[Music] the broadcast is now starting all attendees are in listen only mode good morning everyone today is February 14th 2024 the time is now 10:07 a.m. we are conducting our council meeting for February Happy Valentine's Day Madam clerk please call the rooll councilwoman Morin Bas here councilman Rafael Pino pres councilwoman vice mayor Oscar po corve here mayor chrisy pres mayor you have quum thank you very much please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance led by councilman Beno United States America to the it stands one nation God indivisible with libery and justice for we will now have the invocation led by Pastor Edwin Castro from presencia via good morning uh I just want to share a couple of verses this morning uh Proverbs 21 through3 says my son accept my words and store up my commands turn your ear to her wisdom and stretch your mind to her understanding call out for insight and cry out loud for understanding and Proverbs 1:7 says the fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom but fools despise wisdom and instruction father I want to pray for this meeting and for the people that are leading our city I ask you for your fear for your wisdom and for understanding about our needs and the needs of the community father I pray for the holy spirit to guide them so they can lead this city in peace and in Justice amen amen and you Pastor that's yes okay we will now go to the agenda order of business City manager's office is there anything in the agenda order of business uh good morning mayor and Council uh nothing add thank you Madame attorney no okay any of the council members mayor yes Council andas I have a laid down item which the CL I think passed around and this is for a request to use the venue for the Civil Air Patrol for their seconde anniversary on March 16th and they're requesting waving the facility fees and the use of local and if I can motion to add this as a lay down item there's a motion in a second to add an item to the discussions Madam clerk the this will be added to discussion items yes we can discuss it at that time please call a roll I have motion to approve a laydown item made by councilwoman porra second by vice mayor pu corve councilwoman poras yes vice mayor P corve councilwoman Cal yes councilman Pino yes mayor Fraga yes motion passes okay addition I have additional yes I have more so I have a whole list I am pulling 6B I'm going to move to move 14a to discussion items to be discussed immediately before 6B motion second okay before we take a motion let's get all the items that were being pulled and then a motion to set the agenda will be done after public comments so at this time we won't take a motion for that um we actually no we can take a motion we should take a motion right now this is what I'm requesting so I'm moving to move 14a independent legal opinion to discuss immediately before 6B and to be heard before 9f and 9g okay motion second for purposes of clarification this is a motion we are setting the agenda which is usually done after public comments when we take up the consent agenda for the attorney so would it be appropriate to take a motion at this time should we allow everyone to pull their items so we can set the agenda I I think if everybody right now could have their discussion of what they're going to pull then we can have the motion now before public comments this is the time to do agenda order of business um but if you want to give other council members an opportunity to provide what are they're going to pull other items I'm going to pull 6B and after everyone does their polling then I'm going to make these motions so please come back to me thank you okay okay so we're moving six item 6B to the discussion items to be heard you asked to hear that one first or can we hear that at the end of discussion items I think we're going to allow everyone to pull first so I'm pulling 6B that's the only one that I have to pull correct that's not my question my question was you're moving item 6B to discussion items I yes I can unilaterally pull any item so it moves into discussion correct not my question my question is would you like it to be heard first or would you like it to be put at the end of discussion items I'm going to speak to that once I make a motion next so for for now let's pull it and allow everyone else to pull and then I can come back to my motions okay would you like to pull any items uh vice mayor no okay do you have any items to pull coun yes I do cab so I want to defer 6C 6 e 6 h 6n and 6r for or Poll for discussion therefore F can you repeat your items please 6 C 6 C 6 e 6A H 6n and 6r and maybe are we can bring it for the next council meeting with the other ones that have been also defer 6C 6 6C 6 e 6 n h 6 h and r for okay Madam clerk do you want to repeat these items sure so far I have a motion I have a a request from Council woman poras to move item 6B to discussion and a request for deferral of the following items from Council woman caval 6 C 6 e 6 h 6 n and 6 R okay all right is there any other motions uh to pull items from the agenda at this time okay being none then we will take a motion at this time only to pull items 6B and defer items 6 C 6 e 6 h 6n and 6r correct is that what is on the table right now I have additional ones so if we're doing this now I the poll item doesn't need a motion but we can include it that's I'm okay with that well right 6 B is just being moved to discussion which is what we always do usually we do that when we do the consent agenda but since we're doing things differently today we're going to take up the motion so if there's a motion on the table for that let's move forward with that second who motioned who motioned motion motion to approve by Council when cabali second by Council when poras now there will be discussion any comments on the deferral this is for the next meeting right it's for the next meeting being it's being deferred to all of them these are all being deferred to the next meeting yeah yeah okay to the next meeting and 6B is being moved to discussion for today okay I have a comment on the deferral I'm not going to be supportive of a deferral we've all had plenty of opportunity to meet with staff and discuss some of the these items to my understanding some of these items are time sensitive and they are directly tied to the opening of D Central Park so if now we're going to start taking actions to deliver to uh delay the park and make decisions that are going to affect our residents I'm I'm strongly concerned so I will not be I will not be uh supportive of the deferral item at this time um we can go ahead and call the role and I want to just clarify that these are items that need to be reviewed to make sure that we have aw not recognized at this time I already asked for discussion on this item that's fine I just wanted to make my statement too motion to defer items 6 C 6 e 6 h 6n and 6r to the March 13 council meeting made by councilwoman Cal seconded by councilwoman poras councilwoman Cal yes councilwoman poras yes councilman Pino no vice mayor PVE yes mayor FR no motion passes okay before we move on to public comments there seems to be more items that will be pulled from the agenda so I'm making a motion to move 14a to be discussed immediately before 6B and to be heard before 9f and G motion second okay so we're going to hear four 14 a before items 9f and G which will be the uh attorneys uh the uh the city attorney's report will be heard before items 9 f and g for the purposes of the public and items 6B which was pulled in disc to to discussion will be heard when 14a needs to be heard immediately before 6B so 6B is going to come right after 14a got okay so it'll be 14a 6B 9 F 9 G 9f and 9 G and actually one last request I need to we need to change G and F meaning just flip the order so it would be 14a 6B 9f or 9 d D pardon 9 G and 9f okay I think there's a motion on the table by councilwoman would you like want me to go over that so the items for the discussion section will be as follows 9 a 9B 9 C 9d 9e 14a 6B 9 G 9f is that correct correct okay and I have a motion made by councilwoman poras and seconded by vice mayor P corve councilwoman poras yes vice mayor P corve councilwoman Cal yes councilman Pino yes mayor Fraga yes motion passes okay we will now open up the public comments portion for this meeting public comments is now open should you like to speak on an item on this agenda or anything that is J to this Council please approach the podium you have 3 minutes to speak please speak in a respectful manner I have comment cards I will name I will call these common cards first and then anyone will have an opportunity to speak who is not filled out a comment card please ask the clerk at the end to uh fill out a common card for our records we're going to start with Mr Richard glat okay uh Connie should be passing some information out to you Richard glad 4768 Northwest 114th Avenue I saw that what I just saw was was pretty lousy okay it's ridiculous that's why we're in so much trouble here in the derell I'm going to talk about that right now this is a list of all the city managers police Chiefs and City attorneys we've had since we started daral there's 10 city managers six police Chiefs and six City attorneys and now we have the wonderful Valerie leaving us it's too bad she's terrific we we need people like that but unfortunately the only person that ever had a a a chance to stay here was Duca Chief Duca cuz he was smart enough to get a five-year contract everybody that's a a manager a police chief or City attorney must be offered a five-year contract because it five years won't interfere with the elections you know if if you're elected by a a mayor their first year if you're in their mayor the first year well at least if he gets kicked out you've still got another year to transition to your next job like like theca did after Bor got kicked out because bermudes he doesn't like to give contracts that's a dictator is this city a dictatorship it's a democracy give a professional people the chance to work when Barbie started here the first thing I said was give her a chance to do her job well she last did what 14 months no contract all political and now we have all this ridiculous fighting all the time here it's a history in this city it's it's you could make a tel Noel about it on channel 23 believe me it would be terrific I got two minutes left there are three accounts in the gospels in which Jesus states that a kingdom divided against itself is laid waste or A House Divided cannot stand all three instances of this statement are spoken in response to the Pharisees accusation that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Satan a blasphemy that Jesus said would not forgive them Jesus's argument to the Pharisees was logical a kingdom that is at Cross purposes with itself will fall any household driven by infighting will tear itself apart by saying that A House Divided cannot stand Jesus is illustrating the fact that success Rel iies on congruency this is something we see in daily life all the time whether it is a machine a sports team a government party or one's own mind things have to work together if anything is to be accomplished Christians I think you're all Christians right I don't think anybody here is Jewish or Muslim huh Christians are not to quarrel but to be unified around a common understanding of Truth so just getting a little black mark on your head digna doesn't make make you a good Christian God commands Unity among Believers because once conflict enters the midst of any assembly or entity productivity and usefulness inevitably grind to a halt and the whole organization is weakened and becomes vulnerable to attack now I'm not just uh talking about the city of derell I'm talking about the whole country look at what this country is is going on now and it's all the time all the time I've never seen anything like it anywhere else except when they're actually killing each other in the streets like in the Middle East is this what you want to happen here you you want death you want destruction well if you do keep it up keep it up because that's what you're going to get thank you Mr glut Mel Le then Melody then I think she stepped out Mr Juan Carlos Asel good morning everyone Juan Carlos esel 3725 alantara Avenue we the residents last week had this chamber full of over 200 people which 35 of them spoke their heart out manifesting the rest in unison to trans uh to transmit to those sitting in the de there areof the way the city was going three of you completely ignored the claim and did not listen to their voices those people are the residents of the city of the real despite that none of those you claimed that were unhappy and concerned never showed up and made their own statement publicly like others did we the residents are people that sat you in the Das representing US based on commitments you made during campaigns well those that were really voted on or actually campaign I am a true believer that some of you were placed there by the So-Cal establishment we the residents do clearly I identify that there is a hidden agenda behind those behav this nonsense behavior of some of you some of you managed to press and res uh the resignation of our City attorney simply because she made it clear what our charted really says the designation of a new manager is to be done only by the city mayor like the great movie said you could handle the truth the Few Good Men finally we the residents those who have children in school had the privilege that not many other parents have in other cities by Simply Having access to our district commissioner for schools within our own Community you don't want him here despite the fact that in Prior administrations others like him enjoy the the same privilege here with no problem well except our ex School commissioner which is now our sitting mayor we the residents have identified the hitting agenda and believe me when I say we will not forget these actions ready no 20 seconds in the future elections there's a passage Christian or in the Bible says do not be deceived God cannot be mck a man reaps what he seeds Galatians 6:7 have a great day thank you Mr esel Melody Den good morning happy valentine R my name is Melody Dan 3770 estona Avenue D Florida 33178 Dear honorable member of city council I'm here respectfully requesting that the council woman digna K added to the establish protocol when receiving international government figures in the city as as representative of the Dominican Comm Community it is essential that conil woman C respect the protocol and the courtesy is they are in place to ensure a smooth and respectful reception to Vis visiting dignitaries this I believe that the follow the establishment protocol it is essential to maintain the city reputation and the for fostering positive international relations thank you for your attention and I'm ask DNA for be more protocal Miss then please address the council not an addition I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry you know what I don't have no this is my second time here so I'm sorry I respect that so I'm just asking you for that favor Miss um ccil woman when people from my country Dominican Republic from the government come here you have to respect the protocol thank you very much have a good day all thank you we will now have Mr Pablo Caro and I remind the public to please address all comments to the council and not one individual member good morning Paul this too disgusting I won't be as long as uh everybody else it is clear to me the three members of You Are clearly influenced improperly by the way by City Commissioner Juan Carlo heres okay as this circus continues with you three I wonder if your actions are ultimately to reverse the pension vote that most of you on this St has already voted to remove as we know his intentions and that of many council members is to receive a lifetime pension that looks to be where you guys are headed I honestly hope for your three careers and his ju Carlos Bermudas this is not the case because it's getting really really disgusting in the city of Dell thank you thank you Mr Caro would anybody else like to speak in public comments at this time this is your final opportunity any other public comments I have no more comment cards being none public comments is now closed and we will move to the consent agenda we need a motion for consent agenda Madam clerk can you read the items that will be moving forward on the consent agenda at this time for our recollection yes madame mayor it'll be all of the items on Section six with the exception of 6B 6 C 6 e 6 h 6n and 6r motion a motion to approve by vice mayor quck corvey seconded by councilman batal all in favor say I I I no n we move on now to minut seven approval of minutes it will be all the items on seven section seven sorry thank you madam clerk motion to approve by councilman Pino I need a second on the minutes second by Vi mayor P corvey all in favor say I all right we move on to presentations item AA keep draw a beautiful business award City attorney's office I'm City manager's office I'm sorry I call in uh agarist r co- compliance director good morning honorable mayor vice mayor members of the city council Mr inter manager Madam City attorney Madam clerk Edgar drr co-compliance director this month we are pleased to recognize Adriana Plaza for their outstanding commitment to keeping D beautiful the property for which they're being recognized I for is located at 8205 Northwest 12th Street Adriana Plaza has been in the city of D for approximately 2 years the property is 46,000 total square feet and has three employees Adriana Plaza is a commercial shopping center and home to seven local businesses some of the recent improvements to the property include repainting of the entire building roof replacement interior and exterior transformation of garage Bays to storefronts parking lot lay out and regular Landscape Maintenance it is with great pleasure that we name Adriana Plaza for the keep the ra beautiful business award for their continued efforts to keeping D beautiful uh m madame mayor and Council I do have uh the property owner here along with various members of his team uh Mr federo escalona and I'd like to invite him up to say a few words you know Mr Mr Str will will translate in a moment thank you Mr good he yeah M Mr Str would you mind translating in a minute he he'll thank you Mr okay uh Mr escalona it's a bit uh much to translate but I'll try my best um Mr escalona is very honored to receive this award and all the collaboration that he's received from the city as well as staff um continue so this project uh again he would like to reiterate that the collaboration that he's received from staff uh at all levels to get this project started and completed which uh did begin during the p uh the pandemic and he is also uh saying thank you on behalf of the members of his team that are here Engineers Architects uh so thank you very much for everything thank you for thank you very much have a great day please come up for a photo coming fore spe spe okay we continue on with the agenda we have a next uh presentation next item may be Dalal Parks Bond quarterly report presentation I was going to call up lazro but I he beat me to it so I'll pass it over to lazro uh good morning honorable mayor vice mayor members of the city council Mr interm city manager Madam City attorney Madam clerk Lazaro Cano Capital Improvements division Chief here with George Garcia aom project manager uh to present the 2024 fourth quarter update for the parks bomb program consisting of of October 