##VIDEO ID:y2WId6LkPoE## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right good evening welcome to the north city of North mamy Beach um City Commission meeting of Tuesday August 27th 2024 um could we get a roll call please we're going to actually um have the clerk coming in just a moment on the roll call so she should be here in just a second she had a slight emergency um I guess I can do I'll do the roll call for her I think that' be all right okay okay I'm going to uh I'm going to do the roll call first we need commissioner J turnoff here commissioner Daniela John here commissioner Michael Joseph here commissioner phy Smith pres commissioner Fortuna smuckler pres vice mayor McKenzie floron here mayor Evan Piper here okay um next um for our invocation um we're going have a little bit of unusual situation today um but it should be a really good one I'm going to call on my colleague and vice mayor McKenzie flormont to share a couple spiritual words with us before we start today uh well thank you so much uh Mr Mayor thank you everyone that's here this evening um I think that um will take the opportunity uh during our invocation to um bring up Socrates and um in his quote he says I am the wisest man alive for I know one thing and that is that I know nothing and so in in this quote I I think it it really speaks volumes because no matter what position you're in no matter what your title is no matter how many degrees you have or how many letters you have behind your name you must always have a thirst for knowledge and for more information and you must always be humble that's the most important thing is to always be humble so in our positions here on this day I just ask for our divine father to help us to remain humble help us to remain steadfast and our yearning for more knowledge and information before we make our decisions and helping us to lead this city with the best of intentions and where we may fail that he um may make up the difference um and make sure that we are doing the jobs that we have been appointed to do and fulfilling the Mandate that the people have given us thank you okay thank you looks like you may have another calling out there well you're the motivational speaker so okay um next uh we're going to do the Pledge of Allegiance everybody stand please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all okay thank you okay uh requests for withdrawal deferments and additions to the agenda Madam clerk yes uh Mr Mayor hold on discussion item 15.3 regarding the communications Consulting Services discussion and possibly action will be moved up and heard after the Quasi judicial items and we have an item 5.3 is regarding the fiscal year audit that's being postponed to a future date okay that's it all right so I need a motion a second to approve the amended agenda I'm sorry mayor yes one one moment um Madam M cler I believe there was an additional um resolution that was asked to be in uh walked on with regards to the um the governor and having um their issue with I guess golf at the Oita Park yeah it was the discussion is still going on I just the resolution is just us expressing our um our um objection to that and um other cities are being requested to do the same thing and it's timely so the discussion is still going on the meeting has been postponed but that discussion is still going on yeah I I apologize and I thought it was already printed out to be um delivered to you um but I'm having staff take a look at it right now okay so then we'll just go um with it as presented and with that being said I need a motion and second to approve the amended agenda so moved second okay um all in favor say I I any opposed right passes unanimously okay um next for presentations um legislative updates state senator Chevron Jones District 34 thanks for joining us it's an honor thank you sir okay y'all can hear me oh there he is so perfect thank you mayor appreciate it and good afternoon to uh the entire commission I appreciate it uh it's a pleasure to be here with you all uh this evening even to the residents is a is absolute honor to to stand before you today to give a legislative update few months later uh but just coming off of summer vacation and leaving legislative session around May um and now being able to come as we get ready to go back into the fall and prepared to go back into the legislative session after elections in November it's an absolute pleasure to be here with you all today uh before I even get into my legislative update I do want to uh thank you all for your your presence in Tallahasse when you all do come uh I'll tell you that your presence coming to Tallahassee it means a lot uh it changes you how we uh how we legislate what we legislate about city manager uh was actually absolutely a pleasure to work with you this legislative session the good and the bad on uh on all the things that we've been able to do uh and looking forward for us to continue to moveing forward uh with each other um I do want to start off with the uh the the the dollars that uh that you all asked for within your legislative priorities uh in your legislative meeting uh which was upwards of about 1 million $1.1 million that what you all put into the request for this legislative session uh those dollars as you know it goes through an entire process and as you all came up uh this La this last legislative session to avocate for uh for those dollars and which you all did an amazing job doing while we did get it in the budget uh it goes through the last round which is the the governor's budget uh and the governor did veto uh a lot of the dollars that we did ask for particularly uh the dollars that you all requested for uh the city of North Miami Beach uh we did bring back1 $25 ,000 for one of the projects that you all had uh within your within your budget and I'm sure you that reflected in your legislative update that probably came back uh from the city manager uh and so I want to we will do a check presentation um for that uh our office will get with you my office will get with you city manager to uh so we can do that check presentation uh to you all I will say that as we've been going around prior to the summer months and even walking working working into uh these months and even after speaking uh with commissioner um uh Fortuna who as we spoke in Orlando when she was at the league of cities uh and that was an idea that I have been sharing with many of the other uh cities that I represent and that is including the legislative not just myself but also you the state rep for this area who will be the new State Rep for this area uh in in sitting down and us working on that legislative agenda together I'll tell you why being able to work on the legislative agenda together gives us the opportunity to know what the agenda is that's going to be set within the leadership in both Chambers both the house and the Senate and so so you all know there will be two different two new leaders in both the house and in the senate in the house we will have a Miami native which is um uh representative Danny Perez who will be the incoming speaker uh and we'll have our Senate President uh who will be Ben Albritton who by mind you will be coming to into uh coming to Miami to which I'm very happy about to tour District 34 um because I shared with him the infrastructure needs that we need here within the city and the hopes that the that the that the legislature would take a hard look not just at from a uh from a perspective of bid dat County but the need of what's happening right here within uh Senate District uh 34 uh so I want to make sure that we uh uh you all are a part of that tour when the uh the Senate President do come here which will be before we start going back into the legislative session and committee weeks which will start uh in November I will share a few uh a few bills over a thousand something bills were filed uh within the legislature this year uh but we were happy to come home with uh a a few bills that were not only bipartisan that I believe are also extremely are are important uh one of the bills we did with uh Senate Bill 8 uh 858 which is the specialty license place for recycle Florida and the Bing capital of the world uh this was HB 403 which I worked with one of my Republican colleagues as you know when you receive a license plate or if you uh if you uh um sign up to receive a specialty license plate those dollars go into uh whether it's nonprofit organizations to go to some type of cause uh this is creates a new specialty license plate for recycling and also considering that I represent probably one of the largest building capitals uh here within the State of Florida U which is the North to Mid Beach uh this would give dollars to the Mariners uh and Young Mariners who desire to get into Bing uh to be to be able to help them and to understand and educate them on on what it means to get into that field and of course recycle Florida is something that they have been working on someone many people have been working on for quite some time for a specialty license plate and we were able to get that across the Finish Line um uh to make to make that happen one of the bills that we are going to work on again next year uh because I believe is extremely important and that's the acceptance of cash payments by businesses uh we realized that everyone has not moved uh into the uh into the cash app and into the uh uh Apple pay and all those things and you have certain businesses uh who uh who saying that they no longer accept cash uh this cash payment Bill and in I was uh very surprised but when I got the uh the message from the governor's office that he supported the the governor's office supported the legislation I was absolutely excited uh surprisingly but uh but we were we were happy because we also uh we understood and I think from a bipartisan standpoint I think we understood that we have a still aging population here within the State of Florida and to ensure that everyone have access and the ability to be able uh to participate uh within this economy is ensuring that we're not blocking people out of it we did get some we get uh uh some push back and because push back from not because they did not agree but because there were so many nuances of it because there were certain cities that came and said what about parking garages who don't want to accept cash what about gyms and uh gym clubs who don't want to accept cash and so we started doing all of these exceptions and so as all these exceptions started coming uh we we figured that we should postpone the bill until next year until we get the right amount of information that's needing so we can strike the right balance uh to be able to be able to move forward I'll end with these last these last two things and what we to look for what we should look forward to as we go forth I think in this next legislative session we're going to see a great deal of conversation about around a few things we're going to see a great deal of conversation uh around uh property insurance uh we're going to see a great deal uh of of of of uh uh conversation that happens when it comes to uh our condos and last but not least I think you all have seen within the media what's happening right now when it comes to our state parks and the usage of state parks and changing them into commercial property um here's what I'll say I just left um that's why I was a little bit tared because I was talking to some of the County uh some of our County officials about this in the bipartisan push back that's happening when it comes to uh the push back as far as our state parks not only do we need to protect our state parks yeah our state parks and the natural resources that we as a state uh that we should maintain should not be interfered with because we're trying to uh create more golf courses I think we have enough golf courses you I I just learned how to play golf starting last Friday so uh but it I'm serious but we going to need any more golf courses I think maintaining our natural resources is extremely important and being able to talk with some of my Republican colleagues who uh who are going to their City commissioners and their County Commission meetings and asking that they do resolution to make it clear to the um I mean and however you want to play your politics on this but just making it clear to the to the to the governor's office and to the agency that this is just a bad idea and I think we all can agree that this is absolutely a bad idea and our state parks should be maintained as um as is and to our condos listen yeah um I have I um inherited a an amazing district and I still uh I appreciate the the help of senator pizo who uh who represent this area who continues to educate in U in in in this condo district and we remain in contact with each other and I the the messages and the emails and the phone calls that we get into our district when it comes to to the assessment fees and to to the the bill that was that we that we passed when it came to condos and I'm sure everyone understand the reasoning why we why we went in that direction and we moved so quickly after the collapse of the Champlain Towers uh and where we had to uh we we had to move and understanding that there would need to be some changes that come uh come about with it I think you all saw last year even after we did live local we had to come back to to look at live local once again why uh because you know we were asking individuals who lived on the the fifth and sixth floor of a condo that that you need a flood insurance what sense does that make uh um and we all can agree that property insurance is excuse my language too damn High uh and I think that is bipartisan also the legislature I can tell you straight uh straight off the press that there those are the top three topics that we will be that we will be dealing with in this next legislative session so I will say to the residents and I'll say to you all uh here that as we prepare to leave this election season which will happen on November 6th and move into uh a new legislative session My Hope Is that we as a as a community those concerns that's needed that we that collectively we sit down we talk about what that what what look like even if we have to um notice the meeting and us um having a a a joint a a legislative meeting where myself and others come I think it'll be extremely helpful I think it' be beneficial to your your city manager I think it' be beneficial for you all where you all can understand my legislative priorities I can understand your legislative priorities and by the time I get to Tallahassee um in March of this year we know how to move and we're moving uh as we as we know uh with the saying one band One sound uh and so with that I will uh take any questions comments or concerns question thank you so much for being here I can't thank you enough thank you we want to have that close connection with the state y so that we can pass that down to our residents other than the things you mentioned I also think of affordable housing yep I feel like the federal the state government has to help us to help our residents be able to afford housing whether it's a supplement for their rent or whether it's um we really need help and the other thing of course is always on our mind is transportation so we have to coordinate that with the new trains and the next train we really need help from the government local and state and mayor may I of course thank you so much mayor uh commissioner you you're right on you're right on target I think when we did live local Act uh which was a mixed bag of a lot of stuff um and some stuff that I'm sure uh you all don't agree with uh and I don't agree with also but you those were it was one of those situations to where you mean you damn if you do damn if you don't type ordal so we were we we we knew we need to handle we need to deal with affordable housing we did live local but I believe that that is also another piece of legislation that we're going to come back and check for instance uh we uh just a few weeks ago we were in Miami Shores and we had a meeting with the mayor and the mayor made it clear that because of the lift local act um the it allows for developers to be able to come in and build upwards to whatever they want to build in a city that their their limit was five stories or six stories um but this is a complaint that's not just coming from Mi Shores but it's also a complaint that's coming from other cities that's from from around the state and uh we know we're going to have to work on that as far as transportation is concerned just last week I was in um two weeks ago while I was in DC rep commissioner alen Higgins as you all she she's a champion for transportation um but not only is she a champion for transportation she's really truly advocating uh for the rail here but also in making it clear that we're not going to be able to build our way out of the traffic problem that we're having here in Miami day County and what we're trying to figure out what is alternative modes of transportation look like to be able to get people out of their cars right and bright line is not the answer because most it's expensive to be able to do it so AG I just got off right line a couple hours ago an hour and a half and um I went to icsc Convention and affordable housing and that ruling was the Talk of the Town I also want to commend you and thank you for what you're doing for the condominiums that are absolutely have to be in good stand that they will not be have any way have the but and that said who's going to pay to get it in good shape because the people can not afford to live in their own own condos and they can't afford to move yeah they're between a rock and a hard place commissioner you and and you ABS you're absolutely right and and and just to clear something up because I know that we received some emails uh because of many of our position uh when it came to at the uh some people asking for a special session around the condo is absolutely I I we I agree that we need to to do something but I think we also have to understand that July 1 as you know is when the the this new law took place uh and the the Senate President was right on this one and we there was a resounding bipartisan no to a special session from both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate because we need we need to have enough information before we have a special session to know what needs to happen uh in the changes um that as far as the the the new condo law is concerned the residents have spoken loud and clear and the one thing I can give Assurance on from Senator Bradley Senator pizo myself all of these individuals who who represent these condo districts I think we are all on the same page in a bip Parks manner that we have to do something when it come to condos and I'm I'm almost sure that something absolutely will happen it just won't happen through a special session uh and but you're absolutely right we have to do something I and I have to give credit to Senator Bradley Senator pizo and representative Vicky Lopez because they really were the one were the orchestrators of that piece of legislation that brought us to where we are today and and I think you all as As Leaders within this city understand that you don't get everything right as far as legislation is concerned off the bat and it will take time to be able to do it and I think we will have to go back and do a redo thank you so much and bless you for what you bless you commissioner I appreciate it all right anybody else have any questions for the senator thank you Mr Mayor uh not so much um a question but um just an expression of gratitude for the hard work that uh Senator Jones is doing for our district um for our city for all the cities that Encompass this district and also what he's doing for Education as well um sitting on the board um of HBCU for the uh president of the United States and and so your access on the local federal and state level is immense and you're using that for the benefit of our residents we really appreciate you and everything that you bring to the table for us you're a hard worker um you know to be a good leader you got to be a good follower and and and I think you've been effective at doing that and really keeping your boots on the ground while you know entering certain rooms that some people could only imagine so thank you so much for always keeping us first in every conversation thank you that that you have and always fighting for us in every conversation I know it's not always easy because you know you represent repres yeah you represent 14 cities and not all of them are always you know friends of each other but you do your best um um and um and making sure that you know we we um we work things out and and move things forward what I what I will say is you talked about insurance and the State of Florida is is home to six of the um six of the highest cost in uh uh cities in the whole country so the top the top cities with the top six cities with the highest insurance rates are in the state of Florida right um and and so what is the real answer here and also we're looking at condos which you mentioned and certain people aren't able to stay in their condos because of just the cost of Assessments and things that yeah that are hitting them right now what do you see as the as the fix for this issue in the next few years yeah so it it's it's very interesting because I sat on regulate Industries uh last year and yeah it there's there's there was a battle between your insurance agency your insurance and your your trial Journeys yeah and it has been a long fight for anybody who's been following uh in Florida politics for quite some time this has been something that has been brewing for for a long time um uh the fix is happening the fix is happening extremely slow um you mean the reinsurance market is something where we know for a fact where which which which is the the biggest problem right now um but how the law is written um yeah it it allows for what's happening to happen right um and the question will the question now becomes how much long longer can the State of Florida go without addressing it understanding that we are pricing people out of the state and we're people cannot live within their condos and people cannot live in their homes we just got an email uh from uh from a resident maybe not even not even two or three months ago who made it clear that she's finished paying her mortgage and she's the money that she would pay for her her insurance she's just putting in savings and she for go for go it because she can't afford it uh and so you mean that's not the way that IND someone supposed to live and I'll be honest you I'm not the expert on insurance uh I'm not expert on what the solution would look like but here's what I will say is that there is a bipartisan uproar that has happened and that is occurring right now uh to where that's why I said you mean this next legislative session property insurance will be something that has to be tackled because the fix that we thought was would would have happened uh two years ago during special session to the Floridians it's not moving fast enough uh and it so so now we need to figure out what we need to do to bring these insurance companies back into the state but they won't do that until the FL until the State of Florida recognize the change of climate that's actually happen happening within the state and we address what that is thank you so much s thank you so much appreciate it okay so Senator Jones thank you so much for coming here today commission and thank you for pointing out how important it was for us to be in Tallahassee because sometimes I think the residents don't realize that okay yeah they think we're just taking a trip but and I I can speak for myself and I can speak for many others we're we're like there the whole day I know when I have free time I'm just knocking on other doors of people that we don't have appointments with just to to meet them and make an introduction and let them know what the problems are in our city no and and and and commissioner first I I can't I can't thank you thank you enough and to the other Commissioners who've come and if I can give the residents any Assurance um your your your Commissioners come to Tallahassee at the right time they don't they're not coming to Tallahassee uh only during dat days they're coming outside of dat days uh and TR truth be told I think it's better because dat days is just a hog MOS of so many people at one time uh to where you really can't get any work done I expect you to come by my office because I'm the part of the delegation but when you come in the beginning of session during committee weeks and when you come while the budget is while the sausage is being made that is the perfect time the perfect time to come and listen I what I will say is that as you all plan your legislative priorities moving into to next year the biggest thing is going to be able to lean on just not myself but also leaning on um uh uh uh incoming speaker Danny Perez I think the benefit of of us having him as a speaker is that he's from Miami day County and we need to make sure that we are when we the next meeting that we have when we do have that legislative meeting you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm going to invite him to be at that meeting why because I want him to know what your parties are and the the cities that I represent so so we know even if we have to put cities together to maximize his time uh it's important that you all come to Tallahasse I love when you all come up there because it makes my job easier because going to chair's offices and things of that nature they just know I'm just asking for money but when you all come and you are able to to articulate why it's important why these dollars are important it makes a big difference and here's the last thing I'll say as you all plan your legislative agenda if we're not there my biggest advice would be that you look at what the C the state has um funded in the past and what got vetoed in the past because that would be extremely helpful for yourself because then you can figure out whether or not this is something that needs to go through the Appropriations process or if this is something that needs to go through an agency and I'll tell you this if you can get the money from an agency do it don't go through the Appropriations process and run the risk of getting vetoed because if we can write a letter of support which we do all day for a project and city manager you know this uh for a project that you can get from the Department of Transportation let's go that route instead of having to put Appropriations in and and just for the record I I I think I was the only one from our commission that did go to day days but what I did is beforehand I scheduled appointments and I actually met with Tom leaks which is like a coup to do that now a senator yes yes and he just doesn't meet with anything but I was able to accomplish that and uh with some other gentleman from Orlando I can't remember his name but because they sit in the different committees that do affect us even though they're not our Representatives like you are that's right but it I try to take advantage of meeting all the different committee members you did so thank you you so much and um I was actually invited by congresswoman Wilson last month to go be on the panel of the property insurance crisis in Florida and when I got there it was cancelled but um she's going to have it again and hopefully I'll be able to to be on the panel again that'd be perfect because and plus the fact that I and she didn't even know this when she invited me but I actually don't ask me why I did this but in like 1990s I started keeping a journal of of all the properties that I manage of the insurance cost so I literally have like every um every from 1990 to to now what how much it's gone up and some have gone up 800% and before in the 1990s it used to include wind in the package it no longer includes wind and I actually don't even pay for wind anymore because it's just become crazy so not only has it gotten up 800% but it's not even including wind yeah well Ian I'm I will I'm happy that you're on that panel because a national conversation needs to happen along with the state uh and my hope is that the state will work with the the federal government and what the solution would look like so I'm hoping that you share that information with us I will yeah don't be surprised if she's running for Senator next listen I would not be surprised yeah and I'll be surprised and mayor thank you for the meeting that we have no no no thank you you hit on all the important points with the parks and the condos and all those things and really really greatly appreciate and uh grateful to have you here this evening thank you may thanks a lot thank you Senator so good to see you and thank you for all that you do and you are so gracious when we all came up and and grilled you all the sausage was being made but you were so gracious in in welcoming us to your office and really hearing all sides of our story as it's told and we look forward to what's coming next so thank you so much for all you've done so far I appreciate it hopefully next time you come I'm not a freshman anymore so maybe my office will be a tad bit bigger so yall gonna have to sit all crunched up like you were last time thank you so much all right thanks again take care y okay um next on our star studded lineup of guests this evening we have uh commissioner Mickey Steinberg with some County updates commissioner styberg District 4 welcome thank you so much for having me here um tough act to follow Senator um but I actually share your concerns regarding Alita Park and all state park so I'm glad you mentioned something um so yeah thank you mayor vice mayor commissioner city manager City attorney city clerk for having me here today and especially the residents um I'll just touch on a few quick updates and and thank you commissioner smuckler for inviting me here today um we did talk about I did hear you talk about condos and condo assessments and I wanted to let you know about a program that Miami day county has which is our Miami day condo special assessment program by show OFA how many of you you know about this program okay so great um so the condo special assessment program is designed to actually provide funding assistance to help condominium owners in Miami day County for special assessment requirements that arise from Rehabilitation repairs due to applicable building Integrity recertification requirements what I have here and if I may I have two great staff members Margie Amador and may Sano are here Margie actually has a couple of the applications with us we're going to leave it with the clerk's um office so that anybody who's interested in more information can get it they can also contact my office directly and we're happy to help facilitate but essentially um qualifying owners making less than 140% of the area median income can get up to $50,000 in assistance to pay for these assessments and there's of course criteria as to what it would be you know I'll address physical damage to the cont minum you must be a resident of the unit must be your homestead there there's a Litany of things that you have to check through but it's it's a wonderful Loan program and we're happy to um give you more information at the appropriate time um recently we had um some horrible storms that caused a lot of flooding as you know the mayor Cava and I hosted a round table um to discuss various ways to collaborate and really try to mitigate a lot of the these efforts and actually your city manager was at that meeting along with many other municipalities you know the the takeaway is we want to be your partner we want to be there be a good partner be a resource for you and and and really help where where the needs may be and and work together because they're all our residents um so always looking forward to continued Partnerships and finding out ways that we can work with our County's Department of Emergency Management offer those resources um to any of our municipalities especially North Miami Beach um as we Face increasing extreme weather events unfortunately I don't think it's something that's a one-off I think we're going to be seeing more and more of this and so we all need to be on the same page and really work together and and and listen to each other and try to help um make the best efforts to mitigate and um one other program that I wanted to touch on is something that I had sponsored at the county level which will be coming down soon it's still in the work stages but um with some of my colleagues we created a septic to sewer Loan program so something that we're looking on just trying to help alleviate the financial constraints that a lot of our residents are facing we want them to convert from steppic to sewer but we also know there's a great cost involved in doing so and actually this loan program is very specific for the private adaptation side and it will be in a form of a grant or a loan really depend depending and working it out similar to the condo loan Assessment program and so those are some of the things we've been working on to try to help get us in a better posture um as always I enjoy being a partner I know we just had a great National Night Out um which was a wonderful event and we're here for you anytime you need anything and for the residents you can email us directly at District the number4 at miami.gov and if I have any other questions or comments I'm here for you okay um thank you commissioner first of all commissioner Steinberg we want to thank you uh thank you number one for keeping the staff that was there knows what their way around uh that means a lot to us when we have to call and thank you for answering your call the phone when we give you a call you answer and you get back to us and we really do appreciate that and those are great programs you're coming forward with thank you thank you uh yes I want you to know our County Commissioners Steinberg is a Hands-On commissioner and she is there you can see her everywhere from Aventure to Miami Shores to Miami Beach wherever she needs to be but I can't thank you enough the program that you're talking about uh you know this is a big thing 100% for condos that people can't afford to live there and I just want to know is it difficult for somebody to qualify is it a speedy process I don't think anything at the county is Speedy but but having said that we're happy to help facilitate basically if there's a special assessment that is happening in your condominium now the loan doesn't go to you personally once you're approved it actually goes directly to the association to cover the cost and it's it's a really great program that we can give you more information on but essentially um once someone is approved it can be up to $50,000 with 0% down and z um% interest rate so maybe Mr manager we can