good evening everyone and welcome thank you for coming tonight I'd like to call the City of Homestead city council presentation ceremony to order and first up tonight is councilwoman Bailey thank you mayor good evening everyone well it is always a good night when we get to recognize one of our own and tonight we recognize mon de Leon Herrera for obtaining her certified municipal clerk designation so a little background Monica has been employed with the City of Homestead since March of 2018 when she was hired as an administrative assistant SL Deputy city clerk she became a member of the Florida Association of city clerks in June 201 2018 and joined the Miami Dade County Municipal clerks Association in June of 2018 as well currently the Florida Association of city clerks has over 596 members and out of those members only about 210 have reached the certified municipal clerk designation so that is amazing we are honoring her tonight because of all the work that she put into becoming to receiving this um which entails many things including uh 120 student instructor contact hours of in-depth courses and requires experience of in a municipality so this program prepares their applicants to meet the challenges of complex roles of the municipal City Clerk and provides them with quality education and partnership with institutions of Higher Learning so on behalf of the mayor and Council please join me in congratulating Monica on her efforts if we can have please all of the city clerk office joined too and I understand that her son is here as well to pin her please come on [Applause] up for thank you very much for all your hard work here at the city we appreciate you tremendously exra good afternoon everybody um I don't like speaking in the big crowd so sorry if I start okay so I would like to begin by thanking the city for giving me the opportunity on on achieving my CMC certification it is a great honor for me to have achieved this in my hometown I was born and raised here so I'm very proud of that thank you to all the council mayor loir vice mayor Fletcher councilwoman Aila councilman Roth councilman canaval councilman Davis and also city manager Jerry estada thank you all for everything to my husband Rafael thank you so much for always being by my side through thick and thin pushing me on continuing my education as well as pushing me to attend the fac conferences throughout these years thank you babe and I love you to my kids where cik thank you so much for understanding and believing in me you kids are my life and you are the reason I wake up every morning to get through some of my most difficult days Lo thank you to my mother Maria de Leon my mom is so special to me she has helped me on achieving this CMC in so many ways she has shown me that I must push through the most toughest things in life to get what I want to my sisters and brothers and my dad that couldn't make it tonight I love you all and thank you tonight as I get the certification I could not go without mentioning some extremely wonderful women that have made me into the professional lady that I am today Miss Kelly Sullivan my first boss at University of Florida Miss lucenda Charles Gibbs my boss at Homestead job courp and now my current boss Miss Elizabeth Su these three ladies have taught me everything I know today and I'm thankful for them three special special thanks to Julissa Chavez liis palao Kia day and Miss St for everything I am truly blessed to work with each such an amazing ladies the city clerk staff spends much more time together than we do with our own families we have late late nights on Council meetings cow meetings special calls and agenda Fridays thank you ladies for everything you do councilwoman Bailey a special thanks to you I am honored to have you present me with this certification thank you [Applause] all let's hear it one more time for our very [Applause] own congrats again to the next all all right so my second presentation is for our artist in the spotlight program tomorrow night we have our out artist in the spotlight gallery night at the seal theater thanks to the Friends of the seminal theater for that and I'm also happy to announce that at least once or twice a year we will have an artist in the spotlight dedicated specifically to Homestead Center for the Arts so while many other months are theme based this one is just going to be an awesome representation of everything that is happening here in Homestead so without further Ado if I can have the artist join me please I think we have about seven of the 24 that are featured at the seal theater so please don't miss it tomorrow night 6 p.m there are always delicious ordes and drinks available there so we hope you can join Jo us and see some of this amazing talent and if Charlie would like to say a few words here if you want to stand do this way uh and I know a number of you already I'm Charlie Hudson with Homestead Center for the Arts and as councilwoman Bailey says we do appreciate that the city both established and has continued the artists in the spotlight program and of course Jennifer Bailey is such a strong advocate for arts for all ages and she brings as many uh events here as she can and uh as many of you know uh we are continuing to hope that we get you know at least one or two more galleries in town and uh so that's always a good thing so in the meantime we appreciate this opportunity for the artist to be highlighted and yes if you have a chance then do come to the reception tomorrow night at seol at 6 pm thank you every yes good evening my name is Sandra BOS I am an artist journalist and speaker and so on so I'm uh very blessed to be here tonight thank you Council bman bayy for all what you do for us thank you all of you for all what you do for us artists I'm very happy to be here and to be part of this awesome Exhibition at the seminal theater and I would just like to leave you with a message I'm actually some of you already know me some don't I'm going through through cancer like for eight years now and have survived five surgeries two metastasis and I'm about to get into my six surgery most probably in March so I understood that life is short and that you only have this moment so I ask you to enjoy life because that's what we are here for to enjoy life ask yourselves if you are the best version you can be of yourselves and if you are a better version of yesterday I'm sorry for my Spanish it's not for my English it's not my first language but I hope you understand what I'm trying to say so um stay focused please we are here here to be happy we are here to serve others but we are here to serve each other as well like first me then the others because if I don't love myself how am I going to be able to love others so I paint because it's my healing therapy thy and I enjoy every time I'm painting because I forget about all my problems all my pains and it's really a blessing to be here thank you for the association thank you Charlie for all you what you do for us and that's all for today thank you very much hi good evening everybody thank you Charlie for everything you do for the artist local artist and Bailey too and for all of you too so thank you for support the local artist uh my name is Wanda Monas I'm from Dominican Republic and I've been painting since a little bit be a little girl and I always feel that art is my what I love to do and that's what I say like life is now it's not tomorrow it's started from now okay so thank you so much [Applause] everyone so good evening everybody my name is Marie Ferraro and I re I came to Homestead 2003 after retirement and I started painting 2014 and a painting is helps me along because I always like to do something I'm always doing something with my hands and so I'm still painting and that's what I do and that's what I love thank you hi everyone my name is Joanne I used to do makeup but makeup wipes off so I started painting instead and this one is called glimmering tears because sometimes we find the strongest parts of ourselves during our pain so thank you Charlie for everything you do hi Susan sorentino um I'm so proud to be part of this group uh I just want to encourage you all to go to the reception tomorrow tomorrow night and I hope you realize that all of these artists I think all work in their homes so you'll never get to see their art unless they're at a spotlight show so thank you Miss Bailey and um we need to support our um addiction of creation all of us just keep going and going and want to create more so all of the work at the seminal theater is for sale and you'll show sure put some Smiles on these faces when they could go and buy more paint thank you hi I'm Angelisa haly better known as Miss Angie I also work for Miss Bailey at smartar so I believe painting learning and playing is the way of life and you'll see that I love horses so all my paintings at simal theater are of of horse hes for the rodeo y'all so check them out and yes I do paint at home and I do whatever makes me feel good and I hope it makes everybody else feel good thank you thank you Charlie hi I'm Hugh Hudson um thanks to uh Council woman Bailey and the entire Council and mayor for providing this opportunity with the Simo and with the spotlight in the uh artist in Sp Spotlight it's really great program it's really great to see that Homestead is moving forward with Arts both public art and uh and the kind of stuff that we do as well and as Susan said buy more art my name is Terry ribovich I moved to Homestead with my husband John Ward from my hometown West Palm Beach four and a half years ago and um it's it's given me more time to draw and I am happy to be showing at with HCA at the seminal theater I thank the homestead city council especially Jennifer Bailey for making this possible we need more art in this town hello everyone I'm patri vello I'm a photographer and I want to thank everybody um M Hudson and Miss Bailey for the opportunity that everyone give us thank you hello my name is Claudia Mella and I'm a natur photographer uh always looking for beauty around uh this picture is for a tiny mushroom that it was on the side of the road uh in Orlando it was at night uh I don't use Photoshop so there's not subtraction or addition uh in colors or light this is just what I saw at the same moment and uh of the of the streets so I just took advantage of it thank you thank you again Charlie and coordinating with all these amazing artists thank you all for putting your beautiful work at the seminal theater and let's go buy some art tomorrow 6 o' okay yeah thank you all right uh if you haven't noticed uh it's Rodeo weekend in the City of Homestead [Applause] and as I was sitting up there I'm thinking in the rodeo Spirit can I get the audience to just give me a one big Yeehaw how about that all right well today we are going to be recognizing the Rodeo Association as this rodee will mark their 75th anniversary and in a minute I'll bring Jim Jim come on up here if you want to bring up some of your supporting casts got to bring Joey Joey's been with the rodeo forever come on Joey bring up whoever you want to bring up here come on who all you come on SO and I'll let Jim he's going to give a little history and some things that are going on at the rodeo after I do this Proclamation for the rodeo there's a bunch of whereas is on here and I'm not going to take all night to read everything on here but uh the first one is 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the homestead Rodeo the first ever Homestead Rodeo was held at Municipal Park on Friday November 11th 1949 it was built as the southernmost in the US a Bonafide Wild West event staged on the national holiday armis this day the homestead Rodeo Association was formed in 1952 by 17 local businessmen who shared a love of horses and the excitement of the sport of rodeo the homestead Rodeo association's mission statement is to promote the sport of rodeo and other equestrian activities to benefit their greater Homestead Florida City community and support our youth through those activities now therefore mayor Steven D lner does hereby Proclaim Saturday January 24th 20124 as the 75th Anniversary Homestead Rodeo Day you made [Applause] it you want to do a pict F or and then we'll let you just well let's let him say a few words first yeah this is Jim Balman he's the president of the Rodeo Association how long you been doing it for a long time I just want to thank the mayor and Council for for the proclamation that was really nice to you um yeah 75 years is pretty amazing I'm I'm proud to be a member of this Association I'm proud of all these folks volunteers members associate members members of Meritus the old guys showed up here uh I love them all and U it this year has been really great um we were going through all the archives that we have uh trying to put together a a historical exhibit if you've been to the Town Hall Museum there's an exhibit there check that out there's a lot of artifacts One of a Kind things I even donated my old jacket there so you could see that but uh but one of the younger kids here had an idea we should do that at the rodeo ground so in our barn we actually have a historical exhibit this year so if you come to the rodeo go in the barn there's a slideshow of all there's over 700 images it's it's pretty amazing and you just look at that and you just see what a history this Rodeo is and what a big part of this city it is it goes way back you know it's just amazing a lot of prominent families Farmers agriculture I mean it's just it's truly a HomeTown rodeo and we'd love love it to continue for years to come for many more Generations you know it's been my pleasure to be president for a while I've seen kids grow up and uh you and they're still here you know it's just it's flattering to me but it's just an amazing sport there's not a sport like rodeo and that's why all of us truly love the sport and we just come back and volunteer our time and and it's just there's nothing like it so I I hope uh I hope you all can make it to the rodeo this weekend it's it's uh I just can't say enough about it there check that exhibit out and let's see there's another event tomorrow morning actually uh we've been doing a a reading program for first graders for many years uh where F first graders come to they do a field trip to our rodeo and they they they were given a book to read about rodeo and this is their they get to see behind the scenes and learn all about Rodeo that that's a thing we've been doing for a long time and um and that's really great to see the kids face light up for that so I was hoping somebody Tom you want to say something I'd love love to hear you speak because Tom was our Arena director for many years he came down from Missouri for this so I'm honored that he's up here Tom thank you Jim first off I want to thank the homestead city council I know a few of them been friends down here I come down here in uh 1968 thanks to the US government government and I stayed until 2010 and I had other commitments in Missouri I still live up there and I love it it's out in the country but the time that I started working with this Association and everything that they have done this is not a i program this is a we program we all make this Rodeo go and I want to thank everybody that's ever been into it I want to thank all the people that come to it we're going to have perfect weather this year no reason not to get out and come unless you couldn't buy a ticket and I want to thank Jim for all of his work he's been a great leader and I just can't say enough about this whole association and this will probably be my last trip to make down here so you all have a good Rodeo next year too so so thank everybody thank you Council thank everyone so yeah I wanted to thank Council in the city you know you guys have done a lot for us over the years uh supplying cones barricades things like that you even helped us expand our footprint as much as you could this this year the on the Northern side of the ticket office there is a warm-up pen that was essential to to get more space for contestants to warm up their courses and it it's really coming in handy because this year we have more contestants than we've ever had it it's going to be an amazing show that's Quite a feat so that was perfect timing for that so yeah we'll have a a new event called Breakaway women's Breakaway roping we've never done that before that's a wpr event um first time we're doing it here that just started in 2020 so that's an you know even even more action and we're expecting just a huge crowd last year was our biggest year ever we had close to 20,000 people over the weekend we rent a field next to the arena 13 acres I can show you Drone footage of that it was totally packed U so that shows you what we can do I don't need a survey I can tell you you know if if it's easy to park people are going to come out and and go to the rodeo because there's nothing else like it we're the only pro rodeo in my Mi day County y That's southern most rodeo in the continental US they said that on the 1949 but yeah I want to invite you all to come experience the rodeo we've been doing a VIP tour behind the scenes tour before Rodeo we're doing that on Saturday some of you have come before and it's you get to meet some of the contestants you know see how we do things back there with all the the stock and everything it it's it's very enjoyable so please come out and see that make sure you check the exhibit out there but so we just you know we want to continue this thing so we really need to work on something with our parking problem I heard a rumor that that field was sold I don't know if that's true but if that field is sold that's going to be a have a major impact on the rodeo and it's urgent that we address that at this time we can't wait anymore so I'd love to talk to each of you individually collectively what ever we could do brainstorm but something needs to take place after this Rodeo so we'd appreciate your support on that thanks everybody hope to see you out at the rodeo thank you so just real quick for those that may be going out there Friday night is your tough enough to wear pink night Saturday's show is dedication and then Sunday is Patriot milary military appreciation day so so Friday night if you're going out you wear pink on Saturday what do they wear whatever they want and then clothes yeah don't come out naked okay and then on Sunday bring your best red white and blue and let's show our support for not only the rodeo but the United States of America as well thank you Jim thank you guys for everything you guys do out there and I look forward to being out there with you all three days right thank you l two or three from the well again thank thank you all and thank you to uh council members uh Bailey and r we will um call the uh regular council meeting to order at 6:00 if you're going to be here for that and you wish to speak remember please fill out a speaker's card it looks like we have a packed agenda and a packed house tonight and if you wish to make public comments it's a reminder that you do need to fill out a uh speaker card and uh we will convene at 6 we'll see you then thank you well good evening everyone and welcome I'd like to call the the City of Homestead city council meeting to order today is Wednesday January 24th 2024 this evening the invocation will be given by Pastor Benjamin Perez of purpose Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance with councilwoman aala and the Homestead at Police Explorers everyone please rise Pastor Perez here oh good evening everyone from the gospel of Matthew Chapter 5 God blesses those who are poor and realize your need for him for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs God blesses those who are humbled for they will inherit the earth God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice for they will be satisfied God blesses those who work for peace for they will be called children of God God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right and God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers for you are the light of the world like a city on a Hilltop that cannot be hidden no one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket instead a lamp its place on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house Heavenly Father we come to you with grateful heart thanking you for a beautiful city of Homestead as a city we pray for a mayor lner vice mayor Fletcher and for every councilman and Council woman and their families we ask you Lord to give upon every member the wisdom necessary to lead this great City the grace to UniFi us and the strength to stand for what is Right respect respectfully in Jesus name we pray amen [Music] amen [Music] arm please join me in pledging allegiance to our great country allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for [Music] all thank you please be seated roll call Madam Court councilman caral councilman caral he's here councilman Roth here councilman Davis here councilwoman abula here councilwoman Bailey here vice mayor Fletcher here mayor lner here thank you uh quum is present um I'd like to to deviate from the order of the agenda and based upon my conversation with the attorney earlier I think we need to have a motion and a and a vote to to do that I would like to hear um additions deletions and deferrals uh de made any of those prior to public comments so do we have a motion to move the portion of the agenda titled additions deletions or deferrals ahead of public comments moved and seconded any objections all in favor any opposed all right Mr manager do you have any additions deletions or deferrals thank you mayor there's one deletion which is car number 4147 tab number 15 the waiver of usage fees uh request from the children's trust councilwoman Bailey and abula have uh um agreed to sponsor the event for them and so we're we're pulling the item good thank you anything further no sir thank you uh Council I would ask for a uh motion of deferral of the item to be brought forward by the city manager with respect to the extension of the contract of the employment contract of our chief of police I'm asking for a motion to defer that item with no time certain motion we have a second second it's been moved and seconded um any any discussion among councel all right I understand we will need to have the opportunity for public comment limited to the motion to defer this item uh with the uh the extension of the police chief's contract it's a motion to defer without a Time certain all right I will close the public hearing then and ask for a roll call vote on the deferral of that item councilman rth no councilman Davis yes councilwoman aula no councilman conal yes councilwoman Bailey no council of vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion Carri the item is deferred we will now open the floor to public comments and I will uh call you according to the uh order in which uh your public speaker card was um was clocked in um this is with respect to jump in if I'm speaking incorrectly Mr attorney general public comments not with respect to a specific agenda item you will have the opportunity to speak on a specific agenda item that will be coming forward at that time this would just be general public comments so the first is John Holmes Mr Holmes are you here and do you still wish to speak tonight good evening Mr Holmes good evening mayor good evening Council I'm John Holmes 45 Northwest second half I'm also a sergeant with the Homestead police department and I'm also the PBA rep I'm here today because I have some issues but let me interject real quick I'm sorry I should have said this earlier um Madame clerk I know we have a full house and we have a lot of speakers registered and I'd like to have a two-minute time limit my time now is not going to cut into you but just so you know okay well we'll restart your clock so go ahead two minutes thank you I have an issue with a lot of people accusing the Homestead police department of being corrupt um I've been in this department for 20 years and I've seen a lot of people come and go and I hate to say that there's people in our department that are corrupt because if there's one officer in our department that is corrupt that mean we're all corrupt we had a rally I guess this weekend with people protesting a issue that occurred with one of our officers of a use of force in which no one had the proper information they went on and did their rally without knowing that that issue was already already closed by the state attorney's office it had already been investigated and closed and that was that's a a real serious issue with me because we're I am personally tired of being called corrupt you can say oh it's the Homestead police dep and I know everybody don't feel that every officer in the police department is corrupt but when you call one of us corrupt and we're there and we know someone's corrupt that mean all of us are corrupt and I don't believe that nowhere in this department have I seen any corruption and if there was the chief has always taken care of it and the that and the command staff and my second thing before my 30 seconds are up is referring to the city manager I just have a question and it doesn't have to be answered now because I can I know I can talk to all of you guys whenever I whenever I want to um I haven't talked to each I haven't met him yet um what has the city manager done that the six or seven other city managers haven't or had done you know because I find it hard that on the first day that we get a new councel he's being up for termination that's just a question I have and like I said you can answer it or you don't have to but I would really like to know and uh I'll leave that for you guys to to talk about it later thank you Mr Holmes appr get it okay the next speaker is it Andrea salvat Mr salvat are you here here please come on down to this microphone and uh give us your name and address for the record and remember we have a time limit of two minutes per speaker hello um my name is and salvat and my address is wait I give my address sorry here please go give uh 11242 Southwest 244 Terrace um I'm here speaking today um in regards to the same issue that the previous uh public comment was about and I would like to say that I was at this rally um this past weekend in regards to police brutality and my oldest sister um she was a prosecutor prosecutor in the State of Florida I understand of the importance of Public Safety of law enforcement of the justice system and her former boss Katherine Fernandez Rundle the state attorney um closed this case on the subject of poli police brutality on the beating of this man uh this migrant worker that we were protesting in regards to I don't want to say anything in regards to corruption on the police department but I will say that I have am been I've been deeper deeply concerned with the excessive use of force by this Police Department by the justifications that they use that this was authorized or that this is legal or that the state attorney has made this something that shouldn't be spoken about shouldn't be debated argued over there are multiple instances of the State Attorney failing to prosecute police officers prison guards who have tortured beaten Mis abused inmates regular everyda citizens and I don't believe that public officials have the say over whether something is an authorized use of force I believe that the Citi have the right to to say that that is all thank you appreciate that before you before you leave there let me ask you have you seen the entire 33 or 34 Minute video or are you speaking with respect to the highly edited and compressed video I'm speaking in regards to the entire incident and I'm also speaking in regards to multiple other in incidents um involving Miami and Homestead police um in specific there's a case that um was was never brought Justice upon uh it's not in regards to the City of Homestead but there's a man by the name of Darren Rainey who he was a prisoner in um in Miami who was abused by pris don't mean to cut you off but I but I do have to cut you off and you know we deal with homestead here and we're all aware of other very egregious instances outside of our jurisdiction um again with with respect to to the homestead uh situation I would encourage you um educate yourself and watch the entire unedited vid unedited video it may not change your mind I did okay okay very good thank you thank you for coming out tonight okay thank you all right our next registered speaker is Carol Jackson Miss Jackson are you still here you still wish to speak no thank you next is uh Cardell Hayes Mr Hayes are you still here you still wish to speak Cardell Hayes okay next we have Carlos asencio Mr asencio [Music] good evening uh good evening uh first I want to thank you all for serving the community and ensuring that the community's interest and concerns are heard uh we are here to say that there is a need for change in the leadership of the City of Homestead police department as you may know recent footage has surface of an immigrant who was violently beaten by the police for drinking in public um and I want to thank Captain um Fernando Morales for providing a quick response to the community's concerns and here's our response I want you to understand that the community's response to the footage is not just about an individual instance it's about a systemic pattern of injustices that me and other people of the community have faced in terms of being taken advantage of and abused by the city of homon police department therefore we are here to ask you in the next cuz you guys took it off to vote know on an extension of Chief Ro's contract because we see it is now time for new leadership to help and protect and serve the community thank you thank you our next register speaker is uh Tanya Gonzalez Miss Gonzalez you still here wish to speak hi good evening come on down please hi welcome thank you mayor my name is Tanya Gonzalez um I am not going to come in and speak on behalf of um agenda item number eight because it has been tabled but I will definitely