2023 through January 2024 to date the program has successfully completed five projects including D metal Park D white course Park Morgan Levy Park Jos and Tails Park and the Dalal Cultural Arts Center across from City Hall and downtown Dural being the most recent to which achieved final certificate of occupancy currently there are two remaining in progress projects which include D Central Park and phase two of the trails Network we put together a high level schedule of Milestones achieved and projected for each project in the program the Dalal Central Park project key Milestone dates for substantial completion or temporary certificate of occupancy are June for phase two uh Phase 2 three and December for phase four following the phase four substantial completion will be the final close out of the project uh which will occur in the first quarter of 2025 here is a high Lev breakdown of cost throughout the program indicating budgets for each project and expenditures to date as of the end of January with respect to the over overall program budget and expenditures to date the program has expended 59% of the budget with the remaining 41% being divided into encumbered and available amounts moving into the progress update for Dalal Central Park over the last quarter much progress has been made with phase two and three having ramped up preparing for its completion this summer and phase four Community Center and Aquatic Center taking their final shapes at the community center exteriors the stuckle work has been completed majority of of the glazing has been installed excluding openings for construction access Roofing is near completion and final painting has begun in the interior spaces all rooms have been framed with rough MEP work installed in wall and overhead Thermo installation work complete and drywall install has begun in some spaces at the Aquatic Center the grand stand columns and walls off to the left in the photo have been constructed the support building on the right in the photo metal deck and roof is near completion and the comp competition pool Mera system install has begun for Phase 2 and three the amphitheater surrounding restrooms exterior work is complete and interior finishes are being installed stuckle work at the amphitheater columns has been completed an underground electrical infrastructure that will be supporting the functions of the ampi year have been installed nearing completion the lawn seating final grade has also been established and being prepped for S the next few slide showcase some major activities the project has accomplished each month this quarter starting with phase one which encompasses the s's underground infrastructure utilities and other civil work in October the contractor's offices were being prepared to relocate to the northwest corner of the site so final grading can be performed at the multi-purpose field for November and December light poles were installed along the sidewalks along with the majority of sidewalks being poured by this point for the East portion of the project in January the offsite work on 87th Avenue was completed establishing the turn lane for the southeast entrance to the park at Phase 23 the skate park palm trees were installed in October the amphitheater perimeter seat wall was poured and waterproof along with the long seating grade established by December and the boardwalk Timber piles began to be installed in January in October the completion the competition pool con deck was poured November saw Leisure Pool concrete deck poured and as stated earlier in January the Mera system metal panels arrived and began to be installed at the competition pool the community center exterior envelope continued to progress as you can see in the areals by month demonstrated here with the majority of work being done this quarter focusing on exterior glazing Roofing and stuckle all in preparation ation for building dry in or Interior Systems can be started such as HVAC and for the interior spaces of the community center framing has progressed smoothly with level one being near complete by January dry wall beginning in certain areas and level two framing being roughly 90% complete by January overhead and in-wall mechanical electrical and plumbing work has continued in these spaces with insulation and drywall being installed where me rough work is complete Thermo installation work was also completed this quarter finishing at the basketball gymnasium allowing for overhead work to begin there so the team has put together a few before and after shots of the park from different angles for different angles to showcase the progress made from how the park looked back in 2019 to today so here we have have Aerials from the West End showing the community center and Aquatic Center from the southwest corner showing the maintenance building area from the south face where the amphith is located at the southeast corner where we have the skate park east end of the lake and multi-purpose field northeast corner of the multi-purpose [Music] field The North Face where the sensory play ground is to be installed and finally the northwest corner where the parking lot is located wrapping things up looking at the following quarter or next 90 days we've listed some of the expected Milestones the project will achieve including the phase two three sensory playground being fully installed and the mertha system at the competition pool completing its install being two major milestones for the project as stated earlier the other remaining impr progress project in the bond is phase two of the trail lighting Network design work continues and it's a rately 65% completed to date over the next 90 days we will be continuing discussions with Mii day County to obtain the necessary approvals for the portions of trails which are within their Canal maintenance easement and RightWay in addition the design team will continue work to finalize electrical service connection points with FPL along with prepping for permit submission to authorities having jurisdiction that concludes our presentation thank you very much m AAL any questions for Capital Improvements at this time yes Council M um could we could you please show the project schedule please just want to go over that a little bit yes if it can [Music] put taking you all the way it's all at the beginning almost there okay okay first slide or yeah yes I I just want to show the and if you can uh elaborate a little bit when it comes to the projects that they've been even though we went through a pandemic and at that time that I mean was worldwide if people would not know I don't know where they were at that time that everything was closed and that after that then there was a lack of materials that hardly were able not just us worldwide isn't it to be able to find materials to be able to keep going with the project and also um manh hands or or staff to be able to keep working uh within the project uh I just wanted to see if you could please uh elaborate a little bit on the time that the um the the the project was can you just leave please yes thank you uh the um when we have it projected when was completion of some of the different uh projects that we have within the parks to improve yes so um GE from Acom is here and he can elaborate a little bit further because he dealt Hands-On with some of those um delays as you mentioned due to covid or materials not being Rel available and I think he can speak a little bit more to to some of that yeah I just want to have that the residents to have that clear that this unless there's something that happened with mismanage of the former Administration either that they were responsible for the delay of misuse or that the funds were not used properly even though this is a bun so people that understand the difference between a bun and understand uh what is a um simple um how do you call it when you have a uh yes is is it's completely different the way that it's managed because a bun it is something that is being managed and you have to use it and it was issue only for that particular purpose and the bun is have to be used only for that if not then we will be having issues on having the the bond uh uh taken from from the uh from us from the city so I just wanted to clar if you can clarify that because there have been so many uh Mis um information to our residents when it comes to this park and I just wanted to make sure and that you that are the ones are working uh here in the city and I can clarify that to our residents that things has been done in the proper manner because if not we will already have issues with the bond sure absolutely um to the extent that I can speak because I wasn't here towards the beginning of the program over the last two years we absolutely saw U many challenges to uh specifically Central Park uh mainly due to covid um like you said worldwide and especially in the construction industry was heavily impacted um but we um I think managed to you know collaborate and uh work with the council to make sure uh things continue to run smoothly we did have have you know a little bit of a of a push in the schedule for Central Park initially where we had to reestablish the budget but um so since then things have maintained and have been running smoothly and while my understanding it takes longer to do the base let's say when it comes to the drainage to do the uh all that part of the infrastructure takes longer than when you just start building up yes yeah absolutely the infrastructure was uh I think there was a lot of comments initially on you know progress made in the park um but there there was definitely a heavy amount of infrastructure to um support the different amenities of the park um really starts to see a lot of a lot of progress once things start to go up vertically but uh yes definitely so um here can you just explain a little bit within this chart I just want the uh residents to understand at the time that things were uh processed or all the uh all the the different um projects that we had if you can name them that would be great sure again to to the extent that I can speak I wasn't here for Dural Meadow um I got here at the tail end of of white course Morgan Levy also was completed uh by the time I got here and I got here towards the last 10% of trails and Tails um those Parks uh weren't impacted as heavily they were already towards the tail end uh closing out so I I believe again to the extent I could speak those went smoothly they weren't affected um but specifically to uh Central Park um as as it's it's shown up here procurement was uh was done back in February of 2020 I believe there was some work that was done before that as well to uh take steps in in uh establishing this project and the notice to proceed for the uh for the uh design was in April um and then from construction start in March 2021 uh to today is where we had that uh Gap and that was why so my Council fellow members can understand the reason why yes uh it was budget issues um again due to co and the the different effects of uh of Co on the on the industry in the budget it was because of the increase of the prices that was not really on mismanage of the past administration or the former Administration but has to do with the inflation to my knowledge yes um there there were some design uh things that needed to be worked out but but mainly um I would say would it was due to covid and different effects of of covid on the industry and and on the world on labor like you stated and on uh materials last you need to add anything else no I think George um what George says is accurate I mean I think um when we went through it back in 2022 22 we saw a substantial increase and cost of materials um so since then um we've worked as a team the Parks Department with Acom the contractor the design team to find ways to to Value engineer you know certain things from the project um to reduce the cost but still maintain the amenities and the quality that we're used to um so I mean and that's still an ongoing effort to the state you know we we try to see where we can accomplish that and keep things in line so okay thank you any other comments I have a question thanks gentlemen today items 6 C and H were deferred how will this affect the timeline being that one of these items to my understanding directly impacts drywall going in this is security this is the yeah so for the access control and the CCTV um access access control is something that um we in speaking with the contractor it's something that we would have um want a vendor in sooner um rather than later um just for coordination purposes um as you can see from from the presentation there's a lot of progress in in the community center especially in the interior spaces um so that coordination with the access control vendor making sure that their infrastructure is is in um making sure they have everything that they need so when they come in to install their their systems um you know we're not having to do any modific at that point um that's something that that you know we would want to obviously try to get in sooner rather than later um so that's that was pretty would probably be the the one item I would say that that is a little uh time sensitive additionally item 6C um the contractor that was being um Rec contracted for the permitting is the contractor we've you used through I believe aom and uh um cofin Linn the entire life of the project correct so that that was a vendor that Acom had had brought on board back in September of 2022 um to assist in permit processing and Expediting services so they've they have a good understanding of the project from essentially the establishment of all the master permits um last year um we pulled that service out of uh Acom and we issued a purchase order directly with them um since then we've already for cost saving correct so since then we've already um met our our threshold with them so this was a request to increase it to continue utilizing them additionally I believe since we're talking about timeline one of the major delays that took place reasons why we saw price increases inflation and covid take effect and not meet the timelines that we originally had for this park was because design changed scope changed correct please address yes okay correct so again to the extent that I can speak cuz I kind of got here towards the tail end of around 2022 when all that was going on towards the end of covid um yes there were some design uh uh concerns that had to be worked through where we had to like like L said uh work through value engineering make sure that that it didn't delay the project but there was some uh I can't remember specifically but some things that did need to be uh squared away before we can continue you may not remember specifically but I can tell you specifically there were added that weren't supposed to be part of the original denied and it became a pet project adding features that were not consistent with what we had initially promised to the voters that that approved the bond creating a large scope in the B Bond project creating the delays and in e in in essence also creating the delays to the permitting process which is why everything got pushed back inflation happened Co happened it was The Perfect Storm in essentially but decisions that weren't made bad management decisions that happened at the beginning and changes to the scope of the project that shouldn't have happened are what caused the delays so to your point yeah the the master permits were being established uh close to uh the I think first quarter of 2022 and around that time that's when I came in and yes those were some of the things that I was told I wasn't here for the initial Concepts but yes I have I have a unique perspective that I was here from the very beginning of when this started and saw the uh the um complete um phased project that we had initi initially gone out to the voters with so thank you for clarifying I think that that uh sums up the presentation and I look forward to hopefully staying on timeline and delivering a product that is world class to our residents in a time frame that we have committed to and that with good management can be met we we'll continue to uh to work towards that thank you for for what you've done George appreciate it and thank you LZ all right we move on to the next item next item we'll move on to discussion items 9A a resolution of the mayor and the city council city of D Florida urging the Florida legislature to enact Senate Bill 1072 SB 1072 House Bill 1081 or similar legislation that would revise a method by Which counties can distribute collected tourist development taxes tdt and Convention development taxes CDT proportioning 50% of the revenues to the governing authorities and the municipalities within the county in proportion to the amount collected within the municipality as a share of the total amount collected from all municipalities in the county and revising which expenses and projects may be covered by said tdt CDT funds urging the Florida legislature and government Rhonda santis to support and approve the legislation and providing for transmittal and an effective date thank you madam clerk this is my item um I will be brief uh for those of us that have been following what is taking place in tallah this is a very important piece of legislation that will heavily impact our city positively something that I have been pushing for for a very long time um I want to thank Senator Aila who has uh spearheaded this uh fear fearlessly um and I think that there there's anybody that can get it done it's him as well as uh representative boras on the house side has carried this bill so far we've seen it uh gone through every committee I'll be up there next uh week and look forward to speaking at one of the Committees um and actually maybe on a panel with them as well and so this is something that for a city like Dural could um represent and and and generate about about $5 million um in our city budget that we did not see before that we can reinvest into this community into infrastructure into businesses um into into tourism and and uh into police services and into keeping our city prospering so I'm very excited that we are here and that this is finally uh could be a reality this session so this resolution is just to ask for support um to take it to Tallahassee and we're also sharing it with other cities um showing the need for local dollars to stay local and be administered locally motion motion to approve by Council M second by Vice May pre Cory any comments I did I what just said it it is important for the city to receive this funds I'm sure the other cities will like it to and uh and I don't know how the county will feel but uh you know I think we deserve our fair share like you mentioned and uh to reinvest in the city I remember back in the year 2003 when $24 million was going to the county before we became a city and now we're uh receiving all those dollars and reinvesting where we see the parks that we were talking about and many other facilities that our community uh shares and and enjoys so I'm I'm all in thanks Madam please call a roll motion to approve May by councilman poras second by vice mayor cor councilwoman poras yes vice mayor corvey yes Council Pino yes councilwoman Cal yes mayor FR yes motion passes on to item 9B item 9B a resolution of the man the city council of the city of D Florida urging the Florida legislature to enact House Bill 3 or similar legislation that would acquire commercial entities that publish material harmful to minors to prohibit access to such material to any person younger than 18 years of age