions in Palestine they are funding the illegal settlements they are funding Violence by illegal settlers I'm just wondering do you really think passing the ordinance against BDS will help the state of Israel overcome the shame and the horror of its genocidal actions in Gaza do you really think that this ordinance will do anything to address the world the international court of justice judgment against Israel which has confirmed something that has always been the case the settlements are illegal the occupation and its Administration are illegal and have to end I have some suggestions I think that the city council would be helping Israel in a better way by one calling for a ceasefire now in Gaza and number two stop funding illegal settlers and settlements and number three help our friends in Israel understand we accept this state of Israel but the borders are those agreed in 1967 not the borders that they are currently working on which is from The River To The Sea thank you very much yeah I'm going to reiterate myself first of all the river to the Sea means the end of Israel and every Jew uh about I don't know whether are there are seven million Jews in Israel would be displaced killed I mean that's what you're advocating for and it's really it's hard to sit here and and hear you say that Israel is committing a genocide when there are no Jews in the Palestinian territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority and Gaza not a single Jew but yet there are Arabs there are millions of Arabs in Israel who vote who are citizens of the state of Israel who live freely go to Israel I ask any person listening to this go to Israel you will see Arabs everywhere taxi drivers doctors nurses living side by side by the way go to a hospital in Israel just like the hospitals here in America there are two per room unless you have a lot of money and get your own room but most people are two for room and there are Arabs and Jews in the same room living peacefully by the way I hear all the time from people because obviously people assume or know that I'm that I'm uh that I support Israel they say to me all the time many non-jewish people I went to Israel I'm in shock how people live cohesively it's completely different than what I anticip at based on what I see in the media and that's why I keep addressing and countering the comments that that we hear they're hurtful commissioner Suarez thank you Mr I I I just would like to point out a few things um I I do think it's ironic that that we in Miami Beach as a leader in lgbtq rights and women rights have to endure the comments about uh Pro Palestine Pro Hamas values you know LGBT people lgbtq people are not allowed in Gaza if they find out you are homosexual they're going to kill you there's actually there's actually written text on how to kill homosexuals in Sharia law so I just find it ironic that people praising Hamas praising Palestine are in Miami Beach where we're a beacon for Women rights gay rights when any of those people if they were in Gaza they would be executed immediately thank you thank you commissioner Fernandez and I just want to publicly State as an openly gay member of this city commission and the only openly gay member of this of this city commission my steadfast support for for for Israel for if Israel's right to defend itself for to to bring back home the hostages uh this is a right that Israel has has and uh and I stand in dismay whenever I hear the the hate being said in in front of us and so since since the lgbtq community was mentioned I feel that as an openly gay member of this of this commission that I stand up because the love that my community has received from the Jewish Community has always been very strong so he's been a very strong bond and I also have to say as someone that's been to Israel actually was into Israel for my honeymoon um I don't think I could have gone uh somewhere else perhaps on my honeymoon I think uh the the love and the welcomeness that Robert and I experienced in uh in Israel would would not be uh experienced uh on the other side and I believe the uh cover picture on your social media page is you at the Western Wall yes right which is very moving thank you Nancy good morning Nancy Duke 1450 Lincoln Road and good morning everyone it's I'm I'm really H glad to be here I had to rush in because on my way here there was police activity at the end of my street again there's always something going on so there was something I was going to say but I kind of want to just speak from the heart because as I came in Carlos greeted me downstairs and he stuck this in my hand and said Nancy you're in it Lincoln Road the End of the Street that street for the last couple years has been inundated with homeless people people from the boats I have worked so hard and tirelessly as some of you know I I was want sorry to clean that area up these voters want people to feel sorry for them please I tried to work with them the more you try to work with them the more aggressive and obnoxious they become they demand more and more and more and you try to be reasonable or what I think is reasonable just wanting to have a quiet little area in front of my door when I walk out instead what I get is boats thingies on the dock people trying to drop people off these people are really difficult to deal with the more you give the more they want and I'm and Carlos is the ring leader of the whole thing so I'm going to say guys vote for uh Davis well first of all I want to thank you Mr Mayor you were there for me last year in the very begin so my I'm always grateful to you for that thank you and David Suarez you know my heart goes out to you as well without you I don't know where we'd be you have helped us clean up that neighborhood so much so I'm forever grateful but please don't let these people come back and invade our area they will just the other day um Carlos has taken some of his boats out somebody else brought a boat in they worked on it and then the guys want to come ashore and sit in the park and drink beer and carry on it's it's a residential area there we need some peace in that area so I want to thank you thank you ma'am our next virtual caller is Larry schaer lar before you oh I just want to thank Nancy you know often we the commission we hear from residents who spend so much of their own free time and Nancy Duke you're a perfect example of that I mean I can't even imagine the amount of hours you spent um not just on this issue but making sure your area is addressed cleaned up and really what Miami Beach should be so thank you for that Larry go ahead please good morning this is Larry Schaefer 23381 Street in North Beach I'd like to it was wonderful to see c7c citizen Bill of Rights I think we need some teeth in there so that's great work I think Elizabeth latone worked on that and it's really great to see you guys consider that item uh C7 AC is a commissioner expense account item really guys I'd like to see commissioner pay packages on the ballot soon um commissioner expense accounts are one thing but uh you guys you don't have a full-time job you have a more than a full-time job up there so maybe the time I know we considered this in the past and voted on it I don't know what the details should be but maybe it's time again to think about that is you know all the voters at once finally number three I'm in favor of North Beach Park parking regulations once again devil is in the details I'm not quite sure what is the best plan but parking is a problem in North Beach I see it every day and will only get worse if we don't do something and I'm going to uh give up the rest of my time so that the rest of the meeting can proceed thank you thank you our next virtual caller has a screen name of Miami please state your name and address please let's go then to uh with a phone number of 757 the last three numbers state your name and address please caller please unmute yourself it's the caller with the phone last phone number four numbers are 4757 then let's go back to Miami uh screen name Miami go ahead please mayor they're not neither one are there so we can start any other callers okay great thank you everyone who spoke and we are now going to uh Mr city clerk we'll call the consent agenda items that are pulled and we can vote vote on the remaining items yes sir the following items have been separated from the consent agenda commissioner bot is separating item C4s so it could be heard at the same time as r7g through uh r7j R7 g&j uh commissioner Fernandez is separating c2b as in boy as c2f as in Frank commissioner Rosen Gonzalez is separating C7 ah for the record the mayor has not approved the consent the addendum items which are C7 AQ C7 a r C7 a R9 a and c78 these will not be included when you vote on the consent agenda however these items uh the mayor has said that he will hear them after 5 o'clock I believe so with that if I can have a motion uh for the consent agenda excluding separated items and excluding the addendum items I have a motion from commissioner Fernandez a second from commissioner Rosen Gonzalez all in favor hi passes unanimous consent agenda great thank you so for those watching most of you may know this but I'll give a quick tutorial what we have about 200 items on the agenda about a 100 of them are on consent which means they're seemingly non-controversial and should pass through a lot of administrative items a lot of a lot of referrals to committees but each myself and each of the Commissioners has the ability to pull that item so that we hear it uh we're all we all have that ability so that's why we called some of the items just to my colleagues uh there were a few addendum items that came in yesterday so we'll put them on for to hear it but I just felt because of the late hour I wanted to make sure that everyone had the opportunity and didn't just reflexively approve uh the items on consent one of the items that passed on consent was the appointment of Chief Special magistrate Annette epel bam Cannon congratulations this is a big milestone and thank you for all your years of hard work and continued hard work and I think it would be great if we can do a picture with you can I add one thing I would like to add that and Miss Canon is also our first female special Master magistrate in the city of Miami Beach so even more special congratulations spe one two three there okay let's go to our 9:05 time certain city manager selection process r9d I'll let the city clerk uh announce it but then I'm going to turn it over to our City attorney Rick too to uh give some instructions so r9d is uh city manager selection process public interviews and final selection I will be asking that the first uh candidate in alphabetical order be brought down at the moment so that way we're not wasting any time each so I thought I thought Rick was going to give the uh sort of the lay of the land here but I'll I'll do it so basically we have four city manager candidates that we had um approved at our special commission meeting on this item we're going to give 30 minutes for each candidate each of us up here will get to ask uh two questions of the candidate obviously there could be some followup but we uh really need to limit this to 30 minutes we've just for everyone out there we've I believe all of us have met with each of the candidates I have um we had the opportunity uh actually multiple times to meet with the candidates but this is for us to ask um maybe additional questions but also for our residents to see for themselves the candidates um we're going to go one by we're going to do one question each around the deis and I thought it would be the most instead of going down the line uh our city clerk has a sort of a randomizer so we'll do it that way and so each commissioner will go I have no idea which order it is it's it's random they're they're bringing the first candidate down the first candidate is Anthony elic Castro he's a Senior Management advisor consultant he lives in Miami Beach is there a dressing room here that they're bringing him down from so everyone knows what we're doing is all the candidates are in the city man in the city attorney's large conference room that way when you ask the same questions they cannot hear it uh after they are they finish uh being interviewed we will put them back in the city uh Attorney's Conference Room in case you wish to ask follow-up questions so that way they don't need even see the questions or the answers that the other candidates gave so that's how we're we're they're in a holding room right now great now are we giving an opening statement to each of the candidates yes I will be doing that how how long is there opening statement before we get to ask questions no I will be providing a brief opening statement there's no opening statement for the candidate that's all they're only coming one floor down thank you much appreciated okay so for those of you just tuning in we are are doing the interview process for our city manager we are waiting for the first candidate to come downstairs maybe they can sit the next one can just sit outside there's a there's a bench in the hallway on the third floor by the I think they should so again everyone this is Mr Ali Castro good morning everybody thank you for being here and thank you for putting your hat in the ring so the way we're GNA do we're G have we're going to have one question from each uh we're going to start with one question from each of us up here and then we're going to do a second round of questions there's 30 minutes so our city clerk will start the clock so just have that in mind when you're answering your questions cuz you may want to do some followup so just keep that in mind uh so my suggestion would be try to keep them keep them brief the question is going to be asked the city clerk is going to pick each of us randomly so I don't know which order it's going to be in and then we'll do a second round of questions and thank you again May so our first question first round commissioner Fernandez thank you thank you and welcome um this is my first time interviewing a candidate for city manager in my role as a City Commissioner besides the private interviews so it's an important moment for me but I want to know Mr Ali Castro if hired how will you evaluate City departments top administrators and promote a a culture of of proactive rather than reactive problem solving sure thank you thank you commissioner I I've been in this position of having to come into organizations and run them um and and quickly hit the ground running and evaluating teams so the first thing I would do is to have departmental meetings and start to listen to their concerns uh listen to what their needs are and always with the focus on asking the question do they have do they understand what the mission is do they understand where we're going do they have the resources to do it and as I'm going through that evaluation process I'm also uh really focused on listening to attitudes are they optimistic are they pessimistic um do they do they see the glass half full and the glass half empty um what I try to instill during this process is to let them know how I work and let them know what my priorities are and one of the value added that I bring to any job and any any position that I take is that I I recognize that I am the one that sets the bar in terms of quality and in the leadership so I will be constantly uh asking the team to do better and uh and and try to never be satisfied with what we're doing we have to be we have to be constantly moving forward in a positive way and we have to try to create a sense of energy and a sense of urgency thank you um and Mr attorney I don't know if I'm supposed to provide my second question now we're going to go on to the next commissioner and then we'll come back to you our next commissioner is commissioner Suarez um very very simple I think I've asked you this before Anthony if you could change one thing about Miami Beach what would it be yeah um it's it's it's great that that uh you asked that question as when we met oneon-one because there is a there is an answer that first popped up into my head and then there's something a little bit deeper a deeper answer so i' I've been a resident here for the last four years and I've owned my place here in Miami Beach for the last 15 so the first thing that would pop up in my mind is is traffic and some qual as a quality of life issue but upon reflection if I had to change one thing I think I would I would like to see the the city of Miami Beach uh less oriented towards Leisure and having some more Dynamic development other types of businesses um that can attract people to live and work here in the city because in my former position as airport director in in Jamaica for instance which is heavily tourist oriented I could see how cical that is and how susceptible that is to ups and downs of e economies and and a travel and the and the world of travel and Leisure So my answer to you commissioner would be probably if I had to change anything I would figure out way to to to bring in new businesses and new type of of opportunities for people to work and live here in the city thank you our next uh commissioner up is commissioner Rosen Gonzalez good morning good morning what experience do you have with employee and Union contracts and contract agreements and can you provide one example where the outcome was better than expected by the board yeah so yes I have um in my in my airport director's life uh both in Bolivia and Jamaica I was working with uh with unions we negotiated collective bargaining agreements uh so in in general terms I do have I do have experience with uh with working with with unions and can you give one example where you had a great outcome yeah in any contract negotiation yeah well in in a in a broader sense I probably the one of my professional highlights was um when I went to uh Jamaica as the airport director I was asked to negotiate with the Jamaican government on rates and charges uh which involved preparing a master plan and a tariff presentation and we had very very successful negotiations where we're able to um to convince the Jamaican government to uh approve new tariffs which will allow us to uh implement the whole new master plan for improvements at our airport thank you our next uh uh commissioner magazine you're up next Anthony thank you uh so much for your interest in um tell me about Miami Beach 2035 what key features do we keep what changes do we make be specific I think you already on to some of that Economic Development uh what does that look like what specific types of companies or Industries are we looking at resiliency have $1.2 billion of unfunded capital projects you know how do we bridge that Gap uh preservation you know how is so important but how do we preserve uh some buildings or districts that don't have the economic feasibility to perhaps do that themselves um and how can we increase the walkability of our city so just give me your thoughts on those yeah okay well there's a lot of a lot of topics all all in one so um let's start with with the let's look let's look at the future so first of all I think that we are as a as a city very close uh within Striking Distance of of really being one of the the best cities in the country I think we are in our hearts the best city but but we need to work every day to make ourselves the best city so I think with the with these uh government uh with the general obligation bonds and this wave of construction and capital projects we're really setting ourselves up for Success uh both in just our infrastructure our resiliency but also on the on on another axis which is I think could be one of our of fundamental importance to quality of life and that is a cultural site so as we develop our culture cult Al um facilities all all across the the city that's going to be a good foundation when we talk about attracting businesses um we do have some serious challenges one the one of the one of the challenges is the affordability of the housing market and that is a challenge today for our largest employers and our smallest employers everybody has a challenge to to uh to uh have people live and work close so since they don't live in work close to have to commute which affects our traffic um and and the nature of the of the hotel restaurant businesses at their service industry so the wages are are are naturally less so the ideal com Industries to attract are those that people can work and live within Miami beach but they have to be high-paying jobs so that they can afford to live here and that and and it's it's an ideal that's that's definitely worth fighting for and worth shooting shooting target to shoot at because it's it will make the city much more vibrant to have people live here work here grow up here where are you from I'm from Miami Beach grew up here born and race so I think I think that it's something really important that we should be striving for in a future yeah Vice May Dominguez good morning what would your first 30 days a city manager in Miami beach look like yeah the the the first 30 days are are really important um what I what do I do first is bring in all the department heads get to know what their priorities are what their needs are what the requirements are get them to know me and my way of of doing business here in the city um I would also expand that that informational exchange of course to the Commissioners to to work with each one of you to get to understand more deeply what your priorities and your concerns are and then more broadly within the within the county and the state start uh creating those those ties to both the Miami day County and to Tallahassee thank you uh commissioner bot good morning Mr alicastro um this is a momentous day for all of us none of us um probably thought that we would be at this at this juncture making one of the most important decisions for our residents um that we could make in our ten years so thank you for subjecting yourself to this any job interview is is challenging certainly one in public like this is quite challenging um as a resident of myb you know that we are in a constant tug-of war between residents needs and T demands between development and preservation um between increasing density versus affordable and affordable housing um and failing roads problems with traffic mobility in general how would you approach balancing those demands and what are your priorities for each and I know that's a big question but it's kind of the Nexus of where we are yeah so so as we as we look at look at Miami Beach there there is going to be a natural Redevelopment as older buildings are replaced with newer buildings that's so the first the first thing we have to do is is be mindful of what we put in and and its impact both on on the look and feel of our of our city number one but also the impact it has on our infrastructure impact on on traffic water which all of those those impacts um looking looking U looking Beyond to uh to there was a part of the question about uh traffic and and impact that traffic is is a is a is an issue for for us and it's going to be tough to deal with it without starting to think about providing better and better alternative ways of transport and trying to figure out better and better ways of limiting vehicles from coming onto into Miami Beach now we don't have the authority and ability to toll to create those disincentives which is fine but we need to be creating some uh some alternative ways that people can park on the mainland and and come over in uh in in ways that do not saturate whether it's whether it's on a daily basis for people to come to work here or even even particularly for special events which have a tendency to saturate our roadways thank you mayor Miner thank you thank you to my colleagues by the way great questions so appreciate the uh thought process that went into this and and and the timing and I think some of my colleagues mentioned this already but this is such an important decision for our city uh you whoever is selected will be our next chief executive officer um I think most people again know how our system works but just in case the city manager the only person in the city who reports directly to us the commission while we talk let's say I see our police chief Wayne Jones in the back well we I talk to him regularly I'm sure most of us do he technically under the charter it's not technically it's the charter reports to the city manager who then reports to so uh the city manager obviously uh has a uh tremendous role in helping us and helping our residents make our city uh the great City that it is so my question is and nobody watching this meeting will be surprised the topic that I'm going to ask about how would you ensure that Miami Beach continues to focus and its number one priority being Public Safety Law and Order addressing crime working with our police chief and our Police Department um to address these issues yeah thank thank you Mr Mayor um as as I mentioned to you uh on in our oneone meeting and I it's it's not not a secret safety the feeling of of being safe in one's Community is is fundamental to our well-being um and and and our and the vibrancy of our own Community it it the creating a better and better uh Public Safety environment is about first of all it's a it's a it's a team effort that just doesn't solely Embark the the police department but it does have a main focus on on on the police department so I would say the there's there's a number of priorities we need to make sure that the the police department is is properly staffed is fully staffed we need to make sure that the community um that the police department and the community are actively engaged with each other that they and the police department has to be visible you know that there it doesn't matter how many uh officers Chief Jones can bring on board if we the citizens don't see them right so so you need visibility you need to give them the technology to to be able to do their job and be able to to do that natural sequence of prevention or in the case of of a of a crime U arrest and conviction right um one of the things I would mention about uh Public Safety is that I've I've operated realtime uh Intelligence Center ERS in the airport and and Highway world so I think that the our police realtime Intelligence Center is going to be a GameChanger for for the police it's going to give them much much stronger tools and better tools and safer tools for the police officers because the police officers when they go to an incident hopefully will have a much better picture of what they're what they're facing as as they go there and also in the case of of situations that evolve such as let's say there's a demonstrations protests the chief I will work with the chief for instance to to to listen to his preparations and his plans but I'll always be asking the question how many people do you anticipate that'll be there if he says 50 I'll say great what is the level of Staffing that you anticipate for that but I'll always ask that follow-up question what happens if instead of 50 it's 500 you know so with a real time intelligence you're able to first plan but then if things start evolving the the police chief will have the tools to start moving resources and respond before things boil over and that and that's the name of the game is to try to keep things under control before they get to a flash point Thank You commissioner Fernandez thank you appreciate that and and you're probably your next question would be what if the 50 don't listen to what the police have to say yeah but for another time thank you Mr Mayor uh just following up on the theme of Public Safety as you know um and as the mayor just mentioned uh we have a very strong focus on public safety and there is a direct Nexus between Public Safety and rest and quality of life so tell us a little bit about your level of involvement um on two specific issues on high profile events that attract large amounts of crowds and managing and preparing for for some something uh like that and handling of uh homeless issues handling of homeless issues homeless issu sure so in In Crowd planning as as airport director in both uh South America and in the Caribbean I've I've had to deal with with protests uh uh people trying to storm the airport and and the airport police which I was proud to manage um having to prepare for that and resp respond to that um so I do have that experience in in in Event Event control I've also been very much involved in uh Emergency Operations so whether it's the case of a hurricane in Jamaica uh fire air airplane crashes in South America I've I've had have that kind of experience as well so I feel very comfortable in the public safety uh uh uh space and in terms of of homeless issue I I would just I would just say that we must strike a balance we must strike a balance between compassion and avoiding at all cost creating the conditions that attract homelessness so we need to help when we can but we can't go to the extreme of falling into the Trap of creating a situation that attracts homelessness so I think I think we should offer as much as many services as feasible to help our our fellow human beings in their in their moment of of in their lowest moment in their life yet at the same same time there's 87,000 other people in the community that also have to um and have their own rights to quiet enjoyment of of of their homes so so it's all it's all about balance and it's all about treating treating our homeless with with compassion but now that that certain guidelines and rules have come down from the courts um we have uh we have a certain ability to to be a little bit more strict in in in helping improve the quality of life for our residents by being a little bit strict stricter on on uh on people that want to use our public space to sleep thank you commissioner Suarez so may I go to the next individual commissioner Rosen Gonzalez so many papers up here okay so when I look at leadership um you know you have to be able to assess an organ ganization and understand what needs to improve so that the organization can be more fruitful what changes would you implement in the current leadership structure of our Miami Beach government and what change should and and what changes should that um should that yield within a year or two yeah okay well as I look as I look from the outside at our at our organization there there's a couple of a couple of challenges first let me talk about my Approach my Approach is to give everyone in the organization a fair chance and and I go in assuming that they are high quality professionals I certainly got that feeling from from meeting with the acting City man city manager and the rest of her team on Monday dedicated professionals that are committed to uh committed to the city and to to doing right by our community that being said um one has to one one has to uh work and evaluate uh the team on on on the Fly the other aspect is there there are lots of uh vacancies that are that are in place and we cannot expect an organization to function at full speed with a sense of urgency if we're asking people to to to focus and wear too many hats and and be overwhelmed in what they're doing so so I would say that that in the short term one of the focuses is is hiring and that of course brings its own challenges because you know it it it's we we are an expensive place to live a lot of people live away from the the beach and have to commute so there are there are challenges in that so I I'd say Priority One is is making sure that our organization chart is is filled with the people we need but as we go forward the other important job that I would have is to look at efficiencies and make sure that we have the right people in the right departments um so looking at looking at total numbers so it's not just about adding people it's about making sure that we have the right people um and and the right number of people in in each departments because as I say we can't expect um excellence in a in a in a team that's that has too much work for the size of the of the of the teamk any structural changes is well I think I think I I I've always found that there is room for improvement I've always found that there are room for structural changes I don't think that today standing here I have any any recommendations for structural changes but what I would be on the lookout for is as I look at that or chart and talk to everyone try to establish an environment where they can honestly raise their hand and say I'm good but you know maybe I could live with with with with with a with a smaller team you know so so I would I would say I I don't have any particular structural changes I would make day one but I I but as we look forward in the future if we put ourselves two years from now I would I would probably venture to say that there would be some some structural changes improvements to to the organization chart where where people know what they're doing people have the resources uh to do the job that each department has and the teams under them and and that they feel a a sense of responsibility and accountability both to to the office and to the community at large thank you commissioner schars thank you um what will we do to incentivize better economic growth well I mean there's there's a number of number of things that that we can do I mean it depends on where you want to where that where you want that growth to come from right I mean but if we if we're looking at some of the some of the drivers um across the street we have the convention center um we have a hotel coming up being built which will allow the city to get more and more conventions and better quality conventions so that that will be an economic driver for sure um but but in a in a broader sense of looking towards attracting attracting businesses um that that has that's part of more of a longer term ma Master vision of what we want to be and where we want to go thank you our next uh is commissioner magazine I agree with you our heart of hearts like to think we're the best city in the world but I know I don't dedicate so much of my time because everything is great so to put you on the spot you look around our city we could talk all day about what we get right but what do we get wrong what can we fix what can you look around our city and say you know what I can do this better than the last person or people that were in here well I think we we have to divide excuse me divide up up in the in the the long-term and the shortterm view but let's focus in on the short-term view what what what we could do better I think we need more more attention to detail we need we need to be able to walk around the city and being able to guarantee that that's our city is very clean that that that that our our news dispensers are are not in the wrong place on the sidewalk and not full of graffiti um that uh um so so my so my my response is that in the short term it's it's about the detail that that we all have a spirit that we do not accept uh dirty sidewalks we do not accept uh graffiti we do not accept uh things in poor State poor state of Maintenance you know so I would say that in the delivery of those basic fundamentals I think that we could do we can do a better job the other the other Pro problems that we have as a city are more of a long-term nature you know the Improvement the Improvement of traffic figuring out where we want to go as a as a city in terms of of our defining our future for economic development 5 10 15 years out that's that's more long term but in the short term I would focus everyone on on the details of making ourselves the safest and the cleanest city thank you our next uh is vice mayor Dominguez and for we have three minutes before we hit 30 okay uh so in Mii Beach we have uh six Commissioners and a mayor each with one vote how will you manage reporting to seven people yeah well well I think first of all I I think that it's it's a strength that the Commissioners are selected on a on a Citywide basis and and and you're not as Commissioners in your in your silos representing North Beach mid Beach South Beach or wherever so I think I think that's a that's a strength there's one one pretty straightforward way uh and that is that is a frequent and routine meetings with each commissioner because as Commissioners you also serve a very very key function as elected officials you know a lot of a lot of our our citizens our fellow members of the community will look to you you know they' they've created Rel relationships with you of trust with all of you and they will come to you first with their concerns so it's it's part of the of the uh of the environment of where we get community ideas so so my my way of working would be to meet frequently with each one of you to to understand your priorities and the people that that come to you with their concerns thank you commissioner bot and we're now at 1 minute 38 as part of your preparation for this um job interview process I'm sure you watched a number of uh City commission meetings um maybe even going back before this this group was elected what would you change about our process if you could how would you define and then handle inappropriate exchanges between electeds among themselves um with staff or with residents okay so first observation is that uh from a from a a meeting perspective sometimes the agendas can be very very very long and it is hard for it's tough on you Commissioners and it's tough on the community to be able to focus on on on a bombardment of different issues because I think a lot a lot of a lot of us are interested in in a little bit of everything we're interested we did we have we may have one specific topic but we may we may be uh uh so I would say those those those meetings are are the meetings could be the agendas could be a little shorter and your other part of your question chrisher was um uh what would you change um how would you define and then handle inappropriate exchanges between electeds among themselves with staff and with residents y i I would do that uh strictly on a one to one gently and kindly suggest that they're uh if they're if they if things get too hot and their demeanor uh gets too argumentative that they that they uh try to moderate because it'll allow for better discourse and and also I would uh make an emphasis on the decorum from this side as well you know I i' I you know passions run run strong on lots of issues and I would suggest that we try to maintain Free Speech but we keep an eye out for hate speech and we and we keep an eye out for for language justce insulting and and dehumanizing amongst ourselves so that's how I would deal with the commissioner thank you may I give a two-minute grace period for the last question since it's my question sure is that so I would have done it for all of you uh thank you again to my colleagues great questions and thank you uh for being here so Miami Beach is a global international City but we also have a small town feel to it we all we all connect with our residents uh sometimes on a neighborhood basis on a one-on-one basis how would you connect with the residents of Miami Beach uh to understand and address the issues and and improve our quality of life yeah I think that that's one of the things that I that I commend you and and all of you uh in in your in your reaching out and working with Community with the community whether they're groups or individuals and I would do exactly the same thing I think there's uh you you get what you inspect and not what you expect you know you you have to go out and talk to people and get an an unfiltered View and as you talk to different people around the around the city of different uh ages and different uh religions and different perspectives on life you're you're going to start accumulating a list and a better feeling of what the key concerns are I mean we've done our surveys we know you know safety and quality of life but but by engaging with with the community that that's where you really get feel the pulse and if I'm city manager that would be my commitment to go out and talk to to each and every group that invites me to come to speak because it's it's it's a golden opportunity that you can you cannot let go you know you must you must listen because there's a richness of opinion uh and a and a and a and a cultural diversity richness that that few cities in the world have like we have so thank you thank you for being here you're Miami Beach resident so you you you you live and understand the issues but I also can tell you've done your homework so thank you for uh for your due diligence you're very welcome thank you all you thank you Kayla can you escort mayor the next candidate is Eric Carpenter uh he's the deputy city manager of the city of Miami Beach Florida good morning good morning please state your name that's we're gonna work on that during the summer break well Miami Beach Eric Carpenter Deputy city manager City of Miami Beach thank you thank you Eric and thank you for putting your hat in the ring it's it's not easy um I'm staying this to all the candidates uh being in the public eye is can be challenging at time but it's also I think I can I'm speaking for all of us it's literally one of the most rewarding things you can you can do with your life and your time so thank you for that just to you probably know the process but it's 30 minutes per candidate if we go over a minute or so I'm not we won't shut it down uh each of us are going to get a question it's going to be done randomly by the city clerk so I don't know the order um so but try to keep in mind the 30 minutes when you're answering the questions so we're going to go through two rounds two questions for each of us thank you okay this round commissioner Suarez good morning Eric if you could change one thing about the city of Miami Beach what would it be so if I could change one thing about the city of Miami Beach it would probably be that we would spend more time forward looking on issues that we haven't dealt with yet and a little less time retiga issues that have already been before us and have been voted on and that we're moving forward in a specific Direction that's not specific to anything that happens frequently um you know we are we are constantly evolving and we're constantly learning from things that we've done before uh and so we do get better with each iteration of projects or programs or or uh incentives but the challenge that we do have is that we spend a lot of resources on um researching and re-evaluating things that are already in the process thank you commissioner magazine um thank you AR tell me about Miami Beach 2035 speaking of forward-looking uh what key featur do we keep what does economic development look like what does preservation look like uh what is resiliency when we have a billion to unfunded uh look like tell me about what Miami Beach 2035 is so Miami Beach 2035 is a very Dynamic and interesting City that in some ways looks very much the way it does today uh one of the things that makes Miami Beach so special is our historic preservation I mean there are Seaside towns up and down the coast of Florida and other states and so what really makes us unique and special is the way that we've been able to blend keeping our history which is important but also evolving and creating opportunities for you know diversification of the economy um more residential stock within the community um you know the historic districts serve as naturally occurring affordable housing um and so we need to figure out how to blend the two together to move forward with the things that we know on the infrastructure side I mean seas are rising that's a fact there's no two ways about that so we need to figure out how to do it so that we're incorporating not just 20 years or 50 years but a 100 years from now how can we be in the place that we want to be 100 years ago when they were building this island out of the mangrove swamps they had no idea that we were going to have you know 50 billion dollars worth of real estate value built on this island um and so yes it's a billion dollars worth of infrastructure that we have to spend but it's spending a billion dollars to save $50 billion in real estate that's a great return on investment from my perspective um we've built infrastructure projects that we know work we know how to deal with sea level r we know how to deal with storm surge we know how to deal with you know whether it's the Dune system for storm surge or the combination of you know pumps and roadway elevation for sea level rise and and storm water issues obviously we've got water and sewer challenges that we have to overcome but all of that can be done and we've proven it with some of the projects that we've already put in place commissioner Fernandez thank you Eric and thank you for applying for offering to our city your wealth of institutional knowledge up to the service of its residents and taxpayers um earlier I was asking about uh how how you would evaluate uh the city's uh top administrators but I want to focus more specifically on the part of this uh question that speaks about promoting a culture of proactive rather than reactive problem solving and I'm sure this question is no surprise to you because you know how passionate I feel about that um so please uh be as specific as P how do we promote that culture to be proactive rather than reactive so I think it really starts with identifying what are the core goals and values of the elected body of the city I think that we need to do some strategic planning to be able to make sure that we're all coalescing over a vision of what the city looks like over the next 5 to 10 years and then we need to be doing organizational development to roll that down to every person within the organization so that they understand what our core goals and values are so that when they walk by whether their job is to pick up litter or not when they walk by a cigarette butt on the street they should bend down and pick it up I do it when I walk around the city my expectation is that everyone else should do it as well um and I think that that really just comes from communicating what's important to us you know it's safe and clean we want to be a safe City and we want to be a clean city um we have a lot of other services that are also important but I think our core values are really safe and clean thank you commissioner vice mayor Dominguez hi Eric good morning what will your first 30 days look like a city manager so my first 30 days are really going to be focused on um steadying the organization sending a message that we are um we are a solid City and we are going to get the best and the brightest to either be promoted into positions that are available or we are going to go find people to fill those positions because right now we have way too many openings in key positions throughout the city that's going to be my focus the other Focus I'm going to have is is um reintroducing myself to the community um in my new role I would be reaching out to stakeholders across all districts of the community and seeing you know what is it that they see as the most critical pieces of the puzzle um and then the third thing that I would do is I would be meeting with the Departments one on one to make sure that I understand what their needs are even more so than I do today so that I can help them start to coales about what success looks like for each of their individual roles and how that role how that role fits into the bigger picture of the city thank you commissioner bot good morning Eric good morning um echoing colleagues comments already but thank you for subjecting yourself to this process um my pleasure as you know Miami Beach is in a constant tug of war between residents needs and tourist demands development and preservation which you've alluded to increased density um and the need for affordable housing versus failing roads and traffic issues how would you approach balancing those demands and what are your priorities on each so my priorities are really to deliver worldclass services to everyone in every realm of those areas of expectation um we need to make sure that we're preserving our history uh we also need to be making sure that we have opportunities to provide additional uh housing at different levels in the Spectrum so you know recently in the last 10 years we've been getting most of the new housing all at a price point that nobody who lives here in the city of Miami Beach can afford and and that's been Market driven and I'm not trying to um you know control the market but I think that we do need to intercede in some areas to create some housing stock that may not be at that ultra high price point uh we also have to be making sure that the infrastructure the backbone of the city our water our sewer our storm water systems are as robust as they can possibly be we have systems in place right now that we've identified our critical needs thank you all for being committed to funding those infrastructure improvements and we are moving forward with $85 million worth of water and sewer critical needs uh you've already seen some of the construction activities on 41st Street on the Venetian Islands um we are getting things done so that we don't look like um other cities that I won't name in the area that have had major issues where you know they are front and center on the news for not so good things uh we certainly don't want to find oursel in that category and some of the things you know even nobody probably realizes but the 54in Redundant Force man that we built here in 2015 is the only reason that we didn't end up on the front page of the news when somebody drilled through our existing 48 inch line on Fifth Street um and that happened about three years ago maybe actually probably four years ago now um but because we had that redundant Force man and we were able to change the flow went off without a hitch um and those are the kind of things that we need to be proactive about and we need to make sure that we keep investing in infrastructure so that we can be the city that nobody hears about infrastructure problems commissioner Rosen Gonzalez hi Eric hi morning so many times up here we find ourselves legislating gum removal or pressure cleaning and these are things that should just happen within the government we shouldn't necessarily be creating policies surrounding this you've been here for a long time you're the head of Public Works I've known you for for you know close to a decade when you look at our organization and the inefficiencies that we have what structure Ral changes would you make and why so as far as structural changes I think there are there are a few pieces of of information that need to fit together um and I think that my predecessor did a great job of um of putting together the neighborhood Affairs division so that there was a group in the city manager's office that was was cutting across silos and talking to people outside in the community but also communicating back to those individual departments what are the critical needs in each of those different communities um and we need to do more of that uh one of the things that we're you know in the process of trying to fill is the the permit coordinator position which again will reside within the neighborhood Affairs division um and will service the uh community that is struggling with building permits we'll give them one point of contact to come to when they get stuck um we're trying to streamline our processes and those will be um things that we get better on but we have to challenge each and every group in the city to be the best version of themselves and I think that's back to the comment about strategic goals and objectives working that into evaluation so that people's you know evaluations on a yearly basis and their Merit increases are tied into what success looks like and everyone has a vested interest in rowing the boat in the same direction mayor Miner thank you again Eric um you and I have spent hours talking about Law and Order Public Safety and we're a safe City but my vision our Collective vision is we want want to be the safest city in the United States how do we get there so I think it's a lot of things that you as a commission are already doing um it's funding our police to make sure that they have all the resources that they need to be successful um it's about helping them understand what is most important to the community um because you as the elected officials hear from the community and perception is reality you know the stats tell a story that we are a safe City absolutely but we also want to make sure that our community feels safe when they're walking the streets we want them to feel safe when