e welcome to WebEx press one to be connected to your meeting e e e e e e testing was testing Tes test test one two testing testing e e e e e can you guys hear me yes thank you e e e e e e e e e e e good evening everyone and welcome I'd like to call the City of Homestead community redevelopment agency meeting to order today is Wednesday July 17th 2024 and it is now 5:15 p.m. we have a roll call Madam clerk board member Davis board member r here vard member Bailey here vard member kbal here vard member aula here board member Davis Vice chairman Fletcher here chairman lman I'm here all right Mr good do you have any deletions or deferrals no sir all right we have uh before us the minutes from June 26th we have a motion to approve been moved moved by board member Bailey seconded by the Vice chair um all in favor all any opposed next item yes okay next item is tab two car number 4304 roof replacement for 204 220 and 230 North Chrome Avenue good thank you Mr chair the buildings located at 204 220 and 230 North Chrome Avenue also known as Chrome Marketplace are owned by the homestead community redevelopment agency and are the subject of Redevelopment plans that will create a new dining entertainment and nightlife destination in downtown Homestead the existing roof of the building has reached the end of its useful life and is in need of replacement at the April 9th CRA board meeting staff presented a proposal for roof replacement and Reed direction to seek more cost-effective solutions and to reach out to local vendors on May 23rd the CRA presented this roofing project alongside other City of Homestead opportunities at the roofing industry day a total of 1,333 vendors were notified including 165 registered local vendors there was no local vendor participation at the event so in the interest of time and efficiency staff pursued a job order Contracting J solution Advanced Roofing Inc has provided pricing for this project per the gordian easy I QC contract number f lr10 r w01 111182 ADR the roof is 2,199 square ft and consists of three sections gypsum deck wood deck and concrete deck the existing asphalt roofing system will be completely replaced with a PVC roofing system the cost per square foot is approximately $25.56 not accounting for contingency funds where is expected to begin by September 30th 2024 and complete within 30 days staff recommends the CRA board approve the attached resolution approving and authorizing the agreement for the Chrome Marketplace roof replacement project with Advanced Roofing under the sourcewell guardian Joc Cooperative purchasing program for the total cost of $56,950 1,626 63 for any unforeseen conditions or changes required the total fiscal impact of this item including contingency is $567,500 compared to the previous proposal thank you sir any questions or comments from the board on this item mayor I have a comment sure board member aala thank you mayor um I want to thank staff for going out there and trying to find a better price and and for achieving that um I want to also take a moment to just think of whether or not we have an opportunity here to delay the roof replacement in light of being able to go back out and Market this property it might be a little premature of us to reou re you know redo the roof and then engage with a business that might actually need a different kind of roof or want to have rooftop ameni and then you know we're kind of putting the C before the horse so if it's possible especially this being a corner unit and being Prime real estate in PL Avenue I think it's prival that we kind of see this potential and kind of think ahead of the game here and maybe delay the replacement until we explore that kind of Redevelopment until we go back out to market and seek and then we can seek Insurance extensions if needed because I know that we have like a six-month insurance policy on this property but have have we considered that op mayor and do you have anything you'd like to you know maybe add to that thank you I'll look to our director for his uh perspective and background on on your issue yes so the building is currently under what's called a vacant building insurance policy uh because of the deteriorated condition of the roof the fact that it's vacant the fact that it's not in good repair it is a much more expensive premium than a traditional um insurance premium we are in a um policy that expires at the end of this year uh and if we were to not redo the roof uh we would have to seek an extension on this existing much more expensive policy rather than being able to include it with our normal building insurance policies um that uh that we have for our other facilities and um I definitely hear councilwoman aa's comments as to different proposers um this roof as it's currently designed is meant to be a mechanical roof it's not for occupancy um to do those changes would be uh a significant change to this building structure that I frankly opine on whether or not is it is feasible I appreciate that and I guess from from a basic perspective the the roof is leaking and there is wood deck beneath that roof that will continue to rot if the roof is not not replaced is that correct and that opens up a whole other yes that's correct if uh we were to wait on this the replacement could become much more expensive and and I tell me if I'm off base and I don't know if you would know if there's anyone here who could tell us putting a roof on the building now to make these buildings watertight probably doesn't proc I would imagine that for a rooftop amenity there would have to be some additional decking put down