##VIDEO ID:8X3aaifPCzE## the administration and we're good shout out to Full Moon the administration and finance committee meeting for Tuesday October 29th is called to order at 6:21 p.m. we've already had a moment inside of meditation we've already had the Pledge of Allegiance Madam clerk may I please have a roll call please roll call chair Nickerson here Vice chair Martin here member bbom I'm present member Pella here member lifefood W will not be in tonight also present for the record Kobe Village clerk chrisa Village manager and attorney Elbert um on behalf of Joseph Keller thank you we appreciate that um do I have a motion to approve the agenda so moved moveed by member uh bbom do I have a second second second by Vice chair Martin all in favor say I I all oppos say nay hearing none moving on to good and Welfare if anybody has um wants to come up and talk about anything on this particular agenda now is your time to do so there will be another good and Welfare later and you can talk during the agenda item hearing seeing none moving on to agenda item General review I do want to bring up um these things came up during the budget hearing um budget hearings uh which is contract and um evaluations so there was a a member of the the audience that was talking about breaking the contracts they wanted the council to look into breaking the contracts of um the clerk um in particular um and the manager but the clerk in particular I just wanted to say so you know I was curious about this um I reached out to uh our attorney and I spoke to a couple other attorneys and one thing that we have to keep in mind not saying that you know if you guys want to go through it we can go through it but one thing that we really have to keep in mind mind is first of all just like with any contract just like if it's like a musician and a record label or if it's like a athlete and their team we can't just break these contracts willy-nilly without penalties without possibly having to pay Severance um and things like that so these these contracts we have to look at when I was speaking to the attorneys uh we do have to look at uh any breaches um and we probably would have to pay a severance um to then rip the contract up to then do it all over the way that uh one resident was talking about um and a couple of people were were considering like I said I'm not against necessarily doing it if you guys want to do I just wanted to like kind of paint the whole picture of it um when it comes to breaking a contract and redoing a contract that uh you know that we we would probably have to entail um I also want to say that because there was also talk about redoing the contract kind of like at a council meeting line by line and I look I talked to a few people and it's usually not done that way even here in the past it hadn't been done that way so usually the way it's done like for example when we negotiated the fop contract or we negotiated which the Fraternal Order of Police the Police contract and stuff like that um It's usually the contract is usually negotiated and let's say like we would pick you know either like the chair of the administra finance committee or the vice chair or something like that we would pick somebody to be like the point person for the counil for the committee for the councel to negotiate the contract and then it comes back into the public once it's negotiate and then we can say oh yeah no we don't like that we don't like this we don't like that we don't like this but as far as the actual negotiation from the beginning that doesn't happen in like a public meeting anywhere you guys like we don't go to a council meeting and say hey all right we have a blank sheet of paper like you know or this or the first sentence says this or the first paragraph is this what does everybody think right um we usually don't do it like that so just kind of keep those things in mind uh when we go forward because I remember because I just know that previously people that were speaking about it were saying you know especially a resident was saying well you guys can just break the contract and start start over and they were also saying and when you guys do the contract it should be done in transparency it should be done at a council meeting from beginning to end and so it's just it's usually just not done that way you guys so just kind of keep that in mind also with the evaluations um the evaluations I'm open for suggestions uh but the way that evaluations you know typically in government take place is that we'll all with our evaluation sheet which I'm going to get to in a second but is that we'll all individually um either it have to be a shade meeting where a shade meeting you guys means that like we'll meet as a unit um kind like as a unit in private or whatever and then we'll come out and bring the results out to the public that's like a shade meeting um or we'll meet individually with the clerk we'll meet individually with the manager we'll evaluate them individually um on our own and then we can bring the evaluations to the committee or councel and then we can use those evaluations to decide you know how much raise they should get in the new budget year and things like that but uh usually it's not in the public where we're at a council meeting and I'm like okay I'm about to do my evaluation of the clerk right now in front of everybody so when it comes to it's satisfactory when it comes to it's above average when it com that's not done in the public sphere like that usually okay um questions comments from the uh the the the committee uh my my big question is when do we think we're going to like formally get our first batch of evaluation forms and start evaluating yeah so the evaluation forms you guys will get them um either March around March um I think I might have a another Administration and finance meeting um either March or April so this is what I want to do I want to have three so it's going to be this one there'll be one in March or April and then I want to have where you we get the stuff and things like that then you guys will take it have your evaluation stuff like that um and then in July or August I want to have you know a meeting or discussion um on coming out of the evaluations you know looking at how much percentage we think that with the raises with the um the the performance percentages and things like that that are in the current contracts and how how does that look as far as raises going to the The Bu the budget the um the budget hearings like that because the budget hearings and things those happen you know in um like the very beginning of September like the last week of of August and if you guys remember the reason why uh I think vice mayor Pella brought up um previously like about the timing of the budget hearings and the timing of the budget workshop and um the reason why we have those you know going into September like that is because elbert's budget is so small and so I don't want to have a budget Workshop in like June or July because we'll have a let's say we have the budget workshop and then we decide to give individuals these raises or whatever in June or July but then in August things come in so for example this year if you guys remember right before we had our first um right before we had our budget Workshop it was like a day before we had our budget Workshop uh Coastal sent their thing in that they're going up like 30 something $38,000 and then like the the same day the insurance came in myself myself manager L and and CFL toi were sitting here and the insurance sent a thing where they're going up the insurance for the village went up $50,000 so right there there was like $88,000 that we thought you know we had leeway for that we had to now account for just like that out of the blue so because other places whether you're talking about Miami Shores whose budget is $42 million or $46 million where you're talking about other places they have like a leeway where they can have their budget Workshop you know in June and say oh we're going to give this person this raise and this raise and this raise because they have so much of a cushion but we don't have that cushion so we kind of have to push things a little bit further back so we can get the most accurate count so we can know just how much money we're dealing with um so that's was my thing so to have this tonight to kind of announce these things get our head around just like at a a macro level of going into the contracts thing like you know you guys need to talk to the attorneys yourself also do we you know do you guys want to tear up the contracts and start over what is it with the severance of just tearing of of a contract are there any other penalties I just want to kind of get that out there so we can wrap our head around that then with the evaluations um knowing that those are coming so in in in March or the beginning of April um you'll get the evaluation sheets you'll be able to do the evaluations between March April and um August and then uh we'll go into from there the budget the budget it'll be budget season and those evaluations will be done and those will be you know you can use those to kind of like picture like you know where you want to go from there a quick followup um so I'm really big on using information and metrics to just kind of understand um the perspective Beyond just my personal experience so once we do get that information back from the individual evaluations can it be communicated to the group not identifying specifically who rated what but some sort of metric as to whether or not the performance was satisfactory unsatisfactory or you know exceeds expectation some sort of metric so that we understand a snapshot of where we are well before um that August conversation about bonuses so maybe a couple weeks after absolutely if everybody gets their evaluations done with the manager the clerk the attorney um once everybody gets their evaluations done then we can you know um put those in that do you do you want a metric showing since you like not the individual but do you want like a average of them also or I would love I'm assuming that this evaluation is broken apart based on like performance criteria so for each uh of the charter members I would love to have those categories like uh timeliness whatever whatever the categories are and then um just a metric that says based on each person's evaluation is this satis is the performance satisfactory on this point unsatisfactory just so we know um what the global perspective is beyond our own anecdotal experience yeah absolutely absolutely 100% okay thank you very much Vice chair and one more question no go ahead go ahead man uh I know that before the attorney did not have a current contract does he have a contract uh currently the attorney I believe um never got a permanent contract uh done it's actually but it's actually in the works um the attorney that was doing it uh attorney which is attorney sarahan um he was working on it with the with our attorney but our attorney he's been waiting on our attorney to respond to him about some things so currently he does not have a contract currently he does not have it but the attorney that's working on it is waiting for our attorney to respond because they negotiate I I'll I'll get on our attorney so that he can get back to that attorney who's working on it so we can get it done no no no need to get back to him I I just think these are all points that we AB think of when we evaluate AB Effectiveness and performance it's okay thank you very much Madam Vice chair uh who anybody else has any comments or questions from the committee yes I do uh mayor if I may absolutely um yeah more um more of the metric and the you know of the and the and the um you know like the the performance uh evaluation I think and I think you mentioned it um mayor um is whether we can afford keep affording um these High um raises on on on Charter um employees um before when it was uh below $100,000 it was kind of okay the percentage was between five and 6 or 8% was kind of like seamless you know but now over um uh you know raises over 10 or 12% um or even 8% at a rate that we're going now um it will have to either uh be Capp like you said or if it's um uh to the point that we will need to review the contracts and and and establish the salary that we can afford as a small municipality um then we will have to do that we cannot keep go keep going at the rate that we're going because then the employeers are going to be making more money than what we actually get in revenues because remember we're um you know a property property um tax based uh kind of a revenue um village so we need to reconsider that if it's uh we need to um get to that point that's what we need to do like before you know we keep increasing given this large increasement um you know at 8% I think like I said it before every budget I you know go through a few um other municipalities considering the size of ours uh comparing and even the larger ones of course they their you know their salaries are way uh more than uh you know um and so that we can afford and so I still see only up to a 5% increase not 8% not 10 not 12 so that is something that we need to um reconsider like as soon as possible so it's either by reviewing the contract without breaching the contract or um you know and or copying uh the those salaries thank you uh vice mayor uh Pella I think also um remember so like I said and and what I'll have is I will make sure that um everybody here gets the the contracts gets the clerk's contract gets the um manager's contract and gets gets the attorney's interm contract I'll make sure everybody gets those um and and get those and ask questions you know ask questions about breaking the contract ask questions about penalties ask questions about um um paying the severance you know to break the contract or redo the contract or renegotiate the contract um ask those to our attorney or other attorneys that you guys might know that work in um in the government format uh because then I think all those things you know just having all that type of knowledge is good to have when we come to the next uh Administration and finance meeting which will be either the end of of March or the beginning of April and we can start to come into a certain a final decision about you know whether you guys want to break the contracts um and and start over again with that other knowledge with how much we might have to pay um for severing the contract so so kind of keep those things in mind okay but I'll make sure that everybody gets a a copy of the contracts so you guys have them before the next Administration and finance committee meeting um anybody else from the Committee hearing seeing none anybody from the audience say your name address for the record hello Thomas pum 205 Northeast 86 Street um so regarding the topic that's being discussed um a few questions one why isn't the CFO present at this meeting the CFO yeah he's sitting right there oh he is yeah he's here yeah he's listening to everything yeah okay great um so my next question is um how come it can't be presented in transparency to the council members as well as the entire public what those kind of uh pros and cons are of severance etc etc etc um seems like that should be clear in the contract or if not that could be presented to us and in tandem with that um again regarding the the salary amounts and the size of our Village um why is can there some be some due diligence done where we figure out what our kind of Max budget is for a manager role for a clerk role for what whatever other roles are in our Charter can't that be a workshop figure that out and then you know move forward with that because obviously no you know whether it's a 8% rage 5% whatever um when people are here for a very long period of time that is going to become unst unsustainable no matter what um yeah those are my question my all right yeah thank you very much Mr so the first one as far as doing it in public so like I said so they'll all get the contracts um in the end of March or beginning of April we'll come to another Administration and finance meeting at that particular Administration and finance meeting we'll discuss in the open we'll discuss whether we want to break the contracts or not with the severability with the penalties with everything that we might have to consider we'll do that in the public sphere um before because we're going to be talking about