they go to every corner of our city there shouldn't be anywhere that people walk down the street and they don't feel safe and so it's a communication to the police department and helping them to understand how the perception might be Divergent from reality and how we can help address the perception issue as well as getting the bad guys which I think our team here at Miami Beach is unparalleled we do an amazing job of whenever there's a crime committed we have people under arrest and in jail within 24 hours 95% of the time um and they get the other 5% shortly thereafter so they are amazing in that regard we need to continue continue to do that but we also need to address the perception concerns thank you it's the end of the first round of questions 1530 commissioner Suarez is that a recognition of your time management Eric what will you do to better incentivize economic grow growth in Miami Beach so I think what we need to do um and I think Raquel did an excellent job of this when she created the incentivization program for businesses to move to the city um we need to identify what are our Target verticals where who do we want to be attracting to the city do we want to be in the education Arena do we want to be in um you know med tech do we want to be in finance um and how do we get more of those companies to look at Miami Beach and decide that they want to move their business here we're right now at a at a point in time where there are a lot of companies that are leaving some of the other major metropolitan areas and we just need to continue to show them why we're attractive why we have all the things that they're looking for you know we have great opportunities for living at the CEO level we have great entertainment options we have an educated Workforce we need to show them that we have affordable housing that's another piece of it I think that we have to really focus and and maybe it's not under the textbook definition of affordable but it's attainable housing it's housing for the workforce that they're going to want to bring because if if they have a a group of individuals that may not be able to afford the median household in Miami Beach it's going to be a negative and and it's going to be something that puts us behind other areas that might be more attainable commissioner magazine thank you again Eric um it's great to talk about all the things that Miami Beach uh gets right and we could sit here all day that's why we all live here work here what do we get wrong what what can you tell us where you're saying yes I have my institutional knowledge we've gotten to this point but this is what I'm going to do to ensure we don't maintain the status quo because we've come up short in this area so rather than maybe talk about the future let me talk a little bit about the past when I first got to the city of Miami Beach um I think we had bankrupt and put out of business the last five or eight contractors that have done any major work work within the city um we have a challenging environment to do construction in uh all of the worst possible conditions that you can think of to do construction High population density no staging area high groundwater table poor soil conditions um traffic um you know no close by resources all of your materials are going to have to come in from a long distance all of these things are challenging and so I think what we need to do is we need to show contractors that we are a city that wants to do business with them and that we're going to do a lot of business and they should be pricing their work aggressively and we're going to get out of their way and let them do their work um we have a tendency to micromanage our contractors um and it leaves us in a situation where many contractors don't want to come back to Miami Beach I've seen over and over again where we have a contractor that bids three or four jobs all at the same time and they get two of them or three of them and they do those three jobs and then they're like I'm done we need to figure out how we can be more user friendly um and get the best and the brightest contractors in here competing so that we're getting the best value for the money spent for our constituents commissioner Fernandez thank you um as I was mentioning earlier there is a strong Focus as you clearly know uh in our city on public safety and with the focus on Public Safety there's a direct Nexus uh with quality of of Life issues um you know talk to us a little bit about your vision for handling uh our high-profile events the influx of large amounts of crowds into our city uh and as well the handling of homeless issues wow that's that's a that's a little bit more challenging um so obviously we are a worldclass city and part of the reason that we are a worldclass city is because we hold world class events and we have a big fooot print and a Big Brand um obviously we need to uh understand and respect the Partnerships that we've built over time with a lot of those events I think we can be a little bit more selective with future events that we partner with because we are such a big brand that we bring value to them just like they bring value to us um we obviously need need to make sure when we're bringing large volumes of people into the city that we're not um diminishing the quality of life for the people that are our residents and our primary focus and are here with us every day uh so we have to figure out how to make that work collaboratively um and and some of that is what drives us to have to have the size police force that we have despite we're you know only a community of you know 89,000 um so I think it's really a function of leveraging our regional Partners when we can to help us with some of these high-profile events um and it's having the police resources to not just deal with the events but also deal with the day-to-day quality of life issues um you know homelessness is a problem throughout the country it's a problem here in Miami Beach it's a it's a real challenging problem because we want to be compassionate but we also want to be um very fair when we're dealing with the residents impacts along with the people that are experiencing homelessness um and so we need to to set some very clear ground rules as to what's acceptable and what's not acceptable here in Miami Beach and then we need to enforce them vice mayor Dominguez you know this one already from having worked in the city but uh we have a mayor and six Commissioners how will you manage reporting to seven people um very carefully uh no I I work for all of you and all of you have one vote and all of you need to be kept in the loop on information you need to be you know the focus of the organization you know the organization has services that we need to provide but we need to provide them in a manner that's consistent with the vision and values of the elected body of this city you set the policy Direction and we follow it um and so it's very important to me that or whoever you select um to be the next city manager that they're a unifying force and that they help all of you um work together to set a vision of this city that then all 2600 employees can work towards because I do believe that we have an amazing Workforce that wants to do what you want them to do they just don't always understand what that is and so we need to collectively set our goals and values and then work towards it commissioner bot um I know that you have followed a lot of commission meetings over the last number of years that you've been here um what we You' change about our process if you could and how would you define and then handle in appropriate exchanges between electeds amongst themselves or with staff or with residents so I guess this is this is my third or fourth change over in commissions um and and there's always a learning curve and so it it there's there's a process that you have to go through um and it's just helping people get through that learning curve as quickly as possible because I do think that you you all see things a lot more similarly than it may always come across um obviously we always rather praise in public and and criticize in private but that can't always be the case so you know as long as we can find a way to keep it professional and constructive that's my goal um and it really comes down to uh can I or anybody necessarily affect that when you're the bosses and we're the um the people that report to you commissioner Rosen Gonzalez hi Eric my initial question was um what experience do you have with labor union negotiations which I know you do um so I'm going to phrase a little bit differently one of my large biggest concerns is our unfunded pension liability um and the fact that if we happen to have some sort of economic downturn we would be in a precarious financial situation in so I have two questions in the past while you've been um in these labor negotiations can you tell us about something that you're really a concession that you're really proud of that you got and moving forward how do you plan to address this so that we you know so that the city is not put in any um dangerous financial position because of Labor concessions so um we're actually going to talk about this in another hour or two but um you know we are in labor negotiations right now and um we have we have gotten some uh I think very good concessions on management right side I think it's important to be able to um you know obviously hear all the concerns of the collective bargaining units but within the confines of those concerns still make them fit with the financial needs of the city um and we need to empower our department heads to be able to make decisions based on what's in the best interest of the city while still respecting the members of the bargaining units um you know we'll talk about things like me too Clauses or um you know opportunities to not um have unscheduled leave that causes overtime overruns in some of the department budgets uh that I think we've gotten consessions on um but I think more importantly than any of that is telling the folks in the bargaining units why it's important that we're all working towards the same goal because as somebody who sat on the fire and police pension board for the last four years um if that pension liability gets out of control we're going to have some really hard conversations about what pension looks like in the future and that's not anybody's best interest um we need to control it now we need to make decisions that are going to help us down the road and you know stick to those decisions and I think that we've done a good job of that over the last 10 years we're in a very difficult time right now because we're seeing such huge inflation um and there are significant cost of living issues in the community that everybody's experiencing and so we have to figure out how to provide for the workforce so that their and their productivity continues to be strong but still keep that within the confines of the financial resources of the city and I hope that answered both questions mayor Miner good time management thank you again Eric and thank you to my colleagues uh for the quality uh of questions so we're a legislative body but I know myself and all my colleagues spend a tremendous amount of time and our energy in connecting with our residents responding to emails going to community meetings um to deal with the quality of life issues not only Citywide neighborhood by neighborhood but sometimes literally Street by Street house by House Condo by condo how would you work on connecting with those residents many residents know us they know our names they may not know the city manager how would you interact with residents and better address the quality of life life issues that uh we're looking to improve so I I'll start by saying I think the presidents of almost all the homeowners associations have my cell phone so that's that's one way to start um and obviously I mentioned before what I would do in my first 30 days it would be reintroducing myself to the community uh I do have the benefit of having uh quite a few relationships and and people who already know me um I think most of not all of them that you would talk to would say that they've dealt with me and that they trust me and that I respond I may not always tell them exactly what they want to hear but I will always give them an honest answer and a timely answer and I think that that is the commitment that is most important because the community needs to know you know similar to what I said about the collective bargaining unit the the community needs to know the why you know there are a lot of decisions that we make on a daily basis as a municipal government um that may not be intuitive to the the lay person we need to be able to explain the why we're doing things and and help them to understand that it's not just an arbitrary decision there is a greater good that we're always working towards um and I think that when we educate people it is to everyone 's benefit because I think that they understand our challenges and we understand their challenges and together we can find the best possible solutions thank you Eric thank you for your time if I could just just one example of um and you know like all negotiations not everybody walked away from it getting everything that they wanted but I was heavily involved in the discussion around the gates on Normandy Shores and that was an issue that was going on 20 years and I am glad to say that after resolving that in 2020 we've not heard any complaints about the gates and the access to the gates on Normandy Shores um so I consider that one of my um most rewarding successes even though most people don't know about it that was a feud that had gone on for 20 years that we were able to resolve thank you for reminding me of those of those meetings yes uh good good fond memories and thank you for your work on that thank you for your roughly 10 years of service to Miami Beach my pleasure I've enjoyed every moment of it Eric you're going to be escorted back unless the mayor and Commissioners have anything else thank you thank you for your time thank you mayor we're bringing over the third uh the third candidate it is Tariq Rani he's the deputy city manager city of Carson California Tariq thank you honorable May how are you and thank you for coming all the way from uh California to Miami Beach welcome thank you so much I hope we've uh treated you well with open arms and Hospitality I'm very appreciative I think uh you've guys taken care of us and it's an honor to be here today thank you so I think you probably know how the process is going to go but just in case um you'll have about 30 you'll have 30 minutes we won't cut you off as this is a minute over uh we're each going to ask uh two questions we're going to start with one question each and go down the row our city clerk is going to pick one of us to start randomly I don't know the order uh so just keep in mind the 30 minutes though because you're going to have a total of about 14 questions sounds good okay thank you thank you everyone commissioner Fernandez thank you welcome Tariq um you know we are uh a large organization um and we have uh a a strong uh senior leadership team if hired how will you evaluate City departments and top administrators and more specifically talk to me a little bit on how you would promote a culture of proactive rather than reactive problem solving thank you commissioner Fernandez this is a really great question I think uh as they say you never get a second chance to make a first impression so I think u u our meeting as a candidate with the executive team even though it was short but we got a sense of the type of executive team you already have uh I've got a sense that you have uh multiple staff who stepped in to fill the void and they're do an incredible job they wearing multiple hats um uh and there is always the question about uh when you come in as a city manager the resume is one thing but you as a person is a different thing and I consider myself generally interested first on people before we get into the details about competencies it's really probably not fair for any person to take two three weeks to assess whether a person is successful or not so you have to be able to use qualitative information as well as quantitative information and you have to combine the two to make those decisions um I think I have shared with uh with all of you my thinking through uh what would be a 90 days process as a city manager uh the number one thing I went to is the orc chart that you have now as you're getting ready to adopt the budget in September and there is a level of inim position so the first role will be for any city manager is to evaluate the how the inim positions fared out in terms of output that that would be my number one priority as well and um quite honestly I think you will have member of Staff who are really interested and continuing at the position and you have some staff who are really not interested they really want to go back to their former position uh we will take all these uh uh aspect in consideration um as a city manager and I think we collectively need to keep the constitu the institutional knowledge that the city needs and um for the position that are been um enough qualitative and quantitative information that the person has succeeded at enrum role and they have the chance to be promoted I'll be their Advocate I'll be the number one person to make sure that the city of Miami Beach continues to get the results from these individuals uh and I'm going to take all responsibility for that decision whether it fares out or not it stops with me and when the position is fully vacant we are going to be aggressive as a city of Miami Miami Beach to trct Talent um I do not believe in traditional uh government hiring really we have to make phone calls and we have to make sure that we reach out to these individuals that we think will be the next individuals to make the city of Miami Beach the city that should be and the city that it is uh we will make sure that we also do a a great job marketing what the city of Miami Beach offers in term of benefits in terms of things that uh really make City of Miami Beach is a top city in in probably in the nation so all this information would be for me as a guiding principle um and again all the decisions uh will be uh at the executive team level but again I will be held responsible for all those decision whether they worked out or not commissioner Suarez I TQ if you could change one thing about the city of Miami Beach what would it be that's really great question I think number one is the building the bridge with the community I think as a city manager it's essential to know how the City Works I think all the candidates you have interviewed they know exactly the intersects of how government works how department works how the state and local government and how the legal aspect of it works I think the Miami Beach really deserve a city manager that's going to care as much about them as you care about the internal organization and you're willing to go and out put yourself out there to all type of Resident all type of businesses all type of communities and know the community you serve I believe that if you don't know the community you serve you may not be able to provide the level of service that they require and they expect from you so uh and again all of that goes under the direction of the city commissions and the mayor of course uh I think it would be high priority number one and that's basically a branding image of the city hall we have to make the city hall not a blackbox that's not known local government nationally like we do a lot of great work but we do not do great work of including the public and knowing how we do work and how things are it will be my most priority to make sure that I'm connected to the community that I serve and that their concerns I'm aware of them and I know I walk the street they live in I go to the shops they go to I live those constraint they go through for me to make sure that I have enough information to take the priorities and take the essential step to fix them with my team at the city hall commissioner Rosen Gonzalez so Tre you have um extensive experience in government when you look at our organization and I know you just said that you think we need to do a better job of our image and the relationship with the public and Miami Beach which I actually agree with because there is a lot of skepticism surrounding the government um when you look at how our city is being run right now compared to how you would run it what are what is what what are some structural changes that you might make um I think number one uh uh Dr gonzas is that uh you are as good as your team so changing the image will require really working hard on changing the culture of the city of Miami Beach not to say that the city of Miami Beach the city hall is not I met with your staff you have excellent staff I think they're dedicated they're smart they want to do I believe like you mentioned in my resume I worked with multiple cities whether in Seattle or in LA and I find that there is this component to fear sometimes in staff and they want to do more but they don't know if they can they want to reach out but they don't know if there's any legality of things the policies Etc as an chief executive I am really against status quo and I say that even folks who work with me now who probably are watching this in LA but uh I like to have my staff have confidence I'm as good as a city manager if my staff channel that same energy and same confidence and making sure that we educate them and we train them to make sure that they are formidable about what they do it's one thing to know your job it's another thing to explain your job to the constituents to make great presentations to make sure that these policies are not holding you back and we're all on the same page in term of this HR policies legal policies Financial policies we need to give that confidence back to our staff and our staff will become our ambassadors to this city uh when you do that and again I'll go back as a city manager or an executive I will be held accountable for all of it whether it works or not it's not on my staff I want the staff to be successful I want them to shine and when you have your staff at that level of confidence and competency they can be your ambassadors at the community they're the one who are going to go out there it's almost like a team sports they believe in the team they winning and they want their team to win and if the if the community gets what they want and we're going to start doing things that are new it's not just doing things that we do all the time and we have to experience some sort of reimagining our brand with our community together to see what is that brand is going to be so to answer your question we can do all of that but we can only do it if we give that competency and confidence and happiness back to staff commissioner bot hello drq thank you for throwing your hat in the ring this is an onerous process and doing it in public makes it even more fun so um I appreciate what you're doing um we are in a as a city we are in a constant tug-of war between the residents needs and the tourist demands between development and preservation between increased density and affordable housing versus failing roads and other infrastructure how would you approach balancing these demands and what are your priorities for each thank you commissioner B I think that's the the million dooll question for every city government across the country and especially for the City of Miami Beach that's what makes City of Miami Beach uh an attractive City and international City my answer to that is basically you can't really achieve affordable results and exceed or meet your resident expectation by using the same policies and the same tools we have now because it is evident that it's not moving us at the speed and also the accomplishment we want and that's studied across uh universities across research that there is a need of innovation and Innovation is really not buying a piece of software that's going to improve your procurement or other things innovation in terms of policy innovation in terms of leadership an innovation of rethinking what government really should be to serve the constituents you serve so for me my formula to that is one compassion I mean as a leader you have to come in and realize that you have to do some listening and you have to listen to your staff to your team to to read between the lines because the institutional knowledge is important to understand how things are and how things uh the things that we good at the things that we're not good at uh the number two is basically analytics I think I'm I'm an economist by profession I'm not an accountant I'm not a planner I'm an econ om IST and that's how I entered the realm of local government the reason with that I was trained to know that I have to use like I mentioned at the beginning qualitative and quantitative information there is a saying that you can't manage something if you can't measure it so everything we do is measurable sometimes it takes the person to know how to measure those processes we do uh the second part is as a leader when you have a plan is it really enough to have a plan in my opinion is not I think you have to be able to explain that plan to your staff they have to see the light at the end of the tunnel they need to understand what is it you're really following you to what is that destination looks like and how are we going to do work again and it doesn't mean that you're explaining that you're going to change radical things at the city I think you just have to change the approach the mentality how you think how we take risks as staff how we hold each other accountable and number four on I'm an advocate of when policies are are adopted at this Das this is our marching holders at the city so I'm very decisive actions I hold myself and my staff accountable to those decision that are made at this Di and I have to come back to the to the commission and to the mayor to tell you where we at an example I think you have an item today about the parking changes for example and it's a pilot program for one year you assessed your cost I think you said about 240,000 to kind of monitor this the pilot program but you also in one year we have to come back and see how did it fair out not only for our res but also for the businesses we have to come back within a year and give you the information that this that makes you decide whether this stays permanent or maybe we should rethink the program I'm that type of executive I I really feel comfortable diving into all aspect of government and I I do my homework I really do I'm not going to come in I'm prepared that's one one thing you will take from me there thank you for your comprehensive I just want to let you know you're you're averaging over three minutes per answer and with 14 question yeah I just want to be fair all the candidates were sticking well I mean we can go a couple minutes over but but thank commissioner magazine thank you Tariq and uh thank you for your interest in Miami Beach City we all of um tell me about Miami Beach 2035 uh maybe in particular with your focus on economic development uh what our Economic Development specifically looks like uh tell me about how we uh facilitate preservation and fund some of these uh large unfunded capital projects increase walkability I'll leave it to you but tell me what Miami beachs 2035 looks like uh thank you uh commission magazine uh Miami 2035 will be uh the number one city in in government in the United States uh and we will have things to show for it not only by the infrastructure projects and the speed of things we're going to be doing and the things that the the world will see that we're implementing whether at the environmental sustainability level with the sea level rising the infrastructure needs we need uh to sustain how the world is changing and climate change we're also going to show the world that the city of Miami Beach is the city that was able to make the local government an example for wide to follow the place where the community and the commission and the City Hall are working together to solve the problems and make the life of our citizens and also our resident to be the best uh we I'm I'm imagining that the City MI should be a benchmark for the whole world to see and I think the world is watching how we're going to handle this Mega project we have and all these climate challenges we have uh my vision is that I will with my team and with the commission will create a a transparent and a feasible succession planning that we are a city that everybody wants to work for and we are the city that is known of culminating talent and keeping Talent uh I my imagination for the City of Miami Beach is going to lead the world in uh in in Economic Development we're going to solve the problems of traffic we are going to start first and foremost with the cleanness and the homelessness issues because to be honest nothing else will matter if we don't solve that problem first if we don't really take radical Innovative and first kind of policies to solve that issue of the in-house population and we are going to lead everybody in the south Florida and Florida whether it's the county the state and everyone else and they will take us seriously and they will see that what we say we do and all these fundings and grants that we spend them on time and we stay on project on time West mayor Dominguez good morning thank you what were your first 30 days as city manager look like yes that's a really good question I thought about it the last month if I'm picked as a city manager what I do I think number one for me is uh I will get together with my staff all staff I want to introduce myself to them I want them to see who I am who my family is why I choose Miami Beach I think the second second will be to make sure that my 101 with the city C commissions and mayor are established and they are fixed and we have established a way to know how we work together U and take the time to understand your style and hopefully you will teach me a few things that you makes the meetings go fruitful uh the number three is I will meet with my team on a regular basis I will take seriously all the challenges that every Department is going through and I'm going to work really hard to make sure that they have the resources and the support they need and I'm not going to forget the fact that I'm also need to introduce myself to the community and I want them to know who I am and why they think I should be the the the the person that works with them to take City of Miami Beach forward uh I will follow your lead on that as well because I think you know you're the community way better than me and you know who the leading person I need to meet with and the organization I need to meet with and I make sure that's part of my 30 days as a city manager City of Miami Beach mayor Miner thank you again TQ you kind of alluded to it in your prior answer and we discussed it yesterday police visibility homelessness top priorities for our residents how do you get us there how do you how do you elevate and again we're a safe City but how do you elevate us to the next level we become the safest city in the United States uh it's going to really be a close Rel relationship between the the mayor the commission and myself and and and our new uh police chief Wayne Uh number one is we uh going to make sure that our policies are enforced uh at the city level uh I think it will be uh like I mentioned I think that should be my priority number one to find a and to stay consistent on tackling the issue of homelessness as well as Public Safety uh I'm a d driven person I think uh I have I have seen all cities what they've done with the nous and there is not one solution that's going to fit all enforcement is part of it but we also have to tackle the root cause of what makes the enous come into our city and we have to push hard not only what the city can do hold every other agency around us accountable I think it's about time right now it's the Nationwide that the city the county the state we need to have some sort of a system that track these individuals real time data that we can see where they at and how they're moving around or where they come I think the problem that we have is that we don't connect with each other our police officers I'm sure they doing their best but how do we make sure that we're all connected as government agencies and we have to push for that as a city and I'm going to push for that as well to make sure that there is a real time report about all these individuals what they go they come I'm I'm very sorry to say that I saw that video for example what happened uh in in Miami but that to that lady and it really touched me that could be avoidable I think we should not let that happen in the city of Miami Beach and that will be my priority to make sure that everyone is safe and these decisive actions as a city manager will be my priority to deal with the anous thank you we're GNA go to the second round of questions commissioner Fernandez thank you and I'm sorry we're at 10 minutes just so you know thank you um and so let me just uh piggy back a little bit on the subject of Public Safety uh because if you ask uh probably any one of us we'll probably tell you Public Safety is is our top priority uh and there's a Nexus between Public Safety and quality of life issues uh so so you know tell me a little bit more you know a little bit more detail about about what has been your direct experience on homeless issues and also on handling large profile events that tend to attract large amounts of crowds thank you commissioner Fernandez I'll start with the uh second part of the question if you don't mind um in city of Carson I think we we're home of the AL Galaxy and we have games every weekend and we have thousands of people coming to our city so it's our priority to make sure safety of our resident as well as our visitors is a priority number one uh we do push a lot of money into that public safety issue uh throughout every budget process it's the number one priority for us to see how much resource we go there and sometimes resources spent doesn't mean effectively holding the line in terms of did we Reeve results I'm a result oriented person as I mentioned I need to make sure that it's not only about allocating and pushing whether staff or whe they're pushing the police officers to give us real data I am more about returning investment how do we make sure that that that safety is number one how do we count for the homeless how do we track them and how do we make sure that there is some sort of data that shows the elected official that there is an accountability in terms of repeat offenders or things folks that they don't want to they've been provided help but they did not accept it uh we do also now U from what I came from is that Public Safety is priority number one uh we're expecting millions of people to come to Carson for the Olympics La 28 and it's a priority number one so I'm very familiar to be honest with you that the the the the the the solution here comes at this di but it really in a collective effort it has to be also including the nonprofit and other agencies that are also working on the inhouse population as well and other counties you're welcome the next one is commissioner Suarez but I'm going to go to commissioner Rosen Gonzalez oh s hi so can you tell me about can you tell us about your experience with uh labor negotiations and contracts and what you would do to help us remedy any pension liabilities that are unfunded in the future As you move forward or something that happened in a labor negotiation in the past that you thought was a great concession for your board uh thank you for that question I think uh my relationship uh with this subject is very intimidate I think I'm very fully aware of it I worked on it even as I was a chief financial officers I think it's part of the bigger question whether the the bargain agreements going to expire with their component from the financial aspect of the aspect what it helped me the most is the relationship I have with the Union presidents uh based on trust based on transparency and based on also what's good for our employees I believe unions play a huge role into making sure that our staff are getting what they need and the relationship between the union and the executive team is of Paramount importance I also think that we shouldn't be most cities sometimes they defer the fact of taking care of their staff to unions as an executive we should be taking off our staff as well I need to have their benefit in mind as much as the unions are I need to want what's good for them financially and qualitative life and work experience as the union and when we match that goal everything else becomes easy because we have the same common goal in mind the financials become just part of the process what can the city afford and how can we do that unfunded liabilities is a huge problem in in state of California you all heard about coppers I've been experienced of finding all Solutions how can we do that U uh the solutions for that uh I I had the opportunity also to work with my city of Carson to issue pension obligation bonds for example because uh it was the time in effect of it as well during the pandemic and the city was paying almost 7 to8 million a year for unfunded liabilities it goes up uh to tremendously every year so we had a choice we either continue that path or we fund it through a pension obligation Bond and make our payment for the next 30 years as of $5 million and we took that path and that cuts our budget constraint to2 to $3 million during the pandemic where nobody knew how the state of your revenues will be and that gave the council an opportunity to use that access for something else that the city needs commissioner Suarez and we're at 450 Tariq still good morning what will you do to incentivize better economic growth in Miami Beach a good question I think that approaching that same question Comm commissioner Fernandez in in in Carson uh my number priority for me was to make the city the the the most friendly business in the State uh everybody compete for that honor and I think I I will pursue it every year to make sure that we have the criteria that makes us the business friend City in the state not only the state but also the United States uh and number two to do that you cannot really achieve that without tackling other things like such as Public Safety Public Safety has an impact on everything we do uh attracting development attracting Talent keeping Talent Etc so uh there are certain things that I would be taking care of as a city manager if I am your city manager to make sure that we meet that attractive of Economic Development and then also sustainable and and um manageable Economic Development as well that's not going to trigger an impact on our issues such as traffic and housing Etc commissioner bot oh sorry I just took a bite of my breakfast I apologize as part of your preparation for this job you may have I'm sure you watch a few of the city commission meetings what would you change about the process if you could and how would you define and then handle any inappropriate exchanges between electeds among themselves or with staff or with residents I thank you for that question I I did uh also see Eric walking with a really huge uh file and I saw you guys also with that as well so that tells you that there are serious items that you guys are tackling and and they are importance I think what I will what I will say I'm I'm joking about that but in serious notes we're going to throw everything at that in terms of facilitating as your city executive officer prior meetings with staff to make sure that these items are not backlogged and when they come to the dice are ready for clarity so we're not going to come with items as your team that missing information uh for example you want to tackle an issue of policy but you had a question about grants and what the impact on it and something else we will be better prepared for those so the item won't spill over to the next meeting uh number two perhaps we can discuss as a group the use of Technology how can we use technology to make sure that you have access to this information not just the item but also supporting documents and exhibit in a format that helps you see the information the way you like it I think my one one with the with the commissions and the May will be essential of helping me get into a an agenda that is manageable an agenda that is productive and it's ready to be discussed and adopted at the day of the meeting commissioner magazine DQ thank you for this um it's great to talk about everything that we do so well uh we all believe we're a worldclass city it's why we live here dedicate so much time uh but what do we get wrong what what sell us about you know what this is great but I can do this better I don't think you're doing anything wrong I watched a lot of meetings I think this commission and the city has a compassion for what you see the future is we may disagree on things but there is a common denominator that everybody wants the city to be the best the safest the cleanest as well as the best for our kids I think what I will see is how can we uh be better at uh solving this problem collectively um actually for that reason I got myself a book which as I haven't started reading it which is friction fixer by Bob suon from Stanford University there's a lot of things that communities are needed there's a lot of things that we've done right but there's a lot of things that we we're taking too long to fix and the community is running and patient so you have to have a city manager that's is aware of that that is aware of what is that impact on the community able to speak to the community able to see how they feel and go back to the city management and channel that need so I think that's what I think that that probably will help moving things forward thank you uh vice mayor Dominguez is next mayor may I give a four minute grace sorry about that so Miami Beach has uh six Commissioners and one mayor each with one vote how will you navigate reporting Toc people I think I will navigate that by transparency uh collaboration and uh in terms of accountability and I when I talk about accountability it comes with me first how do I hold myself accountable to meet your needs and to meet your standards as a city manager that will be my priority number one and you all have expectations of who this person should be and what this person should deliver for your community so that would be my guiding principle on how I'm going to manage all these meetings and all the needs that you have my goal is to make sure that the relationship between you and your and your constituent is perfect meaning that we tackling these issues and I'm listening and we're providing the staff and the resources to tackle them and build the trust between the elected officials the city hall as well as the community that would be my priority number one mayor Miner thank you again Tariq and to my colleagues um Miami Beach is a great City we're a unique City in many ways but one of the things that makes us unique is that not only are we a global international City but we have a small town field to it you get to know the residents from throughout the city we're only seven miles how would you connect to the residents we all do that here how would you connect with the residents and make sure you know people first name basis know the neighborhood associations and even Beyond and connect with them to improve our quality of life I I I think I thank you honorable mayor for that question and I I think I alluded to it at the beginning uh of what I think me personally a city manager job has become it's an essential part of the job I think uh being able to connect with your community at all sorts of levels at the residents level business Community level and organizations that live and work in the city of Miami Beach uh I pride myself really in uh working on that aspect even at my current role where I came from uh I have built strong relationship with all constituents uh and I will say one thing I think it's not really fair for the elected officials for you guys to be getting calls about things you need to fix or you need to attend to your constituents that I'm not aware of so I think that for me it will tell me that I'm not doing enough if the call went to you and you know about it before I know about it I know these things happen but for me that's the priority number one when we build that trust and your city believe that they have a city manager that they can call and they will get things serious and there's no importance of what that item is what the issue is that would be my priority number one uh I want for the kids and the families in Miami is what I want for my family as well so I think that's going to drive me toward that I have a 9-year-old and and I know how impactful it is to have the safest city in the United States the city with the best parks in the United States and to have the city that has the best commutes the best housing affordability I know these are all people think they're not solvable I think I think there are solvable unsolvable problems and for me that's what drives me here really to fly from LA to here because I think my passion for public government started when I was a teacher first uh middle school and uh I did that for a year and a half when I saw the impact on the kids and their eyes when they learn something and they know you care about them that relationship made it for me probably the highlight of my career when you show up to their soccer games and they see you there and they say Mr ramani you're there I don't even I'm I'm from Iraq I don't play baseball I don't even know the rules but I will go and they see that when I see that connection everybody wins I want folks to say when we do things they go and say this is the moment that I felt the most proud to be a resident and a business owner or home owner of the May abuse that's what's going to be driving me as a city manager great I love baseball but I won't hold that against you okay good oh no thank you for putting your hat in the ring and and for coming here from LA and for your preparation which is really evident from from your answers thank you our next uh candidate is Jay wilverding he is a former County Administrator San hen County he is from Stockholm California e Jay welcome we have to get the mic on can you hear me now when I'm turning on my up there we go that was the first test passed Miner and and good morning Commissioners thank you for having me I appreciate being here thank you you are last but not least just to go over the process I think you know um you're going to have 30 minutes if you go over a minute or two we won't we won't hold it against you um there's going to be a series two questions from each each of us up here we're going to do one round and then we'll do a second round our city clerk is going to randomly select and go in that order uh but just keep in mind it's about 14 questions for 30 minutes okay and thank you again for get for being here and uh for putting yourself uh through this process thank you appreciate it thank you uh commissioner magazine Jay thank you so much uh for your interest in the city that we all love in your trip across the country uh tell me about Miami Beach 2035 what does it look like what what's our 10-year plan um what changes what does not in terms of Economic Development historic preservation uh capital and infrastructure projects uh walkability who are we 10 years from now well you've got quite a few Capital Improvement projects that are in process right now over 50 of them in a variety of ways uh we did Tour on Monday and get to see some of those things uh including Gib Park and I know with the bond issuances that you all did uh about a year ago that you are looking to expand further into arts and culture and to get more into the uh resident based and uh tourist based uh things that are getting away from the uh spring break event where you you don't have that I know you you all went through a great deal to break up with spring break as I I read in the news and so what I see happening is more development smart development I know that you all are trying to become a smart City you're trying to improve the quality of life for your residents uh you're trying to maintain a good fiscal strength and at the same time trying to maintain a good law enforcement addressing homeless and other things that would impact the quality of life for your residents so what I see in the future is continuing down that path I know you've got the comprehensive plan in place which is the the overriding plan that everything uh emanates from and that you continue to modify that every five years so I could see that being modified a couple times as uh things evolve between now and 2035 commissioner Rosen Gonzalez commissioner bot morning Jay good morning thank you commissioner thank you for being part of this and for throwing your hat in the ring and as I said to your compatriots job interviews are never fun doing it in public is even less so so thank you for for toughing this out um we as the city are in a constant tug-of war between residents needs and tourist demands between development and preservation between increased density and affordable housing and failing roads and other infrastructure issues how would you approach balancing those demands and what are your priorities on each well thank you for the question and I think everything is a balance when it comes down to Residents quality of life uh economic uh development and growth and and robust economic environment can sometimes come at the potential quality of life issues and as you try to expand into something that may be good for or tourists and and people who vacation here it comes at the expense of residents who who live here and these are their homes and where their families reside and uh I'll just give a very brief example of that I live in a community currently that is a very robust Logistics and Transportation Center because we're juxtaposed between two major freeways we have an inland port and an airport and the desire of the city there and to a degree the county was to Let's expand our Logistics and transportation cuz it's good for the economy and what you wind up is with congested trucks on the road uh broken up highways and and also air quality issues so I'm very very sensitive to how when you push in One Direction it may come at the cost of the other and I think the best way to address that is to get into the community talk to your residents I know you have vocal very vocal residents here I've watched commission meetings and seen a lot of the public comments that have come through and and to pay attention with that and try to balance that along with your strategic plans so that you can potentially alter those plans if you need to like commissioner magazine mentioned in in a 2020 35 Target you know if you want to keep forward so you don't go after one at the expense of of the other and I think that's a collaborative effort between you Commissioners uh your your city manager office and like I said a very active involvement from the residents commissioner Rosen Gonzalez so I know you've studied our government and you've kind of looked at its structure and I was wondering as you look at our organization as a whole what changes would you make so that we were more efficient well U I did look at your structure and your your city structure is a little bit different than what I had experienced as County Administrator for San haen and even in the two California counties I work for the first thing that I would address before I would actually go after the structure would be filling the vacancies in the interim positions that are there uh we did meet with the team on Monday we met probably with two dozen of the management team and many of them are doing double duty and what I would try to focus on before I started shuffling the deck so to speak in the structures making sure that those positions were filled to the degree that we could so that you would be able to see the real need for any kind of restructuring that's happened uh I've gone back uh through your history about eight years and I see you you know at if you go back four or five years ago you had four assistants that evolved down to three then it evolved to two assistants with a deputy I'm not exactly sure what the thinking was that went behind that some of the other