speak on the items that we've been discussing right now it is not just about the video um as by the previous person said it is about the culture so it's a matter of this isn't the only instance where where there should not have been an interaction that escalated we do need to focus on deescalation and maybe it is time to have new leadership with a new culture and a new style of managing our police force I have my daughter who's now already of age but when she was in high school she was pulled over by Homestead police there was no traffic stop they took their their cell phon so that they could review their cell phones and go on their Instagram to look at potential Criminal putting endangering my child these are these are things that that cannot be that cannot be accepted because the minute that we start accepting this then that means that each and every one of our freedoms the means does not the the the way that they're doing this is not going to help with the outcome because we're not using the proper policing and proper policies the Constitution is still one of the most important documents that runs the United States and should be running the City of Homestead as well so the only thing that we're asking for is proper policing and maybe it's time for a new to give someone else a new opportunity but we have we cannot turn a blind eye to improper policing just because it wasn't prosecuted or just because somebody dropped the case it is improper and it's unconstitutional no matter which way we look at it we should not just be aggressively escalating situ situations we should not be harassing citizens and we should not be intimidating them to not come in and speak thank you thank you okay Susan Corey Susan Corey are you still with us on [Music] down [Music] [Music] [Music] okay all right um I'm advised that uh Mr Hayes has has uh rejoined us you were registered to speak Mr Hayes do you still wish to uh to speak tonight General commentary thans everyone Cardell Hayes 3910 Northeast 13th Drive 33033 uh essentially just a few comments just backtracking into November 2023 we know that the city manager uh conversation was extended and the community at large has been very interested in the city manager um status and I know that's for conversation tonight I don't know if we got into it in the agenda um obviously um members of the NAACP soud Branch are very interested um and excuse me mayor Lawson I'm not for sure but president Harold Ford of the organization has probably reached out to you has sent letters uh hopefully the rest of the council uh Administration has been aware of those letters uh so tonight we just want to make sure that there's clear visibility on all of the steps that are taken uh towards the manager we want to make sure that there's a fair process in that whole uh agenda so well Mr hay are you speaking to the city manager or the chief of police well I just mentioned the city manager manager okay yeah I was not aware of any issues as of right now regarding the chief of police well the conversations that that the inperson meetings that I had with uh Mr Ford from the south a branch of the NAACP who did follow up with what I would characterize as some pretty incendiary correspondents a couple days ago um was generally with respect to the chief of police not not the city manager okay are there any relationships between the city manager's status and the chief of police one of the things we mentioned in November of 2023 is if there's a domino effect of the city manager being dismissed is that a straight shot to the chief of police being uh impacted so is there any associations to that the hiring of any city manager and even this city manager is a direct link to the continued employment of virtually every employee of the City of Homestead and particularly those who are not protected by collective bargaining agreements now to bring you up to speed tonight uh I you weren't with us we had the discussion um the manager was bringing forward on the agenda tonight an extension a year in advance of the contract of the chief of police who I might add is the only Department director who has a written agreement for employment chief of police the chief of police okay that does not expire for about a year okay so the chief has a contract for employment that the manager requested was requesting this Council to go ahead and extend for another year a year in advance that item was deferred by a vote of this Council early on in tonight's meeting later on we have an agenda item tonight to begin to lay the groundwork and meet a waypoint on the council's obligations under this city manager's contract to Del lay the groundwork and move forward potentially with a termination of this manager so I don't know all of the details if that's coming up I probably like to sit and see how that unfolds for right now um obviously the nwcp South date branch is very interested in all actions because at the end of the day it's all about the equality fairness of all people if the city manager is um open to diversity equity and inclusion then of course that could impact others within the administration so I think that's where the organization is very interested in that whole movement process my only role here is to communicate along with the first vice president who was here also to communicate this bite to the president Harold Ford just to try to understand the process as it relates to today appreciate that thank you thank you y all right and finally our last registered inperson speaker is Brandy Ramirez M Ramirez do you still wish to speak good evening to all Brandy Ramirez 2231 Southeast First Street Justice for All equality for all as have been mentioned tonight um born and raised here in Homestead and serving the community I feel blessed and honored that I was able to knock on thousands and thousands of doors I want to thank mayor lner vice mayor Fletcher councilman clementa canaval and Davis for speaking with some of those voters and today deferring uh something that was important today what I would like to speak on is reference I did see the full video I did reach out to Mayor and counsel by email addressing to the city manager questions and concerns from our community this video it should not happen to anybody Sops of Homestead police department Sops have regulations to be followed there's a sign that was in English the person only spoke Spanish it could have been fairly where the officer would have addressed this persons and let them know what the the English lettering stated ask them to please be warned and move out of the area if they were to return back other steps could be processed our community wants transparency and answers tonight for four of the council and mayor voted for that there's other several agenda items that are on here that tonight this room is full because of that but it's also full of officers that were forced to be in attendance there is no transparency in the police department the morale of the police officers have changed it is time for new leadership I know there's another agenda item I'll speak under that but there also is time for change for city manager the community has asked for it they voted for people that promised that it will happen we look forward to seeing that tonight thank you finally is is there anyone online okay let's let's bring them in hello whoever's online he's on now it can you hear me yes please go ahead two minutes uh yes uh Hey mayor this is Romero 2040 south 19 Street I just wanted to uh to inform you and counc I I appreciate you guys for Deering this uh this matter that was presented to you U by the city manager um there's a lot of issues that are going on that need answers from both Chief Pro and city manager Estrada um I think it's time where uh they have a nice chat um in regards to to allowing either Ro to either retire or you guys can take that appropriate action as to what needs to be done um besides that there's a lot of people that already shared their the issues that they're having with hbd and um also I want to address the comment that Carlos Morales made to the media in regards that this camera this video that was not only um held held hostage by HPV for the past year and a half because they wanted us to sue them to get the video and now that we finally got the video he wants to say that it's it's coincidence that we're doing this with Chief Ro no it's not coincidence it's it's a snowball effect that was caused by you Carlos you held it you should let it go and now that it's out it's even worse because it seems like you were heading it but I'm going to drop it I just really want to bring to your attention May thank you for taking my call last night um the the uh the softball tournament uh with Miami day public schools in the north um the Miami day Public Schools want to do a partnership with harrisi and the City of Homestead to um to host the South schools tournament for Miami dat middle schools right now they're all meeting at Tamiami and there is no space so they're looking for field so please expect that call from from miam day public schools and hopefully you and Council will will be open to to this uh great opportunity for the girls of South dve thank you mayor thank you Mr ort all right this mayor yes if I can address some of the comments that were made very serious comments and I'm going to turn it over to the Chief and and Captain Morales in a second here but I've been working with the chief for over 20 some odd years okay and he's a man of integrity who cares about this community and its residents and I have seen in action when every police officer is out of order has abused uh a citizen of any nature he takes action perfect proof La bar on Chrome Avenue we had officers an officer that was abusing the migrants he sent a to the state attorney's office to address it we had a Jailer that abused the prisoners when they would walk in slap them in the head knock them into a wall this man reped it to the state attorney's office not homestead's investigating it and they're okay the state attorney's office so I take offense with the general comments being made about this man and this police department and with that I'll turn turn it over to Captain Morales so he could bring you up to speed with this particular incident thank you good evening Captain good evening uh good evening mayor and Council uh just a little brief uh I'm not going to be long uh like I've stated and I stated in the media also this is a an approximately 40-minute encounter that has been condensed to several minutes in a video what that video lacks is context as to what occurred that day and how it transpired to get to the use of force okay prior to that for months police officers were going to this area and warning people warning our vagrants warning the people that were loitering in the back that that is private property it's not public property it's private property to please leave okay the owners were asking us to please help them out with this officers did this for months every single time they would go back they'd find several people lawyering drinking beer the businesses were also complaining about the garbage that was being left behind the smell of urine and defecating in the back where an employee at one point in time stepped in it while he was taking the garbage so as Miss Ramirez said you know the process we did do the process we were there months warning people on this particular day the officer went back was talking to the gentleman there were three people there were three people there drinking that day two cooperated with the police and were warned and dismissed one did not cooperate with the police and you see the video what's not shown in the video is the 30-some times that the officers pleaded with the subject saying please those words in Spanish to stop resisting that he was under arrest because he was uncooperative with the officers they advised him that he was violating the law that he was going to be placed under arrest he was very evasive did not want to provide any information so the officer made the uh the decision to go ahead and arrest him during that arrest you can see where the subject immediately tries to escape the officer when the officers grab a hold of him he begins his resistance what you don't see and what they don't tell you is that during this scuffle the subject grabbed the officer's pinky that was was holding on to his his arm and started bending it backwards to the point where the officer thought he was going to break his finger at that point the officer can deliver a closed hand strike Mr Fletcher you've changed with us you understand the use of force Matrix these are the tools that are given to police officers when they're using force and they're very specific during the scuffle the officer also delivered a knee strike which he can which is a lesser included from the punch that knee struck the subject's nose he began bleeding we all know you get hit in the nose you bleed profusely Mr cannibal you're a doctor you understand that right you bleed profusely and that is what's shown in the video it took several officers several officers to place this man under arrest he's in inated person okay and if you've ever ever used force on an inated person these men and women back here anybody will tell you Mr Fletcher will tell you their strength is doubled and tripled the effects of the spray didn't work the effects of a taser didn't work okay as soon as this incident ended the subject was treated on scene was provided first aid by the officers fire rescue was contacted and he was taken to the hospital to be treated okay immediately when this was brought to our attention because I want to be clear and this is also something that's not being said this did not come from the outside this complaint came from within the police department and as soon as I heard about it I reviewed it I brought it to the chief's attention the chief ordered me to take it directly to the state attorney's office that doesn't happen in departments but it happened in this one the state attorney's office conducted a completely completely independent investigation to this I wasn't involved the chief wasn't involved the Command Staff wasn't involved they did their own investigation and they found that the officer violated no laws now we don't make the laws we enforce them which is what the officers were doing that day I've said it time and time again and when I've gone to some some of our non-for-profit organizations along with the chief and our Command Staff when we spoken to migrant workers couple years ago I think it was last year there was a huge bill that passed in the senate about migrant workers people were fleeing Florida and we were the first ones including the chief which was one that said that we're not immigration we went to these non for-profits to explain to everybody please follow the law and you won't get in trouble you probably won't even encounter ins or Homestead police department if in fact you do um get arrested cooperate with the police department we've been saying this the chances of uh we respond to thousands of calls every year many arrests are made okay we prefer that the person give up peacefully surrender themselves have their day in court but if they choose to be violent or to fight the officers at the end the end of the day we have a job to do which is uphold the law in this city that is what's required of us that is what you want us to do that's what all the residents want us to do we handle many many many calls last year I only handled 12 complaints so this notion that Homestead has this Homestead police has this use of force problem is not true or we're not being told or somebody is not being told we could sit here and say the worst thing about anybody but without having any proof without having any data that's all it is is data we've investigated everything to the letter right now we're dealing with a case of an officer at the state attorney's office that's been there for 5 years that came from within from Chief Ro now we're not in control what an outside investigative body does when we have given it to FBI has made arrests State Attorneys have made arrest of officers that kind of um work is not tolerated by the chief or this Command Staff and these men and women behind us know that and they know that whatever decision is made by the chief is backed up by by the city manager and frankly you guys too I have myself have been in major uses of force one specifically you were in it with me when you worked with us and the lengths that we had to go to subdue this person was amazing we were tired but officers have been killed by juveniles by 12 years old by 13y old so size doesn't matter I just wanted to update you guys and if you have any questions I'll be more than happy to answer them appreciate appreciate that that indepth and uh you know the rest of the story uh conversation vice mayor Fletcher yes thank you and uh I too wanted to say that I've I was a Homestead police officer for 15 years I've been through the same training that most of these officers have been through and I can honestly say that we probably have one of the best trainers in the Southeast Florida that works for the City of Homestead and I think he provided that opportunity to every officer here for use of Continuum training I watch the edited video I have not watched the raw unedited run raw unedit video and it does not look good but I also read the state attorney's report that said the officer provided services in accordance with his use of force continuum so I have to respect the state attorney when they say that they've cleared the case the chief and the Command Staff have done everything they needed to do uh when it comes to this particular incident and others so I want to thank them for their service and their honor for doing that as well if I may something else just came to mind since this incident okay our training has been enhanced at the order of the police chief that doesn't mean we did something wrong and now we're changing our training no we're just adding to it more precise training on use of force more precise training on the escalation so the things that the majority of the public usually asks for in these instances which is transparency another investigative body investigated investigating it is done more training for police officers it's being done thank you any further questions from Council that uh are appropriate for public forum mayor one more thing uh I want to correct the misstatement from Mr orta um claiming that we were holding the video from the public and that we had to get sued to release that video that is incorrect once the incident was refer and and Captain please correct me if I'm wrong once the incident was referred to the state attorney's office they asked us not to release the video until they finished their investigation once they did the video became available um as a matter of fact um when this video was requested Ed by them uh there's documentation where um an estimate was provided to them on June 2nd of 2023 and since then we had not heard any response until lately very good all right thank you all right that takes us to the uh quasi judicial portion of our meeting tonight good evening Mr White mayor mayor Mr Mayor Mr Mayor did we the consent agenda consent agenda that's Jump Ahead here all right let's go back to tabs 1 through three item five the consent agenda we have a motion to approve move by councilman Bailey second by councilman cannibal all in favor any opposed hello again Mr White yes this is the que ey judicial section of your agenda please be advised the following items on the agenda are quazi judicial in nature if you wish to comment upon any of these items please indicate the item number you would like to address when the announcement regarding the quazi judicial item is made an opportunity for persons to speak on each item will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item swearing in all testimony including public testimony and evidence will be made under oath or affirmation additionally each person who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination if you do not wish to either be cross-examined or sworn your testimony will be given its du8 the general public will not be permitted to cross-examine Witnesses but the public May request the council to ask questions of Staff or Witnesses on their behalf the full agenda packet on each item is hereby entered into the record persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for the organization further details of the quazi judicial procedures may be obtained from the clerk in accordance with code section 2590 any lobbyists must register before addressing the Council on any of the following items at this time council members must disclose any ex parte Communications concerning any of the quazi judicial items on the agenda Mr Davis any any new disclosures none sir coun cannibal counil Fletcher I believe since the last meeting uh the Portell Estates item 7 through 10 I don't believe that uh I've had opportunity to disclose those you also vice mayor oh mayor yes correct okay thank you counc Roth yeah seven through 10 for everyone together with any prior disclosures that may apply to Second readings so thank you at this time I'd ask anyone in the audience who's wishing to speak on any of the quazi judicial items this evening please stand raise your right hand to be sworn in by the clerk you hereby swear affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth to help me gone thank you you may be seated M mayor council members uh Tab four uh is a second reading of a resoning ordinance the companion uh applications for site plan and tlat are five and six I could introduce each one of those could collectively have a public hearing discussion and then take a separate vote first on the resoning followed by the site plan and T plat if you the presentation in bulk with a separate vote yeah so Tab four is the second region of n to the City of Homestead Florida approving the resoning as requested by RBS Homestead LLC an appr 2.35 acre parcel of land from restricted retail commercial B1 zoning District to retail commercial B2 zoning district for the property generally located south of Southeast 8 Street Lucy Street East of Southeast 6th Avenue and west of the homestead extension of the Florida Turnpike as legally described in exhibit a providing for conflict severability and providing for an effective date tab five a resolution of the City of Homestead Florida granting site plan approval as requested by RBS Homestead LLC for the development of a 35250 ft self storage facility on an approximately 2.35 acre parcel of land strongly located south of Southeast 8th Street Lucy Street East of Southeast 6th Avenue West of the homestead extension of the Florida Turnpike as legally described in exhibit a and providing for an effective date and finally tab six is a resolution of the City of Homestead Florida granting tenative flat approval as requested by RBS Homestead LLC for the development of a 135,50 ft self- storage facility on an approximately 2.35 acre parcel of land gener only located Southeast south of Southeast 8 Street Luc Street East of Southeast 6th Avenue West of the homestead extension of the Florida Turnpike as legally described in exhibit a and providing for an effective day thank you Mr gordino yes sir thank you very much um we uh this is the entirety of the development process as you see it there they've what they typically do is they change the zoning from one thing to another then they submit a site plan that conforms to that zoning category and then there's the ministerial Act of the uh the tenative plat approval this is the second reading of the resoning we are recommending approval because the new zoning category requested B2 is uh implemented implements the uh the comprehensive plan category so that is something that works for the City of Homestead we are saying that the site plan is approvable because uh their site plan conforms to our uh zoning code with no variances no special exceptions or any of that so there's no reason to deny it it conforms with the code and again the tenant of plat is largely ministerial basically a a boundary survey of the property and so we're recommending approval of that if you have any questions I can answer them or the applicant should be here to answer the questions on their behalf thank you let's first see is there anyone here on behalf of the applicant good evening welcome back good evening mayor vice mayor May council members I'm Brad Gould with the law firm of gray Robinson I'm here on behalf of the applicant RBS Homestead LLC unfortunately my client rep Michael hos was going to be here tonight but he had a family emergency so I'm doing this solo um I don't know if you I guess I can go forward my on a form with the formal presentation or I can just take questions whatever the council prefers did we see the presentation at the PRI at the first reading no did we um essentially the same presentation the only thing that I added was a um a photo of a similar self storage facility that my client has developed elsewhere just so you get a let's let's run through it then okay sure so RBS was here last month on the first reading of the rezoning from B1 to B2 tonight we're here before you on the second reading for the rezoning as well as concurrent concurrent applications for site plan approval for a self storage facility and tenative plat approval so the overall subject property is located south on the south side of Southwest 328 street it's east of 6 Avenue and the rear of the property is bordered by the uh Homestead extension of Florida turnpike so my client is only looking to develop the rear portion of the overall site which is we're looking to develop 2.35 Acres of the 4.36 Acres of the overall site and we have the 2.35 acres under contract presently um just so there's no confusion the rezoning and the site plan approval only pertain to the in the uh interior portion of this overall property that we're we have under contract right and we refer to that as parcel 3 and you'll see why when I show you the survey fact let me go to that right now so our tenant plat we seeking to divide the overall property into three Parcels parcel one and two will essentially be out Parcels which the current owner will retain ownership of and at some future date will develop uh and we're purchasing the rear portion and the 30 foot strip that runs from the rear interior portion to Southwest 328 Street the that strip is going to provide us with um access and utilities we're going to convey back to Parcels one and two and easement so those Parcels can also use the 30ft strip for Access and Utilities in the future let me go back actually go back back so it's hard to see but the um the subject property proper is the only property within this entire block that's actually not Zone B2 to the east of the subject property the vacant land is Zone B2 and then or it's the one of the only ones that's I shouldn't say it's the only one I misspoke and then to the West um there's a BJ's Wholesale that zone B2 as well as an automotive dealership that zone B2 so you see that the scale of the character of the area and uh it's consistent with the B2 zoning and the B2 zoning is consistent with the existing L use designation which is a technology mixed use so we are looking to develop the subject property which is again parcel 3 with 135,50 square foot self storage facility it it'll contain three buildings the main building is a four-story 50t high building that's uh climate controlled and then we'll have two one-story buildings one of which will run along the western boundary of the property and it runs the entire length of the western boundary it's about 6,600 square fet and then along the northern boundary another one-story building that's about 1,50 Square fet we're providing a TW a 20 foot landscape buffer at the rear uh we don't have any landscape buffer in the front because we don't have any Frontage on Southwest 3 28th Street um we're our site plan meets the parking requirements we have a 20 foot setback in the front and we're only required to have a 15 foot setback in the rear there's a 20ft setback and required to have that uh 20 ft um we're below the U maximum lot coverage and the storage facility is going to look something like this um these are part of the architecture drawings that we've already submitted um he actually go wait sorry I meant to go back so these are the the facades of the building the fronts of the building here's our Arrow views and then generally this is what um my client has previously developed elsewhere in terms of the front fac ODS of the self storage facility so with that I request that the council approve all three of our applications for rezoning site plan approval and tenative plot approval and of course I'm willing to answer any questions that anyone may have good thank you appreciate it Council coun alal thank you mayor thank you Mr Gould for reaching out to me last week and offering to um send me the presentation and review it I I wish I had a little bit more opportunity to talk with you and um kind of see um you know what some of the uh if there was any wiggle room with design and with um the overall plans um I think overall it's a beautiful uh architecture uh of the of a building but you know I don't think it's a secret that storage facilities are our favorite use here in the city um so with that said is there any opportunity and I understand there's no variances there's really nothing to to to hold the client for but do you think that there might be an opportunity as a show of good faith for for opportunities in the future to to you know to show a good uh good corporate citizenship would your client be willing to beef up some of the Landscaping maybe offer um you know just beautifying the project a little bit more I'm I'm sure my will be happy to work with staff on land I know right now we're providing turn his on 59 trees along the rear and I think we're only required to have and that's for the buffer for the the rear buffer