the contracts leading into the administration and finance meeting we'll be able to have on the agenda as far as attached documents will be those contracts because we'll be discussing them and probably and and possibly making a decision on them the reason why they're not on this one is because there's no decision being made on them because I want everybody to get the whole picture about that so that will be done in the public and people will be able to to say what they want to say and make opinions and things like that um this meaning was to set up like hey this is coming down the aisle this is where you guys have kind of like start to think about these type of things you know and things like that or whatever um our normal attorney is not here tonight uh therefore we wouldn't even be able to have the discussion about the particulars of what takes to breaking a contract um specifically also when those contracts that we're going to be talking about in either that late March or early April meeting um the attorney be here and then we'll be able to go through those contracts in particular or say what's on those contracts in particular as far as that I just want to give kind of like a pre-warning that hey you all just kind of thing about this as we're going into this it's not as easy as just like tearing up a contract and things like that as far as the five or the eight% I understand what you're saying as far as the percentage the percentage is within the contracts so the percent for example for manager Alo hers is 3% col in her current contract is 3% Cola every year 5% performance bonus and clerk Jacob's hers is 5% Cola in her contract every year 3% performance bonus that's in the current contract so we don't just come up and say you know this this is and that it's in their current contract for example also for example in Jacob's contract the cler's contract it says that if she doesn't get an evaluation within two months prior to um her contract date then she automatically gets the full 8% so that those are in the contract so part of it is the evaluations but part of it is the contract itself which is why it would be coming into this first meeting there's not enough knowledge to go through all of that in that way but in the next meeting there will be um so a lot of those things will be brought I mean those things will be brought you know to the a public administration and finance meeting my point though in the beginning when I was speaking was that when we do the contract negotiation from the very beginning those things are usually not done in a public sphere or the evaluation is usually not done on the spot but you will get but before we vote on it or vote on anything we'll discuss it in the public sphere everybody will see it in the public sphere everybody can talk about what they like what they don't like what they think should change and things like that so it'll be all done in the public sphere yeah makes sense what about the other question so why don't we as a village who employees however number many of people why don't we kind of have some standardized contracts uh why is everything seem to be so uh bespoke negotiation um no offense but you know we don't have people working here who are who are exceptional Talent um you know in term you were talking about like music artists and athletes and and stuff like that there's nothing you know if we needed to get another manager or Village clerk you know there's multiple candidates out there who you know would be available so why don't we as a village have like a budget range like most employers would do of what they're willing to pay and compensate for a position what they feel it's worth and then also have a standard way that we do contracts uh of course you could negotiate with individuals if you really want them right change the contract whatnot um but why do we have everything bespoke no you know set budgets like the manager and clerk account for about 18% of our total Village budget which is huge in the scheme of things that's not the case in other municipalities um I also know you know this is the first one of the first committee meetings that we've been having a lot of the role of the clerk and the manager is to facilitate these meetings also take what the council and chair people say and go do work you know behind and in front of the scenes regarding that um but we don't have regular uh Council meetings this is the first one of the year if I'm not mistaken okay so I disagree with you when it comes to um the level and the qual and the quality of our employees as far as I work with the manager all the time and um what the what the manager has accomplished and what we have accomplished I think uh goes way Far and Beyond um what others might think I guess what she's worth or how good she is uh I will say this Madam manager you you still I believe are the lowest in in the county so I mean we can look for managers who you know who might want only 60 Grand or 70,000 things like that but you kind of get what you pay for um all the managers that are managers of the 34 35 municipalities including miam day County they're managers that have the experience of it it's not just managing like you're managing um a department store it's managing you have to have the knowledge of planning and things like that when you are um managing in the municipal government so we can agree this one point of information like our manager didn't have previous manager experience when she started on the job I'm not sure if the the clerk did either I also know we have the lowest overall budget Capital Improvement staff of all the other regions in Miami D so yeah you can say you're the lowest but of course you should be the lowest look how much less you have to manage yeah well I would say ridiculously less well I would say a couple of things to that I would say that um our manager Not only was not a manager but she worked in government before she came here our manager worked in government at the highest level she worked in Washington DC um with the Congress of the of the of the count of the country before she came here so she had uh loads of governmental experience um before she came here and even more governmental experience than a lot of other managers have working on that level um and and then when she came down here to Miami she worked in the county for years so she went from Washington DC working with Congress to working for Miami day County um for at that time County Commissioner Audrey Edmonson um and she was um above that above that staff and she was managing that staff also so um so she does have loads of experience I would say what was the second thing that you said uh after the the experience the frequency of the the meetings that we have the council meetings yeah the meetings so the council meetings are are are previously um you know scheduled but the committee meetings like this committee meeting you're talking about the committee meetings are decided by the chair the chairpersons that have them so um all the chairs decide when they're going to have their meetings this is the administration and finance meeting this is the first time this year you got have Administration and finance meeting because Administration and finance myself and the manager do it on a daily basis the only thing that the administration and finance meeting um that takes place or why one needs to happen is like the budget but we have when the budget season happen we have had a budget workshop and we had two budget hearings right and we had the special assessment um so we have those means so that's that's right there the budget workshop two budget here special that's four of those all right in in in this calendar year and now you have this meeting here where we're talking about money we're talking about contracts we're talking about evaluations um so I think and and the budget and the finances um of eler toal is in great shape because when I was when I first came in as as a mayor elect um the state wanted to come and take us over the way it did opaka a few years back because of our financial situation and all that's going away and all that's been um fixed so I think we have meetings as we need to now there might be other committees that might have to have meetings more often um because it's it's needed but because of you know the pay of of the people filming it because of you know um our being an hourly employee because of different things I'm I I was the type of person that we just don't have meetings just to have meetings like if I'm going to have a meeting I'm going to have a meeting because there's things to discuss in the meeting so now the contracts the evaluations those type of things so that we can get ready for the next budget hearing the pay and those type of things I felt needs to be discussed so we have a meeting um but I'm never going to have a meeting just to have a meeting sure no one's asking for that it does appear mightily convenient to not have any Finance or admin meetings before the budget Workshop especially when multiple people come up including uh Lightfoot W who's not here today requesting hey why aren't we meeting about this early or why is this first time that we're seeing all of this so that's that's one point um my last point and my appeal to the council people their their salaries equate for 18% of our total budget I'm all for Fairly compensating people for the value that they provide but if we're if they're not being used to facilitate a bunch of uh committee meetings and all of the other um job duties that are occurring in these other municipalities um we should you know why do we not have a budget range set an idea of what our village can actually sustain and look to fill the roles based on what's manageable with our finances is not manageable to have contracts that um you know have no cap to it we just continually to um keep the same individuals over and over again of course that so the the salaries continuing to go up it's just not sustainable so so I would say that Council life for award she brought that up in the second budget hearing where she already had been through a budget Workshop she already had been through a first budget hearing she already had been through the special assessment then she stands up at the at the second and final budget hearing and says why is this the first time I'm seeing this when she had been through a workshop she had been through a first budget hearing and she had been through a special assessment so if I mean you can take council person life for awards uh words that for for gospel but I wouldn't put too much uh I wouldn't put too much into what council person life for award says that's the first thing you may something when you're done yeah I got you I got you coun um VI man Vice chair the second thing I would say is that what you're talking about is valid which is why that would be the discussion of when you're talking about capping or whatever you know whatever you're saying that's part of yeah salary range that's that's part of discussion of the contracts and you're saying why are the contracts like this okay well then maybe that's part of the argument of why the contract should be broken right so so I'm saying what you're talking about is discussed in this meeting and was the reason why this meeting was made was part of that discussion so what you're talking about is a is a detail of part of that discussion okay so it's being discussed all right okay thank you very much thank you thank you Mr P uh Madam Vice chair yes just a small comment I hear all of your your comments and I I as always I take what you say and kind of really think about it um I do want to restate that when you're talking about a city manager um you're talking or they're more comparable to like a CEO of a company right so it's highly specialized work um and also highly individualized training to become a city manager and Ascend and um have some of the certifications that our our manager does so it wouldn't be something where you would do like a standardized lock step contract as you would with someone who's I don't know like um someone you contract with right so these types of positions CEOs city managers they come in and and they negotiate their contracts um most people that have these credentials I mean I know when I interview I think the the manager is an attorney as well um at that level you expect to be able to come in and for there to be perks in addition to that I do believe that when the manager started her salary was so low that I believe that that um those other enticements were placed in there so that someone would take the job and I think that there was a difficulty in finding people to sign up for that job at the salary I do take what you're saying that at this point those enticements have kicked in and the manager's salary has grown um and some might say that that is an homage to the fact that she has done good work and there has been no reason at this point to um to doubt that and to to eliminate her in that position but I get what you're saying and I think the evaluations are a big piece of that which is hey in March we're going to engage in the task of looking at the salaries looking at the performance and saying hey is is this the person that we Endeavor to go forward with with the current snapshot that we have um and I think that the process that the mayor is outlining is one that in the end will give us an idea of how we move forward but I don't want it to be understated this is a very sophisticated job and though we don't see everything that the manager or the clerk does um and sometimes the things that we see will be things that we are not in agreement with there will be decisions that we don't agree with or behind the scenes there is a lot of work that goes into doing what she does and I would profer this there are other municipalities where the percentage of compensation is lower those budgets are a lot bigger and I do believe that if you look at those municipalities in addition to the bigger budgets there are also a tremendous more staff that is working on these issues we have a manager and a clerk that have to be uh jills of all trades and I think part of that is what we consider when we look at the compensation and also I do believe and I Echo the mayor sentiments that even if we set a budget and say 90,000 that's all we're paying you are going to have people who apply I fear that you are not going to have people that are able B to properly do the position and I'll tell you this I say this because I was Chief of Staff in Miami Gardens and I also worked in North Miami closely with both city managers both city managers tremendously more compensated than our city manager but I've seen the job firsthand and participated in some of the decisions day-to- day that it requires to keep this thing moving um and I know that you don't mean to to um belittle um the job or the tasks Associated but I do want to underscore that this is big work that she's doing that even if we decided at the future that she wasn't going to do it for the village of elportal I do think that she has been an awesome manager I do think we have an awesome clerk I do think that they're dedicated they're here a lot of the time doing a lot of things that I would not be doing I have seen the manager do public work jobs I've seen her do public affairs the clerk has done public affairs uh code enforcement they are wearing many hats and I think that they have done a good job in getting the village to where it is I think it's fair to have a conversation about where the village is going and if this is the team we need but I do want to take a moment to personally say thank you to the clerk and the manager for all of the work and effort that you have put into keeping this ship going I appreciate you and also Mr pum I would love your continued input and feedback in this process as we determine how best to spend the city's money and who is going to be in the best position to get us to where we we want to be so I thank you for your comments yeah thank you all I'd like to say to that is um so again where I'm coming from we're all taxpayers here for elportal can't let's come up with what works for El portel for now and into the future not just allow all of these Legacy things to to continue and and create problems down the line like we can keep the same staff if they're performing great that's awesome um but does that mean we're going