things got switched around I see the way that things are set up now are strictly by functional areas and that looks pretty reasonable to me from an outsider looking in but as I said the first thing I would focus on is making sure that we had bodies in the positions that were already there so you could properly evaluate how you might want to change things and of course anything that would be changed I would bring in front of the Commissioners and make sure you all were comfortable for it with it before I started pushing any initiatives one way or the other thank you vice mayor good morning good to see you again uh tell us what your first 30 days as city manager will look like my first 30 days a city manager would probably look in twofold uh the first thing that I would want to do is learn as much about the organization is I would say three-fold learn as much about the organization as I possibly could because as much uh research that I did in anticipation of this interview that's still going to be only a fraction of what I'm going to need to know the other thing which I think is incredibly important is to build relationships with the folks here and by the folks I mean you all as Commissioners the department heads the team I would work with and just as importantly the residents um I typically I've been elected twice I served for eight years in my capacity um before becoming County Administrator in San haen and I can tell you how critically important it is to get out into the community and understand uh what their issues and concerns are at the same time you do want to hit the ground running and so I would want to add value from immediately when I came on board and one of the things I would want to do is help recruit the positions that are um open now and at the same time you know you you all are going to have things that are going to come up recurring on your schedule you're going to have budgeting is going to have I know that's outside the 30 days but I would start to prep in anticipation so that when those critical things like the um annual financial report and the budgetary process start that you are well prepared so that you could be a value ad as soon as possible because I think that would be very important yep commissioner Suarez morning J good morning if you could change one thing about the city of my beach what would it be if I could change one thing about the city of Miami Beach it would be and when you say the city I'm going to assume that you're meaning the city organization as opposed to the city itself and I think the city is beautiful I we've toured it for a couple of days um I know you all have issues regarding uh homelessness and some crime and and all that and hold a very very high standard but I would say that The Branding of Miami Beach is very very strong and I would continue down that path the things I would focus on internally is uh trying to put together an efficient government an efficient an efficient City manager's office and creating a solid leadership structure if you look down back through my resume and the accomplishments that I've done in many of the positions that I've been in including my last position as County Administrator it is to build a strong team and to be able to get that team to function effectively we've put in new systems we've fixed things like a broken CIP program and we've done things that fortunately you all are having in place now but I think the better organization that you can build internally from the city government the more effective that you are able to serve your residents and do the things that you want to do best for for your folks so I would focus internally first to do the best that we could do as a team and try to continue to build the strong brand that Miami Beach currently has without doing anything that would damage that brand uh commissioner Fernandez thank you good morning good morning it's good to see you again Jay thank you uh so you just mentioned building a better organization uh internally um and I've been asking uh your your your fellow candidates uh in this in this process you know how how they evaluate our city departments and how they promote a culture of proactive rather than reactive problem solving tell me a little bit about your approach uh with that uh because often times we do find ourselves uh being very reactive uh and it's part of being a responsive government but but how can how can you promote a culture of more proactive problem solving so we don't have to be calling you you know Friday night Saturday morning uh and and Department directors on the weekends thank you for the question and so my perspective on that and what I've done in the past is you need to set a really good tone from the top and the better tone from the top that you can set the better culture you're going to have in an organization and a good culture in my opinion equates to a great organization and for me leadership and speaking of me as a chief executive in the role that I held last is you have to lead from the front and you have to lead by example and you have to be able to demonstrate that you've got good character and that you're competent in what you do so that people can rely on your decision-making process in order to build trust and Inspire the people that report to you um along those lines I think you need to listen very intently to the folks around you and you need to be approachable and humble along that process so that people are comfortable coming to you when they have problems and issues without having to worry about they're going to shoot the M that you're going to shoot the messenger and I think to the degree that you can get that kind of a culture developed in your organization the better the organization's going to be one of the things that I found in my last role was the leadership um team did not actually have any formal training and Leadership some of the people had been there for two decades and had not had had you know and coming from the private sector as you all know from my background probably two-thirds of my background is in the private sector we had a lot of training and and Leadership and negotiating and and soft skills like emotional intelligence and um I actually brought outside training of actually Franklin cby I'm giving them a plug right now came in and they were very good in in being able to be sequestered our management team for a couple of days and got them their taste buds wetted so that they could understand formally how that works because you know learning it on the job may not be the best way to do it and it caught on real well to the point where I had leadership training every quarter for the management team and I would bring in different outside vendors to get that training going and it caught on so well that the department head managers who were the subject of the training uh put that training in and actually drove it down through their organizations that changed the organization and it changed it fast and it changed it well and so that's that's how I believe you go about doing that mayor Miner thank you Jay so number one concern for our residents is Public Safety Law and Order and while we're a safe City police visibility addressing homelessness reducing crime top priorities how would you work with our commission our police chief to address these issues well I would first of all work with those folks and get it handle and maybe in the first 30 days as commissioner bot had suggested understanding really the granularity of what those are because I have found in the jurisdictions that I've been exposed to the three most important things are just about any local government is Public Safety number one fiscal Health number two and the quality of life stretches across everything and so what I would do is what I did in san wien county I worked very closely with our Sheriff and with our district attorney to understand what the demands were on those departments we had um in my community we have much greater crime much bigger homeless issue and we also have a fentanyl problem and so I worked with those department heads so that we could understand and make our board aware of how critical those problems are what the proposed Solutions are with those department heads the sheriff or the district attorney and see if we could afford to get them the resources if those you know they what they were describing was just Justified and in two cases that I could cite we actually worked with the sheriff to create a special services division that worked on nothing but gang violence work worked on homelessness and also worked on Fentanyl and in collaboration with that we got our district attorney so that we weren't just catching and releasing criminals that the da actually did the prosecution and we got them extra help and a special fentanyl in intervention team and that intervention team didn't just go after the people who sold the fentol but we had actual just district attorney investigators that would go up the food chain to try to get the people who are even bringing it into our community at the top level as a preventative measure we had Deputy District Attorneys go out into the school system they would even go as far as the middle schools and try to get these kids before they were involved in fentanyl at all so that they are we had a a theme called one pill can kill so that they wouldn't even want to try it in the first place because a lot of times we were finding our youngsters would would have an overdose on their very first try now you may not have that problem here in Miami beach but those are the type of things that I would work with and focus on to make sure that the resources were there we could afford them the Commissioners were on board with what we wanted to do and it was viable that our residents were going to be happy with uh what we were trying to Target commissioner magazine thank you that completes the first round of questions and then we'll start round two thanks good deal thank you Jay uh often times I think an Outsiders perspective is uh welcome and refreshing so we talk about all the things that are great about our city what do we get wrong what can you bring differently what would you do differently than we've done in the past well what I would do probably differently is I look through your your uh budget book and and the goals and objectives of each one of your departments and I I certainly targeted the city manager's office and I'll loop back to the leadership item that I was asked by commissioner Fernandez and it talks about leadership in the budget book but the leadership seems to be more directing the different departments and whatnot to do the things that they're supposed to do and what I didn't see in there is that there's leadership training and Leadership goals for the Departments um driven outside of the city manager's office and so what I would do differently is I would assess if your manager and I from talking with all of you yesterday I was able to kind of get feedback and understand some of the challenges that are going on with some of the Departments and I would make sure that those departments had the appropriate training exposure and um knowledge of things that other jurisdictions and and best practices are in other organizations so that we could emulate those things and try to steal the best plays out of their playbook and I found that to work very very well in san waen county and I'll tell you some of the management teams that we were able to amass there I would stack up against any team I've worked with in the private sector I mean it it worked out really well commissioner Rosen Gonzalez so Jay um one of our concerns here is our un fed pension liabilities so I wanted to understand what is your prior experience with labor and any contract negotiation and what concessions have you got that your board was very happy with so our board was very happy with the fact that during my entire three years there as County Administrator my ahr team and our negotiations we had 13us with different uh organized labor unions were never out of contract okay we never even got near a strike nor did we have an impass during my tenure and you can't just give away the farm you have to understand what's going on the players and you have to approach that thing properly what you also have to be cautious about is once you start giving away money in terms of concessions as much as that may feel good and and and all of that you're going to live with that for a while and it's also going to feed your pension demands uh I know you all have approximately a $ billion unfunded pension liability which uh really trims your $1.4 million net position that you have in your your last published financials and um that will only grow the more that you know and a lot of that is is you know unfortunately it's Public Safety it's it's you've got you know your your regular General members your fire your police and your OPB and so one of the things that I did to try to address and my last County had a large unfunded pension liability they acred it in the downturn it was there before I came on board and what I did to mitigate that was we had budget surpluses for the three years that I was there and I committed I actually asked the board and they agreed to commit onethird of our Surplus to an unfunded pension liability reserve and uh as a part of that there's a thing called a 115 pension trust where you can actually put money into equities which is a little bit more Broad and and aggressive than what you can do in your treasury right now and uh actually enjoy a return that's more in line with what you'd see in the equity markets and we put a chunk of money into that every year that I was there that we had a surplus in order to mitigate uh the unfunded liability we still have a ways to go a billion dollars is a big number but I would start looking at creative ways to do that because the 115 pension trust was really a great way to go so I would look at it from multiple angles but I that's how I address it and you start with addressing it during the process commissioner bot hello again hi there um as part of your preparation for this interview process I'm sure and you've alluded to the fact that you've watched quite a number of the city commission meetings going back aways what would you change about our process if you could and separately how would you define and then handle inappropriate exchanges between electeds among themselves or among staff or residents yeah commissioner bot could you speak a little closer to the microphone I could be sure I miss have the question um as part of your preparation for this job you may have follow or you have followed a number of the commission meeting recordings what would you change about our process if you could how would you define and then handle inappropriate exchanges between electeds among themselves or with staff or with residents well um I know today you have a rather lengthy meeting and sometimes your meetings can run long and I think a what what we tried to do in saning county is control the agenda length through trying to address uh the governing body's concerns upfront so that items were minimally pulled and and kicked around during General consent um I would also ask uh you know when the governing body members would want to put something on the agenda themselves in terms of discussion items uh do you want to do that or do you want my office to do that and how might we do that in efficient manner so you don't have hourlong discussion items on the agenda that's going to stretch things things out um as far as any sort of uh pingpong that might go back and forth between the the members what I would try to do and I do do is I communicate openly and honestly oneon-one with the members and try to make sure everybody knows the same thing at the same time and see whatever kind of deliberation you could do and if it's through me as the chief executive that would be fine too um in order to resolve whatever conflict might happen before it comes to the chamber floor and I think to the degree that you can do that you're going to minimize the amount of time that it takes because if you have two members that are kind of on opposite sides of an issue and going at it in a meeting it's going to delay the meeting and it's going to look interesting to the public so I would try to minimize that to the degree that I could upfront and oneon-one vice mayor Dominguez pardon me May Miami Beach has uh one mayor and six Commissioners each with one vote how will you navigate reporting to seven people the same way that I navigated it when I reported to five my County had a uh a uh chairman of the board who rotated every year but carried the same weight a voting member is the rest of the individual members and what I do is I try to treat each individual member and I know that all members are are are different in in various ways and but you still as the chief executive you want to treat everybody evenly fairly openly and honestly and not play hide the PE not play favorites and not pull any punches because I think that's a good way to damage trust I mentioned trust is a part of building a strong culture and uh having a good work environment and I think to the degree that you can do that and that you can gain the trust of the commission members the board members or whomever it is then they're going to look at you as somebody who plays fair and hopefully would think that even if you don't see eye to eye everybody has the best interests of the community in in the city in mind and it's just a matter of differences of opinion and and try to minimize whatever conflict or or friction might happen but I think being open honest and transparent is the best way to handle that than commissioner Suarez Jay um what will you do to incentivize better economic growth in myi Beach you know there's a number of ways to to do that you can do that through various uh tax relief ordinances um Etc and it depends on the kind of growth that you you're looking for and you know in in sanen we since I was in the uh the um County office we were able to offer different tax incentives and all that you all are working with Miami Dade and and my understanding is that you know sometimes you don't necessarily get what you want in those kind of regards and so you might be able to look at what you might do here with developers I've worked with a number of devel developers when I was a County Administrator and and see what type of incentives you might be able to provide them in terms of like access um land and and those kind of things I know we had a couple of warehouses that were next to freeways and we were able to within the ordinances that existed um make special allowances for the type of facilities that they were wanting to build and uh that brought exra business into our community but before I started even diving down in that direction I would want to get a better understanding of your economic base and a lot of the engines that drive your business here I would not dive in before I knew what I was doing commissioner Fernandez sorry thank you um and you've already spoken a little bit about homeless issues um but related to homeless issues is Public Safety and Public Safety has a direct Nexus to Quality of Life issues so I'm not going to ask you about homelessness because you've already addressed homelessness but I do want to ask you about your approach to addressing high-profile special events that come into our city large crowds um organizing for those for for for those AC activities it's it's an important uh public safety matter that crosses with quality of life and we'd like to know a little bit more about your experience and your approach to that well my understanding is you can get swamped with a lot of the events that you're talking about and what I would expect is that you probably have multi-jurisdictional agreements where you could borrow law enforcement and Public Safety from other jurisdictions on a temporary basis to come into the community for the time period that are looking I know we have a lot of fires in California and with our fire departments we do that we actually have cross-jurisdictional agreements where they're called strike teams where they can come in and instead of hiring you know or doing a bunch of overtime or maybe you can't even do the overtime is you're just pulling from other areas and it's kind of a I scratch your back you scratch mine um scenario and that's what I would Envision being able you may already be doing it and I think you are I think somebody mentioned you were doing something like that already and I would continue to do that because I know how important that is and you don't want to have that excess cost when you don't need it mayor Miner thank you again Jay we're a great City in large part because we have great residents who are engaged intelligent um Express their concerns offer suggestions um which we as a body uh listen to and often Implement how would you as city manager connect with our residents to to learn the issues and also appropriately and quickly respond to address uh and improve our quality of life I would get out into the community as soon as possible like day one and start getting aligned with the residents the residents concerns you know obviously you're going to have a movers who are the important people in your in your community who are going to have the most investment one of the things and I I believe I mentioned this yesterday to a number of you is when I became appointed as the auditor controller in 2013 which was an elected role I came in from another jurisdiction like I would be coming here and I levered on the governing body to be able to point me in the directions where I could go out into the community and make the most effect now I will admit I had a little bit of self-interest because I had to be elected in a year and a half in order to keep my job so I wanted to get out into the community as fast as I could I met with standard groups you'd be familiar with the Rotary Club kianis Club Lions Club I met with retirement community folks developers and and folks like that to be able to understand firsthand what their issues were I wanted them to know who and what I am because I wanted them familiar with me and a lot of them didn't even understand what our office did and how it functioned it was surprising to see when I went out and made 50 or 60 engagements my first year year and a half the amount that the residents actually learned about our organization because people hadn't done that quite to that degree and I could see myself following that pattern because it worked very very well when I did it the last time I found it very educational and it also put the community um in a position where they didn't mind calling me on my cell phone if they had a question or we had a flood event I couldn't tell you my my phone was blowing up about a year and a half ago because so many folks out in the community actually had my cell phone and knew who to call and would try to build that kind of a relationship with your residents in your community great thank you and thank you again for applying and going through the process uh it's not easy as uh as been said we're actually going to bring all the candidates back and we're going to have a discussion amongst our well not amongst ourselves it's going to be public but we want everyone to be in the room while we have that discussion so thank you please sure vice mayor Dominguez thank you as it we're about to begin um this process I just wanted to say thank you to Rael our interim city manager she St stood up to the plate has done an amazing job she took us through Memorial Day through flooding and through so many things and she has been absolutely terrific and I thank you for your professional leadership during this time a true vice mayor I uh you stole my thunder I was actually going to do it a little later but uh and I and I would like to unless you all want to do that now well yeah we might as well no seriously it is one of the toughest jobs I think is is having that word interim in front of you uh it's uh it's it's not an enviable position to be in but you've handled it uh really well with Grace and really worked hard uh so uh and done and done an excellent job so we uh we are grateful to you and I know our residents are as well commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor I do just want to Echo those words because as you very well mentioned it's not easy to lead an organization on an interim basis speec especially a large and complex organization like G uh soon after going into the interim city manager role recel you uh stepped into Memorial Day weekend and gosh uh talk about successful handling of Memorial Day uh weekend you've been dealing uh with uh collective bargaining working with the fire Union with with the police Union looking to fill vacancies appointing a fire chief and working on the on the camping ordinance I think I think we've gone from the enforcement from 8 uh 8 in April to 58 in June and really taking taking uh that position that the city commission took very seriously so I just want to thank you for your utmost professionalism during this interim term and uh and the way you've uh you've you've held the ship uh going uh with good moral towards towards our Workforce I want to thank you publicly for that well you're getting I think some more some more loving soon so uh after everyone uh sings your Praises I assume it's going to be singing praises uh commissioner magazine thank you madam interm city manager truly uh what you did was um nothing was self-serving about it you stepped up at a time of need and you really showed uh leadership and wisdom perhaps even well beyond your years I I actually wrote a little note I was going to drop off on the way I might as well just make it public now because it's how I think uh let's have lunch next week it's important to me that you have a critical role in our city going forward and I'd like to hear your ideas and I truly mean that you've uh you stepped up to get to this role and you stepped up uh in this role so um I really hope that you play uh an important part of our city going forward so thank you commissioner bot um well R Rael interim city manager has been hearing from me along the way but you know from a a very contentious um meeting appointing you um you've acquitted yourself no surprise with Incredible Grace and intellectual rigor under pressure and I think um that anybody who might have had reservations about your abilities to lead um has had those laided um and I look forward to seeing you continue to grow and Thrive and contribute in a significant way in the short term and in the long term in this city and uh I'll be here to cheer you on commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I watched your uh work ethic especially when we had that rain event you worked all night long she didn't sleep uh she called me meeting after meeting got everyone together and I've watched that you you know you didn't just experience that that rain event you actually made changes afterward I mean I got an email yesterday saying now you can pick up s b whatever you want so you actually had an event saw everything that wasn't working and went back re-evaluated fixed the problem said that you need somebody in Emergency Management advocated for a position created a structure and I thought that that was um you know very impressive and you know I know that it was suggested that there would be a destabilization from you filling this position but it was anything but and you've done a wonderful job and we've really just had a tremendous and um impressive results so thank you because I know that the position that we put you in was not an easy one either as placeholder and you were shocked and you came up to the podium and you said yes yes I'll do it and you jumped in and you've proven to everyone that you have tremendous leadership abilities and and we all hope that you you know are we know that hopefully you'll continue here in the city of Miami Beach thank you we all know we have a critical decision to make right now one of the most important decisions we collectively as a commission will make I say that oh that's right I did promise you to uh speak well let me just finish my thought and then I'll turn it over to you and it is is one of the most critical so I I sort of open that up that way because uh we we need to understand and I think we all do the Monumental moment that we are in because the next two three four five years plus will be set in large part by the decision we make today Rael thank you again thank you so much mayor and Commissioners uh this has been the opportunity and privilege of a lifetime and I am extremely honored uh by the confidence placed in me to manage this team with professionalism and integrity and I have lived up to my commitment to work in the best interest of the city and I plan to continue doing so and I appreciate all the kind words all the support since day one I appreciate every single member of the team uh they have been extremely supportive many have volunteer to do more uh we're working very hard to ensure that we meet the needs of our residents and that we live up to the expectation and so I'm just tremendously grateful for this opportunity uh I'm wishing all the best to all the candidates good luck and I look forward to being part of the transition and the next steps going forward thank you so much the beautiful thing about this is is usually when we're singing people's Praises they're leaving you're actually not leaving you're you're a big part of you're a big part of the team so which is great I'll open it up for a discussion commissioner Fernandez oh I'm looking around I sure commissioner magazine uh want to thank everybody that uh that is here as finalists and that applied I know there were comments made last meeting uh that perhaps the large swath of um applicants that we received back didn't really fit up to what we were expecting however the four people that we have as finalists uh I think are as strong as they come and I can honestly say uh I'm looking at four candidates that all would make fantastic city managers uh I am honored that whether they're current employees current residents or people that took their time and their families to travel here from California uh your level of interest and passion for the city that we all love um I say that genuinely that all four of you are fantastic candidates uh and I I I wouldn't go home sad no matter which of you move forward uh with our city for me I came into this uh leaning towards uh one candidate um don't think there's any you know surprise about that uh it's somebody that has shown tremendous uh passion dedication for our city for for over 10 years but in no way was my mind closed to other candidates and you all share tremendous qualities um whether it be for economic development which is near and dear to my heart private sector experience with the other two um I was really open and well I think everybody did fantastic uh the candidate that I was leaning towards supporting here um even up to today I think just far separated himself with his level of knowledge and detail passion and expertise on our city and uh I don't know the process that we're doing this and hopefully I'm not doing this completely out of order where we're about to do some secret vote uh but my vote will go to our Carpenter is that what we're doing yes I I I don't see anybody else who wants to I mean does somebody want to make a motion are we is everybody do was that did you officially make a motion I I don't know I don't know what the pro I thought we were all just going to you could basically just say what you say but but put it in motion form well well I I want to give my colleagues a chance to I'm looking around nobody has anything to say so make the motion I'll make a motion good second are we ready to vote okay now we're worked oh my goodness this microphone system whoever becomes the city manager are you going to fix a microphone system only two questions per commissioner um so okay so are we doing a ballot or because last time when we narrowed down the candidates we did a ballot and so we narrowed down I believe from 8 to four um now we have four candidates are we narrowing it down to two and then to one or what are we doing because I just want to make sure I just want to make sure we're following the process last time there was you know I just want to make sure we're following the process the process doesn't contemplate but the body could decide if they wish to do that the body could do that I SU suggestion is we we have one ballot for the four candidates and then if we don't get a majority vote then we just take the two highest or and then vote again would that be acceptable to everyone I wouldn't be in favor of that I mean I guess it depends I I mean I I I don't think the pool is that large that we can't put one name and if we get if somebody gets four votes they're going to win thank you mayor I I would be supportive of your motion I can't make the motion procedurally but somebody wants to adopt what I said um regardless of who gets um appointed or elected I guess voted on to become our city manager um it is a obviously it's a huge undertaking for the city um and it is a significant contract to be negotiated so I would like to to make this suggestion I guess motion or I don't know the right process for this would be but you know we're critical stage negotiating our Union contracts and um we're finalizing our budget I would suggest that we take the time ahead of us um to let uh our interim city manager continue through the end of the fiscal year to get us all there smoothly and to negotiate the contract that will be awarded to one of our candidates here to make sure that we're not you know sort of putting the cart before the horse I'm vehemently opposed to that nothing against recel I just don't see why that we we would do that but let me hear from my colleagues I just want have two motions Joe's Joe's motion and then the mayor's motion so which motion is on considering now I'll turn over to the City attorney but I believe the motion on the table is to vote on the city manager utilizing uh one one round right now putting you can pick one of the four fine candidates and and we'll use the second round if nobody gets a majority Y and and just in response to uh uh commissioner Bots I guess it depends on how we what direction we go in here right if we have uh one of three candidates that are not part of the city thus far then I think that does make sense to give them on boarding time time to move here uh I don't think it would be fair to have somebody uh if they be from California outside of our city government uh start tomorrow as city manager so I I think we would uh then look to negotiate the starting date um however if we do go with an internal candidate C currently serving in then my viewpoint would be different um that's just my two cents okay let me let me just chime in on that um because there's there's a process there's a process that's that's laid out and the process that was laid out is for today for the commission to select the final candidate So today we're making a selection but then the process is that following the selection of the final candidate that candidate will enter into contract negotiations for an employment agreement Mr attorney when is it that the commission then ratifies that agreement because my belief is that we select a candidate the candidate negotiates a contract and then once the city commission approves that contract then after that point this is when is when the candidate starts when is it that the process dictates that um that that the um candidate contract be approved as you mentioned the process that was agreed to by this Bo body was to enter into negotiations the process did not specify whether in the event that an internal candidate is selected what the start date would be um but the process does contemplate negotiating a contract and ratifying that contract at the next meeting which would be September 11th so then that means that today we are according to the process that we approved as a city commission today we conduct conducted the interviews with each of the finalists the commission is selecting the final candidate and after the commission selects today the final candidate that candidate is going to enter into a contract negotiation and then that employment agreement comes back to the city commission at the September meeting for us to ratify there is only that is the next meeting so that would be the first opportunity to ratify the contract and and if I understand understand properly the process that was approved by the city commission it it it takes into consideration that that the candidate only start after the employment agreement has been approved by the city commission as I mentioned previously in the event that you all select an internal candidate then the the commission could decide to to modify the start date can I make a suggestion um we have a motion on the table and a second to select the city manager some of this may or may not be relevant depending on the candidate we pick obviously we have one internal candidate three outside candidates I I'd say we vote on the candidate and then we can continue that discussion uh subsequent but there are good questions commissioner for I I appreciate you bringing that up so can we we have a motion in a second which takes precedent um I say we call the vote or I guess we're doing a ballot uh city city clerk I I believe there was a motion to take a vote which was seconded and then I believe the commissioner Suarez amended the motion so that only one so there was an a proposed amendment but a vote has not been taken on the the motion as amended do you accept the friendly amendment I do not no I I I don't want to speak for you but I'm wondering if you under the the why don't you reiterate what your friendly amendment is it's a friendly Amendment the friendly amendment is that we don't have multiple rounds we have one round one one vote per candidate so so let's let's do it by ballot okay voice so you want a Voice vote on the motion or no on the candidate oh sorry sorry Mr okay well well well first we have to we have to pass the motion correct me if I'm wrong City attorney we have to pass the motion that that's the this is the procedure we're going to use okay yeah so let's take a vote on the motion and the motion again correct me if I'm wrong City attorney is that we are now going to select one of the four candidates um that are up for city manager selection that is a motion before you so then we fill out so all in favor on that motion yes it carries so there is I'm assuming we're going to do it by the board of committee pad that you have in front of you if so write the name of one candidate I will pick those names up when you're ready and I will make the announcement as to who voted and for whom they voted for for so commissioner David Suarez selects Eric Carpenter mayor Steven Miner selects Eric Carpenter commissioner bot selects Mr alic Castro commissioner Christen Rosen Gonzalez selects Eric Carpenter commissioner magazine selects Eric Carpenter commissioner Alex Fernandez selects Eric Carpenter commissioner Dominguez selects Mr Al Castro we have a majority vote for Mr carp thank you so much congratulations Eric um this is what I want to do first of all I have to say I always try to be cognizant of the human element of this job often times people think we're in the public eye we don't have feelings and but we do and I recognize there were three people who flew well one one is lives here but people flew across the country had conversations with their spouse and children about potentially making a life-altering move this is a major decision that people put themselves in so I want to recognize and thank all of the candidates for for doing that and putting yourselves through that um I think each and every one of you is imminently qualified um but and and but uh obviously Eric you know we know you for a long time you're a very talented individual what I would like to do is I want to give you the moment uh to say something I was going to use a different word but uh uh but we do we're running a little late on a shade session to discuss uh uh Union contract so I do want to do so and then I want to come back to this from the body after that and continue the discussion we're discussing timing and things like that and I want to have that opportunity that's not Motion in a second and we have to vote on that also well I think I mean I don't think you can just I love to hear from also I'm not sweeping it I just want to entertain it after the uh after the stage session we are running late I wasn't even going to allow Eric to that I was going to do that afterwards but I we do this is a moment this is a special moment um I I I've never asked you the question but I'm assuming you've worked your entire Public Service career for for this moment so I want to give you that opportunity be able to speak in this moment but I would appreciate is after Eric speaks before we go to the shade session if we could just dispense so then we can continue oura it's I don't think that's in the best interest um but let let Eric speak and and we'll we'll figure that out see what you're getting yourself into Eric so I just want to take two seconds to say thank you to all of the Commissioners um I appreciate you I respect you and I know that all of you were doing what you thought was in the best interest of the city all throughout this process um it's funny as I was thinking last night about the different scenarios and thinking about what could happen uh I thought about telling my kids on many occasions that the most challenging goals that you set and the harder you work work to achieve them the more rewarding they are when they come true and so um I don't think that's ever been more true than now and I just want to say thank you to all of you I want to say thank you to hundreds of people in the community and on the staff that have reached out to me throughout this process that have thrown me support and love and prayers and really uh kept me strong even when it was hard and and um now we get to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work and I'm looking forward to working with all of you to help bring your vision of Miami Beach to fruition so thank you very much congratulations um I'll adhere to what your saying I will just give a little historical perspective here and and you'll clearly see my position uh when Alina Hudak became our city manager and she was an internal candidate she became city manager IM effective immediately when she was voted on and then her contract was negotiated um subsequent to that when Raquel became the interim city manager she became the interim city manager immediately and her contract was negotiated very quickly uh I don't think there is any great science to this unless Eric comes up with some crazy number which I don't think he's going to do uh I think this is going to be a pretty smooth uh negotiations I I'm not even sure it's really an even a negotiation um So based on how we've operated and I think for good reason it's good reason it just you have someone who we know now uh has the support of our commission to become the city manager recel has filled in admirably but it's time to make that transition uh immediately if I could Mr Mayor um I would agree with your thinking but I want to be sure I'm not missing anything right so we all just took this Monumental step and we have a person that we've all put our confidence behind to now hand over the keys and Lead our city forward um I'm excited to do it right away uh but I want to be sure that I'm not missing anything uh because I'm not closing minded on this so I I just want to see kind of the Rhyme or Reason behind Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez thank you um we've laid out a process we all agreed to this process when a colleague at the last meeting suggested changing the process even though I was thinking you know what there could be Merit to what my colleague was was was mentioning I said we made a Amendment and we followed the process and we stuck to that process and that that same process says that following the selection of the final candidate the city and the candidate will enter into contract negotiations for an employment agreement and that is the process we've laid in place and it it dictates that you know that we then approve this I believe at the next city commission meeting as the City attorney has has mentioned and I think it's it's important we've always designated the chair of the finance committee usually historically to negotiate these these contracts uh together with our with our City attorney and others and then is is brought for to to the commission for for final approval we've selected our candidate Eric is our next city manager I just don't believe is good precedent for us to set in place or to continue setting in place that we bring in someone to start a role before we have an employment agreement that's negotiated that's approved that we've looked at the pension issues that we've looked at the salary we don't and we don't have a firm salary in place and so and so I believe that the most correct the most logical order of operation and in keeping with the process that we set in place was that today we selected the candidate the candidate is Eric Carpenter Eric Carpenter will be our next city manager but following this process the city and the candidate now need to enter into a negotiation for an employment agreement and the employment agreement is supposed to be approved at the September meeting that's when once you have approved an employment agreement that Eric should start as our next city manager in my opinion and that's that's a motion I would I would like to to to make and allow as we've done in in the past for the finance chair to negotiate the terms of that agreement because that's how historically we've done it uh commissioner Fernandez you're throwing the word around process around I I actually disagree with how you've described it yes there's a negotiation process after the vote is made my understanding and our City attorney can correct me if I'm wrong my understanding is there's nothing in the process that precludes us from having the a person who's been elected I mean not elected appointed by us to start immediately we've done that in the past I just named you two specific circumstances in the past few years including the past few months where we did just that so um yes the contract would have to be negotiated as you described but there's nothing in the process that stops us today from appointing immediately commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I I'll second your motion I think that's fine going through the at least till until September to negotiate the um details of the contract you know we voted and that's what the process dictates I'm turn to our City attorney because we keep hearing the word process and if I'm wrong I'm wrong but I I my understanding is that there's nothing that in the this process that stops us or says otherwi first of all we can change it but I don't even think we need to change it I don't think that's what it says Mr City attorney the process the process does not indicate that you can't appoint immediately what I'm hearing is that some members of the body wish to do something different than um than that but the process doesn't indicate one way or the other so I'm going to actually say something we can decide whatever we want to as a body but I think we need to be so careful because this is not the first time this has happened where this term process is used and that some other electeds are violating the process when that process doesn't even exist as we just heard so let's not throw accusations around about it this is a decision we'll make as a body but there's no violation of process we are actually fully within the process to make either decision today Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez Mr Mayor no one is saying that anyone is violating process you said that very plain and clear I I didn't no not I I did not say that what I'm saying what I'm saying is that this memo that we have from the city attorney dated May 6 on the city manager recruitment process on the city manager recruitment process can I yes continue on the timeline all right what is say is that today we select the candidate we have selected the final candidate says following the selection of the final candidate the city and the candidate will enter into contract negotiations for an employment agreement that's what it has right below what we're doing today I'm not saying that no one is violating process if if if we want to do something else that that's not written here but that can be in part of the process that's fine I'm just saying what we voted on what we agreed on was that and so you know I don't throw accusations about my colleagues and much less on on the days because I do not believe that is constructive and I think and I've and I've said it in the past I get headaches I get heartache when we have employees start in positions here before there's a ratified contract I think it's a it's a bad precedent for us to continue building on if that's the will of the body that's fine and I respect that but I think anyone who takes over this position should come in already with an employment agre agreement that's been that's been negotiated and and that's been approved upon by by the city commission I think it's you it's what's fair I'm not going to rehash your comments about the process or public record commissioner Fernandez you literally just voted for Raquel Williams four months ago on the same exact thing and you did not say well I don't think we should have this person start right away because we haven't negotiated the contract that's exactly what we did and we've done that historically and by the way maybe you and I have a different reading of what you just read nothing in what you just read and we heard from our City attorney nothing what you read said that the person could not start immediately it just says that the contract would be negotiated once they are selected there's nothing in there about the start time so I I think you're reading something into again as a body we will decide that today but there's nothing that you were reading that says otherwise commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I want to explain why I wanted to explain why I did second it because it was a problem when we've ratified Raquel and then her contract was not um and and we hadn't approved the contract we hadn't approved her contract we hadn't approved Alina's contract and there were like certain issues that arose from that and I can't go into the details but I remember the frustration when we had the special spring break meeting and we had two items on there I don't know if you remember that we were supposed to vote on both of the contracts and we were you know having the spring break meeting and we didn't get to that item and it caused um it caused a problem so I'm okay with this we made our decision today we've elected Ed you know we've we've chosen Eric and let's just go through let's negotiate the contract if you wanted to call a special meeting in the future to come by and ratify the contract quickly we could do it sooner but I do think that that's important so because we didn't do it last time and there was a problem okay I I was obviously uh as mayor heavily involved with those contracts that you mentioned and I didn't I don't perceive them I wouldn't use the word problem they're negotiations but I there was no great issues that needed to be worked out in my impression commissioner sarez um I I just just trying to be a little bit understand this um more clear uh so right now if we were to go ahead with this motion would Raquel still be functioning as interm city manager and I mean what I'm trying to just get down to the detail so until we have a vote on on Eric's contract who's sitting manager who's Who's acting city manager U City attorney if you proceed with not allowing Eric to commence as city manager until the contract is ratified then rickel continues as interim until that time it is my position that look we we just hired city manager we went through two hours of of uh of interviews you know he got overwhelming the the majority of the votes I don't see why we would not trust him I I can certainly understand the process and and I think I think where my commissioner um where my colleague commissioner Fernandez is coming with this