##VIDEO ID:dAfdZHrC79A## e e e e e everyone and welcome good afternoon hello hello it is 130 and welcome welcome everybody I'm glad you're all here uh today is Tuesday October 15th and it is 1:30 pm and welcome to the town of Highland Beach Town commission meeting um and I'd like to call the meeting to order if we could have the roll call please commissioner Goldberg yes pres commissioner Peters present commissioner David present vice mayor Stern present mayor Moore present Town manager labid present and town attorney Rubin present thank you we could all rise for the pledge of the United States of America and to the it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for I believe we have a change to the agenda yes Town staff would like to add an item the building department recertification program update is item a under unfinished business and items following that will follow in order of alphabet alphabetical order thereafter okay any other changes to the agenda if no other changes if we could have a a motion I move that we approve the agenda as amended granted seconded all in favor say I I I motion carries uh moving on to presentations and proclamations we have resolution number and this has to do with um selecting uh members for the code enforcement board and we have um two candidates for this board and the first one up is Deborah mhler if you could please come to the podium state your name and um each of us will ask you a question about your appointments hi I'm Deborah Muller hello if you could say you know why are you interested and joining the board a little bit about yourself in a few minutes needed needed um I a notary I live on the North End of town I have two homes going across the street and two doors over from me um uh I walk the beach every day I walk A1A every night um code enforcement uh don Peters and I had a conversation he thought I would do well on the board and I applied okay thank you thank you for volunteering and we'll go with commissioner Goldberg so good to see you welcome welcome and um thank you for your name in uh for this the committee uh position uh I see that now you say you have a lot of experience uh I'm really impressed with um uh what you've done professionally and uh business perspective um tell me why uh is there any other reason other than we need you why you'd like to serve and can you also address your you have the time I have the time right now I have the time and um you know I try to help out wherever I can whatever I can um a sea turtle volunteer for 10 years I did that I pick up trash every day on the beach well I also see that you were property manager is that right yeah some time yeah so you had to deal with uh compliance with codes yes and so you have familiarity as to what the government does what a municipality does in that respect rules and regulations yes yes okay you also say um on your skill summary you knowledgeable in local government processes and Community engagement can you tell us a little bit about that uh Community engagement is just talking to everybody on A1A and on the beach you just meet more people I think in the community walking than you do anywhere else but at church maybe but mostly walking down A1A and walking on the beach especially when you see the same people all the time what I will also greatly appreciate is the volunteer uh to the um the sea turtle volunteer for so many years 10 years 10 years yeah not anymore but 10 years that's that's wonderful well I thank you I think that um your experience certainly your motivation is uh is wonderful uh and I I'd like to welcome you but thank you very much commission yeah thank you Deb I appreciate you lived here so long and I'm glad that your experience on the board is going to be great um and yeah everything of your your bio is great and I didn't know you're a travel agent so next time I go on vacation I got that's something I didn't know uh but uh yeah welcome and thank you for volunteering I think you'll be great on the board thank you I have lived here over 23 years in Highland on A1 I'm really pleased to see somebody from the north end of town getting because you don't usually see it mostly it's from the middle of town or the South town but not too often from the north endend I think you bring a different perspective yes because this town definitely has different neighborhoods sure with different needs and wants and it's nice to see the North End represented so thank you for applying David thank you yes yeah non-paying right Mar nonay right thank you for replying and I agree what was previously said question for you have you watched the past meetings of that board on seen what's going on I did watch a meeting uh any comments uh the Marcy property was taken care of apparently but it was two doors down for me and used to be my next door neighbor for many many years and uh it needed to be done so I thought that was a a great um thing that code enforcement did and they you know they gave they give extensions which I thought was very nice I wasn't aware of that you know when people are not in compliant and they have a good reason they were giving them extensions like a 30-day extension to meet the compli to meet the penalty or whatever it was that they were being fined for or the code that they didn't follow Adam the code enforcement uh the officer you know he does a really job and checks everything out on A1A I see him all the time I mean I've actually had a sign out there for certain Commissioners and uh was told I had to move it back so he's you know he doesn't really miss any anything yeah thanks for volunteering I really appreciate it and I've seen you be involved in various things most recently Milani Park and um you actually came you went to West Palm with us and so I really appreciate your involvement and you know I also agree um about the north end of town we don't always hear from the residents from the north end of town so I really appreciate and I know you are um very involved with your neighbor so I think that helps to you know maybe pull some people and be a little bit um more cognizant of what's going on at the Town um because sometimes it's hard to communicate uh what's going on a single family home versus a I really think that's helpful to have a balance of um individuals involved from various types of of uh you know condo versus um single family I guess one uh issue we've had with a code enforcement board is attendance so I mean one of the first things you did say was that you do have the time so just to confirm you you would be um required you know to attend these meetings which are at you know typically monthly or something um do you see that as being an issue being able to attend the meetings okay yeah you're I guess you're a full-time resident is that right so that helps that you'll actually be he you a lot of the residents here are not here you're round so that helps it you'll be here so okay I am in favor so um I guess we'll make a motion at the at there's one more C there's one more applicant Miss um Matman but she stopped by this morning to say she was not available to attend du an unexpected emergency but she has served on the natural resource preservation board for six years well you can be seated if you want we yeah thank you very much for uh coming so I'm in favor of this candidate um and then we have the other applicant as um the clerk said who's not here but uh I would also recommend uh the other candidate I i' she's been a part of the natural uh preservation board for two terms I don't know if anyone else has any commentary oh yeah no she's been quite involved in different things in the town we see her around all the time she gets involved she makes comments she goes to events that we hold and I have no objection to her she's fine I agree as well there's no there's never been an objection uh or concern for the during the six years that she served is that right then I would definitely uh approve I'm yeah okay sounds like we are good on that resolution if we can have a motion I move that we approve resolution number 2024-the matthan to the code enforcement board commissioner David yes commissioner Peters yes commissioner Goldberg yes vice mayor Stern yes and mayor Moore yes motion carries okay thank you very much next item resolution number 2024-25 um a resolution of the Town Commission of hen Beach uh ratifying the selection appointment and term of office um of members for the board of adjustments and appeals and we have one applicant um if