anyway that you're not going to have foot traffic directly on on the roof surface surface would that be accurate so M Mr Mayor good evening Zaba city manager um I hear Council woman aa's concern and recommendation uh as a structural engineer and engineer of record in many projects my position is very simple if you were to reconstruct this facility this building it requires us to come to compliance with the current building code and that means additional funds it means that the project is going to price escalation cost escalation and having a structural engineer actually go in there and redesign the entire structure from scratch uh that's almost like having a brand new building I don't know if we have the funding available to transition from a roof replacement of half a million dollars to potentially couple of million dollars of brand new building so that's a really nice way of saying if we want a rooftop amenity there's a lot more than just the roof decking the interial structural issues that we all know are are very expensive so with that counil councilwoman AA what any comment yeah no I just I wanted to just make sure that if we wanted to to open the opportunity up to some larger scale um occupants and not just come in and put your food haul here kind of thing it then we we would be doing something to foreclose that option at least we'd be paying for a roof that maybe isn't needed but if we're just trying to market the property as is the space as is then then let's go forward and do the roof but um I just I know that you had some conversations or you had some contacts that might be interested in in uh in putting in some offers for the property we would go back out to the market and see with a new 163 notice on just giving the opportunity for full Redevelopment I know that it's going to be a higher cost but if if the if the end user is worth the investment and we're able to come to an agreement based on the numbers it would all be based on that future review anyway so just wanted to make sure that we were considering all those options before we put the roof on appreciate that thank you uh any further questions or comments from the board yes M Bailey thank you chair um that was my first question when we had our updates because I also see a lot of rooftops there um I do understand the additional cost and then the other thing that I didn't even take into consideration is once you're up there you do have single family on story residential right behind so that is not um the best location for us to uh to consider that either um but definitely for for future ones that we that we continue to think of that the sunsets and everything I just think that that would add a whole another whole another extra piece to to any of the the things that we do downtown thank you thank you Mr Vice chair no member cannibal anything further all right did I hear a motion all right so it's moved by board member Bailey seconded by board member canabal um open the public hearing all right we'll close the public hearing so we have a motion to approve um we have so we need a roll call on this one board member canibal board member Ruth Roth yes board member aula yeah board member Bailey yes Vice chairman Fletcher yes chairman laon yes the motion carries thank you all right and tab three is car number 4324 it's the Redevelopment of that parcel located at 204 220 and 230 North Chrome Avenue Mr good thank you Mr chair uh as the board is well aware at our last uh CRA board meeting you directed staff to bring back a best and final offer from society 8 uh in an attempt to bring our return on investment on this property to a higher level unfortunately we were not able to come to terms on such an agreement so tonight we we will be asking the board for a motion uh authorizing the executive director to rolic for additional proposals uh for the acquisition and development of these three Parcels at 204 220 and 230 North Chrome Avenue as a destination Food Hall Restaurant Andor entertainment venue uh we believe that this Still Remains a promising strategy to eliminate slum and blight in the CRA and to provide annual revenues to the CRA while contributing to the overall economic health and well-being of uh downtown Homestead if there's any additional uh requirements or requests that you would like to provide as far as the advertising or what uses for this building we'll be happy to take those tonight as well very good and I think in in that regard for myself um well I have two two questions I think that we've all come to the realization that we we need to be casting a wider net I don't know how wide the net was that we cast under the prior Administration and prior director I'm confident that you and the manager will uh know uh fish a little wider and deeper this time and secondly I'd like the opportunity and I assume council members like to see the opportunity to just review and make individual comments to you in short order as to you know other potential language or uses to be inserted into the uh to the advertisement so that can be circulated quickly and just you know informally solicit individually any comments and let's uh I'm ready to do that yes we can definitely circulate the draft of the notice very good I chair yeah not particularly pertaining these individual uh buildings but the parking lot that we've been talking about behind it when can we start moving forward on getting that done I think we should start that sooner rather than later uh to get that parking available for the tenants downtown yes sir uh C staff has already retained the design consultant for the um