get the details and put that on our website we have quite a few Condominiums of elderly people that really could benefit from this and I too want to um Echo what commissioner chernoff said and your staff has always been A+ A++ and we appreciate them as well thank you for making them accessible to all of us oh I appreciate you saying that I'm only as good as my staff and so I appreciate that and I do have great staff and and just one thing to your point was um when we had the mayor's meeting at your office that was the first time I learned about that program so I started speaking to a lot of people letting everybody know about the program and one of my friends actually jumped on it right away and did it um he's uh he's an older gentleman but you know pretty teex saabi and everything he had told me that he was able to get it done but it was a little bit challenging get through that application so um but he actually got it done and he actually with I think this week or last week he got funded you know at the closing or whatever so he actually received that 50,000 which was a huge help to him for being able to keep his unit so the one thing that we can possibly do as a as a city all of us is for people that are um challenged with either technology or older people there's something maybe we can do to provide some support that help them through the application process and if you'd like I'm happy to set up and bring the housing department here and set up a meeting and maybe they can have a like a town hall of some sort and just go over the details with the housing department and we'll be able to um schedule that so that you know we can get the word out and help the residents at the end of the day we don't want people to have to sacrifice their their their Li this is their nest EG their their homes their their livelihood so we want to make sure that whatever we can do to help and assist we're happy I think it's 0% interest for 40 years right over 40 years correct yeah it's the RO up to 50,000 right depending on the structure correct it's the roof over their head I mean that's what it entails now that's a little scary because his friend was tech savvy and he still had a difficult time so we would appreciate the workshop well you teach all of us I'm not very techsavvy but I'm glad your friend is um and thank you for bringing up the mayor's meeting because um what one thing I've tried to do as well is I've had um some quarterly meetings with our city managers I represent not 14 cities like the senator but I do represent 13 cities and so um trying to get everybody on the same page trying to be able to hear from everybody I've had meetings with our managers and I've had meetings with my Mayors and so um I look forward to continuing working together okay all right um so oh you were first okay I'll be real quick um one great benefit of being uh North May we have two you know Commissioners the county not a lot of cities have that um and we appreciate you and it's always it's better to have um two than one um as you you mentioned the septic the sewer program that you guys are are drafting right now is there any way our city because a lot of these cities are going to have to take a lot of the the brunt in the in assistance and helping out um however the program is going to be administered but having us at the table as you guys are discussing this program if we could like participate in it or like and because you know as they you know switch over from septic to sewer you know we're going to be getting additional fees because of the sewer uh the additional um um burden on our um water and sewer plant and that's we're going to be making revenue from that I just want to know how can we alleviate some of the burden as it gets transferred over depending on what program you guys um draft over from the Incorporated um parts of your District because I know you have a good chunk of it ois and what have you but given that we're at North May beach and we do have our own water plant like how can we help facilitate that program getting off the ground quicker and to alleviate some of the burden that's going to affect our residents in the long run right so this loan program is for the private adaptation for the homeowner who's going to be doing the actual not the public side of it for the private side of it for the public side of it um we can set up a meeting with our water and sewer department so you all can have a meeting as to what we are currently doing and how we're implementing and what grants we're we're we're actively constantly looking for different grants to help offset those costs thank no thank you okay okay so um thank you so much for being here and I believe um commissioner bastiana is going to be here either September or October she was better than one yes yes well to speak um so also the Miami day County leue of cities pushed that flood um yes um conference you had a few weeks ago unfortunately some of us couldn't be there because it was at the same time as the local fot Florida League of cities uh conference and I love the idea of the Housing Authority coming here um to meet with us and I also did the um please let's put the that information on our on our website and you have an amazing staff but you also had like really big shoes to fill following um commissioner Haymon and you have done an amazing job filling them so congratulations to you and thank you so much for for being you and for doing such a great job oh thank you I really appreciate it it's nice to see everybody hope you have a wonderful meeting and I agree don't go away yet I'm gonna get in a lot of trouble if I let you leave yeah ohce mayor they saved the best for last yes oh there you go I'm the best she's the bestest oh yes anyways um thank you so much uh commissioner for being here this evening um I did have the opportunity to attend the um the mayor's um event um conference that you had at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Headquarters I believe it was the headquarters hover at the at Hall over at the U Marina yes and learned so much about what we have going on than for being there yeah so you know I really you know the details and and everything that you get into um is is just you know beyond comprehension all the work that you guys are doing um and and and the load the amount of load that you guys kind of carry when it comes to the cities that you represent um so I wanted to thank you for that um but you you I want to know if you can reiterate what you mentioned about um the um assessments again just so I can make sure I take note of that absolutely can get that on record again for the condo special assessment program correct okay so and and I can give I don't know if Margie put the information there so you can have like the whole information in front of you but essentially the program will address physical damage to the condominium the homeowner must reside in the unit it must be their primary residence and Homestead investment owners are not going to be eligible because this is really for their Homestead people who actually live in these um units it's going to provide up to $50,000 with a repayment term of 40 years the monthly payment will be you know depending on the ranges anywhere from probably $50 uh for lowincome families with the remaining balance due at the date the monthly payment for moderate income families calculated at 0.00 interest rate for 40 years um and then it talks about the different asset levels that you may have and then you qualify for different levels um but essentially you know it's a one-time assessment per unit owner um you can earn no more than the maximum percentage of Ami funding activity at the time of transfer which is up to 140% Ami so just to give you an ex example let me see if I have it here so you understand in terms individuals basically earning less than $101,000 would be able to qualify um so they're really trying and and couples less than $5,000 would qualify and a three-person household only earning less than $130,000 would qualify so it really gets from the from the lower end all the way to the middle to that high end so everybody can qualify in those ranges thank you so much commissioner and I I um I believe last week we had a conversation uh with the manager about um septic toour and what we can do as a municipality to partner with the county to address those concerns um and so I'm looking forward to that conversation as well but thank you so much for coming by we appreciate you and all your hard work thank you thank you so much hi commissioner I just wanted to just say thank you for all the followups and I had a chance to meet with you several times and your staff as well always very thorough and looking forward to great things to come thank you so much thank you and with that am I good okay good thank you so much for coming a great rest of your everything you do have to recognize Senator oh okay uh while we're on um star study guest I want to rec recognize our for former Senator Ron Silver for coming and joining us this evening so thank you okay the moment we've all been waiting for public comment um Madam clerk good evening everyone the mayor and Commissioner of city north L beach has opened a meeting for public comment at this time there is a 3 minute time limit for each speaker speaker when you're call to Podium please state your name or the name of the organization which you are representing the city of North R Beach request that all in attendance to exercise civility towards each other at all times and the first speaker is Elliot Durant and then David zapen evening Durant can you hear me yes sort of speak L I think it's better now no worries uh good evening I'm Elliot Durant I'm the owner of pure water Factory we are one of the we are the only alkaline drinking water store here in Miami Dade County I Supply the city of Miami Solid Waste division with their drinking water in their offices for the last two years and also I'm the hurricane supply for them as well as opaka City Hall and Coral Gable City Hall and I offer my services to you folks as well um I'm going to leave a bunch of samples if you don't mind and we're here if you need us during a disaster as well as what you drink every day I'm located in Coconut Grove at 2625 Southwest 27th Avenue I've been open for about 2 and a half years and um basically our water is chemical free I just got my test back from the National Laboratory it's a 9.8 alkaline pH and all 57 contaminants are out of the water uh my notice that you buy pure life for here we can also help you with getting smaller bottles that won't be wasted 12 ounce with actually the name city of North Miami Beach on the label instead of advertising for Pure Life just like I'm about to do for the Miami day public school system for their Hospitality Department I'm certified by the county the city and the Miami dve public school system as a small business micro business and a minority blackowned business because I'm part of the 100 black men of Southern Florida as well with my young brother Senator Jones was behind black men I'm also the councilman from The Grove but that's another topic so but thank you for giving me your time um if I can be of service and we can be of service to you please at any time please let me know we want to make sure that this city gets 25% off the the price on the delivery of this water to you at the five gallon bottles and because I'm also a resident I live here at IES der road so this matters to me thank you have a great day and I appreciate your time God bless you thank you you were very nice at the conference thank you may I leave samples for you thank you David zapen my name is David zapen founder of the charity 30k for back pay I am not running for office I am I hope all registered voters have a recent identification reading glasses and that you remember there is one choice for contest with r exceptions maybe a pre-written list of candidates would help as well as deciding whether to join a political party to influence its future you can be independent but it's not free as far as the maral candidates I generally Envy the credentials I've attempted all of them at some point and to any reporter seeking to cover our contests like G milberg or Jim de fiti please avoid the mistakes of the past like expecting to find many of our voters in Skylake Mall which is not North Miami Beach or entering areas unprepared where English is not commonly used like I saw way back on August 30th 2000 at the DMV near Fu South yes George W Bush was across the street but still maybe after the elections we could discuss if we should rename the city um maybe we are tiny homes Village or bricks without straw or work without wages not your fault but it is our problems as a city and uh one problem with our elections now is when television channels switch to digital you could no longer use portal radios with television channels as the book gasping for error pointed out the lack of current relevant news on the radio can be deadly AM radio here limits that to a choice between Shan Hannity Dan Bonino the black Information Network and Catholic radio when I tried to call Jimmy seph back in '08 this screener would not let me correct him on the mortgage crisis of the time and good luck finding my calls after 12 to Al franken's successor Tom Hartman on wcpt Radio Chicago the airwaves are not representing us not most of us and these elections will probably make you angry and St Thomas aquinus taught us he who is not not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral so feel free to be angry with me and my role in the 2000 election but let's try to be civil about it I know tensions will be high between now November and Beyond 15 seconds my point exactly thank you and try to stay cool the rest of the summer thank you Irene pellinger and then bernardet Morris good evening I'm Irene pillinger I'm speaking tonight on behalf of friends of the library once again I'm here to talk about the library I've been told that parents from slam are positive that there will be a new building built where our library stands to house both the charter school and and our library the city manager says that the city's aim is to enhance Library services and programming he assures me that our library will remain a Vibrant Community Resource I've done quite a bit of research into the history of how slam came to be built adjacent to the North Miami Beach Public Library the mayor and commission received an email from me this week regarding the history based on various documents I've obtained despite all the assurances I have not been told that slam does not plan to implement phase three of their original proposal which is to build a school building to house 1300 students while giving the library some space inside the building that would only be accessible to Residents outside of school hours I have not been told that since there are only two years left on the initial agreement slam is looking for an alternate home for its students the original proposal was between the soccer Management Group and parks and wreck to run a soccer program including a clubhouse for the community it then morphed into housing a charter school what I would very much like to to know is whether the land upon which the current school is built belong to parks and wreck and if so was it ever legal for the city to allow a school to be built on the land designated as a park I hope the commission shares this question with me and asks our City attorney to look into the legality of this prop property being used for a school our city parks have value just like our state parks as we were just discussing ultimately a part-time library is not acceptable to our residents nor is giving up Parkland that is supposed to be for the Public's enjoyment thank you and remember that everyone is welcome to register to vote at the library you don't have to be a resident just come and register to vote thank you thank you good evening everyone my name is bernardet Morris and I'm the president and CEO of Sunshine Communications the Morris Group Incorporated during business of Sunshine Communications it is a pleasure to be here with you today I'm here to talk briefly about our role and our services as a public relations marketing and advertising agency and that bid that we submitted for the communications consulting services our company has been around for 31 years and nearly half of that time we were right here in the city of North Miami Beach and now we're just I a mile or so away in our corporate office but we represent a number of local community grp groups organizations and businesses and cities and governing that do things in a remarkable and fantastic Manner and way our clients include the Florida uh Department of Transportation the Florida Department of Health um Florida Power and Light Baptist heal South Florida and numerous others we know that there's an exciting time coming up for the city of North Miami Beach and we would love that opportunity as we have in the past to work with the city of North Miami Beach on a number of marketing advertising and creative services not only for the excitement of our communities but for the history and the Legacy that this lovely city has and maintains throughout our communities we represent a very D diverse and Multicultural Community here in the city of North Miami Beach and we would love that opportunity to continue to do that in everything we share and service for each and every one of you so we will love opportunity we have a number of goodies and information I would like to give to the clerk to share with each of you and thank you again for this opportunity to be here with you tonight thank you next speaker is Miss Hawk yeah good evening my name is Mara um I want to take the opportunity that uh commissioner Este steber is here just to express some kind of feeling about our park grols park grols park is a beautiful Park as a a very I mean it been there forever and it doesn't have any attention from the city of Miami sorry um we have the little bridges are broken it been broken since like three years um I work I walk there every day twice in the morning in the afternoon and um my medicine is walk in the nature I don't take pills I don't take any medicine so that's my medicine and for that I would like to see a better park with more attention I don't see any it's nasty it's dirty it's it's terrible so people I stopped going to the Festival they give beautiful Festival there for the lovely festival and uh May November to and they start to charge a lot so I know that they musicians singers to be paid probably and um but it's a lot of money and it's nothing done for the residents of North Miami Beach for us to have a better Park entertainment I remember when I moved here from Texas um we used to have um kind of exercise uh places every like half a mile and that was awesome so now it's nothing in that Park is nothing and also I live in front of the golf course um the golf course is where that fence is ugly people go and park over there front at night and leave the trash and the city no north Miami beach but North Miami doesn't do anything I understand that they are the one responsible for that uh we pay a lot of money for playing white one day go play golf 15 so if it's so expensive to play just for one day is a lot of money there I have like three Windows broken for those bad golfers so I would like also to ask the commissioner where I can go uh for the complaint for them to replace my windows so thank you that's all County Commission huh County Commission a stabber of she left but that's where you can go we're not it's not our Park Oh I thought she was here she left that's why I was expressing myself but you can also go to Snake Creek canal and use our um all the different um excise exercise equipment that we have put up actually like in the last year yeah but those are the one of fronts are for the kids no no no along the along the walk I haven't seen it well take a walk huh and I walk there every day it's on a bike path on the the bik I haven't seen I think I think perhaps the best thing is our our team will connect you with the proper person at Steinberg's office so that they can address the issue with grenolds Park and the golf course as far as wherever you walk that's wherever you walk but you can come to Snake Creek Canal as well it's two and a half miles I think um and you can enjoy that you can enjoy the one closest to your house but that's the best thing to get you in contact with the person from her office to address the county side because that's a county um facility thank you I I appreciate it you're welcome okay thank you former commissioner Barbara Kramer good evening everybody Barbara Kramer uh first of all I wanted to come up and um Mr city manager I wanted to to tell you about the experience I had with um your HR team and babet fredman uh last week I needed some assistance with uh a situation and um her team really jumped on this for me Etna was extremely accessible and I see that they were on the agenda I guess to to maybe Rec contract with you and um but if I didn't have your HR department I don't know how accessible it would have been or how easy it would have been for me to get to where I got to so I just want to say she's amazing and her team is amazing and I really want to to um say thank you for for having such a great employee uh let me congratulate all the uh graduates of the north Mii Beach residence Academy I took that course many moons ago and it was certainly wonderful and I'm glad commissioner Smith brought it back uh thanks to Senator Jones who left and county commissioner Steinberg for their presentations and updates I figured it takes a while for them to get here because they have so many municipalities that they serve and they've been here a long time but I guess till they get around to us it it probably takes that long so I'm glad that we we got to meet with them um one of the things I wanted to know is why we're hiring um an administrative a a financial why we're a consultant for administration fin financial support services um it didn't at least in the information I saw in the agenda and it when you voted for it in the consent agenda but there was no cost attributed to this um so kind of would be nice if somebody could get back to us and let us know what that cost is and and why um they're being hired maybe it's been done in the past and I don't remember but uh we were just curious about that uh I also wanted to know why and again I know this is isn't a back and forth so maybe someone could get back with me regarding the ordinance for the lean um amnesty policy uh there's a lot of residents that are very concerned about what this is costing and what's happened to them they didn't do the right thing in the first place but this is uh they need that help and so maybe we can find out why this is being postponed and I guess that's it my time's run out well thank you so much thank you good evening mayor Commissioners staff and residents uh my name is LIN Su I live at Reef Club and today I just wanted to express my appreciation for all the representatives that came to our commission meeting uh Senator Jones um also sen former Senator Ron Silver thank you so much for being here Keeps Us behaving well and um I I I'm glad that everybody here agrees with us that we should preserve our Parks once those parks are gone and converted to something else it will never come back so if we can preserve our Oita park or whatever park it is that we're doing what we have right now we should preserve it to the best of our ability um the next thing is um I am one of the first of the uh graduates in the residence Academy thank you commissioner Smith for putting that on and the staff did a fantastic job uh with communicating with us taking us to all the different places having us see how great North Miami Beach really is we have a wonderful water plant if you don't know like I will talk about that in a little bit but um as a Redevelopment Advisory Board uh chairwoman I'd like to express my appreciation for the CRA team I know that since I was vice chair and uh chairman prell vilme was the chair and the Redevelopment Advisory Board we have been screaming and shouting for a a meeting with all this the businesses in the CRA we finally had it and it was very successful thanks to commissioner Daniela John for spreading the word out I know I was emailing and calling and texting everybody and we had a pretty full house that day so that was a very successful meeting for the CRA and I think we have a good path and a good future ahead of us for facilitating business in the future the next thing is I wanted to talk about as a commissioner on the public utilities board I would like to also share with the commission regardless of whether you know or don't know what's going on about this there's there are some contaminants I think it's called uh polyur it's the short name is past pfas there are contaminants in the biscan aquifer which is where we get our water that contamination is actually higher than 30 nanograms per liter the allowable amount is actually Four this is a carcinogen it is dangerous and um what is fantastic about n&b water is that we have the facilities and the filtration to take that contaminant out no other water plant has it Miami dad county is doing a pilot program that just started an April and they're going to do a test program for two years I see this as an opportunity for my n&b water to expand our base to provide safe water drinking water for people in the surrounding areas that are not currently our customers and we can H we have the capacity to do that because we are at I'm not of time I'm breathing through my skin okay so so we have the capacity to sell more to neighboring cities and neighboring customers of of Miami Dade County and that way we can provide Safe Drinking Water for more people and also but earmark that amount of money that we have to further expand our nanofiltration and reverse osmosis thank you thank you any other speakers sure good evening everyone my name is mabarak aan first of all i' like to start out with the situation with our police chief I know we are paying her every month to stay home but what is happening there as seven of you you should be asking about that as well not only me um I'm against G5 I do not know if I would have the time at 5 minutes at 12 to be here to talk against it but I'm against G5 and also at the last meeting we had a $6.6 million for the water plan being passed in 2 minutes commissioner florman said um didn't we explain that initially when it came up that was the $16.5 million no you didn't when it when it came up in 2018 2019 uh it was stated that when the the tranches come in the segments it would be explained in detail when it came last meeting was 2 minutes to 12 you were not too um concerned with transparency other than passing this $6.6 million and then going home and the $6.5 million delinquent billing that you did not ask anything about it when it came up in the budget Workshop um it came up and it was displayed on the screen I could have seen it at home but you were more interested in closing off the meeting and going home also we talked about the insurance the gentleman um Senator he talked about insurance but nobody's asking how much CEOs are being paid they they have a competition among themselves to outdo each other and they get paid between 25 million to 300 million a year sometimes 125 million it's it's excuse me thank you and um that is what you have to look into I remembered in 2009 when um they went to see President Obama all those um those CEOs for the for the car companies they FLW up in their Jets and the president um you know admonished them for you know here people are struggling and you're flying in your Le Jets and so coming to visit me to beg for money and they all drove up later so what you should be doing doing is having people looking into how much these CEOs are being paid for by the insurance companies exorbitant amounts and it falls our back and that is why you know what they say more golf courses more golf courses is good in one way but it's it's for them to have more access to their playing games with us and that is what you have to look into I I dropped my win insurance I dropped it it it it's it's it's to me I think it's criminal and robbery thank you very much for having me thank you um if there's no other speakers then we will move on to the next okay public comment is closed okay public comment is now closed um next um announcements city manager Jennifer and before you uh mayor if I may take a a point because I think it's it's come up a few times and and I want to make sure we're perfectly clear um with regards to to the library um at no point will I ever recommend to this commission that the library be a shared space with a charter or any other organization that would shut down the library during regular hours the library will continue to be used as intended um and will continue to be independently um run by this city um and so I just want to make that clear um I thought in my email response that that was already referred um but I want to make that perfectly clear here tonight um to to you all and to the community as well um can I ask the manager something in reference that please so Mr manager if the library is ever expended to be built differently will we be going out for bids for whoever out there wants to be a partner could be a partner could we put that on record that that'll happen as well commissioner there's a ton of different ways that things can can go through and that will come in front of the commission for you all to to give that direction I think that's important for us to note thank you okay thank you wonderful good evening mayor vice mayor commissioner and residents I'll be presenting city-wide events for the next couple of days in August and the month of September Wednesday August 28th we have our first business tax receipt workshop at the McDonald Center we have two sessions one at 12: and 1 at 6: tomorrow Wednesday August 28th the Government Contracting perspective tour here at the McDonald Center as well 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. correct Friday August 30th doing business with Miami dat County with the asan American Business and entrepreneurs it's a local business workshop at the McDonald Center 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Friday September 6 Teen Summit with pal at the Performing Arts Theater at 5: Tuesday September 10th fall into Health senior health and wellness Fair McDonald Center 9:00 a.m. Wednesday September 11th 911 observance cere ceremony at the police department at 10:00 a.m. to 11: Friday September 13th Dal NMB Hispanic Heritage event at the North Miami Beach discovery Library 6:30 to 10 p.m. Tuesday September 17th it's National voter registration day at North Miami Beach discovery Library 10:00 a.m. to 6: p.m. Thursday September 19th Farm share drive through food distribution V Victory pool family Aquatic Center Tuesday September 24th packed meeting at the North Miami Beach police department and Thursday September 26 senior luncheon McDonald Center 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and finally Saturday September 28th the mobile di diaper Pantry at the North Miami Beach discovery library at 12:30 p.m. thank you thank you okay our next city commission reports um Madam clerk Mr Mayor may I for a second um you know the the the agenda is a very lengthy agenda and I see that there's some people here who are here for appointments um and also uh BTR and and um I was wondering if it's possible to move those items forward which items specifically um I see a BTR and I see appointments as well and then there's the request for charitable donation request from um Joshua's heart okay yes uh the walk up the walk up walk-on item the regarding the parks I don't know I was wonder if we can move that up because I oh yeah yeah we did just receive yes so we can just have a um vote on that as well so uh may it be after the be the btrs or whatever the yeah that's a quick one yeah so basically what I'm asking is if we're able to do it right after our commission reports um that would be good um because we have the appointments and a lot of these people sit here until midnight waiting for something that takes 30 seconds okay all right we can do that so those five items btrs appointments 2500 for Joshua's heart and the res solution okay right after comments thank you okay thank you okay Madam clerk commission reports commissioner shernoff good evening everyone I want to once again thank state senator Chevron Jones and commissioner Mickey Steinberg for coming here and Senator Ron Silver for staying here we do appreciate it Ron you know one of our building is named after Ron and he was instrumental in getting that money for us a long time ago and we appreciate it and he's still coming to Grace us and we appreciate that Ron and to our colleague Joe Geller please get well soon thank you commissioner Jean thank you so much I also wanted to say hello to Senator silver I want to thank um the north M Beach library for an amazing um outdoor Arts installation actually by Alisia Vallejo I had a chance to attend and it was actually feat featured on univ so um shout outs to our library for that Amazing Outdoor arts and public places feature so if you haven't had a chance please go out and check it out also wanted to thank our library for a successful night out we had hundreds of people attend and the commission for women commissioner um Smuggler for a successful back to school giveaway wanted to thank the water department for the water Forum unfortunately it wasn't well attended um I would like for us to do it at least one more in the quarter so that residents can come and get information on their water bill by the time I showed up at 5: it was already finished so if we can do something where residents have the chance to get their um questions answered after hours that would be amazing we had the chance to welcome the VP of Microsoft um who gave a presentation to Our IT department about Ai and how we can incorporate into what the city is doing so I wanted to thank our manager for hosting that as well um for those of you who are Zumba lovers there is a Zumba class coming up September the 4th at the ulita community center to mark your calendars I had a question as well Mr manager in reference to two of the consent items one one of which is the holiday lighting um my conversation with you is that um um the neighborhoods around the city that need some festive cheer during the holiday season I'm not sure if you were able to look into how we can make sure that that we not only light City Hall but that other areas within the the city Citywide can also get some cheer as well and uh I believe the item 9.5 if you can also bring Clarity to that wanted to pull that off of the the consent for discussion as well and last but not least to my