you'd like to come to the podium state your name hi I'm Jane PLO quite a few of you know me I have just finished my two terms on Code Enforcement and I was term limited so um I know a lot about the town and I do like to continue to serve on the board when this one came up uh Lena said Jane why don't you apply for it and it's not a one that meets monthly which I always went to the monthly ones I am a permanent resident I have a background in uh also with real estate because I uh manage properties in New York so it was good to be on Code Enforcement and this board I know only meets occasionally and sometimes we have to send it up to Palm Beach because there's you know that's where it ends up going after the fact if we can't Grant a variance or whatever um I'm active also in the buer time Museum of Art I'm a dosent there I've lived here for over 20 years I'm on the board of Tuscana the only female on the board I'm the secretary and it would be an honor for me to continue serving on a board for the town okay thank you for your presentation and I will'll go through each of the commission hi Jane how are you fine thank you for um Coming forward once again so are you presently serving on any committee no at when when did you last uh serve on I guess it was uh September was the last time I was on Code Enforcement yet was my term end um okay I I have no direct questions you had you're long experienced on the Committees I'll leave it to the other Commissioners sure yeah I I Jane I got thank you for your last six years uh I didn't know you went to Boston University that's where I went to play football um uh yeah thank you and uh thank you for wanting to do it again thank you Shane I have an issue okay and my issue is based on your past performances and some of the unnecessary comments that you have made at oncode enforcement I don't feel comfortable putting you on a committee where you will have direct contact with our residents because I can't be sure of what you're going to say and I feel that you could in fact be a liability for the town so I'm sorry but I cannot approve your appointment well I really you know usually you can defend something but I'd like to know what you're actually talking about well one of the comments was you told somebody that they could afford something because they were Indian um this it's all on tape Jane there there was a meeting and is definitely on tape and there were several other statements that you said then um the fact that at one point you refuse to give somebody an adjournment for a week which in the legal field is normal somebody asks for an adjournment just because somebody's not available it's always allowed unless it's you know third or fourth time for once and you were very proud of the fact that you turned that down and I'm sorry I just can't I'm sorry well okay I understand how you feel but you know at the same time I don't influence any or didn't influence any of the code enforcement other people you have to have you know a quir and a majority who make the decision we just all have different opinions hi um do you understand all of the uh duties of the board of adjustment appeals what they have to do I do I do you mentioned something about somebody goes to in your presentation about goes to Palm Beach if they get rejected what are you referring to um I think someone told me that that if it gets rejected that's what the next step is but I don't know exactly how it goes since I'm not on the board of appeals or adjustments well I I I and the attorney is here I believe what happens if there's a any challenge to it uh it it goes to litigation it does does not go go to the Circuit Court correct well litigation seems even worse than going to another I understand that but in the past basically the board and board of adjustment appeals uh it's an important board and uh their decisions are pretty well respected uh because number one in order for somebody to get something they have to show a hardship and they're very specific right rules why they're asking for the the variance and uh I just want to be clear that you understand that have you seen any of the meetings have you watched any of the me what I saw only in Code Enforcement that occasionally we had to send it over to the board of appeals because it was something that required a variance when we got something that we couldn't handle thank you um Miss pler thank you very much for your volunteerism um I do very much appreciate your time you given to the town however I do agree um with commissioner David in that we you know so we've been able to see your performance and your interactions with others and I have two documented instances where your behavior is not consistent with the values of this organization and so for that those reasons I also am not in favor of appointing you um I would recommend don't hash it out here in public but if you um do want me to share I can um so for that reason I'm also not in favor of approving so okay um but thank you very much for coming forward thank you so um I don't know if we have a majority I don't know um if we there's any more discussion that we need to have I know there are two of us at least that are not in favor of the appointment I don't know if there's any other discussion that we need to uh do we have on file and her you know things is that she did wrong I mean we're accusing something I have a couple of emails that I can share that I think is pretty clear of um because I don't like to accuse anybody unless that we have it written down in un file that was tap what that it was on it was a tape meeting I think your comments valid I actually watched that meeting live and saw one of the comments so I would tend to agree uh I think she's a good lady has good intentions but when they represent the town on Advisory Board they have to really do it in the proper manner and that was in question well in light of um what my fellow Commissioners have indicated they they're familiar with it I certainly um would like to review the tape for myself and look at the emails so I don't know if this can be tabled um is that something that's that's done can be tabled but you know the count the commission doesn't have to take any action on this at this meeting it can come back if that's the pleasure well I I see if there's three there's three NOS sounds like there's yeah sound sounds like there's three so sounds like we do have the majority so we could take a individual vote you do have the votes um I guess we'd need a motion in order to do that a strange motion I vote that we don't approve resolution number 2024 d33 so a vote in favor means that we are not pushing this forward that we are just turning we are not approving this appointment right so uh let's let yeah is there a second I'll second it okay commissioner David yes vice mayor Moore mayor Moore says yes okay commissioner Goldberg yes and uh commissioner Peters uh no and vice mayor Stern yes motion carries 4 to one okay thank you very much everyone um moving on to public comments do we have any public comments yes please state your name and where you live hi good afternoon my name is Howard stall 3450 South Ocean Boulevard Department ph5 my C this is the third time that I'm at the this uh meeting involing the same thing the uh request by Matt our safety uh person fire uh assistant that he wants our mechanical rooms cleared out uh the LA I went I spoke to well first of all I was told to speak to the fire chief I met with the fire chief he is fantastic I must say very impressive he gave me a tour of the of the firehouse beautiful he asked me sit down with Matt to discuss it with him uh Matt was great he's a gentleman he's very professional uh we basically agreed to disagree uh he sent me an email and Sh me instruct me how to appeal uh his decision which involves going to a state commission uh now I don't think this is a state issue necessarily I think it's something that really needs to be dealt with locally um about 80% I've did a little research 80% of fires basically are kitchen fires 20% electrical nothing about a mechanical room there's nothing in the mechanical room that has anything to do with the law that matters referring to um he Matt says that he's been strict about this because there was a fire in a mechanical room in town recently uh from what I understand there was no major damage there nobody was hurt by it but due to this he wants to be very strict on this uh even though the L does not refer to the mechanical room or anything