to be continuing giving them 8% plus raises year after year after they've already been receiving that for multiple years like at what point is it not sustainable for a village who only has a budget of less than 2.5 million that's the conversation we're going to engage in in from March to August and want us all to take a serious look at that I know I will be talking to I will be looking at the contracts I will be talking to the attorney talking to the manager and the clerk about their performance looking outward to other municipalities and really engaged and also when you show up to those meetings I know you were wondering whether or not you'll know what the reasoning is I will be very clear as to what my reasoning is what would be the numbers Associated um and completely open to you letting me know if you agree or disagree so we are about to engage in that and and what you're thinking is is correct we should be looking at that but I still I can do both things I can look at that and then I can also look at them and say good job so sure thank you thank you Mr P anybody else from the um the audience mayor I wanted to answer um some of the yeah go ahead William's questions um I know that when I started I didn't have the experience with being a clerk um the day of today I'm a certified clerk so it evolves the problem with the position of the clerk it's undervalued and underestimated because a lot of people don't know we deal with laws there's a lot of bad things on the end when I started here um I didn't get a raise for the first three years then I got a raise then I waited another three years to get a raate so it's not like I've gotten raises and raises and raises so at the last meeting that we had the budget we had one of the council members and the girl who works at KB ske nothing to do with our budget but she got a 4 % raise why because she had the Merit increase for getting certified so being certified puts you at another level there is a lot of things that I do on the back end that helps other departments and I work but I think the most important thing about the position of the clerk is that they don't understand the role there's no way you can put a price on it if you don't know what the role entails and that's one of the misconceptions it's not just you it's overall so um I hate to repeat this again but I don't know if you were at the last meeting for I left for six months and the mayor can tell you who applied for the position for six months they didn't get anyone and me helping them out so they can have and find somebody of value um so I think the most updated contract of the three positions is mine and I think the council that's sitting now has voted on and everything is a public record I send it out and I try to be as transparent I did change a lot of things when I came in here um when I came in here I the meetings that you're seeing now that's one added value that I did because I wanted to be as transparent but when I came in here but simply not knowing I updated and changed a lot of things to be as transparent and as you know you come you ask me a question I try to answer I I try to be as helpful as I can but I think that one of the things is that and it happens to all the clerks the value of what the clerk does it goes undervalued because nobody understands the role that's it I think that's very well said it it's it's entitled some way that doesn't Encompass how difficult and nuanced it is it is hi my name is Warner Dreer 486 Northeast 87 street elportal so uh where I'm coming from it's just a little bit of followup I did attend the first hearing for the budget the second hearing and also the um Workshop so I had a few things to follow up the first one uh I know during the last meeting I know there was on the second hearing there was the request from the council for a list of the breakdown of the overtime uh the hour Le uh overtime pay time uh vacation time and as a resident we did get that actual numbers so um and and the request was specifically on the two positions right where uh Mr pulam is is heading towards um so I'm interested if if that's available did we get a breakdown of the overtime that the part-time position is is is projecting no I'm ask I'm asking the council but I'm answering you there's no overtime I'm the one who puts in the time I'm telling you there's no overtime there has been no overtime but I again I requested for the numbers and is there um the information available that can be shared with the residents okay Mr so we're looking for the previous fiscal year and not this current fiscal year uh I'll be very explicit so I was in the workshop about three weeks ago right the workshop was for the FY 2425 right during the first the workshop I was very explicit that I wanted to see the breakdown of the GL codes for the two positions the clerk and the manager explicitly looking and the CFO looks at the clerk right now so just but let me finish um I was being very explicit to see the breakdown of the overtime for the clerk that's generating for the what's going to be projecting for the fiscal year for 20124 2025 I wanted to see what was the actual vacation time paid uh for the current fiscal year 20224 uh and also SI time we wanted to see the actual breakdown one of the reasons why it's being requested is because I I've heard it from the past that folks are saying well I haven't taken vacation right so that way I'm just being we're just being a little bit more granular right somehow we can track of that vacation time so that's what I'm requesting I think uh there was a motion put out on the council uh for uh for I I can hear the the the clerk all the way here just for the for the record uh but that's what I'm asking please if if if that information is available so 2425 correct yeah which we can we can we can I'm almost certain that information was included in the budget it and the budget's posted on the website so I'm not sure what exactly it is that what you're asking for that's not been provided yeah D I'll be very expensive when the meeting uh it was uh it was received it was sent to us by the clerk I'm not sure why you're looking at the rest of the folks when I'm addressing you uh Mr CFO uh I'm not sure what the attitude is all about I'm just trying to engage with you so where where I'm heading towards is when we were at the at the meeting as a resident we did not get that information everything was null blank values on those specific line item so that's where that's where I'm heading did the numbers actually were inputed as as far as what has been taking as vcation for the FY 2024 what's going to be planned for the 2025 was that not C is is that available let's let's break this down first um I believe the instructions were that an email was going to be sent to finance as far as what direction was going to be made that was never done however um we did take it upon ourselves to allocate and break out the expenses um it was reviewed by the manager as well as the mayor and it was agreed that what that the information that was provided was sufficient and met the needs of the council and that information was then uploaded onto the Village website so again I'm not sure what the ask is I believe what was asked was done I I think the issue go ahead go ahead uh go ahead Mr yeah again I actually haven't looked at the the website itself so before you come and attack me because I feel this is an attack maybe you should get all your facts straight okay sorry if I came across to you that way if it was an attack but again what I'm asking for if if there's a print out of that information from the website so we can look at it so I think does Mayor do you have it mayor yeah I I think what what um the issue might might have been and yes so if you see here um here you can take a look at this real quick so if you see here you'll see the for the manager you see like regular Sal PTO holiday pay there there's a number there vacation pay there's nothing because she didn't take vacation um yeah so so yeah so that's that's that's for the m and the clerk is there um so that's for the manager that's for the clerk so thank you yeah so that was my followup uh no mean to attack you at any point uh it was just the information was not available us to the residents uh my second concern is uh you guys spoke about uh contracts um is that I know uh mayor Nickerson said you guys are going to be Distributing amongst each other is there a public request that I can make to receive the contract from the clerk and the attorney I think we already have the the managers is that something we could request yes September 25th my contract is there from last year would I send the residents you can public request at any point you know how the process works okay perfect problem all right thank you um and also my second inquiry I know it's uh we have a parttime position right uh when do correction hourly uh last time at that meeting uh need at Contract part time did that change mayor Nickerson did it change from a part-time to an a full-time position no she's not salary she's still hourly she's still hourly okay so it's a a part time no it's hourly so it's an hourly how how much is an hour then because it's broken down how many hours a week you can public request you're more than entitled to public request you know that but if it's an hourly you're answering an hourly you can you it's an hourly should I be building the city for the time that you call me or text me at an appropriate time well well that's that's costing taxpayers dollars that's midnight I have TX I have Stu I can I can I can build a city for that that's up to you yeah I can build a city for that I'm sure you have so then you're coming here to say that well I'll request a public request yeah yeah so um obviously uh the contract will be and and just a clarification where it's a part-time full-time position and how many hours a week are we expected from the clerk to be in the office also that's where I'm hiding to and this is not against anybody um I feel like I'm being now um somehow um unfortunately uh with the conversation maybe it's not the approach she was expecting but again I'm a resident here I'm I I would like to get granularity here uh in full transparency here and I don't think I have that from there's been a lot of Engagement whether it's a part-time full-time uh whether how many hours a week is the clerk expected to work but I just need that Clarity please yeah no absolutely absolutely um and and that's where we're we're starting that process so uh okay uh unfortunately I I thank you very much for that process but but it's been since 2021 since I've been requesting I've been asking the council just to be a little bit more uh sort of conservative with the increased races we're giving it specifically the staff uh I think we're at a point that it does not uh impact the performance it's it's not an performance issue but it's it's got into uh and and when I meet the staff is not anybody here from uh from public works or anybody in that specific area I'm I'm being very explicit from the two uh positions since 2021 I've been sending emails to the council just expressing hey guys uh we see another year-over-year increase in the amount of salary this is not a performance issue but to Mr uh tuman's uh I'm sorry Pullman's uh note um I agree we have uh pretty much we're limited we're a a budget 2.4 Millions uh we're not a a Fortune 500 company that we can say it's like a CEO we're only limited to a two point I'm not talking about the budgets I'm just talking about the responsibilities like the far-reaching nature of the actual job not comparing the dollar amounts correct but but at the point we're we got to keep that in mind we're just $2.4 million um it it's been for the last maybe two years I think um and the increases we were seeing of that budget budget is because of the property value increasing so um so again uh nothing against anybody's performance like I said it during the last meeting I I really appreciate the times that you know M manager you've been out there to help out with the projects I I always bug you um but but uh again so uh my other fourth my fourth question it was regarding the CIT right uh so just to give some background here um I know some of the folks here you w in at the last council meeting we'll we'll discuss that on public uh public words committee yes okay thanks all right um and then the fourth item I'm sorry the fourth item is I just want to see if you guys have any calendars coming up uh scheduling this recurring meetings I know we haven't had this uh finance and admin meeting I know you guys heard mention about maybe between March and August you're going to be reconvening but I know in the past there was always uh already scheduled um calendar out there by each of the committee heads um do we have something available for that so the calendar comes out in the beginning of the year yeah the beginning of the calendar year um so the calendar myself and the clerk will work on the calendar and the calendar comes out when like January rolls around the reason why and I'll say it again the reason why we did not have scheduled meetings on the calendar previously is because under the previous Administration all the meetings would be scheduled we would come to the meetings and we were wasting our time there was not we were meeting just to meet so if there's something that's going on in public safety which is the police department which myself and the manor deal with the police department on a daily basis if there's nothing new to talk about I'm not going to a meeting pay them pay her she's hourly and bring things out here to be like hey you guys we're just having a public safety meeting because it's just scheduled I hope everybody's doing well are you feeling safe okay thank you motion to adjourn no I decide to change things up and I do things more quality than quantity right so as these meetings are needed then I have them and every chair now I can't talk for anybody else but but every chair is in charge of having the meetings you know they they schedule their meetings um and so that's how it works I'm the chair of Public Public Safety and administration and finance okay so so if I have if something's going down with the police department I schedule a meeting if something's going down where evaluations contracts pay and stuff like that then I'm scheduling this meeting we will have another meeting um which can be which will be on the calendar we will have another meeting at the end of March early um April and we will have another meeting um around uh August or July August sometime so so those will be on the calendar for sure and then another question I know there was some conversations on seat number one I'm sorry on seat number two right there were some questionings about the whole application process for that Council seat number two right uh is there any anything you guys can share specifically about what happened right I know I was maybe I misunderstood I was at the workshop you guys said something about specifically about a potential special elections from that moment on that meeting whatever happened I think it was it was handled um attorney Geller was in contact with the election department and I think got it got well is there any any details there that you guys can speciically save while why the uh elections Department had to get involved you have any more details the attorney actually just um handled it and he just told me that everything was good that's from there on that's it that's all the information I have that's all the information we got okay so all right and and just for the record next time if somebody calls you uh at least I wasn't aware if I did call out the clerk over hours uh if it was uh next time I will not do it because I didn't even know that she was building me at that time when if I inquiry about never buil a city and you've called me at midnight no clerk will ever answer at midnight wner please you know you know better no we've discussed this I've never built the city for all the conversations we've had and I could build the city but I did never do that and many things I do that I never build the city and you used to call me at midnight too no I've never I've returned your call yeah thank you very much Mr Dre thank you very much Mr Dre uh anybody from the from the audience hearing seeing none oh yes go ahead Mr P Thomas pum 205 Northeast 86 Street um just