buffer right yeah but anything along like you've got this long Corridor right between the two Parcels leading up to the property is there anything that can be done to just make that entry way a little bit less um the the only issue that I and that I don't know the answer to Is the the 30 foot wide strip it's only 30 feet so I don't know how much room we have for landscaping if we're going to be constructing let's say 24 feet of basically pavement for the for two-lane essentially it's a driveway but I think we were constructing it as if it were a you a two-lane road what about those off the parcel two and one what's going to be there that vacant land parcel 2 and one they're remaining with we're buying the 2.35 Acres from homestead land group they're going to retain so we don't have any control over um Parcels one and two I mean what the commitment I can make to council is that if that there if there is any room within the 30 ft to put Landscaping we're happy to work with staff to do that and I know you mentioned that you're using less uh space than Max allows you to to as your footprint for the overall buildout is there any room between the perimeter like between your facility and proposed parcel one and two that so it's still on your land but creating you know a hedge of plants or trees so I think I think and maybe staff can help us I think there's there's there might be room between well we have a we have a 20 foot front setback but there's only 15 ft required so I guess within the front five feet we could put some Landscaping where the single story building is and then um off on the other side on the east side of the drive way we could probably put some additional Landscaping also I would really appreciate if staff could somehow work with the client to make that a very easy addition I think in that particular area it leaves a lot of room for improvement in the overall Aesthetics of uh the commercial um Industries there um and then was there any discussion of an American flag by chance I have I have not been any discuss recommendations from staff to add an American flag not that I recall the the American flag on well we always recommend the American flag at the pre-application meeting I don't know if you were involved in the preapp meeting but yes and every one of the applications the applicants know that we would prefer uh an American flag and we tell them that at the very beginning of the process I believe you Joe and I think that maybe the other attorney that that wasn't here may have overlooked that if there's a if there's an opportunity to add it I think that would really give this project something to look at and appeal to given that a storage facility really isn't commonly considered the best use so I would appreciate those those do not seem like unreasonable quests so yes we will work on those thank you very much thanil any further questions comments right hearing none I will open this for uh for public comment would anyone wish to speak uh in support or opposition of items is it 4 through six 4 through six okay seeing none I will close the public hearing then and ask for a motion on Tab four which would be the second reading on the resoning from B1 to B2 it moveed by councilwoman aala second by councilman cannibal roll call Madam Clark councilman rth yes councilman kall councilwoman Bailey councilman Davis yes councilwoman aula yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carries okay and the next item would be uh tab six uh motion granting site plan approval to accommodate yeah tab five accommodate uh approving site plan approval to accommodate the self storage facility do we have a motion on that move by Council Ava second second by Council woman Bailey I've already asked for public comment on this group of items so let's have a roll call councilwoman Abul yes councilwoman Bailey yes councilman Roth yes councilman Davis yes councilman cabal Vice May Fletcher yes mayor lner in light of my item later in the agenda I can't support another self- storage facility no the motion carries and finally tab six fix the tentative plat for this project do we have a motion to approve move by Council Bailey seconded by councilman Davis I believe a second roll call Madam clerk councilwoman Bailey councilman conall councilwoman aula yes councilman Roth yes councilman Davis yes ni mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carries very good thank you all right Mr White I believe we have a cluster of it pardon the expression a cluster of items 7 through 7 through 10 is that correct yes mayor uh Tab 7 through 10 uh pertain to a proposed new uh single family residential subdivision tabs tabs seven and eight uh are uh deal with two variance requests tab nine is the proposed site plan and Tab 10 is a tenative plat uh like we've done before I can introduce each one of these into the record you can collectively have a uh presentation um public hearing and at the conclusion uh take a separate vote on each one of the items in order let's proceed tab seven is a resolution of the City of Homestead Florida granting a variance request as requested by portello States LLC from section 30-11 143 front yard yard requirements of the city code of ordinances to permit front yard setback of 20 feet where a minimum of 25 ft is required for the development of 54 single family residential dwelling units on an approximately 9.37 acre parcel of land generally located north of Southeast 3D Street East of Southeast 18th Avenue south of 320 Street Maui Drive in west of Southeast 21st Terrace as legally described in exhibit a and providing for an effective date tab eight is a resolution of the City of Homestead Florida granted a variance request as requested by PTO Bello State LLC from section 30-11 141 building Site Area requirements of the city code of ordinances to permit a minimum 5,500 foot lot or a minimum 7500 foot lot is required for the development of 54 single family residential dwelling units on 9.37 acre parcel of land during the located north of southe Southeast 3rd Street East of Southeast 18th Avenue south of Mai drive and west of Southeast 21st Terrace as legally described and exhibit a and providing for an effective date tab nine is the resolution of the City of Homestead Florida granting site plan approval as requested by PTO Bello State's LLC for the development of 54 single family residential dwelling units under an approximately 9.37 acre parcel of land General located generally located north of Southeast 3rd Street East of Southeast 18th Avenue south of Mai drive and west of Southeast 21st Terrace as legally described in exhibit a and providing for an effective date and Tab 10 uh is the final companion application it's resolution of the City of Homestead Florida granting tenant of plat approval as requested by PTO Bello State LLC for the development of 54 single family residential dwelling units on inter approximately 9.37 acre parcel of land generally located north of Southeast Southeast 3D east of Southeast 18th Avenue south of Maui Drive West of 21st Terrace as legally described in exhibit a and providing for an effective dat thank you Mr gordino how about it yes sir thank you again this is this is a four application uh applications lumped together or essentially two main pieces of this this is a site plan um application and obviously uh with every any site plan you need a the tenative plat and then the final plat after that the issue with this site plan is that it needs two variances so it does not conform to the city's zoning code it need two variances the first variance is for a front setback they want 20 feet where 25 is required and the second variance is uh a variance to the the minimum lot square footage City homestead's minimum lot size should be 7 500 ft the applicant wants uh 5,500 ft so in our variance procedure uh the city's code um uh needs the applicant to prove a hardship there are seven criteria all seven of those criteria must be met to prove a hardship without meeting all seven of those criteria there is no hardship essentially we reviewed the applications and they do not meet the seven criteria there is no hardship this is generally self-imposed which isn't a hardship therefore we're wrecking Deni we're saying that the the variances with no hardship um by the code should be denied there's no necessarily reason to approve them because there is no hardship and that's your standard and because the uh site plan has two variances that are through no through there is no hardship of the site plan doesn't meet the code and with that you can't really approve a uh a tenative plat because the site plan doesn't meet the code so uh again we're recommending Denial on this I can answer any questions you have I'm sure the applicants here to do the same thank you Mr cordino we'll hear from the applicant and then proceed with our questions good evening and welcome back good evening mayor uh vice mayor council it's a pleasure to be before you this evening uh merit saharo with offices at 200 South pest game Boulevard here on behalf of the applicant PTO Bello Estates LLC I'm joined this evening by Lena Baron and Caesar Baron from ownership and my partner Melissa tapenz yahwa uh we respectfully request your approval of the proposed site plan inclusive of the two variances and the tenative plat to allow the development of a tastefully designed single family home uh Community for contacts the property is approximately 9.37 acres in size and it's located south of Mai drive and just west of Ventana salol and north of the Santa Barbara Town Homes the current land use uh for the property is low residential use and the zoning is R1 uh this property has a long history of Prior approvals um and for context uh and it's important here because we've been before the council uh before uh PTO Bell acquired this property in 2005 with the goal of developing it with a 73 town home community in 2006 and 2008 the city approved the land use and Zoning applications from low uh density residential to medium density residential and from General use District to rth or town homes to uh bring forward that 73 town home product shortly thereafter as uh you all might recall the housing market collapsed and the applicant found themselves unable to secure financing to develop the property with that town home Community um having no other option in 2008 and 2009 PTO Bell came back before the council and secured City approval for land use and rezonings to commercial designations the idea was to try to develop the property with a small Shopping Center or some neighborhood serving commercial uses unfortunately due to the properties um unique shape and size uh commercial developers were just not interested interested the property itself the size the The Limited Frontage uh that slope along Maui all present undesirable uh features to commercial developers and makes it very difficult to develop the property both with residential and Commercial uses which is why we're seeking uh those two variances uh fast forward 10 years after many attempts and several commercial brokers um PTO Bell retained our firm to try to go back to that town home designation that the property once held uh at that time we came back before the council in 2019 um and the council was loud and clear we directed us to reconsider and come back with a single family home product even if variances were necessary the council did not want a town home product here and that's exactly what we did in line with the council's direction in 2022 we secured Council approval for the current zoning of R1 uh which is uh the applications which leads me to the applications before you as uh your staff U mentioned it's a site plan approval inclusive of uh two variances one is uh to allow a lot size not less than 5,500 square fet and uh the other is for the front setback to be no less than 20 uh feet which is the typical setback throughout Miami day County uh in R1 or ru1 zonings and lastly that tentative plat approval on the screen you will see the proposed site plan showing the loot configuration the footprint and Landscaping of the community the proposed site plan ensures compatibility with the area and results in a lushly landscaped single family community one of the reasons we're seeking the front uh setback variants and the resulting lot size reduction is to be able to provide that second row of homes uh that you see at the center of the community this allows us to avoid the undesirable condition of having front yards uh facing rear yards or fences which are typically not as well kept as the property's front yards on this slide you can see the proposed lot sizes which vary from 5,500 to over 10,000 in yellow uh represents the Lots over 5,500 and under 7,000 uh most of them being very close to 6,000 square ft and green are those lots that are over 7,000 square ft orange represents um I'm sorry blue is the lot over 8,000 orange is Lots over 9,000 and lastly purple those lots that are over 10,000 sare ft uh for context on the screen you can see the average lot sizes in the communities uh in the area to the east Ventana Sol the Lots vary in size from 5200 to about 8,000 square fet to the South the the Town Homes at Santa Barbara uh range from 1900 to 2000 to the sou further south the lots are in the 5,000 range and then to the Northwest uh they range from 4,000 to 8,000 and notably we're proposing not less than 5,500 which is over the the low you know the the average lot size in the area and most of the lots are over 6,000 square feet um and as I mentioned some are in excess of 9,000 uh which is among the larger size Lots in this entire area one thing we're very proud of is over the past two years we've worked closely with um some of the members of this Council uh and uh staff to try to eliminate variances of unfortunately were you know we down to these last two that could not be eliminated uh but what we've done is we've really upgraded and uh the architecture the finishes so that this can you know so feels like an upscale Community um and provide housing Variety in this area so on on the screen you'll see uh one of the four models that are proposed for this community this is the Diana model all models boast a modern color palette upgraded windows and light fixtures as well as the American flag uh mounting fixture this is the one-story Angela model uh again all of the upgraded finishes uh are also provided here this is the camaa model and uh lastly the beatric model we're very proud of the final product and all the work we've put into um with the input from the council uh and staff and you know um we hope that that's evident through these elevations in line with the exterior finishes and upgrades the applicant is also proposing uh elevated Interiors on the screen you'll see examples of other developments uh completed by the applicant all the homes will enjoy impact resistant uh doors and windows sophisticated interiors and Lush Landscaping throughout uh the community of high importance to the city of course this project proposes to finance construct and dedicate a lift station to service the property um as well as the applicant will contribute $ in Impact fees including 357,000 directly to the city and over 660,000 in County Road impact fees that will go towards traffic improvements uh because the property is currently vacant it generates a nominal ta uh tax revenue for the city so approval of this proposed Community will increase the city's tax Space by over 315,000 annually as I've mentioned uh PTO Bello has been trying to develop this property since 2005 and has had to Pivot on the plan for this site a number of times over the past two years we've worked closely with Brier and now the current Council to improve on the plans um and reduce the number of requested variances and most importantly uh make this development one that we can all be proud of and we believe we've accomplished that um through the renderings that we've shared uh the proposed Community is uh compatible with in both lot sizee setback and Aesthetics uh with the surrounding area and approval of this application will provide housing variety and close proximity to the city's Sports Complex uh and the biscane Everglades uh Greenway so with that in mind we respectfully request your approval of the site plan variances in the tenative plat and are teams available for any questions thank you hey thank you appreciate that Council questions comments Council woman thank you mayor I was going to defer until after I heard the um the district's council member that's uh Mr a council member canival right okay but um so I'll I'll I'll pause after a few comments to to hear what the rest of you have to say but I think in general the elevations on this particular property the design factor is quite um beautiful and and of a caliber that we haven't seen for a while um I think that initially with respect to the changing of the you of the zone from commercial to residential I was originally against um that change initially but now that it's under the residential zoning thinking about what what would I like to see there obviously not town homes and um preferring the single family um when it comes to the variances specifically you know thank you to staff for for your really good notes and putting them in red it helps us find them and easily uh review them I have a question with regards to what would be a hardship can you give me an examp example of what a hardship would be for an applicant well the there are seven criteria in the in the code and the hardship is is uh noted by meeting each of those criteria so let me find them in the staff report and I'll kind of read the criteria to you thank you uh if I can find them here page two in the staff report no that's not hold while you look for that um let me look if you were to remove the second row of homes you'd end up having the backyard exposed to front neighbors right that's correct uh that's an aesthetic issue um and I think more importantly in today's market uh the greater issues that it would significantly increased the cost of each home uh thereby increasing the the cost you know to the to the end user one of the things we wanted to do here is make a community that's compatible with the area and offers variety you know we have other areas in the city that have the larger lots and that you know they're close to a million dollars here we're looking more um you know something more similar to ventas Del Soul and um and and keeping it uh quote unquote affordable to today's um you know working class thank you and have you had any meetings with any of those neighbors or have you and have any but has any of them reached out to you or have any of them reached out yeah so through the resoning process we hosted two uh meetings uh with neighbors uh mostly in attendance were those from Ventana Del Sol um a lot of them had concerns about uh the fact that the site is vacant so it brings a lot of mosquitoes there there's uh times of year because of you know rainy season there's a lot of overgrowth and it's hard to maintain the property um so I think a lot of them were happy to see um you know something being developed here and specifically one of the requests that they made to us and we've incorporated into the plan is to not provide any uh two-story homes on the site that abots fent and we're happy to you know we've accommodate accommodated that in the site plan thank you for that okay so there there are actually eight criteria um that that each of them must be met so in general uh a hardship you know and I'll read you the Criterion and show you going time but but but typically they have to deal with something that's physically unusual with the property like it's an odd shape or or something like that so uh I'll kind of quickly walk you through these criteria the first one is special conditions and circumstances that exist affecting the land the structure of the building involved preventing the reasonable use of the property that's generally the shape of the property right it's it's narrow on thick on the other and it just it just can't it can't be something but that doesn't that there's nothing there that exists um as we reviewed it second one circumstance an es which cause the hardship are peculiar to the property such as as to a small number of properties that they clearly constitute uh marked exceptions to other properties in the district again more of a shape type of issue and and that doesn't exist here um the third one the literal interpretation of the provisions of this chapter would deprive the applicant of a substantial property right that is enjoyed by other properties owners of the district importantly the code says it is of no importance whatsoever that the denial of the variants might deny the property owner from some opportunity to use the property in a more profitable way or sell sell it at a greater profit than it's possible under the terms of this chapter I me I I I'm there is no physical impediment here um I believe simply the need for smaller properties is to put more Pro more units on the site um and and you know to make the finances work out a little bit better so that's expressly prohibited in our code the hardship is not self-generated this is totally an elected Choice by the applicant clearly self-generated the Varian is the minimum variances that will make possible um not true I mean the Min minimum variance to make possible I mean they're asking for 5 feet and and close to 2,000 ft 5 foot on the setback and close to 2,000 ft in property of of of space or area which you know I'm sure you could have asked for one foot or 1,000 ft l so it's clearly not part uh not variance the variance will be in harmony with the general purposes intent of this chapter and will not be injurious to the neighborhood otherwise detrimental to the public welfare well it's true I believe we've probably given the variances on all those properties before none of them necessarily conform with code um and so uh you know that's they probably meet that criteria um just because we've granted the the almost the the whole neighborhood is outside of the code um again similarly granting the variants will not be detrimental to the adjacent property or adversely affect the public welfare um same thing I mean the whole neighborhood's non-conforming to the code at this point um and then the last one is talks about the Planning and Zoning Board which doesn't exist anymore so either way the the uh criteria the code says you need to meet all seven criteria in my opinion they meet two uh and only because we've eff effectively disregarded the variant section of the code for or pretty much ever in this neighborhood so you know our job is not to cast a value judgment on the property it's beautiful um but we don't have beautiful as criteria um it it just simply doesn't meet the code and our job is to tell you when it does or does not meet to code this does not um there's no way that a judge would say it did if it got challenged uh so we're telling you that it's appropriate to deny it thank you for that summary so I'll do for for now thank you you any further any questions comments all right go ahead turn on your mic push a button um how many years are you been waiting to develop this side uh since 2005 when they acquired it okay so we just waiting for the thing is I don't I don't understand you're requesting 50 feet 50 feet in the front yard uh we're requesting a 5 foot reduction instead of 25 uh we're proposing 20 ft which is in line with um most of the neighborhoods in the area and uh the county standard for front yards well I don't see how that can be a problem this is a beautiful beautiful project that you're developing and it will make a hom set a better place so you know something a um I like it a lot I like it a lot I don't know about the other C councils but I will vote for you okay thank you thank you councilman councilman raw thank you this this is not about the development but um there's a piece of property and I like staff to look into it that's directly behind uh venisha delou and catty cor to where this property is being built that actually shows a 10 acre piece that's owned by Miami day County Park and wreck so uh it might be a cool thing to approach Miami day county and say uh if you don't have any uh options to utilize the property for Park and wreck we might be able to do so with that that that area definitely needs Recreation and it's a 10 acre piece it would be a very small park but something we could probably start to look at and work on so I think that would be a cool idea if they would convey that that property to us absolutely convey the property together with delivery of all those Park impact fees that have been collected and will be collected around here that have absolutely not been put back into Deep South day just as we're working to thread the needle for recapturing these uh roadway impact fees um absolutely that would be a real real enhancement for several hundred units there yeah yeah so it's a 10 acre piece it's directly to the south of uh V Ventana Del Soul and caty corner to this property so I think it's at that dead end of that I think there's a little deadend turnaround at the end of that street there if I'm not mistaken so um and we've had some issues back there with illegal parking and and other things uh in that road too so maybe it'd be something we could look at to uh with the county yes councilman we've actually already been in contact with uh parks recreation and open spaces at the County as well as um the the Commissioner's Office uh for that area uh we're awaiting a response from their um internal services department on what the process would be for a conveyance just is that we can button hole both of our commissioners over the weekend at the rodeo time to The Bard so they give yeah thank you Council Roth yes no thank you mayor I have a follow-up question can you go to the um elevation of the house and showing the distance from the garage compared to like the front door entry area that one's fine you can go back to that one yeah so is the length the 20 foot Frontage is that starting from the garage from the garage correct okay so then from the window to the house how much how much Frontage would that do you think that would be uh I can tell you right now thank you while she's looking that up um I just think in general the shape of this property is it is you know a challenge I know that according to the residential code it might not meet the requirements for a hardship but they certainly couldn't attract any commercial um interest into it so um and just based on visual I'm pretty sure that exceeds 25 ft from the window to it's over yes it's hard to to read these tiny plans but it's uh definitely over yeah and and the these models are pretty consistent where you have that spacing throughout correct all right so I feel very comfortable with the with the plans I I want to thank the applicants for taking the time to meet with me and to go over uh very thoroughly the the design aspect um you did reduce the amount of variances that you initially were going to need and I think it's an excellent product that you'll be bringing to the market for the homestead community and the caliber of of Resident I think is what we're looking for and I I am um excited to see how you'll remote with your um your sales offices the Everglade Trail and our or our Greenway Trail and our connectivity to to our Parks so thank you very much for uh thank you thank you C just in response it's in some uh some Lots is over 30 uh so beyond the in that indentation from the garage thank you sure so I guess the point is in reality the the violation if you will the Varian for the setback is solely due the to the protrusion of a garage it's not true living space all right well thank you do we have any public comment on any of these items um what are they seven through 10 yes Brandy Ramirez 2231 Southeast First Street um I want to thank mayor and Council especially councilwoman Ava for making those questions I know that this has come before you a few years back I'm from banana Del part of the association board previously and the residents were for this uh but like you mentioned reference the town homes this they brought in homes the quality so we look forward to it being our neighbors thank you for making those comments because it's true we need to open the doors and this is a great Builder so thank you thank you anyone else anyone else wishing to speak on this item come on down give us your name and address for the record good evening hi good evening Carol Jackson South data NAACP but I'm here in my private uh capacity and I have a shielded address but I do live in Cutler Bay Florida uh I just have a question uh are the does this do you require sidewalks in new developments because we're all concerned with the walkability and people getting fat and you know all that stuff so I just have a question thanks we we do we do there otherwise there would be a request for a variance to uh not require sidewalks yes yes ma'am hi good evening my name is Jenny Torres I stand before you as a proud member of Homestead this community a local business owner one family realy and I'm the government Affairs director for the National Association of Hispanic real estate professionals here in South Florida I'm it's a privilege to address you on this matter at Narre and one family realy our mission is clear it's just support sustainable Hispanic homeownership this Mission encompasses two pillars that are integral to the community affordability and inventory affordability is at the heart of home ownership it's ensuring that every hardworking family has a fair shot at purchasing a home the second is inventory inventory is the lifeline of our housing market without an adequate supply of homes we risk pushing home ownership farther for Hispanic families for any family for that matter sorry forgot it's about creating opportunities for those who aspire to build a future here in Homestead that's why I'm here today to express my strong support for the builders that are here um to gain inventory is is a plus for our community this