that we haven't but he wants to close down the mechanical rooms from storage because of what happened uh we have thousands of condo units in this town if there was one bar in one unit uh I'm not sure that's a reason to close down and inconvenience everybody in town that has been using these for storage over the years I I believe in safety safety is important and what's stored there should be possibly regulated but I think it's ridiculous to turn close it down totally um if you when for the last 35 40 years since most of these buildings have been built uh I believe that Del re has been charged of our fire uh department and over that time I'm sure if we had a lot of situations in mechanical rooms with fires that was dangerous there would have been a an an attempt to close down those mechanical rooms over these years from being used for service for for storage for safety reasons there was never a situation that asked that demanded that asked for it uh I spoke to an attorney the attorney read all of Matt's uh emails to me about involving this he read the uh the law that Matt was referring to which does not have anything to do with but mechanical room she said that the law would have to be amended to specify mechanical room and the what is involved in mechanical room which is a hot water heater an air conditioning system and a emergency turnoff swich for the air conditioner that's all that's in there that she said would have to be specified in the state law if he's applying that state law that is not there uh I understand later on today the town is meeting with board members from the condos to talk about this I would hope that uh that you would listen to the to the condo board members to the residents in general from what I'm hearing I'm not I might be the only one that has come here but from what I'm hearing in town a lot of people are very disturbed by this I think Matt is taking one step too far for our safety our safety is very important I appreciate his efforts on that but when it becomes a major convenience when there's no reason for it I I think the town needs to talk to him about it come to a compromise and if if the town can't come to a compromise with it and legally he's on the right footing then I don't believe that it's me as an individual that should be going to State commission for it possibly the town needs to if that's what the residents or Dominion of our town uh so I'm just hoping that will you will start dealing with this as I said this is my third appearance here with the so for uh I haven't heard anything that anything is happening uh I just hope something does happen about this because it is a major inconvenience for a lot of people in this town thank you any questions for for me or comments uh I guess I have a question for the town manager but thank you for your thank you very much for coming um what what is it that the commission can can even be done I mean it um it would be very unorthodox for the town commission to seek an appeal of its own employee yeah generally it's not the process right um statutorily no one at this table can make that decision right um that would be Matt or the fire chief could make those types of decisions we've hired and trusted in their care interpretation I will be more than glad to review it take a closer look share it with Len to see if maybe something got missed a little hardpressed that it did but right be more than glad to to go through the exercise but the appeal would have to be by the aggrieved party which wouldn't be us it would be an individual or a condo board or whoever felt grieved could take that action we wouldn't appeal ourselves our own decision um and statutorily we can't step into that same with Mr Remis I can't say no you don't need to do this for a building per I'm not licensed under the state to make that interpretation um so there are are some limitations but again on the appeal we wouldn't seek that but I'll go through the exercise again on a on a third try I know that he's met with Matt and the chief they have a very similar opinion of that um hard pressed that I would have a difference of opinion but I'll go through that exercise with Len to see if maybe something got missed I I'm not sure I haven't done that detailed analysis but um I could do that go through that I will say that in my building we have 23 units and we made everyone clean everything out of their AC clients that you can't have you can't store anything in there we all have storage units in the building and if you want to store it outside your apartment you put it in the storage unit so our units did in fact comply and and I'm I'm guessing uh Mr stall probably is not alone I'm sure people are I've heard from other condo groups that hey we've had it like this for so long well no one looked at it for so long and uh you know we're going to heed to caution side and make sure areas are safe and to the code and that's kind of the process we take we took and I did do remember speaking here like once we start doing inspections because they haven't been done people are going to push back and get upset and I think we're starting to see that but I will go through the exercise uh because no one's done it all right so the you know like you're right Mr s people have been doing it for so long nothing's happened so we should be able to continue it generally not how the fire service works when it comes to those things uh they do prepare for the worst in any of those scenarios um and safety for not only the resident but the person responding has to be taken into account that being said we'll go through this exercise and um I Know Chief and Matt are willing to to take time to work through this get folks to understand and accept it but I will go through this exercise with Len to make sure we're not missing something or there's case law similarly to this or something but um we just go through it's all we can do is go through that exercise at this time so we're basically doing what we can I just read what the law says well I don't know I don't think that's it does that doesn't matter no I think we're done with the doesn't have anything to do electrical with that's not for us um we we need to go through the the process I'll report back everybody I'll take what we find and then you know spell that out so everybody knows what founder didn't find do you have my phone number now Mr St yes I do okay thank you appreciate I mean I think every condo I know we got hit too we lost our storage but this is for safety and uh it makes sense your generator room your mechanical room not being a storage to me I don't know and we're doing another egress cost us 100 Grand but this is for the safety of our residents and we're finding other places to do our storage I agree 100% with the safety but a a a metal tool A bulb uh air conditioning filter bottles of water somehow don't seem very dangerous in a room that has an air conditioner and a hot water heater a hot water heater is not gas it's electric everything is enclosed in it I agree 1,00% in safety but uh there's are there are extremes uh 6 in away from where the the room is in my apartment is the inside my apartment I could put anything flamable there uh you know this is going I think taking a step to the extreme that's all and I think it's a major inconvenience to people when I got my apartment I I was moving from three homes into one I needed that little extra space just to handle my tools to handle the water the things that I need to have at a convenience hand uh and now that convenience has being taken away I'm if I didn't have that I might not bought that unit to tell you the truth it was a matter of convenience okay thank you for your comment thank you for your comment thank you yeah state your name and where you live please hello you can you can pull it down hi I'm Lucy stall I'm how's wife I also live at casarina I just wanted to say two things the first thing is that there is something called compromise and if we want to be um cautious for fire I mean nobody here wants to have a fire but there's a compromise to say no paint no uh aerosol sprays but if you have a shelf that's not wood a shelf that's metal with metal tools so that old people don't have to go down to the second floor which could then catch on fire because everybody's going to bring this stuff from our Apartments down to the second floor I think the word is compromise so that's the first thing I want to say the second thing is I don't know about anybody else but I worked