wanted to respond what you had said earlier um uh Miss shobe um so it sounds like I mean taking everything at at face value it really sounds like the village the government entity and also the manag the manager's role hasn't hasn't really been served through the Contracting process um and if that's the case it obviously puts both of you in a very precarious spot as well which is extremely unfortunate this is again a request from our Council people can we clean up the the precarity there and have something that's just straightforward um and part of that as well would act do we have job descriptions for these roles I would figure um you know everyone says oh it's so much uh more than you you would entail you mentioned that I can't disagree that um but I also have no transparency your visibility into what is the actual job description to your point here at our village it's more of a Jack and Jill of all trades so that should be reflected in our very bespoke um job description that we have for these positions along with the salary range requirements for the job Etc part of that job description as well um you know why is any government work happening outside of regular business hours 9:00 a.m. to I think it's 4: 4:30 the um Office closes down um you know also the people in the roles you know obviously you don't need to respond outside of office hours right but um it sounds like there's you know the the village I guess previous uh people who've been running the village came up with the contracts who knows but have put you know our staff in a very precarious conver uh situation it obviously frustrates the residents quite a bit um and it seems like there's been for a period of some time a lot of requests to get that cleaned up um so I am glad to hear that um you know in I think uh the spring you said that we'd have conversations around the contracts my request would be um are there going to be job descriptions that that go along with that and do those job descriptions currently exist so the job description for the um manager currently exists the job description for the clerk um has yeah it's in her Charter but we have to just kind of pull it out and we could pull it out and separate it as like a separate job description and may I also add something nerson please I didn't have an opportunity to speak about um what what you uh stated but clerk Jobe covered it very well in terms of just all the work that we have to do um when I became the manager here in 2017 um a lot of things weren't being done and it was in a um um catch and as catch can and try to clean this up and do it on your own there was no staff to do those things so not only did I have to be the manager but I had to be the support staff the pro project manager the program manager all those roles to make that function gr writer the grant writer the grant tracker all of those things the Public Works director for years and I didn't get a raise for the first three years and is that in your job description it's not okay I feel like it should be again I think the village do I'm trying to say is but in order for us to be able to function I had to serve the the extra roles so I agree I would love to see that because then you will see I'm sure when you looked at other um municipalities and you saw the percentage of what the raise or what the salaries were but do you did you also look at their support staff their teams that is the totality of what represents my 10% or whatever it is that I'm representing within the budget so that would be staff roles and I don't have those so I agree I think that um this is going to give us all enough opportunity to just see what the manager does what the clerk does and hopefully what the attorney does great yeah I look forward to having that transparency and hopefully getting the job descriptions and contracts like cleaned up so we never have to have conversations like this again yeah so this yeah no absolutely this is exactly why we're having it for those reasons and the reason why um and this is not to you this is to everybody so but the reason why you guys are seeing this now is because it was needed to happen now you have you all have to understand so there's a couple things so first of all let me just say this just to kind of close that out um every municipality in Miami day County except for bisc Park the manager has a deputy manager or an assistant manager look at he's even shaking his head because he works in a deputy manager or assistant manager and they they don't make $30,000 a year people they don't the deputy manager or assistant manager do not make $50,000 a year people so when you're looking at that look at the manager salary add it to their Deputy manager and then they'll have a staffer under that you have to add all of that and you'll see that the manager salary in these other places is 400,000 380,000 that's what you'll see look even Mohan shaking his head he's a professional he works everywhere also absolutely yeah he works everywhere also so you you'll see that so so when you look at that just kind of understand that also understand that in a place like eler tow the reason why we do so much more is because we don't have to so in in in essence it's almost like in a place like eler tow we work individually harder than everywhere else because we have to to keep things running the right way we can either say man I don't get paid for this it's not in my job description if it sinks it sinks we can either have that attitude or we could say this is hard work but there's no other mayor I take calls at any time of the day or night right I understand what you were talking about in you talking about in in staff that work like yeah we're not discussing any contract compensation you're making which is basically understand at Village Hall but but from the mayor to the like like we all do stuff that no other individual in our positions doing at any other municipality in Miami day County bisc Park and and and um manager you've been working for what five six years six years so bisc park they hired a manager first year he's making almost 100,000 so imagine if he would have been making how much he would have been making if he was six years in it wouldn't have been the same 100,000 and he's so upset the mayor mayor Gro from bisc Park called me the day the day after it happened he's so upset that he feels like and he has a staffer he just quit and when they put that out to bring him in they couldn't they didn't even find somebody qualified enough in Miami day County they got him from Kansas or Kentucky or something like that I think it was Kansas what's wrong with Kansas there's nothing wrong with there there's nothing wrong with Kansas uh uh remember Irv nothing wrong with Kansas I could tell you what's wrong with Kansas no it's all good but but I just wanted to say that I want to say just to kind of close this out is that um like I said to you guys before when I came in the finances were all all crazy priority number one was making sure eleral existed and the state didn't come take us over so I worked on that for a long period of time priority number two was Shoring up our Police Department which is all the changes you all see I think what happens a lot of times also which is um no fault of anybody's at all no fault of anybody's at all and I really understand where newer residents are coming from because they weren't here to see before I was made or how I was so so a lot of people that now are coming in are like like why didn't you guys do this like like what's going on why isn't this already done but they didn't see all the changes this administration had to make when it came in all the saving it had to do now if I would have came in and when I was mayor-elect this Administration came in if we would have came in and we came in even at Le level zero not even level five or level 10 if we came in at level zero then I could have came in been like oh okay well that's done that's done that okay well then I can focus on this but I came in at like a negative - 20 where it was like what's this what's this where's the money this and that miss the money this and that FEMA situation this over here this over here letters from the state financially Comon fin they looking to take us over what's what's the term they use on the phone with attorney Geller we're on on the phone with attorney Geller attorney G's like oh the term they used oh that's that's what they used with opaka when opaka was went into their hole and the state wanted to financially take them over because they were just financially in the hole and they weren't coming out of it and their their budgets weren't done right we were four or five odit behind three aits behind and so we came in under that so before I could even consider going through contracts word by word to see what's going on I had to deal with that that and then the police department was ack and I told manager Lou I said Madam manager I said we got to clean up the police department for anything else because if somebody doesn't feel safe in their home they don't give a damn about streets or accept the sewer or if if if they don't feel safe in their home that's the number one thing is safety so then that was like a a eight-month situation to to take the the officers that were here for decades and weren't doing anything and the whole place was apart and you had clicks and you had oh these officers over here don't talk these offic over here and this officer over here used to date that officer over there and they broke up so they hate each other and this off over here hates this off over here because he passed up his friend five years ago for a promotion and officers getting drunk on the on the job but guess what because of the officer Union I couldn't just fire everybody in clean house you got to do it systematically that took a year and a half so there was other things that we had to do before getting to this stuff so it's not that when you all are acting like we just neglected it it's not that it's that things had to happen or now it's time now I have the time now I don't have to think about the police department now we have cap government and other individuals we have a real real Public Works individual we finally have code enforcement we finally have all we we didn't have these things we didn't have code enforcement code enforcement car Public Works truck all this stuff we didn't have this stuff before I became mayor but now that it's there now I don't have to every single day have to deal with it now I can look and say what's next and I remember maybe like even to to up here to the council and the committee I was like oh I'm going to start looking into doing fixing up the internal stuff didn't I say that before yeah because I was able to Pivot the priority and so this is the priority now so we weren't ignoring it it's just other stuff we had to fix first but now it's time to fix this all right so so so it's right on time I get there's a lot of competing priorities and I'm glad that you it is being addressed now um the other thing I'd like to say is again kind of looking at creating custom job descriptions that really fit our village and a budget range for that um you know if the village needs someone a manager who does all the staff positions that is what it is and that's the man type of manager we should have but we should also look at when we're setting budgets hey is it what's the value difference between a manager who's more of a people manager of Staff versus a manager who's doing all these lower level positions that could be paid um a lower rate than what um a manager is earning yeah so I'm just asking for you know fiscal responsibility seems like things have been a mess for a long time I'm glad that you know it's it's going to be looked at no thank you very very much I appreciate that um last thing I'll say I'll also just say really quickly um part of the cleaning up process that even occurred before this when I kind of started to look more internally um when I started to say those type of things was the um the clerk per her contract that she had the previous administr they hadn't been even like like doing it so yeah they they weren't even keeping up with it so I was like okay even if we consider breaking or something like that we got to First catch her up and for years it wasn't done so that's why if anybody sees like oh why why was the jump so big that's why I was so big because we had and I think the same with you like for PTO and stuff like that so so we had to catch so I was like all right I was like what so I was like we got to catch them up then we can start to look at breaking because we tried to break it without even catching them up well then they going to take us to court they going we going to pay them we going to pay them threee salary um so but thank you guys I appreciate it is there anybody else from the counselor committee go ahead just one when you guys do get that list that job description list if we try to be super thorough it's going to be a very very long one because the truth of the matter is is that when you're doing this type of work you never know what's going to be required and I know like when you have a a regular occupation you clock off at 5:00 and that's it but um um this city manager one second I'm speaking thank you uh this city manager position city clerk position they're in the crisis management business too and sometimes those crises happen out of ours right so something will happen and they'll have to respond to keep the lights on literally if there's a street sign if something happens or there's a emergency up foot or you get a a a a text message from a local municipality or neighboring municipality all of these things um pop up and sometimes they pop up at in opportune times and I I am thankful that we have a staff that's willing to respond and put in the extra effort so that we on the other side and I include myself as one of the Wiis because I'm a resident we can just wake up and think it's a normal day because you have been kind of toiling and burning the midnight oil to make sure that all is well in the village so do appreciate that and I look forward to that job description I think we should make it as thorough as possible I think what I'm hearing from the audience is that they want a thorough understanding of what these jobs are and I think we should give them that I think we should give them a detailed view of what it takes to run a village not just because we're trying to prove a point but I also think it's a really important thing for residents to know what government does how it functions and also I think this is a good time to invite some of our residents that might have comments to um participate more fully in some of these committees and other opportunities that we're going to put forward for you to actually take an active role in making sure that your village is working for you so I appreciate all the comments tonight thank you madam Vice chair appreciate you go ahead Mr first of all I'd like to apologize for speaking out of turn I I'm sorry if I interrupted you as well um I uh would like to say I do not appreciate other you know people who work in the private sector their position being denigrated nobody I know gets a clock out at 5 when you're a salary position you oftentimes work more than 40 hours and you don't receive overtime in addition the retirement benefits that both are hourly uh Clerk and then uh the full-time manager are receiving I don't know about other Charter positions it might be the same I don't know but those retirement benefits are way above and beyond what anyone earns in the private sector as well so I don't appreciate this game of like oh they're doing so so awesome we don't need to know anything they're barely being compensated we can't find anyone better like I don't know that to be the case no I no no no I I do need to take this one that's a misstatement uh the entire time that we've been talking I've said that the Endeavor to figure out whether or not they are correctly suited for the position is a valid one and one that I look forward to so there's never been a time that I've said that there wasn't a NE a necessity for transparency because I am a big proponent of that that's why I've always championed having these evaluations done and if you want to look at all of the meetings you will see that that statement is supported by those facts so I do think that transparency is