colleagues I made the the the suggestion that we move the exterior wall cleaning which is about $400,000 from The arpa Phase 2 that we can discuss that as something that will be um funds that we can actually use for the for the residents of North Miami Beach thank you so much commissioner Joseph thank you uh Madam clerk uh just wishing everyone a a great and safe summer I know school opened up this past week in miy day County uh was pretty hectic but we all got through it um it was also want to congratulate and uh applaud the our mommy day I mean our nnpd Police Department for a great uh National line out uh it was a great event uh our County Commissioner attended she loved it as she expressed when she was on um before the dis and basically just wishing everyone to stay safe and keep hydrated and enjoy the rest of the summer as we lead into fall thank you commissioner Smith thank you very much and I want to thank our state senator and our County Commissioner for attending as they both said 13 cities and 14 cities and all the work they have to do and families at home I thank them for coming here to share information that our residents need and our residents can use so I thank you for that I also want to say I just had today at 4:00 I got back from Orlando for an icsc convention which is your shopping centers your retailers bringing business to North Mii Beach I had the honor and the pleasure of meeting one of the owners of the 163rd Street shopping center which is in the county but on the East and the west and this South it AB buts North mommy Beach and uh they want to work with us they've already met with our manager and um I'm looking for an exciting change to that shopping center where the facade facing 163rd Street will be something that we can be proud that it is AB budding our city and maybe that will help to make the rest of the neighborhood around it also think about some changes I also want to wish the school year to be a wonderful year for each and every family each and every student be safe study hard make sure you recognize that that's your job to do well in school don't rush it once you finish school you have to work the rest of your life so go to school get that education so when you work you get to work a little bit easier a little bit smarter because of your education I also want to say 120% that I hope everybody will pay attention to who's running for office will register to vote and will pay attention to who's going to take care of you your family your money and what happens in your city with that I wish everybody a safe wonderful couple weeks till we meet again and um we're available so if you need something hearing the comments tonight when they came up here uh if you need something call us and we'll do what we can to try to help you thank you very much commissioner smuckler good evening everyone um I also want to thank Senator Jones and commissioner Steinberg for coming tonight and and um Senator silver thank you so much for um just never quitting thank you as well as commissioner Kramer never quitting always coming and and uh trying to keep our city um straight so thank you so much um I also want to wish um our City attorney Joe Geller's speedy recovery and I also want to give my condolences to the family of uh Mitchell Abrams who was an employee of our city for about 17 17 18 years um our prayers our thoughts and prayers are with you Family the uh he's the one who got the um charger Drive instituted right in front of the school he worked very tirelessly to get that make that happen should do what Mitchell Abrams what did he do he got the street name changed to charge or drive okay cool um also the library and the commission of the status of women both had their back to school um drives and they were both amazing and thank you so much to the library uh the employees of the library and AD our director and thank you so much for parks and wreck for as always doing an amazing job but doing an even more amazing job in helping um for our back to school night and also thank you for mayor Cava she showed up she she came she showed up and she helped so thank you so much to her as well Dal n&b I'm I'm super excited um September 13th it's going to be at the Ampitheater it's going to start with a art uh uh artist exhibition Latin artist Exhibition at the library then the ampatheater opens up and we're going to have a noola who is a Latin um Grammy winner performing and she's also an an actress who did a t NOA on the life of Celia Cruz so I'm I'm super excited that we were able to score her to come among um L laana um Miami music Sergio a few other people as well so it's going to be an exciting exciting night I want to um also acknowledge National Night Out the police department didn't am amazing event and thank you always to our Police Department for keeping all of us safe um yes and wishing um Everybody the end of summer a happy Labor Day thank you so much vice mayor McKenzie floron thank you so much Madam clerk um first of all thank you everyone for being here this evening and taking time out of your schedule to join us uh and participate in in in the Democratic process of your city commission meetings um obviously for some but you know unbeknownst to others you know local government is really where the rubber meets the road that's really where the rubber meets the road so participating in this process is so important because we affect your daily life so we really appreciate you taking the time out to do so um Mr manager I know that a couple of days ago when we had our Workshop um you were asking us about allocations or reallocations of our um American Rescue plan dollars um I I I did make mention to um your team um and I just want to make mention here that we should uh also take some of those dollars for um bonuses sign on bonuses for um police officers I know we have a a f new fiscal year starting but there are some people who've already made commitments prior to the new fiscal year and um you know I I just don't think it would make sense for them because of a month difference not to benefit from a sign on bonus and we know how important that is to keeping people on our team so um I want to push for that and in addition to that we've had a conversation several times over about uh um speed gauges or speed signs in our uh different uh neighborhoods to um to uh slow people down and to advise them on their speed and and and really make uh that known to them that you know they have to be a little bit more careful in in how they drive so if we can um allocate some of the funding for that as well um I think that is something that we can resolve rather quickly at the Florida League of cities which I attended and some of my colleagues attended as well uh there were different vendors um that were um available to us and and the pricing that I'm seeing on these um I don't even what is the name of it it's it's not a speedometer it's it's say um radar sign radar sign okay so these radar signs are going $4500 $5,000 that's you know a drop in the bucket to save lives and to make sure people are not speeding so if we can address that um that would be good uh aside from that I'm looking for forward to an expedient meeting and uh let's rock and roll okay and I'll do my best to make sure that happens okay good all right mayor Evan Piper okay well thank you um first I wanted to thank um the Senators and former senator who is a real trooper for coming on out as well as the county commissioner um I wanted to uh several months ago I had noticed that there was this huge um outage of Street Lighting in the city and I made that one of my initiatives to make sure that that got corrected and I want to thank staff because um at this point it's a huge huge huge Improvement there's really you know a few handful of Lights Out still but largely our city is well illuminated and that is uh really a great thing for safety and beautification and everything else that goes with it um also the uh CRA um business event I thought that was great getting the CRA into the business community and showing them what was available while we're talking business wearing my Chamber of Commerce president hat I want to let everybody know to um that you have an opportunity to be involved in the north Bounty Beach Business Community not only is it good for business but it's also good for fun and social purposes um tomorrow night we actually are having an event at the solle Sunny Isles Hotel um should be a really nice um event at on the Pao there we have a chamber of commerce lunch on the third Thursday of every month including September coming up and also as mentioned by our communications director the senior health fair which is also put together by the Chamber of Commerce is happening next month and is uh really an incredible event that we've had for several years now um want to remind everybody that the mayor's office is open to all so if anybody needs anything at all to please reach out and I am here and available for you or you can call me or my um constituent Aid at any time um also in closing I wanted to um wish a happy birthday to one of the unsung heroes of the city which is Ricardo Castillo Our IT director yeah I don't know if it's exactly today it's it's honor about is it today exactly yeah okay it is today okay and last but not least um at a happy Labor Day to all thank you is at work today no birthday holay okay all right that should conclude the city commission reports I believe Madam Clerk and now we're going to go out of order and we're going to do so um Mr Mayor real quick a point of privilege I also wanted to mention that um the manager and the Parks and Recreation Department are looking to add um indoor pickle ball pickle ball nets to our indoor uh facilities so I'm looking forward to to hearing that a little bit about that too okay where are they going to where are you going to put the indoor portable portable Nets that you can move in and out of the court all our all our community centers where the basketball courts are are um marked for multi-use of of the court and we have the pickle ball lines on there now that we've replaced some of the roofs on some of those community centers we'll be able to bring the program back and then whenever we formulate something for the current tennis area we are still going to have pickle barall there though I just want to make sure that that's going to be incorporated there because I told everybody to ICS I heard you was going to be one of the first pickle ball players I'm working on it I I've asked Andrew Plotkin to see if he could try to teach me how to hit a ball when it comes to me you know I used to I used to think I used to think pickle ball was was like you know not a cool thing until rappers and basketball players and everybody started playing pickle ball so now you know I think it's cool you know so can't wait to try it out well we're being cool on that on speaking of being cool um vice mayor um so we we decided we were going to do btrs and appointments yes is there some other item that um okay so btrs appointments and the resolution on preservation of our Parks um so I'll move that we uh and Joshua's heart um 2500 for them so I'm going to move that we um address items number 13.1 13.2 and 13.3 at this moment okay and Madam clerk do we need to do um anything to make that change or we can just do it without any kind of Vote or anything right I second okay all right all in favor I opposed okay good all right so now we're on to um btrs 12.1 um G5 Sprint yeah we should read we should read the appointments are we the we're going to do we're going to do the one BTR then we'll do the appointments I thought we just did it 13.1 okay okay we just did 13.1 to 13.3 you're doing 12.1 now we're we're doing 121 right now we we decided we're doing I'm sorry to Mayor yeah hold on I'm sorry to to the commissioner's question um even though you voted on the appointment um Mr attorneys does that have to be read to the record before a formal vote Yes and actually it wasn't entirely clear if they were just moving to take the items now might approve so please right all right it was my understanding that we were that basically we were moving to make the change to the agenda that's what I so I I I was hearing a change to the agenda then I was hearing that we're doing I'm here with do appointments so Mr Mayor do you want me to make a mo move to change the agenda and vote is that I think we already did that moved in second did that already so okay let me do this do this again let me do this Mr Mayor I'd like to move I'd like to officially move to approve the change to the agenda and um move items number 13.1 13.2 13.3 item 12.1 and also item 15.6 um to right after our commission comments and and the resolution and the I'm sorry and the um resolution that's it and the add-on resolution do I have a second okay in that order right okay all right okay now we vote all in all in favor I any opposed okay cool all right all right now um now I'd like to make a motion Mr Mayor uh to um to uh introduce and approve items number 13.1 2 and three uh the appointments of commissioner philis Smith as vice mayor appointing Ellis keer to the economic development commission and appointing uh Jamie figarova to the economic development commission second okay all right all in favor any opposed okay unanimously Mr M I'd like to also make a motion to introduce item number 12.1 second all right it's been introduced all right so um yeah Mr attorney do you need to read anything on 121 with the BTR for G5 yes I want to introduce uh my able co-counsel Jacob elberg who will take up your question uh Mr Mayor thank you yep it's uh G5 uh presented by Edward interm community development director did one of you take my my thing my G thing yeah you guys take good evening mayor commissioner um before you evening the business tax receipt uh request for an extension of hours as the commission might be aware under uh chapter 12 Article 2 Section 12- 2.2 of the code uh any business that wishes to serve alcohol between the hour of 4: and 6:00 a.m. must uh come before the commission annually for their renewal uh at this time G5 um you know this also apply when ownership changes hand so in this case uh there are two as here uh G5 has changed ownership and it and that new ownership has uh to request approval from the city commission for the extension of hour that was previously granted for the rest of this uh uh uh fiscal year they're also making a concurrent request since we're already in August and the renew the end of the fiscal year September 30th for permission on renewal for October 1st to September 30th uh uh um 2024 to 2025 um the LI request for G5 and they are present this evening um that applicant has to obtain a state license in the state of Florida Department business Professional Regulation um as required we reviewed the police report for the location and note that uh uh uh um uh uh the uh amount of items that in the staff report provid to the commission as uh being uh nine significant onsite calls between the cember 1st to June 30th 2024 uh we know for the record that G5 is historically employed Off Duty Officers and include these as part of operations and security plan they required to submit uh Community Development staff uh note that it is at the city commission discretion um the applicant is here should the commission have any questions on this request okay all right Mr TR come on up have you been involved with the management prior to your taking ownership oh good evening everybody um I'm Shamara Todd um the new preparator um I've operated an adult nightclub for the past 15 years even though I'm only 35 I open my brand which is taboo from I was 20 years old so I do have three locations that I personally like they're like I'm talking about this this location one uh no so neither one of you had anything to do with I was working with the prior management and made sure that all of the security features and everything else has been implemented in their new ownership and structure okay CU my concern is like everybody up here is 64 incidences in a report we have a report that has 64 different incidents uh We've noted for the record that there was nine significant but overall there are 64 uh incidents overall provided by the police to the commission as part to review that's a big use of our Police Department 64 times answering to this you know business if I if I may and Mr Mayor can we get your name on the record sir oh my apologies no Johnson speak the mic please thank you nol Johnson thank you uh I I believe that some of those incidents were not of significant nature uh there's sometimes where people get locked off their cars there's other times where people uh just have are drunken uh and may need assistance getting home and things of that nature there is always at least two police off-duty police officers outside the door as well as security inside to make sure that there are no incidents of any violent nature or crime or anything that would be harming the community all right can you assure me that you're going to do a better job of monitoring this and be more on top of it than the last Stoner yes yes um I I was very um what would I say I was a bit withdrawn from even taking on the ownership because I don't like liability so I on top of my security 100% um every single night that club is open the officers are out there I that's not a cost that I'm interested in sparing because I do understand it's my responsibility thank you good okay so b64 incidents are since they took over or no sorry we would have to the did the police on on that when did you take over uh February 8th this year okay so this started December 20 uh December 1st so I would have to just I mean here's a list so I guess I can just count how many but I don't know what night eyes are and grid checks are commissioner if if I may um and I'm getting um PD had to step out um for for a moment um but overall the the events have to do with just regular Community contact UM that would be on on the facility grid checks is just um uh the various uh patrols uh when they have to get down and just check to make sure everything is okay um as um Mr n um mentioned there are nine calls of significance um in here if what police will deem as as significant the others um just tend to be more of um what's reported uh point of contact one category is loss of property another is information watch orders uh Community contact is just any type of contact UM that the police will have with with anybody that's on the property um so there were nine um significant reporting uh between December of 2023 and June of 24 right so 21 of them are from when they took over until junee of June 22 and and I have from two months ago major Nichols is here and he'd be able to kind of give a better breakdown of those categories um major Nichols you can okay so 21 of them 21 of these calls are from February 3rd until June 20124 June 22 from two months ago so in a period of four months commissioner are you referring to the grid checks am I yes okay the grid checks is just checking the area on the grid from the map and that location that was from a well no no I'm not sure what these 22 calls are because I have to look at them one by one but I don't know what a grid check is and I don't know what n eyes are okay so I'll explain that it's not actually a call for service it's what our officer self initi to go check the area so if the business example we have a Vehicles burglaries having at G5 during a certain time we'll put a watch order on the business and the patrol will go through and round go through the parking lot during that time a community contact is a concerned citizen that sees one of us out on the street patrolling and ask us a question and we answer their whatever their issue is and what are Night Eyes night eyes are for at night if a business thinks uh was recently burglarized or they're having suspicious people around same thing it's like a watch order but it's just at night and we go do a business check at that business and that's why it's called a night eye and what's AOA from here assist agency here okay and then what is it here under the businesses it says G5 but like three times it says taboo at G5 I think that's the new owner that's taboo right well no because it's it's they took over February and since February from February to June there's three times it says taboo at G5 that's the new name of the establishment it's taboo by G5 okay so the other times they just didn't write Taboo in it right I guess it was the name change in the cad from when the business changed their their name from G5 to no it's like in the middle it's random so for whatever reason and it was it just wasn't written properly that's fine that's not a big deal all right so 21 times in four months all right I don't have any more questions okay okay let thank you I I just want to say to you you're a beautiful woman and I'm sure after 15 years you've had a lot of experience with this kind of establishment but all the years I sat here on this Council Miami Beach which is a tourist designation they have to get an exception to be open till 3 till three I just don't understand why North Miami Beach is a designation from 4: to 6:00 in the morning I don't understand it why would we do that because here's the issue we have two establishments one is where the children get picked up and go to school and yours is in an industrial area but even on Miami Gardens Drive when you go over the bridge they're not open till 6:00 in the morning 4:41 they're not open till 6:00 in the morning I just don't understand why North Miami Beach has to have their people everybody get off work and let's all go to North Miami Beach and drink and have a good time I understand and I understand that it has some pluses for our community when we you have the off-duty police officers but I just don't understand it um I honestly have to tell you that you have to get the mayor's the manager's approval from 2 to 4 but from 4 to 6 when no other municipality does it none I just can't understand why North Mumy beach has to be the one where people come to drink I'd like to be known of a lot of things but that's not one of the things i' like North Mii Beach to be known for so I appreciate you're coming before us but I don't think I can change my mind on that opinion thank you very much okay any anyone else um okay all I maybe I can ask um Mr um our public uh our zoning where's where's no no no I just had a question um currently we have how many establishments do we currently have that fit this criteria just two right there are two yes your microphone oh no no just on this one as well as uh and solid notan goldan gold Dean gold yes and in regards to Dean's gold I mean um do they what what's their um what's their hours of operations for currently uh um I do not know that out my head I do know that the commission had previously given permission for to serve alcohol from four to six same thing right we currently have that okay that's so thank you I have a question for the attorney so I have always approved Dean's gold and um I would like to give them an opportunity especially that they're they're new but my question is I'm a little bit concerned about these numbers and they're asking for a license until October of 25 September 30th of 25 yes ma'am there are two separate requests here first is the request for continue through the end of this fiscal year and like with anyone else who need to renew their business taxy to the yeah my question is if if this trend continues or getss worse can we pull the license or once we give it to them can we give it to them on the condition that this gets better well I I wanted to clarify one thing with major nickels also um if if we could and then you can continue um so in reality the community contact and so Community contact is not any type of incident call correct that's correct mayor but when it's self initiated into the cad by the officer it goes down as a call for service okay and grid check is just a precautionary driveby correct okay so that has nothing to do with incidents but precautionary meaning you just felt like doing it or something they Patrol it's a norol they're flagged down Community contact their question or there was a reason why we did a grid check maybe vehicle burglaries Etc and why we're going into that zone and Night Eyes is also part of that too correct so out of that um so the very then like Lost Property I guess is not um a theft right no that so there was actually five reports out of all these 64 calls for service two were for burglary to Vehicles three were property lost stolen stolen items and that was because the patrons were intoxicated and they lost their phone at the club okay all right so so essentially of these 64 events um how many of those are of concern to the police department I would say four of the reports that were C which which four it was the two burglar the vehicles and the two simple batteries okay so what date were were those the burglary of the vehicles was uh December 20th 2023 and December 31st 2023 M the first simple B battery was on March 18th uh 2024 and the last simple battery was on May 9th 2024 okay so the first two were not with them but the second two were right so really we're talking about two significant um incidences just I I know that the 64 number is there um well I said it's 21 thank you 21 with them thank okay all right I just wanted to make sure that we were clear on you know it's 21 since they took over so 60 it's not 64 it's 21 since they took over right and and two I guess two of them of concern to the police department right so we got two events of concern okay um okay um major Nichols um when it comes to I never got my answer from the attorney yeah she had a question yeah I had a question for the attorney yeah I interrupted yeah so if if we can if there was a A continuing trend of of not night eyes but something assault let's say um can we pull their license in the middle or does do they have it until October September 30 2025 regardless as a general proposition at any time that an establishment like this becomes a nuisance and there's violations of the law um you can you can pull their licenses but we would like to take under advisement a more narrow um answer on that because I haven't frankly looked at your city code so I'm kind of basing it a little bit on what I know of other cities codes okay uh thank you Mr Mayor major Nichols when it comes to off-duty police which um The Establishment pays for some of these calls or um or part of some of these reports are they including off-duty police work as well yeah so the officer working the establishment night will be taking this report okay CU I I I there was a mention about the um utilization of our police which is a very valid concern um but I wanted to make you know I wanted to be clear for myself that um the payment for those Services uh more than likely is being made by The Establishment except I'm assuming if there's a a need for additional police officers to report to um to that particular location that's correct yes yes okay um look when it when it comes to this I think that if we have um everyone has valid concerns but I think those concerns is to me um more things that we as a city need to address right versus um individually singling out businesses right I think if we if we put together a process and businesses abide by that process then obviously we all have our options and choices to make but um singling out businesses to me is where that issue comes in where we allow one establishment to do one thing and then we're looking at another establishment differently I think you know that puts us in an awkward and I don't know what kind of liability it opens the city up to to um you know address similar businesses differently when they've complied um with with our requirements I think if we have a issue with 4: to 6:00 a.m. then we need to do as other municipalities and take a look into that and see what we can do regarding um drinking at that particular time whether it's on particular holidays that we may see an increase based on reports that we get from our police department and we can mitigate issues that way but I think that's something we need to have our staff look at if that's the direction we want to go but I don't want to single out a specific business when another business is doing exactly what they're requesting I mean I would say that their their business is an approved use right for where they're located right they just have the conditional use for those additional no like conditional use but they have a conditional thing regarding the license for those extended hours but they're they're a business operating under what they're allowed to operate in that area right and what I I agree 100% And and to commissioner Joseph's Point what I what I'm saying is we have a similar business that's operating uh legally and you know we've we've allowed them to do the four to six as well so I hate to single out a business you know um who's doing the same exact thing and making the same exact request so that's my statement on this matter thank you I have a question please Mr manager when is the the other establishments license coming before us for a vote September um I'm sure the community director knows uh but we can get you that information I don't have that accessible right now it should be in sep I believe that yeah it's in a month they're the both the same and and and I I take very serious what you said and I concur that that is something the thing is is there is no other business that we have none I don't care if it's Walmart or dress stores we have establishments have come before us that they had to close at 11: that they've had to close at 10: we've had limits but you're th% correct and I have brought this up before not that I'm against the profession or nor against your business what I don't understand is why are we the city that people come to when there's entertainment cities there's cities that people fly into Miami to enjoy their week to enjoy their month to enjoy their vacation and those cities say no so looking at this I think that I would like for um 100% for for us to think about that but if this commission feels I'm not against the fact that there's a new business coming in and that they should have an opportunity I'm against the whole concept of that's the thought of North Miami Beach when no other city does it why us I I just I I don't have that image of my city in front of me I don't have wait Mr let me hear from the attorney for a second whenever you're ready uh Mr Mayor we think we have a a very specific answer to to your question commissioner on the issue of the city's ability to revoke the license over can you hold that one minute because I was going to get an answer from commissioner chernoff which might change my mind the this where they are the warehouses where they are in my city commission city council at the time was asked told by our attorney that we had to give the business this type of business had to allow it by constitutional right we picked an obscure place to put it and thought nobody would go there but they went there immediately and they've stayed there since so that's when they came there and your commission was told that they had to give them the right till six o' we couldn't eliminate the business from we had five of them or something at the time and we couldn't eliminate them but we could no I don't where we wanted them I don't want to eliminate I think that it's a very a business that some people enjoy that's not I I do that's whatever it is but I I'm just questioning the hours that's what I'm questioning because kids get on a school bus and they go to school at that hour people are coming out getting in their cars driving when the children are getting in their cars with their family members to be driven to school that's a that's a question I'm ask um commissioner um no I I'll just like I said it goes back to the point that we have an establishment it goes to me it goes back to the point that we already have establishment that has the exact same thing the only reason that they're coming up early is because of the change of ownership there's no difference I mean the when when Dean I I I can understand I was having the discussion after the fact to really have uh to give an opportunity and have some type of due process as opposed to just arbitr saying you know what I don't feel like it today I think that's unfair it's not a question about no no I understand what you're saying no no but but that's a crazy statement I'm just saying to you as what commissioner which I respect I listen carefully if we want to change the policy we should be considering changing the policy the fact that they're coming up a month they never came up a month before they changed companies it was always voted on at the same time all the time I've been here you voted on one you voted on the other I understand the other establishment is open but now when they come up for before us for a month uh I I just I understand what everybody's saying changing the policy would be a topic for another okay so Mr Mr attorney when you're giving that answer would you also give the answer if we change the policy and they have this license you can't go backwards they get it for whatever time it is commissioner Smith they're coming for this fiscal year and next fiscal year coming for two they're coming for they're only coming for a month or two from this yeah this this mon two from the am I correct 13 months about 13 months 13 months as opposed to 12 is that correct two fiscal years well the the the the reality is that they already have under the previous name the ability to operate until 6:00 in the morning is that not the case yes sir okay so this business we the commission have already voted to give them the opportunity to operate until 6: a.m. for one more month right no but this is this was what why are they coming before us now they changed the name know but they changed the M we did at the last time when we gave them that they were here triggered by the new owner the new ownership they were here they were here weren't they here yes ma'am yes ma'am they um this have been on the agenda uh last month but because of you know the elevator fire and everything we never had a chance to hear it I understand now thank you all right so I I'd like to have our attorney look into based on the concerns and at the end of the day in the that's for something I think in the future it's going to take a while for that you know for us to really do the research and get back to us on that and if businesses feel that they can't operate until 4:00 a.m. then they don't do business in North Miami Beach but for now based on everything else all things equal I don't see why we shouldn't uh provide them with the business tax receipt that they've met the requirements for okay um Mr attorney can you please tell us what you were going to tell us with the little research