in corporate for 25 years and there were two ways that people came in some people came in and wanted to hear what everybody had to say how do you feel about it how does this BR we had 300 B branches Nationwide and people would ask and they would then get what they wanted accomplished in a calm kind way understanding what the former employees or residents felt the second type of person is the person that comes in and decides everything's going to change because there was one fire or one you know office didn't have the right thing and you can either be the one that cares what everyone says and compromise or you could be the one that wants to change everything and in my 25 year experience the person all the people all the people that came in and changed everything right away and decided that oh was never done right and Del was wrong and they they didn't do the right thing those people always after that two-year contract was up or let go because those people did not work with the with the hole so what I'm asking and my husband is asking is for the new people that you hire that you're saying you can't help us because you hired them you may have to rethink that too because we all have hired people I've hired many people in my life and sometimes they go a little overboard thank you very much thanks for your comment uh please state your name and where you live I'm Douglas sarf I also live at the cerina I'm Howard's brother but I'm kidding you um I'll add to something that the attorney said because I had an experience I think will help this group I think about three year two and a half to three years ago I had a renovation done in my whole apartment and the uh the inspector I guess at the time would have been some from Del re so the Del re inspector he must have come back three times and he inspected the mechanical room where the heater and the water heater is and electrical the whole thing and I have to tell you he did a beautiful job he made this thing be covered up this and it cost me a great probably a great deal of money but I was very pleased at the end and he did a beautiful job and he said to me nothing flammable in the room so since the day he left nothing ever has been flammable in the room now that would be the model that I think this group should look at if you want to help the residents now most of the residents in this room a lot of the people on the town are senior citizens for us to go downstairs up and step down I happen to have some tears here and there uh my wife just got out of the hospital um it it it can be very difficult so I think you have to look at this more as a feeling thing now he read the description of that which some of you wanted to listen to and some of you were just let's forget it and don't listen and it's really is very ambiguous so I think you really have to rethink this and then also we're told that on the 24th the fire marshal is coming back and everything got to be out of there and I think I have again I have all nonflammable things in there I have some tile my vacuum my broom maybe some tools and some water okay I could I don't know I'd have to hire someone to lift everything out of there move it downstairs on the on the second floor if I have room where I'd have to go out and rent something uh I know the taxes in the town are increasing and we have other expenses and the economy is really not super good okay unless people are listening to something I don't know or they know something I don't know and um I think really this is something we all have to reconsider and we really have to know what we're doing before we make a decision like okay somebody said like he just said this new person came into town and what is and the other question is what is Del re doing are they throwing everybody out of their stor rooms and doing the same thing but this thing was my situation was done correct there's nothing flammable in that room if that room blows up it's not going to be from me it's it's going to be from something else because there's nothing flammable in the room so that room's protected so if we protect the room then why should we have a problem so I think we really should relook at this whole situation and thank you for taking the time to listen to me all right come on your name and where you live thanks hi my name is Merill marowitz and I too live in the C Arena I agree with everything they all said but I just wanted to add one thing I have I have exhibit one we have a mechanical room and we have a sign in the that's outside the door that says mechanical room and in there is the air conditioner and the hot water here then we have exhibit number two I watch a lot of movies is electrical room the electrical room is on every floor it's locked nobody can get into that electric room we don't put anything in there in the mechanic room that like I I agree with them let us keep a broom a um our tools you know things that don't explode but nobody goes into the electrical room this is a mechanical room with nothing in there that can really you know cause any damage by having a tool kit or a broom or you know water or something like that so I I agree also what Lucy said that it should be you know let us have a you know there should be a we should be able to keep a couple of things if there's a flood and we have to run down to the second floor to get our tools there's more damage than if we ran into our tool room and got our tool or our room or or you know whatever we need but I think every I don't I wasn't sure if everyone realized we have a mechanical room and an electrical room so we're just asking to be able to keep a few things in the mechanical room thank you good afternoon my name is Moren Garrett and I am the daughter to Moren and Eugene Garrett who live at 1070 Bello Drive I must first inform you that I do not currently live with them I am in Houston Texas um I'm visiting I did come in town tried to get here for the planning board meeting that was on the uh 9th or the 10th of um October unfortunately you know that that was cancelled um so we're here today um and like it seems like family members are speaking um I'm I am speaking on behalf of my mom and dad today um I'm here to address and I believe the the board the commission has received letters um from our family uh specifically dated September 15th again on um um sorry July 15th again on September 15th we've had Communications with uh lawyer Ruben um it's nice to meet you personally um I know we've been kind of behind our writings not really visual so nice to meet you and everybody else but I'm here to address the issue that is in front of our town about these floating vessel platforms I know Mom and Dad both spoke at the last commission meeting you understand we live at 1070 Bello drive and we are on a pie shaped piece of property what that means to you or in the in the world of the marine and the Boating world is that we have an L-shaped property we have 20 feet on one side and 20 feet on the other we have a neighbor next door to us that has applied for a state through a state application under the floating vessel platform rule or statute that has given him as of Friday which was the 11th um we received through communication with Mr Remis that they received a state permit for that floating vessel Dock and an exm exemption to make it bigger so now he is allowed to have up to a thousand foot square foot floating platform behind our his property because of our High shape on the uh adjoining uh line to him he is extended over our property line with this floating platform now let me also tell you that he has a dock in addition to his floating platform his dock is a concrete Dock and there's a diagram that says according to his lawyer and his dimensions is I'm just going to tell you the depth 2.77 feet his floating vessel dock is an additional 18.02 ft so he is out into the Waterway over 20 and A2 ft this blocks our properties inward or Ingress and outgress for navigational purposes again he only got a state permit the lawyer and the uh Department of Environmental Protection and I'm just trying to understand the letter that we received on Friday says that he got the state permit but he failed to apply for a federal permit now the uni the US Corp of Engineers has been contacted or I've been trying to contact them to get them involved because of navigational hazards I'm here to that's all kind of a side of what's going on and what we have been doing as a single solo individual family in Highland Beach against these I