development of those last as the parking uh I don't have the timeline on that in front of me but I'll be happy to advise after the meeting very good thank you yeah appreciate that that's an issue that I also raised in our our briefing here right anything further all right so you just need some direction from us to to go forward with the read advertising subject to the conversation here tonight yes sir I I think you have uh seven head six heads five not nodding in agreement thank you all right thank you all right uh anything further any no Mr chair any general public comments regarding the CRA public comment regarding any CRA uh issues seeing none then um I'll entertain a motion to adjourn so moved and seconded all in favor I all right let's move into as soon as the clerk's ready the uh the OPA meeting okay can you all hear me yes we can yes thank you councilman Davis outstanding thank you so much all right uh Madam clerk you ready to go forward with the LPA well good evening again everyone it is still Wednesday July 17th 2024 and it is uh 5:31 M I'd like to call the local planning agency meeting to order let's have a roll call Madam Court board member Roth here board member Davis here board member Bailey board member aula here board member cannibal Vice chairman Fletcher here chairman lner here ex official Ventura here good thank you um are there any additions deletions or deferrals tonight on this agenda all right our first item is the approval of the minutes of May uh 22nd do we have a motion to approve those minutes May 22nd moved by Council Bailey second by councilman countable all in favor any opposed Mr White no uh okay next on my gym is a qua us okay so um no it's time for you to do your quasi judicial speech well I don't believe we have any qu judicial we just have one legislative item this evening very good all right so moving on to tab two go ahead yes for consideration this evening this is uh an ordinance of the City of Homestead Florida amending the city code of ordinances by creating section 30-55 4 exception for existing schools to Article 5 non-conforming Lots uses and structures to allow certain expansion exceptions in whole or in part within a property or onto adjacent property contigous property or a property separated by a public Street alley right away not already containing such use to existing schools having already received site plan approval pursuant to section 3047 of the city code providing for cability providing for inclusion in the code providing for conflicts and providing for an effective date good thank you Mr cordin yes sir thank you um this is our LPA we'll be hearing this again at the council meeting following this so you have uh to do that over again again we are recommending that the mayor and Council consider this request for a code Amendment amendment to chapter 30 um what's happening in here is we're effectively um amending section 30-5 54 uh special exception for existing schools what we're saying is that existing schools that uh are in this certain area the certain area is bound by Northeast 11 Street to the north south sou West 328 Street to the South US1 to the East and chrome Avenue to the West schools in that area um will be able to um to expand onto an adjacent property contiguous property or property separated by public Street alley or right away not already containing uh such a use and they they will have the schools would have to exist um already to do that so there are I believe a a handful of schools in that I believe there are five schools within that District this is a school that's being um application being made by one of the schools in specifically um it's not I we don't know if the other schools meet this criteria not being um having a a lot next to them they they can expand in uh but either way we're recommending uh do you consider that it's a policy decision and we can hear to answer any questions if you need to ask them very good thank you now as as we we can't start our council meeting until 6 it's been suggested that perhaps we go ahead and as this is the only agenda item just go ahead and hash out any issues we have at this meeting rather than than at the council meeting um initial questions or comments on on this item I had a concern and I've spoken with the applicants representative about the language that includes in the definition of adjacent or contiguous any property that is across a right of way um I could foresee where that opens a whole other Pandora's box or a can of worms of of unintended expansions and uh you know to go forward I would like to see us uh remove that provision uh to uh to remove right away it's it's got to be truly contiguous or adjacent and uh so remove that any any comments there we have so Mr attorney do you need that by a formal motion or just some okay all right yes mayor we could do that and then we can we that will just carry over for the council meeting all right so do we have a motion to that effect to to amend it by removing the the RightWay Provisions all right removed by Council M Cannibal seconded by Council wman Bailey all right is there anyone wishing to comment on this matter in the public all right I'll close the public hearing we have a motion and a second let's have a roll call Board member Roth board member Davis yes board member aula yes board member cannibal board member Bailey Vice chairman Fletcher yes chairman lner yes the motion carries okay thank you all right is there any general public comment regarding development services okay any further business Mr cordino no sir okay any further Mr attorney nothing further from this