you did and then someone needs to call a question and I'm glad that Mr Elbert brought back the specific reference in the code uh at any time this commission um and even the uh code enforcement board can take away a license can can um's cancel a license I guess um if there is a violation of your own code in another section of the code that we managed to look it up with the help of Mr Elbert who will now because he's got better eyesight than I read that section uh 13- 46 no leny owner employee shall permit suffer or allow violations of this code or illegal acts to take place on the license premises if the leny or employee knows or has reason to know that such violations or legal acts are taking place so you can revoke I just remember the term you can revoke the license now the other question prospectively um it will be also um addressed by us uh in terms of what you want to do in the future on the hours and so on and by the way when we do that I I expect that we will have to read every case that has gone to court in the city of Miami Beach because the the the theil yeah the control of the hours is something that um is is U very much litigated um and and uh it's restricted by constitutional law but we're not ready to answer that question because I don't think you're ready to make that change right in in terms of the hours of operation no no no but I would like that to be studied and to be brought back and it h unfortunately you see what they're saying is if it's not fair if we don't do it to one we don't we have to do it to both of our establishments did have three but one establishment on bisc Boulevard closed down in 171st Street they closed down but long what they're saying is one has to have it then the other one has to have it and what I'm saying is where the other one is located is where children are being driven past there you're an industrial area that's not an industrial area that is a main thoroughfare where children coming from our city are going to their schools and that's why I really want to address this yeah okay I want to address this anything else I'm going to call the question do comment please do we do public comment for BTR um yeah is a public comment on btrs I don't believe so it's ridiculous it is at the chair discretion chair is up to you I think I think because we've always done it we should practice but because we've always done it okay all right Madam clerk public comment who said this was going to be a quick item he said he would try yes yes good evening yeah okay yeah point of order would be Len Hackman sunr wait wait wait wait one second we got to clear up one point B you want Mr smuckler would have to make a motion to withdraw your motion withdraw to allow the public comment H Kazan coming up to speak or not coming up to speak let me let me think about this she's already standing at the I'm I'm talking about Kazan not her yes I um I will unall the question I will withdraw my motion to call the question to allow this beautiful woman to come and speak oh bless you no I I really I agree with villet I think it's ridiculous why do we have to ma please your name for the record Loren Hackman Sunray West thank you can I begin yes you may thank you I think it's ridiculous to have any establishment in this little city that we've got here open past 4:00 should be plenty of time why do they have to have that extra two hours for what to intoxicate them a little bit more I I I mean you know and do for one what you do to the other tell them no and tell the other ones no too when they come up she's concerned about children because you get more more action if you say children okay but there's other people driving around going to work and and and and you've got people you know intoxicated and and I I just don't I agree with Phyllis I think it's ridiculous I don't think there's a need for it I don't think we're making that much profit off of it by allowing them to do that why did we allow them to stay open till six o'clock in the first place all right so let's undo the mistake that we made before and and do it it for everybody and make a rule and stick to it that's my opinion I didn't need three minutes I'm done thank you thank you very good point um yeah who's next for public comment you want to come up all right hi thank you all hi my name is Cory Todd um I just want to say listening to this um we live in America and um in the city of Miami you have four 24-hour clubs just like this one um yes but um I think being in America people have the right the constitutional right um to operate a business and um I think it's quite fair that if you look at the history of North Miami Beach these business have been operating over maybe 8 to 10 years um probably longer than that I think maybe 15 because you have diamonds and I think um the city of attorney would be um once he does the research that um we that place does have the constitutional right and um I think it's a waste of the city time to be fighting this after you have had clubs operating for over 15 years there and I think it'll be a waste of money in the loan right thank you okay um anyone else good evening everyone my name is mabarak aan last week I did write all of you about this year there will be a strip club coming up to stay open from 4:00 a.m. to 6 6: a.m. when the school children are out busy on the roads at this time walking standing waiting for transportation many of us will be traveling on the roads at this time as well and we you should not be permitting these strip clubs that sell liquor at this time enabling their patrons to become drunk after leaving these strip clubs they cause many accidents on the roads it may not be directly in front of the strip club but many times away in another city in another County they caus huge traffic jams at the Times Road deaths and our elected representatives are your duty as per Charter to enable a better Healthy Living environment hence heart health walk bike 305 and many other lifestyle programs the city runs it is hypocrisy at its highest now to encourage Dy habits two months ago the city passed legislation enabling cameras in front of three schools in our city for speed traps saying this will save our children's lives if you want to really save children's lives prevent DUI drivers from traversing the roads in early morning hours when our kids are going to school do not vote for the 6m to 4:00 a.m. to 6: a.m. license for the two strip clubs in our city I I do not discriminate um live our motto is a city where people care it also becomes a conflict of interest having our nmbpd of Duty Officers dressed in uniform guarding these strip clubs when they see drunks coming up out from these joints as the people testify they have drunks they literally turn a blind eye no arrests are made and we create a repetition of the cops waiting outside to arrest you uh that is not going to happen a blind eye is turned on this type of behavior who are we fooling the cops are handsomely rewarded with the guard duty pay asks for the records how many arrests were made over the last year or so in front of these trip clubs and you will notice a trend what the gentleman said four out of 64 four your vote will be tonight and I will be getting my chance to vote come November 2024 and God willing I should um be also contacting mutters against drunken drivers mad and let them know about your lifestyle and your voting pattern have a blessed day Safe Streets for nnbb and the rest of the county thank you thank you thank you um by the way for the to the attorney um something was just mentioned I I guess you know a little bit about City of Miami perhaps um someone mentioned that no you noticed that I was ready to react um someone mentioned they have 24-hour clubs um do you know anything about because I know that commissioner Smith was asking what other cities do and that we're like the destination because we're open so late we will um study that I do want to say for the record for whatever it's worth things may have changed but at one point in Coconut Grove because a lot of this depends on what district it is what the zoning is and so on in Coconut Grove they wanted to stay open until 3:00 a.m. and my commission voted that way and I vetoed it but um that was a long time ago when all of you were in school and all of that you know 3:00 a.m. right that was 3:00 a.m. yeah but again that was a long time ago that was 1998 and it it depends a lot on what the uh uh zoning provides and and state law on um sale of beverages um and and districts created for that it's I wish one of our other partners was here because he's the expert in that L terminello but uh we're we're not prepared to comment on that but we will make it part of our analysis and submit it to okay so I Hadad call all we have one more speaker and then um and then I'm calling the question there you go okay yeah Deb Hamer monachello um there's a few things that I'm concerned about uh right now with Miami beach with the spring break we're creating a a magnet we've seen all the problems that's gone on in Miami Beach and South Beach and now we're creating a magnet where they're going to say okay where where is it open where can we go party and we're bringing in a really dangerous element and we know that these clubs bring in a you very very dangerous element we had a very embarrassing incident that happened at one of the clubs in the city that got international coverage making the NMB Police Department look very embarrassed okay so it it was a huge it's a huge liability to the city we also know that there's huge these clubs bring are uh magnets for sex trafficking the governor has has created laws to prevent underage girls um so we really need to make a decision do we need these extra two hours especially now we have M we have schools here high schools that start at 7:10 in the morning okay I mean this is when the kids are commuting to school and parents are dropping their kids off at school um so we really need to think are we car are we putting the safety of our children uh at you know and the safety of our daughters you know there's there's a lot that we have to think about when we're making these decisions do we want NMB to become a magnet for this very dangerous element and a very dangerous business a very dirty business corre very good very good I was going to call a question after him so okay all right we can't really cut off public comment so you can't cut them off so this is this will be good not on my first day yeah it's your first day never making example training David zapen founder of 30k for back pay uh in my wasted career it includes a dozen years as a substitute teacher and four years as an unarmed guard so yes 4: to 6: a.m. sounds like oh everyone is asleep no you have a construction workers who check in about 7 if not earlier schools start about seven and so that's cross traffic and so unless you can steer all this traffic away from a bar again I'm presuming the bar stays open until you know effectively 6:00 a.m. uh yeah that makes me nervous so I mean so unless you want to replace the expensive if however worthy police officers with armed guards like the ones I've coordinated with the now defunct Airborne security you want to send me out to be as maximum scary all 300 lb of me with you know yellow V yellow vest and you know hard hat you know I I'll I'll be there tomorrow if that's what it takes but make sure there's a cost benefit program analysis of this this establishment however perfectly licensed and no there is no constitutional right to make a living there is a Fifth Amendment right to life and Liberty and the question is is their commercial right outranking the the hazards what we're seeing right now or is likely to happen as construction continues as populations increase and that's presuming that the surrounding areas actually get renters which is not a guarantee don't be surprised if it's you know the land of the white elephants but we need a plan we need to be ready if it takes police officers make sure that they're being paid you know less from the general fund and more from this specific case however worthy okay I am no stranger to fisticuffs if I have to you know personally guard the area to keep the children and the you know civilians safe you know then just you know send me out there cuz you know I've seen stuff I'm done I've done stuff and it's not always pretty but sure let's be careful out there especially in the dark as the hours decrease be safe I will okay if you see a patron show up with a yellow vest and a hard hat you'll know who it is I appreciate the help you can hire him as a bodyguard or something I think okay now calling the go all right public comment is now closed no one else has come forward all right mayor yes I'm just uh commissioner reminded me vice mayor reminded me when you're in the building you have to vote was that something that just came out if we're here we have to vote Yes Yes it just came out that we must vote right at the ethics class that the three of us went to um we I'm here they have to vote everybody that's everybody that comes to the in the building they have to vote we have to wait if they're out of the room you have to put their vote on record that's what they said the commission the way it was in the county and in the city of Miami you would have to step outside you cannot abstain but I haven't looked at your code specifically if you want me to no not if you cannot not if you have a vested interest that you step outside and cannot vote if you're here you must vote it has nothing to do there is no exstension vote uh right we're just saying that there's a commissioner missing so we need to wait for her to come back do we know where she is no we don't have to wait no no as long as you have a qu proceed we get her vote when she comes in all right all right so okay commissioner Jean if you can hear us you you do need to vote with us but regardless we're going to vote now and you can vote later all right call the question you did did you yeah I did call the question gotcha we have a second second okay do you need Voice vote right Madam clerk think so all in favor say I I hi any opposed opposed we have one opposed commissioner Smith and not without so okay1 motion passes 51 y okay but just like I told G5 and uh solid gold if this trend continue to rise Dean's gold sorry you confus me if it continues to rise I will definitely for 25 I will say no can we go to the next item Mr May understood yes thank you understood I I probably made some premature calls because I was new so it's probably a little bit less because I understand understand we don't want to discourage you for calling if there's a reason yeah okay don't don't look at it as it I better not call you know please call it's the legitimate it's the not legitimate you also have officers that are right there that you're paying right oh no we got the the ordinance yeah the the resolution yeah um leave all you're ahead discuss 15.6 um yeah we're going to introduce um oh Mr Mayor may I yeah 156 right okay I'd like to make a motion to uh let's do this reso and then we can do the um where's this reso it's right here what's the number uh commissioner resolution 20 24 RFB 24-19 yes Mo move to introduce okay wait is this this is the added item oh I'm sorry I read the wrong one I think you're reading the wrong thing this is the one that has no number on it right Madam clerk this next resolution I'll get r224 d d blank second it yep it's been moved and second it okay yes to read yeah we'll read it now go ahead yeah um resolution of the city of North Miami Beach Florida expressing position position on behalf of its citizens to the Florida Department of Environmental Protections Oleta River State Park unit management plan Amendment urging Governor Ronda santis and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to Halt the proposed oletta River State Park unit management plan Amendment providing for transmitt of this resolution to Governor Ronda santis Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the members of the legislature and providing for an effective date um motion motion to um mot second motion approved yes second okay we got the motion we got the second all in favor say I I any opposed passes unanimously we have to have public com all right um Mr well I'm sorry Mr Mayor may I yes all right um so I'd like to introduce um item number 15.6 uh Joshua's heart $2,500 request good evening mayor Commissioners marle monam Chief of Staff this request is for uh Joshua's heart 2500 through your charitable donation process they're asking for this after the fact um for an event that they had on June 1st 2024 uh where they were Distributing clothing and other items to the community um in the same request they did mention they continue to look for funds um because they always Supply food to the community so this would supplement their efforts if you decide to prevent thank you could I could I just ask what was the difference they've always supplied us with so many donations what's the difference that they needed help now uh for this particular request they were raising funds for an event they were having on the 1st of June so that that event was at the Coen Center that was the that's what it was for the it was for the men for the yes the big and tall men that was at the Coen Center at FIU it was an event it's okay okay at the Coen Center Joshua's heart did an event that they've done before and they did I think they did it one their first year they may have done it here they may have done the first year here a few years ago that they Supply uh clothes for like big and tall men that I think there's like a a football player a basketball player or something that donates like clothes to these men that are in need so they're asking for money for or they could have just gone to the manager's closet he's tall and that's a onetime and that's a one-time donation correct so that's coming from our contingency or that's coming from so the these requests the manager's office would look um for which account would be appropriate to expend from not a contingency right it's unbudgeted um unless Commissioners you wish to profit from your contingencies for the donation I mean I always give them from my contingency but I'm not giving them the 2500 yep okay can the Commissioners please speak into the mic right here okay thank you okay Mr I got a question the manager um you don't usually give anything for donations from the manager's office do you no sir thank you that's why I was if I could Mr Mayor why don't I make a suggestion that we take each one of us a little out of our contingency to do it I don't want to set up a president that the manager's going to start taking money out of his contingency we all have funds um the the uh Spanish monaster is asking for money to bring art basil North like they do at Midtown and like they do it and they need funds to bring it which would bring a week of people coming into our city but if we're going to do that let's start to use our contingency a few hundred from each one I don't even think it's $500 and what I don't understand is why this was why is this after the fact it's you know it's like it's not they didn't make the request beforehand they basically had an event and said oh by the way can you sponsor our event from last year two previous agendas it just was never I mean I'm going to give them for my contingency not 2500 I'm going to give them I don't know who else wants to give them I I know that when when I know how much I have left over I'll give to to several you to to your point smuckler because at the end sorry sorry at the nearing October we always and I think we did this last year it shows what we were doing at our and I I do Joshua's hot you do Joshua's hot not everybody does it but everybody but because everybody has different um places they would want to contribute to but I I'm on the same boat I'm GNA so would it be would it be fair to say due to the circumstances number one it really shouldn't come from the manager's office number two that it's sort of after the fact that we're going to um as Commissioners will take into consideration and do something from the Commissioners um for that organization and then this way we need a motion that is going to um deny that right no no yeah well I make a motion that we change the request from the manager's office to using the money out of of Commissioners and mayor's contingency correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I I believe that on this item well it's a discussion item we're discussing it I'm going to give him my contingency and if anybody else wants to give from their contingency we'll let marleene know I'm sorry I I stepped out for a quick second so what are we saying here that the 20 they don't have $2,500 we don't want to make set up a president that we're starting to ask the managers the manager Office doesn't usually fund these type of things funding because you have places you right I understood is he doing this from his doesn't the manager have a contingency himself self is that is that where they're asking for from from or you're asking no funds were identified it's um for further request right uh typically donations um would have to be either coming from a mayor commission contingency or the commission would have to dictate where it would come from um in the past sometimes it's come from reserves uh because it's not budgeted I do have a contingency those are funds that are being held uh with regards um for negotiation so maybe they'll even get more than 2500 from us if we all gave I don't know how much everybody wants to give so they may actually end up better get being better off getting from us individually than than than doing it this way but this is a discussion item so I mean listen Joshua I would I don't want to discuss that here but since we're already on the topic I think you know if everyone's going to give something just to make it you know easier for them they're an organization that has been here for a while they've done a lot of hard work um they're they're nationally recognized there's no reason why you know we should Bel labor um assisting them in the best way we can so um I mean but a lot of us don't even know what our contingencies look like so we're making commitments with I actually asked a couple days ago and they're finding out how much is in my contingency because I always give to the main society and Spanish Monastery and I definitely want to give to the library right I mean if if if if it's available in my in my contingency if it's available in my contingency I'll give a th thank you thank you um noted for vice mayor a th000 confirmed and I'll let you know I always give I'll just let you know what I what what after I know what funds I should have a lot but right so pull a report and provide it to you all so you have all right so we're moving on from this item so the discussion item is that so the discussion item is that they will get the 2500 we're just going to figure out how it's going to be paid out of the contingencies everybody it might not be 25 it might be a little more it might be a little less I mean no but the minimum is the 25 they're asking for will be get given we can't guarantee that I mean we can a th000 here 300 there he doesn't even know if he has a th000 to give he probably does but he you know I haven't haven't used much of it I'm pretty sure it's there it's pretty there okay more likely not they'll end up getting more than that okay all right okay so do we do we take commissioner Jean's vote now yes I would do a resolution of intent that says you going to try to put together a fund that will be no less than 2500 but you can't guarantee that unless each of you we don't need a resolution can't we it's a discussion item don't need a can we just say we discussed it and and we'll give what we can give that's it if it's more than great we're not putting anything on the record as official it's just we're going to do what we can you know you want to do a symbolic resolution of intent that you're going to try to help them as much as you possibly can but from funds that are already part of your system here which I guess are they call them contingency funds or discretionary whatever they are yeah same thing okay all right but I think that commissioner Smucker's um question was regarding something else so we need to get the the vote of commissioner Jean for the for the BTR for the G5 item you don't have to do that but if you want to do it because she wants toing to the ethics class that we took and we specifically asked that question I think I did or or one of us did um if if someone walks out of the room they still when they come back they have to say what their vote was even after the fact it was prefaced in the way that somebody was trying to avoid the vote and walk out every time a vote was taken and so that this is what we I don't believe that's correct but if you want to Mr Mayor if you want to the issue let me just ask commissioner John a question okay if we're learning wrong in our ethics class and why are we Tak hang in you're right listen we don't have the ethics experts here but just for purposes Mr Mayor if you're in case she's right and the ethics experts are right and I'm wrong you can simply um this is why I'm just going to speak to commissioner John real quick on the item for the what votes were taken there's two items no it was it was one it was the G5 TR 4 to 6 a.m. license for them the vote rate the vote was 51 you have to four to one no five no five one no wasn't five yeah Mich out there's seven of us yeah it was five to one but five1 you can reconsider that and then um no we I think if we just find out what her vote was record add her vote if you why don't just get her vote for the record and then we're covered unless you don't what items what items were it was only the BTR for G5 mhm um approving their 4 to6 um am license that's a no vote for me that's a no vote for you okay all right so you got got vote was then five uh to two to two to two okay okay all right so now we are go back to the regular we're back to consent agenda and U Mr Mayor um just real quick C can we not have these types of items with the $2,500 request are we able to just like I I I was I was questioning why it was even on here but I wasn't going to bring it up right now I just didn't think that mayor the city has a resolution if a um request for donation is made that does not come directly from a commissioner then over $100 has to come to the commission for a vote but how about just telling them no that it's not policy from the manager's office to do it call your friendly Commissioners and see if they'll help you that has a process in which they followed and and and the reason I bring that up Mr manager is you guys are following procedure so it's nothing against you guys I just think that we keep going back to the same conversation about having a pot where these organizations could come once a year and we make the decision and we call it a day if they miss that then well I I I think also the thing is is that you're going to be if you make this a a practice there'll be multiple organizations that are going to be coming asking for everything and if we keep having discussion items for everybody that comes and ask I haven't seen thaten before but if we keep having you know unless the commissioner sponsors legis whatever but vice vice mayor are you requesting for staff to take a look at that resolution and to bring back a yeah because I thought we've had that conversation perhaps not under your Administration but it keeps coming back over and over you know typically when you have like cdbg processes and things like that it's at a particular time of the year usually uh before the budget is approved everyone comes they make their requests and then we approve those requests and it's done so if they need anything outside of that window then they have to directly approach a commissioner you know what I mean but aside from that you don't have to deal with that burden of you know bring you're having to do this an updated recommended yeah so I mean if if my colleagues would um would agree on that so they can have a process prior to the um you know maybe prior to the bud budget um being concluded that would be good whatever that policy review is I think we should do the policy review right so that we know because I don't think it makes sense and I think it should be done at a workshop I don't think we should keep taking all this time we're not doing it here no we're not we're just asking we're moving on to the consent agenda right now so we need we need a motion and a second so moved second consent I'm sorry um and just for a clarification I had heard um that item 9.5 and 9.6 second and 9.6 I'm sorry um um be taken out from consent no 9.5 is resolution 202486591 is being removed motion got the motion second yeah we're pulling it for discussion right okay yeah or for legislation legislation y all right so Mr attorney we need you to read the titles read the titles please for the consent agenda yes um all starting at except for 95 and 96 which are being pulled great uh thank you n 9.1 commission conference minutes of July 16 2024 um 9.2 commission meeting minutes of July 16 2024 9.3 budget Workshop minutes of July 30th 2024 9.4 budget Workshop minutes of August 14 2024 and then 9.7 resolution number r224 d88 approved change order with pantropic power Inc um a resolution of the mayor and City Commission of the city of North Miami Beach Florida approving and authorizing a change order to the contract with pantropic power Inc for generator repairs and maintenance increasing the contract amount by $80,000 authorizing the city manager designated do all things necessary to effectuate this resolution providing for conflicts providing for scri their errors providing for severability and subject to the budget propriation availability of funds and providing for an effective date is he just to read the title only or the whole thing for the consent the whole thing title only on consent right I think it's the whole thing like we okay Madam Clerk and I had a discussion about that before and she said that the custom here is to read the whole thing the whole thing okay all right I guess one more 9.8 resolution number r224 d89 approve award RFQ 24024 SG lobbying Services a resolution of the mayor and City Commission of the city of North Miami Beach Florida approving and authorizing the award of of requests for qualifications number RF q-24 4-24 SG lobbying Services authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with the lobbyist firms authorizing the city manager designated to do all things necessary to effectuate this res resolution providing for conflicts providing for scrier errors providing for severability and subject to the budget appropriation and availability of funds and providing for an effective date okay um one there's one more 99 right resolution number r202 24-9 approve Florida Department of Transportation Turf and landscape maintenance agreement a resolution of the mayor and City commission for of the city of North Miami Beach Florida approving and authorizing the city manager or design to execute a Turf and landscape maintenance agreement between the city of North Miami Beach and the Florida Department of Transportation providing the terms and conditions for landscape maintenance and reimbursement of such maintenance services from the FD to the city providing for conflicts providing for scrier errors providing for separability and providing for an effective date yep and uh request a motion and a second to approve oh okay no I need a motion in second to approve the consent okay second all right um all in favor say I I um any opposed passes unanimously okay on to quaza judicial um we need a motion second to introduce 10.1 no wait didn't move the the two that you moved out okay deal no we moved the the communications to the first yes did we move it to before qua judicial it's going to be heard after qu oh after qua okay so all right okay you motion I second the introdu int yeah we're introducing 10 um 10.1 we got the motion we need a second turn off thank you okay and um all right Mr attorney read the title please on 10.1 this is resolution number R22 202478 Elevate 163 NMB mixed use development a resolution of the mayor and City Commission of the city of North Miami Beach Florida approving or denying a variance from section 24-58 subsection K subsection 2 b period Roman numeral 1 to allow decorative screening of the south facing Frontage um parenthesis Northeast 163rd Street of the parking garage in L of the required habitable liner building approving or denying a variance from section 24-58 table mu-2 to allow for a lot width of 260 uh 6 6 ft where the maximum lot width allowed is 250 ft approving or denying a variance from section 24-58 table mu8 uh to wave the 15t tower setback from the podium to permit a Zer foot setback for portions of the south and east sides where buildings should have a minimum setback of 15 ft approving or denying a variance from section 24-58 table mu1 to allow for a Front Street setback variance of 5 F feet where a setback of 10 ft is required along Northeast 163rd Street approving or denying a variance from section 24-58 subsection J subsection 9 to allow for an alley width of 20 ft where a minimum of 30 ft is required approving or denying sarian from section 24-58 table mu3 to allow for a street for a freestanding colonade that encroaches into to the Southeastern right of way at the ground floor of the property where a minimum 5ft sidewalk along the street Edge is required approving or denying a variance from section 24-58 subsection s subsection 1 G Roman numeral 1.4 to allow a clear glazed area of 44% where 70% is the required minimum approving or denying a variance from section 2458 uh subsection J table mu3 to allow for a second landscape strip AB budding the property line where one landscape strip is permitted and improving or denying the side plan application with conditions for the construction of a 26 story mixed use development with three 51 residential units with an eight level parking Podium with mezzanine levels and liner units with amenity Deck with 3,043 square ft of ground floor commercial space on a three paral site currently occupied by three one-story commercial structures located at 1973 1981 and 1991 Northeast 163rd Street providing for findings of fact confirming expiration and limitation of approval providing for conflicts and providing for an effective date no wonder he passed it on to me ex I I see that um okay before we start Ming just one quick point of order I wanted to ask the clerk and attorney on the the two items we pulled from the consent agenda 95 and 96 those were are we going to be doing anything with those at this meeting or they are pulled for this meeting I was going to ask you the same question I I didn't know why they were pulled at the request to legislation complely