call them boating bullies they are boating bullies that are next to us there's two maybe even three other other floating platforms just in our Bello Lake that we live on doing the same thing and violating another Corner property in the same Lake now they might not be as vocal as I am but we've had it we've had it and what I think this town has really failed to do is to incorporate language and and enforce the language that's already in an ordinance what we call catchall phrases for boats lifts docks and any other Marine structures I need you all to have a backbone to use your language and your ordinances to fight these floating platforms they need to fall under this category of mar all Marine structures we need the setbacks I want to address that I know that was something that was on the agenda in September and is going to the planning board we need to have 25 foot setbacks this floating vessel platform comes on and off uh uh parall with the um the seaw walls do you know what this guy has to do when he gets on and off of his floating vessel platform back up into not our property but the property on the other side of of him so he's affecting her too if she had a boat he'd be ramming in to her coming on and off the setbacks are there for a reason he's over the setbacks he's over the property lines and this floating platform issue has to be addressed by this town I know the board the planning board is been directed to take this issue we have a direct um objection to anybody on that planning board I will name them by name if you need me to that sit on that board that have a direct absolute direct self uh fulfilling um uh advantage to what they are trying to do with these floating platforms it's self-serving for some of those people on that board okay thank you for your comment way over time thank you thank you very much thank you for the comments any other public comments okay my name is David Newton I live in the tow houses of Highland Beach my comments are not quite as controversial but um I've been bringing this up for over a year now I've actually spoken to the town manager about this I believe um which is having a recreation room in high in the facility we have beautiful cultural U facilities in the library uh but there's no no Recreation there's no pingpong tables there's no basketball courts there's is basically nothing so I understand basketball courts and and baseball fields and whatnot are complicated but a room for a pingpong table or a pool table or some games uh that could be U Incorporated with the with the fire the new fire station or just separate where the old post office was located or somewhere seems to be appropriate now I know that some of the Commissioners some of you have commented well you have all these facilities in your condominium we don't we don't have a ping pong table we don't have a pool table we don't have any we don't have pedal ball courts or tennis courts or anything so I'm not don't feel sorry for myself I go play tennis and Del but I don't see why we cannot incorporate um facilities for recreation in Highland Beach and I've been bringing this up for a long time I'd like you to put it on on the agenda and and uh and really get serious about uh offering this I think that just not just myself but other people have commented about this as well so thank you for your consideration thank you for your comment hi my name is Diane sakur and I am also a resident of uh casarina what I just wanted to mention and this is very simple for this um water closet the water heater in our um air conditioning our closets in the the apartment are not all that big so we have two metal ladders in this closet with the water heater well I can't go down to the second floor every time I want to need a step ladder to get up there so it's metal ladder or a scre screens that we have to take off and on when the window washes come and all that and that's a hardship to have to you know where do we put this stuff you know in the apartment just okay put it in my dining room you know uh my closets are not big enough for ladders if you need a a six foot ladder I'd have to go down to the second floor bring it up in the elevator and all that it's it's cumbersome it's just a bit much for me and my husband to do so that's very simple uh so so things like that that are not flammable should be allowed into this room I mean I think they were built for that because some of these closets are are huge on the the bigger Apartments so all that space that they have you just automatically think that's for storage because the apartments don't allow for it and it's right outside our door I could just go out my door and get my ladder I won't be able to do that thank you that's just my complaint thank you any additional comments please state your name and where you live Mario techera I'm also at kazarina uh this whole thing with the with the with the storage unit is simply Big Brother telling us what to do they I I've cleaned out my storage unit the only thing in there is the hot water heater the air conditioner the wire racks that the a con contractor built to condominium with they I had to take it down there's absolutely nothing in there and this is just Overkill and I'm sure not only kazarina but all the other condos in here it's just so inconvenient we have such limited storage facilities and why you can't keep water a vacuum a broom a step stool this is insane and I think the board you know you're talking about you have to talk to the fire department you want to oversee with the fire department this to me is just kicking the can down the road now I think you have to act on this and be fair to all of us because this is ridiculous I want a gallon of water I got to go from the 10th floor to the second floor to get a gallon of water this is overkill thank you thanks for your comment any additional comments well thank you to everyone um coming out today we do appreciate it um moving along in the agenda no ordinances consent agenda approval of Prior meeting minutes um any issues with the minut no changes yeah no changes no changes okay have a motion I move we approve the consent agenda seconded all in favor say I I I motion carries moving on to unfinished business um item a as reclassify the building recertification good afternoon Jeffrey Miss building official town of pilen beach just want to do an update uh we're supposed to do it once a month and uh once again we have good news for the Milestones uh right now uh we just went from 10 certified buildings to 12 and Coronado is now on that list um in progress we have two that we're working with right now that we're reviewing their reports which is good it's way down from like 20 that we were literally behind uh six buildings have uh submitted we did respond to them we're waiting to to hear back from them and uh we do have two buildings that submitted their paperwork but they're overdue on the time frame that they had to start the renovation uh process uh three have ex asked for an extension and they were granted uh we did have 19 buildings currently undergoing restoration under permit that is up to 21 at this point so 21 uh buildings all had the ability to uh get work done all at the same time we do have one that did come up it did Miss uh its requirements and it missed its deadline so that one it'll be a code case at as of today and uh we're waiting on two of them to get back to us they're not due yet but they've been notified and other than that there are still four buildings there won't be due for a while since it's like the newest 3200 so we're in really good shape we're moving forward and um with what I'm hearing from other municipalities and other building officials that I talk to we're kind of leading the way in this this is really good so just a comment we're at a BCA meeting this morning and bokeh has four complete that's it yeah you you have more than boka so you should be recommended well the commission put together a really good program and made it easy to facilitate so thank you for next item on the agenda the Florida Department of Transportation trip R update yeah so they are doing some repairs to the silt front and the orange construction tree protection fencing that were damaged during the storm they'll start working on that and then if anybody was to the north today you'll notice they're doing uh some shoulder work to prepare for some widening up towards Linton I think that's probably to start creating some temporary Lanes so they could start working