initiative aligns perfectly with our mission at narp I want to thank mayor la in the city council um I was here last week at your CRA meeting thank you for your dedication in the progression um and progress of the city I'm excited about the projects that are up to upcoming for Chrome Avenue so let's together let's com support his uh sustainable Hispanic home ownership your support to this initiative not only aligns with the values of narp but also paves a wave for a brighter future for Homestead thank you thank you right any further comment yes sir good evening good evening mayor and good evening to you all and good evening to to the public and general the police officers and um my concern yeah can you pull the mic up so it's a little closer to you I give us your name I'm Haitian uh home station past Association president and a lot of past pastors and the community they have churches they cannot get no permit and I see a lot of permits given away to all the businesses and please take a look at this because believe me if you don't have people that trust God that respect the law the police officers and you councel your work will be tougher and harder and I want please more permits for the churches thank you thank you all right anything further on this item okay hearing none I will close the public hearing and ask for a motion to approve tab seven which is the variance request uh for the front yard setback of 20 rather than 25 ft moved by councilwoman Bailey seconded by councilman cannibal roll call Madam clerk councilman Ross councilwoman Bailey councilwoman aula councilman Davis yes councilman conal vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carries next item is tab eight which is the uh variance for the minimum lot square footage requirement we have a motion to approve mooved by councilwoman Bailey second by councilman cannibal roll call Madam Clark councilwoman aula councilman cannibal councilwoman Bailey councilman Davis yes councilman Roth vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carries next is tab nine the site plan approval for Port of Bello estate so we have a motion to approve Council councilman Cannibal seconded by councilman Roth roll call Madam clerk councilwoman Bailey councilwoman abula councilman Davis yes councilman Roth councilman cannibal vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor Lawson yes motion carries and final item with respect to this group I won't call it a clust this group of um applications Tab 10 for PTO Bello uh stive plat approval do we have a motion to approve moved by councilman cannibal second by Council wman Bailey roll call Madam clerk councilman Davis yes councilwoman Bailey councilwoman aula councilman cannibal yes councilman rth vice mayor Fletcher yes may lner yes the motion carries and that appears to conclude the quasa judicial portion of the agenda so with that Mr Pearl we have a second reading on Tab 11 yes Mr Mayor tab 11 is the second reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead Florida amending the city code of ordinances as requested by DR Horton Inc by amending Chapter 30 zoning article 3 District regulations to provide regulations establishing the technology mixed use zoning District providing for inclusion in the code providing for conflicts providing for cability and providing for an effective date thank you and this second reading do we have a staff report yes sir thanks um again this is second reading we went over in detail last time we're recommending consider we recommend you consider on these types of things because they're really there's nothing to measure it up against with the code there's essentially nothing structurally wrong with this um from from a Planning and Zoning point of view so it's a pure policy decision um so the applicant's here to do a presentation if you want to see it um and answer any of your questions and we're all over thank you good evening good evening mayor vice mayor council members Melissa tapenz with Law Offices at 200 South biscan Boulevard Miami I'm here on behalf of Dr Horden uh with Cynthia civia from ownership as well as um Marissa Harrow my partner and by the way the Barons just were overwhelmed with happiness for you approving the last application and wanted me to thank you all um we do have a presentation as was mentioned uh we're all very familiar with this uh legislative phase of um our project uh this is your future land use plan map as you're all aware there are four areas of the city that have the designation of Technology mixed use um however there is no existing um implementing zoning District to go along with it so what we've done is we've proposed a text Amendment to the land use designation as well as we've proferred certain Land Development regulations we've held a couple of public workshops uh where you many of you uh participated um we had first reading of this in November we transmitted to the state in November as well and today is second reading um the same goes for the tmu Land Development regulation process first reading was in December um the applicant addressed Council comments um and then today we're here on second reading um regarding the tmu uh land use designation we're simply adding um a clarification that residential uh density is permitted just like it is in the Pud uh designation which is included and this is net Acres which I think is important to the council we received favorable uh comments from both the state and Regional reviewing agencies uh these are from the Florida Department of Commerce as well as the department of Transportation with no objections um we did address before you for second reading the comments from our first reading um from council member uh Davis we did meet uh with the City of Homestead police department um on January 8th um and we committed to continue to work with them on the idea of a police substation at the moment uh they didn't think it was necessary due to the proximity of the most nearby station but with that said it'll be some time for us to go through the remainder of the master site planning process and of course Development and Construction so we're happy to work with you and uh the homestead Department um to fulfill their needs um The Proposal is to have over 190,000 square fet of a street Frontage um commercial uses and and as well as the kind of office and professional uses that would be inclusive of a police department and so we are have open doors uh for to accommodate the city's needs and councilwoman Aila thank you so much for your comments we have addressed them we could go through them one by one quickly uh but we did include the specific um consideration of dealing with commercial and other non-residential uses in the case of horizontal mix use to ensure that we were uh speaking um oranges with oranges apples with apples um we also included the requirement to include the location of indoor amenities uh within the master site planning process um we also made sure to exclude water bodies as part of the open space requirements as well as encouraging indoor Recreation areas along with Community Gardens um regarding the future process just so that everyone is clear regarding uh the specific 97 acre property owned by the elders and I thank the family for being here and their attorney Amanda Han for being here to support us this evening uh will be coming forward with site specific requests um including rezoning the property that now only has the tmu land use designation to the tmu zoning District will'll be requesting approval of a regulating plan a master site plan and thereafter come back for administrative site plan review of the more technical drawings uh we did commit to have at least two Community workshops those are scheduled for the public um if you have not received our flyer we are sending them out or we did send them out earlier this week on Monday to all Property Owners within 500 feet of the site which is consistent with the city's um zoning regulations for mail notice um we're obviously advertising it also on your website it has been publicly noticed as a sunshine meeting so you're all welcome to attend uh we have Workshop number one on Monday uh January 29th at 6 pm at The Villages of home Ste clubhouse thank you uh council member Roth for assisting us uh with that facility our second Workshop will be uh Tuesday January 30th at 6 pm at the William Dickinson Community Center and we invite everyone to attend um our um architect and urban planner Eric VI will be leading us through a presentation regarding uh mixed use developments as well as our specific uh project and so you'll all see some very exciting uh rendering as well as a video because we know that you all like videos um so we're hopeful that we will with um the stars aligning be back before you for first reading in the spring we're hopeful that it'll be in March with second reading in April and then coming back for aspr approvals in the summer um our goal is to close on the property early this summer and uh we are working very hard with your collaboration to make that happen thank you very much and of course our entire team is available for any questions that you may have he thank you Council any initial questions or comments on this item tab 11 for second reading um go ahead thank you mayor I want to thank staf for taking a lot of time to go over the very intricate details of getting this done I think tonight uh it's just simply us creating the Baseline of what a future development would be able to apply under we're not approving a plan uh so we're not approving units per se that will go live soon but um we we do have the responsibility to create some guidance under a category that does exist so um you know with that I I don't foresee this not moving forward tonight but I do want to take a moment to thank you for taking all my comments into consideration and um weaving them into this uh this text um it was not an easy task and we spent a lot of hours together uh with prior counsel and over the phone now so thank you very much thank you thank you yes councilman Davis I want to thank you for having that meeting and chief for your folks participating in that meeting as well uh one of the things that I heard over and over again was the perception that he got this side of town he got that side of town and uh uh one of the reasons was that again that perception of a need for uh uh police presence and and I I get it I know this I know the statistics that you know five minute U um response or three minute response but it also comes down to the to the um citizens feeling that we're okay we police are right down the street uh and I very much appreciate that that meeting and I hope we can continue on with it uh because it's really uh uh a a needed thing within that Community certainly is their perception thank you very much thank you councilman vice mayor Fletcher yeah I just quickly want to thank everyone for all the hard work that we put into this this has been an ongoing issue and it's finally culminating into something that we all had a piece of and uh now we get to see something come to fruition so I'm happy to see that thank you thank you appreciate it anything councilman okay all right is there any final public comment hearing and seeing none then I'll ask for a motion to appr for approval on second reading of tab 11 moved by councilman cannibal second by vice mayor roll call Madam CL councilman rth councilwoman Bailey councilman Cal councilwoman abula councilman Davis yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carries thank you very much thank you and next item Mr Pearl second reading of tab 12 yes Mr Mayor sorry no excuse me uh tab 12 is a second reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead Florida amending the City of Homestead comprehensive plan is requested by DR Horton Inc by amending the text of the technology mixed use future land use category containing objective 2 policy 2.1 to include residential uses and permit density up to 15 dwelling units per net acre providing for transmittal to the Florida Department of Commerce Division of Community Planning Development and services providing for conflicts providing for severability providing for inclusion in the city's comprehensive plan and providing for an effective date thank you Mr Gordina yes sir again we're recommending consideration for this again it's a it's a complete policy issue we've reviewed it there are no changes from last month so you're good to go thank you council do you need to hear anything further from the applicant all right we have a motion to approve T 12 mooved by councilman cannibal second by Council woman Bailey any public comment Madam clerk roll call please councilwoman Bailey councilwoman aula councilman Roth councilman Davis yes councilman conal vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carries and moving right along Mr Pearl tab 13 yes Mr Mayor tab 13 is the second reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead Florida uh comprehensively updating and amending chapter 22 public improvements of the city's code of ordinances by creating article 3 water quality pertaining to elicit storm water discharges and connections erosion and sediment control and other water quality regulations updating and amending chapter 7 code enforcement of the city's code of ordinances by amending section 7-40 schedule of violations and penalties of article 3 to incorporate civil penalties relating to the same providing for severability providing for codification providing for conflicts and providing for an effective date thank you we have a staff report on this item is that you Mr oh okay tap 13 now is storm water on the same one the previous one mayor thank you um as a municipal separate storm water system and a co- perier under the national pollutant discharge elimination system the city is required to update its code AS Pur Florida Department of Environmental Protection to prohibit elicit discharges elit connections legal dumping improper disposal and Spills into the stone water system and is required to have authority to enforce such prohib uh prohibitions staff recommends the mayor council approve the proposed amendments to the city code of ordinance First Amendment chapter 22 public improvements by creating article 3 water quality pertaining to elicit storm water discharges and connections erosion and settlement control and other water quality uh regulations Second Amendment chapter 7 code enforcement by amending section 70-40 scheduled of V violations and penalties of article three to incorporate civil penalties related to water quality violations this is second reading thank you counil any questions comments on this second reading okay not appearing do we have anyone wishing to speak on this item I'll close the public hearing and ask for a motion to approve tab 13 moved by councilwoman Bailey second by councilman Davis roll call Madam Clark councilwoman aula councilman Ross Yes councilwoman Bailey councilman cannibal councilman Davis yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lman yes the motion carries and next item second reading of tab 14 uh yes Mr Mayor tab 14 is the second reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead Florida amending the city of code of ordinances by amending chapter 28 utility division 5 landscape irrigation section 28-70 permanent landscape irrigation restrictions to update landscape irrigation procedures providing for severability providing for inclusion in the code providing for conflicts and providing for an effective date yes Mr manager thank you mayor the south Florida Water Management District is requesting that the city assistance in implementing local water conservation measures to promote water conservation and decrease Water waste with a permanent local yearround irrigation ordinance that restricts the times and number of days landscape irrigation is allowed throughout the city staff recommends mayor and Council approve the proposed amendment to the city court of ordinance chapter 28 utilities division 5 landscape irrigation section 28-70 permanent landscape irrigation restrictions this is second reading thank you Council any questions comments I rest nobody turn on your microphone we don't have the specifics I want to know from what hour to what hour are they going to be allowed to regate the landscape and what days um councilman cannibal if you uh go to exhibit one of the agenda item the ordinance is listed in its entirety um so you'll see that um what we're doing here here is just updating some of the definitions um and on um section D are all of the irrigation restrictions um it's basically limiting the hours which is already in place to early morning or evening um and it bases it on address and of course there are exceptions for new Landscaping um you know when you've just installed a sod or a tree things like that okay may I yes Council woman so um just to clarify these current restrictions between 10:00 a.m. to 4m already exists currently right yes that's correct and so we're just updating the definitions to match County's recommendations yes uh we're bringing this into conformance across the region it's at the recommendation of the South Florida Water Management District uh our drinking water permit is control controlled by the south waterer Water Management District so cooperating with them in this is one of the conditions of our permit and who who sets those uh times from 10:00 a.m. to 4 P p.m. is that a recommended time are we allowed to be less restrictive more restrictive like who came up with that time slot so this this does come from the sth Water Water Management District um we cannot be less restrictive um we cannot be more permissive than than they are so this time category of 10: a. to 4m is the minimum that we're required to uh comply with to maintain our permit yes that's correct okay because otherwise we would not have a permit to have access to water yes uh then we would have to um well the potential is that our permit could be put on moratorium at which time we would uh be dependent on the county for all of our water okay and then putting on my mom Landscaping hat on I wouldn't want to loot water my lawn high heat times anyway essentially you would want to water your lawn after 4 P.M and before 10: a.m. correct yes that's correct okay so I don't like County giving me any rules on when I can water my lawn but I think under these circumstances we kind of have no choice and it is reasonable to uh to approve the item and it's not necessarily adding any more restrictions than we already currently have to comply with that's correct thank you thank you Council woman anything further is there any public comment so do we have a motion to approve this item on second reading move by councilwoman Bailey second by vice mayor Fletcher roll call Madam CLK councilman Davis no councilwoman Bailey yes councilman conal councilman raw yes Council woman abula vice mayor Fletcher yes may lner no the motion carries all right we have um the manager has we earlier deleted tab 15 we have deferred tab 16 there's no objection I think this would be a good point to take a 10-minute recess come back and finish the agenda thank you all right we will reconvene the uh regular city council meeting and we are now on item number nine any other business from the city manager no mayor no business for me thank you um Mr attorney uh yes Mr Mayor I I believe that each of you is aware that during during the last legislative term the state imposed greater Financial disclosure requirements on Municipal elected officials um my firm is representing uh right now there are 15 cities who have signed up to challenge the the state's law we don't need to get into the details of this tonight but if you are interested in participating in that lawsuit at the Cow I can bring back some more information um as well as a resolution to participate if it's something that for you to consider if you want to participate and I just wanted to get a sense if that's something that you'd be interested in I can bring that back and put that place that on the cow for your consideration uh next month thank you can I get a consensus council members yes I I see heads nodding to my left yeah let's let's more fully okay deeply take a deeper dive into this it's it's a really it's interesting that scores of public officials resigned prior to December 31st in response to this and that's it's not something that's generally done very lightly no and uh yeah I'd like to okay to investigate that so thank you thank you for the Direction all right councilwoman AA thank you mayor um I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Rodeo Day weekend um and I wanted to address um our Command Staff of the police department um our men and women in uniform are patient they are tolerant they are well Tred and they do the Dirty Work in the city I've driven in 24-hour shifts multiple times to see it firsthand and I grew up being the daughter of a police officer so I know the sacrifices that your families go through and I don't think that it's fair for one incident to be the pillar of decision making when it comes to a chief that has served this community for so long and I think that it's you know it's disgraceful to name a building after a man and then a year later fire him and I think it's no secret that you know you look good for your age chief but we know that there has to be a succession plan and and we need to be you know ready for that and we would like to support whoever's in line and I think it's fantastic that we have several individuals that would be of the caliber to fill your shoes and so for me it's it's not so much a debate about a contract to keep or not to keep our chief but the bigger discussion and I was hoping to have those discussions tonight as to what is the future look look like for our police department so I just wanted to say those you know those words and I respect each and each one of you uh not just our Command Staff but all of our police department and I have uh met and spoken to several um police officers who you know who have shared their concerns and um again it's me listening not directing our police staff with anything so I I want to encourage any of our police officers who haven't uh or who have wanted to but didn't think it was appropriate or were not or didn't think they were invited to speak to me please reach out and talk to me and let me know what's going on so that it can help me make decisions for our city and when I'm making my policy policy decision decisions here I get a little unnerved when I talk about this because it does bring a lot of memories um you know over the years and I don't think that I just don't like to see these situations get played the way that they are and it's it's not a race issue I I think that whether you're you know black white hispanic Latino Asian if you're not compliant with the police department or with the police officer and you're endangering one or more or yourself this is It's a situation it's a highrisk situation and nobody wants to see videos like that but they they happen and you did the right thing Chief you sent it to the state what more could we have asked and you're continuing your training so I'll rest with that for now um but in having other conversations tonight and hearing about substations it reminded me I would love to have a substation in District 5 so if that's possible you know one end to the other of our city that'd be great don't know if that's a possibility but I would love to have that and I think our my sister district with councilman canaval would probably support it as well um what else thank you Bailey for sponsoring that uh that event in February and um thank you staff for answering all my questions I tend to have many so thank you all rest thank you councilwoman uh councilwoman Bailey thank you mayor um I just wanted to say big thank you to staff for another amazing MLK breakfast uh the theme was equity and education and just another shout out to the very deserving um honores of that evening we had um mam Mia's Pizza that has done so much um especially during covid is when I really saw um everything that they were doing for the community and um everything from these meal vouchers that we're giving to students who didn't have have those opportunities to get that free lunch that they usually had while the schools were closed um they really just helped tremendously um Oscar Munos with Children's Home Society at Homestead Middle School the way that they they provide these wraparound Services is something that I would like to see throughout all of our schools um Miss Carolyn Taylor Pates who I just there's not enough time tonight to go through everything that she does for our community but she is always in the back of PU or when Dixie she knows everybody and she's just picking up supplies for all of those in need and sath Aid connections for all of their work and helping all of our small businesses be able to do these amazing things for the community so thank you again to staff thank you for everybody who came out and congrats again to all the honoraries thank you mayor thank you councilwoman councilman Cannonball the comments tonight no yes to have a happy Ro enjoy the the weekend is going to be a fun one absolutely thank you councilman Davis thank you uh Mr Mayor I of of a particular note today uh we had a very successful meeting uh between city manager uh police and the Donna Lee Studio of Dance the other day uh many of you uh have had kids or have kids currently in there they push around uh 300 young ladies a day through various classes in that building they were having some significant issues um with people loitering around and and what have you uh but I'll tell you what it was it was great to see the city manager Chief and and the team show up there and speak with uh Vicki Gonzalez the owner and to say okay this is what we need this is what the city manager is going to do in the end the city manager is going to do this she's going to do that Vicki's going to do this but it all goes to the same thing of the of the um uh well-being of those uh young ladies that that attend dance out there and I I give you kudos for that it went very very well actually um and I I'm G to butcher his name Chief but you know who I'm talking about um Alex mrio I'm butchering his name sorry but um the other day uh this would have been uh Wednesday perhaps no it would have been Monday would have been Monday um heading out to baptist hospital on the right hand side of the road where finar is there was a young lady uh collapsed out there and I called it in and uh because I mean you can't just you know people are just walking by no we can't do that we we know we have to react to this and uh I'll tell you that officer was there in about three minutes I mean I was like wow good for you I mean he was right there and uh and that was a a a great reflection on the response time of our police and uh and it was very good and he took care of business uh for her so thank you very much for that uh Mr Mayor thank you councilman Davis councilman Roth thank you I don't have much I mean the rodeo was talked about today MLK breakfast was talked about today uh when people say there's not a lot to do in Homestead man just look at the websites and there's plenty to do in the City of Homestead um I don't know if we'll be back here before Valentine's Day so I'm just going to wish everybody a Happy Valentine's Day thank you councilman vice mayor fler yes thank you Mr Mayor um two quick things uh Happy Rodeo weekend uh but it doesn't feel like a rodeo weekend without a parade and we don't have one uh I would like for us to look as a body and seeing how we can reinstitute the Rodeo Parade for that weekend I know for years it was is run by one individual who uh you know retired and didn't have the time to do it anymore so let's look to see about how we can possibly further that in the future of course of course um I also want to bring the the fact today there was a zoning hearing at the Miami B County in regards to the landfill project um unfortunately uh it was deferred until February uh February 22nd I believe is the date uh I believe we need to make a strong showing uh in their package they did not have a copy of our resolution we may not have gotten to it in time so let's I know we sent it yeah been a month yeah more than once but let's resend it again to make sure it gets on and if we need to find whatever the agenda item is I'll be more than happy to try and research that of course and we'll on social media we'll post the new date so at least the public knows that the that is coming up uh unfortunately I was not able to be there uh but uh there was no one else there on behalf of the city or any residents uh Mr ventur was there for the airbase was the Lone person who stood up uh against it and they deferred the idol so this weekend we're going to have an opportunity to meet with our elected officials from the county again we can tie them to a poll temporarily and uh have that discussion with them but we need to make sure we're uh uh engaging with those folks as well because I don't believe they're they're not really focused on this issue it's just a halfhazard issue for them uh but we need to make make it uh priority number one uh with that uh I too want to say thank you to the police department uh I understand that everything doesn't always look good on the outside uh but I can tell you that the training that is provided to each and every officer that comes to the City of Homestead is probably some of the best training that any law enforcement agency is going to get in the State of Florida or the southeast us um I'm a little little partial to that because I was part of that at one point and I provided you know we used to have discussions on uh items that would happen around the the United States with training incidents and the police department was very quick to implement a lot of those changes and I appreciate the chief too at times creating additional training that's required uh that's not really required but it's required by him um