right correct correct so that's my point um if we're going to hear I just need to know if we're going to forget about those or if we need to bring those back later we're we're not stopping this quasi right now we're GNA this is going to keep going for sure promise okay but mayor mayor those items those items get moved to legislation section of the agenda okay so these will be moved to legislation okay so do we need to do any well we already voted so okay got it you're on good evening mayor uh commissioner thank you for having maying I'm sorry oh yeah I was about to say and SAR them in okay Jing's disclosure please yep yep hang on we got a few things to do all right all right we need the jenning's disclosure please okay per resolution r95 d24 the subject matter of any export Communications together with the identity of the person group or entity making the communication shall be disclosed made part of the record on file with the city prior to final action on the matter so that will be identity of the person subject of the conversation and we'll start with commissioner shernoff good evening I spoke with the attorney I spoke with Mitch edles and I spoke with the owner and I can make a decision based on what I hear tonight commissioner Joseph thank you madam clerk I spoke with the attorney as well as the developer on a call and it's lobbyists um and staff and I can I I can base uh my decision on this item based on a information presented to me this evening to the best of my knowledge thank you thank you commissioner Smith um I spoke with Matt I spoke with the attorney I spoke with M edstein and I think I spoke with Mr N I don't think I spoke with the manager and are you able to make your decision on the item B oh for sure okay commissioner smokler so a question for our attorney should I be saying I spoke to VI attorney or should I be saying I spoke to the attorney followed by their name how about the name is better it's more no I'm asking the attorney that question well you know well I was going to pipe in that you don't need to mention when you spoke to if you mean by the attorney the City attorney if you mean no like if do I can I just I think I think the mayor was suggesting that you ought to specify the individual yes that would be helpful and I didn't even go to law school okay but but I asked him cuz he's a lawyer and you're not you're not as confused as lawyers are you're starting from scratch so I spoke to Matt amster Mitch edstein rafhael who's Peko what he said and um our our city manager and we all know who that is and I believe that's it and I can make a decision based on the evidence I hear tonight okay perfect vice mayor floron oh maybe I spoke to the architect right I did okay I don't remember your name though oh Chris okay all right um I I believe we did a a Jennings the last time prior to the issue right it's a continuation right did we not well we we that's when we had the uh the drill but we did a JS prior to that yeah but you could have spoken to more people no I'm just saying okay so so in that case um I would like to uh you know use that same Jennings and I believe in addition to that I've spoken to um Mitch Edelstein and um staff about this item and I can make my decision based on the information before me tonight thank you mayor Piper um I I spoke with um attorney amster Mitch Edelstein developer and the architect and I can make my decision based on the information I hear tonight thank you madam clerk yes I believe after that meeting I did speak to the developer so I want to add that as well noted okay all right um we need to swear in the speakers if you plan on providing testimony for this item please stand and raise your right hand can't see do you solemnly swear that the testimony you're about to priv shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God and your answer is yes I'm going to ask for a favor when you do come up and speak because I can't see everyone just reiterate that you were sorning thank you okay Mr ining thank you mayor thank you madam Clerk that respect uh respectfully request just to make sure the record is complete to note that this is a continuation therefore the general disclosure from a prior meeting uh as well the representation be that were previously made by the uh applicant are therefore uh continuation uh entered into the record accordingly uh the Commissioners have noted that they will make their uh judgment based on the testimony uh this evening we also know that uh uh that appli to the previous Jing disclosure on any representations made on the last meeting as a matter of the record uh with permission from the mayor and the Commissioners uh staff will respectfully request that the applicant provide the initial uh presentation and staff will follow up with our presentation okay thank you good evening uh we have a presentation if you'll call that up great thank you U Matt amster with the law from of bural Rell Fernandez Larin and tapenz offices at 200 South biscan Boulevard in Miami here today representing Elevate 163 North Miami Beach LLC which is the uh applicant and also the owner of the properties uh with me and all of them had stood up to be sworn in um our team includes the owner and developer Raphael Peko uh here in the front row next to him is Paul L Martin Jean um sorry Jean Lil Martin Paul he's a a construction manager on one of Raphael's projects already and will be the project manager for this Elevate project uh we have our Architects also in the front row for heed chakon and christoo Aras uh and we have other members of our team from our our civil and Engineers uh Traffic Engineers are here uh landscape as well uh and from my firm uh partner Jeff burkow and uh our colleague Michael yanis uh a quick word about rapael who I think many of you you have now met and spoke with um he is uh going on 40 years as a season developer both uh in South America and here uh with many projects in the nearby area uh which I'll get to in a minute uh again he has already worked with and has chosen um uh Mr Paul to be his construction manager um he actually has uh uh grew up nearby has family members in this City and is very familiar with the area and will be a definite asset to this project in the city of North Miami Beach uh these are these other nearby projects that uh um Raphael has already completed uh on the left in pompo Beach the next one is kisc the center one is uh up in daa beach that is uh what has just uh BR punch been completed uh of which um Mr Paul is working on and uh we'll carry forward that success here to North Miami Beach the next one is in the city of Miami Beach which is uh soon to be developed and the one on the far right is our Elevate project that we have before you tonight just to make sure we're all aware of the property's location it's the area in red on this image um it's at the southeast corner of 163rd Street and 20th Avenue uh it's as you can tell it's not the whole block um it's a a single one-story building uh at the corner and then the cow bakery Cuban American original the cow bakery that many of you may know um is uh on the western side and uh about the bakery um Raphael has spent a great deal of effort to work with the current operators to uh earmark and build to suit their to meet their needs in the new building so that this uh great community service can um be maintained for years to come and we do know that the owner is aware that there will be a a time period of construction and they are looking for temporary location uh during that in order to then move in to their uh new operation at the new building uh also uh wanted to point out that the area in the green uh to the north of us which is uh towards the top of the image um is the sort of the backyard area of the fulford United Methodist Church uh they uh essentially own the whole area there um and along with them and the other users to us on the west we are keeping the alley as is we're not here to take over the alley because it serves other users on the Block and we want to keep that use to be available and active to all um we uh specifically met with Pastor Ginger medley and other members of the church board uh quite a while ago and uh explained the entire project uh including the images and the plan and our time frame I think we had a very robust and good discussion with them uh they while asked questions did not have anything negative to say I have recently reached out a number of times uh to Pastor medley uh since our hearing tonight was was forthcoming uh I did get a message from her the other day and we did try to have just a follow-up call but I gave her the update that we were going to the hearing tonight and um just as we did with many of you Raphael the developer was on our initial call with her so I made the introduction and we will keep the communication open and I will follow up with her right after uh depending on how this turns out either way so that she again is continually updated um but again we had a a good quality meeting with them uh these next images just real quick we are in the full for Town Center mixed use District uh this is basically the area that a number of years ago the city earmarked for higher in density and intensity uh this is essentially us following the city's Vision to bring a mixed use project uh to where it has been intended uh this images here with our property shown in red are the whole district and are basically showing you we're right in the center of the district uh and 163rd Street is a Transportation Corridor again the right place for development of this uh to be located and following what is uh been laid out by the city so here you have our project it is a very beautifully designed building uh The Architects have done a really nice job in fact all the framing that you see which has uh meant to reduce the scale in massing is is effectively a great Urban Design um lots of different materials and the framing uh again breaks up the building um honestly one of the better looking projects in my own opinion right essentially it is essentially a work of art um and we have 351 units uh the cow Bakery will be at the ground level uh which is the uh the left side of this image on the ground floor there obviously be a Lobby and for the residents there'll be a little EXE itive Center um and of course the building has its own you know back of house issues including internal parking for the commercial use as well as parking in a Podium that uh for the residents and you can see that that's all um extensively lined by actual units with some screening for the parking and uh we have uh plenty of parking we have 490 spaces uh well higher than the minimum required and also our building uh while 26 stories is not meeting anywhere near the maximum allowed we could have 35 ft but we're only at 276 so it appears um just so you know this is the prior version of our presentation I did have additional images in here um and so I will keep speaking but I want to see if the uh IT staff can bring forward our more recent application uh sorry presentation that we shared a few weeks ago um the project itself does have great benefits uh again there'll be over $2 million that will be uh received for building permits uh and impact fees to the city as well as over two million that goes to the county for roads and schools um during construction this is intended to is anticipated to bring in plenty of jobs uh over 1,800 jobs for construction um as well as some other indirect jobs uh the residents of this building will be uh anticipated to spend $8.3 million annually once it's uh established and very importantly all the way at the bottom right um that there will be a great increase in the property taxes collected for this development 112 times more than what is presently um being collected and that again will have a great benefit to the city for use as general funds okay thank you what hello thank you very much sorry for the delay all right so here again sort of looking to the the Northwest you get a um again a great um this the significant and substantial uh great design architecture and what it does is it's framing uh the intersection itself of which actually at ground level there is a a great Urban Plaza uh but also the sidewalks themselves um are are very sorry are very uh pedestrian friendly uh wide thorough fars that um will be both safe and also landscaped and here's a view from now looking towards the east uh up on the uh in the Middle where you can see the blue is actually the amenity level for the residents that's uh uh also again landscaped H and uh one thing to take into account because this is one of the first buildings that will be going up as a mixed use building um recognizing the vision of the city for this area we have purposely brought the tower itself the the taller portion closer to 163rd and also closer to 20th Avenue in fact we have uh purposeful variances to bring that closer to those roadways because there's no adjacent neighbors um the roadways are quite wide and uh spread out the the adjacent uses and so what that does is a better uh um be compatible and sensitive to the church to the North and the other users that we have to the West until the area is then further redeveloped uh taking a look at the ground level itself uh on the bottom right where you do see the blue it's a little water feature that's our outdoor Urban Plaza very purposeful to uh allow for the public uh to come and experience this on a pedestrian level um there is great circulation both from 163rd on the bottom uh goes straight through the building again as I said the alley will remain so we have circulation Through the Alley that can then get you to 20th Avenue um and on the left is the cow Bakery and on the top of it um is the um commercial parking spaces right close proximity the commercial use at a minimum only needs six parking spaces but we're going to provide more than double spaces for the commercial use uh so that will definitely help people to again um enjoy the cow Bakery uh and as with every one of these projects there is a great deal of technical review at the Trad level uh and also including a a full-on traffic study uh and I want to make it aware that you know this was fully vetted by uh both our traffic study and our Engineers um the city's Consultants uh have reviewed this uh in particular the spacing of that um entrance on 163rd it meets the the requirements it's actually more than the minimum required uh and through that robust review and approval by the city um we feel that this meets um and will have uh no adverse impact to the roadways and traffic circulation so there's a closer look at the that Urban Plaza at the corner and I want to point out that you can see this uh red sculpture uh it's on a bench this is purposeful um Raphael in other projects including here wants to add uh art in public and this is uh he's already worked with a uh this artist hor Blanco and uh this unlike perhaps some of the other ones that have come before you this is really uh very close to what will be intended uh and we thought it was a very personable type of sculpture it's a place to come and sit and congregate and uh it it will certainly attract attention draw people to the plaza to the bakery uh and certainly can be a place where people will you know it'll be of notoriety people will want to get seen here take their selfies uh with this great sculpture here's a another closeup image where you can see it again there by the water feature and in a nice seated area with some shade so it really on purpose uh with the architect's help has been an embracing of Urban Design to allow not just people to come and live at the building but for the public to come and enjoy this Plaza and to have a nice uh Avenue to get to the bakery the bakery itself will have a very nice covered outdoor seating area so in addition to the indoor it will have a great uh opportunity for people to enjoy the fairs and be outside then here's just a look at the amenity level and then above that uh here's a typical tower level and you can see on the right and on the bottom how the tower is brought closer to the intersection to be away from there's lots of spacing in the north as well as in the on the west on the left side in order to be sensitive to our neighbors uh I believe I already walked you through the economic benefits uh we have uh three additional voluntary conditions that we'd like to uh expressly have added to the final resolution in your approval uh obviously the art and public that we have in the Urban Plaza is the first one uh secondly we uh as other developers completely recognize we want to be a partner with the city and help with uh other City uh items such as the public library Youth Sports and in fact earlier this evening at one of your uh presentation meetings I know they they had a great recognition of the youth sports happening in the city and uh we're happy to um assist uh and so a donation that we're voluntary making could be used for helping out and continuing that program we're very happy to assist with that so we're uh profer $40,000 uh which will be broken up into two payments one soon after this approval and then the other like all other building permit fees at the time of issuance of the permit and then on the right the third one um which I think will basically go without saying uh as every project is going to look locally and to hire minorities um our construction manager Mr Paul um has familiarity with the area and we'll certainly be doing our best to hire both local and minorities for the construction and with that I our entire team is available to answer any questions we uh agree with all the staff conditions in the resolution we do ask that you add to those are three voluntary uh conditions um we feel that this is the right type of mixed use project in the place that the city has intended uh we're making extra effort to make sure that the cow Bakery uh will uh have a place and continue to serve the community and I'll turn it over to staff thank you thank you anything more from um you Mr ining thank thank you got to P up presentation good evening mayor commissioner uh before you evening Elevate uh 163 it's that currently at 1 1973 1981 and 1991 Northeast 163rd Street um dring folio 07226 01074 7221 601 0731 and 07 22161 0730 at the applicant uh indicated it is currently where you find the site of the C the Cal uh uh Bakery uh on 163 Street uh just a little bit south of here um the current zoning uh for the area at MC uh the F for mixu town center and those regulations are debated by which we did our uh review uh the request for V variances and a St plan approval for a residential Tower of eight uh of a late level parking Podium 351 residential units 343 ft of retail and 490 uh parking spaces staff know for the record that uh while not required the applicant had voluntarily uh provided for electric uh vehicle parking if the commissioner Mission uh recall several months ago uh you had passed legislation mandating that certain projects have electric vehicle uh uh charging stations in the future this project was grandfathered in but if it wasn't it would require 25 uh spaces to be um uh to be provided and uh the applicant is voluntarily providing 98 such bases um this project will have many deck lineer unit and a medine level as well uh the planning doning board heard this uh board heard this uh in April uh um and uh voted to recommend to the commission for approval uh by vote of 60 uh the subject that noted uh the mat site uh we note that the variant request are due to the shape of the site and our technical review and part of the site constraint also involved the need to preserve that Alleyway in the back which is where you see some of these uh request for variances come in the reason why we need to reserve that uh the um alloy in the back is because this is the major intersection and from a traffic flow standpoint yes the applicant could have designed this differently but by retaining that alloy in the back uh and providing those entrances the way they have been designed uh staff note that it actually to create better circulation flow ever get stuck behind someone trying to make a turn into garage we don't want that too close to the intersection right so that maximizes the distance already that available to pre to minimized uh such potential impact already within the design uh we know that that is a primary contributor to at least three of the requested variances this evening and those Varian themselves kind of snowball for the tower the effect on the tower resulting in other at least three variances so at least six of those result from um the need to create a better design for a circulation standpoint uh we know that this applicant is for the record that is looking for a lot dep waiver uh for 140 ft 200 ft that is you know part of the constraint that we noted here uh and a lot with variance uh uh uh to because it is a longer site so it's longer and more narrow um the parking there has been satisfied and the uh requirement for the site 375 spaces uh the applicant is providing 490 uh parking spaces here as with uh all of the site plan criteria we look through everything from the natural environment site all the way down to landscaping and lighting for part of the review we know that the uh while the applicant is looking at an alternative design for the Landscaping that had no objection to this because it still provide full walkability and the shade that would contemplated under the code and it which it is consistent with the intent of the code um uh that review The Shadow study and we noted uh you know as we know before there are certain waivers uh being requested that are provided for under the code that involve the parking lineer waiver that you see in other project uh the lot dep and here we go on to the waivers uh certain thing cannot be waved and we have indicated as such to the uh to the applicant hence there request for a certain uh a variant regarding the parking liner in order to create a uh um a little bit more the parking and a and a circulation pattern that makes sense and so forth uh that River the lot with variant the tower set back variant you previously mentioned is resulting from that lot size uh the front set back variant also a result of having to Denine that in a in a abnormally uh uh a normal lot really um of course and the Allway with a variant is there so that we can ensure stfe traffic uh uh patterns in the back of the uh uh um of the building uh perally for turn radius purposes uh the colonate a variant provide for that outdoor seating that the applicant had indicated it is a unique and different design uh aspect that um but in order to create that sort of different design they must add uh a variant for that from the commission um uh you know the them variant at glading uh in order to uh provide for different glading uh staff had no objection to that review um and of course there's the the last variant is the secondary Street variant um that to provide for a non-u variant for the street section again uh you know we looked at it and it is still the design of providing is still consistent with the 10 of the of the code the tpine condition uh we not to the noted the applicant that they need to do certain things like provide for the caler of the trees and also uh address any uh any of access management comment if they arve in the permitting phase with sdot and so forth uh these are pretty standard for a project of this type along 163 uh they're also um going to uh um in their final PL provide for a St triangle and um note that um the loading Z because of where they're situated need to be uh restricted to uh non peak hours um just because of the situation where they they are um on the primary Pathway to the entrances in the rear of the building as you recall from your review packet there are two such entrances uh and so forth um they will come contribute to Signal timing Improvement because they are a major intersection and that is the requirement what we found from the traffic study and uh they will be providing other uh uh aspect of benefit to the city as well including Improvement to The Pedestrian Crossing that we are uh asking as part of the uh mandated aspect from their uh traffic study um that include other uh tra travel demand or traffic uh demand management uh items with that uh staff effectively uh can answer any questions uh the commission may have um before you this evening you may Mo to move for approval St plan uh and Associated variances or move for from t n okay thank you um Madam clerk public comment good evening uh the floor is open now for public hearing please speak only on the item that is presented before the mayor and Commissioners do we have any speakers good evening everyone my name is mbarak aan at the beginning of your speech speeches you said that um whatever is presented here that is what you would base your decision on I see many of you keep getting up walking away it seems as though you're already locked in to what you're going to vote and that is however um you know like when you open a park you have your plaque the mayor Commissioners or mayor council members back in those days the city manager whatever whatever I think every building that is in this city should have that as well so when the S hits the fan we know who is responsible here the gentleman is saying he's well within the parking limits 490 parking 351 units residential units four this parking Workshop was done April the 12th 2023 the city manager was hired in that same month he was sworn in June uh the 12th I think of that same year 2023 more than a year ago not not nothing was brought about about this parking you have inadequate parking and the crown the fun they're now building right up to the edge of where they're supposed to be building all those fancy buildings they show that what they did let's see the setback I go into Broward and those places they have nice setbacks you can see you can admire the building there there to actually be a at that building and admire the beauty it would break your neck you would have to lie down on the ground to look up and see that that building I mean these guys know who they're playing with so they come to you you vote for you're going to vote Yes it's going to be 70 no no doubt about it but but take the responsibility put your names on a plaque put it on that building um and and then you you have a a traffic light about a block away from that okay and then you have another one maybe two blocks away and when this when that traffic starts speeding down the road is to try to catch the green on the other end so nobody's going to be out there enjoying the little Boulevard or whatever they have and hanging around as the the gentleman suggested it's not because it's a disaster it's it it's a traffic and I know personally somebody who rode off that right there ran into one of the shops run into one of the shops because somebody braced them off the road so what you're doing as usual irresponsibility you don't care you talk to one or two people you think it's it's all well and Glory but these people I do not know who's lending them the money to build these things 351 um units for 490 parking in Miami in Miami that that investor they better know what they're doing and they better ask for more parking and and and whatnot thank you very much for having me thank you David zapen founder of 30k for back pay everything seems very sane and very sober of course so it isn't uh I'm just curious who's going to afford this or is it just going to be another stop off for people who are you know spending most of their time in adventure or just south of Adventure I I mean is this for you know is this for more Workforce people or for people who you know could afford to set up shop and Adventure but would rather you know enjoy the area on on our dime who's the customer or we the customer you know holding the bag if this turns out to be a a white elephant the the equivalent of you know these fabulous build buildings around the world the joke is Whoever has the tallest building gets the worst of the next building bust curse Again The Shard of London Empire State Building long ago I'm sure everything is done to code and that's great who are the customers is going to attract you know those of us in individual homes to live there the next Generation that will because their parents and Grand prin never had a a GI bill to help them of course good like setting up the deposit you know I I I hope it works I just don't see who the customers are I mean what is the median wage here in North M Beach to afford you know even a modest location like that never mind the behemoths up and down biscane you know you can say there's a minimum wage but how much work here is being done you know for tipped wages and other Sweat Equity that doesn't always show up on the top line never mind the bottom line so yes I and of course you know how much of this is going to be you know in effect subleased under the table because whatever beautiful plans now that we have a relatively good Market doesn't survive the next recession say in 3 or 4 years so I hope you're ready to deal with both the boom and the bust to grow the old TV show in RT America thank you any seconds thank you anybody else okay let the record reflect no one else came forward and public comment is closed and commissioner Smith thank you U Mr kassan I had already spoken and heard every word Mr Edelstein went over all the variances with me he was very thorough and I had the attorney just to make sure and then I went back to staff what I want to say though looking at the pictures I would different than hearing it on the phone and looking at the pictures what's this from the sidewalk Edge to the building for the the the decorative white fence that looks up there decorative piece how many feet are in between on the south side and on the east side so the south side is 163rd Street right the there's actually um more than the required amount of ride of way there and if you um as we've had in our documents part of the record but also um Mr ing mentioned that there's a variance for the streetcape on 163rd what is normally required is a uh a landscape strip next to the road or a uh trees and tree grates but how how wide is the land if I could I I'm definitely answering your question uh and then there's a sidewalk and we actually have I mean we can call it up so you can see but we have an additional six uh almost 7 feet of landscaping next to the building so instead of the two strip a landscape strip a sidewalk we have a third and which is taking into account um greater pedestrian friendly type of urban experience a third landscape strip that's adjacent to the building so all told that is uh 16.7 feet and on this on the east side on the east side um we have a 12 1/2 ft uh green strip which will have trees as well as a 5ft sidewalk so 172 is the amount of sidewalk space there's obviously a curb and gutter on on 20th Avenue there will be uh parallel parking spaces and then obviously the travel I'm looking more for the 12 feet you know I learned so much at icsc I'm trying to bring in um a zakes and I looked at some what they call Anchor stores to maybe not be anchor stores but to come and and and part of going to that convention and part of meeting so many people that are sitting there making deals in those two days to revitalize 163rd Street takes Vision takes years and my concern was the height of the building but as the attorney so astutely pointed out when you look at the buildings that have been approved on 20th Avenue and the buildings that's built aora this building is within the parameters of what we have already approved in height that was my concern which again when you are educated and you see why it would fit in it's a it's a step it's a beginning step to revitalizing 163rd Street and to Bringing just think when the mall has their footprint and when we see this building go up I think the value of the properties and even tearing down some of the old buildings and starting from scratch and rebuilding I think this is the beginning of it and um what they're asking for in their variances all the years I've sat up here none of them are so radically off none of them are even close to that so I I have had the pleasure of really studying it a few weeks ago when it was supposed to come before us and um unless you changed anything I'm I'm appreciative of you bringing it forward and I thank your gentleman that you hired for making sure that I understood it thank you very much commissioner John thank you so much Mr Mayor I wanted to ask ask Mr in this question you mentioned in your presentation the lining and an ask from the applicant um can you kind of go back to that hey yes ma'am um the applicant request is for the parking liner uh if to refresh the um the commissioner's memory uh um I know you have a lot to address um within our code uh we require that when we have a parking structure there's a habitable liner uh um of at least 20 feet surrounding it and usually that's um done so that um the nend of the code there is so that you don't have a parking garage that's simply just hey we got a car and those headlights are just shining out um so in the past the commission had addressed this in one or two ways uh if it had granted a variant for the liner it required that there are facade Improvement to just to mitigate the effect of having those headlights out there so you can't be seen or otherwise they do not um you know Grant the the waiver the variant and they ask that that be a habitable space what do we term habitable space we term it as a space either for a commercial business or a residential business um if the commission would like me to elaborate further I'm happy to do so okay and um another question within the um that's the first time that I heard Mr amster call it a work of art I think that's the first time you've called anything that's come before the before us in um that way what's the construction timeline for this particular project yes so Raphael it's based on his efforts nearby is uh sees that this has great potential to be built and is working very hard to do that and so we estimate it's roughly a a Year's worth of time to uh do the building permits get the permits issued and break ground and then the roughly two years construction time frame of which will be managed by Mr Paul okay a follow-up question to that is I'm always championing um job fairs and I know you mentioned you're going to have an you're going to make an effort to making sure that um residents and qualified professionals have the ability to take part and I'm always championing for job fairs to happen within the city so I'm hoping that you guys can definitely um stay true to that particular um request the other question is there open space on the is there I know you have the area where the statue is do you have more open space or green space on on the bottom floor that that corner Plaza is definitely open space H and the the