board sitting as the agency so do I have a motion to adjourn moveed by Cannibal seconded by Bailey all in favor any opposed I yes councilwoman got to be fast or was that an i an that was an I turn do do we have the ability to go ahead and have the presentation or do we need to adjourn or convene the council meeting the legislative presentation could we go ahead and go forward with with that without convening the council meeting no you have to convene the council meeting or you can so we're kind of stuck for the next 20 minutes all right so we're dead air for 20 minutes sorry guys but thank you okay so we'll be back in 20 minutes are you so what you're hiring e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e can you all hear me we can Tom yes thank you all right we'll open up momentarily okay good evening everyone and welcome today is Wednesday July 17th 2024 and it is now 6:02 p.m. I'd like to call the City of Homestead city council meeting to order this evening we'll have the invocation by Reverend Michael Styles pastor of the St Paul Missionary Baptist Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance with vice mayor Fletcher and the Homestead police explorers would you please stand Eternal Father we come unto you at this time and this hour first of all to say thank you for allowing us to be good stewards over what you have entrusted us with as we father God go into this meeting we ask for your spirit to be within each and every one of us as we father God say thank you for allowing us this opportunity to serve in this great City we look towards you father God for guidance protection but not just that to be great in our government here in the City of Homestead we give you praise honor and glory in Jesus mighty name we do pray [Music] amen right on God by face you please join me in the pledge I pledge aliance to 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 all [Music] forward thank you please be seated all right roll call Madam Clark councilman Ron here councilman Davis here councilwoman aula here councilwoman Bailey here councilman Cal vice mayor Fletcher here mayor lner here right thank you all right I will now open the floor to General Public comments not comments with respect to specific agenda items but general public comments it doesn't appear that anyone registered ahead of time but sir come on down and give us your name address for the record and we'll put you on a three minute time clock all right thank you uh Jose Herrera 2332 southy 16th Terrace um I I'm coming here I I know you guys can't help because it's it's a bigger matter but I just wanted to let you guys know what's going on in in the community right now I'm a girls lacrosse coach I raised uh and I'm also I started teaching last year it was my first year teaching at Everglades Prep Academy um I was a businessman I sold my business of eight years and I was like you know what I'm going to give back and go to back go teach um I noticed first thing the computers in my kids classroom were from 2009 my background is in fundraising have a lot of business contact talk to the principal can I get 35 computer she said yes go through donors choose which is a format of people just donating and then donor choose buys the computer and they bring it to the school um I raised $155,000 in 10 hours um got back told the principal she said congratulations two days later she goes no we don't want the computers we want the money the computer stayed in that in her office until December um I had to file a very serious report against the school that I helped another female student file that was never I got fired three three days later after I reported that I contacted Homestead police right after I got fired to tell them of the report so they can follow up I have not heard heard even though I con I've asked them numerous times hey what have you heard about this the school um I do ask the the chief of police to please go to the school and do a code enforcement check there are things in the field that are not up to code and it's very dangerous now the big thing is that the school and will not release $4,000 of the donors choose money because I asked donors choose and the school if we can please use it for girls lacrosse a free program for our kids to dat today I have eight girls and three boys playing lacrosse at Rosco field I have insurance I have an AED machine and I'm teaching these girls how to play lacrosse they come to me three times a day for free Mr lner I believe you wanted more programs in the community I'm doing it for free and now this company and the school is not being held accountable no one knows what to do I don't know what to do there's $4,000 and we're that we're keeping from black and brown girls in our community from having free equipment we're keeping that because a school wants to be Petty and not write a little letter to donors choose we Grant Mr Herrera and guess what three of their students play for me because they don't have a lacrosse program so my goal is to build a lacr girls lacrosse program for all of the schools because we can do that now we can do that we can share resources right let's share let's be smart let's hold people accountable I know you guys say that all the time also Brandy Ramirez brought bought us lunch during the elections thank you is there anyone else in the audience wishing to make a general public comment all right is there anyone online all right so I will close the public comment portion of the agenda Mr manager are there any additions deletions or deferrals none Mr mayor thank you all right next is tab one we have a