is that you know we want to make sure that uh we this the board positions ourself with what we expect from you Eric okay I think this is where it's coming from I think you know we we may say hey we're not going to give you a four-year deal we're going to give you 24 months and um and and we're going to put very T tight guard rails on your performance and correct me if I'm wrong I don't know if that you know I'm just I'm just kind of feeling out the the situation but um that being said respectively I I think I think it starts now I mean uh you know if he's if if if we're going to expect Eric to up to the plate um you know we expect them to hit the ground running and um you know if if that is the um that's the direction we want to go great um but I I think that's where this is coming from and and correct me if I'm wrong uh colleague commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor and commissioner Suarez thank you for for for your comments because you've hit on one of the issues you know that I think is important to to discuss as part of a negotiation and part of the stuff that I think that that we should be discussing I think that four years for a city manager contract is too long I agree with what you said you know a two-year term is is is more is more appropriate you know you want to make sure that you have a period for review somewhere in between which I think those are things that the City attorney needs to negotiate with the candidate I don't know if Eric is fine with that I would I hope he is because we just place our trust in you to be our our next uh city city manager but you know we're putting him today to start a job with terms that I don't know that he's completely agreed to or that maybe he may want to counter and that's why we have we would have a negotiation period And so you know you've you've hit something right the nail right on the head one of the issues that I feel is important to negotiate is the length of the of the contract I think a shorter contract keeps people more accountable it keeps people more responsive on top of the tasks and the expectations we set for them but I don't know I I I don't know that's that's something I don't want to be negotiating that from the de I I think it's unfair to the candidate that we just selected to be negotiating that from from from from the de so so that's you know that's I think actually that's one of the key things I wanted to get addressed in the in the in in the uh in the contract if that we can address that you know you know that's one of the things that I wanted to get addressed I mean just to to if I can respond to that and then commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and commissioner magazine city manager no matter what their contract can literally be terminated by us as a commission at any time anytime we just we could literally have a meeting we could have a special meeting and by the way one of the things I think I would do um assuming I don't know how quickly this I have a feeling this Contra we and we shouldn't be negotiating from the deas right they'll negotiate a contract and it'll come back to us in an orderly form that's the way it's done by the way that's the way it was done with Alina she started immediately that was there was done with Rael we don't negotiate the terms here it there's a contract it's negotiated and we ratify it as a commission I am assuming this is going to be a very quick contract negotiation Eric is Deputy city manager he's been here for 10 years um there's pretty much a template the salary I haven't discussed it with Eric at all but I'm assuming it's going to be in line with what Alina and Rael got I mean I I if if and we'll vote on it and see where we go today but I probably will call a special commission meeting as early as like next week if the contract is is finalized because I don't think we should delay this anymore and by the way I hope I hope I'm being clear also this is not a reflection on Raquel at all at all it's just I to me if you have the person who's going to be filling the position I don't see why you would wait six weeks to to to accomplish it let's let's get it done and that's what we've done in the past Mr Mayor and I'm not saying to six weeks I'm saying let's let you know finalize that contract we come for a special meeting but if you call for a special meeting for next week then we have the special meeting next week so all that I'm saying is you know let's get that contract finalized because I think the term is important the the language that we adopted we didn't set a salary in the past we had a said salary what the salary put here is commission will start base salary negotiation at $360,000 that's where we start the base salary negotiation but I don't know what the real number is and I think and I think we should we should agree to that before he starts his job and and if that's next week that's good that's fine I'm just saying just as a you know logical order and I know we've done it like this in in the past but I think that doesn't mean that that's the best practice and and I really I truly I mean no offense by that and I think you you know I don't mean any offense by that I just I think maybe it's just a difference in our way and our approach to it commissioner Rosen Gonzalez but by the way it's better for Eric too because he would be functioning as a city manager for several months on a different salary basis and it puts us in a weaker negotiating position overall when we do negotiate contract so you award something you go to the negotiation table you sit down and then you come back and ratify so I don't think there's anything wrong with that for right now I don't have a problem with it I think it's actually smart um business practice commissioner magazine commissioner Fernandez would you accept the friendly Amendment uh that uh he will become acting city manager uh given ratification of a contract at a specially called commission meeting next week does that get us there I just don't think anyone should I just don't think it puts us in a difficult position it puts both parties in a difficult position when anyone assumes a role without having having having even without having that that that agreement negotiated I think he's I think you know he is the candidate and he's a person we're we're putting there um and I think if we if we have a meeting next week we have a meeting next week whenever it is that the City attorney and uh and Eric have a finalized contract you know I trust the mayor to to to call for a meeting but I don't think anyone should be starting before they have an agreement uh finalized by the city commission right and I guess what I'm trying to get at here is can we set a meeting next week to say I propose next Monday we have a press conference at 3:30 to talk about operation summer relief and we can meet uh immediately before that subject to the contract be negotiated by the way I'm I'm still supporting I mean we'll take a vote I I I I have to say I mean sorry I'm transparent I speak my mind sometimes I understand policy differences I don't I I don't even understand the logic behind this it it there's a I I really don't I don't understand why you would delay what we all know is inevitable and it doesn't even put us in a better contract negotiation posture because we could terminate sorry to say Eric we could terminate his interim whatever he is acting city manager at any moment so we we don't gain we don't gain anything from this I actually think we only hurt ourselves Mr Mayor um thank you as a as a business owner I've hired and fired hundreds of people throughout my um my acting role as a as um manager of a company and I don't I personally I don't see that we are going to be at a disadvantage if Eric is appointed now to take over um the city and I can certainly understand that we want to have leverage uh in negotiating I think we have that leverage no matter what to be honest um because look I mean it's clear Eric wants the role he's eager to do the role um and you know if you if you look at it the other side if we appoint him today and we have our special meeting on Monday for example uh it's not really going to change I mean it's not going to change his desire to to negotiate in fact I think it puts us in a better position to negotiate um get given the comments that have just been made up here so um I I I think we put our confidence and Eric today um and again I I I can certainly understand that we want to have the best leverages possible as a board but I I don't see the issue with giving him control of the city today to make the best decisions for the city of May beach because that's why we appointed him to begin with so um that's it Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez Mr Mayor I'm going to support you today in appointing him but I have to tell you your comments are highly offensive when you say that I were I was making accusations about the process we all sat here and we all adopted this process and the process said that once a candidate is selected which we have done today we were going to negotiate on the city's behalf on the resident's behalf on the taxpayers behalf before any candidate starts that's what we adopted said and I stuck to my word at the last meeting when a colleague made a motion to deviate from the process and I sat at this table and I said I am sticking to the process I am not moving from the process this is what I'm sticking to and what and what I am doing however you know I don't like the tone of what's been put out here I don't appreciate it I don't think it it was it was collegial just because I looking to stick to what we've laid out here and I want to make sure that Eric comes in feeling completely supported I want to make sure that Eric feels that he has the backing of this city commission that he needs in order to lead this this organization and that the employees who are watching know that Eric is uh is supported to lead this organization forward and that's what I'm most concerned about making sure that we number one in approving this contract are in the best position possible to Advocate on behalf of the city but that Eric as the next leader of the organization feels that he has the backing that the leader of the organization deserves and that the employees feels supported as as well but given the direction that that that this conversation has has gone in I don't want anyone to think that there's any other agenda here the purpose here my intention was you know just following what was written to Advocate on be on behalf of what I believe is is important a term that I believe is in the better interest of the residents Who We Are Who who we are making this selection on their behalf which I believe shouldn't be a 4year term as we've done in in the past understanding better what is the salary because right now the salary is very vague the salary says a base salary of $360,000 and I'm making a hiring here without knowing what the salary is going to is going to be I trust all my colleagues on this table and I trust the City attorney and I trust that whatever is brought forward back to us is something that we will all support but in that Spirit of trust I'll go ahead with with with what you're proposing and I'm sorry but I do take offense with with the comments that that that was made because I do believe that I stayed True to this process and to be sad that I'm Mak making accusations about the process not not being followed it's not that it's just I'm just trying to follow what it is that was written here and so I I have to put that out there just because it's not right it's not collegial and we're all colleagues and I think we all want to operate and to act in the best in the best interest of of the city and I know no one wants that more than you Mr Mayor and so and so I'm going to support us moving forward today because I don't want there to be a new beginning on a next netive note our residents don't deserve that and much less the public servants who are uh working on our behalf uh on behalf of us every single day out in the community and thank you commissioner Fernandez for that and um you you're a good colleague and it's very rare that you and I uh disagree um ultimately we are going to ratify um I just do want to explain to you if you can commissioner Fernandez if you can and I think I think where where the difference the difference that you and I had today was on the definition of what the process is you obviously have one understanding and I have another you you started out by saying you were going to stick to the process which either directly or indirectly again the comments will speak for themselves was saying that I was not following the process that's why I turned to our City attorney who interpreted the way I saw it is that there was nothing in the process that precluded us that didn't say that we should I wasn't changing the process yes we have to ratify the contract but there was nothing in it that said that the City attorney city manager would not start effective immediately as we had done in the past so maybe you and I have a disagreement on that process but to me it started out on a tone of this is the process and anybody going against it is violating it which I honestly took offense to so that's why I countered in the manner I did should we take the vote well we'll I I'm assuming you're withdrawing your you're withdrawing or amending your motion now based on your last comments well you had a motion but you just mentioned and thank you for that uh it's okay we have a second I'll I'll second it should take the vote not subject to do you want to do a roll call or just Voice vote still negotiating that yep all in favor of the motion that has been stated to appoint Mr Carpenter as city manager effective today with pending contract negotiations subject to contract negotiation yes hearing no one opposed the motion carries congratulations Eric congratulations Eric there there's a great line that I that I'm going to use here it says democracy is a terrible for of government but it's the greatest one ever created by men or women and we just saw it in action and I want to again thank Rael for really all your hard work let's take a photo and then we're going to take uh well then we're going to take a break to do the shade session and we're going to come back at 1:30 1:30 for the S subject hour app e e e e e so just for the record we are now going uh uh to a close executive session regarding collective bargaining we will be back at 1:30 he he oh oh no my High take n h me see n n he he n oh for is me me you me it n n he he no oh e fall I'm me oh n take it n please take your seats the meeting is about to begin please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 1 Welcome Back for the afternoon session of our meeting this morning in case you missed it we interviewed and ultimately selected Eric Carpenter as our next city manager which is a big moment for our city and again thank you Raquel Williams for your tour as interim city manager we we just had a shade session which ran late because we were running late to discuss the the union negotiation and the contracts which is an important item obviously dealing with uh not only some of our precious employees but also the fiscal health of our city so that's a recap and now we have sutnik uh sutnik if there's anyone here or is there anyone on Zoom thank you mayor I have someone here uh I'm going to start with the with a zoom because they've had their hand raised for a while Andy please state your name you have two minutes to state your name and address please hi good afternoon this is uh Andrew dley at 1661 West Avenue uh I'd just like to make a couple comments regarding the boter issues I know we've we've had a lot of challenges in this area um I'm a US Air Force veteran lived on a sailboat and I currently live on land and I just wanted to offer a perspective somebody who's been on both sides I believe the negotiations fail due to personal disputes but that doesn't mean we there isn't a reasonable solution that both parties could reach um I think one issue is we would have to put the personal issues aside and focus on what are we actually trying to solve here and I I understand where the city is coming from with a doc issue it is going to limit the boers access to shore but that's not going to fix the fun fundamental issues that we're having with the boats I would like to help mediate between both of the sides to reach an agreement and the question I have for the Commissioners is do you want to completely get rid of the boats or build a m field because you can't have both of those things at the same time and if you do want to get completely get rid of the boats I will tell you that you're going to have a very difficult time at the state and county level to approve the Alas and it's failed multiple times in the past because they don't want the boats moving into their districts um so that only pushes the issue somewhere else and if we already moving towards a moing field then why don't we just look at having a moing field transition plan and for the boats that don't want to comply they can have the ,000 fine but if you look at other moing fields in the Miami date area they have and the M field that we're we're planning is going to have boats within 150 yards of shore require Insurance blean boats pump outs and the dingy do so why couldn't we use something like that as a starting point if that's where we're already headed to get some more control over the water and the the reality is that your time is up I apologize Mitch you're up please you have two minutes state your name address please Mitch we were getting worried about you this morning okay I'm I'm happy everything is well taking out a filthy drain four and a half years on this day I don't think you missed a morning sutnik so good to see you you uh Mitch novic 901 Collins Avenue congratulations to our new city manager uh just I've been uh tuning into your budgetary hearings uh our budget has doubled uh over the past Dozen Years we now have a billion dooll budget just in the past three years it's been up to $300 million I would just urge you to keep your eye on the ball it's our money you're spending it's the budget which contributes most to housing on affordability as a landlord for over three decades I know that very well and uh thank you for the work you do our next caller is Mr Wayne Roberts Mr Roberts state your name you have two minutes sir I'm so happy to follow Mitch um so uh I wanna i w to say Raquel uh I am honored that you represented Miami Beach for six months um a strong African-American woman educated articulate um and and brave um and thank you for all you've done for the city I wanted to uh send a special uh wish and hope and expectation that Eric will fill the role of city manager um effectively and and and and lead us to the Future that we need um there's a lot to do and a lot on our plate I really did like the last candidate I lik Eric Moore but I really really like that last candidate from California and if you know if we don't if he's open to it I would love to have him come in as ACM I think he would be really effective a year or two from now to help Eric uh uh make a better City uh but thank you for all your efforts today it seemed like everybody was on the same page and um uh have a blessed day is there anyone else here on the chambers that wishes to speak if not we're going to go to Larry schaer Jr please state your name address and you have two minutes hello uh this is Larry schaer Jr I reside at 233 81st Street in North Beach and I'm dialing in because I am delighted to follow the regulars and uh hope that maybe I might be a new regular but I fully respect Mitch and Wayne and their continual efforts to dial in and give you you guys great advice and and just feedback and so it's wonderful to see those guys um I'm also dialing into support North Beach parking regulations you have a difficult job balancing the needs of all the different parties that are interested all the competing interests but I think that some of the interests are valid um you residents the needs for landlords and owners to have parking and developers need and their and their the people who buy condos need need parking but there are other interests that that like transient interests that really you know we have to listen to their to these needs but you have to be able to decide how can we use parking if zones if that's what you're doing it seems like you are but parking um you know regulations and most of all enforcement actually what good are uh regulations if you don't enforce them so you know I don't want to take up too much time uh I do I would like to support parking regulations you have a difficult job balancing interests and I'm I'm happy once again to follow Wayne and and uh Mitch thank you thank you so much our next caller is on an iPhone Lor Lori please state your name unmute yourself you have two minutes hello Lori bacham 903 8th Street um thank you for your time today I um want to congratulate our our new city manager Eric Carpenter and also huge thanks to Raquel Williams for her great work as interim and the full City staff I'm here today as a resident of North Beach I've lived and worked in Miami Beach since 1992 I am asking you to not propose the current residential parking decal for my neighborhood which is kesby Park bisc Beach it is quite a different neighborhood um it is resident only there is no commercial use or commercial parking uh for guest of people um there are no legal airbnbs uh I lived and worked in South Beach Zone 2 and three for many years they had needed residential parking um it will not work as proposed for our neighborhood and I did send a link the email so I'll keep this brief today but please just relook at that none of my neighbors who are primarily Hospitality office workers trades people uh Educators knew anything about it um we have many multigenerational families long term there and I've never seen an Airbnb in my neighborhood we also were too far away from any commercial areas for guests to come and we do have big family gathering ings every week it's not a tourist area um so please relook at this um I know it's well intended but it is not going to work in this neighborhood for the benefit of residents thank you thank you who's next Elizabeth say your name address okay hi Laton um I'm here to support the residential parking zones and the decal system I'm not exactly sure that this is uh fully I guess baked but it is a start and we have to have it we have people that are uh using tros they actually have if you can believe it they're actually websites that tell you where to camp in your car and they're all in North Beach so I'd like to support that our next virtual speaker is John Davis Mr Davis state your name address you have two minutes um hopefully you can hear me this is John Davis I am the uh president of Sunset Harbor Yacht Club in Miami Beach I'm also a resident of uh Miami Beach I live uh uh in in the on Bell Island and I just wanted to uh thank everyone for all their hard work in helping to protect you know the sanctity of the waterways surrounding um the suned harbor area in particular uh the Malloy Channel and and um some of the uh unregulated uh you know Anchorage limitation area proposed Anchorage limitation areas so I just want to let everyone on the call know that we are in a full support of the ordinance uh rb5 which would um begin to um you know let's just say properly manage uh the on andof lawn trams in and around the uh the Miami Beach area right next to the police department there south of some Harbor y club we had a number uh issues that I'm sure everyone's very very aware of and also um a lot of speeding and you know folks that are driving their boats way too fast in and around you know the marina the police ramp the launch ramp so I just want to thank everyone for taking the time on this call and let you know that it's Sunset Harbor Yacht Club uh we have 125 members full support of the rb5 uh ordinance I could say your name address you have two minutes Lisa sacko Southshore Drive 440 Southshore Drive um I again come before all of you again this afternoon in support of the parking decals for North Beach area if we are going to um separate that area and say that um that it's a different need for that Community we should really be doing what's best for the residents and 100% if we're doing something in South Beach and we're doing something in mid Beach as far as residential parking zones we should be doing the same in North Beach there's a lot of misinformation about this particular initiative and I really believe that once we educate the residents we're putting them first residents first visitors second and it's really a need and a lot of people may be embarrassed or ashamed or not feel comfortable to come here today I for one do not like public speaking but I'm coming here twice in one day because I really feel passionate about this issue and I feel like we can all work together for a common goal and it is a one-year pilot program in which we can inform the residents and realize that yes this is something that will work for this area and we really do need it because there are homeless or not homeless but um individuals who have vehicles who may be residing in their vehicle in this area there are cars that are sitting there that have may have been there for several months and I'm speaking to you as somebody who is an owner and also a landlord so on two fronts and I really do feel it is important to give equal opportunity to all the zones in Miami Beach and I urge all of you to really just vote Yes and and move forward with this initiative thank you so much our next virtual speaker is beatric Herman Miss Herman you have two minutes please state your name and address my name is beatric Herman and I'm um trying to what I'm trying to say is that in full support of this regulation for the parking as the previous speaker said I'm completely in in favor of it and I have no problem with that the only thing we need to do is educate the area and I thank you very much for taking the initiative in the north part of the island instead of being always the South part of the island thank you is there any there is are there please go ahead okay my name is Sandra standel I'm a resident of North Beach I live at 635 85th Street and I actually want to talk about um not supporting this parking plan for North Beach and its current form I am very nervous so please it's the first time I'm speaking be patient with me um I am all absolutely in favor of residence first and I commend the commission on taking up many of the struggles we face every day um however when we do speak about the residents of Northshore and biscan Beach also known as cresy Park Island we speak about um all different times of people we have so young professionals that have flocked to our city after covid to call it home many of them have incomes north of $80,000 and are willing to pay for a guaranteed parking space which many of them are under the impression that that's what this program will provide and then we have residents that have lived here for most of their lives many of them in their 60s 70s and older they have no email limited English skills and they vote in every election they have raised their children here some have served our country they work in our local schools most cannot attend these meetings because even at a such at such high age they still have to work to make ends meets we all feel the crunch of everything getting more expensive there's a lady down the block that is fighting cancer and cannot come because she's trying to learn how to pay her ways to pay those medical bills she expressed concerns with tears in her eyes about how she can afford for her friends to come over and to support her during these times of hardship biscane beach in cresy island and Northshore are unique residents compete among themselves for parking there no stores there shouldn't be any airbnbs there's just not enough parking there are vehicles that have not been moved in weeks there are scooters taking up entire parking spaces and yes there commercial vehicles however some of these commercial vehicles are driven by residents as company cars how is that going to be addressed there are possible solutions scooters can be parked in designated scooter parking areas like it is done on 85th Street parallel parking spots could be conver I apologize ma'am but you're out of time thank you so much but our next virtual caller is Melissa razuri Melissa please state your name address you have two minutes uh yes hi I'm calling in support well my name is Melissa rosui I reside at 2131 Cali drive I'm also the board member of norand D Shores condo Apartments um I've been an owner for 24 years and living here in Normandy Isle um I'm in support of the North Beach parking I've attended the meetings I don't think you're going to have everyone agree on the parking but living here for that long we all know the struggles um that it's been getting home not finding parking car is just sitting here for for weeks um anyways you already know the situation and I just wanted to say I'm in support of the parking decals in North Beach and thank you for your time thank you please go ahead say your name and address my name is Arana Hernandez I reside in Byron Avenue in the North Shore and I want to talk mostly about uh procedure obviously there are many people against there are many people for we have neighbors have collected 549 signatures uh knocking on doors on on the streets and that has been like organic people have taken that so there are many people that oppose this for various reasons and I'll get to it in a second but according to the city Charter there is specific reasons in which you will do a Zone like this and you should read the the section on the charter it says that one is because people overwhelmingly asked for it there have been no surveys so you know so there are people talking for and against we've heard my uh you know Larry Schaffer for instance that he doesn't leave in the inside of one of these zones so there are people opining you don't know anything about them you should do a survey so that you know who's who's for and who's against so the other reason why uh uh you will do it is because of the competition of outside cars and this is also in the charter and this has not been proven for the NorthShore and B uh B and there's an alleged study that hasn't been finished yet that hasn't been produced and hasn't been public the reasons that you alleg and that everybody who has spoken here have have alleged of derly cars abandoned cars this could be solved with a call to the parking department so why are why is enforcement not happening why the parking Department hasn't done anything then you have given reasons like that these will limit airbnbs as you as you know the the city Charter provides for permits for legal herbn bees an bbnb that has 11 rooms can get 10 permits for parking so I'm sorry neighbors this is not going to stop the legal bnbs that park around the only competition on the North Shore are churches and synagogues you're not going to limit them you're going to give them permits The Neighbors in the North Shore complain about St Joseph we could use S Joseph parking if there was negotiation from the city you talk about limiting new residents you're not going to talk new you're not going to limit new res thank you so much your two minutes are up I'll I'll give you another oh thank you so you know so all the reasons that you have alleged are not valid for the North Shore and bcan Beach then also we have handsome Lots in the west Lots we have three big ones where people can park for 15 month residents they are currently under 50% occupancy why are these Lots not promoted everybody in the NorthShore lives within a couple of blocks of that right so people could park there so um so I will urge you to do enforcement and to exhaust all possibilities because what you're going to do is not to add parking you're going to remove Neighbors which is different and now going on biscan Beach and Northshore these are loow income people that they might not pay the first year but also the city Charter says that the charges for parking in restricted zones have to be covered by the fees collected that means that what you don't charge them the first year for these $240,000 that's it's going to cost you going charge them the second year and the third you're also giving license to the tow trucks the money that the tow trucks collect don't go to the city they go to the tow trucks so who's benefiting from it why are you rushing through this without surveys without studies without looking at the specific specificity of every neighborhood in Normandy there's people for and there's business owners there's uh landlords there's renters you should sit with all these parties to work it out if you do a pilot program a pilot program is in one area of the city but what you're doing is not a pilot program because you're doing it everywhere so my question is why the shy process in which you're cutting Corners you're ignoring the G City Charters and you just want to go on these at full speed harming people that cannot pay for this that many have cars that they are on the company name on their sister name on their cousin name that they you know there are going to be inconvenience for that large families because we are overpopulated that that have many cars on the case by case basis say it's a recipe for corruption so thank you for your time I hope you put the breaks on this pending surveys studies sitting with stakeholders to do it as well as possible and not to harming low-income people thank you thank you our next virtual speaker has a screen name of canvas please state your name address you have two minutes you may speak go ahead please they're unmuted but we can't hear them uh we have let's go here to the chambers go ahead please hi and jise I live on 7900 Tatum Waterway Drive um just wanted to speak a little bit of my experience I have uh grown up in Miami moved away for college to other cities have lived in several towns in Miami and ended up at my favorite town which is north beach which I selected it because of its peace its convenience and also access for my guests to come and visit me doing regarding the parking that we have currently um I have lived in New York City in Boston in downtown F Lauderdale in places where there's deep parking regulations and programs like the ones that you are trying to Pilot currently um and in my humble uh opinion it has done nothing but inconvenience the residents and their guests in order that we have to monitor our own guests and sign them up for own parking and when we host events and so on that we have to be on top of that and constantly in our mind and constantly in fear of being towed of Our Guest having to pay extra fees all the time of getting tickets and it hurts me that a town that I chose specifically because of its Joy it's peace it's neighborly Community it's many residents that have lived there for year that make this a true community that this is happening um I understand it's coming from a good place and I commend the fact that you've been holding meetings to try to change the program to hear people to hear what people want and improve it a little bit um as an example the building that I chose has a social hall where I host my church Community for game groups um I also will have my wedding rehearsal there in a couple of months I am concerned that the visitor parking permits as they stand right now are not enough I need to only host one of these events in order for my permits for the month to be used up and for maybe my mom and my sister and my brother when they come see me or my fiance's parents from out of town to not have enough so revisit the visitor permits please thank you congrats Let's uh screen name of canvas please unmute yourself please unmute yourself is there anyone else in the chamber that wishes to speak ma'am you have your hand raised you wish to speak please approach the podium hi Nancy Duke 1450 Lincoln Road I wasn't going to speak about this and I really didn't know a lot about it but um I live in South Beach and we have resident parking whether we had a it wouldn't matter to me if we had a sticker or not actually sometimes I think it would be better if we did it would be easier to identify cars and I'm actually thinking about implementing that back in my own condo something I've been talking about because it's easier to tell who belongs there and who's a who's a resident and who is from the outside so I know some of you maybe are apprehensive about it but it really is good in the long run so I have nothing to say but good things about it did you want to speak please I I'm sorry which microphone does it matter I was told that the oh Karen Bromberg 7332 Gary Avenue on Parkview Island I'm from Park 7440 Avenue Carlos Le I'm sorry I was told that the parking issues were going to start at 2:30 so I was misinformed we're going to start soon it probably be a 15 minutes or so so Parkview Island hasn't been discussed yet okay thank you thank you yeah you want to say something it is a public hearing anyone else no one I see no one in the audience no one in Zoom we may conclude mayor great thank you all let's oh right under the gun okay go ahead last one good afternoon everyone my name is p elabel Mitchell I live on Ocean Terrace um number one I'm not sure how the program is going to run I guess you're going to go through that on at 2:30 correct because it starts of so many different um um changes that has been done uh some of the residents I spoke to are in favor of the program but they AR uh under the understanding that um uh they'll have paid for Park and this park will be guaranteed to them which I don't believe is the right thing and um the main thing we need to address is the lack of re enforcement the new buildings um were approved there were 10 building uh four buildings a four units now a 10 units how do you explain parking you know we're expanding the buildings but no parking um and those uh 10 or six extra buildings don't have any requirements for parking the future residents of many of those are well off and we compete without our parking with or without the plan it's also my understanding that houses of worship will get unlimited passes how are we going to reinforce this uh it's unknown to me if these will be unlimited for patrons if it will be annual passes or just designated for the time of service or can they use it all all day WR all week long how how does that work in any scenario the res who compete with already existing crowd very crowded parking my neighbors are worried about the extra expenses added to the bureaucracy as well having to register not only their cars but also to pay for each visitor especially those who I have no access to emails we're talking about six 65 and older that some of them are not computer literate at all I hear many voices of frustration of those who come home after very long day of work and have to look for parking sometimes the groceries and everything else kids hungry and they don't they don't have a you could take a few more moments but we do need to to wrap up so um where was I thank you um oh I just learned that there's a parking program for $15 per month to park on the west Lots with guaranteed spaces maybe we could extend this uh an offer to other surface parking lot um for people who are willing to pay and have their assigned parking so I'm asking you to reconsider this vote today and explore more alternative to this plan before deciding to force his own residence so what what's uh what's the rush on deciding it today is there any political ambition what uh what is the idea behind this is it Financial I would like to um to know thank you thank you very much we're going to hear that item shortly there's a couple of time certains uh that we're going to hear let's go to r7a yes sir r7a is a public hearing coam portion of 13th Street in honor of Gloria esant the item requires a 57s vote r7a anyone from the public anyone on Zoom Ralph no sir good afternoon again Mitch novic I always uh I've been cautioning you against naming any public facility uh for those who are still alive uh you may remember the ten tennis Stadium back in Flamingo Park many years ago named after a prominent Banker whose indiscretions emerged and uh there was an outcry for his name to be removed ultimately the tennis stadium was demolished uh I think it's bad policy thank you thank you do we have a motion yep uh so we have a motion in a second commissioner Rosen Gonzalez where's Mitch I just heard oh I understand where you're coming from and we've always really protected against too much naming or naming pollution if you will but the reason that we're doing this is because when we drove around the city of Miami Beach there was only one street named after a woman Barbara cment and that's unacceptable because we want we're 50% of the population and as we drive around the streets of Miami Beach we need to set the example that not only did prominent men build this city but so did women and uh and so we're just trying to equalize things now if we wanted to remove some male names and add some females there I'd be fine with that and if you have any suggestions as you drive around the city we can do that too but what we're looking to do is is is be one of the first to set the examples and by the way it's not just that when you look at you know money it's all you know mostly men on money when you went to you know if you go into Congress and you look at all the statues there's only men there and the problem with that is that it just sets the example that we only have men um you know only men are deser deserve to like be on money or have a statue or have a street named after them so we're trying to change that and I would like to um congratulate my colleague Laura Dominguez and Lynette long and the commission for women who really pushed this initiative forward and drove the entire city and made a case for this so I just want you to understand Mitch that it's not that we're going crazy NE what I would ask the body is um as we do this equalizing events so that we celebrate women maybe we hold back a little bit on any more you know coamings um in the interim so that we don't end up with too many streets that are co-named I appreciate your argument I'm all for equality okay thanks thanks we have one more speaker virtually Daniel Caldo state your name you have two minutes yes ialo with Miami Design preservation League I just wanted to Echo what commissioner Rosen Gonzalez mentioned that there has been an effort to increase visibility for women who have been part of the history of Miami Beach and with 13th Street being renamed for glorious Stefon who's the owner of the cardoo and she follows a long line of female owners that went back also including Barbara be Capman who at one time with her son owned the property and was among the first to renovate and restore and so I think that um Mitch's points are well taken at the same time though we need more women to be honored uh for the history that they've been part of in Miami Beach and uh three names are not forever so if something in the future would happen the commission could change it but I think it's about time we even the playing field so fully supportive of this initiative thank you thank you and I'm I'm glad uh commissioner Ros gonalez you mentioned lyette long she was here this morning to speak about it we've heard for a while this has been a passion and a mission of hers and I am sure she is reaping a tremendous pride in in her efforts so this is what makes our city great when people have a passion for something and they come to us and go through the neighborhood and and get things accomplished so thank you we ready to take the vote I heard a motion from commissioner Dominguez second from commissioner Fernandez all in favor I close passes item passes r7b r7b is a public hearing co-named portion of 12th Street in honor of Naomi Wilzig it requires 57s vote 7 B I'll second it's a public hearing anyone from the public no one from the public available I have a motion for commissioner bot seconded by commissioner commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um everybody knows who Gloria Stefon is and that's who we just named the street after but not everybody knows who Naomi Wiig um is and she was an American if you've ever seen the world erotic art museum on Washington Avenue if you've never visited I encourage you to go once and take a walk through it really is a tremendous collection of um erotica memorability anyway she was a she was a tremendous woman and ahead of her time and I believe was she a holocaust Survivor potentially too I think that she um escaped the um the Holocaust she um and so she was a pretty yes she was she she uh no her husband uh survived aitz and uh so she constantly so she's not just representative of our community because of her world erotica Museum but also she was an advocate for um Holocaust Survivors and uh very generous with our community so um happy to support this and sponsor okay ready to vote Yes sir all in favor motion passes 70 r7c r7c is a public hearing adopt six Amendment fiscal year 2024 operating budget r7c before you even start thank you Jason and tamaa for all your hard work and obviously Raquel and Eric as well all right good afternoon TOA Stuart budget director this is the Sixth Amendment to the operating budget it contains two items one is for the Miami Beach blue zones project that was approved by the commission at the June 26th meeting and this is for a six-month assessment and evaluation process the second item is a reopening of the ground floor floor bathrooms at Unidad and this is again a pilot program for a total cost of $72,000 these both would come from our general fund reserves I'll move it commissioner Fernandez and I just want to highlight um I think commissioner Rosa Gonzalez you had placed an item on the agenda while back to went to neighborhoods um to reopen the bathrooms at Unidad so that so that our our residents who go to the park and enjoy the park can have facilities to use when they're enjoying the park as so I just want to thank the administration for having listened uh to the feedback from us but most importantly for the residents who wanted those bathrooms to open the Unidad uh so I'm happy to support this item thank you ready to vote Yes sir so there is no one in the audience nor in Zoom wishing to speak I have a motion by commissioner bot second by commissioner Suarez all in favor motion carries 70 r7d r7d is a public hearing adopt e8th amendment to fiscal year 2024 capital budget r7d public hearing yes so this item has 12 this budget amendment has 12 items it proposes an increase of 84.5 million and a transfer of 1.2 million between existing projects the first 10 projects are related to the Future water and SE sewer Bond issuance of $85 million and I'll just read through the list and the total amounts that would be appropriated so the the first is the water and sewer Mains rehab program for $44.5 million then there's a Wastewater station rehab project for 22 million the fot utilities relocation program for $7.9 million the Wastewater manhole rehab project for $3.9 million water pump stations improvements 2.2 million sewer pump stations Odor Control project for 1.5 million durm and EPA consent decree 1.35 million Public Works operations facility 229,000 the storm waterer critical needs project 184,000 the scata mlc systems project for $50,000 so those are the first set of projects for the bond and then ITB 11 is a water and sewer Mains rehab this is a transfer of $1.2 million from the water meter replacement project this project has been completed with savings and the final pro project is the NorthShore bansel r canopy project the contractor's proposal has come in higher than the budget and so the recommendation is to appropriate 41,700 of North Beach quality of life to fully fund this project we have a motion in a second let call the r r Voice vote Yes sir uh there's no one in the audience it is a public hearing there's no one the audience no one in Zoom I have a motion by commissioner Fernandez second to by commissioner sarz all in favor r7d I motion carries 70 r7e r7e is set a set proposed fiscal year 2025 millage rate Debt Service rate roll back rate it is item r7e so this item is to adopt the proposed Village rate of 6.1 481 Mills as discussed at the last F meeting to discuss the budget uh if you all approve this number it will be sent to the property appraisers office we will have a chance to go down on the Mig rate if you choose to in September this is a ceiling that we're we're setting oh that made me smile call the votee this is not a public hearing it is motion by commissioner Fernandez second by commissioner sarez r7e all in favor motion carry 70 r7e is approved r7f r7f is set proposed fiscal year 25 millage Debt Service roll back rates for Normandy Shores r7f it is not a public hearing and this is to adopt the Opera millage rate of 7789 Mills for the normal shes HOA we have met with the the district over the budget process they have approved the budget and also the Mage rate let's call a vote motion by commissioner Fernandez second by commissioner bot r7f all in favor motion carries item is approved unanimously 70 thank you there's five parking items we've gotten a few emails about it to say the least there were four Community meetings um which I attended everyone um this is commissioner Suarez's item co-sponsored by commissioner magazine and commissioner Fernandez let me call the numbers it's r7g h i j and related C4S yes sir I'm going to read all these titles they're all public hearings uh r7g is a public hearing create restricted residential parking Zone 26 Town Center r7h is public hearing create restricted residential parking Zone 27 Northshore r7i is create restricted residential parking Zone 28 biscan Beach r7j is create restrict residential parking Zone 29 Normandy Isle the companion uh consent item that was separated is C4s it's a referral to Public Safety neighborhood quality of life committee extend meter parking hours adjacent to North North Beach businesses commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor I have a little bit of an introduction and a PowerPoint slideshow so PJ can you get that ready soon I knew that was coming uh after an entire year of knocking on thousands of doors in North Beach one of the biggest concerns for its residents was overdevelopment and parking right now those two are on a collision course where the only people that are going to be injured are residents residential parking zones should not be controversial Sur side bal Harbor Coral Gables all of them have successful residential parking zones in their residential neighborhoods most of Miami Beach has successful residential parking zones in fact every Coastal municipality up and down Dade County has residential parking zones within residential neighborhoods the idea that North Beach residents should be deprived of this quality of life amenity is absurd North Beach is a developer's dream and ripe for overdevelopment about a dozen new highrises are already approved and are in the pipeline street parking is already severely limited as the new developments come online the parking shortage will become dire more and more users will be competing for the same amount of parking spaces there are now no matter how many garages we build there will always be a finite number of spaces that residents and non-residents will have to compete with no reasonable person is arguing that there isn't a lack of street parking in North Beach no reasonable person is saying residential parking zones don't work South Beach and mid Beach proves they do the only argument being manufactured today is that change is not needed however whether we like it or not significant changes are coming for North Beach between overdevelopment tourism and parking I understand change is hard but the status quo is not an option sure it's a lot easier to keep our heads buried in the sand and pretend everything is okay and everything will be okay despite thousands of short-term rental units coming online in the next few years we as a commission were elected to make hard decisions our role isn't purely Sy symbolic our role is to legislate and propose meaningful solutions to current and foreseeable problems North Beach always had the adage of being the redheaded stepchild so it's time to bring them in the fold as a political body we need to have the wisdom to see what's coming and the courage to do what's right