and further requires that the set entity Implement reasonable age verification methods urging the Florida legislature and government santis to support and approve the legislation providing for transmittal and providing for an effective date okay councilman P this is your item thank you mayor I um well certainly in today's society with a widespread access to the internet and social media platforms and other applications I believe it certainly possess a significant challenge to safeguard our children from potentially harmful contact so when I heard uh speaker of the Florida house uh Mr Paul rer uh when he during the opening session on January 9th uh of this year which I had the the chance to be present uh he made a very significant point when when he was talking about online access to materials harmful to miners so pretty much this resolution is in support of um the Florida house bill three and the proposed legislation aims to mandate websites or Publishers Distributing material harmful to miners to incorporate reasonable age verification methods the objective is to ensure that users accessing such content are at least 18 years old I think that in today's society and the world that we're living in uh the more that we can protect our our childr the better especially in a in a community like Dalal which is a a family oriented community so uh again this is just a resolution urging the the Florida house to legislature to in that house uh build three and I would like to have uh my colleague support for this thank you councilman Pino are you placing a motion place the motion motion to approve by Council padoo second second by vice mayor P Corin any comments no being none thank you councilman Pino for bringing this forward very important Madam clerk please call the rooll motion to approve made by Council Pino second by vice mayor corve council Pino yes vice mayor corve councilwoman yes councilwoman poras yes mayor frag yes motion passes thank you very much next item 9 next item 9C discussion a call for support and assessing and improving Lake Drive street okay Council M this is your item as well thank you mayor um the Recon and I know thank you our City clerics Pass in some uh pictures that were taken last week actually this week from Lake View Drive as you might know um Lake View Drive for for years and the residents that live in that area which let me remind you there there are a lot of uh communities which I know they're private communities but uh the Road for a lot of these residents which we're talking about thousands of residents the belief is that this is an open road and that is a road that is belong to the perception is that is Belong To The City so uh my main concern and by listening to the resins for for years and especially now is that a lot of these resins that have kits for example a lot of the kids have to walk uh using these streets under under those conditions where you don't even have a sidewalk uh we have experienced as you know uh recently last year we experienced a a mayor flirting issue in that area uh causing a tremendous problem to the residents that again we're talking about thousands of residents that actually have to use those roads or that road particular road every day um so by speaking with the administration and our City attorney which I I'm going to ask uh certainly ask the City attorney to to elaborate a little bit more uh this is a private road and I know that uh we don't have any any responsibility at this point however by speaking with some of the management and the associations uh inside this particular section of the city uh they're they're looking for for help as well since they don't have the realities that they don't have the resources and to uh come up with an assessment is going to increase significantly to the residents in this section um their their their uh monthly HOA uh payments and it's something that has been like that for over 20 years so my um what I'm asking today to my colleagues is to consider just moving forward on the legal side with the city attorney and the city Administration to see the feasibility and process for an assessment and potential improvements to see how we can actually collaborate with uh the management and the associations in this particular section of the city because again the city keeps growing we always preach about you know how beautiful the city looks like but when you look at 79 Avenue and particular this section that again we're talking about thousands of residents in my memo say hundreds but we're talking about thousands of residents that live in this particular section so uh I know some of them are actually here so it it is it is important for us to go with uh we what we like to see looking into the future of the city again this is a private road but there uh there is a there is a way that we can make this happen uh by collaborating legally speaking uh with this administrations and the associations so if you uh through the through the manager uh if the city the attorney can elaborate a little bit about the the legal part of moving forward with something like this and what would be probably the first steps that we will have to take as a as a city yeah I well first and foremost um city and public funds cannot be used for a private purpose so under existing law we cannot use again Municipal funds to make improvements to this private road my understanding that this is a private road that solely Services um the private residential communities in that area area um so that would be prohibited under state law um there may be other options but those are ultimately policy decisions whether you want to set up a municipal service um benefit unit at msbu where they would be specially assessed um but again that's a policy decision to see what other options are out there but ultimately they would be responsible for paying for that thank you so again what I'm what I'm asking my colleagues today is to consider in moving forward as a as a as an Administration to see what are the steps that will be needed in order to establish at least the communication part with the management and the associations uh they're belong they're responsible for this area so that we can actually take a look of how we can work together to improve that section of the city because at the end of the day they're not going to do it I mean that's the reality it has been 20 years every year it's getting worse and again we're we're talking about thousands of residents that live in this particular section I know it's a private road but the perception out there is that it's a public road so because it's open I mean you you have gated communities once you are in this particular section but the perception is that it's an open road so at least we can start the communication because it is my understanding that you know nothing has been done as far of at least establishing the relation ship between the city and and these particular associations or or management companies so thank you councilman um any other comments at this time through the mayor yes Council I I think it's a good idea to start looking at you know what can be done I would suggest maybe having um public works or whatever appropriate Department start looking at you know Avenues and recommendations including you know if there is something that can be done done about like a a special taxing district or whatever legally can be done um that's where I I would say let's let's go ahead and get some ideas and recommendations and if you know me personally I think that the county since the county is going to be involved as well if there is a special taxing district to also reach out to the county and see what they suggest as well sort of do like a comprehensive um you know overview and get recommendations from the county from uh our public works department from anyone that can help because I think that this is also something where we will need to collaborate with not just the city it'll be the city the county the private associations the residents and I think that if we come together we can find some sort of solution um so you know I would add to your your requests sort of getting recommendations as to what what legally we can do through the different um entities as well through the minut yes vice mayor P thank you um two weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet with um the director of durm in the county uh specifically about this section of 79th Avenue and see what you know what can be done to better the flow of water when it rains constantly in the city like it has been raining in the last few years especially this last time that it rained for like two weeks and that's probably when the pictures were taken it's not only that road but also 79th Avenue and some of those residents get flooded as we know on the first floor it's really sad um so I went with Carlos uh the director of Public Works to to durm and they had some suggestions to the administration to um and also they're open to CU I heard that the county was not too open on installing new pumps uh to be able to help the flow of water and um the director of dur told us that they are open to additional pumps in some of the areas so I guess Studies have to be done to be able to to find out what's the best option like you're mentioning and uh and of course what's the legal uh way to do it so we won't be in Burton and having to to um to face any legal challenges so that's my comment thank you thank you vice mayor any other comments I also agree um on the comments of my colleagues too um on looking to see if there's any other alternative that will not get us into any liability later on uh with our funds because I know that there are other uh communities also that they have some issues so we just it's just a very fine line between that um but yeah let let's see uh through um like you met with them with with the with dur with the county to see what alternatives are there to give them a hand okay great um I have some quick questions I don't know if the City attorney or or or the city manager maybe a CO um Public Works can answer what is the process for getting private roads turned over so I guess that would be for me so first you would have to establish ownership um of that road and I believe that's a little bit more complicated because I don't know if anybody actually knows who owns it um based on my discussions with with staff um that the residents aren't even sure which Association how it was established so You' need to find that out first because obviously they would require consent of the owner to transfer ownership it could be dedicated you know a common a common law type dedication for public purposes or it could be transferred in fee simple for Pure ownership um certainly that is something that that may be feasible that's a policy decision um if you want to go down that route but as councilwoman cabal indicated it's a slippery slope you're going to have other I'm sure private communities also asking to dedicate their roads to the city for maintenance okay um I have a question also about State funds and grants for purposes of um resurfacing and and um improvements is there grants and state funds that can be utilized or is it only is it only Municipal funds that cannot be utilized for the purposes of resurfacing and improving the roads I don't know what grants are out there certainly there are grants that help individuals and associations and nonprofits like so I'm not sure if there are grants out there for that purpose um but for certain public funds the municipal funds cannot be used to improve a private road okay we have a a workshop that's coming up on this section on February 28th to my understanding as well which we had been working on for a while now that that is cor February 28th is community conversation with this specific uh area uh to provide uh questions and uh to provide answers and receive questions uh from areas of concern from the residents uh staff is uh is present we have multiple departments participating uh and again uh in combination with uh any legal uh uh limitations or or updates to Legal limitations will'll go from there and continue to push forward staff is ready to support in any way possible once we have a understanding of of what can be done legally are we reaching out to the associations in that area to make sure that they're aware and that their boards are present yes we are so right now we've uh finalized the Flyers which will be uh posted uh in the boards as well as given to each of the uh boards in that area okay I have a final question for um the City attorney the if there was to do if we were to do a special taxing district or some type of special assessment for the area the city could handle that didn't doesn't have to go through the county right could establish its own uh special taxing district for the area generally I believe the special taxing districts do do go through the county I think the county Charter is the one that authorizes us at least the ones that have been created so far in the city um they've been done through the county um with their consent uh I can say for certain what I was envisioning was more of msbu a municipal service benefit unit um which is essentially an assessment a non- adalum assessment levied for those purposes that would be you know a process that perhaps can be explored um you know as you guys go into it and start discussing and um investigating what Avenues may be available yeah okay only because I know for there was a discussion for a while a while back about the special taxing district for deral park being turned over to the city City because the residents there weren't happy with the with the um inefficiencies of the County's process and there was not there wasn't a very proactive response to fixing some of the issues that were part of the special taxing district so for for a bit when when I was here as a council when we we discussed taking over that special taxing district so it's why I asked because if it's something that can be done that we have local control over I think that we're much more proactive and efficient than the county is yeah cany I'm not sure um for certain I know that they have been transferring over taxing districts from the county to the city um for example for lighting purposes um but I can't speak to that that something that would need to be explored as part of this process okay I think this is definitely a life and safety issue at this point where we see some of these roads um there's accidents that happen here all the time in that corner I get the emails and the calls from residents so I think that it's great that we're having a workshop I hope to see maximum participation of the area so we can get some feedback and see if there is buying I can tell you I personally being in that area knocking on on doors there know that there's buying from the residents um if there were a movement towards some type of um ability to finance and improve the roads and then eventually even turn them over to the city that would be something that I think for that area is is uh would be effective so I look forward to continuing to have the conversation and and gaining more information and insight from the workshop that we will we will be conducting thank you councilman Beno for bringing this forward do you need any official action at this time manager uh City manager's office you need official action or consensus to maybe do some initial analysis and uh maybe bring back some recommendations after the workshop in a later in the future date we could definitely bring back uh information regarding what we gathered from the workshop that's something that we're planning to do anyways and Sh with the council uh as far as uh what direction we've already received to work with uh legal to uh look into what limitations or what options are available uh continue to do that and definitely bring something back to you all okay great thank you I think that's uh clear in the minutes all right we'll move on to item D item 9d discussion parks and police for kids Foundation [Music] appointment okay this is a council import item uh motion to approve my appointment for parks and police for kids Foundation second motion by councilman second by vice mayor P Cory Madam CL please call rooll councilwoman poras yes Vice May P yes councilwoman Cal yes Council P yes may yes motion passes thank you very much next item item 9e a resolution of the mayor and the city council of city of D Florida terminating the letter of understanding with the school board of Miami day County for office based The District 5 School Board member and providing for an effective date okay this is Council K item unless there are a um any uh comments I motion to approve my resolution uh just to clarify at the time that uh our district um school board that we have at that time sus Castillo she has office hours and she was using uh the conference room next to a Char once a month just to clarify and put that on the record any other comments is there a second on the motion second second by Council Council thank you mayor uh well first of all I I mean we when when I look at at at at this resolution and and I'm trying to look for for backup information or or reasons there's none so I would like I know that we're moving forward with this but I would like to hear especially for the residents are here what what's what's if there's a reasoning behind if it's if it's something that the office of the school board member is not in compliance with if it's if it's personal if it's politics but I think the residents deserve to know why we take this type of actions or decisions because at the end of the day we're affecting is the residents we're affecting parents that have kids that instead of driving to downtown Miami they have access to come here to City Hall if it's an office if it's the conference room I'll be more than glad to office the my office me too if that's if that's the the issue I mean the issue is to have a physical space here at City Hall I'll be more than glad to offer my office to the school board member to attend the resence because again we're here to provide access and service to the residents we're not here to take decisions based on nothing because I don't have nothing here I'm sorry great I mean same I'm let me finish it is my item we're not but the councilman has the floor yeah when he finish we're not in a TV show Council woman so let me finish uh this is my main concern my main concern is that we put we keep putting things in the agenda with no backup no information no reasons and we have to explain to the r why we're taking these decisions we have resents here we have resents watching this is going to be recorded it's going to be out there so to the parents especially to the parents there we have a lot of families a lot of kids here in theal why we're denying the access to these families to come to a place where they can meet with their school board member regardless who the school board member is if the school board member changing in August I will welcome the school board member to have a space here I mean I don't I don't disagree with something so essential as a community to deny the access to the families and to the residents so all what I'm asking is at least for the rer to explain why we're making this decision or why we're taking this step and if if there's something that we can change I think this is the time that to make the correction I mean they don't need to have an office but I do believe they need to have access especially families to to speak to their school board member through the mayor may I yes