important those evaluations are important I am not saying that they will continue to be with us I am just saying that there's a world that I can live in that says hey let's look at this and analy ize whether or not this is how we want to go forward without denigrating what has happened in my opinion and I'm allowed to have an opinion I've been satisfied with the work that I've seen you're allowed to have an opposing opinion what we both agree on is the necessity for uh transparency and evaluations that's number one number two I do know people that can clock out at 5:00 and leave their jobs and go and I envy those people because I think that that's awesome I I would like to have that mental break and clear cut off as well and for a time I did have that cuz I stayed home with my boys for a while um although that wasn't very restful but what I will say is I do not in any way denigrate that I just say that there's a difference with certain and I was hearkening back to a comment that you made about creating very clearcut hours and if I misunderstood your statement I apologize for that but I don't want to have my statement mistaken the majority of my family members are blue collar workers that get to clock out so I know very many of them and when I make that statement I mean that there's a difference in function not a difference in quality I think everybody that's doing an honest honest days living should be commended for that and there would never be a time where I would have anything but the utmost respect for those people that get to clock out at 5:00 or those people that work in toil and burn the Midnight Oil I'm just saying that this manager position the clerk position are positions that require kind of this ad hoc crisis management so I hope that in clarifying that um you understand more firmly my position and I think I understand yours well it doesn't make a lot of sense like I would equate these staff positions to White Collar positions not a blue collar position which has less responsibility often times their employees um I in addition you did say previously you know you can go to bed knowing that the manager and clerk you know are doing everything they're they're supposed to I mean good for you but again where where's the transparency or any information hope this process gets us all to that point and I think this is an active conversation that doesn't have like a terminal point tonight but it's something that we can engage in going forward through those uh staff job descriptions and when we look at the contract so that we can better understand each other so tonight I will say the I know this is a heated conversation everyone has valid points and everyone I think is violently agreeing and moving towards the same end goal which is increase transparency and understanding if these positions are serving uh Us in the way we want to be served yeah great and is that an analysis that the interim or the what is it part-time CFO would Endeavor or that's just uh the chairperson of of Finance which is you or yes so as far as as far as overlooking the well the the uh job description the contracts and then also you know what is at within our operating budget what is you know a a feasible budget range for for these positions yeah she was the chair of the of the committee um sometimes it'll be two people it may be the chair of the committee and another member of the committee um that might also join and sometimes the chair of the committee can assign to other members of the committee or another member of the committee so okay so I guess in this case to be determined to be determined on that okay thank you thank you very much mayor can I say something it's a little funny um about the retirement I didn't want to pay for retirement because we also have to contribute so I was like listen I'm the type of Personality that I want myself now um that's just me so that was something that I was told it's mandatory and at the beginning um they actually made a mistake and I didn't get paid for retirement for a while when when I found out it was like okay I have to pay no no I don't want to pay so if there's no way around that one I think it comes with every government job that has this kind of position but if it was up to me trust me because it comes out of my pocket too yeah F FRS is something that they have to yeah yeah 3% uh yeah go ahead Mr D just again 486 Northeast 87 Street elportal Florida War Dreer guys just for the record I loaded up the budget on my phone I can bring it up to you if I the numbers what you have here on your Exel does not include the numbers that updated for what we requested for example yeah I think the budget that was um shared on the website is not the numbers that Mr CFO send us right with a little sheet that the same CF okay all right I remember that um that change uh occurred late right so we were toward the end of the budget and then you came with the CH so maybe it wasn't up but to the statement that was just made tonight specifically from the CFO go to the website you have and I went to the website as you guys and so I would appreciate it how soon can we get it updated with the numbers okay thank you and not no time Mr CFO it was no disrespect toward you we're just be we're just getting trying to be clear here as residents as Council Martin said we're just in the next steps to being transparent with the whole process not against anybody to have uh we're concerned about any performance but we have certain limitations and I think we need to adhere to those limitations from from the village no absolutely let me just say um for the record that the one that I have here is not one that I got after the budget hearings so this was the last one we voted on at the final budget hearing so this one should have been the one that went out when clerk jacobe sends out um the information no she sent for the for the meeting like the Friday before or whatever um this one was included into that last final budget hearing it should have been it just wasn't updated on the website which is which we apologize for but just know yeah yeah this is the one we voted on so um I mean I guess we're at official meeting so they're going to tell you to do a public record request but I was going to say I have this in my I I can send it to you too like I awesome if whatever update it as soon as possible in the morning our Web Master is you know not working at this time but we'll have that address no need to yeah exactly no urgency and I did submit the public request for the clerk's uh contract thank you very much Mr Dre appreciate uh do you mind any chance because it's already 7:40 and I came here to talk about the CIT is it if you you if you don't mind yeah yeah thank you so during the last council meeting I'm sorry during the last budget hearing uh first hearing second hearing right um I was very persuaded by the council to say go work uh wner reach out to CIT right uh you are as and I did right uh just be the reason why I reached out because I have my concerns about the surfacing the Pooles around the village I invite you everybody to drive around uh the village I sent you more than 50 pictures of a PowerPoint presentation so I went ahead I contacted CIT H for the record I didn't have a contact name there I just said hi my name is Warner I'm reaching out because I was asked by the council right uh some of the council members to reach out um and basically uh I I was eventually connected with Miss price I I I went ahead Miss price we need more money for our budg our for our roads right she said W wner uh let me break it out to you since 2021 um you guys the money's been frozen right so uh basically she I think she documented everything she sent you madam manager the email I might have afford it to some other council members uh mayor Nickerson you're included so but basically I just want to know where we are with the CIT three I think it's about $344,000 right just to make sure we're in compliance with the CIT funds and and what would be the next steps if I may uh mayor nerson thank you go ahead yes um actually um the CIT um uh explanation and everything is is is on the on the manager's report for this month um it's uh it should be on the website and um as a matter of fact talking about what we discussing about the manager's ability to actually do tackle a lot of areas where she's not supposed to or that she's not actually by contract in any mean um respon not responsible because she's financially responsible for the whole village period um but being the she doesn't have the staff necessary to actually back a lot of the stuff uh was impressed actually by the you know the I guess it's a meet annual meeting uh the cat um um um headquarters or whatever you call it um that there were uh four municipalities up for meeting and the only one showing up was actually Mrs Aloo and Mr um po campi right campi yes so out of the four municipalities everybody else had a zoom meeting and um thank you for that you guys showed up and you guys presented um you're did your your little presentation you were required I understand um a project analysis or something like that that you guys weren't aware of you submitted it um for what what I understand the the the audit is already on the way and we should get those $344,000 anytime you know Z soon uh with that money it's expected to actually uh you know start doing some Road repairs and all of that but uh if you uh Mr mayor I you I know you might want to say something about the audit and uh and how we got here yeah thank you very much Mr Vice I appreciate that let me just kind of paint you guys a picture of how this happened so um as Mr Dreer said he came he was talking about rooled repair that's the CIT funds okay CIT funds because of the past financial situation I always talk about they put those funds on hold what happened was this um uh Mr Dreer came here he was standing over there he was talking about the road repair and things like that I think manager mentioned the CIT funds um and council person Ward said I used to be a part of CIT funds or whatever and we said why don't you contact the um CIT he contacted CIT so check this out this is exactly what happened Mr Dreer contacted CIT they told Mr Dreer oh you all are on hold you all don't have this money because you all haven't turned in certain things specifically a fiveyear plan you all were supposed to have turned in so Mr Dreer kind says hey they're saying that you guys are missing things specifically this fivey year plan you were supposed to do in the financial reports in financial reports where the AIT so let me let me check this out check out what happened that happened I don't know if it was a Tuesday maybe something like that Tuesday Wednesday so that that occurred we hear about that we know that's incorrect I'm sitting in the office with manager Aloo manager Alo calls Miss price she you know manager was kind of like you know you've been lying she was triggered to call to call Miss price because of the information I shared with you right exactly exactly so so check this out she calls Miss price we're on the phone it's on speaker phone I say to miss price because Miss price says well I'm waiting for your CFO to to do the fiveyear plan exactly what she says on the phone this is the day after he contacted them mind you I said well miss price so I'm thinking that the CFO has been messing up so I said Miss price I said send send me or send us I said send myself amander Lou I said I said send us exactly what you sent to the CFO because I'm thinking that we're going to get an email of her reaching out to the CFO four or five times send us The Five-Year Plan and the CFO was just slacking and we were going to get on the CFO we hang up the phone she sends us the email she sent the email to the CFO the day prior right after he calls her yeah but but just so you guys you guys were caught surprisingly because you guys didn't know the funds were frozen no we knew no we knew the funds were frozen we always okay but but then to my question always knew the funds were froz but to my question why would you guys send me to speak with CIT knowing that the funds were not frozen I didn't that's you were you were listening to war who told you that war told you no I I brought it up here to everybody all of you no one at no moment you guys say hey Warner do you know you it was very explicit hey go to the C go talk to them because they will listen to you as a resident and they will give you more money so everybody you guys I didn't tell you that first of all but somebody okay you tell me that somebody would have corrected somebody and said listen don't ask for anything more money because no this this is what I'm G tell you I'm G tell you why what happen happen first of all I I I I never said that I would never tell everybody who knows me knows that I work 247 as a mayor you can call me May mayor I lost my cat mayor my trees down May or this may or that so I would never tell somebody to do something that I can do myself I've never asked anybody in my entire life that's just the way I am so that so so I never asked you to do that what happened was I'm tell you what happened what happened was was that Dr Ward started talking I'm G tell you exactly what happened and she started talking about I'm Cit and I work CIT you should reach out to him you should reach out to him and she went on a tie raid which sucked all the air out of the room and nobody could say nothing or say anything straight look at Jr's face nobody could say nothing or say anything straight so she end up getting the last word and she doesn't know what she's talking about and so then you leave with that misinformation and you go from there that's what ended up happening because myself and the manager CFO knows we we but you guys if if somebody comes out here right you there's a responsibility that Miss word let we know the status please don't send the resident talk to CIT the manager's been to the committee meetings as um Mr uh I'm sorry uh council person pel says the the the update is yeah we have you know we we we have the funds Frozen and we don't need you to go ask for more money because we're working to get the money some Frozen but at no point my point is and I'm not I'm not judging your your performance about calling you and I know I bug you all of you guys I I even the clerk says I bug her a lot uh but um but the point is you guys you know no one said it right hey Warner don't even ask for more money because the funds are frozen when but anyway because this is important this is important this is where I'm at is where are we with I'm I'm going to I'm going to say that but this is important because 30 needs to be and what and what I'll do is what I'll do also what we can do also I can look back at the transcripts from that meeting yeah and at a future meeting next maybe next council meeting I can bring the transcripts you can see exactly what either myself because I'm telling you what happened and that's exactly what happened um and and on and part of the reason that happened is because um council person light foot Ward when she gets into that M where she starts to talk and doesn't want to listen she's rude to me me she doesn't let me get a word in inch wise and she goes on the Rampage and so that's what ended up happening and that's what led you with that misinformation to to to do that but in but but we know what's going when it comes to the finance and stuff like that we've been on top of that since day one so what end up happening was so for months we're thinking that the fiveyear plan is good but but hold on Harry hold on hold on it was a third quarter report I'm sorry no but it's also I'm sorry two things one just to clarify it was the third quarter report and to add to it uh one point that you should note also is that when the third quarter was submitted I noted to miss price let me know I was going to get to that I was going to get to that and if not please I was going to get to that I was going to get to that I was going to get to that no thank you I appreciate I appreciate CFO fell I app you know I appreciate that so so he he he submits the the report so now I'm asking Harry for his emails and I'm seeing that he submitted the report and he said in his email if there's anything that's incorrect if there's anything more you need let me know she didn't even acknowledge the report until you call her no when I when I spoke with her she was