what we cannot do is stand idly by and watch the North Beach parking situation rapidly deteriorate as these new buildings come online and then claim we didn't see it coming we can ignore way out of this we can't ignore our way out of this our predecessors left us with this problem and we're the ones right now who have to deal with the consequences of their decisions so PJ with that can you please put up the slideshow please okay so I put together a pretty comprehensive PowerPoint uh go to the next slide show please okay so uh for all of us data Wiz uh Walker consultant study is in the final draft of their study I was able to get a a copy of it and in you can see in the proposed areas red represents uh the high 85% plus utilization rate and so as you can see most of North Beach is all red black shows that there are no on street parking go to next slide please and by the way that was that was that was just finished last month here's a brief uh an over overview of the private developments that are going up in town center uh over 1,400 new short-term rental and residential units are approved uh each one is going to have an average of only one parking space per unit um unregulated street parking will further be strained next okay so let me run down some of the abuses that we've seen and heard from many of the residents who have contacted me um and that we've heard through through campaigning last year um there's a shortterm rentals Airbnb vbo uh right now you can go on your Airbnb app and you can look on the map where North Peach is and you can see that people are doing Airbnb and they're advertising free parking for multiple vehicles and large crowds okay right now there's also an issue of illegal subletting and overcrowding of units um there is also car apps such as turo where you have individuals who have basically started an Enterprise of renting out spaces uh renting out their cars and parking their cars on residential uh on street parking which I'll show you on the next slide tourists looking for free parking on the weekend if they're going to the beach business patrons and employees utilizing residential parking spaces and of course spaces for storage and Commercial purposes next slide please here are just a few images that residents sent me of the parking situation in North Peach and you can see there's trailers picking up multiple parking spaces there's boats there's Vehicles there left covered uh they're not in working order and we we don't know if by the way that if that's a resident or not a resident uh who owns the car on the right next slide please there's some more images of just what appears to be abandoned cars and construction vehicles and again we we have no idea if these belong to Residents visitors or uh anyone else that decides to leave their car there next slide one of the biggest issues I also hear is that we have people who leave their scooters parked between space to save a space for uh for anyone that's coming if we have a residential parking um Zone this would be prohibited and scooters would be designated to be in specific spots and we can actually enforce that next slide so uh I think a couple people mentioned we don't have an Airbnb problem uh I took a screenshot from the app on Airbnb VRBO and turo as you can see they're everywhere in North Beach next slide um here's a couple descriptions free parking uh Wi-Fi with free parking and you know the middle slide says free street parking is available and and perfect for large groups traveling with multiple Vehicles okay this was taken from one of the Airbnb slides in the neighborhood next slide please uh and so this I went a little deeper in the turo app you can see that the preview shows that these cars are actually parked on site or on Street this is clearly an abuse of uh of the free parking situation in North Beach next please okay so let's go into what the pilot program will be okay um through many through the four Community meetings you know the the the concern was heard loud and clear that they prefer not to have multiple zones and so to make this a seamless as possible we decided to make one single zone and that is basically north of 65th Street West of Harding Avenue excluding uh the islands as far as parking goes uh next slide please okay so let's go over some of the specifics because there's a lot of misinformation going around uh anticipated start date is November 1st uh only applies to residential street parking metered spaces surface parking lots will stay metered each household will get up to two permits with additional permits issued on a Case by case basis permits and visitor and virtual visitor passes are free of charge for the pilot program the first two months no citations will be given at any time during the pilot program there's going to be no Towing and I believe I I'm going to make a friendly Amendment if the if the parking program is successful and we do Implement a residential uh parking program will'll only tow after the third strike um there's a lot of talk about cost and if if we were to go forward with the cost right now the cost is $56 a year that's 15 cents a day I think there's been some uh reference to the West slots where it's $15 a month that comes out to $200 a year so and that and you have to go all the way to the West slots to park this program will hopefully give more control for people to park in front of their homes instead of having to walk to the West Lots um also a benefit to the the pilot program and you register it's only $1 an hour parking meters Citywide okay uh another modific ation we made was permits apply to any type of residential household condominium apartment Town Homes single family homes everyone gets two parking passes per resident per household no matter if you have on-site parking or not and by the way and the reason I the reason I think that's also fair is because when you buy a unit and you have and it has on-site parking you're paying for that extra parking space so um it it's not it's not it's not a it's unnecessarily free that you're getting an extra parking space you're you're already paying for it either in your property taxes or or the or the rent next slide please okay um there's been also a lot of misinformation the there's an allegation that of those dozen or so private developments that they are going to be included they are going to be excluded so I'm just making that very clear for those uh in the audience and who's watching next slide please okay so let's go over some of the misinformation that's been uh been thrown around uh on the left you can see that there was a post where it says if you don't want to pay $82 a month as a parking tax to the city of Miami Beach right to Commissioners now I don't know where $82 a month came from I think that's highly uh ridiculous um so so I I I I can't speak to that uh there is a parking tax uh the pilot program is free the average permit cost for other zones like I said before is only $56 a year which comes out to 15 cents a day this is not a money maker for the city we are not trying to to to raise revenue with this program we're barely trying to just make even a break even uh this is going to be a burdensome process registration is available online or in person and will be available at the North Beach building department satellite office it'll be very easy and straightforward to to apply um another allegation is garages are the solution and right now the only garage that we have in the pipeline is the 72nd Street Garage okay that's a 500 space garage that will be replacing a 3155 surface lot uh 315 parking space surface lot so we're only gaining 185 parking spaces for that area and that's going to cost us anywhere between 70 and $100 million okay uh that's cost $440,000 a space to build so you know I want everyone to be very cautious when people say you know we need more garages garages are not the the Silver Bullet to a parking problem it is it is one aspect but when you take into account the time it it it takes to build because let me let me tell you when that parking lot is going to go under construction what's going to happen to those 315 spaces those are all metered and so they're going to end up having to park in residential parking spaces next slide okay no community outreach um residential parking zones approved for North Beach with no community outreach this was unanimously approved by by the finance committee the transportation advisory committee and four Community meetings were held in north beach with the residents um another talking point is this is an Enforcement issue enforcement right now is comp is currently complaint driven and this pilot program will make it proactive this pilot program will make it easier for our parking officials to identify which vehicles belong in the area and which do not and another issue is they say well why don't we enforce the 48 hour parking rule there's it's a very simple reason because the 48 hour parking rule is not resident friendly and I'll tell you why if you work from home and you don't have to drive very much you're going to have to move your car every 48 hours or you'll get towed is that Resident friendly if what happens if you want to go on vacation and you want to go out out of town for a week right now what you have to do is you have to send uh you have to go to the build you have to go to the parking Department you have to tell them I'm going to be out of town for a week to to me that is ridiculous I shouldn't have to message The Parking Department to say that hey I'm out of town I'm not going to be able to move my car for a week every time I want to travel um also what a lot of residents came up to me and says if you're in a dispute with one of your neighbors and they know you're going out of town they'll call the parking department on you and get your car towed there's really right now there's no way for a parking official to know if that's a residential car or a visitor P or a visitor next slide commission just how many more slides I know a lot I think that some of this is also going to come up in questioning I know it is and you spent a tremendous amount of time on this so I I I appreciate that I'll tell you why it's important it's important because there's so much misinformation being around a lot of people are watching and I want to make sure that we dispel a lot of the uh the lies that have been that have put on uh into people's uh heads so information predatory Ransom to enrich the tow companies there's no Towing in the first year and what I'm going to propose is that there's going to be a three strike rule of after three strikes uh after the program ends then you would get towed um there's also only one per permit per unit all households will qualify for up to two permits and additional permits may be issued at the parking Department's discretion next slide airbnb's hostile bed and breakfast is is entitled to 24 hours 24 hour passes per day this is completely false short-term rentals do not qualify for residential parking permits right now uh what one of the speaker says is per the city Charter code which it's not in the city Charter it's actually in the municipal code is that bed and breakfasts and hosts get uh passes but when we looked at the at with planning there are no bed and breakfast is and hostels in North Beach so that will not apply and and if and there's airbnbs airbnbs are are actually classified differently than bed and breakfast is and they will for sure be excluded from the program so no transient use in North Beach will be given any sort of pass for parking in residential neighborhoods I just want that to be very clear uh there's a claim that temples will get 24-hour permits if you are a temple you're going to get a uh and you have have a certain amount of con congregants every every Temple or every religious institution has a finite number of congregants anywhere between 50 or or 100 or 200 most of those congregants are are Miami Beach residents okay if you happen to be in mid Beach and South Beach we're going to offer a a parking pass so that they can park next to their synagogue in North Beach there is already a precedent set for that on 41st Street this will not this this is nothing new um claim new buildings will not be excluded false new private developments are excluded from this program next slide please okay this was placed on people's cars um it just I think this past Sunday and which is which is really interesting because the email address Northshore Alliance gmail.com when you email that when I email that person they said uh I've been receiving emails about this for the past month but I'm afraid this is a case of identity theft and a usage of my email when not authorized I'm not a resident of Florida I am in a I'm in California as a college student please refrain from charging any fees doing any digital reports when this is not the right person at all thank you so much so I just find this very strange that uh someone is actually paying money to print out these flyers place them on cars with what appears to be some sort of identity theft with an email and to me this looks like a political campaign against a program that is supposed to help the residents of Miami Beach next slide please okay here's some of the common concerns common concern is this program is Half Baked and we should delay or defer the program was introduced in December 2023 the administration had eight months to work on it and if passed it won't be implemented until November 2020 24 that's nearly a year of planning right now it's baked to a crisp more garages are the answer like I said before garages are not the Silver Bullet to a parking problem in North Beach it certainly will help but it's not the end all be all and no matter what you do no matter how many garages you build you're still going to have a finite number of spaces that residents and non-residents are going to compete with more enforcement is the an answer like I said the 48 hour rule is not resident friendly conversion of parallel spaces to angle and removing bul bouts is the answer the parking department will conduct a parking survey in North Beach to identify where this can be done I believe commissioner bot has sponsored this item I have co-sponsored this item um cresy cresy biscane Beach should be carved out the parking problem will simply shift over to cresy if it's carved out and by the way 85th Street and cresy Boulevard are only three blocks from the beach they are not immune from visitors going to the beach so it's there's no point in in doing a program in one area when it'll just shift the problem to another part of of North Beach next slide okay who might be against this Developers for starters we will need to be we will need to build more on-site parking um and find tenant or find tenants without extra cars uh they're current these developers who have signed up for these short-term rentals are current relying on unregulated street parking uh Realtors property management companies will make it more difficult to illegally rent um to to overcrowding units where um we in the in the Florida building code it's very specific on how many people you can rent to uh single family units rented to multiple unrelated individuals when I went personally knocking on door Todo you know I I heard stories where people have 8 10 people to a room where there's six seven beds in a single room and that's to me that's really no way to live okay um and and expect that every single one of those people have a have a car in the neighborhood that that just puts burdens in on on the rest of the neighborhood who who have a reasonable amount of cars uh and paid political activist for reasons suspected next slide and and to to a greater extent a parking uh a residential parking program will have a lot of crime prevention you know we're going to have license plate readers used to enforce residential parking Zone and enhance Public Safety so for example if there an LPR picks up that there's a stolen vehicle we're going to know about it it keeps and just to make sure that it keeps track of the vehicle not the person so uh just want to make that absolutely clear um residential Park parking zones bring a sense of structure and organizations to the neighborhood it will no longer be a parking freefor all next slide community outreach we sent mailers to all affected residents we held Community meetings we had Direct Outreach we're going to have a two-month educational campaign and we're going to have in-person assistance next slide please here are some of the pictures of the community meetings that we've had next slide this is just a brief timeline like I said before we started in December 2023 and we are now in July 2024 and if this program goes into effect it would be November 1st basically a year of of of uh planning next time next slide here are some of the safeguards we put into into the pilot by the way this this Pilot's harmless there's no citations giving given there's uh in the first two months there's no Towing no one's going to be towed during this whole time uh there's going to be temporary permits uh issued can be issued for 90 days to allow residents time to switch their vehicle registration to Miami Beach in case they're not registered to Miami Beach uh leniency we're going to say the first citation given after the first two months can be waved and will be waved uh caregivers and congregants will be accommodated by the administration and exclusions all new private developments under construction and or approved will be excluded from participating next slide accessibility um for those who may not be aware of how the program works um it basically starts at 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. so before so after 7:00 a.m. it's unrestricted so if you have a plumber or an air conditioning repair man come they're able to park in that spot until 6 p.m. um business parking meter parking in commercial zones will stay metered uh right now I have uh two permits per household uh and visitor passes visitor passes are available to all residents free of charge during the pilot maximum of 30 visitor passes per person per quarter next slide public perception who was in the Miami Herald um this is Pablo I live here I'm supposed to come back really tired from work and I just want to be home uh there's no space for me he says he's driven up an hour and circling his neighborhood and the surrounding areas for parking next slide these are some of the emails that I've gotten I've copied and paste them as a resident of Normandy Island this program is a godsend hello I'm so happy to hear this is happening finally I've been ripping my hair out night trying to find parking hoping this time we residents of North Beach will have a final solution at the benefits of all Us North Beach residents I live in North Beach going on 15 years and I've seen it all thanks for stepping up for the for the true full-time residence of North Beach I live in park view condo Point condo and I've never seen the mess we have going on here it's very worrisome bullet point 3 our neighbor illegally converted his house into a monster rental with eight residents who all have cars they have taken up most of the street this will help for people who abuse the limited resources we have I support the program I wish we could get it started sooner next slide okay so in conclusion residents are tired of coming home from work and circling for to find parking I mean people have told me that they have to park six seven blocks away and they actually Uber home okay um residents shouldn't have to compete with visitors I I understand now that if you want to have a party or a wedding it's nice to be able to have free parking for your guests but that comes at the expense of residents who live in the area as elected officials we need to prioritize residents specifically the ones who pay taxes all of us pay taxes for nonresidents and visitors um this is a one-year pilot program nothing is perfect at first this allows us to work out the Kinks during the pilot um you know there's a there's an old saying do not let perfect be the enemy of good this is a great start we can ask our parking director himself if he feels comfortable moving forward with this with this pilot this has been a long time coming this started with Monica uh she was fully supported and it has taken until this point where we've we need a a a political decision to make and have the courage to move forward um this is going to start in November 202 uh like I said November is going to have ample time to create to install signs and create them additional community outreach and final administrative loose ends and I also uh last I also want to address some of the allegations being made that myself along with the sponsors of this item are somehow In Cahoots with tow truck companies I'm not doing this to enrich myself in fact I donate my entire salary to Animal Sanctuary nonprofits I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do for the taxpaying residents in North Beach who are always forgotten and haven't had a meaningful agenda item for the 33141 ZIP code other than up zoning incentives now it's easy to listen to those that have vest that to those that have a vested political and financial interest in making sure that this does not pass it's also easy to criticize any plan while not offering any real solutions to a problem but we didn't sign up for this job only to make the easy decisions we are in this we are in this to raise the standard of living in Miami Beach and to place residents first in our agenda thank you thank you commissioner Suarez and um I took a little leeway in letting uh go over the five minutes but I I do want to thank you whatever whatever side of the aisle you are on this issue undeniably how much time you have spent on this and listening and the staff and the staff the community meetings it's uh the revisions um and that is uh that is admirable I think we should go to public uh if there's any public comment this is a public hearing we'll start with here in the chambers if you're wishing to speak on this item please approach the podium go ahead please you have two minutes state your name and address Lisa sacko North Beach again I've come before you twice today my third time and my third time ever speaking in front of the Commission in 20 years um I am a local community activist and I do go to a lot of organizations and a lot of events in Miami Beach I feel very passionate about passing this and I'm very um offended by a recent email that Alliance Group put me on their website saying that I'm not in favor of this and I see that that woman is here today and I let her know that I am in favor of this and I believe in putting residents first and I understand the concerns of those who say that they have family and friends and visitors that is a concern all over in big cities but we need to do what's best for North Beach and this is going to take time and it's going to take a full year that's why it's a pilot program and there's going to be other ways to raise revenue once we increase residents first and we value our residents it's going to change the Dynamics and our community all together in that area it is going to prevent crime it is going to make it safer it's going to look cleaner we're going to beautify and we're going to do things for our community more people are going to get out and walk around they're going to feel safe to walk around you don't know your neighbors when there are people parking who don't live in our community so I may be a landlord and I and also a single family homeowner and I own in South Beach mid Beach and North Beach and I really do believe that having residence zone parking in South Beach is what makes South Beach a very easy commutable City for those who work and don't um and live in our city and are able to go to work and come back to their home and find parking and you cannot do that in North Beach because of these issues so I urge you to please vote yes thank you you said earlier you're not a public speaker but you're you're pretty good so our first virtual caller has the initials LS please state your name address and please unmute yourself you have two minutes hi my name is Lily I'm a landlord in North Beach I own both the multif family building as well as a uh condo and when I first heard about this program I was against it because I was informed that it would cost an excessive amount and um my tenants are very hardworking individuals they wouldn't be able to for that and through the process of speaking to multiple Commissioners and W in to many of you um in hearing back and participating in the community meetings I realized that this program would be a net benefit to Residents um my tenants many of them have to circle around the um the blocks of Normandy Shores trying to find parking after they get home in the evening many times very late in the evening um and it's not fair to them that other people are taking parking spots that don't that are they're visiting their airbnbs down the street I've seen dilapitated cars um and I've also seen crime as well with individuals that might not belong in that neighborhood um so I just want to say the entire process has been transparent uh I feel that the um Commissioners have gone through the process and I apologize I've vacillated quite a bit um on my opinion of this program but I finally you know feel that you've listened to a lot of the objections and addressed those objections and I feel that we can't continue with the status quo um the status quo as we've already highlighted is not going to work I I don't know when all these new developments are coming online but there will be competition for parking for the residents that have lived here for a long period of time so I appreciate everyone's hard work that went into this and um hope you will pass this and hopefully we share with us as well the data that comes from this pilot and course correct if there are any other issu time is up I apologize mrone you have two minutes hi um when I came before you earlier I made the mistake of saying that it was that I didn't feel like it was completely baked and that cake is baked um we have serious problems that have got to be addressed and I'm Blown Away by the presentation and I'm not easily impressed with a lot um but a lot of the misinformation I actually had believed and I'm I'm corrected and I appreciate everything I also wanted to say um we have buildings and one live I have a 20 story building next door to me that has no parking and I'm just going to tell you it is a nightmare they Park in the park they park anywhere they can and they stay there um so it even even in the metered spaces we have Vans we have utilities we have anything that will just they stay there so that limits even people who want to go to the park or go to the beach or do anything there's nowhere to park and I just wanted to say I appreciate it and I I would hope that if any of you were considering not voting for this that you might reconsider thank you thank you our next virtual speaker is Wayne Roberts Mr Roberts state your name address and you have two minutes Wayne Roberts sou the fifth I'm not in north of course but I was so impressed with David Suarez's presentation um uh we we deal with big issues whether it's a 50100 million bond issue or or something like parking and we don't have the details in the discussion he took the time more than minutes I think it deserved more than five minutes to outline why this makes sense and uh if I was on a board uh I would be not only impressed with David Suarez but the plan itself uh you know we have a one-year pilot program uh in the process to find The Kinks um I I I'm trying to think through the issue one Kink may be like if uh I don't know how uh uh day passes for for permit holders would would apply maybe giving them 12 a year or 15 a year where they can go online for $3 a day or something for visitors uh I don't know if that's baked in already but like what a great presentation thank you David thank you go ahead please say your name W Jam 8305 crisby Boulevard um I'm here on behalf of neighbors residents and family members that are residents of North Beach um I'm going to thank commissioner Suarez and the co-sponsors Fernandez and magazine as I understand for finally doing something for North Beach South Beach mid Beach they have all the amenities uh it seems like we were a place not in Miami Beach uh parking is herend this uh basically after 5:00 p.m. it's lockdown for friends and family complete lockdown if you move you have to go shopping uh I I live in biscan Beach right now but I live in central uh you can't get anywhere you lost your parking you have to drive around for an hour two hours uh leave it eight blocks away some people have problems I have a walking disability uh I had to make it my business to drag myself to go into my apartment at some point so I want to thank all of you here and I really asking every single one of the Commissioners together are making an a decision on this so please vote Yes most of you campaigned on residents first and this is how you going to show us that we are your residents and you're thinking of our accessibility our accommodations and our security thank you so much I can for more time Ain Bromberg and I live at 7332 Gary Avenue um it was a great presentation but there there's still some big problems that aren't being addressed for example I own a townhouse and then we have the Park View Point Condominiums and my I've been my mother bought the townhouse in 1961 there are only two of of us that are like like really long term and when I was young we had a community center on the on the island with a swimming pool and a snack bar and everybody used to take advantage of this the park Viewpoint building um offered to make a park and more parking spaces if they could demolish the community center to enlarge their parking lot and but what what's happening now is most of the people that park around the park with a very few spaces are residents of the Park View Point Apartments they park there because maybe their space is too far away in the building so they're the worst offenders and I don't know how you're going to take care of that or change that um um also I've seen things like two cars will pull up one guy will get out of the car no one guy will get Park his car in his space get out of the car and leave with the other person to go to work and that's during the day so this isn't going to address that either um oh boy sorry oh I do notify the parking Department often for cars that are parked around the park we have very few SPAC for guests I don't know maybe 30 and we have so many 10 people and um those MJ fluid your time is up ma'am just let me finish one thing you let other people go on thank you oh I was saying that I notify the parking department for cars that are parked around the park for they leave them for 10 days after 10 days I call and report it to the Parking Department I don't know how this is going to change on Parkview Island I just don't know I I don't understand and with these high-rise buildings going up one space per unit that's a nightmare I don't know how you can make that better I don't understand I don't think that's being addressed that's what I'm saying our next virtual caller is Janessa Janessa please go ahead state your name you have two minutes hello can you hear me yes okay um hi my name is Janessa and I live on 79th Street North Beach resident I just want to say that I do think it sounds like a great idea because I've lived here for about 5 years and it is increasingly difficult to find parking and like they say yes we do drive around all night if we leave trying to find a space or there's always free parking on Collins at night time but you have to wake up or early and go move your car but anyways my point is that I would like to understand how you're going to secure the fact that we get two spaces for each apartment because I did watch the whole presentation but didn't quite understand how you can make sure of that because of how limited space already is so I do have that question but I do think in general it sounds like a good idea because there is no protection for us to have like parking around here and it isn't it is just packed so um that's really all I have to say about that but i' just like to understand more about how we're going to make sure that we have two spaces by where we live and that it's not also blocks away so that's all I have to say thank you thank you go ahead please you have two minutes state your name is this on okay so thank you for your time and and consideration I know it's a lot of work to to keep all the constituents in mind um I'm a North Beach resident your name please it's jaot and I've lived in North Beach since 2000 so this 24 years and I'm not a paid political activist um I'm not a developer so I do take offense that you know the only people that are against it because I happened to be one of them and I did email all of you um is someone that has some ulterior motive um I appreciate that you're trying to help us solve this problem and that North Beach is getting some attention you are right we have been the redheaded stepchild and I do we do want something good for our neighborhood I'm not sure this qualifies as like the great the the best thing that you could do for us um the and I do think that we should be able to decide we're adults um what amenities you know we need and want and I respect all the people on you know that are speaking but I just want to address the the previous caller um is under the it sounds like she thinks that there's going to be guaranteed spots there are not guaranteed spots we're all still going to be fighting for the same spots that exist we're not not creating new ones you're just limiting access to some people that may be qualified and I don't disagree that we do have a parking issue I just think that there should have been some more thought um and care and planning um I just want to address some of the points from the PowerPoint so I made notes um well first of off it's the Miami Beach's Planning and Zoning job to address the the parking um the buildings the new construction that you mentioned is coming online that they don't have they should have parking as part of their their approval so and they shouldn't be competing so you're using them as a as a point that we're going to be competing with them we shouldn't and the ocean ter construction with all those spots shouldn't have been started if you didn't build the garage and why is the garage only going to have 500 spots like that doesn't make sense either and the Walker study if it was completed a month ago how is this plan fully baked so those are some concerns that I have to your you know to your plan and also this is really like a one-size fits none program and the meeting so the postcards were out on the 4th but the meeting the first meeting was on the eth so I don't know that there's there's vulnerable people in our thank you so much haven't had an opportunity to attend these meetings like I am or had the access to speak with you so those are those are some concerns so I urge you at this time to at least delay and propose you know in voting um voting no on it for now and thank you so much ma'am mayor go ahead good afternoon Nissan casden uh commissioner Suarez reached out to me to ask about the history of the residential decal parking program which started when I was the City Commissioner in mayor in the 1990s the first one was in Flamingo Park and the neighborhoods around that and they were needed as those neighborhoods evolved the older residents live had left who did not have cars new businesses came and there was an lack of adequate parking for the residents in that area that program has been very successful without it those neighborhoods would be unlivable as residential neighborhoods the same problem is now occurring as well in North Beach there are new businesses there's now the Advent of short-term rentals as well there are newer residents who have cars replacing some of the older residents who may not have had cars there's a demonstrable shortage of parking my brother-in-law lives in a condominium without parking on Normandy aisle and he frequently has a problem finding a parking space the program that's been presented to you is probably the most well-thought out launch of a residential parking program that I have seen in this city in the past 30 years and I think this is there's not a question about the need and this is a smart thing to do this is truly a a no-brainer as they say a point of record uh mayor Kasin is not on the payroll I didn't ask him to speak facts facts are facts thank you our next virtual caller is Daniel Caldo Daniel please go ahead you have two minutes thank you Commissioners I heard uh niss speak so I also wanted to chime in as a current resident of Flamingo Park neighborhood I believe that without residential parking permits it would be very difficult for folks that actually live work and play in Miami Beach to to you know make it work so um I think I don't know all the details about this but I'm surprised North Beach doesn't have something like that it's getting more and more popular with visitors and so I'll look forward to hearing the discussion and um thank you all go ahead please say your name you have two minutes thank you angines back again Tatum Waterway um just thank you again for going Point by point about some of the things that have been brought up I appreciate the time that you're all are dedicating to this and for listening to us um as a resident I just wanted to bring up to the commer Mr Suarez about some of the language that has been used that I think that could be you know taken incorrectly from the residents that are concerned about this and that do care about this matter truly otherwise we wouldn't be here writing emails and so on um at one point you stated that anyone against the is most likely being paid by developers because who would be against this that was in the meeting that was held on the 18th um I understand seeming because of the email that you got back why and I know that you're passionate about this but these are concerned residents that are here not paid by developers talking face to face with you because we care um also the quote North Beach is the red head of the family or the stepchild of the family or whatever I know you're not a redhe head I'm not a red red head I don't know if there's one here but let's not say that about redheads it's not cool I'm sure there are some North Beach redhead residents not the nicest thing to say that's all just respect um and uh one point that that you brought up was that um it's not cool to have to message right the parking whatever if you're going out of town to have to let them know hey I'm going on vacation you could correct me from wrong my understanding is that you will still have have to do that let them know if you have to leave your car in there for a while okay thank you appreciate the the thing um and and again you pointed out who is against this and you had to slide about maybe people that have financial gain whatever to gain from this but again we are concerned residents that are here to talk it out with you to hear the points to change your minds to grow and and maybe to still be against it but that's us we're not paid by developers and we are your residents so please just some respect in the language thank you Mr Mr Mayor if if I may um oh there well if you don't mind as a point of order The Only Reason by the way that um I mentioned paid political activist is because there is an individual who is spearheaded and is working overtime on this campaign and this person is notorious for taking campaign funds to uh from C mayoral candidates and uh that that that one person did take $14,000 in a third 3month period during the last campaign to basically not demagogue about their campaign and uh it's all on public record and you are more than welcome to make your assertion on on why thank you I would like to rebut this because he's making this personal this man has been bullying me he has he has doctored a picture of mine made it look like I'm dead and distributed it all over the Internet yes I worked on a campaign last year I have a PHD in social sciences and I do research and I work as a legislative consultant for people that pay me okay so I'm not a paid operative and I'm against the parking because I live there and I see the hardships of my neighbors that's why I'm against so do not slander me and stop harassing neighbors he's been calling neighbor neighbors all over my neighborhood to slander me and to say lies about me then they message I I I let you rebut but rageous I mean what kind of cdb we I I gave you the opportunity to rebut but let our next virtual speaker is Scott pollins hi everyone my name is Scott pollins I have lived in North Beach uh for about four years now uh me and my partner have always discussed how much we love the neighborhood we are huge fans of the community and everything that North Beach has to offer however Parky on Marc drive has been the biggest soore for these incredible living conditions that we have here on the beach my partner Works downtown and some days he does not get home until 8:00 and there are exactly two to three 10minute Windows during the week in which you'd be able to find parking so more often than not he's having to park two to three blocks away pay for parking his car has gotten towed in front of houses sometimes you know it's it's it is this very difficult scenario and the Commissioners have a great opportunity here to continue to invest in North Beach and pass this resolution and it would have immediate quality of life effects um thank you for hearing me and uh I look forward to passing position thank you our next speaker iPhone 10 Lori Lori take your name and address and you have two minutes hello Lori bacham 903 8th Street um I do want to clarify I am a licensed real estate broker associate and have been for many years but I am not speaking on that behalf um many of you know that know me know that is something that is very part-time for me now um and my area was always the Flamingo Park historic district I appreciated the presentation um I have very big concerns because the cresy Park area which I live in does not have any walkable spaces to that neighborhood for my neighbors if they fail to get a visitor pass um I also would be concerned if we were the only neighborhood without a residential program I have not witnessed in my three years that we are uh being used as alternative for other uses um I see residents it is a quite different population I love my neighborhood um most of my neighbors have been there for more years than my three and we need more angled part working um I have not seen any commercial uses in my neighborhood so I just I appreciate all of you I believe it comes from all the right place but please look at the differences in the different neighborhoods and come up with Solutions because most of my neighbors are not going to be able to fall into this um reserving of visitor passes and it's a regular neighborhood of residents with Sunday barbecues and it's wonderful thank you thank you so much J Janessa has spoken before if my recollection is right so if so then we're going to go to to you ma'am please go ahead Sandra standel again at 635 85th Street still against it um I do appreciate the the time has gone into the PowerPoint however the argument for us to be against it is not that we don't want change we want enforcement of existing laws if that will take place most of these issues will be at least eased up before we start running new programs and how are we going to measure that success it's still I again I'm not sold on it I'm not going to say it's Half Baked but I don't think it fits the NorthShore and the cresy island or biscane Beach neighborhood and it needs to be Revisited because how are you going to exclude the new buildings they're going to be residents they're going to have IDs how are they not going to get those passes I don't understand how that's going to be invol um enforced again the same people are going to compete for parking even under this plan so that it has to be something better that's it thank you our next ver virtual speaker is Larry schaer Jr please unmute yourself is there anyone else in the AUD hello can you hear me go ahead okay sorry about that this is Larry schaer 23381 Street I have lived in North Beach for 12 years and before that I lived in South Beach for 12 years my profession I'm an affordable housing provider in Miami in other words a landlord so I understand the issues here from a landlord landlord perspective and I also understand the issues from a low-income renter perspective because they are my customers I have no business interest in Miami Beach whatsoever the only relev disclosable relationship that I have is that I am on the board of directors of soie cats and we have a public private partnership with the city of Miami Beach to provide an animal shelter and Sanctuary named the kitty campus this is for the entire Miami Beach Community not just north beach if you have any concerns about cats in your neighborhood please come find us we're not hard to find we'll send out Trappers to start addressing the issue thank you to Miami Beach for funding that and then we'll send out the founder Linda Diamond to come talk to you and your Association neighborhood association or your conduit Association today is not about cats today is about parking I am not a paid political consultant I don't get paid I donate to politicians that I believe focus on the interests of residents first and then I try to help any way I that I can I have been actively listening to the concerns of my neighbors from those that are both for and against the regulations I want to address the concerns that I've heard from residents in biscane Beach because they see seem to have the most uh concerns of any of the neighborhoods within within North Beach uh I've heard Lorie bacum as a residents of as a resident of biscan beach near near cresy Park and also ji coach uh and others and I want to reach out to you and say come on over I'm your neighbor I'm a reasonable person I'll give you some mangoes for my tree we'll have a lemonade and we'll talk about it we'll talk about your concerns and then let's start a petition for you in the be if you read the memorandum produced by this Administration it's very professional and it covers everything this is included in the item in the agenda today and in that you'll find a reference to the city code that allows you to petition the city for a new parking Zone thank you sir your time is up wrap it up uh uh if you don't like the program come talk to me and I'll help you petition the city to carve out your area that's it thank you sir thank you so much and we are done with the the public speakers can I just ask a question you did speak already but I I'll let you go but we can't keep having people come back we'll never end is there a are you going to vote today on this yes so there's no going back and forth I mean this it depends what I mean there's a chance many things procedurally can happen but the item is brought and that's usually what we end up doing is voting and that's what we're going to do now we're going to Talk Amongst each other um publicly obviously commissioner Rosen Gonzalez Karen you brought up a very good point that I'm going to use in my talking points because buildings like the park Viewpoint where people bought a condo and they have paid for a parking maybe they should not be allowed to use this use this permit because if they are you know abusing it there has to be some sort of carve out I know that the new short-term rental buildings you're not carving out and I was going to say this as part of my speech surrounding this but you brought forward a great point and I think we're all willing to address that thank you so commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor um originally uh part of the the plan was to say if you had one on-site parking if you lived in a condo or an apartment you had one on-site parking uh you would be afforded one residential pass as opposed to two because the the pilot program as was written allows for for two per household um but when I got down to the details of how you actually explain that you have on-site parking it's very hard you have to basically show a deed and some Deeds may not have that there's a parking space on it so to make the pilot program as seamless as possible I started out saying if you have a parking space or not it's two per household and I said it earlier before if you have a a a parking space in your condo you're paying for it right because right now anyone can park on the street anyone it's free so for the sake and implementation of this pilot program I think it's the best case forward to put two per household uh and then at the end of the pilot program we we will get back data from the parking department and and be able to make that decision there I believe ji was the one who questioned if um you know some of these buildings that get built how come you know they're going to be residents how come they don't get included well for example in zone 12 on West Avenue the flamingo isn't part of the residential program so they we they're already precedent set where certain buildings do not get uh residential parking but for the sake of the the pilot program to start it out uh and for and and for the parking Department to implement this and they can speak to it themselves the easiest way to do this is to make it to per household and make it fair because that really is the most fair thing to do for everyone to North Beach because right now it's a free-for-all so this I want to get to Point Z but to get to Point z i I need to get to point B first and this is this is when we're at Point a so thank you commissioner Fernandez yeah yeah sure well you're good uh I didn't see commissioner magazine actually had hit the then commissioner Fernandez I'll just I'll add a few points thank you for the comprehensive uh running through of that a few things just to add in addition to the new developments that are coming online within Miami Beach uh just to the west of the area in question here is North Bay Village and we have anywhere between two and I've seen upwards of four to 5,000 new units that are coming online the next few years where do people think they're going to go to the beach right in these neighborhoods and without this program in place it will just compound a bad problem to make it infinitely worse so not only are we protecting against the unfettered new development that's happening in that area that this commission had nothing to do with but in jurisdictions that we have no control over whatsoever that are adjacent to North Beach the development there if we think 20 story Towers in North Beach are bad they're bringing on online 80 story Towers right it North Beach will look like Child's Play and without some type of regulated parking program we will have just a bad problem get completely out of control I went in person intended uh or virtually every single public meeting and I think we've really Incorporated a lot of concerns people had and of course there's trade-offs of living in a place like Miami Beach less space and one of those is not being able to have so many guests around and just park wherever um you know unconstrained one thing I would like to put into uh the thought of discussion for my colleagues one of the concerns that I've heard that hasn't been addressed is cost right and yes the first year is free and the second year is $56 and while that's something that I'm fortunate enough that uh I would look and say you know what that's worth it I understand our people in our country our city and in particularly this neighborhood are continued to be burdened by just incremental costs and incremental costs and while I'm fortunate enough to absorb $56 I understand that there's a lot of people in our city that may like this program May benefit from this program but that $56 May mean something different to them than it does to us so I'd like to talk to my colleagues about not going forward even in year two or year three with that $56 um cost provision I I spoke with our parking director and once the initial costs for this program are essentially uh taken on under the pilot and that's going to happen regardless even if the pilot wouldn't go forward those are sunk costs that we're not getting back the cost to actually administer this program in the years going forward is the Minimus so it's not as if we would have these huge incremental expenses that we somehow