outdoor space also for the bakery uh and then as I mentioned and as uh commissioner Smith was asking we have a much wider thoroughfare which has a green space right adjacent to the entire building on 163rd Street and uh at over 17 ft on 20th Avenue uh plenty of plenty of green since the majority that's 12 and a half feet Green Space so uh collectively we meet the minimum but I think with all of that we're well exceeding it can you speak to the whole market rate affordable housing Workforce housing where do you guys fall in that Spectrum yeah so based on the the numbers from this year for the housing numbers based on the median income uh all the one and two-bedroom units are falling Within just at market rate without any um subsidy in the workforce housing range so and that's a majority of the units in the building there's only a handful of uh three bedrooms so uh the market rate is now basically for this project and this location with a very seasoned developer who knows the area has done work nearby um is basically uh in that Workforce housing range and one of the things I I I I had a question for you about and you kind of explained it was the setback and all so you know this building coming in online like to commissioner Smith's point the the basket of Rights and what happens in that area is supposed to be set up for projects like yours right but what do you say to the resident that says this is going to Tower over that whole area like what Assurance do you have as it relates to the you know renovation of that area how does your building add to that particular footprint so basically the there has to be a first you know that's where this is happening I mean there are other approved buildings nearby and and hopefully there I know that uh a number of them are still valid and can be built uh but when a first one gets built this will encourage other development but at the same time the work of art was on purpose not just you know to stand alone it really is to help it be the as they first something that won't be an eyesore right that actually will be pleasant to look at we've kept the building height lower than we could uh and on purpose again because that is another way of being more compatible with what's there today and then you know allow for future growth in the future uh and then moving that Tower right pushing the tower towards the streets which means it's farther away from our neighbors again is a a great recognition and being sensitive uh through the design and this still creates a building that will be a first will be a catalyst for the future not just Redevelopment of 163rd but the the the entire District I'm happy that you guys did a charettes for the area and this last question is to Mr ing you know usually the onus is placed on the commission to approve these projects um we've heard from residents that say hey they should be parking spaces for the Commissioners what do you say to staff approval and how because you guys kind of take a neutral approach but from the standpoint of what the project is bringing forth what can staff recommend St can note to the commission whether or not the applicant is meeting certain criteria uh as seen in the presentation uh you know we know that the staff had the criteria for example with parking to know whether it uh it compliant or not uh in this case the having the minimum or the maximum that the commission prescribed that can only be RW upon that uh um um and we note that for the record again that the uh applicant had met the requirements that Forin the code so in your professional opinion would would it be something that you advise us to approve based on the recommendations and how does that work wanted to get some clarity on that too um commissioner if I may um this this is a question for policy which is U um for you all to we can only um recommend that the projects have follow proper procedure and and whether it meets a certain criteria or not after that it's up to the commission whether to determine if a project is good or not but it's fair to say that that staff has you know obviously vetted the project but for the sake of conversation also for the sake of us feeling that this is a project that is going to benefit the community so in professional opinion we're kind of depending on what you guys say in essence but no one wants to take that responsibility obviously it's not our place commissioner okay all right thank you thank you so much good evening um you mean you're going to leave the hardware store you're going to get rid of it thank you that little hardware store that used to be um there for when we grew up is now about this big and it is a massage po or whatever else is there now and thank you for taking that away number one number two is that it's a gorgeous project like you said um based on the other buildings that we saw um this one definitely has characteristics that make it if you like it I mean look really nice and thank you for that um the question that I have can I see the north side do you have a picture of the north side yes we do can you that was it that's it okay is there any way to get a little of that um squaring that you have in the front on the back or is that you know hard to do well there there is a lot of framing here already um the vertical uh lighter color uh um you know Florida the floor height basically lighter beige colors are additional framing as well as different materials to make it stand out and even up to the roof you can definitely see at the roof where you have that framing element is going above well if possible just the squares somewhere to to tie it to the front I'm sure that we can explore that yeah you know if it's not if it's a big deal then no but if it's simple um let the architect think about it and go from there I like the way you're handling the parking and making them go into the building to find the parking instead of staying on the street that's what other buildings that we have approved doesn't do they um you know they put it right on the street and then everybody's got to look and so on so it's a nice feature um that your building is doing I think your building you know unfortunately or fortunately we put regulations in many years ago and now people are building to them and we can't you know fault the applicant for doing that we had those asked for these buildings they're not they're not going to the height that we asked them to go to they're not you know putting the minimum parking spaces that we need um so thank you very much and I think this is going to be a great project and um when I did speak with the owner and the architect they assured me they're going to build it it's not just a a pipe dream that they are going to build it and I'm going to hold you to it I want to see it thank you okay thank you Mr florman thank you um great presentation um the the Aesthetics of the building is uh is very appealing um you know I just want to say that you know a lot of times we have the conversation about Workforce housing affordable housing median income you know when you're in North Miami Beach or when you're in Miami D County you add a couple millionaires to that number and all of a sudden that mediate income just shoots all the way up right and so it's kind of hard to keep up with that uh unless you're in the affordable housing business right um so you know you you do a couple of these things and you start to learn you know that what is market rate what is market rate right um and that number just keeps going up and up and up so you know I I I'm I'm not going to do the back and forth with you about that because I'm realizing that there's only so much you can speak to the issue of the uh of of the of the cost uh for for those who move into the building because even aside from the cost commissioner je there's the fee for the dog because the dog pays rent too right um you'd be surprised right some buildings are doing that you have you have the fee just to register the dog you have a fee to register the car you have the monthly for the additional parking space you have the lifestyle fee you have all of these fees that are adding up to sometimes hundreds of dollar5 six $700 on top of the rent um and this is Miami this is what Miami is now um so even if someone comes and tells me well these rents are going to be two bedrooms starting at $22,900 you're probably really looking at 3500 um you know based on just fees Alone um and and so um I I think honestly if we want to address the issue of affordability we as a municipality need to take a serious step in analyzing the properties that we have with within with that we own and looking at 3ps and things like that that we can do with developers to begin to address the affordable housing crisis that we have and we need to do it in a Smart Way um obviously um because Green Space is important all of those things are important but I'm just realizing burdening developers like yourself I'm sorry you're the attorney but burdening your burdening developers that are your clients that they're their particular um Niche is not affordable housing is is is a conversation that you know um I used to do but I'm learning that um you know that's not that that's not really conducive to what you're doing but what I will say is that you do have an opportunity to make sure that those in our community that are looking for work um that are struggling financially and that are looking for job opportunities that you hold to your commitments when it comes to that and we can't I don't know that we can even make that a requirement I wish we could but you know in in looking at these projects come forth I I I I'm looking at your team I understand that you have uh Mr uh uh lamartin as part of your group and his experience with working with um with with uh with uh different groups whether it's women minorities anyone who fits into the the the categories that we're referencing that are usually underserved and underemployed we need to address that that's your and I resp that's our responsibility that's our responsibility and and we're we're we're team members in this I I know you get your approval and then we we're on to the next but you know we're going to follow this to really see you know where the rubber meets the road with the promises that you make to our res residents that are listening to you because that to me is is what really matters I you know some of us may not be able to afford the building but if they can earn a living and and and maybe you know afford wherever they are now if you can help towards that that would be that would be great um aside from that I I appreciate the profit that you've made on the record and um you know we we definitely welcome that and I just really look forward to this getting done I think in the past six years we've seen soless go up now they're building their second so that's a developer that came in here they said what they were going to do and they're actually doing it Allan Mackin came in here his Aura is almost done so we we you know but that's batting what what are we batting 200 um you know when it comes to people actually putting the shovel in the ground and starting cuz we we're probably batting less than 200 cuz there's dozens around us that have been approved um that you know it's been years it's been years so I really hope um that this team really gets um you know gets going and we're going to do our part to move fast on whatever permitting and things that we need to do and if there's issues let us know because that's what we can take care of um and so that's a long way of saying I support this commissioner Joseph uh Mr R I have a question outside of this particular project but goes to the the spirit of the Commission in regards to how we move forward when it comes to parking in that sense I know we have a I don't I know we had a discussion about having a study and in that regard is that where in the process are we with that uh we've requested uh from Community Development standpoint for the uh commission availability so that we can discuss the further with you in our Workshop uh we respectfully uh would ask the clerk to follow up after this meeting as well for the commission availability uh um once we have the availability staff is very happy to discuss uh you know pros and cons and get se you know as we seek further Direction on how to proceed from our commission what you want to ask a question commissioner Smith I just want to know when we set up these workshops that people will come so that they're they're meaningful and we get something accomplished but if they gave us a date maybe we would come but we haven't gotten a date so how could we come well I I I know this is some like I said this is outside of this particular project because uh first and foremost I I support it I support the project it's just the the the the issues that have continued to bog us down especially from from the residential standpoint the residents that live here they say hey how's how are we going to alleviate the parking and we have to have some you know we came to a conclusion a long time ago that we were going to come up with a study have a very Nuance approach to it as opposed to just you know a one-off and I'm I'm I'm ready for that discussion um I just wanted to make that clear um I know it's going to it's going to impact impact our future develop moving forward so I understand it takes time um I just wanted to bring just find out where we are in that update and and and um see you know how um quickly that can actually happen that's part one um commissioner I do have a question on that okay no go ahead I'm sorry thank you I would like I would I have the microphone I would like to know what what projects are already in the works I I would like to know that so that we know no matter what the discussion is we couldn't touch them if we wanted to I'm sorry I'm sorry to interrupt the the problem that we've been talking about this forever yes and then all these projects come forward and we can't even tell those projects that that they're they're not grandfathered in so they're all going to be grandfathered in even though we've been talking about this for a year and a half now and it just keeps on happening and happening and happening all these projects are coming forward and by the time we do this there'll be 200 projects in the because everybody's going to get a heads up hey put your name p in right now because tomorrow it's going to it's going to pass I think that's a discussion for a workshop very soon so that they can finish their project and after he gets his whether the votes up or down we could discuss that okay because I I think we need to go back to the project what are we workshopping is there is there a consultant already done has the work already been done for are we going to decide what the new policy will be I thought for my understanding I thought there was going to be a pres presentation done by staff that says these are our options um this is what other cities have been doing and I thought we did that I didn't know what because we were expressed that we need to update our our our our current code in regards to parking that's that's something that we've we all agree there's a consensus in that so why do we need like what we need is staff to actually prepare the options for us and then us to make a decision not that we show up again and say hey we have a problem with parking so we need commissioner sorry if if I may um some time ago we presented um the the updated study and the commission wanted to do a workshop on it um because some of the numbers um it was expressed that some of the numbers in there wasn't enough and they wanted to have a further discussion uh since that commission meeting staff has been requesting for a workshop and we haven't gotten a date back we are ready and able whenever the commission wishes to meet but to your point Mr manager right if if certain members of our commission say it's not enough then it would be like some it would be like another option that you would present on top of the one that you currently have and then we would make a discussion or have a vote on it as opposed to coming back and and just having the same old discussion I mean I just want to have I just want to have the the buffet I don't need to go and tell you I'm looking to do X Y and Z that's it doesn't make any sense it's like we're going over and over and over again we just need to come to a decision a consensus majority rules or what have you but for us to keep going back I just want to know what the options are and if let's say commissioner smokler wants it to be higher or or or I want it to be higher depending on that situation the votes are there or there but there's a consensus that we need to update our our parking situation it's that's clear now how what level that falls under that's that's a discussion that be had not aness is to Workshop the same idea that we want to have a discussion on that's that's all I'm saying I think that I think the point is we we're looking for um staff to move it forward as soon as possible so we say this like every month yeah I I know but I'm trying to get I want I want them to come with a with a with the options and if we want to tweak those options at that during that discussion then we will but yeah what what what was the history on this that you brought that item forward we correct we we did we did the study we brought back recommendations there was a conversation about the some Commissioners felt that was too low or too high or whatnot and at the end of the discussion the commission wanted to this is taking too too long let's Workshop it since then we haven't been able to get to a date for a workshop Workshop go work to me when I hear Workshop it sometimes goes like ideas go to die to be quite Frank we're just following I understand I I understand it but this is something that because it impacts like pretty much what we're here for in a large degree um this is dealing with millions of dollars is with people's lives this is going to be impact our footprint for generations to a degree and I just want us to get to a point I want us to have the options that are available and for us to then come to a decision on those options not that we have to discuss pie and to Sky issues I just want to like your job is to create those options for us those opt commissioner Joseph do you think that if they brought the item back again the way they did it before no no no no no no not not again the way they did it before we we've had Commissioners Express that we wanted to be at a certain level right and they could have those discussions with those individual Commissioners and give it as an option then we could then as a commission decided just decide what the number decide what it is and just keep move on could we sort of like a military discussion just decide the number Mr may I mean Mr Mayor the project before us has given more than he was required he's standing here to just discuss his we need to we need to yeah we need to get him finished up but no no I I like I said I'm supportive of it I I just I'm just having a a discussion that it's like I said we have Resa them it doesn't entail them it doesn't entail them yes we can have a discussion after if you want to call the vote I'll call the vote no I never spoke well I never spoke oh I'm sorry commissioner sorry thank you sorry okay so um my questions are based on the comments that you guys made here tonight so um you are or you're not using cra it's we're not planning to use the CRA um Raphael is going to try to work to you know get all the lending and financing in line to do the project as you've seen it and build without okay because if we you SI or police doesn't get money um you also made a comment about um the 15 spaces for the commercial use so how are you going to control that that space is only going to be for commercial and not for the residents and I'll give you an example you go to lazul you can't even go to the Post Office anymore because it's completely taken up by their residents so what assurances do we have that that the residents are not going to take the commercial space to to whatever you have there whether the bakery comes back or not toway Zone well but are they going to be patrolling that are they going to be I I I cow Bakery is not going to want to have no parking for their patrons it's going to hurt their business we don't know if cow will come back whatever business is there how do we know so I I want to see what their I want to hear their answer oh you don't M no I don't want yours I want theirs the yeah listen Raphael spent a lot of time and The Architects are designing the space for cow Bakery to come back and be operating to it's not the point but in the future somebody else uses that space as a commercial space the the layout of the ground floor is actually very well suited for this that there is a uh an entrance for the residents to go to the upper floors and that's where they will park and this ground level has its own little access uh that and it's it can be properly signed that this is only for the cow bakery or the commercial use in the building uh so do to those separate entrances as well as residents will be told this is where you need to park and and because they're going to have uh reserved spaces up on the upper floors that's where they'll Park but no matter who was in there would still be it could be a clothing store you you if it's designated only a clothing store it doesn't matter if the residents Park do they have to catch them or it's up it's up to the merchant I mean the Merchant's going to be the one that's really going to be doing the enforcement yeah but a lot of merchants don't like to tow have cars tow because they're afraid of repercussions no they have to set the policies yeah but I'm telling you that tenants don't like to call the towing companies because they're afraid of repercussions I know this for a fact so the point is what are they going to do about it because if you go to lazul you can't go to the PO I mean if you if you want to go to the Post Office El Lazo you can't because it's all taken up by the resident so I just want to know the answer to it well but what's the resolve they have to have a guard standing I just but there is no resolve to that question what's the resolve that's what I'm trying to have it record I just want to hear what they have to say that's it yeah all right Matt it's what I said there'll be appropriate signage it has its own separate area for Ingress and egress for that commercial area and the residents will be hold it'll probably be explained in their lease and as well as when they you know meet people in person that you go and use this residential entrance and go to the upper floors and here's the parking available to you believe that all right the then the last thing I think it's the last thing that I want to ask and this isn't so much so to the to to this part it's to the manager um we've never done anything about the impact fees to the library for the library yes ma'am we do have that contract active um the first part of the study was looking at our water rates which is um something that we have to do uh for the water department um and I believe the various impact fees um have already started as well correct Ed yes the consultant is begin to work on them but it does take some time to complete the study uh um so we will provide periodic update through the manager's office uh to become available from our Consultants so how long is that going to take because we just lost an opportunity right now to to have impact fees to for the library the study is supposed to take at least another six months we would note that we also would need to run through the legalities of whether or not this would be uh you know grandfathered in there are other additional step that would need to be taken before you can actually have a fully fled impact fees subject to State rules under 163 3180 31801 and other uh uh uh applicable aspect of uh state law for impact fees okay because um you're offering 40,000 for the library and parks and Rex for the together is that what it was it's a voluntary Community benefit donation you we are we are hearing from asking question does it sound like I'm fory him no I asked him a question Kazan we have you know listened over the many months and years that we've been coming here what are the needs of the of the commission and the city uh and we've decided not to uh specifically earmark it uh it's up at your discretion to use the money but as we've seen before the public library uh always has a need Youth Sports and you can use it towards affordable housing initiatives to get to start to build a fund that helps in that regard uh and it's up to you to figure out the best use because we're just here to help out the city and we're not here to dictate what should specifically go to so to split $440,000 between several places several locations several parts of the city and I googled this word because I didn't want to use uh the word I really wanted to use so the word I'm going to use is crummy because I can't say the word that I really wanted to use um so $440,000 for for um every you know is is just crummy and lastly and I'm just going to give my opinion on this I think it's pretty crummy of um also the city to have even allowed in the first place that the entrance um be in 163rd Street it should have been in the alley way in the back like like they had originally done for where the um when they were going to build um at the hotel on here in 19th Avenue 163rd previously to that it was supposed to be an apartment building and a hotel or something like that and they did the the entrance and exit in the alleyway um I have a I think doing it on once 63rd is going to cause accidents even though I saw you know I saw what it's like and it's going to be I personally don't try to when I go to cow I try actually I go in on through the alleyway just to through the back way just to avoid not having my car hit or Reen rear ended or even coming going in and the other person going out I I I think it's wrong for the city to have accepted any project ever to um allow the entrance and the exit on 163rd they had an opportunity to do it on the Avenue they had an opportunity to do it in the back we should never have allowed it on 163rd and I don't blame the developers I I I actually blame the city for for accepting it Mr is there something you want to clarify or yeah to that uh we have a a record that reflected um if I could direct uh if the Commissioners have their pack packet if I could direct them to page a101 this is the circulation plan that's provided you'll see that the purple arrows provide for where the entrance and exit are that need to clarify for the record can you bring that up on that's on 163rd it's on 163rd there is a entrance on 163rd but there are two entrances on the alleyway behind uh okay well that's not what I was told when I spoke yesterday put on the screen when I spoke today yester when did I speak to probably is in our appre yesterday if you call up the presentation we might have it in the backup well I spoke to to Mitch and Rafel on Sunday and that's not what I was told it was only on 163rd this the project has not changed since even before the July meeting M so it's always had one entrance which you can see here this doesn't have the same arrows but I don't want to waste more time which it shouldn't even have it on 163d period so but that's not what I was told so there's an entrance at the bottom which is on 163rd there's two uh two-way uh going through the building all the way to the alley and then uh in fact what we were just talking about as you go in and go left but which is also two-way you can get out the left side uh both in and out to the alley so at the top on the left there's an in and out before the blue box there all the way at the left corner then in the middle of the building also on the Alley is a two-way both in and out and those are the two that Mr in was mentioning those are the two Ingress egress uh along the alley and we have a third entrance which because of the median on63rd is just right in and right out so that's limited again we are not closing the alley it's remaining so to your point there are people who already go around to use the alley that that will still be allowed and you'll have in fact the first entrance that you get to at the upper left if you're coming you know East on that alley is the entrance to get directly to that uh reserved parking for the commercial use that's the cow Bakery parking so to staff do you think that in the future maybe you don't allow it on 163rd the the traffic is you know people speed there and I just don't want to see any tie-ups when people are trying to get in or or leave um because now it's residential so it's more than a restaurant that will look into it further commissioner but we have to know for the record that based on how the code is written you have certain requirements for Ingress and egresses off a primary Road written into your code so as far as not having it you may actually need to change your code or Grant a variance to say you don't need this in order for the applicant to be compliant um that can definitely review this further but we need to be upfront with this like right off the bat that we're trying to we we are we are reviewing it based on the regulation of the code and that is that primary access is generally a part of the code in your mixed use districts all right well in the future I'm not going to approve any projects that are are are are hard Rises you know are residential sorry um that entrance or exit 163rd just letting you know now and I'm letting anybody that's that's intending Mr Joseph um sorry I I just had one quick Go Do It Go Do It um um to Mr I have a question um to all the project and I think another colleague brought this up do are you going to be able to give us that list of all the projects that are pending We Will We Will um provide you with the pipeline of project that have already submitted or undergoing the proess through the city manager Office uh um I expect to have that updated for this Friday and last question like um post pandemic there was a lot of um developments that had like an extra time because of you know the pandemic or whatever yes sir um one of is that list going to be inclusive of that too of some of those projects that there're like I know some I know we passed a lot of things that um during the pandemic that had that extra time and I don't know if there that time is going to expire anytime soon I just I would like to know when those bundles of Rights like if you can put on each project when those rights are going to expire we can uh provide that list it will be a separate list because we generally don't comingo a list of pending project versus approved project so your I want to know the improved projects that and their timeline of losing their rights yes because depending depending on what what we do on the parking what have you if they see something coming down the pike they could you know right we will provide an updated list uh to the commission through the city manager's office thank you right thank okay could I get back to what commissioner smuckler said we voted I voted no but there was a vote on a project that you turned right off of 163rd Street and then you turned right into the building that backed up 163rd Street that backed it up because when you turned right you went very few feet and then you turned into the building in this case when you go into any of the shopping centers when you go into anyone where your shoe store is you have to turn right off of 163rd Street that's how you get in there you can't get in any other way so please when you're reconsidering if anything else comes before us that you're going to vote no that's the way you do it now I just residential is 247 commercial is not um I just also want to say that what you explained to me and what I heard was what you reiterated here tonight because I want to make it clear that I listen to what you said tonight as well as what you um had said but I do have one question during the demolition how are you going to protect the traffic on 163rd how are you going to protect during the demolition the stores that are AB buding the property on the west side that and and the fact that you brought before us that you spoke to the church makes me very confident and comfortable that she knew this kind of project you are 100% correct you you build it and they'll come because right behind you is from 19th Avenue to 20th Avenue I believe a project coming before us I don't know how many stories that project's going to be but I guarantee you it won't be a not I don't know we haven't heard see anything about it well that's still in in in in the review process so as as happen commissioner uh there's you know it's subject to change yeah subject to change but um but I just feel like I I again I want to say one thing that I've said over and over again when people don't want these um buildings that are much higher in and than they have seen prior to in our city they're going to always be on a Main Road West 6ie Highway bisc Boulevard 163rd Street but you have to understand the cost of the ground the cost of the block the cost of the workers the cost cost of the advertising everything that goes into it they can't do it in a four-story building so then you won't have any construction and then how do you pay for the cost of chlorine going up the cost of the insurance going up the cost Etc it's the same speech I've given over and over we have to have development but um I would really like to make sure that the demolition doesn't disturb the businesses around it no absolutely it won't and these are just one-story buildings the demolition will be very quick a few days okay so they'll put up appropriate screening you know and and be watering as required you know the the building department and just you know the appropriate um best business practices of a construction site and demolition are well enforced these are seasoned you know developers are going to do it the right way and make sure that the neighbors are protected and I too am very please that you're going to consider our locals that definitely need I get phone calls daily about people that need work I do commissioner John real quick and to commissioner Smuggler's point when do you guys bring a project before us and the city staff doesn't say oh what wait this might be a backup because the traffic study shows that there isn't going to be a conflict but then it's it's the staff's responsibility to say hey let's make this suggestion so that potentially we can overt we can not have those backups in that conversation so the owners is also on staff to have foresight when these projects come before us to see that this because you guys are looking for the best interest of the city the developers coming to build to enhance the city but you guys should be looking at those elements