councilwoman you have thank you so I think it was a a very big mistake from I'm sorry the previous administration this Administration to bring any elected official that's not part of the city ccil and have them have a space here in the city whether it's a legislator whether it's a Schoolboard member anyone that's not an elected official of the city should not have had that space here because of the obvious conflicts and fights that have come up from this because this was an issue even in the previous with the previous School Board member which is our mayor this was an issue right and so I think that to avoid and eliminate any and all future issues we just need to have a set policy which um I am going to probably work on and bring back hopefully in March about who should be in the city council elected officials should be the ones that are here of course this doesn't limit the access to the Schoolboard member we have our state legislator that has an office maybe 10 minutes from here I mean me personally I don't think that there is an access issue if unless this is the only space where the Schoolboard member can be so for me it's a matter of we have to stop thinking about historically what was done historically and start abiding by what we think are the the rules and the policies that are going to be in benefit of the city therefore that is why I'm voting this way and I am going to bring back a policy making sure that we are not doing this in the future as well thank you if I may councilman kab you have the floor I've been involved in the schools for a little bit more over to a decade that was the first time that I start volunteer here in our schools where actually I was the founder of uh parent teacher associations in our school I've been part of different entities the ISAC where actually we allocate funds to help with different projects to our teachers in our schools and our kids I was the chair for parking police for kids so I've been around kids in the school for many many years in the city and I just one school we're talking on public and Charter and private school so all three so at that time when there's any issues that any parent have they go directly to the principal of their school they try to resolve the issue if not they go Regional and then at the end they go to our school district so with this we are not um we are not allowing the school board to be in contact with our residents this is just I mean the the the city keeps growing we need space and there's many ways to be able to uh for to for him to be reach if not then what about the other schools he doesn't only represent the city of D he represents many other uh cities too so why is it that he doesn't have one in each of the schools one of each of those cities so but in this case it's not about that it's about that we need a space and I think that this will minimize having any issues later on when it comes to conflict any other comments at this time okay I have some comments historically and I know we don't want to talk about historically but this city hall has been offered as a place for other elected officials to be able to access the public when I went in as a school board member I asked for the same courtesies that were extended to the previous School Board member so that I had access to be able to service the community I actually received it in other areas in other cities and I'm sure the current School Board member has that ability too I was denied the ability to have access to the Dural Community the thing is that no one was ever going to stop me from servicing the public and so I found the ways to be able to be a part of the community be available to the community and service the community in a way that they deserved to be serviced the purpose of having the school board members office here office hours here is so that they're able to provide resources to the families of our city no different than the information and Resource Center that we established last year something that was a campaign Promise by some of us because the idea was to open up the doors of city hall because this building is the Public's building because we are here to service the community not to meet political and personal agendas so we might as well do away with the information and Resource Center because the purpose of that Division and that office was to be able to open the door to other agencies such as Department of Children and Families such as nonprofits such as services to the community that the residents could come and gain access to things that would improve their quality of life I can tell you there was many times many times that I needed to meet with families from the Schoolboard on very sensitive issues and I would have to find where to meet luckily I have great relationships with other elected officials in this area as well as I had the ability to take them in my office my personal office and service the community at schools I would meet with them and be able to provide the service I have no doubt our school board member can adjust and do the same the purpose of Us opening the doors to the this building was because we promised to open up the doors to this building to give access to our community and to let them know that this was their building because this is not our building this is not our private building this is not council's building this is not my day this is not my seat there will be someone else here one day this building belongs to the public and I think please hold your applauses and I think the actions that we are taking today are in Reverse to where we have been going for a year and I can promise you we're not going back we're not going back there is no turning back to the progress and the forward moving motion that this city is in you all can try and do it but we won't stop because you know what the public has seen what a difference is the public has seen what open and transparent government is the public has seen what it is to have a building that is theirs the public has been engaged they can't unsee what they've seen that I can guarantee you so we can take this action and you can sleep all that night thinking that it's the right thing to do because we're setting new policies moving forward but ultimately the public decides what are the right policies for this building because this building isn't ours my office will always be open and if the school board member needs to use my office my office is available so is my conference room because at the end of the day it's not him we're servicing it's the public that we're servicing so anyone who would like to say different to make yourselves feel better please do but the public has seen the veil has been lifted and they can unsee please call the RO mayor please yes I'd like to like to add that I agree in some of the things that you mentioned that it should be access to to um elected officials that are representing our city in other ways and that's why I think that it should be open to more than just one elected official so we can always allow them through a process to use that office not only the board member the school board member but also the state senator the State Rep and other elected officials that need an office in the city of theout so for that reason I think that we should open it up to um to also other elected officials thank you so I don't think I'll just make a quick comment I don't disagree with you and that was again the purpose of the information and Resource Center the vision for that was eventually to open up an office downstairs that had multiple areas that members of other government agencies could come and place office hours a shared conference room that was the that's where we were headed that is where we were headed those are the plans we had that's what the information and Resource Center was supposed to be about a place where Department of Children and Families the state attorney's office any local David boro's office our state representative our our state senator our school board member would have a location where they could host their office hours with different cubicles and a shared conference room that's where we were headed that was the plan the purpose of the Schoolboard members office here was was by the way state representative Anam Maria Rodriguez had her office here her staff was here every single day and she didn't even represent this area for years mind you a representative the representa of the area came and asked can I have some space and was ignored every single time and some of you were sitting up here when I came up and spoke in that Podium and said I'm a Schoolboard member I'd like an opportunity to have space in the building have office hours so that I could service the community and by the way I was here when when Susie Castillo was a school board member she had an office on the third floor with a computer that was given to her by the city and her staff was there all the time Andreina was her name she was there all the time on the third floor again I don't to disagree with councilman boras historically that's the way it was done we don't want to do it that way great but we're not going to sit up here and try and mask something that is clearly clearly has se separate motivations I don't disagree with you we can move forward towards a future of the information and Resource Center being a place with multiple you know multiple offices that Services the community at all levels that was the goal but we don't have that right now we were moving towards that by doing this it sends a clear message of we're closing the doors to City Hall again you have no access to City Hall go somewhere else go to a school don't come do your business here you can only come do your business here if you're in with the city council that's my opinion Madam clerk please call Ro motion to approve May by councilwoman C second by councilwoman Bas councilwoman Cal yes councilwoman yes councilman Pino no vice mayor P corve yes mayor Fraga no motion passes okay we move on to the items that were pulled and um correct and moved from other areas of the agenda so we're going to go into item 14a correct it's a independent legal opinion city manager selection under the city attorney's report thank you thank you honorable mayor councel um so typically during my city attorney's report of course always Pro provide an update on litigation the city was um served with two new lawsuits which I disseminated to the council um on Monday evening in addition to that uh Pur to the January 31st special meeting of the council the city council direct Mee to get an independent opinion concerning the method and manner of selecting a city manager the very next day February 1st I reached out to the law firm of Goran Cher off duty and Ezra um they have since provided an analysis and an opinion on the matter which I circulated yesterday afternoon representatives of the firm are here um to present their opinions and any answer any questions that you may have so um Jacob Horowitz and Michael cillo attorneys for the fmer here morning mad mayor council members for the record I'm Jacob harwitz I'm a shareholder with the law firm gor and sheriff dudy and EZ along with me as my law partner Mike cillo as your city your City attorney indicated uh we were engaged about 10 days ago or so to provide a charter analysis and legal interpretation with regards to certain provisions of your Charter as it relates to hiring a city manager um I want to preface my comments this morning if I could by saying ultimately under Florida law the five of you have the authority and the ability to make a decision when it comes to an interpretation of your Charter and the courts are very clear on that and unless that decision is erroneous unless it's you know clearly off base with the plain language of your Charter it's very very unlikely that a court would either overturn or reway the manner in which you made that decision um this was a very interesting and candidly challenging legal exercise for a number of reasons and back in 2014 the city took some interesting action in the context of chronology which we laid out in our opinion um I want to start generally speaking as a a premise when it comes to statutory analysis and legal interpretation and again ultimately we have provided our opinion you'll notice at the beginning of our analysis we sort of hedge that opinion by saying that you know reasonable people can certainly disagree and we recognize that a a contrary opinion based on all of the facts and circumstances could be reached as it relates to this particular situation but when it comes to legislative interpretation statutory construction the case law is very clear as it relates to conflicts of law the process that we look at you know typically speaking we know that two legislative enactments can't exist when two legislative enactments can exist at the same time a conflict would exist and a conflict exists when um complying with one provision in your Charter would automatically result in a violation of another provision you know candidly after reviewing the plain language of your Charter as it reads you know we didn't see an actual conflict we did see somewhat of a unique situation when it comes to the hiring process for a city manager which appears to have been bifurcated in 2014 whether it was intentional or not remains a little unclear based on the review of some minutes and having rewatched some of your Council meetings over the past several days but the plain language of your Charter as it reads today does not from our perspective appear to be in Conflict you can comply with section 3.03 of your Charter as it relates to appointing a search committee to locate a city manager you can also comply with section 3.01 of your Charter as it relates to the mayor nominating an individual to serve as your city manager section 3.03 contemplates A removal of your city manager by one specific process and that is action of this Council if your city manager were to resign if there were to be a death in that position or a vacancy created through any manner other than action of this Council section 3.03 would not apply and in that case 3.1 would apply and in our opinion the mayor would have the ability to nominate and that nomination would be subject to approval by this Council if however this Council were to take some affirmative action to terminate your city manager there's a vote on the record that would implicate the provisions of section 3.03 in which case at that same meeting under the provisions of the charter a search committee would be formed and that process would play out as it relates to finding a city manager if the plain language of your Charter was in Conflict there would be a need to dig deeper to peel back further layers of the analysis to dig further into the legislative intent and to add some additional context and Research into that analysis but again so long as the plain language of your Charter does not appear to be in conflict and those two sections can be harmonized and read together and complied with without violating either provision of the charter in our opinion there's no need as a matter of law to take that second step um and that that sort of where we came down when it comes to our conclusion you know we know that as a matter of law only if the statute's actual language is unclear would there be a need to engage in the standard analysis when it comes to to Charter interpretation or statutory construction if the language of your Charter is clear or at least can be harmonized and read together and there's a concept where you read statutes and Charter Provisions in param Materia you're required to read them all uh as as one essentially in an effort to harmonize multiple sections which could arguably conflict if you read them all together again complying with Section 3.03 does does not result in a violation of section 3.01 and vice versa but the key question as it relates to which provision would apply would be the manner in which your city manager was ultimately transitioned from the city again if there was a resignation if there was a death if there was a vacancy by some process other than action of this Commission in our opinion the mayor would have the unequivocal prerogative to make a recommendation to appoint a candidate and that candidate would be subject to approval by theity Council if however this commission takes some affirmative action to terminate one of your Charter officers then the process in 3.03 would kick in and you sort of the analogy that we you talked about over the past several days was if you break it you bought it if this commission takes some action to affect the position of your city manager and a majority of the commission feels that that is in the city's best interests that majority this commission would then own the process of finding finding a replacement through the search committee but if that never occurs and that vacancy occurs through some other means then again under 3.01 as it reads today and as it read in 2014 at the time would give the authority to your mayor to make that recommendation subject to council approval um again we went back through the chronology we watched some of your Council meetings from 2015 I will agree that this can be read differently you know clearly I think somebody could go back look at the intent of your Council in 2014 look at the intent of your Charter review commission which was also in session at the time you interestingly enough uh your Charter review commission put an item on the ballot in August of 2014 to transition away from a process where the mayor would nominate to a process where a search committee would be used to hire a city manager before that vote even occurred three weeks prior to the August 26 2014 election this Council adopted a resolution placing an item on the November ballot actually placing five items on the ballot but one in particular placing an item to essentially revert back to a process where the mayor would make an appointment um it's unclear from our review of those meetings and from our review of the minutes whether there was an intent to change section 3.03 when it comes to the removal of the city manager and the charter officers but again perspective of the intent which we couldn't fully ascertain the plain language of your Charter as it read then and as it reads now can be harmonized can be read together and if you take either one of those sections either individually or collectively they would not be in Conflict from our position which creates that sort of bifurcated process as it relates to hiring a manager um again we went into a fairly detailed analysis I know you all have a copy of it I'd be happy to you know dig further but that's our our ultimate conclusion and again if there's any questions I'm I'm happy to you know try to try to you further answer them any questions through the mayor yes counc ortas first I want to uh thank you for that thorough analysis and it it sounds like you did a lot of research I mean you watch some of our meetings the first thing that I want to establish is that this is truly an independent legal opinion so my question my first question is to our city um attorney how did you choose this Law Firm for the opinion sure um the request was made to find an independent firm I thought it would be important to find a firm that was not in Miami dat County that didn't have um have served as City attorney for the city before and so that's why I selected their firm they also represent other cities in Broward County and do this Nate this type of work thank you and to the attorneys here is that