aren't getting Revenue in for um so I I'd love to sit here and say we're doing this for the residents it's going to improve their lives not only that but for the residents that may be cost burdened that $56 let's not even Implement that right Le let's give it a couple of years let's see how this program goes if widely accepted if people are able to uh really like this and it's uh it does exactly what we're anticipating it to do then we can revisit it then but until that happens let's not even put that year 2 cost on the radar let's just use this as a way that we can have some form of um uh you know si uh system around this and it has nothing to do with bringing in revenue or uh burden cost burdening our residents so commissioner F commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor you know I think we need to truly comprehend the situation that's going on in this in this area of of the city it's not just the anecdotes of our residents who have reached out to us who have complained to us who tell us what they experience when they get home from work um and when they're when they're trying to look for parking it's what the studies and the actual factual data tells us and that's and that is what's what's important here as well it's not just anecdotal it is factual based on on the data and when you look at the parking study it tells us that this area of our city is dealing with severely limited parking severely limited parking that 85% of street parking uh U utilization rate during Peak periods 85% of of of the of the parking and they're competing as my colleague well pointed out in his PowerPoint presentation in addition to the boats in addition to trailers and commercial vehicles and inoperable Vehicles they're competing against tourists to get to their homes to be able to get home after working hard they're competing with tourists and with people that are monetizing from their housing who probably don't even live in our city and are monetizing from it through through Airbnb and and other and other uses and I think you know one of the things I brought up during the city manager's interviews is how can we be more proactive as a city and less reactive this not only is reacting to the needs that our residents have told us but I truly see it being proactive in addressing the anticipated 1,400 new short-term rental and residential units that are in the future for North Beach which we know have been planned with insufficient on-site parking and that doesn't take into account everything that my colleague commissioner magazine mentioned that is being planned in a near a nearby jurisdiction where we know that unless we put measures like this people will be parking here when they can't find parking over there and then you know taking an Uber or taking a bike to get over there so it's it's an unfortunate reality that we have to that we have to deal with it's a pilot program and I think that that's that's that's a great thing about it it's a pilot program that we can tweak along the way should it be necessary and that before it becomes a permanent program we can mend to the needs of the area and to better serve the residents but for the for a long time we have heard that North Beach is being treated differently than other areas of our city yes yes it is yes yes yes and we've seen that in and we've seen that when we have programs that exist in other parts of our city and then don't exist in North Beach and this is one program that cost us little to implement cost us little to test but that can have a very good positive impact on the quality of life of our neighbors in in North Beach so I'm proud to support this I'm proud to be a a co-sponsor I'm I'm I feel comfortable with with the fact that there'll be no Towing during the entirety of the pilot program that there's going to be no citation during the first two months of of of the pilot that visitors are going to get 30 free parking passes for visitors per quarter I mean I don't I don't even know when the last time I had 30 people in my house let them know let alone loan per quarter and much less after 6:00 p.m. these are residential neighborhoods they're not commercial neighborhoods and so and so I I see this as moving in the right direction to preserve the quality of life of of the residents there the one thing I do want to make sure that we address are the parking accommodations for the employees of nonprofits um you know we have organizations that are managing facilities on behalf of the city of Miami Beach they are serving a public purpose on behalf of our government uh and I'd like to know uh Mr director um what what is being proposed in order to to assist them because I know for for example the Bandshell I understand they might need uh 10 parking spaces I think Unidad might need uh five parking spaces basis so I just to just to have some clarity as to as to how those entities that are operating on behalf of the city of Miami Beach are going to be accommodated and then I have one follow-up question after that yes and through through the mayor good afternoon Mr Mayor Commissioners Jose Gonzalez Transportation director and interim parking director um so as you mentioned commissioner we have been having discussion we understand the sensitivity with with this pilot program and how it may affect some of the businesses and the non for-profit that are located within the zone so and through the sponsor there have been discussions uh with these uh non-for-profits where uh essentially they have a very small number of employees that could be I think very easily accommodated as part of the pilot program as part of any measure that we adopt today uh should we adopt anything to the sponsor to the uh I'd like to just make sure that that we specifically you know address the parking for for for these two entities separate from that the parking for employees of small businesses in the in the area we have some time to to address that because the program doesn't go into effect until November 1st but as part of adopting this um should it be adopted today I'd like to to to make sure that you know we consider some some sort of assistance for for for the businesses in in in the neighborhood we are doing so much to advance the quality of the of the establishments and just in general the quality of life of of the area and I do think businesses do contribute to the quality of life and the character of the of the of the area uh so I just want to make sure that as we advance this initiative we take into consideration the needs of businesses so that so that we don't force out small mom and pop employers small mom and pop Legacy businesses and that we don't make it difficult for employees to work in in the area that's the one thing I just want to make sure that we come back with some sort of plan or proposal that can uh address that before November first implementation thank you Mr Mayor thank you commissioner Fernandez commissioner bot oh just a point of clarification yeah just just a response just to respond to commissioner fan thank you thank you for that well thought out analysis um you know it's it's look it's nowhere nothing's perfect right um we can try as much as we can but it's going to come to the point where the only way you really going to iron out everything is you have to test the pilot um as far as the nonprofits I've been working very close with last week with with the bargain Department um that you're correct I believe the bansel only needed 10 or 12 12 um resident passes um for yeah and which by the way could be accommodated also on some of the metered spots okay um you talked about some of the employees with the businesses one idea that we explored was you know we have the West slots I think someone said it's like uh you know less than 50% at the highest point we can have a shuttle service uh for the employees back and forth to the West slots it's it's a metered spot it's not not uh residential so um there's certainly areas to explore um in in the coming months until when the program starts thank you commissioner bot uh thank you so I have a uh general question well with apologies commissioner Fernandez and mayor Miner I have a question about the process um we'll get back we'll get back at her um and then I do actually have some some questions but uh specifically about the process um we're voting on it today it's not going to be implemented until November at what point you know we could spend all the rest of the afternoon talking about ways to improve the program so that's not necessarily what how we're going to spend the rest of our day at what point and what's the right mechanism for um getting the rest of these concerns incorporated into the program in a way that um we still have time for community Outreach and feedback um I don't know if that maybe Jose that might be a u question we'd be happy to come back uh in September with an update on some of these uh pending discussions if you will that still need to be had uh some of the little tweaks that may need to be made I think from now until assuming the program is approved today from now till November 1st when it's lated to launch we've got some time to Iron out um the little you know the little nuances uh but we'd be happy to come back in September or October with an update on on where we are prior to launch okay um so I think that would be great I think it might also be useful to once you know we incorporate all the feedback and have a a final final proposal we even go back out to the community for educational purposes you know and do some Outreach there but so I I would like to take a step back um I am the only person on the day is who lives in North Beach and I've lived in North Beach since 2016 most of those years have been on Parkview Island um there is no perfect solution there are so many issues with what's gone on in North Beach we are the recipients of a self-inflicted wound by previous um elected officials and administration in the form of 13 new high-rise buildings going up in an 8x6 block radius most of which don't have sufficient parking many of which have short-term rentals and micro units and um and we have increased traffic we have the developments North Bay Village we have a lot of stress coming onto our our system so I would like to commend the sponsor David Suarez commissioner Suarez and the co-sponsors um and for sure the staff who have been working very very hard to try to get to a pretty pretty strong program um not perfect nothing will be perfect but um the intent behind this program um and and the work that's gone into trying to to start something I I talk about um course correction right you can't fix something till you start so it's fine to talk endlessly about what something should look like but ultimately you have to try something and then you can course correct the program as it started off a month ago is miles away from where we are now it is so much stronger than it was uh a month ago and I confident that it will get stronger yet when when all the additional feedback um gets Incorporated I think um nothing will be perfect and that is why we need the program the pilot program to determine what is um just sort of this is our new normal we're going to have to find a way to live with it versus this is something we can we can fix um some things that I would like well before I get through a couple of things that I'd like to to include I will say that the rhetoric on on coming from various people sides whatever has been unfortunate I think that um I I think that we really are are you know collectively trying to do the best thing for a neighborhood that does not get many many things let alone good things and so um the misrepresentation the mischaracterization of what is being proposed doesn't help matters because you may or may not agree with things but at the end of the day if if you can't make your case on that the factual merits before you then then you know that that's a problem um and I I understand there are people who don't agree with it I understand there are people who are very very favorable um towards this program but let's deal from the starting place of actual facts rather than misrepresentations um I would suggest that we collectively take another look at the park Viewpoint Tower um I know that has been a very challenging neighbor for the residents of Parkview Island for years and years where they literally have an enormous and underutilized parking lot but they choose to park on the side street on the streets of Parkview Island and in the the small um public parking spots uh parking lot right across from their front door because it's a few Paces closer to their front door so I think that is something that needs to be re-evaluated um I would like to have uh a conversation about whether it makes sense to do this for a six-month trial or a 12month trial from a cost standpoint because my understanding is that we can implement this on a pilot program basis for 6 months without having to hire staff on a permanent basis and if we can get the data we need and tweak from a six-month pilot program without committing to permanent employees that would be my preference um I would like to um to have dat you know have uh reports coming back every three months as opposed to you know at the end of the program um I think the the comments from from I I didn't catch your name engines um who will be getting married I think there's an opportunity to look at um opportunities for residents if you're having you know birthday party or you know some big family event that perhaps um you can let the City Parking Department know that on date X you're going to have 50 guests and there's sort of a blanket permit for that day nobody will will get towed I'm not sure what the mechanisms are but maybe there's an opportunity to figure out a way to to do something like that um the bigger question you know at the end of the day we have more cars than we have spots on the road and and for parking and that is not going to be solved by this this will help the bigger question is do we want to be building more parking lots is that the direction we want to go in as a city I I would venture it's probably not the best use of our public funds we have $100 million earmarked for an enormous public facility on 72nd Street which currently adds only 120 spots approximately um to a very central location so I think it is the only the only responsible thing for us to do as a body is to relook at that project and determine what is the best use of that um it may not be spending half that money to get a pool on the roof it may be um not putting more retail locations into a facility where you already surrounded by naturally occurring retail and and I think we need to really think about what that project is to best serve our residents I'm also very concerned about what happens to the existing 300 spots that'll be taken offline for I would say minimum of two years as that project gets built so that is a separate conversation but I do want to raise it here because this is all part of it um I I really I I you know we're we're trying to get to the city that we want to be right and so transition is hard we are trying to get people out of their cars and into alternate modes of Mobility that means we need to think differently about our transportation we need to think differently about our shuttle service our trolley service um making it safer to go on your bike or your scooter or or a vesa or whatever um but that doesn't change the reality for those of us who live here now and I think that that this is a really challenging time for everybody because we're trying to move forward in One Direction but we you know we're not going to put a bunch of you know 87y olds on a scooter hoping that they're going to make it to public so um I commend I commend you commissioner Suarez and the staff for working as hard as you have I was at every um public meeting you know listening in to all the feedback and there were some excellent excellent ideas um and I and I encourage us to continue working on some of the things that weren't directly related to this particular pilot program but were the ancillary things looking at how streets are striped for parallel parking versus angled converting two ways into one way which might have nice benefits for slowing down traffic um it is this is one of the the pieces of the puzzle it's a pretty big piece um and I think the only way to move forward is by um giving it a shot and and trying to course correct as we go along so I will will be supportive of this vice mayor Dominguez and I don't want to let this meeting end without acknowledging your tour of Duty as vice mayor and thank you for your hard work um just as you run a very lean Public Safety Committee meeting when I've had to step away you've you've taken over and done a done a fine job thank you and also to acknowledge commissioner Fernandez you were approved on consent I thought somebody was going to maybe maybe pull it but it it sailed through so congratulations starting we're going to milk that one uh vice mayor Dominguez thank you so much uh so thank you first to commissioner Suarez for your leadership and working hard to uh try to resolve a problem that's very complicated in North Beach um one thing that um I my initial first feedback was um things change from one meeting to the next um in a matter of days so it started with four zones then uh the next meeting was a little bit different and then by the end of the week it was one zone and my Aid attended in person I had conflict so I saw uh the videos and my Aid is also from North Beach uh born and raised bisc came baby and um he was very concerned with um this I also received like we all did about almost 500 people saying that they were not in favor now a lot has changed and this is a pilot but similar to what um commissioner bot said and the city's recommendation a oneye pilot is a very long time if we can look at a six-month pilot I also heard resounding yeses from uh Southshore from uh Park viw Island um a lot of Normandy why can't we explore offering the pilot there and EXP including Northshore and biscane Beach um so those are just some of my comments as we're still deliberating what's going to happen here but uh I appreciate everything that you did this is uh a really complicated issue and it's for the better of our community so I understand that too commissioner Suarez oh thank you Mr Mayor uh and and thank you for sharing some of your concerns colleagues um I know this is not easy right given the climate of the situation and you know the external forces putting pressure on us to vote one way or the other um but let me let me touch on a few questions and feel free to interrupt if I missed any um maybe the talk of having it six months um I you know I I also brought that up to the parking director and he he believes that a year you really need a year to have sufficient data and time and a lot of that is because it's seasonality right so um it's going to you need a full year to understand how effective this will be because if you do six months it's you're not going to capture the whole year um also I mean we're going to be going through the process of building and creating these signs um I think it's a little shortsighted to just do it for six months when we're going to be investing uh you know in the materials and the manufacturing and the labor involved in installing the the signs because there's going to have to be multiple signs on every street in North Beach so I don't think it'd be um a good use of financial resources to just do it for six months um yeah there was a comment about accommodating guests for special events yeah look I mean you know I like I said before I I think we need to prioritize residents over visitors um you know if you're going to have a large event in at your place I don't think it should come at the cost or the expense of residents who are not who who need to have the ability to park in front of their homes um and plus you know maybe that gets abused and I I I I think that's a slippery slope we I to my knowledge I don't think we do that for for residential zones um in mid Beach and South Beach um there was also a couple points about you know the the change that happen from meeting to meeting well that's part of the process and you know that's why we had we originally had three meetings but we all agreed to do four to to really bring it home and to make sure that this was uh captured all the concerns of the community and you know when when you have the first two meetings and you course correct you know by the fourth that's part of the process and that's why we we held four Community meetings instead of three um another there was a mention of a petition um you know just here today uh one of the people who spoke Lisa said that my name was on the petition when her name wasn't on the petition and so uh I believe this petition was um I don't know who started the POS petition I don't know where if it could be manufactured um the responses so you know the fact that someone came here today to speak in person and go on record to say that I was never part of this petition and that I'm actually in supportive of It kind of disqualifies the whole uh the the argument that there's 500 signatures um and I I believe I covered most of the questions um and but I would be more than happy to let our parking director through the mayor um let let's commissioner Rosen Gonzalez is next and let's bring this home for landing I think we're I think we know where this is going oh here I am so initially there was so much activity um online there was a lot of misinformation and I was very skeptical about this program because there were a lot of um social media posts I kept getting tagged in these posts and really the post did not have the correct information and the more I found out about the pilot program the more I realized that you know we have to fight the the commercialization of every inch of Miami Beach it's happening on our waterways it's happening in our streets on our parking lot I was recently reading an article that the city of Venice um is so overwhelmed with tourists and their quality of life has so declined that they are now the first city in the world to charge $5 just to enter the city what does it mean it means like cities that are world-renowned like Miami Beach International destinations have literally become a Disney World of sorts our entire city is an amusement park so while some people are very upset that we've ruined their business model whether it was their boat in biscane Bay or their charter boats that have made the 63rd Street Bridge permanently open or now the car rentals and people living in these cars people I mean it's it's unbelievable the you know so so I'm the first one to fight if I think that there is some sort of social Justice and I have walked every inch of North Beach in my political campaigns every single neighborhood I have traversed on foot I know the people who live there I know the issues um that they face I understand you know some some of their issues and and I understand all of their issues actually so uh this is something that is really going to improve their quality of life so much and um biscane Beach especially has a problem commissioner Dominguez um we actually tried to build a parking garage did we not in biscane beach and uh and um a while back a while back right and then we canceled it because next to single family homes because we've been facing this issue so we had a lot there we were going to build a parking lot there but this solves it without building more parking garages because the truth of the matter is is that most of these people um are not living there you know it's interesting when I I lived in North Beach 15 years ago and it was very sleepy and we didn't have this issue and I will say that the rise of technology and the airbnbs even Governor Dan santis now realizes that by allowing airbnbs throughout the State of Florida he has ruined residents quality of life and he even admitted that the other day and he's even looking to try to reverse his legislation so that we might be empowered at some point to take back our communities because while he believed that everybody should be able to monetize the properties they own he sees that it's the destruction of the community so if anybody is is worried about this I think that for Community meetings I've never seen this type of Outreach in my entire political career so those of you who are here and and really opposing it we've never done this before gone out to the community really listened to everything and and and and then fact and then fashion the program based on Resident input I've never seen such good government in Miami Beach in my entire political career I really haven't so um I'm so happy to uh vote for this um it's going to be interesting to see how we solve these other problems you've solved problems that nobody's been able to solve in uh years you've spent a lot of time on this commissioner SAS I am um happy to vote and support this um and you know it also begs the question these 12 buildings that are being built and I remember that there are very few parking requirements in those buildings do we have any legal recourse to make these developers who have not yet built these highrises add more parking so that we don't so that this does not end up uh being a disaster or do these building permits that they already have are these set in stone is there anything that we can do legally because otherwise we are going to have a massive massive problem on our hands one final issue that I'd like to say is I agree with commissioner bot that the olympic size pool on top of a massive parking garage is not the best thing to build next to the Beach and I would love to see that money somehow bifurcated and possible an aquatic center that is beachfront included with a library and then maybe a parking garage in some other area where we already have something built because Green Space and livable space and the people of North Beach do like to pull up in flipflops and go to dinner and nobody wants to constantly Circle and parking garages so um that's um all I have to say and thank you commissioner Suarez then uh vice mayor Dominguez than thank you m Mr Mayor and and thank you again for all of you that have commented on the hard work it is hard work um I think I've gone above and beyond any item I've ever tackled than the North Beach parking pilot because when I went door Todo I gave them my word and I said I'm going to help you out and I'm not going to I'm not going to just talk a big talk I'm going to I'm going to actually back this up and and and through this and I just want to put it on the record that I got nothing to gain from this in fact because of my commissionership I'm losing money I I donate all of my salary I am not trying to enrich towing companies I'm not trying to uh to to to do anything nefarious okay to to assume that is absurd and misleading I do this because I'm trying to help the people that have asked for help that have been asking for help in North Beach and it's about time they get paid attention to and they're treated like adults so uh with that being said I know I move to accept the administration's recommendation to create a single res restricted residential parking permit uh in North Beach as a pilot program during one year with the same outside B boundaries as the zones originally proposed okay before we take the vote I promised uh vice mayor Dominguez then uh I'll say something quickly and then we'll call the vote I just want to make sure the other amendments I had um one last question um North Beach has a lot of residents that are lowincome and it's not two people in an apartment so this conversation has gone on for a long time so if it's already been addressed then I missed it my apologies uh but some places may have four people with cars what happens so the way the program has been originally crafted it's two permits per household uh now in order to get two permits per household you have to have two vehicles because the permits are tied to license plate taxs so that's that's through the registration process the the um the residents would provide certain information including the vehicle uh registration and then based on that they would they would be given to um two permits per per that household so what happens with a family that has four people there are cases where that may happen and we are open to considering those on a case- by case uh basis but we're trying to hold the line to the two two per um two permits per household because other yeah I'm also going to request that um if this is not going to go until November not going to be launched until November you know the folks that are sitting in here and that have written in against uh reach out to them we we all have their emails and get to the bottom of what can help what can make it better one of the things I also was told was that enforcement was a big issue and there were cars that were sitting there that haven't moved in months and we need people to from the city staff to enforce and moove those Vehicles also commercial cars are not supposed to be there and there are many taking up spaces um enforcement needs to really be stepped up under sir vice mayor you have my commitment that we will step up enforcement this pilot will actually facilitate that because once a vehicle is registered we'll know who that owner is and whether they're resident or not whether they should be there or not and it just becomes easier to enforce to tow if necess Neary than not having that information and during my briefing I was told that the city recommended a six-month pilot where is the city at with their recommendation our recommendation has always been a 12-month from from the very beginning my understanding as since I've been in this uh capacity it's been a a 12 month because it will take time to even ramp up we have to fabricate the signs we have to install the signs there's there's a significant learning curve because this is a a new program and we're going to need to reach out to the community uh on a one-on-one basis if needed to to uh to tell them about the program and how to register and all that will take will take time will take months just to ramp it up and I'll I'll defer to air to the Man City Manager interim city manager um during my briefing it came up and it uh the city's recommendation was six months Rael Raquel Williams I think I'm assistant city manager at this point um so I think during the briefing we were looking for potential options for a compromise and six month would have been a potential compromise to see how the pilot would go yeah I'm going to be supportive today I was frankly quite skeptical when I first heard this and similar to your comments commissioner Rosen Gonzalez some others may have mentioned I intended all four Community meetings in person uh so thank and by the way I know you Jose and your staff were obviously spent a lot of time on that so Kudos and to all the residents who showed up and was what really started turning the tide with me and I know there are still residents who are not pleased uh but what I saw kind of early on is if I had the gauge it was kind of 5050 and that was not good enough for me and commissioner Suarez literally spent the time with each resident which each group and worked on this program to resolve a lot of the issues and a lot of the naysayers and I had some calls and emails from folks who initially called me and said mayor you got to you cannot support this this is going to and then they called me back and said you know what I worked with the commissioner and I'm okay with this actually I want to support this and I heard that over and over again so very commendable and I'm supportive I think we have a motion in a second oh commissioner Fernandez has a question and I just want to make sure on on the two points that we're taking into consideration the parking needs of Unidad and the as part of your motion commissioner Suarez that's included there per and also that we're going to come back at some point before November 1st with a plan some sort of proposal for the employees of the small businesses of the area and and the last point I just like to make is to is to the director you know keep in mind even though this is for two per household you know at your discretion a lot of times there's a mom and a dad and a sura involved we don't want to upsell AAS uh of North spe you know so so please you know as part of our cultural diversity and the fabric par Community thank you and Jose I was impressed with your Spanish as well that you broke out during those Community meetings so uh I don't get to hear it often let's take the vote so I have a motion by commissioner Suarez second by commissioner bot singles single zone all in favor hearing no one opposed the item passes this will be one after the fact resolution great thank you mayor before we go forward can we take a vote on the referral on C4s which was a companion item yes so may we refer by acclamation so C4s is referred by acclamation as it was part of this item thank you everybody I'm on um okay my I plea to my colleagues as if possible let's try to fly through items uh r5a is open and continued r5b for the record r5a is open and continue to October 30th R r5b is in ordance of the mayor City Commissioner of the city of Mi Beach fora amending the code of the city of Mii Beach chapter 66 entitled Marine structures facilities and vessels article three entitled peers docks and boat ramps by amending Section 8 66-1 107 entitled maintenance of public peers to retitled use of Barry ctin boat ramp and Associated peers docks at mace GI Park and to regulate the use of Barry Cen boat ramp and all Associated peers docs at Maurice Gibb Park providing for repealers of ability qualification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing the item is r5b it's GNA pass commissioner Suarez this a public hearing it's GNA pass but we have a motion in a second call the vote y okay thank you commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner magazine commissioner bot Comm oh is it yes 5 b commissioner Suarez yeah yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez vice mayor Dominguez yes mayor Miner yes motion passes 70 that was r5b r5c r5c is an Ord of the mayor and City Commission of the city of May Beach Florida amending the brazilien code of the city of Mii Beach at chapter 5 off Street parking article 3 design standards sub division 10 parking garage design standard section 5.3.1 subsection a general standards to to all zoning districts at division 6 parking screening standard section 7.1.6 point2 standards to allow for additional height and modified parking screening standards for main use parking garages located on Terminal Island and providing for codification repealer sur ability at an effective date this is a second reading public hearing the item requires a 57 vote it is item r5c hi Tom good afternoon I have there it is good afternoon Mr Mayor um this particular item was approved at first reading on May 15th of this year um with no changes um I know that there was some discussion regarding um the proposal and the commission had asked the private applicant to take a look at a couple of things as your where the private applicant did provide an updated ordinance that includes some additional criteria that they would like you to consider for second reading and they also provided a summary memo for that and the applicant is here to uh present their proposal good afternoon Mr Mayor hello mayor the commission uh right I I'll try to make this brief and really would rather leave it open for questions if you have any but just to recenter everybody at this eventful day um this is about uh increasing the capacity of the parking garage for the fiser island ger uh faer terminal the one that uh employees and construction vehicles and service Vehicles use in the industrial zoned terminal Island to alleviate traffic conditions that impact all you users on the island including the city of Miami Beach the Coast Guard particularly which favors this amendment and has sent you a letter as well as at certain times as well backs up onto the MacArthur Causeway and and so um uh this is uh also will help frankly uh potentially alleviate problems that the city might face in future years uh for instance if terminal Island drives is redone and the city is forced to remove the vehicles that Park on that F dot RightWay there's no place to put them today uh and we have sat and met separate from this with the city and I think are close to uh reaching an agreement on a way that will accommodate the city's future needs as well including um uh as I understand in October there will be a fireboat that will now be docked at the maintenance facility and uh and and this garage could be the place where the six spaces are provided for the firemen the fire crew we made the changes that were addressed uh that addressed the concerns that were raised by the city uh some of the City commissioners particularly commissioner Fernandez at the time there will be no rooftop activation of the garage there will be screening of the garage approved by the design review board uh and there will also be no plainly audible sound allowed from the garage to any residential district these were the changes that were requested they've been Incorporated in the a in the ordinance so uh this is something that's very good for the city for the neighborhood uh it will help improve the efficiency of the operation of the fiser Island ferry so the cars don't have to wait and queue and back up onto the MacArthur Causeway uh and uh this is really a win-win for for all parties concerned if there are any questions people have I'm happy to answer them Daniel kasick with Fisher Island Community Association which owns the garage owns the ferry remember this is the homeowners association for all the residents of fiser Island and this is how they get you know uh workers and employees and others to the island back and forth here for questions if you have any thank you commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor uh and thank you uh niss for your for your presentation I just want to confirm a few items for the record and just just to confirm this is a private application this is not a commission sponsored item none of us there's no there's no commissioner sponsoring this item is that correct Mr attorney that is correct commissioner Fernandez okay uh sorry the for those at home who are watching and you see a lapse And Delay between us speaking it's just the way our microphones work so sorry about that all right so I want to confirm with with the applicant who is the sponsor of this um you've you've uh you've amended your application the legislation in your application the ordinance that's before us and what you've amended before the last meeting and this meeting was that there's going to be no top floor um events on the parking garage is is that correct correct sir and that the parking garage facade is to be screened uh in a manner that's to be reviewed by the drb is that correct correct and there'll be no noise emanating uh from the parking garage that's uh that's from residential areas is that correct okay correct and you're going to be accommodating the parking needs of the of the fire department I believe there's six parking spaces are going to be made available at the ground floor is that correct yes so uh and let's to be clear as your City attorney uh advis volun cord you guys there is we are working on a separate more comprehensive memorandum of understanding with the city dealing with terminal Island Drive additional parking and Etc including which would include include this the parking spaces for the fire department but uh I am uh authorized and willing to profer on the record today that because I understand the fireboats coming in October uh that uh obviously subject to the ordinance passing that we will provide six ground floor spaces for fire department personnel and then once once the garage is completed the work is done there'll be another 19 parking spaces that are going to be uh designated for the city use for an aggregate of 25 parking spaces corre correct and that's what that that's what the applicant has voluntarily proferred uh on on the record uh well yeah and we will profer on the record as well yes once the garage is completed there would be an additional n uh the addition to the garage completed an additional 19 spaces and the applicant is agreeing not to pursue modifications to terminal Island uh road with with FDL uh that of course is all included in the memorandum of understanding but for the record that's that's what the applicant is voluntarily agreeing to We Will We we will be separately agreeing I mean well I would also say with this the space is uh let me also be specific I mean there are certain details such as the operating costs you know electricity sanitate uh uh uh cleaning the garage Staffing but I mean terminal Island Road Terminal Island understand but what I'm saying is we're all these other things are being worked out but my question was about terminal Island Road right I did not hear your answer about Termino Island Road that your the question is that uh will we voluntarily profit again if you know uh if the ordinance passes if the garage is expansion is improved uh yes we will work jointly with the city and not go independently in dealing with fot uh on uh modifications to terminal Island Road so so that means that fiser Island agrees not to pursue modifications of terminal Island Road with FDT is that what that means provide provide as I say commissioner again providing that we're able to expand the garage uh as as contemplated thank you uh and providing that the city pays its proportionate share of the operating costs remember parking spaces cost $40,000 to build you had that on an earlier agenda item 25 spaces a million bucks we're not going to ask the city to pay for that that's a million dollars but the uh operating costs of course have to be shared proportion but operating costs for the garage in other words you'll at the end of the day there will be 25 spaces that the city will have out of 650 spaces or however many understood and whatever percentage thank you thank you thank you for your good questions commissioner Fernandez commissioner vice mayor Dominguez hi n thank you so much uh for bringing this project uh forward having been to terminal Island many times um I've gone to the Coast Guard I've gone to the sanitation area and the facilities team and the different offices that the city has there one thing that I want to ensure is that the perimeter parking that the city uses is critical for the city and I know that uh it had been floated to use it as a street and we really need to keep it as parking yes I understood commissioner that is uh there are two ways to alleviate the traffic problems one is by uh sort of a restriping and creating an additional Lane on Terminal Island Drive the other which is before you now is expanding the garage so you don't have a queue of dozens of cars waiting to get on the ferry uh what we are committed to do is working with the city on anything involving terminal Island Drive any the redo of terminal Island Drive and I'm glad you know you bring up that point because right now the city is using that space without an agreement with fot and so so I understand it's critical to the city's operations and we want to work with the city um so I just want to make sure that we keep that space so you're saying that the city needs to work with fot in order to keep those parking spaces we we will what our pledge is we will work with the city and other owners on the island as well frankly uh there's fpnl there uh on any redo of terminal Island Drive okay well the city has used those parking spaces for 30 years and for me it's critical if I'm going to vote for this item that those parking spaces remain yes I think commissioner what has contemplated is a certain number of those spaces would always be retained and any that would be lost and then some would be provided in the new garage which would be covered weather protected Etc so the city will have as many spaces or more than it now has today um I think it's critical to keep that street the way it is without removing the parking spaces okay that that's my feedback I hear you I'm sensing some hesitation on your part it's it's really not an issue that's under our control and we will work with the city we're not going to Advocate anything that the city is not supportive of uh and and I and and I and I know that that will involve keeping a number of the parking spaces there may be some redo that could slightly tweak it and and and and provide for better traff traffic flow at the same time the city will get that and more spaces in the garage so uh we understand the concern and it's been communicated to us we've come up with the solution for that uh and that and and the bit first step in that solution is obviously getting allowing the garage to be expanded but keeping those spaces still critical keeping those spaces in addition to what you're going to give in the garage which is great but keeping those spaces the permitter is critical we need them I think you're hearing us loud and clear thank you I'm going to turn it to Eric and Rael um we've had more so in this case with Eric especially a couple of years ago when this item came up and actually at the time I did not support it I think this is a much better iteration but wanted to hear your opinions as to whether we should support this uh good afternoon mayor and Commissioners uh this particular item for the reasons that we've already discussed uh did create a little bit of concern when it came before us previously um along the lines of what vice mayor Dominguez said we feel it's critical that the operational needs of the parking along terminal Island Drive remain we don't feel that the voluntary profer of the parking spaces in the garage adequately provides for the removal of those spaces so it's not an either or scenario um and I just want to make sure that that's clear and on the record and but beyond that and n and we've talked about it I think we're at a place where we we understand each other and we think we can work together on a on a solution and uh the administration is supportive yes thank you Mr Mr manager I may call you managers and uh I would point out of course that your Administration recommendation is for approval of this yeah commissioner Fernandez I'm gonna ask a question that I don't have an answer for and it's a practice I don't like to engage in it's not good for me it's good for niss yeah you have us in suspense question standad so let me ask this um how many parking spaces do we have on Terminal Island Road I believe there's between 33 and 36 parking spaces what happens so what happens if someday the city uh loses those parking spaces if FDT comes in and or forgot about FDL what happens if you know an entity goes and you know tells FDT Hey listen you know we don't like the Aesthetics of this is not good for our residents it's not good for our community Let's uh let's redesign this road let's let's get rid of this we already providing 25 parking spaces in in the garage what happens then like what's the impact to the city who who which operations in the city are directly impacted by this so that is our sanitation operation um and I would point out that this is one of only two areas of the city that are still zoned Industrial and so we do have an industrial operation as is the ferry terminal an industrial operation along with fpnl and so it is a industrial zoned area that has industrial operational needs and I would ask our Public Works director Brad Caine to come up and talk about specific operational impacts if we were to lose those parking spaces particular particularly the large spaces because we have equipment that we store there that probably doesn't fit in most of the garages around the city including the terminal Island garage thank you Mr manager Mr director good afternoon everyone mayor fellow Commissioners Mr manager um this this issue obviously is very critical to um our operation because we have always ran most of our heavy equipment out of that facility because the other Operation Center we have for our staff is at 17th Street Garage which some of you have seen you can't really put any heavy equipment over there inside that parking garage so those spaces and they're extra long spaces they're like almost like double spaces fit all of our heavy equipment we have street sweepers that are there that are critical to operation we have um rolloff container trucks we have our um pressure washers are there we have our garbage truck that is there we have very very critical pieces to our operation and if we would lose those spaces it would be severely impacting um our day-to-day ability to be able to perform because those equipments you can't put them in other areas of the city because the zoning doesn't allow for it so this is the only area in our city within the municipal jurisdictions of the city of Miami Beach where we can accommodate this type of equipment because that this is the light industrial is that what is that the zoning is that the classification it's industrial I I believe and Tom can correct me but I believe it's i1 okay and so and so I'm going to ask the City attorney is I I you know we we legislate in the present but we have to think about the future and so I Nissan's here and I trust everything that Nissan is telling me and uh and and I know uh everything is accur but what happens if 10 years down the road we have anou in place and you know Nissan is no longer representing fiser Island there's a different Board of Governors at at fiser Island at the Community Association what cure does the city of Miami Beach have if the the association at that time decides to go to Tallahassee and Lobby FD to change that road and now we end up losing those uh 33 parking spaces what would be the Cure that the city would have done the road I not turning off my mic he he okay I'm gonna Mr attorney I want a a resolution for the next meeting to revert back to the microphone system that we previously had we're all elected officials we all need to know how to govern ourselves and behaves ourselves properly and we don't need this this faulty system limiting our ability to govern on the table and so I would like that item drafted for the next consent because it is very frustrating that we're trying here to engage in a dialogue and we can't get answers and there's delays because our microphones are not working so I would like that a consent for the next agenda and anyone who wants to join me as a co-sponsor is welcome to join me commissioner the the we've been meeting with with the applicant and uh and and with staff and and the the draft of the uh of theou that we're working off of uh provides that that fiser Island would not pursue any changes to terminal Island Road without the the participation of the city so you know if if if fot on it own I mean at the end of the day it is a it is an fot RightWay um so I don't know that we can control for that without ft's participation but um but that that's that's sort of where we are with the applicant vice mayor so so so what so that means that this language here really means nothing because you know we really are not protected in in any way then even even if they agreed to this you know they could you know it could just be argued while FDT decided to to do it on their own and then we're left without the 30-some parking spaces which is the only location in our city where we can accommodate these uh heavy equipments Mr vice mayor may I and and commissioner I think on that point it it I don't know if if staff has any more information than I do but but I I don't think fot has been um has been part of these negotiations with the city I don't know if the applicant's been working with f do um but you know maybe Brad can advise Mr Vice M first of all the the city has asked us not to speak to T dot we don't have an agreement with City but we have not spoken to fot uh and and to answer directly commissioner dominguez's uh question perhaps I didn't answer it directly enough what we are offering in the in theou is two things number one we will not go to fot without the city period and number two the 25 spaces that are proferred upon the completion of the garage actually this now we're offering offering six for the uh fireboat in October even before the garage starts those are not conditioned on removal of any spaces from terminal Island Drive that has nothing to do with removal of spaces from terminal Island Drive so the all