to see how can they make those concessions so that we don't have those backups yeah and commission brings up a a good point uh it's why earlier in my presentation I noted that they could have decided to uh provide an entrance onto the Avenue uh uh that runs north south instead of 163rd if the commission remembered I uh specifically made a point regarding uh the fact that situating such an entrance there while it could have been designed that way would have resulted in other issues and that actually creates a poor design so these are items that uh the commission's right and saying that staff does review because in saying this uh you know working with the applicant behind the scene um we have it has resulted in different building design that tried to minimize some of these effects a little bit more while staying true to what the commission has prescribed within the code uh uh um there also why some these variances also occur because some of it is because we really push for a little better design but that means that the Commissioners need to determine for staff whether or not those variances are appropriate after you know they've been brought forward um oh well okay I'm going to say something first but youread all right well um Mr amster thank you so much for your uh demeanor your team's demeanor everyone has been pretty calm and um and and uh you know forthcoming with information and very Cooperative I think the term now is very demure right so thank you so much for that um and I'm going to call the question that's that was actually my intention to call the question so that we can vote on this item all right well anyway so um he didn't speak yeah I'll just uh say one or two things if I'm a laugh oh so do I have to pull my do I have to pull my question back well you didn't say it yet did you you threatened to call it but you didn't call it I didn't do all righty okay all right all right anyway um no I I think that these kind of projects and these kind of developments is exactly what we need this is what was envisioned by The Visionaries at the time um our code was set up to make it happen that way and now we're just bringing to fruition what we're supposed to do we need to change the face of the city we need to change the look of driving down 163rd Street um and other areas as well if we don't do this this is the only way we're going to be able to do it or at least one of the few ways we can do it so to me this is a project that's in the right direction of what we need to do um you know in the city it's done responsibly and it's been flushed out really uh really well so um with that being said who's calling the question I will I'll call the question I I'll second calling the question okay all right um so we're going to need a roll call commissioner shernoff yes commissioner Jean yes commissioner Joseph commissioner Smith yes commissioner smuckler yes vice mayor floron 100% yes mayor Piper yes yes passes 70 thank you all very much congratulations guys good luck guys now build it where you going are we talking about the parking now yes wait wait okay are we going to move on to the next item he wanted to I told him wait till after we okay but before you before you go there I'd like to make a comment the the manager made a comment that staff does not give a recommendation unless we tell them to when I was on the council before the staff always gave a recommendation of what they thought of the project and based on our codes and everything so I would like to see that again if my colleagues agree with me Commissioners um at at your request the terms of good project bad project um seem to be um with regards to subjective to the person staff is only giving a recommendation as to the project meeting our code and the requirements and that is all that staff will do whether a project is good good or bad for the community is a policy discussion that the commission makes not staff right but then the staff could say based on all the recommendations they agree that it's in compliance and the staff recommends that's what we do sir no you say either or we we say whether the project is in compliance or if it need variances and we state that for the record but then you but then you say two things you say Pro this negative this give me one give me one pro or con you want it or you don't want it I he's the he's the in my shoes he's the professional that knows about building that knows about zoning that should give me his opinion the staff report will list everything of the project that meets or does not meet the code and if it needs a variance and that is reported to the commission staff will not tell you whether the project project is a good project because it looks nice because they think we're too high or too low or anything like that that is a policy discussion that is had by the commission not by staff it's a policy dis discussion but just like with the traffic entry he mentioned oh if you heard the presentation you heard that I said that they could have done X Y and Z it's too late now for us to make any counters to that because the development has already been brought forth for us but this is something that they should have fought against or said hey what what can be done or based on the holistic approach of what's best for the city so I think that's saying what it's a good or bad is not is objective to the fact that you see what I'm trying to say and I age yes commissioner to your point staff works with all the developers to ensure and improve upon um their um their application um oftentimes there are suggestions that staff makes that uh requires the applicant to completely change their design um so that it conforms to the city code um of what can work and what would work better in the area what happens when the developer doesn't do what the staff ask them to do then we don't hear that we don't hear that that he made the recommendation to do something else and they didn't take it Ed can you clarify because from my understanding that's part of what the staff recommendation report is within the packet yes if there's something that that feels very very strongly that is something that we have compelling reason where we have made a recommendation to the applicant but they have not complied to the code for example that would be in the uh report um during the planning doning uh a board meeting staff presentations of very similar to yours have uh at times um indicated well have we thought about this right uh um and that has come up up uh and planning and doning board as well um so it's um staff is put in a very precarious situation when it comes to these items when we have to opine because it it while we can provide you with a basis for our professional judgment our primary duty to you is to present the fact and let you adjudicate on the basis of the fact um for the public record purposes um this is the way that uh we proceeded so far because of potential litigation um and that's one Prim things that we had discussed with the uh the prior to the attorney uh uh uh as well but we used to get minutes from the remember when we used to get minutes from the Planning and Zoning meetings now we don't get where they spelled out what was questions were asked what the answers were we don't get that anymore we will uh we can provide that um as well at the video to to the uh uh um meeting as well um I mean we have two full books on this and those minutes would be about four pages or three pages and the questions I called one of the people from Planning and Zoning about another matter today because I need clarification but to to commissioners um point I too in my chair would like the management to give the Management's opinion because the thing is is that that that means a lot when you're sitting there and you're you're questioning yourself and then and then you hear that based on you getting the information you know you weigh the negative with the positive and here's what your answer is that information is provided in the staff report I mean would it be fair to say that um if you didn't if you believe there was an issue you would not be bringing it Forward meaning I mean you know would you be bringing it forward and saying well there's issues here as as stated if there was an issue with the item it would be not only verbally stated but also in the staff report right mayor Mr Mayor I mean um so we can close this conversation out because I see we have another item yeah quas judicial um you know there's a TR process so that TR process is a lot of comments a lot of things that need to be fixed before they even bring it to pnz um so if they're comfortable bringing it before pnz it's because people have dotted their eyes and crossed their teeth for the for the most part there may be some concerns but legally it's sufficient to bring before the board I understand the whole thing about the recommendation I think that's something we can revisit but with the time that we have with all the items that we have to to talk about I think we should just move I have no I have no issues going to the next item but after that can we bring have a quick discussion regarding the parking just okay having Direction moving forward that's all thank you we'll do that but we like for no more than five minutes but okay but let's uh let's move forward resoltion 224-9159 read it a resolution of the mayor and City Commission of the city of North Miami Beach Florida approving or denying the site plan application with conditions for the expansion of the original footprint of the restaurant located at 105 Northeast 167 Street providing for findings of fact confirming expiration limitation of approval providing for conflicts and providing for an effective date the Jennings disclosure yep all right Mr Madam clerk Jennings per resolution r95 d24 the subject matter of any ex party Communications together with the identity of the person group or entity making the communication shall be disclosed and made part of the record on file with the city prior to final action on the matter commissioner shernoff I don't believe I spoke with anybody about this and I can make my decision based on what I hear tonight commissioner Joseph I I don't think I've spoke to anybody about this to the best of my knowledge and I can make a decision based on evidence presented to me this evening commissioner Smith I didn't speak to anybody I spoke to no one I can make my decision based on what I hear tonight commissioner smuckler I don't speak I don't recall speaking to anyone about it and I mean maybe I spoke to the manager about it but I'm not sure that I did and I can make a decision based on the evidence I hear tonight vice mayor Flor M I spoke to the owner uh right uh before the beginning of this meeting and I can make my decision based on the information that I um received tonight Mr Piper mayor Piper I uh I have spoken to nobody on this and I can make a decision based on what I hear tonight thank you mayor okay all right um and we just need to make sure any speakers are going to be be sworn in if they're not already sworn in that are going to be speaking on this if you plan on providing testimony please stand and raise your right hand okay do you Sly swear that the testimony you're about to provide shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth to help you God and your response is yes yes okay all right thank you Mr and thank you mayor Commissioners uh dally request that um Mr uh did I pronounce your last name right uh sorry my apologies um I'll provide for the initial uh presentation from the applicant and stff will follow after okay thank you good evening mayor vice mayor Commissioners city manager uh well uh I'm Fernando galesi I'm the owner of food group Investments LLC the company that owns lrha restaurant located in 105 noreast 167 Street ER and well finally I'm here presenting the lanha attach addition first I'm going to talk a little bit about myself well I'm in the restaurant business for more than 20 years I start working for the restaurant corporation and I work for different locations I start working as a BS boy then as a cashier after a while a cooker I know how to to prepare all the different platters for Lan I know how to perfect to cook the chicken and after that I became the manager for the restaurant in Weston then I became a manager for another restaurant and another restaurant from L granha and at the end I managed more than 10 restaurants and I became the operation manager for for the corporate office in 2011 I have the opportunity to open my own uh restaurant located in 163rd Street on 19 Avenue lanha here very close and we've been serving the community of nor nor Miami Beach for more than 13 years in that location and thanks for the good acceptance and the response from the people from the community of North Miami Beach we decide to open the second location in 105 noreast 167 Street this second location is the one that we want to beautify and also we want to increase the Dan the danan area adding 589 Square ft uh before l granha in that in that place were different types of restaurants first I then remember it was Baskin Robins then it was an and Snappers but all of them get out of business and that restaurant lanha when since we open we have 11 years in business okay uh where this this rest I have to this restaurant is located in the International Boulevard mub the building size is uh 1,216 Square ft and the lot area is 10 uh 10,666 Square fet uh the current use is a fast food restaurant and we're going to still with the same use a fast food restaurant well the the restaurant as I told you is located in the corner between uh First Avenue and 167 Street and the M the main thing we want to do we want to beautify the property uh you know this restaurant right now looks very old and we want to upgrade the look so we can H conform with the new restaurants with a new look with a new upgraded look of the restaurants around the area we are going to upgrade the facade we are going to to install new Owings we also going to start uh new windows we uh impact windows and doors and also we we're going to change the the roof we're going to to make a new completely roof design the main thing we want is that the the the families from North Miami Beach to come and enjoy good food and a reasonable price in a pleasant environment well as I tell you we we're adding 589 Square ft this is a minor alteration we're only adding this square feet to the dining area uh also as mui code we are adding uh we are expanding the sidewalk to 6 fet and also we are bringing the the facade the front of the building closer to to 167 Street that's where we going to to be built the the addition uh Al also we are adding H by racks so this can ER can attract more of the pedestrian traffic from the area you to aim here because that's the uh that the computer no oh it's good it's good point here that it's showing there okay but we want to make sure it's working oh it's working it's working yeah well the the landscape will remind because this is not a new development with only adding H 59 square ft to the dining area or all of is going to be to remain a SE and uh but we are going we also we're going to propose we're going to put Planters on the front of the building so we can uh attract some of the pedestrian traffic to the area uh well um also with all this Improvement that we're going to to make in the restaurant we also are going to bring more jobs opportunities for the community of North Miami Beach at and also we are going to for finish we're going to stripe and to Paving the the whole parking lot uh we already have uh all of the approval from M Miami D County and also we have Sun approval from the uh building department here in North Miami Beach well right now this is the restaurant you know it's a little it looks very old but is going this is going to look after we make all the changes huh what it's completely yeah it's completely different no that's yes that's in the BS yes yes new so so thank you that's well we are finished thank you very much okay okay thank you yeah we should get for for for us I like the moment of suspense with the orange slide before can we move to public comment can we move to public comment um I think that I think Mr in wanted to finish uh if the commission want to move the public comment and bypass I'm okay with that we want to buy do you need anything for the record to I do need to actually make M app point for the record the to protect the record yes let let him make a brief a brief presentation and what staff finds it to be in compliance so that we have substantial competent evidence that you can vote on Mr is he's he's interested in doing it up your mind I will keep this brief and to the point for the commission St cuz it's almost 11 you have three minutes all right let's see how I do that uh good evening Commissioners regarding the L Grand expansion it's located at 105 Northeast 167 Street the fio number is 07 2113 07151 what you have before you this evening is a property that is currently um 10,600 f feet or quarter Acres inside with a uh LR built on it that a little under 13 00 uh square fet and they are asking for uh an extansion of just under 600 uh Square fet to their operation but the area is uh in the mix and S Boulevard District um we there are certain changes that uh Fernando had already uh indicated these uh include the uh addition to the um in terms of the Landscaping um that actually done through discussion between him and uh uh even com addressing even comment from for example so that there are certain requirements that need to be met um you heard about the restriping and so forth these are all mandated within your code uh because he is adding a significant amount of uh square footage uh it is deemed a major expansion which is why it's there for you this evening um the parking uh and other aspect of uh lran Doom meet the requirement provided in your code um the uh there are a total provided 12 bases when you need four and a half uh including an ada8 compliance base we had gone forward and uh uh discussed at length with uh Fernando on the location of ADA spaces and the appropriate striping as well because given the configuration of the lot and the approvals required for Ingress and regress for access management from dot there are certain design changes that he had to make over several months uh while he went through the tra process as with all other St we have reviewed on the basis of our uh standard code uh uh um s plan review criteria ranging from natural environment under landscaping and lighting um we have specific uh condition uh uh um to this uh particularly regarding uh the roadway these are stipulation including those provided from fdot given how his is uh drive-thru uh will exit onto the adjoining roadway and are incorporated as part of the uh approvals uh this evening um there other aspect for before uh he had to find submit for a final Ty plan um the building permit including making sure the sheet have certain things like s uh triangle and so forth um you this evening at the option to move for approval uh or to move for denial and that is three minutes okay Mr just one quick thing before um so the applicant mentioned that he already had building department approval durm approval like no isn't isn't that supposed to happen like isn't this supposed to happen first and yes that supposed to happen like what happened did uh what happened with that uh they actually came to the city uh asking for a modification during existing site plan however because he was well about the drro for what the department can grant as a matter of administrative approval uh um we had no choice but to deem it a a major site plan approval and run him through the entire Planning and Zoning Board and uh and City commission process so um the when he applied for the building permit to increase the square footage it got held with planning zoning because we did not have the authority to approve based on what we so B basically the plans went through everywhere including durm yes and and then they C but then when it came to planning and zoning which I guess was towards the end then you said no go because yeah because we did not have the authority to approve can I yeah yes can I can explain that before H I asked for a courtis review in the city of nor Miami Beach so they revised the plan everything was good and and then I present the plans in the city of Miami Beach I take the plans to Dam also I Dam approved the plans I take back the plans to City Miami Beach they start approving the different department for the building and planning and so stop the process when we are in the process yeah that's what he told me yeah yeah she stop the process because you know some he was not completely so we start again with everything we pass the track and right now we are here okay makes sense I just knew something was wrong but I needed to ask that question okay great all right so um public comment Madam clerk to speak on this item please step forward okay let the record reflect that that someone's adjusting his camera or coming forward coming forward okay it's yours get even in once again mabarak aan um almost all of you I did not hear Miss Jaa if she did a Jennings order or whatever you call it I don't know if it that was a quite secret something it needs to everybody needs to know who spoke to who uh I think um five of you said that you did not speak to anyone and commissioner fman said he he did speak to the owner I mean important things like this you should be really be interested in to speak to the people beforehand as well you didn't I think it's a good project it it also has a drive-thru which accommodates me I don't have to get out my vehicle and um but what I want to you to know there's an award and I'm talking with parking an award I think it's the Emmy Award the daytime Opera but we should have one in the nighttime Opera because your performance is so believable that when you kind of like oh man what about this parking we need to get urgently to this parking and most of you were here when we had a workshop on April the 12th 20123 some of you care not to come but most went and then you could go in the video and you could look at it there there was parking there was no codification of the parking so to say oh um let's see how what is the list of the projects that we have to look at what list these projects most of them that the gentleman behind my back the lawyer is going to fail because you're depending on these projects to bring in more Revenue but when you see half empty buildings and three4 empty buildings because they have inadequate Park this is adequate parking with what what what a gentleman brought forward here tonight the laganga but the the project before you don't have it and then you like since 2015 when Highland Village Highland Apartments came it was the same scenarios like you reading from the script of how to like oh man um you know you repeat the same lines some of you are not here but if if you were interested in the city you should be looking at the tapes back then and and and and then check your performance again tonight I do not expect anything is going to happen with the parking um because it it looks like it's a done deal for many of these projects coming ahead I remember Mr amster he saiding oh and that was April the the 12th 2023 I have projects here that is like two years in in in the make and and you can't change his thing now he's got what like 40 Projects now in the making you going to expect I mean you guys win the the nighttime award for for for acting but you did not fool me in your acting get your act together I'm going to be voted November the 6th and I'm fifth yeah the six is too late yeah but but but I know maybe we shouldn't have corrected him I I know at least I know at least one of you not coming back at least one I'm I'm going to get rid at least one of you thank you very much for having me okay and by the way um commissioner John is allowed to do that form for the disclosure up front so let us let the public here don't hide it let her read out okay anybody else want to come forward and speak all right let the record reflect no one else came forward yep go congratulations it's a beautiful building you're improving it significantly we appreciate that um you gave us plans though that I can't read my parking uh wow that is not I think the copy that's I don't know you we gave a whole set of plans yeah everything else was beautiful yeah but the parking page has no detail or anything in it wow it's weird right so I mine he showed it up he showed it up there you want see yeah I saw it I saw it up there I saw it up there and I you're doing a great job with the parking it looks like you're giving more spaces than you had before we have and for those of you who don't know both of your restaurants are very successful thank you and that's a problem that we hope that all of our restaurants have and so we whatever we can do for you we're going to do it thank you thank you very much please use the word Joy instead of problem thank you you said father oh thank you Mr Mayor uh first of all I want to thank you so much um for for bringing this project before us um you you are the American dream thank you you are the American dream and when we hear your story and and I recall the one on 19th Avenue before you came um in 2011 there was a dut shop there there was a barbecue spot there right there were several different businesses that couldn't stay past even I think a year and then lanha came and all of a sudden the skies opened up and everybody started you know coming to your uh to your establishment and it's still there and then you opened up the second location and the drive-thru is always busy um you know I I'm a patron you know so I support your business not every day but you know from time to time thank you I support your business but um like I said you are the American dream I think these types of projects are projects that I take pleasure in supporting because you're giving jobs to people in our community I see your employees every day walking in our neighborhoods right okay whether they're on a scooter whether they're on a bicycle whether they're in a car they're in our neighborhoods they live in our neighborhoods and they are North Miami Beach residents right so thank you so much and I'm happy to support this item thank you very much for your words I want to say the before and after is our posture for what we want North miy Beach to be that's the goal is to upgrade and take our you know City that sat kind of dormant for so many years and became um more of a vision of old buildings and buildings in need of repair right that's why I'm so proud to be supportive of this I didn't need to meet with anybody before because what you're doing is not only an upgrade but it's what the goal I have for North Miami Beach and the fact that I hear the story and how you went to work it just is the icing on the cake it's a pleasure to support it thank you I just want to say that they used to say lanja and I taught them how to say lha yeah okay I never said lanja okay always lock else I said that um I wish him good luck he deserved okay that I didn't understand so wor okay um to commissioner um to both commissioner points and to um you are the you are the American dream I your story spoke to a lot of us that um and um it's beautiful story and I'm much success to you thank you thank you okay okay and and yes that's exactly what we need to do in our city um you know as well as what I spoke about before but this is the other way this is what we got to do we got to do the facelift and you're contributing to that so um so thank you thank youve to approve ordinance resolution second Okay resolution number R 2002 I need 24-9 1 okay um we need a roll call vote please commissioner Jean yes commissioner Joseph commissioner Smith with pleasure yes commissioner smuckler yes see thank you commissioner shov yes vice mayor flon um yes the best Lomo Salado in North Miami Beach that's not the fish um mayor Piper I think everyone's hungry now um yes the item passes 70 Mr Mayor if I may yes um before I take leave and um have my um esteemed co-counsel take over I wanted to put in the record um one clarification about the city of Miami having a whole bunch of establishments that are open uh 247 um I put the question to my partner lie manelo who is about was much of an expert on that as anyone can be and I said Is it true that in Miami there are some adult establishments that are licensed to operate 24 hours a day and sell liquor he said yes um in Special Districts of which there is one Park West and one establishment there which is um what we tried to do I I shouldn't say it on the record but uh anyhow he answered Club 11 said nobody want to go we put it it obviously depends on the on the Zoning for a particular District but it's not all over the city of Miami um and then one other thing if I may then we'll do the two that are both okay as just as a personal prerogative we we prayed for all kinds of things but we forgot to pray and Thanksgiving for uh Mr in who had a hard operation last week I believe didn't know that and and here he was until until the final item yeah until the final item on on the um quide judicial I thought there was oh no okay all right go ahead well we should we should definitely thank him for his commitment and showing up this you know so soon yeah so when did he have it a couple weeks ago he he just I think he just came back to work on Monday wow yeah let's let's keep personal information off the public record all right um in regards to we um parking I I think he's still waiting you're you're done now you're congratulations see that oh yeah yeah congratulations congratulations it passed 7 please come us for a third one we're looking forward for you to come for a third one um ma manager um to the parking issue so and I I I'll I will follow my other Commissioners or just have ask them on this one particular request is there a way I'm making a request that the that staff present us like different options for updating our parking and you know in in for you know within the next 30 to 60 days depending on when that next or made following commission meeting and then leading up to that speak to other Commissioners maybe they want to add an option to that to that um to that list or what have you that might they might feel comfortable with with or what have you but us having a vote on it like as soon as possible and I don't know if my other Commissioners want to speak to that uh request being made but that's a request I would like to or at least give some direction to our manager and really presenting that that th those options for us as opposed to us having a workshop he'll say these are options we can we can we can play with them at that point but we would have to make a decision moving forward because we I can't see us doing this over and over again no problem makes sense okay so are we saying one-on ones with each person it can be one-on ones but like for me I I I'll let for me I would rather wait for staff to give me the options and then if I and I can make a decision based on that um the sooner they can give us the options the that gives me enough time to make a decision if I want to do a one-on-one that's up to me but I I don't need that particular I got you that's what I'm saying but certain Commissioners might say no I want it to be a lot more nuan I want this this or what have you depending on what type of development it is so I would like to just add if I could Mr Mayor that we're given the list of what is in there that would be grandfathered in at the same time I want to know how many because it's it won't be substantial difference when we vote if there's 20 projects ahead of it that are grandfathered in so I mean we still would have to change it I I definitely agree that it has to be changed but I would like that that list okay all right so I think from our reswitched around um agenda here next is going to be um 15.3 which we're going to be putting um right after quasa um so we did we agree on 15.3 yeah we we moved it up um ah okay um I just want to bring if I may okay okay but I just want to bring attention to this item um uh uh resolution 202 2492 from Etna because yeah we do have you know it's one thing if we have our staff but it's another thing if we have other people in the audience so you want to have that have been waiting for quite some time you want to go on what item number is that it's uh item number um 11.3 113 okay so we want do 113 first then we'll come back to uh the 153 yeah yes we can do that thank you okay all right so we need a motion in second to resolution number R 2024 92 purchase of health insurance coverage the attorney read the attorney reads the title know he reads it resolution number r202 24- 92 purchase of health insurance coverage from Etna Inc a resolution of the mayor and City Commission of the city of North Miami Beach Florida approving the selection of Etna Inc as the provider for health insurance coverage and authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement for health insurance coverage okay mayor um thank you um Babette fredman our HR Director has been leading the charge with our um broker um and she'll be able to give a update and a very quick presentation as we only got less than 45 minutes got you good we still have a lot to do of course uh good evening everyone beet fredman HR Director um as the manager said I've worked with our broker uh corporate synergies uh to look over various options regarding our health insurance renewal including going um self-insured versus fully insured after sending out the proposals to the market uh we um we sent it out to Edna siga uh admid United Health um Florida leag of cities and Florida blue and based off of what we received back uh we received um two competitive bids one from Edna and one from Sigma um our current carrier Edna is uh 88.8% above our current which equals about $575,000 um it includes a $70,000 uh Wellness fund included um the major change to this plan is the increased benefit for our um mail order which right now people can only get mail order through uh CVS by mail now they'll be able to go go to their local extended network uh to go ahead and get uh their medication for 90 days um and so we looked at the self-insured um at this point um we don't think it's feasible we'll review it again this coming year and uh work towards getting to that goal um just right now we didn't think that it would be feasible for us did say I'm sorry second did you say that the cost increased 575,000 or that's the total uh that's the increased amount yes the increased of 575 okay okay I'm sorry about that that's okay the recommendation is to stay with the current carrier for our 2425 year um that will include our Medical Dental Envision uh we're work very closely with the carrier to try to decrease um our claims and I work with staff to make sure that they're going to get their physicals