exactly how it happened it is if I may just make one comment you rais an important comment you councilwoman po for us um as we were going through this exercise you know we noticed something that we did not know at the time we took this assignment that I do want to be clear and transparent with on the record our Law Firm through our former law partner who is no longer with our firm was General Counsel to your Charter review Commission in 2014 we did not know that when this assignment initially came in as soon as we became aware of that issue in reviewing ordinances we advised your City attorney you know we all agreed that the action that your Charter review commission took in 2014 really had no bearing on the assignment that we were asked to weigh in on um but I did want the record to be clear that you know again we we did uh notice that during the course of our review um also in the interest of disclosure um gosh it's been about 15 or 18 years or so you know or 20 years we were special counsil to the city of Dural you know through your former City attorney Mr John Hearn um when he was your City attorney many years ago um we have professional relationships with Mr Hearn he brought us in to sort of be somewhat of a back office for him um again before we came here this morning I never met I still haven't met most of you we don't know anybody on the de until this morning we had never met your City attorney in person we don't have any stake in the politics of deral or any interest in you know this process other than providing you with our best unbiased legal opinion thank you I appreciate that and just a couple comments I I will be making motion after everyone you know has said their comments but this is your opinion essentially came back to with exactly what I said during our meeting and also after my discussion um with this with our current city manager just as a reminder to everyone here the charter is the rule of law here in the city of deral and to me it is a very it's very clear from the plain reading of the charter that there are two separate sections that govern how to choose and select a city manager and one of them which is section 3.01 and all of you can pull up your Charter and read it right now um provides for the appointment or nomination of a city manager by the mayor in the event that there's a vacancy and typically if there wasn't another section vacancy includes everything right but because they separated a section section 3.03 which is again the analysis I made during our last um meeting regarding this regarding this issue is that section 3.03 specifically um provides for the appoint how to select a city manager if there's a termination or removal which is exactly what we did during our council meeting and therefore the appropriate um step forward was to set up a committee and start that search and therefore after everyone is done with their public comments I will be making a motion thank you very much appreciate it any other comments at this time yes Council M thank you mayor uh well first of all thank you so much for for being here today and and for providing this um this uh interpretation my and and also thank you for being transparent and honest about your um relationship with former City attorney and former Charter official as well I got to make two comments based on on what you just stated uh for me that would be as an elected official would be a conflict mean based on perception see sometimes we like to base certain things on perception I think that what you just disclosed which I again I I thank you for that I will perceive that as a as a as a conflict and as a as an issue for me to make a decision based on your interpretation uh that's number one number two I I understand and and again I thank you for for providing this report but at the same time I I want to remind my colleagues that the this was taken to the ballot in November of 2014 and the residents voted for this so and since November 2014 we have had three different city managers as you mentioned nominated by the city mayor and bring it to the council for approval since we're talking about interpretation and perceptions uh I I don't feel comfortable in doing something that goes against the will of the residents because again the last and it's a fact the fact is that we have an election back in November 2014 the residents voted to um to actually to and let me let me go back here um I can say to remove the portion of actually uh changing it from the uh to creating a search committee back to the mayor's uh let's say decision to nominate and then for the council to approve that city manager so again that's the last time that the the voters had an option uh we're in the middle of a city Charter committee right now process uh it will be a great time maybe for our city Charter committee to take a look of this as well but I don't feel comfortable in doing something or moving forward uh with something that again the residents are the ones that will have to make that decision not not us so the fact is that we had an election back in November 2014 the residents decided one way if that needs to be reviewed by our current city Charter officials I think it's a great time to do it and put it on the ballot in November and to have residents to decide but I do agree unfortunately this was never addressed back in 2014 uh when this was adopted so those are my comments any other comments at this time yes if I may Council M thank you so much for um giving your opinion a thorough lack of how things sequence of uh historic things that happen within that provision of our Charter um I think that this is a more transparent Democratic way of having a committee to be able to appoint a city manager uh where many people will have the opportunity to apply and to go through the process so the committee will be able to choose who will be the perfect fit uh to be our city manager within that time thank you Council I have some questions please yes thank you um I read your your analysis um definitely got the billable hours in there nine pages seems like a little bit of uh legal gymnastics that was that was done to to come to a to a determination here to me it's pretty clear and I happened to be sitting on the deis when this act actually I think I was the only one sitting on the Das the only one I was the only one right I looked a little different um so I remember clearly when this took place and the initial intent of the charter officials because there was certain turmoil going on at the time was to have a search committee for the three Charter offices that passed in August but subsequently after by a vote of 3,274 votes another ballot amendment was made that says the charter authorizes the appointing of the manager by Council vote following search committee recommendations is processed is I'm sorry it's proposed that the charter be amended to provide that upon a vacancy in the manager's position the mayor shall nominate a replacement within such period of time deemed reasonable by the council in the office and thereafter if none is nominated council members shall have the opportunity to nominate a candidate clearly the intent and actually your analysis on page five just before section three says an and I quote it appears that a majority of the council at the time intended for the city manager candidate to be nominated by the mayor and be subject to approval by the city council that is what your analysis say I agree with you so there was a clear intent to revert back to its original intention of the mayor being the one to nominate the manager and I go further to ask in review of our Charter did you find a definition of charter official I don't recall specifically looking for a definition but I believe the three positions are defined are referenced as Charter officers the city manager the City attorney and the city clerk they're all referenced in 3.03 as your Charter officers actually that is incorrect okay section 3.02 A says in the event of a vacancy in the position of City attorney and city clerk collect ly the charter officers it's the only place where Charter officers is defined as the City attorney and city clerk city manager has its own section which is section 3.1 and was intended to be separate and stay as an administrative position I can tell you because I was here and I know what the intent was section 3.3 was created when the original committees had been put into play however I don't disagree with you that it was not taken out properly in its subsequent ballot amendment in November of 2014 however the only word that needed to be stricken was the word city manager after removal in section 3.03 because if you read section 3.03 and this is as clear as day these are the two sections you need to look at I appreciate the nine pages of billable hours to to our tax doers but it reads very clearly the city council shall prior to the City Council vote on a removal of any of the charter officers specifically include the consideration of the removal of the charter officer as an agenda item on the city council agenda along with specific agenda items regarding the appointment of a search committee and the appointment of an intrum City an interum Charter officer refers to Charter officer the whole time nowhere in this section does it say manager the inclusion of agenda item related to the removal of the charter officer shall include sufficient documentation to educate the mayor and council members regarding the basis for the proposed action so the members of the city council may make a reasonable and informed decision regarding the potential removal of a charter officer if the city council votes to remove the charter officer the council shall at the same meeting appoint a search committee as as provided in the charter to search for a candidate to fill the vacant position and appoint the interim Charter officer the charter officer may be removed by a majority vote of the city council pursuing to this section manager has never stated there the only time you see the word city manager is in the title and I agree with you it should have been taken out in that b in that ballot but if we're going to talk about intent and the will of the voters and what the voters went back to here's the here's the ballot 3,274 votes that want to revert back to giving the authority to the mayor this isn't about whether I select because I'm in the the position right now or any future Mayors make this selection in this process the the the the the perceived interpretation that because the vacancy was created by a vote of the council is absurd this isn't about whether I select as a matter of fact I provided a memo today that I will talk about in my mayor's report that calls for a committee because I do believe that the spirit of the charter is important but we're going to talk about intent we're going to be honest and go back and look at intent the intent of the provision was for the mayor to nominate the manager that is why there is a clear distinctive section 3.01 that talks about the manager so I appreciate that the the the the legal gymnastics but it seems like it was a forced way to get to an opinion that intended and met a need that's my opinion of course I go further to say that the conclusion of your analysis States in light of the foregoing while it appears that the city council and the electorate in 2014 intended for vacancies in the city manager position to be filled by a candidate nominated by the mayor and approved by the city council it did not uh it did not address the process for removal of Charter officers by the city council so I appreciate the uh analysis I respect that we have a City attorney right now that's sitting in the seat and her analysis which I think was simple it was one pager and went right back to the point what was the intent of the voters you made a point at the beginning and said ultimately we decide right and I asked this question all the time who enforces our Charter who enforces the rules here of what we do because I've seen the charter violated here several times I'm just tired of seeing it violated because at the end of the day we're violating the voters we're violating the voters will we're violating the Public's [Music] will and we're just put here for a certain period of time we don't own this seat or this city so if I'm looking at the intent and I'm looking at what the process was and what the voters wanted to do then I think it's pretty clear you said we make that decision so I'm not putting it on you not putting it on you I'm putting it on here I get that and that'll be decided and if it'll be decided today and if somebody wants a seat there's an election in November come for it but I think we're setting a really bad precedent and making a decision that goes int against the intent of the voters and once again I appreciate your analysis but I think it fulfilled an intent for one side I appreciate appreciate it thank you very much for being here today the mayor I have more comments go ahead Council poras I think you had a motion you wanted to place thank you I'm sorry you're being chastised for doing your job and this is an independent legal analysis again that's why I wanted to establish that this I mean we came to the same conclusion and I've never met you so you know I apologize for that um at the end of the day I think that the charter is always going to govern and if there is a change an amendment that the residents would like to see I think this is the time um there is a charter review commission that is convening I believe they're convening later this week I urge you to come and watch and at the end of the day you know the council here is going to make a decision right and if any member of the council disagrees with it they can join the list of former elected officials that are suing the city that is your right so any decision that gets made here by the majority of the council can be challenged in a legal courtroom and in fact you know it it really saddens me to see someone try to make arguments that has no idea what the legal analysis takes it place that takes place in making those things because intent is when you have something that's conflicting and you have to look into external um case law policy to look at what the what what the meaning was meant to be and so for me it's it's very disappointing and I apologize to you so I'm going to make a motion to have have us convene have the city council reconvene a week from now which is 221 to provide appointments to a search committee for the city manager so the first thing is we're I'm going to make a motion to uh have us the city council convene a search committee to find a new city manager and I would like for us to reconvene a week from today that's one two to post a position within a week from today as well so through the city manager to have HR post the position have it open for 30 days and once we meet next week then we can decide when we're going to meet again and how we're going to move this process along and that is my motion I have a question um I don't believe that this Council if we're going to be providing for a committee to do a com to do a search or to go through the process I think the committee has to establish what the process will be correct is that directed to me well I guess you're the only City attorney sitting up here right now well my interpretation was that there would not be a a a search committee for a city manager um in the first place so I don't know if you want to direct the question to um a special counsel who's retained for that purposes is um obviously they provided the opinion on on this issue so if a search committee is to be convened should the search committee be the one that sets the process oh may we haven't looked at that issue but if you'll give me a moment if we just look again at 3.03 so your Charter currently reads that actually it's the same meeting in which you vote to terminate your manager remove your manager that a search committee uh excuse me to appoint a search committee as provided in the charter to search for a candidate again I don't have your entire Charter in front of me I don't want to uh answer off the cuff without confirming whether or not that provision is there but you know typically a committee would be able to establish its own process absent some uh provision in the charter that laid out a process for it or some specific Direction by this commission yeah if I may so what I'll add is 3.03 does refer to a selection committee process and that selection process is provided for in 3.02 okay thank you but 3.02 only applies to City attorney and city clerk so again which is defined as Charter officers so if if you want to use the 3.02 which is specific to City attorney and city clerk um which exists U for selection committee process then and certainly that exists but um as you specific to the city manager um there is no specific language other than you know under the interpretation that 303 would apply and and I would only offer and and again I would defer to your City attorney who ultimately is one that would provide you know her her opinion which we have a lot of confidence in is that if this commission is going to form a committee and provide that committee with a specific charge of locating a city manager I think you have the flexibility and the prerogative to define the terms by which that committee would operate through the man through the mayor if you follow 3.03 it says to place the item along on with specific agenda items regarding appointments of a search committee so to me it does indicate that you need to place an item for a search committee and and though there is no other specification that means we can go ahead and provide our own and therefore again I'm going to make the same motion that I made and you know there's a second so I would call the question there's um a motion on the table to call a special meeting for February 21st to appoint a committee um what what time is febrary so I I'm not here February 21st I'm in I'm in Tallahasse the 21st and the 22nd so I would request that we do it on the 20th in the morning I'm Sorry Miss second pleas to see oh yeah we can do it at five o'clock at 4 I'm good the 20th of preferably in the morning if you all don't mind just because there's a parks and police for Foundation meeting that night we just have Cito with a cop at that time I don't mind but just FYI afternoon can we do in the morning please I'm okay with 9:00 a.m. I'm just letting you all know there's a capaco I'm fine with morning yes well please thank you 10:00 a.m. yes okay I will work on scheduling that so there's a motion on the table to set a a special meeting for February 20th at 10:00 a.m. regarding a uh selection committee for the selection of the city manager is that it in addition to directing the city manager to post the through HR to post the position within a week from today and have it be open for 30 days I just want to say I I I don't agree with that because if we are going to actually do this independent process of invoking a search committee then let the search committee decide what the process is how long they want to open it for 30 days is not a long time to look for a candidate with a special um for for the candidate that needs to have the minimum requirements as per the charter I think 60 days is something that is more um more accurate and a better time frame to put this out with the IMCA and do a full search um of I think it's what our our residents deserve they deserve to have a full open process of what and that was what I delineated in my memo that I circulated today was a 60-day search