presentation tonight we're privileged to have with us they were here earlier they left to our Homestead is blessed to be represented by two members of the Florida House of Representatives and in alphabetical order we're joined tonight by Kevin chamblas and Jim Mooney uh who are uh here to give us uh an update on on the last uh legislative session and and may maybe a sneak peek about uh what the flavor of the day will be in the session uh early next year gentlemen welcome thank you thank you uh mayor and Council uh citizens uh really appreciate this opportunity again I am state representative Uh Kevin chamblas I represent Florida house district 117 I am also the vice chair of the Miami dat legislative of Delegation uh and so um in the absence of our chair uh Senator Anamaria Rodriguez again we thank you for the opportunity to present uh to you tonight or this evening but first sir um I was talking to R Mooney if I could take a point of um point of privilege and request um a moment of silence for uh the individual that was killed during the assassination attempt of of former president Donald Trump um and also praying for president Trump's family I could only imagine what my wife would be going through if I almost got hit by a bullet because of our Public Service the sacrifice that it already takes on our family so mayor um if you would allow me I'd ask for a moment of um silence for that thank you sir with that being said did you w to cool then we're we're over here tossing the quarters to see who's going to go first so um if we could allow rep Mooney to go first and then I'm going to follow up uh Mr Fuentes will fill in the blank of whatever we miss we also have the staff member of Senator Anam Maria um who was here in her absence that wants to make sure that he mentioned some highlights as well very good thank you Mr mayor council staff uh it's great to be here uh representative Jim Mooney representing house district 120 along with uh my my partner here Kevin in the one the 119 District I believe and uh he's an amazing man and I'm blessed to work with him in Tallahassee um you know this year was a very interesting year in Tallahassee it it wasn't quite as Dynamic we didn't have 4,000 bills for the first time in my four years in Tallahassee we only had just under 2,000 bills to review which is still quite insane um but you know one of the biggest bills that that I personally fought uh behind closed doors on was was the vacation rental Bill uh that that particular assault on home rule was uh coming out of the Florida Keys you know vacation rentals are big but they've become quite the nuisance all the neighborhoods uh it's one of the things you hear as a representative I'm assure you hear it as council members and mayor that what's going on in the neighborhoods well this was going to open Pandora's Box it was going to have seven people in Tallahassee be in charge of roughly a half a million vacation rentals now I'm pretty sure that math wasn't going to work out well and and the nuances within that bill were at best horrible and and I understand the bill sponsor thought they were doing the right thing but um it was one of the closest votes on the floor and I would tell you that behind closed doors myself and a number of other including representative shamas and representative fine out of the Meritt Island area we we were beating the bushes to kill this bill and I found out this year for the first time um killing bills is actually sort of fun when they really matter it's like killing a bad ordinance that would potentially hurt you but but you know thanks to the governor he did veto that bill um unfortunately I'm sure it will come back again next year because it's come back for my first four years and I know my predecessor probably dealt with it for other times but that that particular bill was probably the single most important bill that we defeated this year when it comes to particularly home rule um another on another front uh Workforce housing is always at the top of the list uh the senator is not here unfortunately tonight and she could expound on 1239 that was her baby she worked hard with Senator Rodriguez and and the Senate President to P 1239 and get put into law it it has a lot of components to it if you're really bored one night you should read it it's pretty in-depth but um it's exra thing and then and thirdly the topic of all topics is Insurance in Tallahassee it is the gorilla in the china shop um we ran some bills I ran a freestanding Bill unfortunately did not get heard uh was pretty much squashing to get go trying to you know people think that in the keys and that we're all different no we're all the same insurance is killing us across across the state but Dade County and Monroe County are the two highest forms of torture when it comes to how much we pay in insurance and particularly the commercial industry commercial industry U where my office is at Mr MZ couldn't get Windstorm on his building uh that that's just that's unacceptable so I had introduced a bill to increase the rate increase the valuations from a million to million3 and from 750 to to 1 million uh as you know many homes in Dave County now don't have to be in the water to be worth a million dollars and now they're stuck without insurance um also in last year a bill was run where if you had citizens Windstorm you had to carry contents coverage you had to have flood insurance and you had to carry contents coverage well nobody saw what FEMA did to us that particular Bill triggered 2.0 in the FEMA flood flood world so if you had an existing flood plane a existing