at the intersection to extend that middle turn lane so they're on those uh processes um from the last check of the report that we receive they're still targeting a late May early June completion so we'll see I think they gotta probably a week's worth of weather over the last month or so they got an extension but uh they're still targeting that June say June 1st for sake of conversation completion time frame any comment okay moving on to the sanitary sanitary sewer lining Rehabilitation project all right we keep trying to reach out to contractors to do a piggy back or some type of Cooperative purchasing extend other contracts uh that is continuing to to fall apart so uh directed staff we're going to start the process of engaging with the state uh for the state revolving fund and look at going out to bid and moving through the state program for a singular project um again the timeline we'll find out more that could be anywhere from six to 12 months before we start F Do's not going to let us in the right way anyway so um we will uh start that process I we can't get a aligning contractor to come through to to to do smaller projects starting at so it's time to just go out to bid build the project um work through the srf so we get the low interest financing and move forward with the project so moving forward will be updates from from the conversations with the state you know what is it what's the process we could have them even do a presentation for you on what is the srf process timelines expectations and go from there so the steps are are first to go through srf so that we already have it designed completely designed so it was a Shelf ready project okay um so we could build it at any time get plans are done it's the srf uh makes you go through a few application process steps again it's a federal program um but readily available so there's some administrative processes that the state requires a lot of it's going to be the finance end of it to prep for the sale of bonds through the pulled uh program but again you get really low interest rates you know I think 2% or less type interest rates it's worth going through the process taking a little bit of time then we bid the project award the contract they are somewhat involved in that process to make sure it meets certain requirements it'll be a Davis bacon compliant contract mean certified payroll so there's a few extra steps that a federal program has uh but we'll go through that so it'll take a little bit more time but we'll be able to do it all at once CU right now we we can't get a vendor to get in here so what are we looking at as a time frame could be a year before we break around I mean they said to do like the Bello neighborhoods say the side streets in total would be three to five weeks so it moves fast once they're here I just can't get them to come here and honor pricing so we could go to Hollywood where the volume is 30 times the volume they're not interested in coming here because of the starts and stops on the island it's a little bit more difficult more expensive to to mobilize they say um so we just we can't you know we contacted a vendor in Talahassee well cost of living cost of construction is cheaper in Tallahassee than it is here so they won't do it and under the statute they have to honor the prices they gave to that municipality they can't say oh we'll do it but 10% more so we can't conf find a contractor that's willing to come in and extend the prices to do the job so we'll go through the bid process go through the srf and one big project and get it over with so a benefit to the srf not only is the low interest rate but it's also the pricing that we can because we can't get pricing so a contractor won't commit until unless they can get a better deal with us or negotiate a higher price so we have to go out to bid by law we have to go out to bid to solicit for contractors so probably going to pay more than we want or we're hoping to find through extension of price say from a Hollywood or Penbrook Pines or something of that it's just not happening they're not willing to it's only a handful of vendors so they kind of control the market they're in high demand because it's a a faster usually less intrusive method to restore sewer pipes so but if they won't go if they won't give us a bid now what makes them give us a bid after the srf oh it's not that they won't they're just not going to extend their price they gave to other communities so we can't outside of a procurement process negotiate pricing especially something that's going to be in the couple million dollar range you have to go out to bid and allow all competitors to compete and give you prices what they're saying right now is we're not going to extend you Hollywood two years ago or what we pay in Tallahassee we're not going to let you do so that puts us in a spot where you know we have a whole fresh bidding process where and again I think some of the contractors that may be tied in this is just my opinion tied into contract from two years ago or three years ago prices have come up the prices are gone up and they're not going to hold you to those lower prices um and those lower prices are granted to do 200 miles of pipe versus you know probably five you know so there a big difference okay but we're gonna move forward we're not stopping I'm just we gave it some time to see if we could find somebody can't so we'll go through the traditional methods and just go through with that kind of project yeah which is fine exploring what you can do yeah so we're g to move forward with just the project will get done we're just going to go through the traditional method and instead of trying to be I don't want to say clever more creative where we could do smaller groups of projects to help with budgeting a little bit and timing with other projects but we'll just go this way well thanks for trying y that was a good effort for sure got a good try Okay moving on to new business approve and authorize the mayor to to execute a Professional Services agreement with cap government for supplemental Building Inspections and plan review Services is that MRIs yeah okay jeffre Miss building official town of Highland Beach and um so I'll just give you a quick rundown of how we got here uh cap government had a pre-existing contract before I ever uh arrived and uh it was piggybacked off of loser or Palm Beach counties wow where did that come from anyway yes I worked in too many states anyway so it was piggybacked off of Palm Beach County's contract and uh Palm Beach County renegotiated a contract uh with them and the prices went up significantly and we were piggybacking off them so since at the time I used to work for cap I knew that they had a better deal at Boon Beach so then I got us to go off the Boon Beach which actually decreased the price the last two years well so now we've been piggybacking off of Boon Beach Boon Beach's contract will not be renewed and it is no longer an option to piggyback and I we didn't want to pay the the new pricing that uh Palm Beach County had locked in for five years so we went ahead and I got with skander and we negotiated with uh cap government to to a price that's less than what it would be for piggy backing off of Palm Beach County and now we have our own contract we no longer have to piggy back off of anything and they get their uh increase which was uh budgeted for us and that's it I'm assuming that we're pleased with the quality of the work that they're doing for us yes H at this point uh they've been here for many years and and over the last almost five years that I've been here as the building official I we have it down to the guys that we want they're all trained they all know what they're doing they you know we're really not getting any more you know complaints or anything so I am extremely happy with cap government and and and their people and their response and them taking ownership and putting making us a priority so it's been great and one of the benefits to us is that we only pay for them when we need them so that don't have to have full-time employees when we don't need full-time employees in all those areas that is correct so days like this past Tuesday uh or yesterday when we didn't work it it's not a holiday for them but so they just didn't work because I didn't need you know we didn't have them to work so we didn't have to pay them then assuming you're recommending this absolutely recommending uh approval uh of the contract so we can continue and not have