National search so that we get all the possible candidates that are open I mean there's a lot of Shifting going on in other cities right now so we may have tons of candidates to pull from from cities but um I think that the most transparent process and inclusive process is to open this up for more than 60 days so I won't be supportive of that I think that we should allow the search committee uh whether it's made up of us directly or we're going to appoint somebody um we let them decide how long the process should be open for I think that that is a true open and inclusive process I won't change my motion motion stands through through the mayor if I can uh if the direction is to provide staff uh the direction to post the position I I would ask for there to be clarity as far as where we will be posting it if we're going to be subing applications through our current online application system uh those type of uh questions or or answers are necessary for the staff to have the clear Direction on what they need to do if you refer to my memo um which I provided and circulated today um I had had the opportunity to ask uh for recommendations on how to proceed with a and I think that there was a list of um Publications through the IMCA as well as websites as well as internally that it can be posted uh if if it's the will of the council but I I believe that they they there was a recommendation to do it longer than 30 days so unless there's a candidate already that you guys have in mind I mean might as well just put the name forward now let's let let's let not fool the public here I mean I'm not I don't need to waste any more time so does that provide you with enough Direction on where to post it the thing is if it's going to be posted in the Publications that I have done the research on they're going to need more than 30 days so maybe 45 days you need how to post a position to post a position we could post it for for a week a month six months now with regards we just need the clear Direction on how long we want it up what Publications we want it up how we want to receive the applications uh and what you want staff to do as far as providing you back those resumés or or uh applications if it's through the system got it so I think if it's fine with everyone we can wait until the 20th to come back with some more information on how long and where to post it fine that make sense yeah okay may I make a comment mayor yes absolutely just in response to something councilman Panero said and something you said as well you know our opinion was pretty clear that you know this was a challenging issue and I could easily see as we stated how a different conclusion could be reached but the two you said something very important specifically your Charter review commission is currently in session um this is an issue in our opinion that should be addressed that should be clarified and you know should be cleaned up moving forward because again you know reasonable people reasonable lawyers can disagree and can reach different conclusions and we've again we've got a lot of respect for your City attorney I know she looked at this a little differently but I don't have any issue with any of your prior comments mayor we certainly respect your opinion and the fact that you know you could look at this differently I think reasonable people can look at this differently but again based on our analysis and a a strict construction of the plain language of your Charter we reached the conclusion that we did but I think this is a very ripe issue for your Charter review commission to consider that's all I have mayor thank you okay so then the motion is just to call a meeting for the 20th at this time correct for the meeting just for the meeting I have a motion to schedule special council meeting on February 20th at 10: a.m. for Council to provide their appointments to city manager search committee May by councilwoman poras May by vice mayor corve councilwoman poras yes vice mayor corve yes councilwoman Cal yes councilman Pino yes mayor Fraga yes motion passes okay thank you very much for your time thank you may thank you okay we move on now to item 6B 6B a resolution of the mayor and the city council of the city of dral Florida approving an employment agreement with Francisco Rios as interim city manager providing for authorization providing for implementation and providing for an effective date this was P by councilwoman poras your item thank you um if the clerk and please pass around the document that I provided in light of the independent legal opinion I would like to nominate a new interim city manager I've just passed around a resume of Katie Brooks who has over 40 years of local government experience in South Florida who used to be City of Miami Beach city manager assistant city manager and has a strong reputation as a fair and ethical city manager and I would like to thank Frank for his work and his diligence and his competence um in helping us get through this process and I would like to also um make a motion to appoint this interim city manager and have our our current interim go back into a deputy position as well as compensate him um in proportion to what he has requested for the time that he was our interim city manager second have a point of order this is considered a lay down item this is considered a lay down item because uh our Charter which we just went through maybe we want to call the attorneys back up um clearly states a process for not only the appointments of the manager but section 4 um 4.10 I believe talks about the uh process for putting items on an agenda procedure for putting items on an agenda and I'm going to pull it up so that I can read it directly so I'd like to call a point of order and have an A our our City attorney um speak to section 4.10 of the charter because there is no item this was not um published to the public there is no this there was not enough time for the council to to review this and the charter is very clear on that laid down items have to have a majority vote and must be uh an item of life and safety if I could if I could just clarify the language so 4 point I believe um mayy you're referring to section 4.10 yes subsection e of the charter that provides that the city council shall not consider items that are presented by the city council members at a regular meeting that are not P submitted pursuant to the section there shall be an exception for city council items that are found to be an emergency by an affirmative vote of no less than four members of the city council and that the emergency specifically relates to Public's health safety and Welfare and finding that the matter is an emergency under the section the city council shall make a specific finding as to the nature of the emergency was this item advertised to be on the agenda the appointment of an interim manager was not specifically identified um as an item on the agenda therefore a vote would need to be taken to allow for this item to be submitted as a lay down item that would be what your Charter provides for okay so first you would need to ask to lay down the item Council andas through the attorney this is a motion that's related to the item before us which is the approval of the interim City manager's contract which is directly related so I am going to include and amend my motion for that to include the appointment of a new interim city manager and that's exactly what it is it's not a lay down item it is an amendment to the current item that was published and was noticed and contrary to other times where an opinion was submitted the day of and right before a meeting where we didn't get a chance to review it this is actually something that you can review right now and and it's it's directly related to the item that's on the agenda right now Council I appreciate your um legal background unfortunately you're not a City attorney and the resolution on Item B States specifically and was advertised to the public as such a resolution of the mayor and the city council of the city of D Florida approving an employment agreement with Francisco Ros as an interim city manager providing and for authorization providing for implementation providing for an effective date that is not advertisement to the public that someone else will be put in the position so you are trying to circumvent the process and not be transparent with the public it is false to say that we have the opportunity right now to review a resume of someone who has 40 years of experience while she may be wonderful and may end up being our city manager Pro you know possibly but to sit here and say that we need to make a decision to put an inment on someone that i't seen the application or the resume for for the first time in one of the most important positions in our city this is I mean this is this this isn't about me this about this is the person the residents have response to the residents of D this is an insult to our residents and the charter which you just so defended because section 4.10 as described by the City attorney and I'm looking for it so I can continue to read it which was put on the same ballot in 2014 so this exact thing could not happen so there was not a surprise to the residents or to anyone sitting on this Council it's an insult to the residents so you are in violation of the charter if you try to make this motion a part of Item B and the City attorney which is the City attorney we have right now it might not be who you like but it's who we have right now just told you that it's a violation of the charter if you would like to bring up the next city attorneys to the podium to State their opinion on this please do so they're here they're building up us have them come up and make a make a a determination and a um opinion on section 4.10 of the charter you have the right to put the attorney but you would need to ask is this a violation of the charter the charter simply provides that you're not supposed to had any items that are not specifically already on them in compliance with the procedures that are put therein um there may be other if there's a majority of the council to provide to go forward in a different manner if you want to go ahead and hear the item currently that's on the agenda and amend it then that's the will of the council rather than do it through a lay down item what do you mean lay down it right because you're amend correct pending I believe it's going to be read into the record that is exactly what I just mentioned I'm not sure how to make it more clear to the mayor but again this is an amendment to the item that's on the agenda right now now to to have replace our interim city manager with this individual that I just handed to you it is an amendment and we only need a majority for that and therefore I'm going to move forward with amending councilwoman if I may only because the item has not yet been introduced okay let's let's introduce it there you go May yes one second I have a question for the City attorney again this was advertised differently it was advertised as a contract to a different person an item has just been laid down with a new resume for the first time we are seeing this you're saying that that's not in violation of our Charter of section 4.10 of the charter to review and see new item on this what that was not advertised it's not in violation of section 3.0 of 3.1 of the charter and not in violation of section 4.10 of the charter the well you have an opinion now in terms of the appointment of the intrum that it would be by city council um so that's one two with respect to the putting items on the agenda it does provide that item should be submitted 7 days in advance with backup four days in advance of the meeting um that's very specific obviously these were not provided within that time frame um you guys can make your conclusions um on that and ultimately decide as a city council whether you want to proceed with the item right and so section 4.10 we read item e but then item C of that section says the city council member May submit supporting documentation related to the specific agenda item that is that is sufficient for the city council to have noticed the specific agenda item and to be able to evaluate the agenda item at a regular city council meeting the supporting docum documentation shall be submitted to the city clerk no less than four business days prior to the regular city council meeting so now we're in violation of two sections of the charter because this was just cir circulated so I came prepared to have a discussion about an agreement for our current inim city man city manager now we're being asked to make a decision and have a discussion about a new inim city manager I'm not arguing the fact that that a new inim city manager can be submitted but it should go through the right process put it put it on the agenda with 4 days give us the backup of this person and let us at least have an opportunity to review a resume but we are basically being asked or forced to make a decision on a candidate that we've never met and we've never had the opportunity to evaluate I'm not negating that it may be a great candidate I'm negating the fact that no one has had the opportunity what if this person is a sexual predator I don't know that I need to do background check well that that will be the time they app for HR the background check what if councilwoman you don't have the floor right now you don't have you do not have the floor right now comments are out of place you do not have the floor right now I'm making a statement I'm saying what if the person that's being recommended has a has a history has an has an issue we don't know that because we haven't given we haven't been given sufficient time so we can hear the com we can hear the item but I believe that we are very much in violation of our of section 4 in of the charter this item has not been advertised to the public therefore there is no one who can come and speak on the item from the public through the mayor yes vice mayor i' like to ask the attorney can you please answer yes or no are we in violation of the charter yes or no I think ultimately it's your decision um as to whether there was sufficient documentation and information in order you guys to make a decision on the item so are we are we or not I don't feel comfortable lining on on that but you are our attorney and you Hadis us so I need I need to be clear on what we are going to vote on so are we or not I think an argument can be made both ways okay this this is what I'm going to add a respect to my colleagues even though again I think that everyone here including the mayor needs to look at the rules look at uh Robert's Rules of orders look at the charter look at our code of procedures I think it's very very important because this is coming in as I'm proposing it as an amendment to an item that was noticed that it is on the agenda and that we can um move forward with amending but out of respect to my colleagues I'm going to not move forward with it however I will right now make a motion to put this on our next meeting which is the 20th okay that is let me see Tuesday on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. special council meeting just for this and that way everyone has a you know chance and again out of courtesy and respect to my colleagues because this has been made I mean the the disrespect in this council is is it's it's insane and honestly we need to keep professional we have to be professional here we're mature we're a counsel we're making decisions and whether you like it or not it's a democracy and I'm sorry if you don't like the the will of the majority you can do something about it but not come here and shout and you know next time I am absolutely going to make sure that we are enforcing order and the Quorum which by the way is in our rules of procedure and I will absolutely make sure that that is enforced I didn't want to have to do it because you know but I you guys have to come in here and respect the city respect the decisions that are being made and honestly there's a different way for you to go about and make sure that decisions are different that City officials are different and that's going to be up to you as far as I'm concerned I am going to follow the charter follow the rules of procedure follow Robert's Rules of orders and that's what I'm going to do regardless of whether you know the opinion benefits one person or another or whether someone's in favor of it or not I I think that we have to let go of the history the the traditional way of doing things and come back to the rule of law which is what we have which is our Charter which is what the general residents voted for this is what you guys have in place as your system of government and it is what I'm going to follow and more on that later during my Council comments so I'm going to place a motion to put this and I guess refer um Frank your item to Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. where we can decide both things if you're feel if you feel comfortable with that yeah and if I can respect uh respectfully um the item that's before you uh as as a result of the last meeting on the 30 31st I believe it was uh is just formalizing what was uh request and agreed upon at that meeting uh nothing more uh so I I know what you're presenting is to have a replacement as far as inum city manager I think it's two separ separate topics so either way you know I think from from my perspective I would request that this item be heard uh and and voted on um as it's in line with what's request and an approved at the last meeting thank you I think it it belongs together so I'm I'm going to defer it or I'm going to motion to defer it for the 20th as well second second just to clarify um for the interim city manager that does not um take away the resolution that was approved at the last council meeting it's just the the the actual agreement which will be deferred to the following meeting and discussed where you'll have the opportunity for the roll back so I think your the protections that you were afforded are yeah there I fully understand I just wanted to put that on the record as well thank you uh Mr Rios okay we have a motion on the table is there a second yeah motion on uh by councilman Bor second by vice mayor P corve I'm going to make a quick comment before we uh we move forward I respect I respect the the conversation that we're having and I apologize if my emotions tend to get uh heated it is never my intent to disrespect any of the of of my colleagues but it is extremely frustrating extremely frustrating to be able to operate in an environment where we are going to sit up here and say that we follow the rule of law and that we want to do things right and we want to be transparent you can say it but if your actions are not fulfilling those words it is extremely frustrating for each of us so the mere fact that a new inm city manager while you have the right to do it in the form that it was being done to me was disrespectful because we should all have the opportunity to review and have an ability to understand and make a a a decision that is appropriate for an informed decision that is appropriate for the residents of D so I respect and I I I want to thank you councilwoman for putting this item at a later date and and that's all I was going to ask for is if we want to have this discussion and you want to do it just put it on an agenda so we all have the opportunity to be prepared so the public has the opportunity to come in and be prepared if they have comments if they have questions because there is serious concerns about what