flood policy then adding adding contents to it triggered a new policy which threw you into a higher bracket immediately and I'll use myself as example my went my flood right now is 5,000 a year just under 4900 but if I had to add contents to it would have been 18,000 now it's fortunate my policy didn't come to renew until upcoming soon so I had an opportunity to avoid that that dis disaster um but so that did that was part of the my bill it did get put into the big insurance bill so we got the the contents covered removed next we'll work on anything built above the flood plane so you don't have to carry flood insurance at all certainly if you want to you can but you know being mandatory is U when you're when you're following code you shouldn't be punished for following codes uh and that's that's my that's my personal opinion on that because because a former mayor in Al Mara I I know what you guys hear every day I understand it and you're getting beat up on things you can't control and the federal government quite honestly doesn't listen to many of us at all um so but in insurance was one thing and I will tell you that incoming speaker designate Daniel Perez will work as hard as he can to fix insurance he has made it his goal to knock on every door and not hear the word Insurance when he knocks on it after he's done um another thing that I don't know how it affected you but uh I ran a bill go back three years ago HB 735 it was a it was a an inocula kind of Bill everybody thought was going to be good it was a it was a specialty license bill for anybody understands you know I'm I'm a drywaller I got a specialty license I've been in business for 20 years um we thought that that was just going to allow for one specialty license to move across the county so I work in Homestead I work in Florida City I work in Carl Gables under one license it didn't turn out like that it turned out where cities and counties decided to really bear down on these license guys so I ran a bill last year couldn't quite get it Statewide uh got it got it back on track in the area of critical state concern because of the nuances required in the building codes in in Monroe County uh this year leadership asked me to run that bill again along with Senator Hooper to try and get these specialty license back where they belong and allowing cities and counties to do what they want to do with licenses not having the state say tell you what you're going to do um it's not necessarily a cash cow for all of you guys but what it is is insurance policy and I I had somebody say anybody can paint a house they're absolutely correct but who's painting your house do they have a criminal background we don't know and now that the specialty license has been removed um you don't really know who's painting your house in theory uh so so we're working on that still um I'm not sure I'll carry that bill for three next year but unfortunately at the last day the Senate decided to turn and kick the can down the road again for another year so if you have any issues with specialty license in in Homestead I encourage you to reach out to the Department of Professional Regulations and talk to them because they're looking for input and how it affects you uh and it's critical you're talking about people's lives and livelihoods and there's something to be said when you say licensed and insured for 20 years or 15 years it's a value to that and it's not a value monetary it's a value to your heart um so when you think about that that's again you know focusing I honestly would love to have you guys ask me to run something for you I told the mayor of M day County the same thing give give representative shambles and I something to do because we still have plenty of spare time up there but um you know and and and of course lastly the the biggest sadness was the veto of the one million septic to sewer that was completely not expected I will tell you that your lobby team was spot on uh in our office we worked together uh and sadly enough though across the state we saw numerous septic to sewer and numerous storm waterer runoff uh projects vetoed I I haven't quite wrapped my hands around why that would given the fact that we were dumping $850 million into the Everglades it seems sort of silly to not stop it Upstream uh but that said you know the governor does what the governor does with the red pin and uh that that's sort of out of our hands but I will tell you that everybody in my media delegation that represents the homestead was right there with you the entire time uh and with that if there's any questions I'd be happy to feel them thank you mayor thank you all for being here and updating us you talked about the insurance and you talked about I think raising coverage limits uh from a million to whatever it was a million three but I think at the the end of the day it's it's more about the premiums that we're paying on insurance um I'll just use my home as an example um modest 3bedroom two bath 2 foot home was paying $4,200 a year for insurance which which was only Windstorm and Property and Casualty we were not required to carry flood this year I get a notification that my insurance is going to $5,600 from $4,200 so seeing that I was extremely upset and I called my agent and I said I know it's not an something you can control or handle but what can we do to reduce the premiums I said let's look at deductibles let's look at certain things and through that exercise I was able to get my premiums back down below what I was paying last year although I gave up a bunch of coverage right if we get a catastrophic storm through