one of the things that uh I would like to address is there's also a lot of bad information out there in regards to the City of Homestead being the second most dangerous city in the State of Florida okay and we know where all that data comes from the FBI and it's all just clouded in there but we do have a response to that where our crime rates have actually gone down in the city limits of Homestead and uh that's been shared with me I don't know if it's been shared with the rest of council yet but please please take a look at that and uh I also want to thank staff uh for uh recently providing me with the succession plan I think uh it's been long overdue but uh we do have one in place now and I hope that gets shared with the rest of us as well with that everyone have a great uh rest of January and Happy Valentine's Day and and vice mayor yeah we sent that out uh that report that was created I did send that out it was sent out to all of council members we could resend it yeah let's resend it because there's some very good details in there and there was a lot of work put into I agree something we can all share with our constituents thank you tell one I just want to to to jump on the uh the Rodeo Parade bandwagon with vice mayor Fletcher um it's been missing for probably the last three years I believe now uh I think covid we did the first year in Co it was a restricted parade then after that we didn't do it anymore um and I say we um uh it's not we that that had put the parade on it was the Rodeo Association itself that that did the parade and uh we had made some adjustments in the budget this year to cover the expense or most of the expense of the parade and that's not the issue for them it's Manpower and um I I they asked me to do it personally and I I just I have so many other responsibilities that weekend I I can't do a parade and everything else that I do at the rodeo and um it would be nice if we reach out to some other local Civic organizations um there's Manpower there um I think that the burden of the cost um prohibited some of those organizations to step up they didn't want to take on the responsibility of the the monies um I did have I did hear a lot of chatter about the parade not being here and it's a shame and it's a tradition and and the posi and all these different things and I think uh we've got some some other issues to work out with the rodeo as far as um helping them to maintain either the location they're at with adequate parking uh or helping them relocate to another part of the city through a cooperation or co-op with other organizations in in the city so um if we can if we can start to start focusing on the retention of as they said said this today was or this year is their 75th Anniversary um I'd love to see it go on for as long as we can make it go on um but bring back the tradition of the the parade itself I mean we've lost other events that that that go along the week we lost the Little Miss Brites we lost the the buck off we've lost all these different activities um mainly because of financial reasons right they couldn't insure the bull at the rodeo for the mechanical bull was like $225,000 a year for the insurance I like who's going to pay that you know it just doesn't make any sense so but to to keep that tradition alive I think we as a board up here need to start looking at some options I know I've spoken to uh the City attorney and looked at uh other other options that we may have in the city we've been working on uh some other things with them not the Bel but I think the parade we need to get it back and um maybe we we reach out to some of these other organizations and and help them step up and um I'm not sure if we made enough money put enough money in the budget to cover the the entire parade budget I'm not sure what that cost us um with police barricades and all the stuff that we need but I'm sure we can get to that point and we can bring it back and and make it bigger and better than than it's ever been so thank you for that time and I Council thank you mayor and and councilman Roth I think that um it's definitely the Manpower participating in the parade as a nonprofit and putting a float in or a couple cars in and Gathering the volunteers to decorate and be in the parade is a whole amount of work as well so the organizing of the event is key if you think that the Rodeo Association would be willing to uh work in conjunction with uh the City of Homestead as well as with the county I think that they have an they've invested and they've shown a lot of interest in supporting the Rodeo Parade I know uh commissioner Cohen Higgins does great PR for them too promoting it and um she has also held a couple of parades that have been very very successful so maybe they've kind of got it figured out so if there's a way that our our staff can get in touch um with with commissioner Cohen higgins's office and see if they'd be interested in having a conversation on how they can help and support the Rodeo Association to bring it back I think that's that's where it's going to be uh you know a successful conversation um and then that would trickle down to the local nonprofits participating again and being involved um but I I wanted to also touch Bas touch on uh count uh Vice I can't get your title right yet John I'm sorry but Vice mayor's uh comments I I am disappointed to hear that nobody else was at that at that meeting with the county early on um in my in my tenure here that was one of the things I wanted to see and I I put it on myself to wanted I wanted to be at every count County meeting well I learn very quickly that I can't be at every meeting every time and and it is very far and it's those meetings are very long so for us to make the commitment to be at those meetings it's a lot but we should have somebody from staff representing the city especially when it's on items that are are really close to home or that are affecting us I I would say that every item that Mr Ventura is at we should be there too probably right so um let's try to get that on our agenda February 22nd it's a Thursday I don't think there's any conflicting meetings for us but just make sure an email comes out to us maybe put it on our staff to put it on our calendar so that we make it a priority to be there I think that's a step in the right direction and um and and it should be a kind of like a a practice for future future council members to to do as well thank yeah we'll put it on the calendar and send everyone a reminder we'll make sure to have staff there thank you well thank you so let's let me touch again on the landfill issue this is in the context of an appeal of the prior denial so does that then represent a more judicial process than the prior quasi judicial what do we have more limitations uh you know it's not as if you've got and I don't Envision this you know the residents with the Torches and pitchforks in the air base saying heck no isn't a little more nuanced and formal once it gets to an appeal or you know what is it that we can do to participate at the appeal level so you're correct that it is in reference to an appeal that appeal comes out of um the County's jurisdiction over Annex property and that's pursuant to an interlope agreement and then have a code provision that basically stipulates that the county has um has Authority with making a comprehensive um development plan consistency or um or determination that the proposed use is consistent with their comp plan um it's my understanding based on listening to I believe it was the County attorney this question was asked I mean the rules of Quasi judicial procedures do um apply in the instance um so uh affected parties are allowed an opportunity to be heard um also cross-examined uh Mr Ventura was cross-examined by the applicant attorney um today on the record um I'm not sure which C which county commissioner um spoke um but one of the County Commissioners did reference that they had received the City of Homestead um resolution uh regarding uh homestead's um opposition opposition um there were I think three or four people that spoke um as part of the public hearing I know according to the uh County mayor um the at the the the item is was deferred um but it was noted that public comment was closed now there not to say that they can't reopen it right it was it was was mentioned that uh concern that there were not a lot of residents present and uh County staff was asked and the applicant was asked about the notice and even because this is an appeal um those types of zoning application notices didn't apply so um that could be one of the causes for the lack of uh citizen participation um so that was noted and um County staff was directed to try to get the word out with respect to um the the third August 2 I mean sorry February 22nd follow-up meeting but the but long story short even though it's set up as an appeal um it is a quazi and uh anyone appealing the County's decision would do so pursuant to the pellet rules of procedure so those due process rights um evidence of the record those things apply to the County's decision so it may be that in the event that we're faced with a situation where they do not reopen public comment do we need to submit you for lack of better term some sort of brief but you know something more than a copy of our resolution from 60 days ago uh that's a good question we can certainly think about that let's think about that but I think you're elected officials and nothing precludes you from speaking to your elected official counterparts extra judicially yes I know certainly they they closed closed public discussion on the rtz issue we were not not permitted to uh to speak okay I just wanted to make sure that we didn't have unreasonable expectations as to what our level of participation might be and if you recall just to I mean Mr Ventura did a very good job of explaining um the basis position with respect to um the County's uh determination and and why the proposed uh clearing debris clearing landfill was not consistent uh with the County's comprehensive development plan of course the applicants objects to that however um your determination right the resolution that we did was was drafted to reference support for the basis position and objection it it wasn't just we didn't have any other evidence that was the reason for supporting the base for our our um opposition to the proposed use all right just in case yeah any other issues or concerns that you know you all may have that wasn't addressed in the um in the resolution it was also referenced at the meeting too someone some some someone mentioned that homest had had a meeting on it and and we did not and so I think you know that that should be cleared up or or clarified at some point by staff that there is a pending application in Florida City but the City of Homestead never had a separate application on it well then would it might be advisable to bring back to the cow which is in enough time a resolution rehashing what we already said and expressing concerns about noise odors traffic all of those those other issues that could emanate and and harm Homestead if if you know because what I'm what I'm hearing is that our resolution was very narrow in scope correct I mean you could but I think you'd want to have some evidence of that in order to support that I mean those are those are all things that right that we'd be cross-examined potentially that um you could but you know there should be something to back it up mayor isn't the same evidence that Larry vura used in his presentation the same evidence we would use I mean but I don't know that he addressed potential noise odors pollution traffic that wasn't the issue of the base the issue of the Bas Cas was the attraction of birds which could lead to fatal interaction with with airplanes and their pilots how how quick Jerry do you think someone on staff who was knowledgeable enough about proximity to dumps could we get u a report identifying these uh definitely we'll we'll get right on it um I think it's pretty straightforward in terms of the smells and things like that I'm sure there's existing reports about the existing uh dumps location so we'll get that and compile that information together so roadway maps that the only only reasonable way to get there is for these trucks to go through you're absolutely correct are that that's true and I also recall there was a petition that I think Council that vice mayor uh it an online yeah it was an online petition that he circulated which I signed I think I even contributed towards it and I I don't I don't didn't hear that that was brought up or was that finalized and it was sent to each commissioner uh they all acknowledg the receipt of it at that time and again it was just a basic Petition of the homeowners in this residen of Homestead objecting to it for the same reasons of the base plus some additional items that uh you know local residents right next door that had some some issues there's been a a lot of back and forth like for several months I think with the county um what I can do is uh tomorrow I I'll print off the agenda packet materials from the County Commission meeting and I'll forward them to um to Jerry um and to the clerk so that they can circulate okay it might be in a Dropbox it might be too much to to but so we can see whatever whatever way I'll get it to you all so you all can have um the agenda packet materials that were in the in the uh County Commission agenda packet now I I don't know nothing was presented by the applicant they didn't get into their presentation um the item was deferred short of that um but we can certainly talk to Mr Ventura if he has anything additional that he was going to present yeah no I would like to be able to say that we tried every Avenue and that we did everything that we could despite the outcome so so um you know once Jerry you've you've gotten what you could get from you know from our research on these items and then um try to get it get a date to meet in advance of the 22nd with as many Commissioners as possible at least to deliver our brief and and say listen we care about this item we sent you a resolution we had another cow meeting about it here's all of our our data points and why you should deny it um or reject or deny the appeal that way we can sleep at night on the item yeah we'll definitely put something together and like like you said we'll meet before the 22nd also another source I mean lenar is building, 1300 units there we'll reach out to them and make them aware as well so I'm sure their input at the county will have a lot of weight as well I think they have weight at the County Council Roth just want to on the public side of this and getting people to the count County Commission meeting uh I remember many many years ago actually two different EP two different times one was to save the Air Force Base and we had to go to the State uh to Tallahassee and we actually rented buses and bus people up to Tallahassee to fight for our base um obviously logistically to get to downtown Miami to a hearing is very challenging also Robert Is Here did the same thing when the county was coming after Robert is here to actually shut him down um uh and not allow him to sell all the ancillary things of preserves and bottled things that weren't uh what they would consider true agriculturally grown in our area uh and we bust two bus loads of people put them in red shirts and it was a very quick hearing and they voted in in in um in respect of Robert and we still have Robert Is Here that way so maybe if um there's enough public support and we put out the the the call that we could arrange some kind of public transportation whether it be buses or whatever um so that they don't have to worry about parking paying for parking and and fighting traffic and doing all the things that would keep people from going downtown to voice their opinions on this subject so um just a thought once you guys figure out some things if over there yeah well we could do that too but but once you guys figure out the the the the the plan and what we can and can't do and what we should do um we'll be able to do our social media aspects of it put it out there and say listen uh if you're sign up for this this thing you know seats are limited but we need you there maybe we do a t-shirt maybe we do something that unites the city uh against this this landfill on the the the south side of keysgate um which I I think would be incredibly tragic if they uh were able to get this put through um they're going to keep coming they're going to keep coming at us not us specifically but uh for that project and we have to keep pushing back as much as we can thank you all right thank you all very important issues all right I just want to announce that uh council members Cannibal and Davis have agreed to be the code Liaisons to the uh faith and communitybased organization Advisory Board uh also uh councilman Davis will be the liaison with the education committee and vice mayor Fletcher has agreed to be the Lea on to the tourism advisory committee have meeting tomorrow night a meeting tomorrow night okay you have uh dump tours landfill tours okay all right um my next item is tab 17 which is an additional Amendment to the um Council procedures um in short this would allow each of us to bring items that have um you know been through staff been through attorney and and are in a more I'd say Le a a less half-baked form than something here on the Fly where those of us may have more questions and we get hung up this would would enable each of us to have initiatives more fully uh put together and documented um with the help of staff and and our attorneys whatever the case may be to bring for for Council consideration under new business rather than under Council business and that it would specifically limit you know Council business to the types of conversations we've we've had here tonight not not substantive items so you know in short it would allow us to to to digest and further further create items on our own to bring to council without having to have PRI Council approval I think we you know we've all worked together long enough that we know what what's going to go and what what may not go and and what we're we're all interested in and it uh you know keeps uh the substantive items uh as non agenda items off off the agenda now what I would foresee though you know we had some conversation a couple of months ago about potentially going back to two meetings a month one with quasi judicial type items and the other with legislative and administrative items so that we don't have have these late nights I think that you know as we begin to talk about that and and vet that i' I'd like to have some further Sunshine meetings among portions of us to to really fine tune and hone our our procedures and and move forward and you know kind of move away from this is the way we've always done it let's uh let's let's get with the uh the program but for for tonight I'm asking Council uh direction for the attorneys to bring a resolution along the the lines of my memorandum in the package um to to modify the the uh the code of council procedures Mr attorney um happy to make this change if that's what the council wants but I did want to point out the discussion that councilman Davis brought up which was the timing as well and So currently um items that are submitted by council members have a deadline of Wednesday prior to but I know we were trying to back up the the time the dates for submission so that the agenda packages could be distributed at an earlier time so as you're considering this um I would I would encourage you to consider putting some date threshold on for the request and submission of these things so we make sure that you know there everyone's on the same page about when things to be in and what expectation there is to be on the next subsequent agenda based on those requests thank you I'm certainly certainly open open to that additional item you know we we've had that had that that discussion while we're we're we're doing this small small scale Amendment so to speak Let's uh you know and again we can we can discuss it and and look at it in full um at the uh the next c meeting Council woman thank you mayor I I do I think I vaguely recall this a form of this item having brought up in the past year ago yes and I'm not sure if it's exactly the same because I didn't look okay because I'm I like the idea of being able to ask staff to do some work on an item and actually you know kind of iron out a lot of the questionable details and and have an item that I think would be a home run be ready to go right and get a lot of that pre-work done out of the way but I I just need some clarification mayor does this keep us from being able to bring up under our agenda um you know any items that we think of during our meeting or that we receive you know within a few days of our meeting but is this restricting us or keeping us or censoring us from being able to come up to this stas and have our meetings and speak freely on our our constituents concerns um in addition to like is it a requirement to do it this way or is this giving us the additional power no it it's I see this as giving this the ability you know to to really bring an item forward without prior Council discussion yeah I say iron out those wrinkles it shortens the discussion shortens meetings um there's more certainty when it hits yeah the table I definitely like that approach I I just want to make sure that if I'm not ready to necessarily have staff invest all that time energy and money and resources that I can still bring a discussion item and say what do you think I'd like to do this so you're not proposing we're not we're not restricting that you've got the ability to do to do that as as well and I think that there's buried in that resolution somewhere that um I think with with the approval of obviously a majority of council we've got the ability to to take up a substantive non-agenda item under Council business that that what I'm bringing does not propose to eliminate that so we're just looking for some consensus for the attorney to bring this change back in resolution form at the committee the whole meeting and that you're the way that you read the resolution or that you would formulate the resolution you see that as consistent with what we're talking about right yes and what I can do is I can leave some blank in for time frames as you flush that out and during that discussion we can just make a motion to input whatever it is that you'd like to do whatever parameters you want to set on there I like that approach as well because you know in in retrospect and thinking about our last cow meeting and and in discussion with um with staff I I definitely want to see our packets be a lot clearer when we have those 3in tabs with those subtabs I was talking about but I I think um um the deadline of Wednesday is helpful in a lot of ways and so if we are too restrictive on when we can get items in it could delay progress it could delay activities and and and items but if we go to two meetings that's not as crucial either true true so you know let's see we're going to be able to have further discussion with staff and we can get a clearer idea as to what what would you propose as the new deadline how would the new two meetings work out and then we can make a decision at the the day the resolution comes back for approval right and and in that regard if staff has has started looking at and can can give us their thoughts on the pros and cons of going back to a two meeting month or two Council meetings a month that and that would perhaps ease that that shorter deadline as long as there's some more grace to doing remote meetings if we had to for that second meeting that I would appreciate that but like Matt uh we don't have any issue with this item um we'll definitely work together uh with Matt uh and and take a look at the timelines I think that's where my most concern would be because depending on the complexity of the issue that the council person is bringing there there is a time frame depending what it is I don't know what it is but if it's a very complex issue we may need more time to put the packet together versus you know right now we have the Wednesday 12:00 cut off and it's usually hey a discussion item and then the direction is given and so we we have weeks or months to to dive into that particular item so I think the timeline is is the most important thing but definitely like Matt we're open to go ahead and and make these changes right and in real let's say you were you wanted to bring a package you're going to know what your deadline is and I don't know that we have restrictions on perhaps first considering it if you miss a council deadline well let's roll it two weeks later into a committee of of the whole so so you know I think there's that flexibility as well mrl and so and that was where I was going I wanted to touch base on that as we discussed two meetings it was unclear to me if we were talking about two Council meetings and the cow or having a full council meeting replace the cow my initial thought process my initial thought process is and I hate to use this phrase councilman Davis like we used to do it when I was a councilman where we had two Council meetings per month and a committee okay of the whole that's that's what was the wheels that were turning in my mind um you know with the the modern Twist of if we can accomplish it have a quasi judicial night and an everything else night okay while we're while we're on it if you don't mind do you I would like to know from development services how how do you think the development community in terms of Commercial Business and generating um you know more uh more licenses for operating businesses would that be helpful to have the extra meeting like is that a measurable impact that we can I don't I mean the the licenses don't typically get approved here I mean what we're doing here are entitlements site plans you know the planning side of the the room the the building side the permits and the subsequent inspection and the licenses happen outside of the council uh purview um they work on approved developments and they're really subject to the Florida building code doesn't have a lot to do with the City of Homestead I think the development Community um it depends on if you have two meetings per month to do quas judicial uh types of things or or planning types of it items um I mean if you still did it once a month I don't if you still did that type of meeting once a month I think would make our meeting shorter and more condensed I mean I the way I look at these agendas is frankly they're 90% planning and 10% other stuff um so I mean I think it would be easier for everybody involved just to come he the planning stuff and and leave you you know we wouldn't be here as long um and tired and trying to make those decisions um if we were to have two meetings and do two quasi judicial or two planning type meetings at certain point um we're going to back for the first couple months we're g to we're going to push those deadlines out we're going to we're going to have to you know set the de we're going to have to reconfigure the deadlines um the hard part is what the applicant don't like are the deadlines I mean frankly to get on an agenda you know we really just all the administrative stuff that has to happen you know by the time we have to have our work done uh put it in get it reviewed get it on your package so you could review it we're talking weeks ahead of a council meeting and we have applicants that want to you know come to the meeting that day and submit stuff we just we just simply can't do it um so I I think it would be generally beneficial but not without a a you know glitches in the process and I think my comment with regarding to the licenses is because that's that's ultimately the end result right if you're approving items more frequently and you're having more meetings on a month then you're going to be creating more jobs you know because they're building more businesses as a result so I think what about the drc's and the cut off times like would you be able to potentially have a client come to the second meeting of the month that would have generally missed the first meeting of the month because of the DRC meeting date so so the you I I think what we we should probably do a brief workshop on our scheduling because it's quite interesting and it's kind of complicated but the fact is that the way we've got it set up it takes a month the DRC by the time that the applicant gets out of the DRC if they they essentially need to have almost no substantive comments for us to prepare them for the next month's council meeting so for instance our DRC week is the same week as the council meeting so if you're on the uh say what is this January if you're on the January DRC and you get out of the DRC that like it's happened this week we're going to and there are no comments by you know we're going doing that now we'll issue comments final comments by Friday if there are no substantive comments you can get to the February council meeting if there are comments you know it's going to take the applicant more than typically a day to go over the comments it may take them a week and then we've got to review the comments and then you're really at the point where we're submitting our package to the manager's office which means you you you without those comments in you can't make that DRC so they're going to go back a month and hit the February so we can Jimmy that up I mean I I think we've batted around one of the ways to handle it are two drc's but but that I mean it's again it's resources we would need to essentially double up um our staffing and not that it's necessarily a city Staffing issue because a lot of this stuff has run through cost recoveries my comment to staff before was just hire more cost recovery people um and just throw it at them until they can't handle it anymore don't use one firm use three firms I mean the problem is there not enough people in the industry thank you Joe and and I appreciate