very explicit she says hey orner I'm waiting for some questions to be answered on the finance and then by the way I'm I'm supposed to I have another question that I'm going to be sending the manager she said and and that was it and then I said okay so who do I need to follow up with uh just keep coming back to your uh municipality right keep uh what you've been doing asking for where you with the uh with the CIT so that's where she said and basically then she sent me an email with the public uh upcoming public meetings so that was it so miss price lied because in our mind we sent her the report he said if there's anything I need to change any questions you have let us know she didn't let us know anything you reach out to her and say what's up to CIT we call her the next day and as far as knowing when when when myself and the manager when we're sitting there we're talking we're like this is exactly what we're saying we're like why is everybody coming in at the 11th hour we already know everything that's going on with this we already know what we need to do like everything's on it like everything's on its path that's what we were telling each other we were like why is everybody coming in at the 11th hour trying to do we already know what's going on everything's already coming like why are they acting like we weren't doing anything that's what we were saying the entire time because I'm sitting in her office and we're saying it so then we said man let's just call Miss price ourselves because and Manel L said I talk to her all the time and she never says nothing Miss price was lying she never says nothing so then you call her then we call her and she's like well I've been waiting on the CFO I'm like well send me what you see on the CFO we look at what she said on the CFO it's from this it's from the the day prior yeah she said she was uh she was going to send you guys an email because that was part of the process you guys so so she made it seem like well vill Elbert to is out of compliance because you guys aren't submitting what you're supposed to submit when she didn't even respond to the submitter and until she spoke to you acting like she's waiting on us because she made you seem to you like she's waiting on us no we're waiting on you but but the point here I'm not blaming anybody right her fault or your fault it is it it does need to be pointed out but where are we now I'm going to I'm getting to that yeah so we got that So the plan submitted so we're waiting on so we're waiting so this this this is a finale listen to us miss price so we're waiting so we're waiting on one audit to be submitted that's pass due for us to catch up it's on our side hold on hold on yeah yeah on our side okay so this audit was missing one thing what is it it was missing a questionnaire for council person Lightfoot Ward for how many months for five months so she's hold on hold on hold on so and we sent that questionnaire to C his life of War eight times nine times so the person who was sitting up here yelling about the CIT and yelling at me disrespecting me as she always does was the person holding up the CIT stuff but why would she It Go an irony why would it go to her that question though because we all did it we all had it and we all submitted it when we got it oh okay so the CIT asked from all of you guys to finish the audit to finish the audit you need that question there so she's the only one so we're waiting on her we were waiting on her still still we all did it when we were supposed to still she still didn't do it what we had to do today after we' been reaching out is we had to have somebody personally delivered to her house so she could fill it out and personally go pick it up that's what I was asking what happened with the the whole process with two what whatever happened and that and that was the day so so that's going to finish so we're going to finish out that audit and we'll be all caught up and then hopefully the the the funds will start to be release manager yes thank you um mayor Nickerson for that because that is exactly how things happen but I do want to also say we still need more money from CIT so that's not should I go again just let us get the audit to them and then we're done but we would still because we only get $110,000 annually but it's based on population and that's how we get those funds so it's not a lot uh remember we we've got a 2019 um Road estimate for repair at $2.2 million so we only getting 110 that's not enough but but she said it was 344 right right annually past years it's anually just for those three years three years right now we have Frozen 344 oober yeah exactly that's what you said to president so that's 344 now 20% of that has to go to Transit 80% we can use for Road repair aome yeah however we have a lot of priority areas that need help and so we I I mentioned this to coun uh the vice mayor to U council person Martin and bbom and the mayor we could pick out an area because that's not going to get us very far but we should pick out an area to focus of that funding for okay no but I'm glad everybody's in sync everybody's like knows the next steps but just so I'm clear though so there was an audit right all four council members submitted their feedback so we're are we just just to be clear are we pending on the last council member to submit her feedback or did we submit it already just so I'm clear we we didn't submit it we just got it from her and coun what does that mean we just got it we just received the question her feedback the council her her question yes we all her completed C okay the form in question is a reely is a form that is required for the annual audit not not the CIT a not the CIT audit the annual audit that needs to be completed and then at the same time when that's completed we need to file the annual report with the state that form was was that the Auditors were waiting on was required was one of the things that was required to complete the audit it is now under partner review uh we hope to get the audit in the next week two weeks the the last thing so are they waiting is CIT waiting till the time at that point CIT will notify CIT that the audit has been filed with the state with the state and we'll send them a copy of the audit and at that point I I'd like to think we're in compliance but over the last six months they tend to move the gold post hopefully they move they won't move move them again okay so what's your projected time frame on the submitt to the state it's out of our hands again it's at the uh partner that's at the AUD the accounting firm's hands oh The accouny Firm submits it no we submit it once you get the final report submitt all takes no time once we we're just waiting the report just on the okay you have that dependency on the uh the county correct okay and we don't know yet when they're going to be completed I'm hoping in the next week to two weeks okay awesome so we'll follow up next meeting then okay awesome thank you very much and that no point was to put finger point anybody it was just the idea is here to get the ball rolling that's that's the whole intent yeah but yeah honesty is always the best policy yeah I love it thank you very much Mr J thank you all right thank you thank you very much take care um anybody else uh comments questions all right uh do I have a motion to adjourn the administration and finance meeting move by move move by thank you very much Vice chair Martin do I have a second second second by member bbom all in favor say I I allst say nay hearing none the administration finance committee meeting for October 29th is adjourned at 800 PM next --------- ##VIDEO ID:8-MwADhGUNk## all right moving right along to uh the final evening of the night which is Code Enforcement committee meeting called to order at 8:54 pm. on October 29th all right uh we have already um had the silent meditation and pledge earlier uh Madame clerk may I please have a roll call roll call chair bbom pres Vice chair Pella here member life award would not be in today uh Village clerk Janice jakobi chrisa L and um sitting in for attorney gerer attorney Elber you have a quorum very good thank you uh do I have a motion to approve the agenda I will I will second all in favor say I I any Nays hearing none the agenda is approved um we are in the first uh good and Welfare for um uh code enforcement if anyone has anything to say specifically on Code Enforcement we are doing a general view in the next item seeing none moving on to the next item which is uh item F the general review um officer Simmons um chair chairperson as if you yes I'm sorry just one one thing I apologize um I did not um recognize our Public Works director Mohan thpy was also present for the public works meeting as well as Mr Adam Simpson who is our Public Works coordinator and of course we do we have M uh officer um Fitzgerald Simmons I'm I apologize I was remiss in not introducing the team that came and they're the ones that are making these things happen so my apologies but thank you I'm sorry I apologize thank you thank you for being here and for the work you do as officer Sim is coming up um so as far as code enforcement goes a lot of the issues over the past year even two years um that have been pretty consistently uh brought to the attention of Code Enforcement specifically um really we've made made a lot of progress on moving uh quite a few things towards Planning and Zoning where Planning and Zoning has now got it on their radar taking over um the next steps and then uh now both pbia and uh cordino group are uh are working within that capacity to uh bring some specific issues um forward in terms of changing the ordinance so before Mr Simmons gives his uh update and general report um I do want to say that uh that code enforcement is kind of where the rubber meets the road so um frequently uh you know as I've gone through this process so I've been involved with code enforcement since I came on to the council about six years ago and our code enforcement has evolved you know radically since then for the positive so um I would just say as a preface to the report that we're about to hear for all the Resident benefit there may be times where you are even um making complaints yourself or um otherwise uh noticing that you know you may be talking to one neighbor and they're talking about citations they've received and you're looking at another property where you're like well they should have citations uh quite frequently that other property is being cited um and they are going through the process of dealing with those issues so it to that regard I would say the evidence of that is our reinvigorated magistration uh program so there had always been a budget for and even a prescription for you know a process of magistration um as uh issues essentially are not resolved and and really we need mediation uh between the village and the resident to kind of uh you know solve it right and so that process had not been utilized for a long time 20 30 years perhaps and so um in recent history certainly with the arrival of Officer Simmons we have uh had a pretty successful magistration program as I've seen the calendar each time these come out uh it's pretty full there's a lot of activity um there is a lot of resolution um and uh with all things with governance sometimes they do take time but um I do want to say that you know Still Waters Run Deep and and I know that a lot of residents have concerns in terms of you know knowing that there's supposed to be action taking place on a property but there may not be um I do want to assure as you'll hear from Mr Officer Simmons's report that that there is is quite a lot of activity more activity than ever before uh as far as code enforcement goes and while not a perfect um uh process uh we're in a much better place now that me we're you know even just a year ago and certainly going back you know two years and monumentally so going back you know three years or more so um uh with that uh officer Simmons just in uh General uh you know questions concerns compliments complaints and typ and um and whatever you have to present for us yes code officer fitgerald Simmons um Let Me Be Begin by for the record explaining to everyone that per Florida law chapter 162 um your name and address is required to file a complaint it is required by law you can't be anonymous if you call in and you file a complaint anonymously there is no method of enforcement from the code enforcement that can take place because it is illegal furthermore um a lot of residents do complain at the fact that they may have received a code violation to address something and their neighbor has not in defense of that a complaint may have been filed that meets the law requirement and requires immediate investigation unfortunately the village does not have the resources for me to go house to house block to block So currently as it may stands that I am more reactive than proactive just as every other department within the village is all individually ran a lot of us do the responsibilities of multiple in a certain Department I don't know how familiar you are as far as code enforcement is concerned but at a bigger municipality the code enforcement department makeup is is the code manager then it's their their supervisors then it's their senior code officers then there their code to and then there's their code officer level one in addition to the administrative support that strictly handles one thing in particular for administration I currently do all of that alone by myself so I understand there there's been a a huge issue regarding that but trust me I see it I'm trying trying to tackle everything as it come there are some things that I'm responding to there are some things I'm being proactive about which leads me into one of the biggest push backs as far as the Cod is concerned and that is the swell area and the Landscaping it Miami day County does require your swell to be solid s it's not airport tole it is Miami day County you do have alternative options when it comes to the Landscaping primarily in in the front yard because that is what is visible from the public but it should be applied to even in the rear of your property primarily the setbacks the purpose of the setback the P the purpose of setback areas the purpose of the swell area is strictly for U retention it controls runoff runoff from your property runoff from the U right away and that's what help absorbs the water a lot faster there is a problem in the village with paved swelled areas aside from it being paved there are impervious materials there's gravel there's Mulch and there are a lot of other things in in a loot of swell so that's something that I've been kind of proactive about and trying to address immediately um and of course like I say it's a it's a huge push back so if your SW if your um sell area is PID there should be some record of a permit considering this um construction on the RightWay there should be some permit or variance on file if I have none you will be cited for and you will be required to remove the pay area and replace it with sod as well as the individuals that is bare or have gravel currently as previously stated um there are a list of code recommendations to help improve or strengthen our ordinance that was submitted to our planning and zoning department is is currently being reviewed and hopefully there can be some code amendments taking place I believe there soon would be something uh a workshop to allow the public to give some of their input yeah that should be I can actually add to that and say if residents wanted to look at the most recent planning and zoning committee meeting so uh if you're watching this on a YouTube channel somewhere in the future that would be the code planning and zoning committee meeting for elport from October of this year being 2024 um that schedule was actually prescribed um by plac Serbia at that meeting so residents will be able to reference that meeting to have a better understanding of of the anticipated schedule specifically of those items so and I can add to that once we have it all iron out we'll post it for residents and also you know get it out to um everyone that way as well sorry go ahead yeah no right so for the record the the code applies to all and I will be enforcing at Le enforcing it evenly um I understand the circumstances regarding certain residents depending on where they're located in the village some have more Forest