the city gets is an additional 25 spaces they don't have if we if this garage moves forward with our agreement that we will do nothing with fot without the city so the city only gets the only wins by getting 25 spaces and is not conditioned upon any changes to terminal Island Drive Brad is that helpful um yes I think I think it would be helpful you know we all we definitely could use you know obviously spaces if something is going to happen potentially in the future they all need to obviously be together um because that garage is expanding and so the ability for our staff to get in and out is very critical as well but you know obviously the big the bigger issue is the long spaces we have for the heavy equipment and our operation is growing it is not shrinking and that is you know obviously the bigger concern that we have so we want to make sure um that you know whatever happens in the future that there is enough that you know spaces that on a day-to-day basis we can perform the you know continual growing level of services that you know the city has um you know asked us to do and it's happening every year we're growing so that's a that's a concern to us and if I may commissioner only by passing this do you secure the city's position and if I may um just want to add a little bit to what uh Mr Kasen said right now fdot could choose to do something of their own valtion and it wouldn't be any different in the future but what we do secure with this mou if we're able to agree on something and I think we're there is at least we would have the ability to say that the city and terminal Island are on the same page and that we are not in favor of fdot moving forward with any redesign of that roadway without our explicit input and buy off and you get 25 spaces you don't have today I'm trying not to tie the two but right understood ready to vote it it is a public hearing have someone in the audience that wishes speak Mr Wayne Roberts if you have two minutes sir thank you I'm sorry I was uh you know there's some a lot of talks out the fifth about this project uh but very the discussion is is lacking because we don't really know a lot of the details like like Mr the commissioner Suarez put forward with the parking it's just the data is sort of over a long period of time and it's not it's not in a PowerPoint presentation I I don't remember it's been so long how tall this parking garage is but what the impact to south of fif would be in terms of you know visualizations across the Waterway um it's 600 spots sounds huge I don't know what the height is um is this is this city land or is it private land is another question in my mind um and if we're giving up spots potentially that uh that will be in the garage why are we paying to maintain those spots if we're giving up spots so they can build this it doesn't that part of it I don't understand as well I I do appreciate the Fisher Island and I do appreciate their needs I just those are questions I have Wayne good question I'm going to turn to Eric uh if you can respond to them so certainly um this is a private parcel uh this is a private application for a height Amendment within the i1 district for Standalone parking facility uh today I think Tom can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the maximum height is 40 feet 43 43 feet and this is an application to extend that to 75 ft correct so it is um approximately 30 ft of additional height uh and that is completely within your jurisdiction as a legislative body to entertain that request Mr Mayor I would also remind the commission that John stimmel the president of the uh icon uh Condominium Association on the Marina has sent a letter that their Association supports this application and your comments on North Beach parking my colleague commissioner Suarez want to make sure you didn't need an extra few floors um but just to clarify one of the callers uh one of his comments we're actually not giving up spots we're getting spots that we don't actually have so we're getting those spots in the garage so that's why we're actually sharing that maintenance obligation going forward is because um we're in the same exact position actually even a better position with these spots outside on the roadway because the position we're in right now fot could essentially arbitrarily do whatever they want with it at least now if we go forward with this fiser island kind of has to move in tandem with Miami Beach uh what we are essentially picking up is spots inside of the garage of which we'll share a Prat a maintenance obligation going forward commissioner Rosen Gonzalez so the city is recommending this even though we're going to potentially lose these industrial spots that's where I'm a little confused I know we're getting the 25 garage spots but apparently we need these large industrial spaces I'm not sure what you're not losing them we're not losing them no we will be able to maintain it has nothing to do with this approval is losing the spaces you have on Terminal Island Road so why are we talking about that then because the city said knows that they could potentially lose it because they don't have an agreement with fot and they're coming to us and saying Fisher Island Community Association please do not go to fot without going together with us in other words don't go to them alone so that's something you don't have today that's an extra protection the city's getting that you won't preempt us from turning that into a road no no it is a road The City Is Now parking vehicles on the road there without an agreement with fot and uh and and what city's saying is we don't want fot to to tell us get rid of those vehicles and we are saying we are not going to go that is fiser Island community associate we will not go to uh fot without the city so that's our benefit that's your benefit you don't have that today so you're protect and you don't have 25 spaces today as well that you're getting we don't have 20 no you have we're getting promise that we're not going to lose that road that we're parking these Industrial Vehicles on right now so we're fine with this BR Eric yeah the two are not really as long as the two are not tied to each other we're fine with it but they are yeah Eric oh here I'm hot okay um so commissioner Rosen Gonzalez you are correct the the discussion that we're having today is two really separate discussions one preserving the 33 parking spaces and getting the Buy in of our neighbors that could potentially contact fdot regarding concerns on Terminal Island Drive um we're trying to preempt that in the future and then the separate discussion is the voluntary profer regarding the spaces if they expand the garage that they currently have um and they've gone so far as to say not only will we add spaces if we expand the garage but if we're in the process of getting approvals and your fireboat comes online in October we're going to provide you spots in the garage as it exists today to be able to accommodate those six uh firefighters that are going to be stationed there right okay thank you commissioner Dominguez has a question and then somebody wants to make a motion that was what I was going to do I'm going to move the item um for the city to work to protect the 33 spots and to accept the uh proposal um anybody second I heard commissioner Fernandez from the gallery saying second take the vote Yes sir commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Fernandez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner M mayor Miner yes motion carry 70 the item is approved r5c thank you very much I'll miss I'll miss talking with you all about this we don't believe you but thank you for that we have about 50 yes of course we have uh 15 or so second reading items I trust these are going to go a lot faster than the uh than this past one r5d as in David r5d is in Nance of the mayor City Commission of city of B Beach Florida amending the resiliency code of the city of b beach by amending chapter 7 entitled zoning districts and regulations article 11 District regulations Section 7.2.1 cd2 commercial medium intensity District by amending section 7.2.1 111.3 entitled development regulations cd2 to eliminate the floor area ratio bonus for hotel uses in the cd2 district along Alton Road Normy Drive 71st Street and Collins Avenue North of 63rd Street and providing for codification repealers have ability at an effective date this is a second reading public hearing the item requires 57s vote r5d this is um commissioner Fernandez your item co-sponsored by Commissioners Bot Magazine and and Suarez thank you Mr Mayor and I want to thank my colleagues on the de for their support and their co-sponsorship of this item this item is the elimination of the 05 f for hotels in the cd2 district aligned with our intent of making Miami Beach a more resident Centric a more resident focused community and and passing that thought along and that Spirit along into the character of the development that we incentivize in our city currently the maximum density f in our in our city to districts is 1.5 however if 25% of a building is used for hotel purposes the maximum F can go up to 2.0 so it's a 0.5 F incentive the ordinance that I've sponsored and which received the unanimous support of the planning board and and previous support of my colleagues in first reading removes at 0.5 F bonus uh currently given for hotels uh suet hotels or hostels in the CT cd2 districts and it's specifically those cd2 districts along Alton Road along Normandy Drive 71st Street and Collins Avenue we have other C2 districts uh on Collins Avenue south of 20th Street and along uh Washington Avenue but that is traveling on its own process I believe it's going to be heard at the planning board next week um and so that's the item that's that's before us I'm grateful to mbu that has also stated their support for for this item and I see we have our planning director here Mr Mooney anything else for the record on this item that should be clarified nope you covered it all commissioner with that Mr Mayor I move my item let's call a vote it is a public hearing I see no one in Zoom no one in the audience commissioner bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Schwarz yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved 70 that was item r5d r5e R5 is in ordance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of man Beach Florida amending chapter 7 of the bamb beach resiliency code entitled zoning districts and regulations by amending Article 2 entitled District regulations by amending section 7.2.2 entitled rs1 rs2 RS3 RS4 single family residential districts by amending sub section 7.2.2 point2 entitled uses RS to conform the fine schedule for violations of subsection 7.2.2 point2 to statutorily prescrib limits in chapter 162 of the Florida statute and providing for repealers have ability cerification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing the item requires 57s vote is item r5e this is an administrative item that uh that I put on the agenda at the request of the city attorney's office City attorney and Tommy are here but if somebody moves the item let's call a vote the public hearing I see no one in Zoom no one in the audience commission vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes that was a yes got it commissioner bot yes commissioner Suarez yes yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item was approved 70 that was item r5e r5f r5f as nor of the mayor and City Commissioner of the city of B Beach Florida amending chapter 102 of the city code of the city of B Beach Florida entitled taxation by amending article four entitled local business tax by amending Section 102 d368 thereof entitled posting of business tax receipts and decals by requiring that specified vessel related business prominently display their city issued business tax receipt number and all advertising solicitation and marketing materials have provided for repealer separability codification and effective date it is a second reading public hearing it is item r5f commissioner Suarez and co-sponsored by commissioner magazine I move my item let's call the vote this is a public hearing I see no one in Zoom no one in the audience commissioner bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Dominguez is out commissioner Suarez yes mayor Miner just say yes vice mayor Dominguez just said yes yes no yes thank you uh so mayor Miner yes motion carries the is approved 70 that was item r5f r5g r5g is an Ord of the mayor and City Commission of the city of bamb Beach Florida amending chapter 82 of the code of the city of Ami Beach entitled public property by amending article six entitled naming of public facilities and establishment REM monuments or memorials by amending section 82-53 thereof entitled naming of public facilities coaming and renaming of streets by amending sub subsection c1a and c2a to provide additional criteria and procedures for the caming of streets in honor of a notable woman figure who made significant contributions to Civic cultural or political fabric of the city of M Beach providing for Sunset Provisions thereof providing for repealer Serv ability qualification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing r5g commissioner I'll second I'll just announce vice mayor Dominguez and co-sponsored by Commissioners Rosen Gonzalez bot and magazine sorry you moved it do we have a second yes let's call a vote it is a public hearing no one in the audience no one in Zoom I heard a motion by commissioner B seconded by commissioner Dominguez commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner vice mayor Dominguez she says yes yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the is approved 70 that was item r5g r5h r5h is an ordinance of the mayor City Commissioner of the city of B Beach Florida amending chapter amending the b beach resiliency code by amending chapter one entitled General Provisions article two entitle definitions that's section 1.2.2 I'm sorry 1.2.2 entitled use use definitions that's subsection 1. 2.2.9 entitled specialized uses by establishing a definition for sexually transmitted infection STI testing service service by amending chapter 7 entitled zoning districts and regulations Article 5 entitled supplementary District regulations Section 7.5.1 entitled specialized use regulations at subsection 7.5.1 entitled assisted living and medical uses by exempting sexually transmitted infection STI testing service from the regulations of the Divi of this Division and providing for qualification repealer of ability at an effective date this is a second reading public hearing the item requires 57 vote it is i5h commissioner Fernandez you are the sponsor co-sponsored by commissioner Dominguez bot and magazine thank you Mr Mayor this is an item I plac on the agenda because Miami day County right now ranks number four in the country for the total of HIV cases um and specifically uh Miami Beach and the zip code 33139 is a is a hotspot uh for for HIV cases in Miami day County we know that testing is the best is best way to uh to to prevent the growth of these of these numbers and uh this piece of legislation is in response to that R Rising rate of transmission um by amending the code we are we allow for STI testing centers to be exempt from the restrictions outlined uh in in the city code for medical uses to make uh these uh testing centers uh more available throughout the community and more importantly so that people don't need to to encounter certain stigmas when testing uh to to keep themselves and others uh safe with that I move this item Mr Mayor we have a second second let's call the vote it is a public hearing no one in Zoom no one in the audience commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved r5h unanimously r5i r5i is an Ord of the mayor City Commission of the city of Mii Beach Florida amending chapter 46 of the code of the city of Miami Beach entitled environment by creating article 12 entitled light pollution and creating section 46250 entitled garish flashing strobing and or multicolor lights prohibited to prohibit garish flashing dring and or multicolor lights or in Residential Properties that unreasonably disturb the quiet enjoyment of neighboring residents by a nearby resident and establishing enforcement and penalty provisions and providing for repealers have ability gratification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing r5i sponsored by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez co-sponsored by Commissioners magazine and Suarez yes this is another Resident quality of life item for party houses across the city that have permanent lighting installations to accommodate their illegal uh party houses just a protection for residents and with that I would I would just move the item do I have a second second yes okay okay let's call the vote I have a someone the in Zoom Mr Roberts Wayne Roberts do you have two minutes yes my only question is last meeting uh the marina at and uh the the marina South the fifth um there are many boats that have strobe lights re red lights blue lights that flash through the night is this applicable to boats that are anchored at the marinas as well as uh homes is my only question Rob through the chair would you like to answer uh sure yes uh the there was discussion about possibly adding uh Marina activities to this ordance however the title did not include was not broad enough to include that so separate legislation would need to be passed if you all decided as a policy matter that you wanted to do that I'm going to yes we're going to bring a separate resolution uh because we we just want to finally get this passed and then I will work with you between now and September to come up with um a similar ordinance for the marina if that's okay okay Mr Roberts I see no one else on Zoom no one else in the audience may I call the rooll let's call the vote commission commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner bot yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carries item is approved 70 r5i R5 J R5 J is in Ord of the mayor City Commission of the city of Miami Beach Florida iing the code of the of the city of Mi beach by amending chapter 822 entitled public property article four entitled uses and public rights of Way by amending division three entitled news rxs by creating section 82- 259 entitled news racks and newspaper storage boxes prohibited in the city's historic district and providing for repealer catification cability and effective date this is a second reading public hearing it's item rfog J sponsored by commissioner Suarez and co-sponsored by commissioner magazine I move my item let's call the vote it is a public hearing I see no one in the audience no one in Zoom commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Suarez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved 70 it is item R5 J r5k r5k is in orders of the mayor City Commission of the city May Beach Florida amending Chapter 30 the May Beach city code entitled code enforcement by amending article 3 entitled enforcement procedures by amending section 30- 72 thereof entitled conduct of hearings by creating subsection D allowing only one extension of time to extend a compliance date and providing for repealer avability qualification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing it is item r5k sponsor by vice mayor Dominguez thank you mayor I work closely with um Steve rosin and Rick dopo on this mbu supports it and I would like to move the item it's a good item let's call a vote it is a public hearing I see no one on Zoom no one in the audience vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved 70 r5k R5 L r5l is an orders of the mayor City Commission of City City May Beach Florida amending chapter 2 of the May Beach city code entitle Administration by amending article three entitle agencies boards and committees by amending division 16 entitled youth commission by amending section 2-1 188 thereof to allow members to serve up to three years three total years on the youth Commission of providing for repealer Ser ability qualification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing r5l sponsored by vice mayor Dominguez and co-sponsored by commissioner Fernandez thank you mayor this came in as an TC from the youth commission and I wanted to support their request so I move the item uh I have a motion in a second there's no one in the audience nor on Zoom to speak may I call the rooll let call it commissioner bot yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carries it is approved 70 it was item r5l r5m commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um I I just want to say one thing about the the continuance item commissioner Dominguez you know I voted yes to it but the only thing that worries me about it is sometimes small associations need more than one continuent because they get a fine yes so condos condos will be Exempted because my big worry is that associations okay all right okay no thanks for the bringing it up and we'll clarify it r5m r5m is an order so the mayor said Commission of City May Beach Florida amending chapter 2 of the May Beach city code entitle Administration by amending article three entitle agencies boards and committees by amending division two disability access committee by amending section 231 thereof to reduce Quorum and voting requirements from 8 to 5 and providing for repealer severability clarification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing it is item r5m sorry commissioner Fernandez move my I move my item Mr Mayor let's call the vote commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes and for the record there was no one in zoom and no one in uh the audience wishing to speak commissioner magazine yes commissioner bot yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Suarez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved it was approved 70 r5m r5n you have your yeah r5n is in ordinance of the mayor City Commissioner of the city of Miami Beach Florida amending the code of the city of Miami Beach subp Part B entitled Miami Beach resiliency code chapter 2 entitled Administration and review procedures Article Five entitled rezoning and rede and development approvals to establish mandatory progress report requirements for conditional use permits issued for Neighborhood Impact establishments and providing for codification repealer salability at an effective date this is a second reading public hearing the item requires 57s vote r5n commissioner Fernandez sponsor and co-sponsor by Commissioners bot and sareet take your time uh thank you Mr Mayor this is an item I put on the agenda because we as a city through our different uh boards we issue conditional use permits for Neighborhood Impact establishments and the purpose of these conditional use per uh permits specifically to address the the impacts that could come uh from these uh from these establishments uh right now the practice is that uh within six months of of receiving the certificate of of use uh these Nies uh need to go back before the planning board uh for a for a progress report uh what what the amendment before you does is that in addition to codifying the practice that we have in place for the six-month um uh progress report it now establishes a requirement where every conditional use permit uh moving forward will have to provide a letter to the planning department attesting to the applicant's compliance with the conditions of the conditional use permit too many times in the past we have seen um people apply before before our boards promising to be good stakeholders and good neighbors to the community only to act nefariously after these conditional use permits are issued and the problem is that these conditional use permits are everything but conditional once they're issued it's almost impossible to revoke them and what this process does is that it establishes a checks and balances because now on an annual basis they'll have to provide this letter to the planning Department the planning director will be responsible for placing this letter on the agenda of the planning board and if the planning board chooses to pull the letter of one of these conditional use permit holders the planning board could then have um a progress report hearing and bring in the holder of that conditional use permit and address any impacts are being uh that are being cost to the residents and the taxpayers who we represent and so this is an important item to protect the quality of life of our residents to protect uh the quality of the establishments that we permit in our city and to make sure that we're holding these establishments to the word and the promises they make to our residents when these permits are issued I see we have our chief Deputy City attorney and our planning director I don't know if there's anything else that you'd like to place on the record um just one thing for clarity purposes um commissioner Fernandez the um what you had just read into the record would be an amendment to the ordinance that was provided for second reading so if there is a motion to adopt the ordinance if you could make that motion pursuant to the amendment that you just read and that Nick handed out to everybody in the days thank you and with that I'll move my item as amended and uh Nick I don't know if there's anything re relating to the item You' like to place on the no you covered it commissioner thank you thank you yeah I like this item I'm going to add my name as a co-sponsor a couple years ago I brought an item at the recommendation of so be safe that a lot of the uh conditional use permits were not easy to obtain they were in archives it could take a while so I brought an item approve by our commission and thankfully implemented by you and your team that they are available online from a dashboard so uh this uh this goes in line with that and I'm happy to coastar certain and thank you for bringing this item thank you let's call the vote it is a public hearing no one in Zoom no one in the AUD audience commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner magazine yes and if you could add me as a co-sponsor as well thank you yes vice mayor Dominguez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved 70 as amended r 5 O yes sir mayor I have one announcement r5v Victor is being withdrawn by the sponsor r5v thank you R5 it is an norance of the mayor City Commission of the city of M Beach Florida amending Chapter 70 of the code of the city of May beach entitled miscellaneous offenses by amending article one entitle in general by creating section 70-11 entitled habitual Municipal ordance violation offenders and providing for repealers of ability gratification and effective date today is a second reading public hearing R5 so this item just uh seeks to make our Municipal ordinances consistent with Florida State Statute right now Florida State Statute allows for certain misdemeanors that if a person an individual is convicted four or more four times in a single year a single 12 months that can be enhanced penalties there are five of our misdemeanors that are under Municipal prosecution program but we are not we do not have that enhanced penalty this would just conform with state laws for those five misdemeanors somebody want to move the Adam second let's call the vote I have a motion by commissioner Fernandez second uh seconded by commissioner bot it is a public hearing no one in Zoom no one in the audience commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner bot yes V mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Suarez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved 70 R5 r5p p is and Paul r5p is in Ord of the mayor and City Commission of the city of Mii Beach Florida amending chap subpart a entitle General ordinances of the code of the city of Miami Beach chapter 18 entitle business Article 15 entitled Street performance and art vendors by amending section 18- 906 thereof entitled regulations procedures and prohibitions to regulate sound levels produced by any person in close proximity to outdoor dining seating and providing for repealer severability catification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing the item is r5p sponsored by vice mayor Dominguez co-sponsored by commissioner Fernandez thank you um so this came about from personal experiences and hearing from um many uh residents and I thank uh our Deputy City attorney Robert Rosenwald for helping so much with this ordinance and making sure that we get it right uh with that I move the item I'll second let's call the vote there is a public hearing seeing no one in the audience no one in Zoom uh motion by commissioner Dominguez second by commissioner Suarez uh commissioner bot yes commissioner Fernandez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner uh mayor Miner yes motion carries it is approved 70 it is item r5p r5q r5q is in Ord of the mayor City Commission of City of Miami Beach Florida amending chapter 78 of the city of the Miami Beach city code entitled Personnel by creating article four thereof entitled unclassified employees leave to cify as part of the city code and amend the city's employees leave ordinance number 10 1613 for clarity and ease of reference to delete and or revise outdated Provisions create new sections and make sub Subs amendments as follows section 78-81 entitled definitions amount of leave section 78-82 entitled special Provisions for employees on military leave section 78-83 entitled accumulation of forfeiture of annual leave or and sick leave section 78-1 184 entitled conver conversion and transfer of annual leave and sick leave section 78-85 entitled use of annual leave section 78-16 entitled use of sick leave section 78-87 entitled charges against annual leave and sick leave section 78-1 188 entitled timing of vacation section 78-1 189 entitled payment for annual and sick leave section 78-90 entitled other leaves with compensation section 78-1 191 entitled worker compensation and supplemental injury pay section 78-1 192 entitled use of annual sick or sick leave for purchase of pension time section 78-1 193 entitled donation of annual leave and sick leave section 78-1 194 entitled paid parental leave section 78-1 195 entitled leave sell back section 7816 entitled use of sick leave for retiree Health Savings Account section 78-1 197 entitled city manager authority to adopt administrative procedures or regulation section 78-1 198 entitled Domestic and Sexual Violence section 78-1 199 entitled donation of annual and sickly for humanitarian disaster relief repeal ordinance 1613 in its entirety and providing for repealer have ability codification and an effective date this is a second reading public hearing r5q this is my item it's an administrative item at the uh from the human resource department we have a second I'll second it let's call the vote so motion by commissioner Fernandez seconded by the mayor commissioner Rosen gonz it is a public hearing I see no one in the audience no one in Zoom commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carry 70 it is item r5q approved r5r R5 R is and ordance of the mayor and City Commission of city of mamb Florida amending chapter 78 of the code of the city entitled Personnel by creating Article Five thereof entitled classified employee leave to cify as part of the city code and amend the city's employees leave ordinance number 13 35 for clarity and ease of reference to delete and or revise outdated Provisions create new sections and to make substantive amendments as follows section 78- 282 entitled definition amounts of leave section 78- 283 entitled probationary employees section 78- 284 entitled provisional employees section 78- 285 entitled special Provisions for employees of military leave section 78- 286 entitled accumulation of or forfeiture of annual leave and sick leave section 78287 entitled transfer of sick leave to annual leave section 78287 entitle use of annual leave section 78- 289 entitle use of sick leave section 78290 entitled charges against annual leave and sick leave section 78- 291 entitled timing of vacation section 78- 292 entitle payment for annual leave section 78- 293 entitle other leaves with compensation section 78- 294 entitle workers compensation and supplementary injury pay section 78- 295 entitled use of annual leave for purchase of pension time section 78- 296 entitled donation of annual leave and sick leave section 78- 297 entitled paid parental leave section 78- 298 entitled leave sell back section 78299 entitled use of sick leave for retiree Health Savings Account section 78- 300 entitled managers authority to adopt administrative procedures and regulations Section 78- 301 entitled Domestic and Sexual Violence leave on Section 78 302 entitled donate annuals and cly for humanitarian disaster relief on Section 78303 entitled collective bargaining contingency repeal ordinance 1335 and its entirety and providing for repealers have ability codification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing r5r thankfully you read quickly another administrative item from HR we have a motion second take your PE uh commissioner Fernandes commissioner bot second it uh commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Suarez yes I mayor Dominguez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved 70 that was item r5r r5s congratulations r5s is an ordance of the mayor City Commissioner of city of b beach of Florida amending chapter 7 reach resiliency code tile zoning districts and regulations article two District regulations six division six rm3 residential multif family high intensity section 7.2 6.2 uses rm3 to adopt and or amend hours for the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages on premises alcoholic beverages establishments in the area generally bounded by Collins Avenue on the West 72nd Street on the North 53rd Street on the south and the eastern boundary line of properties fronting the east side of Collins Avenue on the East and providing for repealer catification cility and an effective date this is uh second reading public hearing the item requires 57s vote is r5s thank you uh commissioner Fernandez co-sponsored by commissioner bot thank you Mr Mayor uh this item relates to uh our rm3 zoning districts these are residential multi family zoning districts residential areas of our city but currently this zoning District allows for alcohol beverage establishments including restaurants and and bars and other entertainment venues to be selling alcohol past midnight uh and of course we want to protect the residential character of Life uh especially in in these areas of of our city uh where we have a residential multifam uh property so this ordinance uh that I have before the body today with the co-sponsorship of of commissioner bot proposes to limit outdo alcohol hours uh in the rm3 zoning District in Collins Avenue from 53rd to 72nd Street to midnight it applies to both new and existing businesses is that correct Mr planning director yes correct all right um and um and with that uh I move my item second okay uh Mr city clerk please call the vote it is a public hearing we have Elizabeth Laton on Zoom Miss Laton you have two minutes please state your name and address hi um I've had to unmute myself um I am in full support of this item as well as mbu as as well um I want to make sure that there are safeguards in place that protect the earlier closing hours uh we are a full residential area and we also are a Historic Hotel area where well we were and I want there are two hotels that currently have 8:00 closing time uh for anything outside and I want to make sure that those stay in place so I just I want to just say we're in full support thank you and and and for the record I just uh I see we have our chief Deputy City attorney Nick keris at the podium and and Nick for purposes of of of the record the the intent of the item is to roll back from a later hour than midnight to the earlier hour which would be midnight but an establishment that already has an earlier closing hour this would not extend that and so uh uh Mr attorney I would just like that Clarity on the record so um commissioner what what Miss leaton is referring to is that there are certain uh establishments that are limited to uh to to 8:00 that's correct um and this wouldn't extend them to midnight to the contrary the the purpose of this item is to roll back and I just want to make sure on the record that we that we are establishing that can you confirm that it does not extend this would not extend anyone who's subject to an APM uh cut off time for the outdoor bar counter this ordinance would not extend them to minut okay and this applies to the east side of Colin s is that correct cor yes okay and also this does and I just want to confirm this proposal does not impact indoor alcohol sales is that correct that's correct thank you thank you Mr attorney has anyone moved seconded let's call the vote I have SE no one else in the audience wishing to speak or in Zoom I have motion by commissioner Fernandez seconded by commissioner Suarez commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Dominguez yes yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes the item is approved 70 that it was item r5s r5t item r5t is an ordance of the mayor City Commission of City of Miami Beach Florida amending the Miami Beach resiliency code by amending chapter 7 entitle zoning districts regulations Article 2 entitled District regulations that's section 7.2.1 entitle cd2 commercial medium intensity City District at subsection 7.2.1 111.5 entitled Washington Avenue cd2 by repealing co- living units as an allowable use and eliminating all references to such and by amending section 7.2.4 entitled North Beach town center core District TC at subsection 7.2.1 14.6 entitled Town Center Central core TCC District by reducing the maximum number of co-living units that may be built within the district and providing for catification repeaters of ability get an effective date it is a second reading public hearing the item requirs 57 vote is r5t sponsored by commissioner Fernandez and co-sponsored by Commissioners Bot Magazine and Suarez thank you Mr Mayor I think we've all discussed this a number of times the concerns with coing units how they could potentially be used as short-term rentals and potentially be used for transient purposes in ways that abuse and and and affect the quality of life of our full-time residents in Miami Beach so the proposed ordinance before us today and I want to thank my my co-sponsor proposed us to remove the ability of any co- living units on Washington Avenue and repealing all references as such along this this cordor and it also reduces the number of co-living units in North Beach uh I believe uh only one co- living uh unit um was previously approved in in Washington Avenue but the permit was never issued and so this would guarantee that on Washington Avenue we wouldn't have uh these uh these uh these co- uh living uh buildings uh built there so with that uh I would like to move my item I don't know if there's anything else you'd like to add on the record nope you covered everything commissioner thank you have a sec do we have a sec okay let's call the vote it is a public hearing no one on Zoom no one in the audience commissioner bot yes blest mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Suarez commissioner Rosen Gonzalez mayor Miner yes motion carries approved 70 it was item r5t R5 viu R5 VI is in Ord of the mayor City Commissioner of the city of May Beach FL amending the Land Development regulations of the city code by amending chapter two of this resiliency code in title Administration and review procedures Article 13 entitled historic preservation section 2.3.9 entitled historic designation at subsection EI entitled historic preservation site HPS by designating the Collins Canal located between biscane Bay and Lake pan CO as a historic site to be known as Collins Canal as more particularly described in the OR in this ordinance providing that the city's zoning map shall be amended to include the Canal as a historic site adopting the designation report attached here to as a pedex a providing for inclusion in the Land Development regulations of the city code and providing for catification repealers of ability and effective date it is a second reading public hearing the item requires 57 vote is r5u do we have a second I'll second it let's call the vote it is a public hearing I see no one in the audience right got it and no one in Zoom uh vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner swarez yes commissioner bot well no I'm kidding yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved 70 it was item r5u r5v was withdrawn by the sponsor r5w r5w and ordance of the mayor City Commission of the city of Miami Beach Florida amending the Miami Beach resiliency Coda chapter 2 entitled Administration and review procedures article one entitled land use boards section 2.1.2 entitled planning board at section 2.1 Point 2.2 entitled membership and appointment section 2.1.3 entitled design review board at section 2.1.3 point2 entitled membership and appointment at section 2.1.4 entitled historic preservation board at section 2.1.4 point3 entitled membership and appointment and section 2.1.5 entitled Board of adjustment that's section 2.1.5 point2 entitled membership to amend the requirements for the architect and landscape architect categories as applicable and providing for codification Ser ability and effective date this is a first reading r5w sponsored by commissioner bot um I'll let our planning director do the heavy lifting thank you for doing that Tom but I will say the reason for bringing this is that um serving on a on a land use board is an honor and a privilege and um a not insignificant ask of our residents and it is um something that we want the most qualified people who have the best interest of the city at heart to get involved with but at the same time we don't want to penalize them for um being involved in a land use board by limiting their business opportunities so this item is being contemplated in order to reconfigure the requirements um and provide a little bit of latitude so we can get the best people that we can on the boards without um hampering their ability to actually you know pay their rent or their mortgage yeah actually that was the heavy lifting it was the technical part it was the only thing that I will add in terms of the technical part is that um in under the membership categories for the design review board historic preservation board and board of adjustment there are categories that mandate a registered architect and a registered landscape architect this particular ordinance would provide more latitude by giving the commission the ability to appoint a design professional in those fields that may not have the registration and so that would open up a pool um and order for the commission to better be able to make sure that these boards uh remain full and it was endorsed by the planning board unanimously and this is first reading and the administration recommends approval at first reading can I move my own item yeah okay I'll second so a motion by commissioner bot a second seconded by commissioner uh Dominguez uh by Dominguez commissioner Fernandez r5w yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner bot yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carries it is uh second reading public hearing is scheduled for October 30th r5w r5x this is an Ord of the mayor City Commission of City May Beach Florida amending the code of City May Beach sub Part B in t bami Beach resiliency code chapter 2 entitled Administration and review procedures article one entitled land use boards at section 2.1.2 entitled planning board section 2.1.3 entitled design review board section 2.1.4 entitled historic preservation board and section 2.1.5 entitled Board of adjustment to establish a requirement that any individual who applies to serve on a land use board first complete an architectural walking tour and providing for CIF codification repealers of ability and an effective date this is item r5x it requires 57s vote commissioner Rosen Gonzalez the sponsor yes uh first and for foremost I would like to give credit to George ner this was his idea over many years of serving with the Miami Design preservation league and um be sitting in you know different land use hearings um sometimes we un you know you you see our Art Deco district and sometimes people are apped to land use boards that don't necessarily understand the importance of the Art Deco district and the historic nature of it and how people fought uh for it and they go into hearings and you know they could be dismissive of something that's really important so as an educator myself I believe that education is power and knowledge and it will result in um board members that are well-versed in um you know in the importance of preservation because I myself myself I didn't even understand preservation when I initially got elected you know you can live in a city your entire life and drive around and see these little buildings but if nobody ever really explains it to you so this is just simple thing this is the first reading um hopefully this won't be controversial and um that I would move my item I'll second okay and just Mr Mayor if I could commissioner Fernandez thank you um I'll second your item I I do think um you know when we think about Miami Beach I think we all think about art Eco and that's what our mind you know defaults to but there's so much more than Arco there's Mediterranean Revival there's myo there's other styles of architecture Beyond Arco that contribute to the character of our historic districts that perhaps um the members of these Sports should be exposed to because that is part part of the challenge they might appreciate AR Deo architecture but might find myo architecture to be you know simplistic um or might find you know other types of you know you know post-war modern type of architecture that might be contributing an important but might not understand its importance um and so if if you would accept an an amendment um to your item to have them participate in a walking tour that's more comprehensive and not just limited to the art deco historic district because look at what happened with Tallahassee Tallahassee we were able to get the exception for the ardco historic district but why because they don't understand the importance of the other historic districts in North Beach we have an important historic district in North Beach and other areas so perhaps something that's more comprehensive and not as limited to only the ardco historic district Daniel is saying that the tour covers everything but if you did want to travel up to North Beach I'm sure that the city could provide a vehicle when we do these tours right you know we could kind of Corral all the land use members together and make it a noticed type of meeting and then have mdpl provide the tour and you could make possibly do a North mid you know all all all sections of Mii Beach so if you would like to make that amendment that it include um all of the styles of architecture and um and that uh we traveled across Miami Beach for the tour couple of hours we're not going to torture people with gave it like a 2hour tour um and I hope is that okay with all of you and and and there the only reason why I mentioned it and I apologize for the confusion is that the item said the piece of legislation said the our Deco tour and so I thought it was only limited to our Deco architecture and so thank you for that clarification thank you Mr Mayor through the mayor commissioner bot yeah I thank you for stealing my thunder commissioner Fernandes um no I I Echo what you say um not only because of what's going on in Tallahassee and it's so important for people who think they know what the postcard looks like to understand that there is so much more to our important historic architecture up and down our Coastline and even Inland we have these beautiful um Miami modern 1940s and 50s buildings that people dismiss um I think it's critically important that part of the tour um Daniel just sorry sorry to put you on the but part of the tour should also explain the legislative challenges that we're facing as a city so that they can understand and put into perspective um some of the decisions they're weighing you know for instance when we were talking about trying to find a location for the fire station the South Shore Community Center was dismissed specifically by a sitting elected commissioner specifically because it was not a um an attractive piece of Mars Lapidus architecture um however the people who are the experts in the State uh deemed it one of the 11 places to save specifically because it was not a conventional piece of Mars Lapidus architecture in addition to some other reasons but if you're sitting on a land use board you need to understand not just the rules and regulations and the goals of the city and the comp plan but also the fabric of the city and what makes this so special and why we fight like dogs to keep this from turning into Sunny aisles and and understand that architecture is not the only element that Mak a property historic sometimes is the significance of the individual that may have recited there sometimes is events that may have taken place there sometimes is what it contributes to to to to the environment and the overall design or the colle or the collection that you have that specific style of building not withstanding the unique architecture of that one building I love serving with you commissioner VOD it reminds me of our days on the planning board we would have done this tour together I we might still if it's a sunshine meeting so can I move this item call the vote this is first reading r5x motion by commissioner bot secondly by commissioner Fernandez commissioner magazine Yes again this is as amended vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner B yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved as amended second reading public hearing is October 30th r5y R5 Y is in orders of the May City Commission of City of Miami Beach Florida meing the city of Miami Beach year 2040 comprehensive plan pursuant to to the expedited State review process of section 1.6 163 3184 subsection 3 Florida Statutes by amending the resiliency land use and development element goal rlu one entitled land use objective rlu 1.1 entitle establishment of future land use categories at table rlu 1.1 to provide consistency with the floor area ratio F regulations at policy rlu 1.1.5 entitled low density multif family residential rm-1 to provide fa increases to encourage the conversion of Legally established transient uses to residential uses in the West Avenue Bayfront overlay by amending policy rlu 1.1.6 entitled medium density multifam residential arm2 to provide F incentives to encourage the development of residential uses at the conversion of existing transient uses to residential uses for properties located in the mid Beach residential use incentive area and to provide for f incentives to encourage a conversion of Legally established transient uses to residential uses in the West Avenue Bayfront overlay by amending policy rlu 1.1.7 and title high density multif family residential arm3 to provide F incentives to encourage the development of residential uses and the conversion of existing transient uses to residential uses for properties located in the mid Beach residential use area by amending policy 1.125 total high density residential performance standard r- ps- 4 to provide F incentives to encourage the development of residential uses and the conversion of existing transient uses to residential uses by amending objective 1.2 entitled land use regulations to establish policy 1.2.8 entitled residential use incentives to provide minimum standards for obtaining the F incentives set forth of this ordinance are providing for catification repealer cability transmittal and an effective date this is a first reading it is item r5y sponsor vice mayor Dominguez co-sponsored by commissioner Suarez and magazine and um Mr Mayor and um Madam vice mayor r5z is a companion and so it might make sense to read that into the record now so that V can be discussed at the same time please r5z is an order to the mayor and City Commission of city of Bambi Beach Florida amending the Bambi Beach resiliency code by amending chapter 7 entitled zoning districts and regulations by vending article one entitled General to all zoning districts to establish 7.1 point10 entitled residential use incentives to create requirements for developments eligible and residential use