the time on this item because I think we have a unique opportunity to try to streamline the process a little bit more because if we're going to add the secondary meeting and let's say there's an applicant that maybe had two comments left I call them conditions my my line of work so if they have two comments left maybe there would be an opportunity to to clear those comments and get in time for the deadline for the second council meeting maybe that would let's let's have a full review of your timing and maybe we don't call it a DRC but we call it five conditions or less meeting review two conditions or less meeting review and we can try to get that applicant on the secondary meeting we typically do that if and and we can condition things if they're simple U if you know look frankly my personal opinion Derm review we're going to pick that up in the backside we can condition that and you know Derm is Derm and doesn't really have anything to do with what you got to do but if it's a traffic comment that leaves us with a big hole it's almost imp you know cuz cuz there's kind of a of you know if they make an impact they got to mitigate that impact that's dollars that go to the City of Homestead you you you can't necessarily approve them with gaping they either can satisfy the condition or Not by the time you know we we have that second meeting but if staff can just when you're going through this process of creating the resolution and looking at your dates and your timelines and whatnot please have a meeting with staff in uh development services so we can try to figure out how we can catch the the the a the window of opportunity to clear some final comments that an applicant would very well would have to wait till the month later to come back and we can use the secondary meeting to help those uh projects move forward I think this just a warning though you got the advertising issue and that's very sensitive timing they've really got to crank those full and acceptable responses back to us to to meet that advertising deadline but if they do there is the ability to put them on on that second meeting and conversely if we didn't have anything ready to go or nothing that couldn't wait until the following meeting we we have a a procedural resolution that provides for that second meeting but it's not unheard of to cancel a meeting such as we do when the Florida League of cities convention or whatever it you know move them around for holiday so we provide for them but we have way that we don't necessarily have to go forward with them either every month but we've got the ability to to do that so so yes councilman Davis mayor I want to thank you for bringing this forward you know professional organizations run efficiently and and this is a way uh you know for us to run more efficiently I think it's a great thing to bring up at this time uh attorney Pearl I would recommend uh research in Miami day County because the board of County Commissioners has a similar timeline it'll be the same but different of course but um it may it may uh give you some a template at least you know what I mean to amend it to what we need it but do some of the work I I think we'd want to streamline uh the Count's processes um if you're looking to make things quicker I'm not sure that we want to mirror um the count process it does work I know that no it does work but it it submission can take you know a few months from to get through committees onto their agenda um they have a a pretty extensive review processes yeah I mean down but I'm happy to take a look in terms of submission to presentation I will I'm happy to speak to don't have the same committee sub committe uh uh interference that they have correct but nonetheless they're their process is pretty well defined yes so with with their failings that are in there sure uh and it may it may well uh you know and I'm happy to pull that and I can you know present that to you as part of a discussion you know to help facilitate all right so seems we have a consensus at least to bring the framework of a resolution back to begin to begin making you probably what'll be a series of of amendments as as we go forward so thank you all uh you may remember several months ago I think we had a presentation on the school zone speeding sensors that uh were new creation of the legislature orall I think Pine Crest was the first city to adopt that the county has has adopted uh their situation and I understand um led a contract last week for a provider and I just wanted to see if we were interested in putting this out there to staff to go out and solicit a request for information at the very least to get a formal presentation on uh you know and I don't know if there's would be a lot of leeway between you know the two or three providers that are out there but I guess the ultimate question is is do we want to go forward with with these systems or what would you like to see further to determine whether or not we're going to go with the school speeding sensors yeah I think that there we need the direction if this is something that you would all like to see absolutely we could do a request for qualifications that way all the existing vendors that actually provide this service will submit something to the city and we can have them come and do presentations obviously you know how they operate you know the monies things of that nature and then at that point once we do that Council gives Direction which which uh vendor they would like to go with and then we can move forward with with giving them a contract if if you all wish to okay but but there has to be that unified that that you want to do this and just an FYI if you and I mayor I know you remember we used to have red light cameras and they were very popular in the beginning but I know Council received so many complaints that at one point Council decided we're not doing this anymore so just putting that out there and it's it's a somewhat appropriate analogy but it's far more limited and the technology and the the safeguards in place from 20 years ago but yeah I know that's something we may face so do we do we have a a consensual knot of heads to uh yes Council woman thank you um as far as the breakdown is concerned so anybody going 10 miles over it's they're subject to $100 fine or does it matter how fast they were going I think we can work with the vendor and and the police department of course on that speed that's not set through the house bill that this is the way we need to split because my other question is $60 goes to local public safety initiatives including the speed detection is that $59 a month or close to half we'll we'll have uh Captain John answer that question some estimates I don't remember what they were hey Captain good evening I guess the qu the the question is satutory breakdown of the money yes how it's broken down is anybody that's going over 10 miles an hour it's just a $100 fine or is it based like if you're going 20 miles over a 30 it's it's based upon you have up to 10 miles an hour and then it's a $100 fine um they issue the notice to us and then we make the decision whether the uh the citation is issued so I guess your question going 70 M an hour or 20 it would be $100 flat based upon that statute using those type of cameras yes it's different than we actually you know got them on our radar we actually observed it it's after the fact so that's why it's set um give allow doing that allowance of uh 10 miles an hour over and any idea where that $60 that's for the local public safety initiatives and this the software itself any the idea how much the software is out of that $60 well I think it depends on the vendor and what they're supplying um and what their equipment whatever deal they work out with us on the agreement that'd be in the RFQ okay so they would say that if if you get two we're only taking this percentage or if you get 20 okay right that would be part of the the request for qualification all that detail will be in there so then uh you all can make an informed decision at that point yeah definitely if a decent amount goes back to our safety initiatives and people are not racing through speed zones then it's a whole another it's not about the money it's about safy exactly thank you thank you okay so are we we good with yes Council woman thank you mayor um can we does this include like the signs that tell you you're going 15 or 20 you're going to slow down um we could look into that but I mean right now obviously there's school signalization right now school zone is active flashing lights Drive 15 miles an hour but we'll we'll talk to the vendors and see if there's additional signage we can actually obviously they're going to put photo enforced yeah um signage but um once we talk to them we can see what additional signage they can actually put in sure the statute's probably pretty specific as to the minimum and most school zones right now have the sign that tells you how fast you're going not all and that's why not ours not all so that's why I would like to have those that's very you know because everyone can see how fast you're going with that sign right okay okay so so definitely that's something we could talk to them about and make sure that that's put in place as well at that time and for the school at Waterstone do we have light signal the extra school zone lights there to slow them down does does our do our police officers know who do the uh off duty detail there it doesn't right so on Campell Drive there's those there's no separate light that will flash during the school but maybe that's because the school entrance is facing the water stone way versus Campbell Drive can we just take a look it's Waterstone way because I think the county does not allow Campbell itself to be the school zone and and Captain correct me if I'm wrong the front of the school is on Waterstone weight and I think that's where you have the the speed restriction right okay thank you okay and I think we've got the ability to you know it's not a blanket we can you know expand we can we can Target the problem areas I believe it's as many cameras as we want to want to have or not have so we'll see but yeah I think those are details I would like to like to see about are we able to access the camera footage for other things like if there's a crime or something are we able to I see head's nutting okay well I mean I'm not big on you know the the police are shaking their head that yes I'm not big on big on cameras watching everything we're doing but when it comes to yeah if there's a crime I'm sure they can access the video and see if there you know the perpetrator came by there or something of that that nature okay all right thank you all right so we're going to have the have staff do advertise the RFQ yes sir very good all right so a little bit late but I think we need a motion to extend the meeting from 8:30 to 9:45 we have a motion moved by the vice mayor second by councilman Davis all in favor I any opposed okay next discussion item and I touched on it a little bit earlier in the hearing um and it may be and I don't know if it is it might be closing the barn doors after all the horses have already run out but but maybe not there's going to be Redevelopment and you know every little niche um and you touched on it councilwoman that self storage facilities don't add a lot of jobs they don't add you know we have that applicant with the Chick-fil-A that they they pulled that Self Storage right piece from their commercial thought so they could very well bring it back so I I'd like to hear your thoughts as to whether or not we want to begin the process of eliminating enclosed Self Storage as an allowable use going forward I mean obviously it's kind of like the moratorium it's where you draw the line those that have been approved but aren't yet coming out of the ground have been approved and we live with it but a situation where you know in late terms we don't have any more coming um would we like to to have our attorneys and our our planning staff go forward with that kind of legislation to remove that use my my only question would be I mean we're allowed to do that right okay and then uh I think that Self Storage um facilities generate a lot of bulk trash um you can just drive by the one off of um Old Dixie and it is Perpetual it is just complete is um and I mean it's just the nature of the and a couple of jobs and a lot of otherwise very viable commercial space that could be doing something else correct and and one of the questions that I meant to ask and I forgot what the applicant that was here earlier I was going to ask about the the size and storage of the uh the garbage containers and just want I was curious about what does our code require and is it really sufficient because of the you know if people are emptying out their storage unit they need to dump it they're just putting it on the curb instead of using maybe the the garbage bins that are there but irrelevant at this point so I'm was nice thing about this when it was not on a main road the one we did tonight is kind of sequestered okay so it seems as though we have consensus to um to move that forward okay really quick um so I understand we weren't able to schedule the presentation on the triangle property until the week after next the week of what Fe uary 5th the the first week of February right Z yes okay was that our our in-house and Council availability or was it their availability a a combination okay cu the reason I ask is well and did we do we have anything on the books yet for bringing the uh two proposers for the stem BR Bridge property together uh we're working to get them together offline uh we have not yet scheduled the presentation to come back to you well the reason I asked is I spoke with the attorney earlier in the week and they are ready to go on the initial moratorium presentation what I'm hearing is there's probably not elected officials in Moss are probably not available next week if we're not having the triangle discussion next week so [Music] um Mr attorney or attorney how much how much time do you think that would would take for your presentation on a the the initial primer on on moratorium guidelines maybe yeah just a primer probably 20 to 30 minutes to for us to walk through it and I maybe if if we can collocate it prior or after the triangle presentation if we think we can can fit that in the week of of the 5th if not we'll take it into uh the cow week I guess okay mayor we'll try to make it happen if we can do that um did we vote on the extension yeah okay wow all right my final I pardon didn't pass that's what I was afraid of that's why I asked I'm thinking three items ahead my final item tonight is a um a discussion regarding the potential termination of the current city manager's contract um you all should have my memorandum basically uh a reminder for us and the public that no final action can be taken prior to 90 days following an election the 91st day is f February 6th the manager's contract also affords him the right and we have the obligation to give him a notice of Our intention to terminate and whether that notice and whether the the cause for termination is with cause you know bad conduct generally or without cause so I have um I put this on the agenda tonight for discussion and action uh to direct the attorneys to give the city manager notice that effective February 6th which is a 91st day following the election that uh we would this council's vote is to um terminate that we intend on that day to terminate his Employment contract uh without CA which Mr triggers financial obligations and other timelines um but this is the first step to uh to go forward with with that this is a uh a condition if you will to to final action so I'd ask there any questions or comments from Council yes Council woman Bailey thank you mayor so I guess my only question would be if we're saying this to be without cause what what is the cause shouldn't we have a cause I I mentioned in the last meeting I know that we all have different interactions based on the things that we are dealing with And discussing um you know as far as PD is concerned all of my work with together for children and the new initiatives and the gbi and my conversations with the city manager I mean I've I've just never received an answer that that they would didn't either already know what was happening or that they would look into and follow up with right away so my question would be if we know what we have why are we risking what we could get so that would be my question that's that's that's a good question um I can only speak for myself and I've said this publicly and privately um we're on the cusp of I think having a lot of new development and Redevelopment and a lot of good opportunities for our community um across the board it's my opinion well let me back up and say that the manager and I philosophically agree on a majority of of items we think alike in a lot of ways for me it is and again I've said this before the failure in my view to hold staff accountable to do their jobs quickly properly and efficiently and I you know I can have a whole laundry list of items I know it's been look Solid Waste was a nightmare code enforcement was a nightmare um I don't share the love for the chief of police that the manager and many members in the uh in the public do that's no reflection on the rest of the department it is uh with respect to uh the style and philosophy and ethics there it's been over two years since I first heard that we had a lot of federal money to redo the entire streetcape of of chrome Avenue and Washington Avenue with sidewalks drainage curbing lights and nothing it's just for me we cannot survive under the go along and get along mentality I think that uh we would be better served with a manager with a background more in the real world with um a public works background with an engineering background for um example um they can dig in and so we don't have to to send things you know outside to consultants and and spend money things can can be done more quickly and and think more proactively rather than than reactively um you know I spoke to the manager early this week and we had some extensive conversations and you know I don't think either one of us want to to air any dirty laundry get into a a public spitting contest this is just a uh it's my business decision it's it's it's my position I'm one vote but if we are going to hire a new leader and take a little stronger and different direction this is the first step that we that we have to take and this is no disrespect to Jerry's 30 plus years of service to the community and in in many other positions he was here while the wind was still blowing after Hurricane Andrew and and didn't go on to other jobs he he stayed here and uh if you go back and you read the minutes or at least listen to the tapes when as a non-agenda item late one night his hiring as the city manager was proposed I expressed then that you know not everybody's the top madana there's good second fiddles um I think we need a a different uh a different Top Banana if if you will and that's that's just where where I'm I'm coming from um there's just for me in a working relationship there's just too much Gap um we don't have forever here and we're on the cusp of being just Homestead or being really great Homestead and I'm I'm hopeful that uh we can make that change and and can only do so with new management I don't know if that answers your question but that's that's what I've got right now Council yes Council w a my my concerns um you know they fall along the lines of just the amount of projects that I have worked on on since 2020 when I was appointed and now you know four years later I've had extensive experience working with staff when it was Kate mcaffrey and then now under Jerry Estrada and I haven't I haven't had an experience that would um you know trigger concern for dismiss a dismissal of of a position like this I mean yes I've had to follow up on items I've had to call and and say Hey you know we need to keep painting the B the the things on the light poles on District 5 and you know those are definitely not you know top of the priority on the list of things that we need to get done but you know from from being able to come here as a council member and have an idea and it come to fruition it takes it takes expertise it takes talent and this this is Talent we have and we have it now and I'm I'm in fear of of not being able to continue to do the good work that I want to do and that I that my community wants me to continue to do if we change management um I've got projects in Waterstone I I you know we do work in the nonprofit sector um we tonight we just unloaded a massive amount of tasks for staff to work work on for Jerry to to lead on and it just seems you know like we're we're going to be putting ourselves in a position where we're going to Halt a lot of progress so is there is there anything and I want to trust you mayor I want to be able to continue to work alongside you I think from day one I have always always wanted to um enjoy working on the de with my colleagues and of course not we don't always agree on everything but in something like this I want us to be unified and be able to to work together with a manager that we all respect and that we all feel respected by and so maybe there needs to be some Grace issued or you know applied in the matter but is there anything that you can think of that Jerry can do now to win your confidence back I mean if you name it no no no he was in the room most of the time during my first two years in office with manager mcaffrey he he's know my perspective on a one-on-one basis we spend a lot of time together on a on a weekly basis [Music] and it's a personality thing I just don't look you know probably from your perspective and I've heard you know uh sometimes you just can't change that some things are are ingrained and I and I've tried to to adjust but you know to answer your question it's as much about unqualified and inefficient staff that he refuses to hold accountable or move away from as it is the manager and we've got to have someone I feel you've got to have across the board staff that's brigh eyed and bushy tailed and energetic and enthusiastic about coming to work every day let me let me give you an example we talked about in one of our most recent conversations um about the transitioning of Code Enforcement into its own Department with its own director and the manager shared with me that he and his staff had spoken with two folks who work for the city now who declined the position based upon on the uncertainty as to whether or not Jerry was going to be the manager so for me I interpret that as they know that there's leeway there's the ability to loaf on the job that there's no accountability there's no demand for excellence because if you want to be the code enforcement director and do your job and if you're in this room I'm sorry it shouldn't matter who the city manager is you should be excited to do that job and not have taking that job conditioned upon knowing that your friend the manager is going to continue to be the manager so for me that's that's the most latest example that that I can give you that that I just I have no confidence that things are going to go forward expeditiously under this manager and you know a lot of us are are in our final years here we want to to build things we want to do good things we want to leave a legacy of of progress and based upon my last two years with this manager with all due respect I do not have confidence that we're going to accomplish anything I fail to understand for example why the city of Cutler Bay can build a city hall and a huge community park for $37 million yet the price tag for our Sports Complex has grown from 50 million to $75 million and they don't bat an eye about that where's the thought of treating it like it's your money and finding a way to Value engineer and get something done is is they seem to be kind of numb to the real world of of money and numbers um there's just examples that I find every day that well it's about trust Mr EST once shared with me when we were having a conversation about some of his assistant city managers and and Department directors and he said it's a matter of trust that I trust them okay and I can respect that appreciate that well if I use that same template I have no trust that we're going to go forward efficiently and expeditiously in this city with a manager and some of the staff that we have now and it's it's time to partially wipe the Slate clean and try a different angle Council pardon is we can take public comment yes I was want to give Council a chance vice mayor yes thank you Mr Mayor and uh first off you know you want to say this is not personal but it's part you take it personal I get it but I have some of the same concerns uh staff has recently provided more input than they have in the past I'm not here to have a out andout you know rough end match with you Mr manager I like you personally I think you're a great guy I just don't think you have the right tool pouch to continue in this endeavor the police officer here have a belt on they have their handcuffs they're they have all the tools they need to perform their duties I don't think you have that within your staff let's go back to two and a half years ago when a late night conversation your name was forced upon us and I held you up for a week because I didn't have a chance to chat with you I don't think our our chat at that time really covered the entire basis of what my vision was for the city but I don't think your your vision at that time has come to fruition yet either we talk about we talked about contracts tonight I've always been against contracts from day one I know somebody in your position needs a little of that Clarity and that little comfortableness to to be there and and I get other individuals wanting to have somebody that they know in a position but I can tell you change is not always bad if you're worrying about your job then you're not doing your job if you're doing your job you have nothing to worry about that's how I look at it coming back to accountability we have yet to have a management review meeting with you we have have been unable to to host a a quorum so we can have that do you do annual reviews on your employees I worked in the private sector for 30 years I had an annual review every year and I didn't worry about keeping my job because I went in and did my job I think it's important that we as a body have that opportunity to sit down with you as a group Collective group in a sunshine meeting be it paired down and have those discussions with you and we've had we have not been able to do that I don't know what everybody's thought is here of of your your daily activities we've had some items that have lingered on for for a couple of years now where nothing has been done the time frame for a lot of these issues uh just is not timing as I stated before I like you personally but it's time for somebody with a new vision to come to this city and build it for the future I give you all the accolades for your 30 plus years of service but it's time for change I get the uneasy uneasiness of all the employees in here but like I stated before if you're doing your job you don't have anything to worry about I'll hold there for now thank you vice mayor well said may can I just add yes Council Waller thank you I I hear everything that's being said um I I would love the opportunity to to you know have that meeting and review and and be able to hear you know Sean you know Vice mayor's list of items mayor's list of items Larry's list of items councilwoman uh Bailey's list of items councilman Roth's list of items and you know hear what's still pending what's not completed or what was a home run what was really not uh you know what really didn't work and come to fruition and and we haven't we haven't had that opportunity I do recall at least there was one one meeting requested to do a review and we couldn't make Quorum but I don't recall more being requested and not being able to make Quorum um I do recall you know conversations about giving staff 90 days to get to know new council members and to clean up you know the the community or to try to check off as many boxes that were not checked off but we're we're not at the 90day Mark yet so is Mayor is there an opportunity to let staff finish out their 90-day transition period and then and then re revisit this item because it does feel like you're you know we're we're we're create you know we're having the judgment prematurely and it's it just seems if we're going to do something like this let's try to be as respectful as possible in the process and let's give them their full 90 days to try to make the best impact as possible I think it's respectful to councilman Davis councilman Clemente gal to give them the full opportunity to get to know staff the way that the that at least three of us on this day has been able to get to know them and then make a decision for themselves and and maybe you know I'll be praying every night maybe there will be something that might change your opinion about Jerry and staff and and maybe there might be something that'll change Jerry and you know staff's mind about whatever employees that are in question there there is still more time to try to fix this for the sake of continuing the progress that we have started we have done so much since 2020 in a time where there was a world pandemic we have done a ton and it just seems like you know we're going to go we're going to go backwards but um I don't know I'm trying I'm trying to I'm trying to reason in my mind why this why this makes sense and if you know and and if it doesn't work out I'm I look forward to working with you know with my colleagues to find the right fit but I just I just don't feel like we've allowed the process to do what it's meant to do and to to address your question and you're absolutely correct there was that discussion about the 90 days and there's that 90day cooling off period more touring period today's January 24th the 