than others so they have issues with the survival of these materials I completely understand that but there is no exception in the code for you know those residents so I I must apply it evenly um I do give a recommendations one of the biggest recommendations especially if you have a lot of forest you could have it thin it out there's treatment options so there are alternative options to help you know whatever material you you do place down it Thrive um one of the most recent uptick complaints that I have been receiving is about trash receptacles um track to be completely honest trash receptacles literally everyone in the village is in violation of it so as previously stated if I can't site everyone for this particular violation then I cite no one so a lot of people complain saying like oh oh it's one is one person on the Block every literally everyone is in violation cuz the way the code is written it must be stored to the side or re your property hdden from the general public is he at the curb side in front of a driveway in the front line so literally everyone is in violation of this so I came up with an idea I'm in the process of developing a door hanger particular particularly for this one violation which will allow me to be more efficient versus going through the entire code enforcement process for the trash receptacle um bulk um just a FYI when it comes to bulk BK on the swell is health and safety the swell is the RightWay so anybody has bulk on the swell what's taking place is I develop a bright orange sticker that is a form of enforce informal enforcement that just informs you that this is a violation when you see that sticker just be aware that I've taken a picture and I've created a work order to have the trash removed if the village removes the trash you will be build for whatever it cost the village to have this remedy um just another reminder um I want to encourage residents primarily the residents that are doing tree removal I understand that per House Bill 1555 that if you have a arber report that you're not required to notify any local government regarding the tree removal um to at least submit it to myself The Village manager the mayor or one of the council members so we're aware of it because we do receive the phone calls and as previously stated if we don't have it and you're not required to submit it to us so we're completely just at a loss at what's going on um you have if you have any open permits to do active construction at your property please have it displayed in a in a conspicuous place that way you know I don't have to chase it down to you know it's a runaround you know all of these things are time consuming and as previously stated it's just me it's solely my responsibility um in addition to that this is the huge this is the biggest one please inquire get you can reach out to myself council members the manager please inquire about about something in particular you want to do at your property your property instead of just doing it without being aware because one of the biggest things oh my neighbor has it so why I can't have it um you know there's a term that is considered as legally non-conforming so considering the adoption of the code for certain violations came into in place in 2018 a lot of things may have existed before any of these codes were adopted so therefore the village cannot make them conform to whatever the new code is if it existed prior to so I encourage you all to just please reach out prior to doing something that you know you're not completely sure of or you just unaware about because every time something I do every property especially properties that I have yet to even scratch the you know there's a lot of the village I haven't even been able to scratch the surface of but every property that I do come across that I may have cited or plan to site I do a in-depth research laser fish is a program that the village us utilizes that has a record of anything that was ever submitted regarding this property so that's step one that I have to research all of these records on this property and if the property was built in 1930 then we talk about there's times I had to comb through a property that had 1,000 records for permits anything regarding the property that's the first step and then I bring up old pictures to see exactly when it did exist when it um if it previously exist or not and then that's how that that's literally the first step of the code enforcement process so I definitely encourage everyone to at least just give me a call to inquire um considering you know the enforcement it it has been happening a lot a lot of people do call in a choir before and there are others is like oh you know well my neighbor has it so I assume it's okay when actually it's not and then that will also result in the code violation um last and least for the record I just want to be transparent about something in particular there are certain code violations by state law that are considered as health and safety transient or irreparable and irreversible and per state law you will automatically receive a Citation for this there are other code violations by state law that requires me to give you a courtesy notice the courtesy notice is the first is the first step in the um code process is informal it has no fins of fees associated with it and by law the most amount of time I can give is 30 days um I know you know the code enforcement process is a foreign concept to a lot of individuals you know and I'm required by there are three government entities that I must follow as far as the enforcement process is concerned that state law the County ordinance as well as our local ordinance um so just know because that's another thing you know a lot of people are unaware about oh why it's automatic citation why I have this short amount of time why am I being penalized daily and um in addition to that yes we do have um I believe it began in June of last year I special Master hearing so the way the code process works if you were given a courtesy notice the next step is a notice of civil infraction you fa to comply with that then the next step is the special Master hearing for us to impose a lean and recorded with Miami day County property like I say certain violations there would be no courtesy notice it's automatic citation one of them is the boat trash and debris um so that's pretty much that was great there's a a a fully thorough uh review and I greatly appreciate there a lot of good information in there for residents so um so for example uh you know residents should know that um uh we've had a few uh things come through with councel uh from these magistration processes and um uh you know we've uh issued a couple orders of fence removal we've uh you know uh certainly taken steps to uh you know the resident would certainly seen it as a penalties when they've already done work and paid to have work done and then they reive an order to to have that work taken out so um uh in that regard also I would say there are sometimes where it's uh you know a unique circumstance and the the magistration process has prompted the resident to go through a variance process and anyone who's attended any of our Planning and Zoning meetings recently would know that uh variance process here in the village is getting um incredibly restrictive uh you're not we are not rubber stamping variances uh but there have been some residents who have uh you know gotten relief um uh from their code enforcement violations uh by obtaining a variance and so um so uh so from from my perspective the code enforcement uh office as a whole seems to just be working the way it's supposed to be working um we are incredibly uh grateful to officer Simmons for the work that he does do wearing multiple hats each day it is a priority list each day and and uh we haven't even scratched a surface on new construction which is really a considerable amount of time that officer Simmons spends so you know outside of the day-to-day just residential activities going on uh you know there's this whole other animal out there of these new construction and remod models that you know if he's not really uh prioritizing that uh you know these are circumstances where you have we have an opportunity to make sure everything's done up to code from the beginning so that that property can exist you know well into the future staying in compliance as opposed to uh beginning out of compliance and so um I know a couple years ago we had someone in the village trying to uh flip out a property they came in they did not do their due diligence at all was a young kid first time out on a flip and finds out the property had like a $300,000 lean on it right then it became a a point well no one told me about this and it's like well you know it it's in the records and there's you know so so uh so I just want the residents to know that this magistration process has been um incredibly effective um and we are you know uh day by day uh slowly but surely um achieving uh the goal of you know uniform application in the village and and things like that I'll let anybody else speak they want but I do want to say officer Simmons thank you sincerely I um I personally know you know the efforts that you do put out each day and um and you do a Yan's job of navigating all of that uh because part of that also is um I believe you might have a career in diplomacy as well because uh because um it's not it's not it's not for the faint of heart to go out there and um interact with residents whose property it is and uh you know you have a right to you have a constitutional right to you know enjoy your property and so that's where uh things can become you know heated and temperatures can rise but uh you do a very good job of explaining you know uh what those reality RS and I will just say to the council that and manager Lou you know this even better than I do that really a lot of the difficulties officer Simmons faces each day is up still due to the fact of sometimes an outdated code where you're stuck between a rock and a hard place it is not officer Simmons does not have the ability to even though he might agree with a resident in terms of what the code should be or you know uh that's it's at the end of the day it's neither here nor there because the code is what we're dealing with and so the impetus remains on the council to make sure that we have a code that's workable not just for the residents but for our uh officers who are out there every day um you know making sure these things get done on our behalf and we're greatly appreciative for it thank you for um um yes if I may Mr chair um just thank you for creating that uh that door hanger with a um with a friendly reminder of a code violation that was something that I um actually um had uh mentioned it to the Village manager a few years ago um and that's why when you created this paper as a friendly reminder of you know the the trash cans and the ball PE cup and and all of that so um it's it's about um uh educating uh the residents and mostly the new residents theyve been here for less than a few years like you said it before um the code hasn't been implemented for more than 10 years so now that we have a good code enforcement and um that actually know know the stuff and all the law um it's I know I understand a lot of people's not is not happy about it but it's just the way it is it hasn't been for many years and uh but we going to keep our village to look beautiful and with Greenery and L and you know and it's funny because now that I was um door to door you know hanging some some door hangers myself um I um I I I had very good vibe for from and I have to say it because I live here on the east side of the of the village on the northwest side of the village which are the majority of the long-term residents owners um uh the vibe is a little different um you know people actually you know maintain I I don't know if you agree with me doing Court enforcement around but they keep their front yard at least their front yards are you know way better you don't see many trash cans out um you know and when you come to this side everybody starts complaining about oh because oh because they don't want to you know to ucid it because they over you know they did the you know they uh extended their their driveway or their easen or they put uh the big rocks in front of their yard where they're not supposed to and and you know and on the eastmen side and U so um just friendly reminders like that without going through the whole process of Code Enforcement it's it's just great because it's about you know um educating and and and and that's thank you for that I agree I hope all they agree very good um all right with that I would uh does anyone from the audience have anything to address with code enforcement this evening seeing none yes go ahead Thomas pum 205 Northeast 86 Street um I have a question like point of clarification how is it that like the trash can is something that is you know choosing not to enforce CU you're saying it's like so many people almost everybody isn't it similar with um the the Swale or how do you see that differently well in reference to the trash receptacle so say for instance um each block common on regular there is let's say if it's 10 houses on on com commonly there's about seven in violation so therefore if I site one I'm must site everyone the code enforcement process is extremely time consuming and considering the fact that a lot of these properties that I haven't been able to address anything else while I'm there addressing a receptacle I must address everything I see to be efficient and consistent is no one would like it if I was to site them for that and now I come back and I'm making my rounds on that block and I site them again so to so therefore I had an idea to come up develop the hanger cuz in the grand scheme of Code Enforcement trash receptical it is a minuscule violation for me to find you $100 every single day because your Ken is um trash pickup is Wednesday and Friday you're allowed to put it out the day prior after 400 p.m. so technically it's only enforceable on Mondays and Thursdays and Sundays not here on Sundays so therefore I feel it'll be more efficient with the door hanger now of course the trash receptacle is there is overflowing now we're having a completely different conversation because now that's a nuisance it's an attractive nuisance because of the Vermin or the animals it may attract so that's a completely different topic but simply the can is there and it's not in an area it's supposed to be on a particular particular day talking about going through the whole the entire code enforcement process and like I say if I site one person I need to sight everybody for the fact that that would be selective code enforcement unless there was a complaint so if I'm at that property for a complaint that defends why they only received a violation for it and not their neighbors but if we're talking about me being proactive if I site that individual I must cight everyone because now we're getting into the area of selective code enforcement which is illegal which is harassment which could be targeting which could be discrimination so to be consistent fair and efficient that that's my approach to addressing that particular issue okay and does that also apply to the location of the trash can like for instance I know and see there are ordinances or the design guidelines whatever it's supposed to be and I think you mentioned this before you know know stored in a in an area that's not within the first front setback I think it is no it's the side or rear so outside rear yeah outside the day before pickup it's the um side or rear hidden from public view majority of everyone e have the curbed side in their driveway on their front lwn so if I'm sting someone that has it on their curb or has it on the curb the neighbor has it in their driveway they're in violation as well so I would need to address it there as well but as you know as I previously stated when I'm there for one thing I address everything so we're not now we're not talking about just okay yeah it's just a trash to issue now I'm looking at your Landscaping I'm looking at your swell I'm looking at your driveway I'm looking at the facade of your entire property and even further if I'm a able to once I go through the records and I GA gather more evidence because this happens a lot where I'm addressing one thing and now all