is happening here not just here behind closed doors too there's a lot of chatter and so that is all I am saying and so yes I get emotion emotional because I'm passionate and because it is extremely frustrating to watch a year of work be completely undone and putting this city in a very difficult place and our employees in a very difficult place so thank you for having the def and respect for your colleagues to be able to review and consider the candidate that you would like to be the city manager I think it's the least we can give our residents and our colleagues on this de is the ability to review that name with time so I appreciate your uh your motion thank you like for me to call Y goad call motion to defer this item to the February 20 2024 special council meeting together with the item of the appointment of a new interim city manager is that correct C correct May by councilwoman poras made by vice mayor corve councilwoman poras yes vice mayor corve yes councilman Pino yes councilwoman yes mayor FR yes motion passes okay we move on now to item 9 G 9B 9g I'm sorry 9 g a resolution of the mayor and the city council of the city of D Florida appointing a search committee for the selection of individual or Law Firm a City attorney pursuant to section 3102 of the city's Charter providing for selection committee with qualifications duties budgetary information and time frame providing for authorization and providing for implementation and providing for an effective date okay Council woman cabali put this on the agenda we're doing G where what what happened with f it was requested by councilwoman Bas to move to switch f and g we're currently on the search committee for the interim attorney no we're currently on the on the search committee Council import at the beginning of the meeting switched item G andf to F okay perfect oh yeah I have my annotation here um I believe we just need to provide our search committee name at this time shouldn't be too difficult so why don't we start with coun it's not difficult it's just why do I have to be timing no I'm just I wasn't timing you councilman I was clarifying that this is just for the search committee so I believe what we're doing is just putting forward a name yes we are do you have your name available yes I do um I'm going to appoint myself to the to the committee great VI uh councilman Beno myself okay uh Council poras myself as well okay vice mayor P myself perfect I will be nominating myself as well and now we just need a motion motion to approve each of us motion motion by vice mayor p i mean by vice mayor P second by by councilman P motion to approve the nominations as stated May by Vice corve seconded by councilman Peno Vice May corve yes councilman Peno yes councilwoman poras yes councilwoman Cal yes mayor Fraga yes motion passes okay now we move on to item 9f 9f a resolution of the May and the city council of city of Florida appointing blank as interim City attorney and providing for an effective date thank you um on this resolution I well first of all I want to thank uh Valerie for her time here I we appreciate uh your guidance on the different times that we have been here since you started with us at to the first firm uh also because I know that they also have provid support uh to our Council and our staff um I I have your I know that all of us have received the notice of termination uh of the agreement retainer agreement with the legal services uh that was April 26 um says dated to April 26 I um wanted to propose that um we actually have it affected at the end of the day and um that we will have a transition Within These Days uh and I appoint now that I see that they have knowledge of our uh Charter to Gordon uh chair of Duty and estro as our uh inm attorneys while we actually get together the the committee and vote to select either an individual or firm to represent us okay there's a motion on the table second a motion in a second I would like clarification on the dates cuz that was not clear what are the dates for today today at the end of the day today at the end of the day correct okay any comments May oh yes please councilman beo um well first of all I thank you Valerie and you and your firm I mean has done a an incredible job for the past months my my comment to well to my colleagues is that theend resignation letter also offer 60 days Extinction while we certainly we go through the search committee so I'm not going to be in supporter of this based on the fact that she's here we can go through the whole search committee I don't see the urgency uh we're not in an emergency legal mode to you know just to have a new City attorney starting tomorrow so the same current City attorney that we have in the same letter that we're referring to she offer for the low firm to stay for the next 60 days so and again I don't feel comfortable it's not because they're again I don't I don't have any experience with this low firm uh nothing against you guys so don't take it personal uh but the fact that there's a there's a clear statement that there's a previous relationship with the previous City attorney uh and a former city Charter official which I don't know who it is we don't need to know who it is but um I for me it's a it's certainly a conflict and I don't again I don't see the urgency the emergency of switching a City Attorney At this point and when we're going to start and going through the whole search committee I think is is it sends a a very bad message to the presence about what we're doing as a you know when we speak about good governance and all that uh but to today certainly is not a good day to speak about good governance I mean we're we're doing we're doing everything uh that we always fight for H and again that's it's it's unfortunate that we're just rushing things like you know again what's what's the excuse for replacing our City attorney now for and not having her stay for the next 60 days I don't again I I I disagree nothing against with the the attorneys here here sitting in the back uh I believe there is a conflict at this point that's my perception that's my interpretation and I think that the residents need to know exactly what we're doing so and it will be great for I mean if we're going to move forward with this firm to know if they had any prior conversations with any current or former elected officials prior to coming over here I think it's a fair question I mean once because I believe they're going to be appointed regardless of what I say uh once you guys are appointed if you don't mind letting the council know if you had any prior conversation with current or former elected officials of the city of D or city Charter officials of the city of Dural please approach the podium by all means thank you again mayor councel Jacob harwitz from Goran Sheriff dudy ezal along with my partner Mike cillo as it relates to the interim City attorney position well with regards to Charter officers of course we've spoken to your City attorney as it relates to that Charter interpretation issue the only member of the council that we have spoken to is councilwoman cabal um she did reach out to our Law Firm through and I think I mentioned um our relationship with your former City attorney Mr Hearn who we again have long relationship going back you know 35 plus years um I don't know the exact Nexus by which it occurred but I believe it was indirectly through that a relationship councilwoman cabal reached out to our office we did have a conversation uh I've not spoken to or met Miss cabal other than a conversation or two till this morning and I certainly never met or spoken to any of the rest of you before either thank you bye any other question any other questions at this time follow no no more questions yes absolutely have some questions don't go anywhere please um you know when you oh I'm sorry go ahead yeah please finish so thank you and and the reason I mean and again it's it's it's not just for me it's for and I hope do you understand it's for the resin uh perception again for me is it's it's a great coincidence that you guys are here as an independent firm and we're saying that I mean I I I received the going back to the interpretation of the city Charter I received your your document yesterday afternoon so just less than 24 hours and for me now having a conversation prior with you guys face to face to go over certain things and and to be here and to listen that you guys had a prior conversation with one of my colleagues and by coincidence my colleague is proposing you guys to be the intern City attorney uh while we go through the search committee I mean that's the part that when we speak about transparency I'm sorry but I mean this is a clear example of What Not transparency is and what is to be dishonest to the residents and again it's a clear unfortunately I'm not going to say there's no violations we're not doing but it's a clear lack lack of transparency by this Council and I'm sorry uh it's and it's pure coincidence that you guys are here as an independent firm which I believe is an independent opinion but now by coincidence you guys are being appointed as an intern City attorney and we heard that you guys had a prior conversation with one of my colleagues before coming over here so I just rest my case yeah uh may I respond May mayor may I respond just briefly so I have some questions and then and then we'll give you an opportunity to respond for a second but um yeah I'm not I'm not surprised you know it's it's interesting when you came up here at the beginning you said you disclosed your Independence and that this was an independent um opinion that you were giving on the charter you disclosed relationships with former City attorney attes former Charter your history with the city yet you didn't disclose that you were going to be named intrum City attorney still they has counil woman I have the floor at this time you will have an opportunity again yeah did you not find it um important to disclose that you had been contacted by one of our council members and would be nominated as an interim City attorney creating a financial interest for you now in giving this opinion may I may I try to respond mayor did you find did you not find it uh important to disclose that again I I thought and my intention was to be as open as and transparent as we could be um with regards to a couple of your comments just very briefly you know there there was a very unique sequence of events as it relates to the city of dur and our office over the the past several days your City attorney reached out to our office through one of our law partners with regards to the Charter interpretation issue that we spoke about a few minutes ago um separate and apart from that conversation I believe that councilwoman cabal again through a prior relationship reached out to uh our office as well as soon as councilwoman cabal contacted our office the first call that we made was to your City attorney to advise her that we had had a conversation with a member of the council and just to reconfirm that there was no issue from her perspective with regards to us moving forward with the charter interpretation issue can you tell me what date that was well um let me think about that I had shoulder surgery last Wednesday uh I believe it was the Friday prior if I'm not mistaken um and you know again there was a a fairly compressed time frame to get this accomplished I mean you talk about getting the opinion uh yesterday before today's meeting with you know respect it was a complicated and interesting legal issue that took some time to research into draft and I thought we were pretty quick in turning an item around for this morning's meeting so February 2nd it was the Friday that you were were reached out by Council wi cabal to possibly be the interim City attorney uh no I I believe it was the Friday we spoke to your City attorney um I did not so so the City attorney was asked to retain this timeline is super important so we the City attorney was asked to retain independent Council on Wednesday the 31st of January I there's only been two Fridays after that the second and the 9th you said you had so uh shoulder surgery on the 7eventh that's correct the only Friday before that is the second we we spoke to your City attorney either that Thursday you know well we might have gotten a call on Thursday and confirm the representation on Friday I do think there was a sequence of calls again the City attorney can confirm that sure so on Thursday um the 1st I called to make an appointment with Sam Goran to get the opinion and then we had a conversation on Friday the 2nd um to give an explanation of what the engagement would be so that that's go were you informed at that time that Council MRA had reached out to be the inim for them to be no not then it would have been the week that followed I think it might have been that Monday I don't remember the exact let me look for my phone I will be able to see the uh what what really comfortable if we if would you mind being put under oath put under oath yeah I don't have a problem being put under oath okay so can we can we do that there's nothing to hide that's fine since this is this is trying to make this I know find look you can even search my phone I don't have any issues like I have nothing to may excuse me one second one second this has nothing to do this it's just practice that we've done before in the past where we've it's it's practice ractice that has been done in the past where we've put a me person under oath to make sure that the the the information that's being given is is correct mayor and uh and and and respectfully mayor this is not a quasi judicial hearing oh I agree with you all right I I took an oath to the Florida bar and my bar license is far more important than being the itam City attorney for the city of derell okay and I'll tell you this mayor I I'll also commit to you to the extent that we are become your interim City attorney we have no intent of applying for your permanent City attorney position right if we can help the city we are happy to try to do that you're putting that on the record yes absolutely I have no intent of applying for the the full-time City attorney position if we become your inim City attorney I will commit to the five of you along with my partner as we speak here we will not be applying for your permanent City attorney position if we can help the city we're happy to try if the city does not want our help you know we'll shake hands no hard feelings and are separate way we're not we're not looking for an adversarial situation there absolutely not and I appreciate that I want to and that that's the point here we want to get everything on the record it's super important because here's my here's my here is my um my concern with this right sequence of events you came up you disclosed any issues you may have to make sure that you stated that you're an independent legal opinion on an issue that that really affects City okay and I'm not putting your um legal ethics into question really not I'm trying to show here this sequence of events because it does impact us it impacts every single one of us up here it impacts every single project we have moving forward in this city including the charter review commission which has a limited time frame so you came up here you stated here are my um associations with the city here is where I've had dealings with the city this let me disclose to you in full transparency what my relationship is but you neglected to to State and to put on the record from that moment that you had had a conversation you actually said I haven't met anybody I haven't spoken to anybody from the city council in that moment you said that and then you said you spoke to councilwoman kaban okay so understand the uncomfort I feel at this point please okay in that moment it should have been stated we're here for two reasons to provide This legal opinion and because we have been contacted to possibly be the interim City attorney that to me would have been full transparency and honesty from the moment you walked up the podium that's where you lost me okay number one respectfully okay number two there was obviously two weeks from the 31st of January that you were retained or you were asked or reached out to by our City attorney and asked to provide a legal opinion the moment councilwoman cabal reached out to you and put you in a position of taking the interim City attorney you had two just two choices you say no because I was been retained for this purpose right now and I need to stay independent or you call our city you say I am no longer independent because I'm being considered to come in as an intrum when did you start being courted to be our interim City attorney well candidly I'm not sure that courted is the word that I would use mayor but I will offer this the moment that Miss cabal reached out to our office as I said a few minutes ago our first call was to your City attorney to talk through that issue okay so I would like to know that date because if it was enough time at that time the services for retaining an independent legal opinion should have been thrown out the window and a new independent legal opinion should have been retained that date is super important to every decision we've just made on this stas because now it is no longer an independent opinion it is an opinion that is motivated by a financial interest we spoke to to serve the city it was Friday it was Friday on my phone it was Friday in the afternoon whatever date we spoke with councilwoman cabal was the same date that we reached out to your City attorney again I was you know recovering from some surgery around that time I may not recall the whether it was the Thursday or the Friday so it's Friday the 9th if our City attorney said to you at the time that you contact her like you are disclosing right now that there was no issue I don't understand why we're having this conversation right now because I mean we wanted to be the in that's where I'm going next that's where I'm going next as soon as I'm conclude my questioning I just want to ask the the City attorney one question were you in any way influenced by anyone to select their firm to be the The Firm to give us the independent opinion no absolutely not that was completely done independently thank you so much unless our City attorney is colluding with Council maval and you know the attorneys and I'm sorry I don't know your name still um I think that we can move forward and I have right now what I'm going to do is I'm going to call the question because there is a motion in a second and I'm going to call that discussion be ended and that is pursuant to our rules of procedure and you can check them mayor so I am going to call the question right now great but I I I have to I have to qu I have to ask questions about the contract and the retainer because we haven't seen it so I I think this is just about if I may interrupt right we're not looking to create any consternation or difficult y for this Council or for the city of Durell if the council would like to go in a different direction you know we're happy to stand down I I completely I completely understand that to try and I I completely understand this is this isn't again this isn't about this isn't about you unfortunately well it is all due respect you've now been caught up in this but we we don't want to be caught up in anything we're here if you want us to be interim City attorneys while you transition to your permanent we're here to provide that service I'm going to call the question I'm going to call the question and I'm sorry that your integrity