90 days expires on February 5th so that's 12 days the action tonight is preliminary in nature but it's required under his employment agreement Miracles can happen we have the vote tonight we we will have a final vote I have called and notice the special call for February 6th for an actual vote of of termination that's the 91st day so if the manager and his staff can pull a rabbit out of their hat for our two new members in the next 12 days God bless them um if not we'll we'll go forward if if there is an affirmative vote tonight we open the floor for public comment good evening sir evening um my name is Reginal Joseph Pastor Reginal Joseph um 2480 Southeast Fifth Court in Northgate Village um I'm the ex president of the homestead Pastor Association and a current member of that Community as well M I have a few questions and then some comment on city manager issue here um first when is um I don't have to get the answers but you can discuss it when will be the deadline or will be the ending of his contract current contract as of now about a year from now a year from now correct that means January 2025 correct okay so if it will be in January 2025 how much is that going to cost the city to change um the city manager now as opposing to let him finish his contract next year um I've heard this question of changing or replacing all city manager since um last year it's not a new item that I'm hearing because I've heard it in campaign I've heard it um many times starting September October so it's not a new issue so um I think a city staff is the reflection of the city council and I truly believe that if there's some changes that needs to be brought into thee no hold on okay um that's what I believe and and I believe that as we are crowning the city as the city council mayor vice mayor and Council um um there's a lot of things that can be brought into the city through the city manager um as being imposed by the city council I know that the city manager has a lot of um a lot of power but I feel I truly believe that there's a lot of things that can be done um as opposing to change the city manager right now and then just because we having personality differences like I'm hearing now um I'm hearing there's a lack of trust but the city has gone from AAR and we have come to this place right now and there's a lot we can do still with the staff I truly believe in the staff of City Homestead and I believe that they're doing a great job and they can continue to be better under your leadership thank you thank you sir greetings uh again everyone um councilwoman AA I I could not have said it better when it comes to the appeal on what I think is right in this moment I think back in November we spoke the same language in regards to Fair uh and due process of the gentleman and I said then I don't know him personally but I do believe in the right thing to do and if that 90-day process is something that can EX then to what the pastor just said going into another year of a contract that would be phenomenal because one of the things I've heard of and this is heay I don't know him personally is that when it comes to diversity and equity and inclusion that the current staff has been happy in this Administration I know that because as a black man I talk to people of the community it means something for the community to trust someone that is not only doing the job as councilwoman AA said but also what it means to the makeup of this city so I think that is very important and I'm not even speaking on the behalf of NAACP right now I'm leave that to Harold Ford I think I just want to speak personally on what is the right thing to do and so I won't say much but what matters most I like to keep a good eye on this and I'm going along the same line as off I hope that you guys um um you know really can get a chance to know what the process is and what's been going on and at the time of any voting that you vote correctly for the right thing to do so thank you thank you I'm Joe cordino and I want to give you a little bit of my perspective as a staff member um I'm a bit of an anomaly in the sense that I'm not an employee of the city I'm a consultant I've worked with Jerry for about a decade and a half on some of the things we've done um on the other side of it I've worked for the majority of cities between Palm Beach and Key West and I can tell you that Jerry is one of the top city managers that you'll find out there um as a staff member you know working in the municipalities is can be quite difficult and Jerry's provided us as staff with the leadership the to to get up um and kind of get to work every day and do the difficult things that we have to do and um it's really critical to us as staff to have somebody with that leadership capability I mean he's got character he's consistent in his decision making um he is uh he's got a lot of Courage he does a lot of what he does for us I know that uh you know some things in these cities don't work uh as well as they should but I think in Homestead if you compare it with a lot of the Cities out there I mean it really does work well I'm proud to have worked with him I I I you know I want you to consider that I understand your role as elected officials I understand the need for change and how that can be beneficial but uh from the staff's perspective and I know a lot of us would be intimidated to get up here here and speak on behalf of of a great leader I think Jerry's a great leader and he's done wonderful things for the city and I thank you for the opportunity to be thank you mayor cordino Brandy Ramirez 2231 Southeast First Street um like several said it's nothing personal we need a better Homestead uh residents voted for people that would be bringing that change so thank you mayor for bringing this forward uh to talk this evening in front of public transparency but let's all be honest here I've talked to several employees in different Departments of City of Homestead including the police department many are looking for this change they're looking forward for new leadership um they know and believe in the new mayor and Council people who are stepping up to their positions and making that change it's not easy change is good sometimes we're looking forward to that change if we have a city manager that is allowing people to be hired that are not City residents that have backgrounds that's not good for us there's Consultants we shouldn't have Consultants we should have employees City residents of Homestead that's what we were assured by this mayor and Council here I hope that we look forward to seeing that happen um it's nothing personal it's about what we want for a better Homestead and I think tonight when we see these votes happen we're finally going to get that but please know that the community employees of City of Homestead including employees that are inside of Homestead police department are ready and looking forward for this change we have confidence in our mayor and councel to do what's right and I think tonight you are doing that you're making it in front of all the employees here in front of the city manager you're giving a notice you're going to give the proper days or amount of time that it's going to be a good transition and I hope that the city manager and his staff work together with you guys to make that transition smooth so we look forward to it from the residents of Homestead and employees are looking forward to it thank you cannibal Burton 2251 Southeast 25th Avenue chair of Miami day economic advocacy trust board member of South day connections and member of NAACP South a chapter as well as concerned Homestead resident I heard personality I heard fear for employment I heard others say that they know what's happening inside of City of Homestead in terms of Staff uh I also was in the meeting in November when you all sat and said we're going to look at this 90 days give everyone on the desk an opportunity to become familiar with not just Jerry Estrada but the employees staff within the city so that they have some knowledge of what's actually going on uh you step into a courtroom you have a defense attorney you have a prosecutor they both stand in front of the same judge they both are dealing with the same variables in that courtroom yet they have highly different perspectives and protocols and how they handle their side of the case and they don't know what the other one is thinking of those until they've actually been in that on that side of the courtroom as that individual I don't know Jerry Estrada personally I had to try to find out about Jerry in the last six months and actually get a feel for what's going on and I can sit here and tell you city employees want change or people on the forest want change that would depend on who I was talking to okay I implore you as a counsil as a whole to one stand by what you put in motion and said last year and to actually give this a fair process uh and then also I think there needs to be a layout of what the alternatives are if this does come to fruition because now you're looking at a a situation where you're changing the variables so who's changing the variables and who's operating what you said it was personality personality means personal you said you don't really care for chief role we know there's a direct link there this whole situation needs to be looked at from top to bottom left to right and those that aren't familiar with with whatever's going on need to be allowed to have that opportunity and then I think as councilwoman Aila has said then you should be able to look at this and make some decisions and come to it as a as a group because you're saying you haven't sat down and had a review with this man I don't think any of us in here that are employed have gone through a year without having an evaluation and then if that's the case then how does that happen is it is it his fault that he didn't get the evaluation thank you thank you may if I may let me see if there's any more public comment yes you're next good evening mayor vice mayor councilman councilwoman I can't go home tonight in good conscience and not tell you in direct terms I am City staff this face is City staff I love my job I come here every day to do good work for the people and the residents and The Business businesses in this city and I am thankful that I could work for a good manager I've worked for three managers in this city I've had the support of all three of them I've had the support of the people that sit on this dis and I'm happy to come to work every day since November it's been tough it's been tough because the message out there to the public is go attack staff and I don't appreciate that personally I'm proud of what I do I stand by my ethics my morals and I come here every day to do good work and I feel like I'm getting the support of the manager my co-workers my bosses I don't have the support of the elected officials to do the good work do the right thing respect the position respect the man that's not an easy job and it's not a job any of you I think would sign on for but we do the good work every day I'm in support of this manager thank you councilwoman off thank you mayor you know it's only oh I'm sorry I didn't see you well let's let's we let her finish her thought and we'll come back to you thank you just just hang right there thank you for your patience and I've spoken a lot tonight so I I do appreciate the time um you know mayor I respect your tenure in previous years and previous councils as well vice mayor I want to I want to assure you that my goal here is not to vote in contradiction or to vote V in favor of a friend or to vote for um any perceived preference but I encourage you to delay the defer this notice for the 12 days you can still give the notice on the day of our special meeting and if if Jerry doesn't satisfy significant enough concerns then I will vote in favor I will vote in favor to give the notice but I just I just feel strongly enough about the perception of already making the decision without giving the opportunity you're it's like already being proven guilty without the trial and there's also the option to just not renew the contract we don't necessarily have to not renew and cancel and put in a temporary manager to then try to create the fate of our city while we search for another man this just the chaos that ensues I've been through management changes not on the city level but in the private sector and in association levels when you have new management come in all the new management does is blame the old management for everything that goes wrong in the transition of the new management and new Administration coming in so prepare yourself for that nothing's going to get better right away and I never heard Jerry blame anybody for anything when he took over that position he never blamed I mean we blamed Co for a lot of stuff I think we all blamed Co for a lot of stuff but when we didn't have garbage getting picked up we just did not have enough garbage cans that wasn't a blame on or enough garbage trucks rather it wasn't to blame past administration for not planning properly I mean if anything we're we're the ones to blame for not charging enough money to be able to buy enough garbage trucks and buy enough of the resources we need to have we haven't we didn't raise rates forever more but finally we are and that's thanks to a lot of the guidance I'm not happy with the way our community looks the City of Homestead looks like trash when you get off an exit too and when you get off a Speedway it looks like trash our bus stops are ridden ridden with weeds and trash and and V vagrants and you know the issue that came up or that the video that's being circulated that's not a that that situation unfortunately happens all the time councilman Davis had a meeting about this very same issue that's a constant thing we've brought up the homeless issue in the city there are things that Jerry can control and there are things that he cannot control but we have to be real with the facts on what is within the control of the deis and the city manager and staff I don't know if if if Jerry is able to give any reassurances or or be able to change your minds and I agree mayor that Sports Complex it is way too expensive but but let us also be part of the solution of trying to figure out how to cut those costs I don't know if getting a different city manager is going to change the cost of creating the sports complex but I mean I almost don't want to do it until we can figure out a cheaper way to do it it's really expensive but we are getting a lot of Grants speaking of of Grants there's a lot of Grants out there that I hear about that you know we we should be able to tap into and we're maybe we're not but that that annual review should have happened and I blame my I blame myself for not being available for that meeting but I don't I don't recall being offered another opportunity to do a review and so I blame myself for not being the one to say hey we need to do a review and bringing it up but I just I respectfully ask for councilman mayor vice mayor to bring your notice on day 91 let's let's just give a little bit more grace here I know you've given a lot of Grace mayor we we voted I feel as though I have you you have we voted to approve Jerry's contract I think at midnight that was not the right thing to do in retrospect and I was was a young Council woman I was a young Council woman at the time and so I can feel I can I can tell you that I can relate to a lot of the pressure that new the new councilman might feel because you want you need to follow a lead it's not that you want to you have to follow a lead and so we do but we do the best that we can with the information we have at the time I don't regret the decision I made but I do regret how it was done and I want to offer you that experience to try to save you from having that same regret so I'll rest with that yes ma'am thank you Council woman thank you Mr Mayor Mr vice mayor and council members uh I uh appreciate the councilwoman's uh uh regards I'm sorry my name is Carol Jackson I'm with the South day NAACP and I'm here because most of our many of our officers our members and our cons constituents are members and residents of the City of Homestead uh our concern is um deep concern is of the reported targeting of not only um you know people with contracts but also staff without contracts I I've been a member of this community not not Homestead I've never lived in Homestead but I've been a member of the South day Community for the past 51 years and I remember Homestead uh very very well from my first visit when I was in um uh junior high school um so we don't want to have targeted uh people people targeted for dismissal it doesn't do anything good for the City of Homestead it doesn't help you get good staff because because if people without contracts see what happens to the people with contracts they're not going to feel secure if you were a government employee and you had uh you know employee uh reviews every year it's because you had to it's part of the contract they have to do it you have to do that with everyone your your constituents want good service but they also want people to be treated fairly so as an organization the na CP that is dedicated to promoting fairness and equality and equity in all areas of public life not only for minorities but for everyone we urge the City of Homestead to ensure that all employees are treated fairly and without prejudice we're also concerned that the mayor already has the votes for this and so we are concerned about possible violations of the Sunshine Law thank you ple please don't turn your back and walk away after making allegations of criminal activity I I said poal I invite you I said potential okay I invite you it's an inference and you're you're parting the letter that Mr Ford delivered a couple of days ago I invite you I encourage you I will take you to the State's Attorney's office and let you lay out your case for a Sunshine Law violation I welcome that scrutiny because it's funny that of all the lopsided votes that have happened all of these many years your organization that it has accused me of of race-based targeting without justification your organization is now singling out this one vote out of thousands that have been taken over the last four years as a potential Sunshine Law violation your organization by virtue of the letter and your comments here tonight have zero credibility with me when you stand here and make allegations unfounded allegations of criminal activity you do realize that the violation of Sunshine Law is punishable not only by a fine and removal of office but also by jail time and as I've told folks in the past I invite you and I welcome the scrutiny that is totally unfounded and off base in this discussion tonight sir are you saying that you're going to refer me to the State's Attorney's Office no I'm saying I welcome you to go to the State's Attorney's office and ask them to scrutinize me scrutinize this Council and scrutinize those who may not vote in a way that you agree with I'm not talking about referring you I'm talking about you're making allegations go back them up you just can't say that kind of stuff I have an opinion we have an opinion we have a right to voice it so your opinion is is we're engaged in criminal activity okay so let's let's put that on the record an officer of the South date branch of the NAACP is of the opinion that the members of this Council who may vote to give the manager notice have somehow um been engaged in violation of the sunshine laws that's that's what was said here so let's let's be real clear as to what those of us who may may vote in favor of this item under my business um have may be accused of and again I invite you to run downtown and see Miss Fernandez Rundle first thing in the morning I'll Take You There Is there any further public comment you you've had your opportunity sir yes Mr BR good evening uh Julio Bera director of Public Works city engineer I just wanted to I guess just just mirror some of the the the statements that have been made by staff uh regarding jrada and staff in general um just to give you some background I've been with the city working with the city for close to 30 years now 20 of them as an employee before that as a consultant and um I do believe that Consultants help out the city you know staff cannot do it everything that that requires you know action immediately we need staff to we need coun uh we need contractors and and uh and Consultants to to do that for us gr since I've been here for 20 years as a as a staff member i' I've been under six Mayors and I think six city managers I was a city manager for a little while also as a interim city manager uh so I I see the issues right I see the the questions right and I see um the hard decision that this is for everybody but just from my point of view again I've been I worked under six different city managers I felt that I was respected by all of them and that my work showed that right uh you know like I always say respect is earned is not that's given to you so um and I think that that also speaks to the rest of the staff as well you know we come here to work and again I came from the from the Private Industry to the public sector most people do it the other way I did it you know this way and a lot of people would ask me why are you going to work for government when you know the amount of money that's out there Etc can I get some extension uh I'm a m of I'm a man of few words but you know everyone I got to make up for all the other times so anyways um so people would always ask me you know why why are you going to the government you know uh you can make so much money outside Etc and this and that and the thing is because this is what we love to do I mean we love to work for the citizens and when I get a call uh and I get and I get it most of the calls we get are always complaints you know you never get like a good boy you know you did a great job uh but when you get that call when somebody says hey we appreciate what you guys did you know your staff was under water water up to here trying to fix a water line etc those things you know we take pride in that and we take pride in working for a city manager like Jerry because he takes pride in the work that he does as well and we can name countless of things you know that we've done here that are good yeah you know we're not all perfect I'm not perfect there's there's been issues you know we you learn from them and you hope you don't do them again right that's the whole that's the whole process so just in closing I just want to say that I you know I respect Jerry as a city manager um like I said I've been through a lot of them and I could say that for some and not others but with him I respect what he's done and I know that he has respect for what we do and the sacrifices that we've you know taken on to work for a government and and to to be always scrutinized and to be always you know look like the bad guy Etc uh and we do it with pride we do with pride that's all I got to say thank you thank you Mr thank you Mr BR any further public comment than councilman Davis thank you mayor I I just um wanted to make a a short comment I've been taking my time um uh listening to to everyone's comments of of of our Council our citizens our city workers and I've listened very carefully and then I get to hear as well that uh as a new guy I'm I'm thought that I need some kind of a uh lead in my decision making and now an expression of my potential or the of our city council's potential violation of the sunshine act as for me let me tell you I've been around the block I've been in tough tougher situations than this I have to say that um I've also talked with a lot of our our citizens during our election period And I have to say though after careful consideration of all those items I have to say that I support mayor lner in this action I spoke with the city manager early on we had a very nice conversation correct uh oneon-one in the office and you know who you are who are you you know what do you do and um you know it was delightful conversation but what was I hearing the whole time uh gesus this Bell that uh you know whatever reaching back reaching back there was no vision of this is where we're going to be this I'm the city manager and this is where we're going to lead this city to be we've talked a lot about various issues tonight um uh the sports complex grant money and impact fees for roads uh you know lack of we haven't bring it up tonight but it came up before lack of standard operating procedure the answer is always that's the way it's always been done that's the way um uh gesus did it you know what have you as for the impact fees for the roads I was one of those guys that was stuck on Campbell Drive when they had that um uh leak at the just before Christmas uh when they had that leak at the gas station uh and there was nowhere to go because our roads have never been improved for the number of people there was there once that artery shut down there was nowhere to go because all the all the uh adjoining roads had never been have never been uh improved the things that things that we're listing didn't happen overnight and although I hear my colleagues say wait another 12 days whatever they didn't happen overnight and they're not going to get fixed overnight um but they should have been actioned and and I have to say that they were not okay I think it's time for change I think that um without angst without any any ill will but I have to say that I think it's time for change and I think it's time for a um a new vision and a new leadership in the city manager uh position and and as for for me ma'am I I I just must say that those types of words like potential Sunshine violation that's undignified of a person who with your caliber of experience and reputation in the in the city within our community that is undignified stuff and at that point I mirror the mayor you drop my name all you want with Fernandez Rundle you you have my permission you have my encouragement to do that but by God don't make that inference that I'm a that I uh conduct myself in an unprofessional manner thank you thank you councilman Davis councilman Roth would you like to close it out well oh okay no go ahead I'll go last like always Le been afforded that opportunity so yeah there's been a lot said tonight um you know with retrospect I I I do want to uh clear up how Jerry actually was presented to this Council and how this Council unanimously voted for Jerry to be in that position uh it was a late night that I brought the idea of preparing a contract it wasn't that night that we voted for Jerry's contract everyone had ample time to review the contract and not make a hasty decision to name Jerry as as the next city manager and again it was a unanimous vote the current mayor voted for him the current vice mayor voted for him along with aula Bailey myself and the previous uh people that were here so that has changed tonight that can't happen anymore in that process but uh to say that Jerry was forced upon this dis in this city is a false statement everyone had opport opport an opportunity to review and vote Yes or No that night with that being said um sometimes leadership reflects attitude and I think that us as Leaders up here excluding councilman Clemente Cannibal and Mr Davis um we failed to collectively come together and sit with the manager and air our differences maybe I think I think there was one attempt to put something together for that but there again we as Leaders up here failed to make that happen I've known Jerry for I don't know 25 years I've gone through the different things with what what my job does and things that I do um I've never met someone that was as passionate as professional as Jerry is even during this last 90 days or 87 days whatever we're at day we're at today Jerry has maintained ained a love for the city for his staff for the police department for all department heads and he's never wavered one time on helping any of us that reached out to him for any situation that we needed to cure in the city he's never not called me back um he's always been responsive uh it's it's it's it's hard for me to understand you know why we're at this point I understand change is good I see the writing on the wall tonight I know that shortly Jerry's not going to be here anymore I see that and we have to come to the reality of that as well in the 100 plus years of city has been existence managers come Council comes Mayors Come and Go Chief you've been a blessing to this city you've been here longer than I have been here you've been the chief for 20 plus years Colonel likewise I've known you 30 years and the one thing I can say about my relationships with anybody in this room is I've never had lunch never had a beer never socialized and I've always kept my relationship professional with all of these individuals so it's not to me about is Jerry a good manager or not it's about stability within the city it's about giving our employees as we are the leaders elected to run the city but what a lot of people don't know is we don't run the city none of up here none of us up here can give any direction to anybody on staff that's the manager's responsibility the writing is on the wall change will come and all of you that work for the city now you'll go on you continue to do your jobs with the City of Homestead you go on to show your bosses your supervisors your Council your mayor as I love the City of Homestead I know you all do too I wish we could have more time I think Jerry's done uh an extremely good job um he's come a long way in two years we had a lot of issues in between with covid and things and this and that um I I certainly hope that making a change um will be a good positive thing for the city if that's where it goes and I think my final comment is going to be is you know everyone's spoken about Jerry the mayor has spoken about you know his wishes to you know terminate Jerry's contract and I have to respect you know that as well but I haven't heard anything about what's next who's going