I um observe all of these additional things as I go through the records now you had a garage once I'm looking at new pictures of the property oh this was converted this was a garage previously go through the records there's no permit now you did a carage conversion without a permit without Council approval so it is it's it's like a ripple effect I'm there for one thing and then it opened up you know Pandora's box for a whole lot of other things but that in particular like I say that has been an uptick in that specifically so to be more efficient considering how many people are in violation of that particular thing I believe the door hangers would be more efficient and as I stated it is fair for me to extend everyone that courtesy and not just a certain area or particular people but I will keep record of the people that I did inform because to the purpose of the special Master hearing is to discourage certain behaviors so if I've extended the courtesy of warning you previously yes she will be cited and although you know it's there this day then you can apply the next day it will be presented before the special Master for something that is called a finding a fact so therefore every violation after that would be a repeat violation so now I can just automatically find you every single day is there that's the way the process was worked to discourage certain behaviors but if we talking about you know me going through the code process with every single person and that being the initial reason it's that's very difficult okay makes sense um I do have other code enforcement questions not specifically for Fitz though more for the chairperson sure okay so um I know in previous Village Hall meetings people have asked about and I watched the last Village Hall recording on YouTube as well so I know this came up when you guys talked to plac Serbia about a review of the code but specifically sound ordinance and also lighting ordinance like I know lighting ordinance specifically you and I uh chatted and you said you were going to look at things over the summer and then you had us estimated September of this year we would be discussing uh something what's the status of that so pbia from that last meeting basically the three priorities identified for plerb to tackle first were essentially uh noise in all zones uh lighting and as well uh swailes so um uh I certainly advocated for noise and lighting specifically so that there could be mitigation of drama between uh neighbors um I prioritized at least I enumerated at that meeting tupla Serbia that uh noise would take priority over lighting but it would be noise and Lighting in my uh perview and then I know the swales essentially is um uh rising to to meet that priority level so th those three areas are where P Seria has essentially been directed to um put all of their efforts first um I may have something that would be workable presentable at least for uh residential Zone 3 in terms of noise at least to move us forward but um but uh the larger issue with Serbia is going to be um like vendor like third like commercial vehicles noises and things like this uh construction sound uh uh the barriers between the different zones um and so uh so they've prescribed a uh schedule of events that would also include Town Halls that essentially begins um early in the new year and so we are on the path to to get these things done with noise lighting and swes listed as the top three priorities to tackle uh before we we would move on to other other things yeah understood so it's all outsourced to this to to plac Serbia there's nothing that the council is working on or what you said you were working towards for September right so there may be something there may be uh there may be something out ahead specifically just for Z for Zone 3 but um which is zone three sorry just residential okay um and then but PL Serbia is um I mean the reason we contracted with is specifically their expertise and they have demonstrated uh repeatedly over a long period of time that they understand um uh like modernity we're not going to whatever we get from them is not is going to last us a while um we will be prepared for the future with ordinances that they are bringing towards us and um this is a bit of a I mean I always just see government as like a very large ship and you know uh you look at it in the distance and it's just not going anywhere but then you take your eyes off it and then you try to find it again and then you realize it's covered a considerable amount of distance so I understand this is taking longer than um you told me September and yeah in my initial in my initial comments regarding my timelines I was cautioned by uh more than one colleague to to to curb my optimism in that timeline but we we are I mean as it stands right now we do have officially a urban planner with marching orders specifically for those things so that is a a definite change from where things were just even two months ago so uh there is uh considerable progress towards a actual Solution on this okay so I was under the impression that I that I I assume that you maybe were going to be authoring something and bringing that forward but I understand now it was my in it was my intention tobia well it always was it always was that's been said it was always going to be outsourced Serbia that would be that would be uh that would be me uh being a little optimistic I I'll take I'll take all of that responsibility we are moving forward on it we will uh get to completion on this but as far as as far as having that done by this month it was my hope and intention but um uh but we're in the right direction here it's just um uh you know I come from the the private sector and even six years sitting up here I still you know have a bit of a learning curve myself so but we're headed there we're we're the plan's in place we're headed in the right direction and things are in motion okay is just you know specifically with lighting of course that's something that affects residents every single night so I understand timelines can change timelines can take time but I hope you all of you also understand that you know residents are just having to live with this in the meantime until something is worked out yes and which is you know really uh good for for health and wellbe well I'll tell you that I personally uh love the concept of you know what they call dark cities in terms of cities that have you know and and understanding the different ways that so even just having a scon versus a naked bulb and all of this stuff so so this is where I'm saying that I trust PL Serbia to get us an ordinance that addresses uh those with modern terminology with you know uh contemporary applications of of how to um achieve uh peace between our neighbors honestly and so people have a clear understanding of what uh expectations are and then we have a code that can be successfully uh enforced as opposed to Ambiguously argued I guess was what I would say so um uh if that helps at all in terms of what we're trying to accomplish and I can definitely articulate the that to incredible degree but um uh yes so that that's I mean down into that that micro level uh you know lumens over distances uh on top of issue of naked Bulls okay fine the lumens aren't here but I can still see the naked light so the beam the color temperature exactly so motion sensor or not yeah so these were all yeah so these are all part of the instructions essentially you know issued at serby and they're and they're quite frankly on top of it and we're not the only municipality they work with and um and you know they work with u other municipalities who have also High expect um and um and are are looking for codes that can get them you know into the future and not uh be spinning wheels or throwing you know you know good effort after bad so can I try in for a second so I'm not on the code committee I'm just here because I wanted to get an update and fits like I always learn so much listening to you and please if you could um reach out to the public affairs committee as to your dissemination strategy that would be great um I also just wanted to say quickly that a contract has already been signed with Serbia with concrete deliverables I cheer the planning and zoning committee um and I think that that document was part of our last agenda so you can actually look it up and and see like there is supposed to be a tremendous amount what I requested is a tremendous amount of Outreach in various formats at various times so that we can all come together and discuss with specific specificity what it is that is our issue so I know Lin and all of this um so yes like coun Echo councilman herbal sentiment stay tuned for those opportunities and also those deliverables are in that contract um and I don't believe that plac Serbia would not give us uh those items at the time that we understood and if they didn't give it to us um that would be a big problem for us so uh there's no guess work in this process as it is now okay great I appreciate the update and thank you for prioritizing light um in your brief to to them um have to say of course I am disappointed as someone who's suffering from lights you know that it is pushed back further um than you know what what I was led to believe um last question different question um back to the swales that you were mentioning Fitz um and the variance process right so um are people doing variances for other types of swes I know historically and what's allowed in I don't know if it's still currently allowed it has been historically but people could do like a U-shaped driveway um and like kind of pave all of that impervious um and some of those are like you know decades old which maybe there wasn't the same thoughtfulness around flooding water mitigation as there is today um do those variances still hold up or can people go move going forward get variances for that exact same thing before he says I'll just say anybody can apply for a variance at any time so anything that someone wants to do their property that is not permitted within the code as it stands um they are able to go through the variance process and then I'll yeah no and uh if those driveways were done with permit regardless whether they're outut of code with today's um code then that's that's it's granted it's unless they need to remove it and repave it again then they'll have to comply to the new to the new code but if they're just doing re repairs that's less than whichever amount no repaving repaving I so if it's resurfacing resurfacing no permit if they're repay it yeah right and and something something uh to that effect uh we actually went through the funny because we went through the whole uh process of doing you know like grandfathering the the gravel on the swells uh and all of that we went through the whole process and then when Mr Fitz came into the village he's like there's no way there's no such a thing by county code there's no such a thing of grandfathering uh gravel because it is a safe health and safety um um you know um issue so you know even though we went through the process and and try to accommodate whatever was already existing it's not it's not even allowed yeah and the short and the short answer is no I mean I I I certainly I'm sorry and getting somebody like plac servia that actually knows the code and they work with you know bigger municipalities is a huge um Advantage for us and help I agree what is the health and safety issue with with gravel oh no for the simple fact that on a s Per County code it's not required You're Swell you only allow your driveway approach and then the rest should be solid saw because the swell area is a right away and the sole purpose of it is for retention well actually if I may it happened to me um I was going to uh somebody was doing something in the front yard and I stopped by to say you know FYI you're not allowed to do the oh thank you you know whatever but when I as I was getting off my car I slipped and I fall mind it I have a back surgery because of the gravel that was there oh wow on the SW so it's kind of like and we walk a lot me and my wife with the dogs and whatever so um when you have gravels and then you pass through the sidewalks it is dangerous it is dangerous and then additionally for flood mitigation so people can essentially pile up gravel to create you know uh uh something for them to park or walk on but that gravel is not absorbing water and then whatever the gravel you know whatever is underneath that gravel depends on whether or not that's permeable or not so uh frequently the same way that asphalt SES contribute to uh additional uh and longer flooding in the village locally with these storms gravel essentially accomplishes some of the same effect um while it benefits that one you know local area where it is it's it's essentially compounding problems um into the street and uh neighboring Lots as well so that would be that'll be one other those those two primary reasons gravel being kicked out into the road and then also as as those gravel SS as the gravel does go out on the road just you know uh it shortens the life of the road itself because now you've got um all these uh constant impacts happening you know on a small scale and um like if you ever if you ever uh drive on a paved street that is approaching a stoplight and you notice that as you get towards a stoplight this the road starts getting wavy M um that's because they paved that street and did not keep it closed long enough uh and they opened it up too soon and heavy trucks started using that and that's a braking zone so what you're you're literally looking at ripples in the road created by uh you know vehicles uh in hit in the braking Zone and most of that Rippling happened very shortly after that work was done when the asphalt was not you know fully hardened um and so uh so in that regard gravel out on the road shortens the life of the road uh it is a so that will be important when we get the CIT money and start repaving some stuff too yes and some of the I'll just say the last thought on that some of the idea of that is as we have the storm water uh infrastructure Pro program going on some streets will be torn up as we have the septic to sewer coming in we'll have streets torn up and one of the ideas to have some funding in place that's whereas as a street is torn up we're able to put it back with what we would like to have which would be like a modern like bios swell uh you know something for you know where you have the SW where the street itself is literally designed to assist with flood mitigation specifically um so that is a concept that we're working towards but again I mean the truth is if we want to do our our our roads our our streets and our sidewalks in this Village from one corner to the other I mean my estimate is got to be somewhere north of 6 million to be perfectly honest to do every single Street in the village and every single sidewalk I mean I'm just I don't think I'm talking out of school to say we're looking at 60 million to do the whole village in one shot I mean it would be an astronomical number um one block we're almost at a million dollars so so I mean if not more yeah so um so it's not for lack and pl Serbia has these plans for us by the way already these plans are done infrastructure the plans are done we have the storm water plans engineering fully scoped uh septic to sewer we have the plans engineering done fully scoped it's simply a matter of budget what assistance we could get from federal what assistance we could get from federal or state so you know with the health of the bay coming into Focus we may in theory um certainly with a different Governor we would have an Avenue towards monies for our Village um specifically for what you know it means to health of the bay to correct some of these issues within the village so um uh constant effort constant effort on on these issues so thanks for the update good anything else I thank you sincerely for your time tonight thank you problem all right all right with that I believe we are on to the final uh good and Welfare of the evening does anybody else have anything to say about anything at all regarding Vel portal all right uh uh everybody get out and vote and with that I'll ask do we have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn I'll second uh all in favor say I I any Nays the code enforcement committee meeting is adjourned at 9:41 p.m. on October 29th