to we have a we have a a backup with another company you know in case cuz I don't like having our eggs in one basket uh but this would certainly uh benefit us because we don't have to retrain and rehire and go through and find out who all these people are and find out that they don't work and go through years where it takes years to kind of get things settled in particularly at this point when we have so many buildings under construction that is very true Jeff these are the inspectors are coming around now the ones that are inspecting our condos and that the same cap that's the yeah it's the same the same company that we've had there was a short period of time where we had another company just supplementing a little bit right uh but they're not they don't have to supplement us anymore because we have the group and the crew that we really need and it has been cap government doing all of some of our inspections because again we're only using them as needed I mean they Al look professional and S you know come in and I I agree with you well that relationship has worked out excellent I mean from a financial uh point of view and certainly of the now what you're saying with this contract and the body of people that you have working for you working with you with us um has been beneficial for the town so it's a excellent no yeah I'm agreed yeah and thank you for looking at the contract price and leveraging whatever on you know the county or Boon or you know I think that's uh kudos to you and you're involved M across the county with different um boards and things like that so thank you for looking out for our best interest in negotiating the cost of the I'm in favor if we could add our motion I move that we approve the mayor's executing an agreement with cap government for supplemental Building Inspections and plan review Services I'll check them out commissioner David yes vice mayor Stern yes commissioner Goldberg yes commissioner Peters yes and mayor Moore yes motion carries thank you moving on to Item B um introduction to a proposed ordinance amending the town zoning code Chapter 30 relating to homebased businesses hello good afternoon with the recording GD Allen Town planner so the item that is before you again is an introduction to an amendment to the zoning code which is chapter 30 and uh this is relating to homebased businesses now if you reviewed the ordinance you'll see that the current terminology that we have in the code is home occupations but in order to be in compliance with State Statute we're obviously going to change that from home occupations to homebased businesses um and as I note on page 51 of your packets in the agenda memorandum um these regulations that are being proposed are in order for the town to be in compliance with State Statute I give you you just a little beef brief history on page 51 there was a house bill 403 that was uh became effective on July 1st of 2021 which prohibits local governments from licensing or otherwise regulating homebased businesses um I also want to note I reference it in the uh agenda memorandum that this amendment has been on the town strategic priorities plan as well um now currently in the town when you look at the permitted uses um home occupations are permitted in every every single residential zoning District um so we're keeping that we're just changing again the terminology from home occupations to homebased businesses um so this is an introduction uh depending how the commission wishes to proceede uh because it is an amendment to the zoning code it does require per code that it go to the planning board the planning board will provide a recommendation and then obviously we'll come back to the commission uh for two hearings and um I'm here to address any questions that you may have yeah just one actually because it seems pretty cut and dry to me we're not really changing anything other than the terminology and we have to do it because we have to coordinate with the state in any event it's letter C on page 55 and it's the second line I thought it should be um shall not be visitable from the street or neighbor as opposed to for the street and neighbor that could have been just typ that's a type of that's my only question yeah all me we'll change that to from so we are just um as you say incorporating and bringing it uh incorporating into the municipal code and um um actually verbatim pretty much I mean we provided the statue in the backup it's you know we're using their language yeah so there's no uh anybody can create yeah so the way and the way the legislature set it up is if you violate these provisions and somebody sues you and they Prevail then you have to pay their attorney's fees so you know Tallahassee has moved um much more Pro business lately so this is again kind of a pro bus bu more infringing on home rule kind of thing but we have to follow it and it's still pretty restrictive it yeah it's I mean Fair restrictive they it you don't have you know everyone doesn't have to be a resident they've expanded it a little bit and they could do internet sales and all this other stuff but I mean the just if it's the same it's a little more expansive yeah but what they're saying is you can't solely run a business out of a house it has to primarily be a residence correct and that you can only have two people who are not actually living in the house working in the house in that business yes a lot of ordinances prior um everyone's had to change theirs would require that all of the employees live there and you know for more of the people who are like conducting like a CPA business or something where they just had clients come it's a little more expansive but again it's what the state law requires now okay now what about if you're in a condo that doesn't let you run a business out of your apartment that's different this is just we can't enforce the the condo EGS or between uh the unit owners and the association this is just the towns code yeah it's it makes it's logical to me to do this could could you address signing how does it change it does it change the signing that could be put outside the signing right um so you'll see the the The Struck through language if you go to page 56 um there was a reference to signage see what letter it was yeah it said uh letter N on premises signs is prohibited right um I did want to just bring to your attention we do have a sign code here in the town it's chapter 23 and um I think there was an email that was sent out by a resident that was concerned that people now can put signs um if you look at that definition so we have a definition the sign code for permanent sign okay and this is what a permanent sign is I'll read it verbatim says permanent sign means a sign used to identify or name a residence apartment or condominium condominium building motel or hotel that's it that is what the town considers a permanent sign so if somebody wanted to put a business they would not unless it's a hotel or motel but that's not secondary and that's not incidental to a resident that' be hard to do as a home Bas exactly so um I think it's very important that anyone that may be you know concerned about the ordinance and signage you to take a look at that sign code it's very clear how the code defines what a permanent sign is certain restrictions on square footage could we reference that we we can reference it so that if somebody has a question it's clear it's clear what's going to happen we could cross reference our sign code it it doesn't preempt us it the sign code that would be applicable the homebased miss the same code that would be any other in that residential district so but yeah we can cross reference it before we bring back to planning board yeah ingred you you answer my question I was just going to ask you about that so so we do have that in there we do have that in the code it's very clear yeah I'd be in favor of that too I thought that was a good point doesn't hurt cross reference and make it very clear then I suggest we send this on to the planning board yes I would agree do we need a motion for that or um no well make a quick motion okay you want a motion yeah might as well so everyone knows we're following directive and I move that we send the permitted uses special exceptions and prohibited uses ordinance on to the planning board for review second recommendation seconded commissioner David yes commissioner Goldberg yes commissioner Peters yes vice mayor Stern yes and mayor Moore yes motion carries thank you very