incentives by amending Article 2 entitle District regulations at section 7.2.5 entitle rm2 residential multif family medium intensity to establish subsection 7.2 5.5 entitled mid Beach residential use incentive area rm2 to provide floor area ratio F height incentives to encourage the development of residential uses and the conversion of existing transient uses to residential uses for properties Zone rm2 that front Collins Avenue between 47th Street on the south and 63rd Street on the North by amending section 7.2.6 intitle R 3 residential multif family high intensity to establish subsection 7.2.6 point4 entitled mid Beach residential use incentive area rm3 to provide F and hide incentives to encourage the development of residential uses the conversion of existing transiting uses to residential uses for the property Zone R3 that front Collins Avenue between 47 Street of the South and 63rd Street on the North by amending subsection 2 7.2.5 intitle performance standard District PS subsection 7.2.1 15.2 entitled residential performance standards District to provide F hide incentives to encourage the development of residential uses and the conversion of existing transient uses to residential uses for property Zone R r- PS4 by amending article 3 overlay District section 7.3.3 entitled West Avenue Bayfront overlay at subsection 7.3.3 point4 entitled legal non-conforming and other transient uses West Avenue Bayfront overlay to provide F height and use incentives to encourage the conversion of Legally established transient uses to residential uses for property Zone R1 arm2 that are located within the West Avenue Bayfront overlay and providing for codification repealers have ability and an effective date this is the first reading 57 votes are required it is item r5z vice mayor you have the floor so I started working on this item in the fall of last year and um I worked closely with uh Tom and his team with neighborhood associations and in essence it's to give a modest incentive for Transit youth to convert to residential youth anything to add Tom nope that pretty much covered the commission with that I move the item let's call the vote well from a sequencing standpoint if you could move R5 y first and then R I move R5 y yeah Mr second commissioner Rosen Gonzalez had her hand up 3.5 is a massive increase 3.5 is not a modest increase on Ocean PR I'm just wondering between 47th Street and 63rd Street what kind of properties are we talk like what the what's there the SOA fountain blue like what the these would be larger Ocean Front Lots so in order to Avail yourself of a 3.5 F which would be essentially going from either 2.75 or the current Max of 3.0 to 3.5 your Ocean Front lot would have to be over 45,000 square feet in size and how many Lots is that it would depend um for 45,000 foot lot it's probably two to three narrow Lots but a lot like the the fountain blue is well over 100,000 square ft so they could add on and have they maxed out okay look let's say found blue so that means that they would add an additional Tower the found get rid of the found blue the fountain blue currently is at a maximum 3.0 F and um to the best of my knowledge they're nowhere near that because the site is so big right now they could add another Tower at 200 ft yeah I don't that I love this ordinance um okay so it's 47 to 63rd and that's the second one and the first ordinance is covering which area so Avenue it covers four different areas the first is the rm2 area in mid Beach um which is between 47th and 63rd Street the second is the rm3 area within the same area which would be the ocean front the third area would be the rps4 district which is limited to the area between roughly First Street South Point Drive First Street and Fifth Street on the ocean and then the last area would be the West Avenue Bayfront overlay now the West Avenue Bayfront overlay the increase would only be applicable to those properties that already have a legal non-conforming transient use like a hotel and they convert to non-transient residential this is like a transformative piece of legislation it means any so-called transient use could get a potential of 3.5 monster f um I'm not going to support this simply because number one we don't really know what live loal is going we can say this excuse we're we're converting transient uses I don't know what the overall have we do we do a comprehensive study of how many units that this could add to Miami Beach aart from what we already have because these are massive this is massive massing I'm sorry and this could potentially add thousands and thousands of units because it's so big and it covers the entire Waterfront pretty much right what doesn't it cover it only is it's only applicable to the ocean front areas in terms of rm3 from 47th which is just North of Fountain Blue to 63r Street and the analysis that we did since there's no increase um in density um the actual increase in the number of units we expect to be fairly modest because in comparison to what you can currently do these are fairly modest increases in F but what about the First Street to First Street South Point Drive to where in in the rps4 district that goes from roughly South Point Drive to Fifth Street Oceanfront properties only so how many properties are there in South Point how many transient uses there's like one hotel there is an existing there are three existing hotels in the rps3 district um but this would also apply to new construction that agrees by Covenant to in perpetuity have no uh transient uses because right now does sna know that that they heard this and they were fine with it s the planning board pass this 60 um it's been a long time in the making yeah I just I I've I've seen what 3.5 looks like and it scares me and I just think that at a time when we have so much traffic and so much density if you could do this on like some sort of specific Case by casee basis instead of just giving this this is just like a full license to just build it build it build it and after what I saw in North Bay Village with the live local um I I thought that that project was a little bit scary I'm not I understand that we're going to be getting these applications and kind of fighting these applications B Harbor right now is in is in a lawsuit over the live local application that they got and North Bay Village um I guarantee you you know will have some sort of litigation after a certain point and I understand that the the desire to use the the transient uses in in into but these are the most expensive pieces of land in the city I don't necessarily I I mean I'm I'm just a no so um I'm both because I don't understand the implications um I don't I can't see what that massing is going to look like I don't think that people in the other Towers on the other side of South Point Drive are going to really like the fact that you're you know maximizing this F and building like you know taller and bigger you know one of the most beautiful things about Miami Beach along the ocean front commissioner Dominguez is the idea that from one side of the island to the other you have this beautiful profile and in between it it's dotted with like bright blue ocean and anybody who's walked the city and seen this would understand that that is just part of what makes us so special and I feel like something like this will ruin that we need housing and this is a measure to help convert hotels to housing which hotels are you talking there's no Hotel I mean I what which ones so in in in rps4 alone there's three existing but it's also important to point out that in the RP in the rps4 district not only are hotels permitted so if somebody wanted to convert an existing residential apartment to Hotel they could do that but they could also do short-term rentals and we can't legislate that but this does is with a modest increase in F and height would ensure that that particular property would be non-transient in perpetuity including short-term rentals how many live local applications has the city currently received we've received approximately six but none have been deemed complete so they've submitted something but they are not complete applications that could be approved I think that at a time where we've really lost control over what we can build and I know commissioner magazine you want to reduce transient usage but this is this will R in my opinion ruin the landscape of certain areas um by maximizing this F and sometimes we create something like this without actually seeing what it will do is there any way that you could just defer this one month so I could actually see massing of what this could look like if if it was built Out The Way It Is by September 11 Yeah we actually put together massing studies for the public workshops that this has been through because this involved an increase in F it required two hearings before the planning board and it also required a public Workshop in between the two planning board hearings and a second public Workshop is required between first reading and second reading so if this is approved at first reading today we would conduct a public Workshop um sometime in early September and then adoption could not occur until October anyway um commissioner commissioner Suarez thank you mayor um I certainly want to be sensitive to the fact of we don't want larger buildings um in the area but you know what personally when I'm given the opportunity to remove a transient use in in any neighborhood um for a modest increase in in and height and and F to me I think that's added benefit and and you would think that well you're adding more units or or larger units and you're going to add more traffic but in reality residential is the least intensive as far as traffic goes um when when you have a hotel use that's very intense uh when it when it comes to traffic so um the less transient uses in a neighborhood the less traffic you're going to get in the neighborhood and and also let's let's take a step back and realize that you know live local didn't just come out of nowhere right um it it came because there are developers who who want to build and you know not just Miami beach but there has been a serious uh you know block from allowing any sort of development period and that's not just local to Miami Beach it's other neighborhoods and obviously ly those those concerns are valid but when the pendulum swings one way where you know we are making it very difficult to to develop you're going to end up having state laws like live local that overrule Municipal uh code and so I think you know we we have right now a decent relationship with Tallahassee um I'm hoping we hire someone who's very close to Tallahassee soon Eric Carpenter um uh and but you know I think if we sort of show that we're willing to compromise and that we're willing to sacrifice transient uses for residential uses and increase modestly F and height you know that's going to send a big message to Tallahasse to say maybe you know maybe live local isn't the option for Miami Beach since they are starting compromise and I I think you know when when that message is clear we're not going to have we're not going to have bills pass down our throat uh and forcing us to real highrises on the beach that could be a serious problem um so that's why I sponsor this item I'm I'm always going to be a fan of residential use um as opposed to transi use commissioner Rosa Gonzalez I I just want to say that you're some of these hotels are like three-story hotels right so we're going to take three story hotels and give them the incentive to go up to 17 stories not ocean front and then 22 stories ocean front and I just somebody just texted me there are already three live local um applications south of fifth so you in addition to these three live local that we're going to have to potentially fight not be able to control the massive density we will look like Dubai I'm not joking I saw that project in North Bay Village and I understand that North Bay Village needed something there but I don't know that they needed what is it 5,000 units more than that 10,000 units it's so massive and we our infrastructure can't handle it we have already high feal matter in our ocean and Waters and we can't we this is just devastating well Tom is that true I mean you're going from how many stories to 17 you're taking little teeny hotels that are three and four stories and allowing 17 stories you're ruining everyone's view everyone's going to be mad at you it's devastating and it's widespread under this legislation can can Tom answer that question real quick could mayor Miner thank goodness that mayor Miner passed the 67s thing because this could pass so in the rps4 area which is the area south of history that only applies to Oceanfront properties it does not apply to Interior properties those are zon rps3 this is does not apply to rps3 within the rps4 there is an existing Hotel the seavoy that is three stories however the current maximum height uh along the ocean front and this would apply to hotels is 100 fet this would only allow you to go to 115 ft and the F increase is from the current 2.0 to 2.25 again you only can go to 2.25 if you agree not to do hotels and not to do short-term rentals how many how many stories is 115t probably you might be able to get 10 stories out of that but they can already go up to 100 yeah which is nine stories one story yeah plus the F yeah but right now right now they're like three stories right but but they're but they're not I mean but they're not there's control I understand that but right now they're very happy operating as these smaller properties you know and they have been they're not asking for this this was just something this is not requiring to develop into something else but it's protecting us from having somebody buy buy it out and put in a live local property why would it why would it stop anybody from from buying it as it is I mean I think it's I mean I think it's not enough of an incentive to I don't I don't see how why would this stop anybody from purchasing a property if they could build whatever they wanted anyway and why would we give added incentives when we already can't control F height density any of that with other projects given the fact that we have so much development in the pipeline I understand this this this desire to deinen divize transient uses but those hotels aren't um causing any problems why would we want to why would you want to create that density there where we don't necessarily need it it's so Charming the way it is um and this could be how many square okay let's say that everybody maximized this out what are we looking at in the rps4 area our calculation show that there would be a potential increase of approximately 38,500 ft which is how many units when you it depends on the size of the units but that maybe is an extra 40 units so 40,000 so 40 ,000 ft south of fifth yeah and then in the other area in the RPS in the rm3 area um what we calculated now that is a much bigger area um the um there would be a potential increase of approximately 148,000 Square ft that's from 47 Street to 63rd Street question um so if if we don't do this and somebody buys those properties and and they do a live local project well they can't do currently live local does not apply to residential multif family districts so none of the these areas identified are eligible for live okay that's what I so so so just just all on just just to put this in context but someone could buy the property and go up to 100 feet and four or five stories and still keep it transient correct okay and so I guess the intent of this is to if someone is going to buy that property they're going to have the option to say all right well I can either build a hotel or I can get more incentive to build a residential uh development instead of the hotel where I get one more floor and I'm getting um that 0.25 increase in F and so I in in to me I think it's a win for the community if there's no short-term rentals um again short-term rentals you don't know who's coming like this is the south of fifth is a very residential neighborhood when you live in a residential neighborhood and you live in a residential building you usually have to submit background information you have to make sure you know you have good credit when you when you're in a hotel you don't know who's coming and going and they're guests and the amount of Ubers and and and black cars that go through there it's it's very intense and from what you're telling me if there's only an increase of maybe 40 units I mean let's be honest those units are probably not going to be full-time residences they're probably going to be second or third homes if it's on the ocean so um you know I I don't I don't as far as infrastructure I don't think it's going to be a strain on infrastructure at all um at least in the RS S 4 rps4 so um let's just you know let's let's make sure we get all the facts and then really outweigh um one use over the other yeah and commissioner for commissioner magazine and how I'm thinking about this is if we want to use the seavoy as an example and remember south of fifth on the ocean front east of Collins is included in the unsafe structures act so if somebody was going to buy the seavoy or a a three-story Hotel there and do a Redevelopment how I'm looking at it is I want to provide incentive for that Redevelopment to be residential now a modest incentive right so if they're looking and they're saying okay we're going to do a Redevelopment as part of this project we could either have a 100 foot hotel or in the neighborhood where my daughter goes to school we can have A5 foot residential complex I I think that's a fair trade-off we actually uh just went through with a um Citywide referendum that proposed exactly that at the uh Marriott Stanton I believe it is and Tom as a point of comparison what was the F and the height that was um overwhelmingly approved by I think what 59 maybe 60 some perc uh of Voters what was the um incen f and height there I I believe the height remained the same 100 feet but the F AR went to 2.75 okay this is a first reading so we uh we'll have a second crack at this oh is this the first reading yeah first reading okay I you know um I'm looking at it I mean overall it's if you add them all up on the one ordinance because there's two of them it's probably like a thousand units extra correct um I don't think it's a th000 units in total in the rm2 area um um the total increase was approximately 16,000 square feet so that's maybe 15 to 16 units in the rm3 we said a little under 150,000 so that's probably um 130 140 units and then in the rps4 you're looking at um maybe 35 to 40 units and Tom if these are water fronts are going to be larger units as well so you'd be looking at 1,500 to 3,000 4,000 square ft yeah if the units were that big it would be even less so one thing I I don't understand the live local act those oceanfront hotels they cannot build a live local building on those no because they're zoned rm3 if your zon residential multif family you're not eligible for the live local so these are the small hotels um along ocean Drive correct no that no no these are the AL along Ocean Drive south of fist Street other than the Arlington seavoy there's really no other small buildings left they've either been incorporated into an existing larger development or they've been demolished but if I could build a hotel at 10 stories and then I only get one extra story for making a residential I mean am I really is that really enough of an incentive I mean is that enough of an incentive Kristen you you could you could build a ninstory apartment building and have it be full of Str strs like the the roone palace which is infested with short-term rentals it is absolutely infested um where they have hundreds of people coming in and out using it as an Oceanfront Hotel I mean talk to any of the residents there and that's a residential building so you could build residential and then make it short-term rental anyway so but doing this but doing this means if you get the bonus F what we're what what our colleagues are trying to incentivize is that you get the bonus F you can build a 10 story or 11 story residential Tower instead of Nine Stories if you profer in perpetuity the fact that it will not be a short-term rental building so that actual people can live there let I think we've gone through the issues let's take the vote uh we'll have a side I have a I have a number of questions about it as well we can do that between first and second reading let's call the vote oh so close commissioner yeah I think it would be good if this item stops by land use before comes back for a second reading uh because I just want to make sure uh that we all understand it well want to understand you know the massing impacts traffic impacts and just make sure that we are truly um you know that we protect our historic assets and so so I I support the intent of the incentive iing transcent uses and to promote uh initiatives that incentivize uh full-time residential uses just want to more clearly understand all the unintended or potential impacts this could have is that a motion yeah I'll second my colleague's item but just for just to stop and land use be between first and second reading already G to it went to land use back before this commission got elected back in 20 I don't even remember when it went to land use um so just between the two meetings I just appreciate just stops there I'm I'm supportive of that okay land use so September 5th land use and that's before the commission meeting on September 11th actually October 30th is second reading so October 30th oh sweet definitely have time and there's also going to be an additional Workshop as well we have to do another public Workshop before second reading we anticipate that being sometime in in early to mid-september as well and could you send us each a list of all of the live local applications that you have received for all of our neighborhoods so that even if they aren't complete quote unquote we can understand what we're facing in the future because I feel like we're operating in a dark Zone okay to make pass legislation what on getting notified loal applications have we gotten them it it's it's it's another I'm trying to get to it that's why I'm trying to move these items commissioner Fernandez you have a good uh success record when you've had referrals to land use so uh that's not jinon exactly but are we all are you comfortable that's not going to delay the vote at all yes okay so that's for R Y and Z correct yes may I call the vote at once for both items yes no it's okay okay so I'm going to call this is both for item R5 Y and r5z I have a motion by commissioner a seconded by commissioner Suarez and they accepted the amendment to refer this to land use be uh the through the September 5th land use meeting uh commissioner bot on both items yes on both commissioner Suarez yes on both commissioner Fernandez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez no mayor Miner yes this is just the referral to land use oh vote Yes on the referral to land use no this is the full item including a referral what the full item including the referral I'm a no then so the item passes 61 with commissioner Rosen Gonzalez voting no on both the second reading public hearing is scheduled for October 3rd 30th October 30th for r5y and r5z both items will be going to land use on September 5th R5 AA R5 AA is in Ord of the mayor and City Commissioner of the city of May beach fla amending chapter 102 of the city code the city of Mii Beach entitled taxation by amending Article 5 entitled local business tax by amending section 102. 379 schedule of taxes by updating the schedule of taxes and moving all fines to appendix a providing for repealer of ability gratification and effective date to is a first reading it is item r5a commission uh vice mayor Dominguez thank you so I were closely with Manny Marquez in uh finance and we found that there were many um btrs that or BTR categories that were Antiquated or weren't priced correctly this went through Finance um it went back and um with the favorable recommendation and so I would like to move the item second second let's call the vote motion by commissioner Dominguez is seconded by commissioner Suarez commissioner Suarez commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Dominguez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries second reading public hearing is scheduled for September 11th that was item R5 R5 AB R5 AB is in Ord of the mayor City Commission of the city of bamb beach for amending chapter 2 of the code of the city of Bambi Beach entitled Administration by amending article six entitled procurement by amending division three entitled contract procedures by creating section 2- 375.000 entitled prohibition against Contracting with parties that boycott Israel to regulate City contracts with parties that engage in boycott of the state of Israel and providing for repealers of ability clarification and effective date this is a first read it is item R5 AB sponsored by commissioner Suarez and co-sponsored by commissioner magazine and myself oh commissioner Fernandez I'll second it we have a motion in a second let's call the vote vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes mayor Miner yes second reading public hearing is September 11th the motion passes 70 with a co-sponsored by commissioner Fernandez is that what I heard correct R5 AC R5 AC is in ordinance of the mayor and City Commissioner of the city of May Beach Florida amending chapter 102 of the code of the city of b beach entitle taxation by amending Article 5 entitled local business tax Rec creting Section 102 3 68.1 thereof entitled posting of conditional use permit cup decal to require any business operating pursuant to an active conditional use permit to post a decal issued by the city indicating that the business has an active conditional use permit cup and providing for information on how to approve cup how the approved cup may be accessed via the Internet providing for repealers of ability clarification and effective date this is item uh R5 AC it is a first reading commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor uh so uh Under Our Land Development regulations uh certain uses that are categorized as conditional uses require approval um through a conditional use permit by the planning board the planning board has has the authority the ability to impose certain conditions during the cup approval process to ensure that businesses adhere to the city's regulations and to ensure that we mitigate potential impacts on neighboring properties what happens uh is that a lot of times conditional use permits get approved the years go by people forget that there's a conditional use permit managers at restaurants or nightclubs might might not even be aware that there's a conditional use permit residents move out new residents come in they don't know that they're protected by a certain set of regulations approved through covenants that are registered with the courts uh through these conditional use permits and so what this proposed ordinance does is to amend the city code to require those businesses that have a conditional use permit to post a decal issued by the city indicating that the business have has an active cup and providing that the and and providing information on how and on how the cup may be accessed online so you know the businesses can post uh um a decal it can have a QR code that links to their conditional use permit and it'll be a great tool that our code enforcement can actually use as well and so this is an idea that actually even though is being legislated now it was an idea that came about when commissioner B and I served together on on the planning board um thanks to the registry that of cups that was uh done uh through the mayor's initiative a number of years ago now we have an online registry of all of these conditional use permits and now we can better protect the public uh and help facilitate the job of Code Enforcement by ensuring that they're displayed that these decals are displayed uh at all these establishments that have these permits uh with that I move my item I want to recognize our chief Deputy City attorney Nick cerges if there's anything else that needs to be added on the record on this item thank you commissioner no you you covered everything I'll second and the effective dat just for the record would be next year so that we have time to be to proper so the staff has time to properly properly Implement uh this item that's right thank you Mr Mayor we have a motion in a second let's call the vote only that's we have a motion and a second let's call the vote motion by commissioner Fernandez second by commissioner Suarez commissioner magazine yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner bot yes and I'd like to be added as a co-sponsor please commissioner Suarez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries second reading public hearing is scheduled for September 11th commissioner bot is a co-sponsor R5 ad R5 ad is the Noti of the mayor and City Commissioner of city of Mii Beach Florida amending the Miami Beach resiliency codea chapter 2 entitle Administration on review procedures Article 5 resoning and development approvals at section 2.5.5 entitled development approvals under the Liv local act to establish administrative fees for the review and approval of development pursuant to the Liv local act including section 166.010 51 subsection 7 Florida Statutes and by amending the city code at appendix a fee scheduled to provide for administrative fees for the review and approval of developments on the live local act and providing for qualification repealer Serv ability and effect update this is a first reading it requires 57s vote it is item R5 ad commissioner Rosen Gonzalez so we worked at the administration to come up with some fees for a live local because there are no application fees and as you can see um I'm sure we might even get preempted from charging any fees next year but there are they are going to have to allow for administrative review right and so that's what this is um I think it's 3,125 for their public hearing and then $40 per square foot up to a maximum of $440,000 right Tom it's uh for the initial site plan review it's $33,000 you're correct and the per square foot fee is 40 cents per square foot up to maximum of $40,000 but that's only on the market rate units right I think if we talked about land use that that can't be uh charged of the correct we would prate any affordable or Workforce units okay so does anyone have anything I mean I I think it's good legislation to at least have these administrative fees so that we can at least work with whoever the developer is subit these what is that a motion it's a motion commissioner magazine and I'll make a comment just because you know one of the key themes has been uh providing attainable housing uh that we've all focused on we certainly don't want to be hostile to anything Tallahasse is doing so this isn't to prevent it from happening but this is to help us Rec you know recover and uh burden some of the cost with some of these administrative fees so I'm very supportive of this okay that's what you we have a motion reasoning I'm trying to make it tough we have a motion in a second let's call a vote I have a motion by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez seconded by commissioner Suarez vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Suarez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved 7 Z the second reading public hearing is October 30th R5 ad okay I'm going to go to um a few C7 items these were addendum items that were put on um yesterday but they are time sensitive so I didn't approve to put it on consent but um it's important that we discuss some c78 c78 is 5,500 sponsorship to employ Terry uh a Terry attend Olympics cheer daughter uh it's commissioner ding's item yeah received the LTC that um Antoine Terry our sanitation workers's daughter was headed to the Olympics in Paris and I thought it would be uh a good gesture to help pay for his airline ticket and um some of his hotel so 5500 and I move the item let's call the vote all in favor c718 I motion carries C7 is approved C7 as C7 as is urge Riviera Plaza Apartment owners extend the residents move out deadline requested by commissioner Fernandez C7 as commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor over 40 lowincome and elderly residents of the city of Miami Beach are being displaced for from their property as a result of a of a Redevelopment and this piece of legislation uh urges the property owner to provide them with with when a with an extension of their of their um of their lease by by by a month of their move out date by a month and provide them with assistance with their with their move out cost I believe something is in the works I haven't received confirmation as a result of this of this legislation so I I appreciate the support of my colleagues on this and especially uh I want to highlight commissioner magazine because I know commissioner magazine how passionate you are on this very specific uh issue thank you Mr Mayor I move my ey yeah and and I don't want to prolong this but uh this is this specific project when it got approved by HPB was probably the single biggest Catalyst that caused me to run uh maybe good for some people maybe not others but uh this item it it truly broke my heart and uh it was one of the first pieces of legislation um that I look to adapt as stopping the conversion of residential housing into transient usages uh it's been much more difficult to kind of find that uh legal uh needle to thread um but it's something uh I continue to remain engaged with our legal department and uh expect things coming in September so commissioner Fernandez and I know the rest of our colleagues uh thank you and every everything and anything that we could do for these people I think is needed commissioner magazine would you join me as a co-prime of this item yeah I'd be honored thank you thank you sure I had Senator Garcia uh text me today asking if we were going to help with relocation expenses while the state finds them the property owners helping with the relocation expense because she said um your consideration for assisting the elderly residents with their reloc the housing authority and community service have been incredibly supportive I'll ensure that the state and Elder Department that they get involved however there's an urgent need for one extra month of assistance that's what you're working on okay good all in favor motion is approved 70 C7 as C7 AR C7 AR established policy for medical marijuana for city employees uh requested by commissioner Rosa Gonzalez okay so this is a heavy lift I need to refer it back to committee I will say though that the memo um attached to it is slightly misleading and let me explain why we found out that the financial impacts to allowing employee um to use medical marijuana if they have an illness which is a constitutional right in the State of Florida right now the total Financial impact to the city would be about $330,000 but the way that the beginning of the memo reads it has a very scary number like 38 million which by the way if we have sick patients that are allowed to use a medical marijuana card that does not mean that we are not no longer a drug-free workplace a drug-free workplace is under the assumption that people are coming to work with without using drugs so that should really not be the fiscal impact of this the real fiscal impact of allowing certain patients cancer patients patients who are ill and have the constitutional right um under state law and by the way it's the State of Florida issuing these medical marijuana cards so I mean and the State of Florida has a very benign policy well well we're going to allow it but I but between now and I'd like to refer it to finance um if that's okay with everybody you're going to get to hear it again safety would be good you like that too you want to it's a complicated one she's like shaking her head now the good news is but I would like to I would like the memo Rewritten because just because we are considering marijuana as a medicine and not a drug does not mean that we are no longer a drug-free workplace and there were no grants that were affected by this it was really only a fiscal impact of $30,000 so Marla would you please change the finan the fiscal impact um on this memo also I will rewrite the memo to be more clear okay because it wasn't clear it was scary actually and that is not the fiscal impact the total fiscal impact was $30,000 of allowing employees with medical marijuana cards who are ill to um to exercise their constitutional right under the State of Florida and if I could maybe I'll ask legal um how this is uh received I guess at the federal level would that have any bearing on how the Constitutional Amendment goes in November and where I'm going with this is if this passes the ballot in November does this become a mood issue which would beg the question do we wait to see what happens in November well these are these are these are two different issues I'm talking about us following large corporations um well first of all the State of Florida which allows for medical marijuana uses because it would be hypocritical for them to issue cards and then say that their employees couldn't you know use it as a medicine so we're following large corporations like Microsoft Google Amazon all of the large corporations the World by the way we would be the first municipality in the State of Florida to allow this and you know there's a lot of hypocrisy surrounding some of this because we might not test people for something like dapan right but we're you know and and they could come to work totally drugged out on Dian but if you look at all of the studies how much more productive people are happier they are they miss work less uh they're not taking other pain medications this is very enlightened stuff I think I need to work on it a little bit more before I bring it back but I think that um you will okay all right I know you want me to stop anyway I'm very excited about it I think that we're going to uh really do something I third the motion you do yeah so that means I've got three votes I only need one more I know it's going to be commissioner magazine he is marij committee okay so right now we're just sending it to committee correct that's all we're doing okay so for the record this is just a referral to FK and Public Safety correct just we we'll hear it at FK so we can really iron out and I'll come back with like a policy that we can approve so our referal C7 AR referral to FK only all in favor I anyone opposed the referral passes no res I guess the resolution will come back after FK okay c78 Q C7 AQ execute facility use agreement with Miami day County Public Schools parking lot at South Point Elementary uh C7 AQ I'll second I heard commissioner Suarez and commissioner Fernandez C7 Q uh all in favor motion passes 70 c7q City Administration is telling me we have to call rda1 and cra1 well have to but they're time sensitive so we are recessing as the uh City commission meeting we are convening as the RDA RDA 1 is Grant RDA executive director Authority during RDA board of directors recess it is RDA 1 good evening mayor and Commissioners Heather Shaw interum director of Economic Development thank you very much for calling this item this item is is pretty easy and pretty performa we um in the in while you're in recess we want to make sure that the power to do any agreements or changing agreements goes to the executive director thank you Heather thank you thank you I it passes seven with one absent commissioner Higgins we are now reconvening as we're convening as the North Beach community redevelopment agency the NBC a similar item Grant North Beach CRA executive director Authority during North Beach CRA board of directors recess all in favor of uh of the item please say yes yes uh motion passes 70 one absent commissioner Steinberg thank you it's call R5 AI R5 AI is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commissioner of city of May beach fla amending Chapter 70 of Dakota City of May beach entitled miscellaneous defenses by amending Article 2 entitled public places by amending section 745 entitled camping prohibited by amending the city's existing prohibition on camping based upon based upon the recent ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States and city of Grants Pass Oregon versus Gloria Johnson at Al 144 Supreme Court 20202 2024 and and the enactment of the Florida and the enactment the Florida statute section 125.0 231 entitled public camping and prohib public steeping which takes effect on October 1st 2024 and with providing for repealers of ability clarification an effective date this is a first reading it's item R5 AI commissioner Fernandez and I are joint sponsors this item just tightens our currently existing um ordinance about anti- against camping in public property or sleeping on public property to be consistent with Florida legislation as well as the recent uh US Supreme Court case and Mr Mayor if I could add uh to that it's it's so important because we truly go in such a compassionate attempt to offer housing to in individuals to avoid arrest the first option is always to offer shelter offer housing but in this case if an individual refuses or is ineligible for shelter placement due to their own past or present conduct in that case then an arrest can be effectuated if they if they done something through their conduct that they're a sexual offender if they've done some sort of situation for which they cannot accept shelter placement well then our police officers have a right to protect the safety and the quality of life of our community and I'm proud to join you as a as a sponsor of this item Mr Mayor is that a motion yeah and if I could just make one comment Mr Mayor uh that becomes even more important because the city of Miami just passed their own ordinance uh I think at their last commission meeting so they're going to be stepping up enforcement and we don't want to uh receive you know just like squeezing a balloon if you squeeze it one where goes other places so we want to be sure that we have as stringent protection as possible so thank you both for your diligence on this now this is important legislation not only do we offer the help and and give a Lifeline to people to turn their lives around but we are seeing a number of crimes committed by homeless people against residents tourists but against other homeless people we've had two homeless people that were killed um on our streets so we are protecting them as well and our residents so we have a motion in a second I have a motion I believe I heard commissioner Schwarz also commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Schwarz yes commissioner bot yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes mayor Miner yes motion carry 70 second reading public hearing is September 11th with commissioner Suarez as a co-sponsor R5 AJ R5 AJ is an or of the mayor City Commission of city of Mii Beach Florida amending chapter 2 of the code of the city of Miami Beach entitled ad Administration by bending Article 2 City commission and creating section 2-18 entitled stop the pause policy to establish minimum voting thresholds relating to critical infrastructure projects having an estimated construction cost above a stated threshold and providing for repealer of ability clarification and effective date this is a first reading commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor this is uh this this proposed uh ordinance would codify more stringent uh voting threshold similar to the resolution to the stop the polic resolution we we passed at the last meeting this in essence takes a stop the Poli policy that we adopted as a resolution and codifying it in the code of Wares of the city of of Miami Beach and in essence uh it would make an necessary uh for any a any action that would have an effect of pausing delaying stopping or materially modifying critical infrastructure uh projects it would increase uh the voting uh threshold uh for that and Mr attorney I don't know if you can just put into into the record uh at what point is it a 57th vote and at what point it becomes a 67th vote sure um when a project is at 60% design the commission must must vote at 57s in order to stop or modify the project and once the the the project has received a permit and is shovel ready that would require a 67th vote to stop or pause or modify the project okay perfect thank you I with that I move my item call the vote I have a motion by commissioner Fernandez seconded by commissioner Suarez commissioner Rosa Gonzalez I'm sorry Mr city clerk this this just first reading it is first reading okay I mean I don't love it because I do feel what what well it's I I I would value the feedback before we for for second before second reading yeah I'm going to vote for this on first reading but I don't like the fact that you take away our option to you know change something especially because once our hands are tied any contractor any construction person can then price gouge us and guess what we no longer can we can't do anything they just have to get to one or two of us from a lobbyist they can say well you're saying that we have outs but the truth of the matter is in that situation we've maintained it at a fourth seventh vote of the city commission Mr attorney correct me if if I'm wrong and also we we're not taking the power away from the city commission we're just saying the moment you've reached a a certain threshold that the project is so far Advanced and you've invested so much money we're just saying the city commission still has that right and that ability you just need an extra vote but as it relates to the increase in price Mr attorney correct me if I'm wrong the commissioner is concerned that's still a 47th road is that is that correct that that is absolutely correct and I think it's also worth mentioning that this applies only to very specifically defined critical infrastructure projects this does not apply to every single project that the city decides to build and critical infrastructure and CR Mr attorney wait I still have my microphone on and critical infrastructure being defined as storm water systems portable water system and sanitary sewer projects I just because I heard commissioner bot earlier today talking about wanting to tweak the 72nd Street G um garage project and I'm on board with that 100% And I don't want anything to I okay it's just those critical but do we have to pass legislation for this because we have two projects we approve both of those projects we're not changing them now so why why would we now that everybody's on the same page and nobody's forcing anything why do we need to legislate something that that's not a problem well because we have other projects that need to get done we we have critical needs projects that the neighborhoods need we have neighborhood Improvement other neighborhood Improvement projects that are that are slated down the timeline and I want to make sure that we continue moving in the right direction with these projects and that they don't get stalled because at the end of the day our residents are the ones that end up suffering if not from the flooding from the increase in in in in the price that is caused by the delay of these projects the only reason we paused these projects is number one we literally went and ruined palman Hibiscus Island by raising the streets way higher than people's homes and guess what happened everybody's homes flooded and it was a complete and total disaster and the city engineer was wait wait wait let me just finish then the State of Florida actually finded us for whatever we did on Indian Creek and the city engineer was fired okay then sunset harb which is great now initially filled up like a fishbowl because it had no redundancy and and nobody could get insurance because what we did was we raised the street higher than people's businesses so now we've worked out these Kinks and these issues and we're moving forward in a way where we're saying to ourselves we're not going to raise the streets so high that everybody's homes are going to flood we're going to make sure that you can still get property insurance um after we do the work and these were things that we need to Le I just don't understand why we need to legislate this because at this point I think we're all on the same page we're moving forward with resiliency we saw the rain event that we have why do we have to legislate this nothing else is at 60% right now nobody's going to want to change something but if somebody does want to change something at 60% and there's a really relevant reason maybe they won't be able to because we created this law maybe a lobbyist will just win the day well the only person that's lobbied for this is the office of the Inspector General that was created by the taxpayers and the voters of the city of Miami Beach to look after the proper governance of of these projects to look after efficiencies and make sure that we're being responsible with with rent's tax dollars that's the only entity that has actually asked us to to pass this and it earned also the support of Miami Beach United that supports this item uh I I would love the feedback of commissioner magazine it seemed like commissioner magazine had some feedback as well and I value that um full transparency I was looking something else I looked up I saw first reading this is something uh when we talked about it before I believe was at land use uh was supportive of and remained supportive thank you may second let's call the item let's call the vote this is not a public hearing but we have two individuals requesting to speak should we do so or do we wait till second reading can you repeat that one more time okay okay here sorry it is a it is not a public hearing at this time we have individuals in Zoom requesting to speak do you wish to do so now or second reading and and yeah no I'm not going to any other time I would do it if it was earlier but we're past our time today and again we the opportunity uh for second reading commissioner Rosen Gonzalez it's like all Kumbaya until I have to vote no in a very kind way commissioner Ros Gonzalez say said no commissioner bot yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Fernandez yes last mayor Dominguez no commissioner Suarez yes mayor Miner yes motion passes with two NOS Commissioners Rosa Gonzalez and vice mayor Dominguez second reading public hearing is scheduled for September 11th I want to quick I just Mr Mayor I just wanted to release item c2b from the pool list and refer c2f to the finance committee works for me we have a second I'll second call the vote for a second mayor so on item c2b I have a motion by on item c2b I making a motion to release and approve c2b and on c2f I'm making a motion to refer to the finance committee who pulled c2b got so second please I second it commissioner Rosa Gonzalez and also um the posid and fery item can we refer it to Finance to discuss one at a time c2b uh motion to approve c2b yes so now c2f is a referral to finance so motion by commissioner Fernandez seconded by mayor yes uh to refer c2b to FK all in favor who's the no I'm sorry c2f to finance all in favor I I thank you what one last thing before we adjourn we'll be here for a while but commissioner Rosen Gonzalez actually raised an issue if we're doing referrals I'm okay with it let's go I know that the the Poseidon fery um we actually went and looked at it yesterday office we took the ride um I just wanted to refer it to finance because I wanted to understand the implications if we cancel it right now does that mean that we can't apply for this Federal grant funding so would it be okay with uh commissioner Fernandez and Bot I know that this is your item would you be okay if between now and September we refer it to finance and have a discussion about it yeah I guess are you sure okay I I want to hear it in September yes um the I think commissioner bot pulled the referral for parking meters in North Beach I don't know if we approve that okay right so just for the record on C7 ah it is being referred to finance and it's coming back in September is that correct yes okay I want to thank everyone here this was a great meeting we actually get ended up getting a lot done and we made a major decision for our city and the future of Miami Beach today congratulations Eric Carpenter personally look forward to calling you early in the morning late at night you know what you're getting into congratulations thank you everyone God bless