and your ethics has been questioned here and I think it's a it's a form of intimidation that's that you're seeing right now and I apologize about that again you know as a fellow lawyer I really do abide by the oath that we take and therefore I'm going to call the question and again this is if you want to check it here I'm I'm going to call it here pursuant to I understand so I'm calling the question right now I understand and you have every right to call a question but here's the thing we're asking you're we're we're being asked to get rid of our City attorney which I have questions for her too on the item on the issue put in a new a new interim City attorney I think the reason you want the question to be called because you don't want me to put on the record everything that has has transpired here because clearly the only colluding that's going on here is between the three of you you have turned this into a circus so I'm going to call the question and I'm not going to continue with this circus not not are accusing us you are accusing us on record here's the thing y call the question I have I have a I have a have to call the question call the question can we we can we can absolutely call the question we can absolutely call the question but there's several questions that have not been answered such as what will the office hours be do you have an office in Miami Dade County is there a retainer so there's there's serious questions to whether the the intrum position um is being f filled to to the to the need of of what the city requires during this time really this has nothing to do with your integrity your ethics but there's a lot of questionable things that have happened over the last two weeks to get to this point and you you have to understand from the moment that you walked up to the podium and made the statements you made and then are called back to the podium as the inim City attorney there it is very questionable the the the okay I'm calling the question again pursuant to section 2 d75 L the motion is to appoint an interim city manager and then we can discuss other things so let's call the question again it is to want to put things on the record your firm as interim city manager thank you I have can I have motion to approve motion to appoint the law offices of gor and Sheriff Duty and ASR PA as inim City attorney effective today at the end of the day May by Council and second it by counc you're declining okay we appreciate it we have no interest in getting involved in the politics of this is so embarrassing so embarrassing we're happy to try we've given you our best legal opinion we've represented local government for 45 years La firm Mike's been the City attorney in Lighthouse Point for 20 plus years I'm the City attorney in other cities again this is what we do we're happy to try to help you but we have no interest in getting involved in any political issues or any other you know agenda that may be going on in the city so again we appreciate the opportunity we appreciate it to resp app I want to say that I apologize for the behavior of uh my Council you know some of my council members especially my mayor on the way that she doesn't have any decorum when it comes to be able to run the the the meeting I uh everything is there if they want to check with their cell phone how it happened at the time that I contact you without not even knowing that our City attorney was looking for an opinion from you and at the time that you just disclosed now that you talk to her and make everything clear that uh the sequence of of how things happen so I really apologize that uh we have to put you this is not really the reflection of the city of dra unfortunately it's the reflection of our mayor so I apologize for that on the way that things have been handled and for any other firm please this is not how the city of D conduct themselves so I apologize again we thank you for the opportunity we thank you for the opportunity provide you our best legal opinion that we can on a very difficult and controversial issue we thank you for the opportunity to be here today we wish you all the best and you're looking for interim and permanent um that's what I'd like to say thank you I appreciate it thank you very much thank you apologize for the time so I'm going to amend my motion since we the proposed interim was intimidated out of this um I'm going to propose that we move this interim sele ction to the sorry we're packing this to the 20th to select a new interim and I'm going to propose since you know we have the 60 days to allow the um the current attorney to sit through that [Music] date okay questions on this item and the motion any questions on the item second okay I have a question very quickly um so just to clarify the motion we're adding this to the agenda on the 20th I would ask that my colleagues please provide sufficient documentation for the intrum that you would like to appoint at that time do not do it on the day is respectfully for the purposes of transparency provided ahead of time you now know that the meeting is on the 20th so please provide sufficient time as per our Charter on an interim s election also I will state I know that we decided or we are deciding with this vote to allow the City attorney to sit through that date I think that there needs to be a transition period there's a lot of moving pieces that can fall through the cracks if there's not a transition period so please consider that we can discuss that more on the 20th but I think that needs to be considered I have one final comment and question for our City attorney um Madam City attorney you have um provided a letter of resignation I sure did not ask you for a letter of resignation I'm very pleased with your services I think that you have done a fabulous job I think you come from a very reputable firm that Services all the way through Tallahasse and multiple cities I think that your opinions have been ones with the rule of law always in mind and not what maybe some would want to hear but rather what they need to hear so I very much appreciate your professionalism and the the work that your firm has done and I I would be happy to write a very uh very strong letter of of recommendation to your firm for the work that you all have done and I'm sorry that you have gotten caught up in this also uh this this political nonsense but um you forwarded a letter of resignation to us uh can you please tell me how we got to that letter of resignation uh were you approached by a council member and asked to resign I I don't wish to comment on the circumstances surrounding our firm's departure ultimately it was a business decision um but pursuant to our notice we are contractually obligated to provide 60 days notice which we've provided um ultimately we work at the will of the council so if there is a need to want to go with a different intrum certainly we'll respect that and wave the 60 days you would be willing to stay on the 60 days for the transition we're contractually obligated to yes yeah it was not your will to resign from the city it was a business decision that was made by The Firm would anybody like to share if they were willing to accept the resignation of the City attorney I sure would not want to accept her resignation I think she's done a fabulous job and I think that the city is already being destabilized Enough by losing our city manager therefore I would not be I would not be in favor of the City attorney resigning or accepting her resignation Council councilman patal right so should I think there's a motion on the table unfortunately already but but I sure would not be willing to take her resignation I think councilman batos is on the record we can move forward with the motion cuz clearly there won't be support for that so I have motion to theer the item to the special council meeting on February 20 and allow the current City attorney to stay through said meeting May by councilwoman por seconded by councilman Cal councilman poras yes councilwoman Cal yes councilman Pino no vice mayor po corve yes mayor Fraga no motion passes okay I believe that's exhausted all the items on the discussion we'll move on to the mayor's report wait no I think did we go through the the Civil Air Patrol oh that's right we added the lay down item okay would you like to read that into the record um Madam city [Music] clerk this is our request for the use of the city logo for the second anniversary for the Civil El pator program requested by councilwoman poras so this is a simple request from the Civil Air Patrol to use the culture arts center on March 16 from I think it's like 10 to two to celebrate their second year anniversary and what they're looking for is to wave the feast associated with the facility and also the staff and also to use um the city logo for their for their flyer so I mean I don't have a fiscal impact because I didn't get a chance to um you know go through you guys and look for that but I don't know if there's like an estimate if the my colleagues want to know or if they just want to you know make a decision on this I don't mind moving forward I just want to know if the date's available the date is available and as far as waiver fees for the actual rental of the room is about 400 bucks staff time I I don't have that available to right right at this moment but um if it's something you want me to follow up with uh we we definitely can we just need a motion okay motion motion motion to approve by Council B seconded by vice mayor P corvey to um allow the silver Air Patrol to use the cultureal Arts facility with a waiver of fees please call R motion to approvement by councilwoman poras second by Vi cor Council poras yes Vive yes Council yes Council M yes mayor frag yes motion passes okay all right now we'll move on to the mayor's report um very quickly um I just want to thank the parks department and Recreation Department for um a great uh dout artw walk silver Club Valance a Valentine's Day dinner and dance it was a lot of fun um and the camping Under the Stars which I think people very much enjoyed I think it was one of the most highly it sold out immediately and so hopefully soon we'll be able to have it at the new park where there will be much more space for more families to come and create memories in our Parks um I also want to thank uh the city manager's office for the the city of deral vendor and business Fair it was the first time that was done and we got incredible feedback from um the businesses I was able to pass by and um everybody was very happy and it was it was uh it was definitely an opportunity to gain valuable information on not only how to do business with the city but if you were opening up a business in the city how to proceed in those um in those actions um also the Employee Appreciation Fair Employee Appreciation Day is coming up we appreciate every single one of you that um has made this your home on a daily basis uh and part of our our employee family and lastly uh I want to wish everybody a very Happy Valentine's Day um may you be filled with love with your family and those who surround you um today and always and um Monday is President's Day so we wish you a very happy and fun long weekend as well as uh we have two birthdays that I want to recognize U Maggie Forster happy birthday her birthday was February 10 and also my chief of staff Maran trino February 5th was her birthday so it's it's been a long month I feel like it's the longest year ever January was a long year so thank you very much all for being here and for continuing to be civically engaged we move on to council comments any Council comments Council yes so I want I want to I want to clarify that you know the city has gone through different changes in the last couple of days and I want to reiterate that it is important to abide by the charter and unfortunately a lot of people don't know what the charter says that includes residents I mean we even have um members of the charter review commission that thought the mayor had veto power I mean we have to review the charter we have to abide by the charter and unfortunately or fortunately for us the charter does not contain a strong mayor form of government and that I think is where the confusion comes in whatever decisions are made here in the council have to be made collectively and democratically and we have to keep using that if the residents or anyone else wants to change that this is the opportunity this is where you can come in and make sure that your voice is heard during the charter review commission and I'm sure that the charter provides other um Avenues to change it but while we have this form of system or this system of government in our city I'm going to abide by it and we're going to have to make decisions collectively and we're going to make sure that those decisions are made transparently and following the rules the rules that have been set not just by the charter but also by this Council and so I want to make clear that that is what I'm going to abide by and if that needs to be changed you can do that and you can go and advocate for those changes but as for me personally that is exactly what I'm going to do so you know I appreciate that people are out here I really think that decorum and Order and re ECT is is Paramount especially in the city the city does not deserve chaos and disorder I ask that everyone be respectful that here sitting here be respectful and professional and I want to deal with people that are professional and that is how I'm going to conduct myself every day and how I have been doing that every day through my legal career and that's what I'm going to do here on the deis and I'm going to demand respect from and as well as give respect to my colleagues so thank you I just wanted to make sure um that that was cleared and I also want to thank you know our our um interim City attorney or our City attorney our interim City Manager for all the great work and everything that you guys have done truly it has moved the city forward and we can I know we can continue to move the city forward and sometimes decisions have to be made but I truly appreciate the work and the effort that you guys have done and that the staff under you have done and your Law Firm has done so I I do want to make sure that that's that's heard for me thank you okay any other counil comments okay being none then we move on I may oh yes I want to thank everyone as well and for those ones that have reached out to me I understand that as I said before some decisions difficult decisions have to be made but trust me it's for the best interest of the city and the residents those decisions have been disclosed and I'm here to answer any question the five years that I've been here remember there's certain things that you don't see out there that we know that happened indoors and we're making sure and I am making sure because I have a commitment with my community to guide and to make sure that everything is done right and in a respectful way as well and I hope that my colleagues also keep the Quorum I think that we have to set an example to our residents and to other cities the way that we conduct ourselves here I also want to remind that this is not a type of strong mayor way of government this is by majority of the council it doesn't matter that we have a mayor even if the mayor vote Yes and majority says no that's what is ruled we are not in other countries like in my country too that the mayor whatever they say that's how it goes no that's not how it goes here it goes by democracy and I truly believe in democracy and I know that many of you that live here also follow democracy because that's the reason that we are here in this country many of you have been pushed out of your country like Venezuela Nicaragua like Cuba and I know that many of you do believe and want to keep democracy so that's what I have by and that's what I want to keep here in the city that we rule by democracy following our Charter and yes there's certain things that has to be revised and have to be amend within our Charter that is our constitution of how things has to be rule so I want to thank each of the residents that has expressed and has support on the way that I have make my decisions thank you Council woman any other comments at this time okay being none let's move on actually that is uh we have um reports yes the um we had The Advisory board comments uh the first item was a commission on status of women report unfortunately the chair had to leave so she requested if to defer this to the next council meeting okay not to tonight no no okay no problem do we need a motion for that no okay all right any other reports from the city manager's office yep uh some of the items we already uh spoken on but I do want to take the opportunity to to uh say a few things so I I do want to start by thanking the executive team and every member of the organization uh for for their uh commitment to each other and to the city during the transition um this is reflected by a lot of the events that have taken place over the past couple weeks several of which you have mentioned the parks team led by Aaron and Ken uh thank you for for these great events the turnouts were phenomenal the feedback has been great whether it was camping Under the Stars whether it was uh the silver Club Valentine's event whether it was the uh the Art Walk uh again executed uh with pre precision and and very well received uh the police department with their swearing in ceremony um you know wel welcoming uh the new members to the team uh it was a great ceremony we wish them much success and not only for them but every member of the department uh you know safety while they're out there patrolling our our city and ensuring safety of our of our residents um uh further I do want to thank uh Magie specifically as well as Jackie Lorenzo uh as you mentioned earlier the the vendor fair that was held uh I was extremely surprised by the turnout that we had uh and the feedback was phenomenal a lot of great information that was shared both ways uh makes us better as as a organization uh to know what to to to do as we move forward uh to encourage local businesses to to to come U provide services to the city um so so I want to make sure to recognize uh Maggie and Jackie as well as everybody that participated in that because I know Parks as well as economic development uh made some presentations that were extremely useful um and and lastly I do want to highlight uh the CBO Grant uh process which kicked off on February 12th and goes through March 16th uh I want to recognize public affairs and it uh on this item as this is the first time we've gone electronic with it uh this is a part of our initiatives to to look for Innovations and ways to to enhance the customer experience uh as as uh we continue to to move forward as as as a city um so this process is going to be a streamline process it's going to minimize errors it's going to optimize uh staff resources uh so I encourage you to go and take a look at the portal it's it's impressive uh and and thanks to the team for for putting that together um last but not least I do want to wish everybody uh Happy Valentine's Day and especially my wife in case I don't make it home all time Happy Valentine's Day thank you uh Mr intam city manager I forgot to also wish everybody a happy Ash Wednesday for those of you that celebrate so it's the start of a good season all right I think that that wraps up our morning council meeting I need a motion to reset Dr recess motion to Recess by vice mayor P cor second by councilman Pino all in favor say hi I this meeting is AD joined