much moving on to commission comments commissioner Goldberg well I must say it's unusual for me but I don't have any comments today wish uh wish my community a very happy new year for those of the Jewish faith and to everyone to have a health and success and a wonderful a wonderful year so there it is I did say something thank you yeah I just like to thank everybody for the comments and uh and we're having trouble with the mar and that's why we're doing the planning board and with the Marine fa we're trying to protect people like your parents and their property and that and that's why we're being very careful and we're studying that and throwing it back to the planning to do it and with uh uh so we I appreciate your words and uh storage I me it seems to be a problem in my condo we're binding storage that we lost with fire but it's all for safety and I think it's in the long run it's good thank you I did go out to someone's house and I see exactly what you are talking about it's you know what it's probably better to view it from across the lake because then you can see exactly what you're talking about from a different perspective um but I saw what you were talking about and yeah something that we're dealing with on the marine accessories and we have to really look into it closely because it can be a big problem other than that have a good rest of the month as it relates to the fire inspection and so forth um there are a lot of things if any any individual looks at the reports because in my condo as well there pages of things when you go through it most of them are minor correct easily fixable there are a few issues that again should be addressed we came across the same thing what we have to do uh and uh we're going to comply but that doesn't mean it can't be challenged and discussed and I think that that should happen uh on a another issue I just want to update because I keep talking about the electrical rule electrical vehicle Rule and and um our condo did pass uh rules which I mentioned earlier but it's in three parts I just want to mention it one is electrical vehicles our garage is underneath the uh building we are not allowing any charging of electrical vehicles in the garage we are setting up a charging station outside the garage uh dual char charging station uh which the company will uh the option we took the company will install it do the electrical the with the capacity and what is going to happen is two vehicles can charge at once it will be controlled with timing by our security disc access the arrangements we made we set the price per kilowatt and we'll do market price the condo get 90% of that Revenue back the company gets 10% back and we think we've they'll do the permitting and so forth uh just so people get an idea what we're talking about we're talking about a about a $24,000 uh cost for us uh so that's part one part two is the bicycles the electrical bicycles we've totally banned batteries uh charging in a garage if any Resident wants to buy a storage unit for outside the building and store the batteries that will be the protocol and so far that's not a problem actually one of my residents is Greco from the the dealership and he he's he was one of the two people that actually had one and he said well I'll store it at one of my dealerships which is great uh and then the last part is the trickle charger issue and the way we resolve that is uh we have the uh residents we buy for the residence a unit that plugs in and goes on the charger and it order a maintainer it's called about $100 and what happens these are for people who go away and want to have their vehicles charged when the battery is fully charged it shuts off we have a maintenance guy who go around and check it to make sure uh that everything is happening it has to be plugged in so this is a completely safe kind of a u a thing so that's the progress of what we had and we're willing to sh obviously share anything anybody wants that's excellent uh nothing from me um moving on to town attorney um just in response to Miss Garrett the commission made it clear that uh we wish to regulate those floating vessel platforms to the extent that we were legally permissible to do do so and uh we are researching that looking into it and analyzing it so we will have input for the board and for the Commission in the future thank you ma'am thank you Town manager yes it looks like Lan you took care of one of them uh we did have a crosswalk light out at uh Regency Crossing we're looking into getting that repair so if you see why it's not working we're working on that it'll just be V time um as you heard we'll take a look at the analysis of storage rooms um on the last item then would be the 75th Anniversary uh the committee is still meeting we were supposed to meet last week as a group we've rescheduled that because of closure for the hurricane um but everything is progressing well uh all the vendors uh skender and Madison are getting them all in place everything that the group wants uh it'll be a lot more formal as I'm seen it from last year uh so we're it's going to be great um we'll have four trolleys you can't just we can't just walk into the site there'll be a a particular entrance so we can kind of get folks in keep people safe um I think it'll be a really great uh program more elaborate than we've seen some extra special vendors uh trying to get some craft breweries there to let people taste some stuff that's you could see around town um some food vendors uh cartoonists or people that do those characteres some more fun stuff for people to do uh we're looking at locking down a band along with the DJ so it'll be a lot of fun for those that show um so I encourage residents if you have that opportunity on uh December 5th 5 to8 uh you see people jumping on a trolley join them come meet us come see what's going on and uh and U meet your Commissioners and get your picture taken or if that's what you want or just talk to them um and uh we hope it's going to be a great event again thank you to St Lucy and father Horgan for uh hosting it for us and uh we look forward to a great event just i m go ahead just a special thank you I see we got a new sign yeah we had to recre it so you see the old one and you walk by and try to don't try it but it's so much heavier so this we had to create so it could hang on the wall but yeah it's nice nice touch putting our logo to action behind us colorful I like the color oh and uh quickly uh we're waiting on the last medallion for the entry sign so those I sent you pictures should be don't commit to time Skinner's just shaking his head because it's taking them forever to get everything uh but hopefully very soon we'll start seeing the installation of our new entryway signages into town so after 18 months hopefully we'll see them installed and we're just waiting on two pieces I can't believe it takes so long but it does I saw a picture of it and did it say is it going to say U uh you're leaving Highland Beach on the backside when you come in it just says Highland Beach when you're leaving it says leaving Highland Beach okay I thought that was so cute lights and tile it's G look nice three miles you're any route three miles of pray housee moving on to announcements uh we have a couple board vacancies a vacancy on the code enforcement board um and then upcoming meetings and events we have uh on November 5th we have election day so Town Hall will be closed uh November 6th we have a regular meeting of the natural resources preservation Advisory board at 11: in the morning um November 11th Town Hall will be closed in observance of Veterans Day uh November 12th at 1 pm we have the special magistrate hearing um also on November 12th uh we were mailed and announced um there will be a resident Outreach event um to beachfront property owners from the uh natural res uh preservation board natural resources preservation board um and uh and it has to do with an evaluation of beachr properties and and uh the dunes and things like that so that is November 12th at 6 pm at the town library so please attend if you can uh November 14th at 9:30 in the morning we have a planning board regular meeting and then the next meeting of the Town commission is November 19th at 1:30 there are no board action reports and with that goad tell people that not in accordance with prior years voting is at the library not at St lisy's Okay so so don't go to St lucies yes please go to the library um okay and with that thank you very much we can adjourn