to be the next manager or interm manager um the mayor doesn't get to make that decision on his own he may make some suggestions on who that may be but we have a dis up here get to make that decision um and that's going to be a very important decision for for us going forward if Jerry is terminated on February the 5th or 6th whichever day it is we still have haven't I haven't been shown a plan uh who's going to do what how's it going to be um and I talked about stabilization um I think somebody else mentioned you know chaotic situations happening I don't believe it's going to be chaotic I believe our staffs are very professional and they're going to carry on their duties but I still haven't heard how we going to what's the next step if Jerry is terminated next week or whenever how many weeks he's got but um what what what is the next thing we do we just don't have a city manager I I just don't understand that process let me let me chime in here if I could um you know by virtue of of his his contract the manager is entitled to remain on the payroll and in in place for a period of time and you know I don't know if anything has changed since our conversation earlier in the week but he and I have an agreement that following you know in the in the coming day or so after the vote tonight that we will sit down and talk about his aiding in the transition um that is cooperation with the next manager he J you look we can all agree and I'll say Jerry is not the kind of person that is going to light a match and walk walk out of his office that's that's that's not going to be the case he will uh I I believe based on our conversations be there to to be a professional and courteous and integral part of of a transition um once we take the vote tonight I have provided the city clerk with a with a package of information about an individual I have met with extensively and councilman Roth you are right the mayor has very little power on his or her own get to sign proclamations like we gave out tonight get to call special call meetings but beyond that you know we all know this and for the public and for the staff and contrary to the narratives that have been spun out there by I believe city employees on City time trying to motivate the downtown business owners um mayor's just one vote of seven and I you're you're absolutely right I have a package of information that I'm going to ask the clerk to share with you all um regarding my perspective as to how the transition could work and giving you all the information you need to to make contact with the person I've had extensive meetings with and I also welcome each of you to bring candidates forward to be named as a city manager I I believe that that this transition can occur without an interim or temporary manager so to speak so th this is not a situation where this is not a Speaker of the House of Representative situation where a bunch of folks decided to fire the one they had with no plan of of who they were were going to have as the next one I have thought that through and I welcome the input of each and every one of you and you'll have the opportunity to uh to know what I know and then we've got uh uh you know time between now and the sixth that you know the attorneys and I have spoken at length and Jerry and I have spoken and and I'm confident that we'll come in with if the vote if tonight's vote and the vote on the sixth uh proceedes with with a clear plan of transition that this Narrative of of chaos and confusion and a rudderless ship is just not accurate so that that's that's my respon and and those concerns are are are are very valid councilman Roth I I agree with you that that it's it's not just about taking this action it's about what comes next and I am for one am not unmindful of that okay so without disclosing any information about this applicant or not applicant this is somebody that you've actually gone out to to speak to um in the past you've mentioned doing National searches to bring in Talent so what would be the process uh if the decision is made to terminate Jerry's contract and somebody asked a question earlier about what's it going to cost the city does anybody know what it's going to cost the city to terminate Jerry early we're clarifying those numbers yes approximate approximately and this is a function of a contract that we unanimously approved in round numbers $300,000 okay but I have to ask myself what is the cost to the city of not taking this action okay so that's where I come from that's fine I understand so the process of seeking a doing a national search for a new city manager would be would be what in your in your mind how would that work um because just to bring one person to talk to is not I don't think adequate for most not for me for sure it was adequate when you made the motion for Jerry was adequate Steve Shelly in the middle of the night through Kate mcaffrey at us and we see how those two two items have have have worked I at this and it's laid out in my memorandum to each each one of you um I don't think that we we have the luxury of time to do a national search I believe there's local count talent but again I'm going to come back to I'm one vote in my belief if four of you decide to do a national search and want to spend that time and money so be it well go it goes back to what you said about the cost to eliminate the manager too I mean we are going to spend that kind of money to eliminate him but we're not going to spend the money to adequately vet a new city manager that may come from a national search so I get it we have talent in the area as well I get that yeah but I think we Short change ourselves if we simply say we're going to go with one Prospect no that's that's for the majority decide and I don't think we ought to engage in the spitting contest it's going to be what it's going to be and the chips are going to fall they fall I agree with you 100% thank you for my time thank you thank you though councilman Ro very very valid and and important important points May if there's nothing for okay Council woman thank you um just a a few comments um additional thank you councilman Roth for clarifying that it was a unanimous vote it's just you know in past meetings and so long ago it it obviously was a sting sting big enough to continue to be brought up um but you know it was it was unanimous for good reason for good reason um you know I just I respectfully ask mayor that you just just defer it for the 12 days let let's see what comes of that and and you know and I respect you for defending yourself I respect you for defending yourself against accus ACC us ation that were made tonight and I and I'm watching you and I look to you for that leadership because if that were to happen to me I'm probably going to Echo the same words and councilman Davis when I made the remarks earlier about meeting a leader the mayor is my mayor he is the mayor of the City of Homestead and I want to have a leader we need that so and I say that respectfully so I meant no disrespect so I want to clarify that and and I think acknowledging that that there is a leader and being able to be led by that individual that's that's a humble a humble quality that I I respect from anybody here the way that our police officers are led by the chief the way that our staff is led by our city manager that's a quality I don't I don't think any less of our staff members for respecting their leader and looking to them we yell at Julio Brea a lot we yell at I mean we we try not to yell at Miss Blanco too much we need her to approve our our application she yells back but you know and they still smile and come to work and continue to take the beatings voluntarily and they don't go working for the county and other places because Jerry helps lick their wounds not that that's a bad image I don't want you guys to think about that but he helps them recover from the damage of working for the City of Homestead so things can improve I absolutely agree I just just I beg that you try to allow us the the additional grace period to fulfill the 90-day period to give Jerry any extra benefit of the doubt to work with you to work with vice mayor to work with our council members to try to get to a resolution and I'll rest there thank you thank you um yes Chief sure long night long night yeah and first of all good afternoon again uh I don't never say that much about anything I just do my job and I just want to say to you all tonight that everyone in this room here tonight that's the city employee supports the Jerry estr every person in this room City employee I don't know whether y all know us that well or not but we all bust our butt every day to do the best job in the City of Homestead uh everybody come to work they do their job they listen to Jerry they try to do the best they can but I want to back up a little bit because I'm not here to proove myself I I've done it all more than half my career making Homestead a butter place to live and I'm not going to sit here and and and ask beg for a job I'm not going to even you know promote myself I'm not I'm not about that my daddy told me before he died your work speak for itself it's supposed to Jerry has a hard job okay very hard job and the job is and maybe y'all didn't think about it or not maybe you have the worst way to become a failure is to try to make everybody happy you got seven people in this Council it's hard to do that everybody got their own ideas about what they want done and this guy is sitting here pretty much I guess playing runaround because he don't know what exactly everybody want and maybe he does can I can I keep speaking and and and and and and and and maybe he do but like I told councilman flusher the way I run my staff first of all people that came here tonight and been coming here for years and everything I would not stoop that low to make my guys come here to support me I got too much self- pride respect and dignity to stoop that low like that that's not me and anytime that somebody think that I can't fulfill my job I walk out the door I'm I'm not here for a paycheck I was born and raised in this town I've been all my life I've seen all kind of things happen here I could have gone anywhere back in 1980 when I became a police officer I stayed here you know why because I thought I could make a difference and guess what 40 something years later I have look where we were when I walked in the door as a patrolman and look where I am now and look at the city from 1980 when I walked in door and look where the city is now is nobody nobody in the State of Florida is afraid of coming home Homestead to live work and do business not one person that's a fact the little things people people said and I'm goingon to get back to Jerry in a minute the people said about you know oh you know the chief Ro you know he he he he he he support you know he don't deal with the guys that do brutality in the city and everything I've been doing that since since 1998 by myself taking care of any police officer that did anything I thought was was wrong because you know why I saw as a kid growing up here in Homestead I saw it as a teenager I saw what went on in Homestead you think I'm going to sit in as a police chief and just turn a blind eye to somebody doing something wrong all you got to do is go back and look at my history in 1998 up until today that's something that I never accept it and I never will and people got a problem with that you know because I took care of business but they deserved it I'm not going to let it happen in this town not why I'm here that's why I stayed so long because people ask me to stay here I never go out the community and tell them hey come and support Chief Ro I've never done that I know my guys probably think I'm crazy because I don't say anything I don't say hey come to the police come to City Hall and and support Chief Ro I don't say that people know what I've done you know how many lives I've touched in 45 years in this city a lot of lives and I thought about it the other day I said you know that's why people come out and support me I have never done anything wrong in this C other than take care the babies the old ladies and people that can't take care of thems I I had to make some hard decisions but you know going back to Jerry this man Started From The Bottom just just like I did nobody gave him anything he worked to the top why would you do that in the City of Homestead stay here 30 years and do all that to be kicked in the butt at the end of the day for making one simple mistake come on let's be real about this okay this man deserve a chance like everybody else suppose that was somebody that you love your son your daughter okay somebody that you genuinely care about your mother your father would you want to be treated like that after doing 30 years of trying to do the right thing in this community I watched Jerry I work with Jerry we did some things together that you all won't even imagine took down the people that was doing bad things in this city they went to jail he stick his neck out and y'all want to get rid of them I beg the difference it's wrong if y'all only knew I always tell people all the time long time ago when they when when they came out with them records the albums they had a side one and they had a side two everybody heard the side one nobody heard the side two nobody has come to me and asked me anything about myself about Jerry about any of his employees nothing one thing I'm not going to do I'm not going to lie I'm going to tell you the truth so if you don't want to hear the truth don't ask me vi man flesh know where I am he come to me with the things I tell him the truth this man deserve a chance he started from the bottom he's to the top I told prma Fletch and I told councilman uh caral the the way I deal with my guys if they do something wrong with something I don't like something I learned a long time ago and being an English being a teacher you praising public and you counseling private I put them to the side I said look this is what I want you to do do it this way do it that way I only to get rid of the ones that just create problem year after year after year everybody say Chief got a big heart cuz he give everybody chances but I haven't always been the police chief I came from a little black guy here in homestad that had to scuffle and do everything in the world to try to get to the top I grew up in Homestead I couldn't even live across my that's how bad it was it it didn't bother me then because I thought it was a norm can you imagine living like that as a kid that's why I'm so concerned about these people in this community nobody should why I'm the police chief nobody should have to worry people play too many games I don't get up here and beat beat my beat myself on the chest and everything but I'm just sick and tired of hearing all the lies and all the things that been said that's not the truth if you want to know the truth ask me I'll tell you the truth councilman Davis if Jerry didn't do what you asked him to do don't kick him in the teeth put him to the side in private and help him out help him do the right things give him a chance to show you what kind of manager he can be everybody not born to be great you have to get to that point you know what I'm talking about you went in military started as as as a as as a private and you end up being a walking out there being a Lieutenant K if I'm not mistaken you walked that that line somebody taught you everything that you need need to know they gave you a chance that's all we asking you y to do councilman cter ball the same thing give him a chance it it's not going to hurt you know give him a chance if you don't work out then move on like it did me 1998 nobody wanted me as police chief in '98 I didn't want the job either so we were we were kind of like together on that but here it is 26 years later I'm still a police chief and I haven't done one thing wrong other than make these people in this city safe to the point where guys that incarcerated talk in jail and tell other guys if you want to do a crime and sell drugs and do all kind of crazy everything don't go through Homestead the criminal are saying that I'm not asking them to say that they saying that all my guys will tell you the same thing I weeded out all the bad people right you you know what I did was it wrong or was it right you know what I did I stopped all the foolishness I took care of business I had people that I looked at that helped me and guide me the way to do the right things but at the same time I had common sense and I had family member my dad mom and daddy told me what the right thing to do I got a job to do my daddy said you need to work until you walk out that door you do your job before I got sick last year Mr Mayor I came to work I didn't call in sick in 40 years so when people say you know I don't nobody don't want to be here I don't think nobody in United States never called in sick in 40 years I love my job that's why I came in working every day I was I felt good taking care of the the babies the old ladies the old men people that was less fortunate I feel good doing that and I told my guys if you can't do that you don't need to be here since 1998 since since I was police chief every employee that I hired dispatcher admin police officer correction officer code enforcement every body in 26 years sat in front of me before I said yes you can have a job here I told him what I wanted most of them succeeded 30 years and retired and they gone the ones that I brought into the door and the ones that didn't do that they out the door but I gave them a chance I just I didn't just kick him in the butt you know after knowing them 15 minutes you don't do that that's not the way to treat people so I can go on and on on and and I don't like to talk I like to take care of business that's what that's what I'm about but I'm just telling you all and I've told two Vice May and Council cabala I mean uh Cabella give the man a chance he should have to beg for himself give him a chance Mr may work with him give him opportunity maybe you have everything but listen you don't give up that easy the the thing they said about a a female the same thing you took to get her do her to keep it keeper so I'm just saying you know some people it takes a little bit more time if it's something that he's doing that you all don't like and everything put him to the side and tell him don't just run him out the door and it said you know you need somebody that live in the city and everything 8 80% of my department is from the city Homestead I've been there that's why I do what I do it matters to have people from this community as Role Models Jerry don't live in in North Dakota he live in he live in Kenda that's close enough for me he's here every day he's doing the best he can his staff don't get away with murder because if he did somebody tell him I know I would Vivan will tell him I know she'll tell him I deal with Vivan before she'll tell him hey tighten up Jerry I'm just saying forget about me get get this man opportunity to do what need to be done and said you don't stay on a job that long if you don't care about the community you don't stay on a job that long thank you do what everybody else do you pack your bags up and you leave with with get a little hot and you said Mr Mayor oh Jerry going to go out PE and everything he will but y'all do the right thing come on do the right thing that's all we ask everybody here right now it's like this and I'm G say this real quick and I'm gon sit down I've been through two many situations where people have brought their own people in and people who bust their but and work hard lost their job and couldn't take care of their family and end up in a situation they got caught up in politics for no reason these people are scared for their jobs whoever comes in here and take you every place I've seen it happen this is the third time I've seen it happen that's what going to happen nobody it's nobody here feel safe I got a contract and everything but guess what I don't even look at the contract because it's like you said I do my job every day come to work never call him sick in 40 years I come here and bust my butt my phone never stopped ringing thank God they got text message now I couldn't sleep at night I answer my phone all my all my guys know what I'm about and everything I never sit here and told them support me support me support me I lead by example they know what I'm all about but I'm not going to cut one them head off they got to do something might bad for me to cut the head off and I've done that before after two years or watching somebody sit here and try to get somebody killed you know what I'm talking about VI M fles this man don't know more about the police department anybody on on on this dice he know everything I'm saying is the truth I'm not going to sit here and like I told you brag on myself he know what I'm all about he's seen my action I don't play games when it come down to people's safety and making sure the right thing is being done I watch my Mom and Daddy go through that I'm G make I'm try to make a difference so I'm going to leave thank you Chief you all make the right decision give this man a chance okay honestly that's all we all in this room ask thank you so much thank thank you sir I just want to the staff who's here in the room I want [Applause] to Mayor well the staff who's in the room who who may be concerned I want to Echo the vice mayor's comments earlier tonight I think he hit the nail on the head if you come to work you do your job you have absolutely nothing to worry about no matter who the manager is and I've said it publicly before and it was confirmed to me tonight and steals my resolve to move forward that speech shows me who the real manager who the real person sitting on the throne is and it's somebody who's not accountable to anybody but the person who holds holds the title there no accountability to to us whatsoever and what I'd like to do is I'd like to get a motion on the floor and then provide uh Mr Estrada an opportunity to make any comments he would like to make so with that do we have a motion to direct the attorneys to give notice of uh the preliminary notice of of termination effective February 6th to 2024 we have that motion I'll will second that motion gladly thank you vice mayor Mr Estrada thank you mayor first I want to take the opportunity to thank the staff that came up and spoke on my behalf they Didi not have to do that and it took a lot of personal courage for them to go ahead and do that so I've heard a lot of things tonight and you're right mayor I don't think we should go in for a Tit for Tat um I respect your comments and your beliefs though I don't agree with them okay same thing with you counsiling Fletcher now I've heard tonight my big negative is that I know the staff I came up through the trenches I started here I think the only lower position I could have started here was emptying out the garbage cans 31 years from computer operator programmer computer manager General Services director assistant city manager and manager and that somehow is some kind of weakness oh you know these people you know Joe you know you know Crystal you know kitra and so you don't hold them accountable that's not true I do hold them accountable but what I also know is being that I came up through the trenches what their challenges are lack of Staffing lack of funding being beat up by the public being beat up by the council and so I take all of those variables into account and I act accordingly my staff is held accountable mayor you're not in my office when there's an issue with a director or an employee and that's not for you to know that's what I'm paid for whenever I reprimand someone or bring someone to task that's my responsibility big things happen hey I fire a director or get rid of the economic development person you know about that but the day-to-day operation we have over 500 employees here okay and so once again the negative that I came through the trenches that I know these people that I care about these people is this is a family these people at the last hurricane was here in this building prepared for after the storm it was Irma not Ian because it missed us to immediately deploy to take care of our residents to take care of this community they are all public servants at heart you don't stay here 20 years like Joe right crystal how many years 25 years commun or not too much how many years seven years Wendy I know is 20-some years Roxanna you got to be close to 30 years okay sorry I'm giving away her age but why are they here it's a thank job but we love it it's a challenge you know I I don't know how many people I've had come from the public sector that says two things my God I I don't know how you guys do it you don't have money you don't have the resources and yet you solve the problems it's like I've never seen anything I've had guys that ran waste management south south regional literally tell me that the other thing I hear is my god I've never worked in a place like this a place that is not doggy dog that you got to worry that the guy behind you is trying to take you out right hey right I want to go up the the corporate ladder you know and these people people care they care about each other they care about this community and to be honest they deserve a lot better than they get now they're demoralized and Colonel you should know what effect that has on an army right or an Air Force or Air Force they're demoralized they're scared okay and I'm not fighting for myself here okay this is not about me anymore but it's it's about them it's about this staff that every day come in here and make you guys look like Superstars and yeah we have the one or two that come up here and you guys are terrible and the Police Department excessive force I don't think those people even lived in Homestead but they were here to talk about us there's people out there that don't live in the community and are constantly constantly tearing us down for their own selfishness for their own purpose so what I'm trying to get at in the end it's the end councilwoman thank you so much like the mayor said he has no confidence in me he's made his decision I think councilman Fletcher has made his as well um um I don't think the 12 days is going to make a difference to be honest with you you know how we work you guys call us you guys need something we take care of it and if we can't take care of it we tell you we can't take care of it and why you know Solid Waste you want to talk solid ways understaffed failing equipment two years to get a truck what do I fire the manager manager you're not picking up the garbage Jerry I don't have the vehicles they're 5 10 15 years old they're constantly breaking down I have insufficient staff the amount of solid waste has gone up 40% because of covid and I hate saying that but it's the truth and so okay you're fired bring the next guy up he's going to have the same problem the previous guy had so it solves nothing once again multiple factors when it comes to dealing with the staff their situation what the conditions are and once again you're not in the room with me mayor none of you are when I address issues with staff I think I've spoken enough um depending how the vote goes I'm sure I'll have a question or two to Matt and hopefully here tonight to clarify it and with that you know I'll see my time for now thank here so we have a motion in a second to provide the preliminary notice yes I just want to clarify because when you spoke to the notice you talk about you mentioned a final dismissal on the 6th which you may vote on on the 6th as we discuss the contract does provide for an extended period you know the manager depending on the outcome of the vote can request hearing pursuant to his contract or wave the hearing and the final date of his employment will depend on how that plays out over the next week he has five days from the date of the notice and I know you've noticed it for the the the sixth the sixth to to take a final vote depending on depending upon the actions that what you know we we will have to react to the council will have to react to the demands of the manager under the contract and whether he wants to pursue that hearing or not okay so I just for the purposes of the motion just to issue the preliminary notice preliminary notice so fatal to the notice that it doesn't have a date no the dates will depend on what happens from gotcha okay thank you thank you for that clarification so let's just provide the notice it's not you know for a final vote on a given given day all right Madam clerk let's have a roll call vote councilwoman aula councilman Davis yes councilman raw no councilwoman Bailey councilman cannibal yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carries okay so Madam clerk if you would uh distribute the memorandum with the attached resume um the individual I've had extensive conversations with who's had several visits to our city uh it's been in City Hall I've showed him a lot of our facilities is Dr uh zarbe IA quaba and he is currently a deputy city manager for the City of Miami he has an engineering background extensive background in public service and the uh the private sector and as my cover letter to each of you that's now public record States I in invite each of you to to meet with him and certainly welcome the opportunity to uh to entertain uh any other individuals that that you may bring forward um for those in the cheap seats city clerk has has this it's it's public record and it will be available so that do we have a motion to adjourn mayor I'm just sorry point of clarification okay Matt so so I'm assuming I'll get a notice tomorrow I have five business days to respond to that notice right okay so depending on what I respond whether I do a demand then that is what triggers the February meeting if I do a waiver there is no February meeting no we'll have a February meeting no matter what we're having a fe we have a February meeting either way okay thank you all right we have a motion to adjourn moved and seconded all in favor thank you all good night