here it may cost me more out of pocket than it would have uh normally so I think we need to focus on whatever it is that can drive premiums back down for the residents um all I'm talking about is Miami day County what happens in the keys is another thing and I own a property down there as well and it kills me with insurance down there but that's where we need some relief you know that and I don't you guys can't control the cost when it comes to property taxes um but if you look at some of the examples of people who lived in their homes for six seven eight years their property tax levels may be at 3 or 4,000 depending on the type of house but the resale and the reappraisals of those properties are taking those property taxes from that 4,000 note to $10,000 per year so you know and I'm stepping way out from which you guys are updating I just want to put it in guys that are going to Tallahassee and lobbying for us that that if you talk about affordable housing and you mentioned that a little bit down you know in your area that you're trying to build and create more affordable housing it's nearly going to be impossible to do and create housing with those types of expenses on top of it taxes and insurance premiums so I'm just throwing that out there so that you understand and you feel and I'm sure you feel the pain too you talked about your insurance going up to 18,000 whatever it was that this is where we really need to focus on the cost of these two items obviously you're not in the county we can't we'll have to figure that out with the county but especially Insurance legislation because that comes out of Tallahassee and what they can do and what they can charge us I think is is what we need to focus on because it just is becoming unaffordable down here yep and I I can address a couple of those issues um actually you sort of hit the nail on the head the you the cost so when it comes to the mitigation side you know my my safe Florida home opened up opens up this week I believe um and that's that's a program where you can get 10,000 up to $10,000 to harden your home so people don't have impact Windows the state will partner with you to improve your home and strengthen it uh that helps but it's certainly not the answer but but but by using these programs showing the insurance companies that we're actually trying to say here here's what we're doing to protect you as well as ourselves because at the end of the day listen they're they're in the business of making money and nobody's nobody doubts that that's what they do and I don't think maybe grudges people for making money uh when it comes to the valuation though uh citizens you know wouldn't cover anything over a million So you you're going to probably end up with a higher policy premium anyway so that was the that was part of the the impetus for going to 1.3 to allowing these homes to still be able to stay in citizens albeit it's still not a number by any stretch of the imagination but it's certainly better than some of the other carriers that really pound you now the flip side is uh and here's uh again after four years speaker spraw said 18 months we start to see something with the roof roof issues that we fixed sure enough about the 24th month you start to see less fraud last year we passed the tort Reform Bill that absolutely told the industry who knocks on your door the assignment of benefits that that game is officially over you're no longer do assignment of benefits all of that was fraud I mean right now today last I looked Dave county has more lawsuits from Hurricane Ian than the Southwest coast of Florida and I don't believe we got hit that hard in dayve County um that's that's that's part of the huge problem then I'll go ahead to the the other shining side of it is that we have eight companies this year that ask for ask for a rate reduction that will probably come at the at the end of this year 10 companies ask no for no increase increase so there 18 companies that basically neutral stay neutral or or helped us there's also in the portal up to I believe 13 new companies ready to step into the State of Florida all of that is a direct directly correlated to some of the reforms particularly Tor reform that seems to be the largest single source of the insurance World saying hey you guys are showing us something we don't want to we no longer want to go to a state that's you know litigious um there was a bill that was postured this year by representative Cal and representative um um yeah I'll think of his name in a second uh out of Fort Meers and that was that citizens would be the only Windstorm carrier in the State of Florida and everything else would be covered through Private Industry that that met with failure but oddly enough and last I heard nobody can remember the last time two Representatives uh rep roach by the way is his name he's now no longer representative you step down but they were allowed to do a presentation in a committee that's unheard of Representatives don't do presentations on bills that never got moved um so the fact that they open that can up representative cassal I I think she's the single smartest person on the floor when it comes to Insurance um she really she's an attorney who represents us not not the industry uh but I did have the um six of the largest insurers in the country in my office and what they when they heard about that particular bill they were we discussed it they liked it because they know that if I go to to the mayor's house and I slip and break my leg and and I sue the mayor you know it's going to cost $25,000 to give me a cast they know that