they're going to the doctors and that we target those High uh claims and we'll work towards having uh different incentives as far as you know incentivizing people you get people to go to the doctor by giving them something in return and that's what we're working towards for 2425 any questions I think I'm good good all right only all right so we wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait we had to do public comment before we start having Commission discussion so um Madam clerk public comment good evening if you wish to speak on this item please come forward I wouldn't take too long muar isan 30 minute 30 seconds what we need to be doing as I said earlier is to investigate these CEOs for these um insurance companies you know there's like a competition of them outdoing each other raising up their take-home pay their uh whatever compensation packages and we're the ones who have to be suffering but why is it happening like this I mean we need better competition and to be stop sucking up on these um big fat cat CEOs thank you very much for having me thank you anybody else all right let the could reflect no one came forward and public comment is closed um all right who want to speak just one quick comment years ago when I was on the commission we voted no longer to use a broker to research the cost because it was at that time a $50,000 expense I don't know if we want to bring that up there was a broker that did this or at least it says as broker of record for the next time okay is it is there an additional cost using a broker there is a there is a charge what was it in this case I'm sorry was I'll have to check the contract I can get that information and get it to you what what's the advantage of using a broker that worth the cost they have the relationships with the carriers and able to negotiate a better deal oh so so in other words theoretically you believe that we're actually getting a better deal even with paying the broker than if you went yourself direct correct yeah okay all right yes could you just let me know how much the broker is please um I'll find out and get that information to you thank you I want to uh thank you for doing the process and coming up with the same vendor because that's a wonderful thing for our employees not to have to switch all their medicines not to have to do it's a much easier transition so I want to thank you and I do thank Etna for um doing the 90day local because that's significant and just my personal experience mail away when you need something um no matter how fast they try to get it to you they can't and it's much easier to drive down the street and have a a um pharmacists that will dispense it right then and there so it's a win-win for all of our employees and us so thank you and look forward to another good year with them okay anyone else uh thank you Mr Mayor I just want to thank you and the EET team for for looking into the uh self-insured um uh aspect and I know that you know it's all based on historical uh claims and things of that sort so uh while it's a conversation that uh we can't entertain for this fiscal year I'm trusting that we'll continue to look in uh into it for the um next fiscal year or even after that and um you know see how we can save the city some money so uh thank you so much looking forward to um to approving that this item I also want to thank you for staying with that and thank you for working with us to St because I understand you change you change you change it makes your rates go up it's not good and also um thank you for looking into leue of cities because at least we could say we looked into it and we it wasn't suitable for our city thank you very much okay anyone else no okay thank you again great job um yeah we we need a motion approve second resolution number r224 d92 all in favor say I any opposed passes unanimously thank you much thank you okay now I think we're back to 153 okay okay um huh well I don't know we have to keep moving if we're going to do yeah um um okay so um 153 um communication Consulting Services discussion and possible action Mr manager um thank sorry thank you mayor um earlier this year um we had or actually late last year we had a change within the department um and we had a temporary a contract uh vendor based on a pool that we had that helped operate and maintain the day-to-day of what the communications level was for the city um upon ex um reaching my spending Authority um we brought to the commission an opportunity to uh continue working uh the commission requested that we do a formal bid uh we put a RFP out um I revised the scope as as well to be um inclusive of all the type of communications that a city typically has and what the uh Commission has um overtime indicated service levels that they wish to receive um as well as making sure that we had a comprehensive list of positions that are typically um carried um within departments Communications departments whether they're in-house or external with that um two two levels of service were provided uh the recommendation is if we go with the RFP is to do the enhanced level as we are quickly approaching a 2026 um centennial celebration of the city um the lowest bid for that was the brand Advocates at $27,000 a month um followed by if you give me one second I will bring it up followed by the public Communications Group um at 285 then by conceptual Communications at 30 then by Sunshine Communications at 31750 then finally by barington management at 40 asking for direction on how the commission wishes to proceed um okay any any comments on this item I can I'll start so I wanted to um make sure that we had this conversation tonight because when um the CW did the back to school we had to uh pay additional to have someone come in and take video of our event and um when Multicultural has its stal n&b concert if we don't approve something tonight and I'm not even sure if it'll be effective September 13th um we're going to have to once again pay extra so you know all this money that we're saving we're actually not because now we had to get somebody for back to school sorry we had to get somebody for back to school and we're going to have to get somebody for Dal n&b so I we really need to to do something already and stop wasting money on um on because we don't have somebody to do it right so so Mr manager are we um peac mealing out some of these services that we're deficient on right now on things that the city can't do yes sir and do you know what kind of expense we're incurring doing that type of thing it's going to depend on on the various events that we have the any type of videography or anything that we would need um and for example police video uh recruitment something else that we end up peace meeing throughout the process and stuff like that unless we have a more dedicated uh right now we only have one person in the department and um we're not going to get to the level of service that the commission's requesting with with one person typically especially for a city size you're looking at departments anywhere between five to seven um or or even up to 10 people um so the hybrid approach which is what's been recommended um allows us to maintain a minimal footprint um in-house that can manage and deal with dayto day while Outsourcing having the the dedicated rest of the staff um as needed um the other option would be to start looking for um um lower um entry level type of positions and and seeing if that would work out or having a revolving door in the in the department um as we try to find someone um that can do that um and make up with the Manpower that we don't have right now the um these contracts that you just spoke about are they month-to-month contracts or annual contracts Project based huh Project based um and I just want to give you an example we had to pay for for back to school we had to pay for the videographer to gum and it came out of the out of CW back to school budget where we could have been giving pencils or paper or notebooks or something away instead I got but my my point was you mentioned that there were four biders the four biders were they with that gave you four different prices on the RS there were seven firms that responded two were deemed um non-responsive um and five um five gay pricings correct or or proposals now now if we were to engage with one of those firms are we engaging them on a month-by-month basis that's a monthly fee that you're corre that would be a retainer correct so we would just give them the monthly fee um but can we cancel it any time or are we tied in for any amount of time um every contract that at least I've proposed um I've worked with a City attorney to ensure that we have a termination for convenience clause in our contract meaning we can get out whenever we want correct okay and when we do piece by piece we don't have brand consistency commissioner John got it I just wanted to get I just wanted to get clarity so we're going to be spending the lowest bid came at $27,000 per month yes ma'am so how much do you anticipated spending for the fiscal year and while while you answer that question um the current manager right now what's the salary the the 27,000 per month if you just multiply it times 12 it's 324,000 um the current manager salary is in the low to mid 80s low what I'm sorry low to mid 80s low to mid 80s that's with or without load so we're we're looking Sal so it's costing us 100,000 before it's all over right mhm 400,000 approximately it's costing 100,000 for the one employee right so for me um I don't even know how we're having this conversation fairly $27,000 For What and I understand the peace meal I understand the peace meal and I understand we need videography I understand we need photography um and I'm not here to nickel and dime and say $80,000 shouldn't get us how many events per month 20 events per month videography it's it's it's kind of egregious so $80,000 a um a year so we're saying what that person cannot handle putting pictures on flicker or doing a 30 second resel I mean I'm I'm not super techsavvy I could do a flyer on my phone I believe in brand consistency I believe in all that we have to do as a city to Brand what we have to do here you have an a IT department you have part- Tim that do video whenever we record so why not train the staff that we have to acquire these skill sets Why Pay $300,000 that's more than the city manager salary for the year exactly so I'm not saying I look I I teach PR I'm not saying that we don't need to invest in the city's image and content creation I'm all for it but $300,000 for the year and then on top of that the current you had a current employee you moved the employee to another division which is under the purview of the of the city manager to do but that was an asset so you know it's hard to say okay for $80,000 or whatever the the the market price is for Professionals in the pr field to say okay well this person can't learn how to do a video or this person can I know we have multiple events at multiple times so on and so forth but $300,000 is more than the city manager makes in a year so we have to ask oursel that question I do believe in content creation you have videographers that can do a video for three for $300 a range of $300 to $1,000 you're looking at someone that knows cuz I promote my own brand and so I know it's not at the city level but this is an interesting um discussion to have right now that we can say $27,000 a month is justifiable okay anyone else um commissioner commissioner Jose okay commissioner John the manager said that the department should have five people to be funded correctly five people at $80,000 is $400,000 it's really it's really more like 500 when you count okay but again not paying the we're not paying their insurance and taxes and whatever here's the conversation I want to have openly with you commissioner sherov five people to do what I'm a millennial when we talk about content when we and I know it's a department a city with you know 50 15 departments 20 events whatever but to do what that's it's not adding up like they say the math is not mathing I don't know if you've heard that that that coin term but I don't see it well the employes Mike if you could please I'm sorry Mr Kaz the to the one of the main differences if those employees were our employees they'll be dedicated to us and then they could be spread out in different departments to alleviate some of the cost may be police or the Departments or what have you so it's not just a static number like that it's it's more Nuance so you know and if we hire a company $27,000 still a lot of money and we're not their only employees I mean we're not the only clients that's what I'm saying so are we going to be investing in ourselves because at the end of the day yeah we could we could terminate them we can deter we can terminate them for convenience but I think the more like I said when to to commissioner's point we Patrick was and and that was the employeer you're referencing and I say his name um I I know he has a certain skill set because I've seen it because he was working at a library and he was a he was an asset there and then from the library we ended up transfering over here to um to public relations back then public relations had what four people maybe give or take and they and they also um did double work by being doing Aid type stuff of assisting us depending on what we're doing or what event we're doing so for me it's like how what's the biggest bang for our book how do we maximize that that the money we're going to be spending for that for these particular events or these type of uh um promotions depending off it's depending if it's like us promoting a particular uh initiative that we're promoting to our residents or promoting an event that we're getting re residents to come on I just think that I think we have a more value of it's more internal as opposed to paying a company that amount of money when I know they're not going to be we're not going to be their only client that's that's doesn't make any sense to me that's that's what I'm that's for me that's my my point was that that we got five firms that were here we have a new person that's our communication director right now Jennifer who is right out of school and she's doing a great job but she doesn't know the job yet she's learning the job on the job so does she need somebody to mentor to have somebody to you know spoon off of and become maybe we don't need it anymore and one of these firms we had this firm here for six months a year who did a tremendous job in representing us uh remember the police thing that we had they they handled that with the Press with everything that's what the communications director does they do a lot of things so I would recommend that we hire public Communications Group group and let Mario negotiate the contract and move forward I mean I think that we need to have that um Mr manager the um rfps did everybody um who gave a a bid on it um were there was it the same scope there was everybody providing the same exact scope yes sir it's the scope of services that was provided in the RFP um which is noted in U page 32 um is extensive it goes through not only the overall um strategic plan um developing plans providing multi- uh languages um Communications and brand and marketing guidelines which don't exist uh also marketing and creative Services um being able to do all the not only the creation but the edit um that goes with it the graphic designs that go with it um it's also dealing with um we're trying to revive a state of the city um the um multi-page um newsletter as well um we have to maintain a proper city um copyright repository which we've just started to to do that recently um these are multiple full-time positions that are normally held uh public relations is just one aspect um regarding um with public excuse me public relations media training um dealing with the media itself building those those um consistent uh relationships um having crisis Communications and management um even having a crisis communication and management plan which the city doesn't currently have um being able to um deal with any of the um issues that may come up with with the police department um that is something that that we frequent um there have been not only something um to commissioner Sher off point with the last issue with the PD but um we've also had issues and that we've been approach with Help Me Howard we've had issues with the cres Crescent View Towers um all of those things that at the end of the day um with the proper um Staffing and the proper people in place those stories did not come out as a negative on the city but show being able to educate and those stories turn from a negative piece into an educ piece because the city um we've been able to communicate and be able to tell the media and tell the story of the of the city as to what are the things that we've been doing and how we've been staying on top of it for them and that's made a huge difference on how the city is viewed um within the media um moving forward well I was to the I was looking at the gender real quick and as you and if you look at it it doesn't list when you click on it it doesn't have like a a hyperlink to list out the different opt the different companies what have you I know I I I couldn't pull it up to see I AP I I don't know why when when an item rolls over from month to month it doesn't it's not carrying over for some reason it was on the J um I believe the the July agenda um as well um but um that's why I had it printed when yeah that's we we had it printed that way we can give it to you um but I'm not sure why it's not carrying over um when it rolls over from one month to the next well like to as I mentioned before like 20 $27,000 is a lot of money especially we're not the only client um that is a and it's it's not really us investing it's us paying a service that could you know that that not really building off of to a degree I I would feel more comfortable having more of an inhouse and really investing in our people training them because at the at the in day that we their loyalty would be to us and making sure that they could adhere to the quality work as they as they work alongside us because we had that before I I never remembered like you know um almost six years now um we've always had something internal and like this is the first time it's like we're like slowly piecing away our our um certain services that typically have been done in the house and for me I just think that we could just do a better job hiring look you made a decision to hire um someone that needed to be I guess additionally coach or what have you that was your decision to make um could we have hired someone that was more seasoned at a higher cost yes we could have but I don't but that doesn't mean that we can't still like beef up that department with someone or with additional Ser uh um Staffing that could help the current uh manager out I just feel like that you know it's it I just would rather us invest in ourselves as opposed to enrich a company and we're not their only sole priority I just think it's it's I I think it's a to me it's a waste of money that's me being honest Mr may I didn't get my first uh my first um okay so can I can I go yeah yeah um thank you commissioner I didn't mean to interrupt you no um sorry um so when when it comes to this I I thought that when we had this conversation that we were going to develop a Communications plan and where we want our city to go um in regards to communication and then we were supposed to come back and fit whether it was public communicators group or whoever into that plan right and so that's not what I have here right um it gives us the background and then it kind of just leaves us okay here the five and we're saying 27,000 I keep hearing that number 27 27,000 is not public communicators group right 27,000 is the brand Advocates correct correct so if we're if we're talking 27,000 we're we're talking about the brand Advocates is there anybody from Brand Advocates here no okay no no no that's what okay well let me go down the list let me go down the list is there anybody from conceptual Communications here nope okay anybody from barington management nope Sunshine the only the only people that are here and we are familiar with public communic Ator group so that's you know we know who they are um But Sunshine other than them you know sunshine and like they said they've been here in our community you know owned a a building in our community paid ADV valorum tax dollars for many years um in our community and it's and literally it's down the street um when they mooved they didn't move too far so you know this is a company that's proven it's it's I mean I don't know how how how much more proven you can be Than Sunshine Communications um you know so I I have to give credit where creditors do but um you know I don't want to focus on the companies what I do want to focus on is the fact that I believe we sat up here and we said we wanted to see a plan for what our Communications efforts and um you know uh trajectory would be right um because I can look at what what I have in front of me and see okay this is what whatever the cost is per hour for this position for that position or what the cost is per hour for a videographer that's all well and well and good but I can have a videographer on the team but what is there what is the cinematography about you know what I mean someone can hold the camera but you need to understand the cinematography you need to understand where you're going with it and and to be able to promote the brand and all of these different types of things my colleague to my right commissioner Jean knows more about this than I do but the point I'm making is if you don't have a vision as to where you want your City to go what your branding is going to be what you're trying to promote or what you're trying to capture then you know just putting 277,000 or 30,000 in someone's hands to me doesn't speak to that that's the technical aspect of it so we're paying the we're paying for the technician but we're not tell we're not addressing uh what we need them to to work on um as it as it relates to um because I don't see brand strategy in here right so as or or or strategy you know development in here but as it relates to our um there our our Communications um director that's her title right uh manager Communications manager you know I've I've had you know short conversations but received emails um regarding some of what she's done and some of her vision for the future and getting together with us individually to create that plan that we were referencing and you know having somebody in a position like that and then saying hey what we're going to do is we're going to have them in this position but also hire another company to do exactly what to me it's kind of like you're duplicating efforts and I think it's also um overlapping and overstepping a position that you've created um and someone that you have in a position that honestly you know whether or not they've been in the business for 10 years um from what I've seen I have the confidence that she can put a plan together um and and my commissioner Joseph agrees agrees with that as well I have the confidence right I have the confidence that she can put a plan together and create direction for our city from a Communications perspective and then from that point we can decide who can help her execute that whether it's someone on the inside or her team or a team on the inside or whether it's somebody from these uh various companies that can help achieve that Vision that she puts forth vice mayor I'm um it's 11:45 oh okay okay so we're we're clearly running out of a lot of daylight and um so we we need to um two things number one we have to start thinking about if we're going to want to extend beyond no midnight oh definitely okay so now we know that's not happening hold on there's a there's an item that's been since May yeah we we we we need to do 111 we need to do 111 so do you want to do we want to table this item so but we're not okay okay but we're not going to finish 111 before midnight so there is a motion what's the motion discuss it's notem did someone second it no 111 we need to go to 111 but okay but we need to vote past midnight because we're not going to we're not going to finish this past midnight all right so just just for the record okay but just for the record because commissioner Smith asked and I think commissioner um um Jean was a little off the uh videographer cost me $1,400 for back to school and I I'm to I'm trying to say that we need to figure something out because I can't be spending 14 I'm I'm I'm in that was with David listen he's on the guys guys I want I want to just okay let's go to 11 let's go excuse me before you go to 11.1 I just want to say that we have to have the meeting in two weeks for the commission meeting and we have to decide between now and then what we're going to do because it's the holidays coming up we need to have coverage we have an amazing woman that hasn't stopped working here but she can't do it all by herself so we need to find something with communication I haven't had a chance to speak I mean when you get these bids it doesn't mean the manager can't go and say listen you bid $27,000 but we can only afford 10 are you willing to do 10 for what we have and they could say yes they could say no you know we can go to that we can go to that after we do that but we have to do it it's gonna take too much time to right all right let's try let's do 111 okay but we have to we have to decide if we're going to go past midnight because no finish one in 10 minutes okay let's see how it goes and if not a c a few minutes before midnight we'll make a quick decision guys we're wasting time talking about it let's just do it okay all right um 111 um so hang on me yeah I need to move to introduce okay um yeah this could also be tabled it's we're having another meeting in two weeks I no but they've been here since like May okay but so some things have been here five years we're still waiting to hear about how many parking places Mr attorney read please read the title for 111 ordinance number 2023 d02 second reading administrative site plan review text Amendment an ordinance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of North Miami Beach Florida by amending the code of ordinances of the city of North Miami Beach by amending chapter uh Roman rural XX I entitled zoning and Land Development article XV other development review procedures section 24172 site plan review to delete subsection K entitled limited administrative Authority for the site plan amendments uh and create a new subsection 24 10% as well as incorporate the commissioner uh a a request for us to consider uh a languaging um that involve thinking about what if the federal flood regulation change what about are we adequately addressing the Americans with Disabilities Act in uh how we apply these so that in order to uh for example provide a ramp for a building they don't have to go to a 9mon process uh and items like that uh staff had presented on this before but for time purposes if the commission uh would want to just instead move the question that daff can answer for you as you made your determination okay we are happy to do so all right for point of order um we need public comment I'm clerk if you wish to speak on this item please step forward all right let the record reflect nobody's come forward public comment is closed and um any questions from the Commissioners on this I have questions I have questions and I have changes to this one thing is that we want to I think for sure after speaking to U Mr Nang and the Planning and Zoning to make an amendment that this does not apply to adaa this does not apply to a flood zone um I want to be careful of the slippy slope with this because as long as you have the right people in place 10% is fine it's a question when you don't have the right people in place and to give because once you vote on this when people say you can change it you can't just change it and unfortunately our city had a in my opinion my own personal opinion Phyllis had a very tainted Administration that had questions and I just don't I don't think this is something that we can lightly just say okay it's 5 till 12 let's just vote on it I think we have to be very careful because if you don't have the right person having one person in control of making those kind of changes with a without the public knowing what the changes are without the commission knowing what the changes are the changes in this particular um ordinance can also include the windows which would change the look of the entire build building uh commissioner chernoff just came up tonight and said could I see the back of the building and asked for some changes we've had plenty of times on this commission where somebody I remember when uh commissioner and mayor Beth Spiegel was here she would change it when commissioner Kramer was here didn't like that it was so white in the building on biscane Boulevard 162nd you're going to give authority to one person whether it be the Planning and Zoning who knows we have haven't even hired who the Planning and Zoning is going to be we have a company that's temporary or the manager and I just feel very strongly this is not an ordinance that we can again take lightly and for sure we need changes to it because that means that Administration when it comes to Ada when it comes to flood zone there cannot be those changes and I I think we we have to concentrate on what we're voting for all right let me keep moving here thank you very much we even table comment real quick why real quick I want to hear what he has to say okay let him speak is okay go ahead you're commissioner Smith said you could speak I'm not I'm not I was always giving him the permission I know no the I want to I I was also but initially I was going to try to see um commissioner smucky I wanted to hear her thoughts on this particular issue even if we don't move in it I want to hear what your because I want to hear her thoughts on this that's what I'm saying who are there who wanted to speak I don't think the feed is working on the home TV okay we should take the it no no I I no I wanted to hear commissioner smucker smucker what's your comment on this yes please I wasn't going to comment because I wanted to um be able to either finish this tonight or um you want to or rush it or so my thoughts on this are so I I I always have the concern about those administrative waivers but I understand that now it's a little bit more uh beneficial to the to our to the homeowners cuz I think the end of the night and no offense to my developers but I care more about the homeowners than I do about the developers because developers leave homeowners hopefully will stay 25 50 years so is it indeed more beneficial to the I mean are they gonna how is it more beneficial to the no it doesn't affect the homeowner residential it it does commissioner no I read the thing okay okay so she needs an explanation and I wouldn't mind hearing it also so maybe we do need to I mean I I I feel horrible because you've been here since May but okay and hang on just one more second before it affects him that's the problem but you know we I sorry Mr Kazan sorry um I this this is the second reading and the reason why I wanted to hear our thoughts is because us keeping us having to reissue this and ren notice this um and it's been going on for such a long time I just wanted to have I was hoping that we can come to some type of conclusion as opposed to just rolling it over it is an ordinance we have to we have to um Ren notice it correct me if I'm wrong right we every time y what's what's the check and balance when the changes I made administratively are is there going to be a report sent out what's the check and balance since we're if we're voting for this what's the check and balance will there be any from the administration Mr greenan you you it's like you're pining to I I I was going to let Mr Greenwall I was going to give Mr Greenwall one one I was gonna give him like can we at least extend the meet the meeting 10 minutes or something because it's 11 may may I make a suggestion uh respectfully to my colleagues while I understand the importance of getting this done unless we're going to motion to go past midnight which we haven't I'll I'll maybe what we can do we can table it if if um I I want to put the suggestion that we do a Thursday meeting oh I'm ready which is this Thursday we have that option that might be kind of tough for me but I I I have no issues tabling this item I don't think we can do it in two days no and we can't do it a two days noers because it has to be has right the alternate date was if we had the meeting on time last week we're already a week late this meeting has been I got you because it's the following let Mr Green just say i' like to hear his thoughts before we conclude that's huh just Mr Green go ahead just um ask if the commission go to the microphone go mic Scott greenal for the record um I just would ask the commission to spend 15 more minutes um we've had PL sitting in the building department for almost eight months waiting on the resolution of this item after the first reading um I think the the planning department has tailored this so it's a minimal um limited scope to what can be changed in in this ordinance it also does affect the single family houses that was um added and I would I would really appreciate because this has been um uh delayed so long if we could spend 15 minutes more to just discuss it tonight thank you but commissioner commissioner Smith's point it there's a lot of this would well well well listen here's the thing it's it's 2 minutes 12 do we want to extend do no no I say table it to the next meeting and Mr Green wall I have to tell you something I I'd like to table it for another two weeks and and I feel bad when you're coming up before us I don't understand why you weren't here in 8 months to get the variances instead of going through all this and waiting I understand but every developer you know I ask them at IC what the what I had to vote on and ask their opinions and builders all said yes but people that weren't Builders all said no so I really want to make sure it's right I feel terrible why why didn't he come before us for variances or something why did he have to wait for this eight months and and no I don't want to go past midnight cuz I've been up since 5:30 this morning and took the train to get here I want to do it responsibly okay so we'll take we'll table the items to the next meeting yeah I mean it seems like uh do we need a motion then let's table it um motion motion second I have a second we got a second to Mo all in favor table items for the next meeting okay all right all right we'll move it as quick as we can thank you sorry about that so motion to adjourn um yeah yeah motion to adjourn okay hi because we we took