they they know what it's going to cost to rebuild a house that burn Downs they know how many houses burned down so they can keep all of their particular cost in a square but when it comes to wind it's a free-for-all and they're I The Fear Factor um so I hear you loudly I promise you that and if anybody I I encourage everybody in this room if you have an idea please forward it to rep shamas myself to the mayor I'm sure we'll get it but there's no such thing as a bad idea when it comes to Insurance because I've had some pretty wild emails so far show up and some of them are not that far-fetched and there's certainly again there's no such thing as a bad idea because if we don't get if we don't figure out how to get out of this box we've been in for decades and of course you know the inflation is not helping the cost to rebuild your house is exponentially higher just you know Lumber concrete steel copper everything it takes to build a house it's it's going to be impossible to lower things unless we show and of course I have said many times on the floor if the rest of the state doesn't step up to the Miami day code or exceed it then we're not showing the insurance companies we mean business we cannot continue to build in what they call the low wind zone areas within the State they need to build the same as we do in day County regardless of how far they are from the water you know flooding is one thing but so so there's so many facets to the insurance industry but I believe that we're still we're still on track it's just going to be a little it's going to zigzag a little bit you know it's it's not going to be a straight line to the finish line but I I trust in the system that we're we're doing the right things and and again I know that representative and soon to be speaker uh um Danny will be Danny will be on it trust me Danny is he's at the mindset he'll do it and again I know the day delegation is right here supporting everything that you guys believe in and all of us again feel the pain any other questions I just want to say very very quickly you know the members for for that represent the areas the City of Homestead uh Anna Maria Rodriguez Senator Anna Maria Rodriguez uh representative Kevin chamblas and uh representative Jim Mooney one of the things that I am really impressed upon or impressed uh is the fact that their doors are always open this type of conversation that you're hearing from Jim Mooney is same one I have with them every time I go into his office so he spends time on the issue and he makes sure that uh like like Kevin and like Anna Maria that Homestead is well representative Anna Maria always has her doors open uh to us we spend more time in her office I know she has one of her uh local uh legislative folks here with us as well so we really do appreciate that I just want to bring up a very important point we already started working with the manager in the process to prepare for the upcoming session uh both representative Mooney chamblas and Senator Rodriguez are making themselves available so that we are prepared next year and we start to meet with departments as well as uh the members themselves so uh we're very fortunate and they deserve a big round of applause because they get a I mean Senator Rodriguez has hundreds of Appropriations but our focus is laser focused on Homestead and we really do appreciate that as well as uh uh representative chamblas and and representative Mooney um his Aid Lee we spend so much time with her I think she just like has decided to make a little cubby ho for us sometimes in her office so but we appreciate that thank you guys um so I I'd like to you know talk about some of the positive things um that happened that might have been of interest uh to Residents in and around the homestead area um there were several veteran friendly bills um as we know we are a veteran friendly Community um I call this a military Community uh we take um a lot of pride in it um and so I just wanted to mention a couple of them and kind of briefly talk about what they do and then there's one that actually directly impacts um economic development in this area around Homestead Air Reserve Base uh so HB 725 was the veterans long-term care facility admission this expands the El eligibility requirements for admittance into the state offered uh Veterans domicilary Home of Florida which Focus which that's the state institution that services our veterans and their family members um as they entered their golden years and so we expanded the admissions there and then HB 1329 created the Florida veterans history program with the intention of making sure that we preserve the history um and the impact that Florida veterans have had not only on the military but also on their local community one of the things we disagree on a lot of things but the one thing that's the only thing but one of the great things that we agree upon in the state legislature is that we all want Florida to be the most veteran friendly state in these United States and I can say every year we take multiple steps closer to making that a reality and I think that that's something that this particular community could appreciate now when it comes to Economic Development there was an interesting bill um that Senator kadiu um who comes all the way down to the Homestead Air Reserve Base and then goes north of us um she sponsored this in the Senate but it directly affects future Economic Development opportunities for us here in and around the Homestead Air Reserve Base this is SB 969 it is called the Spaceport territory this was a crucial crucial B um I was happy to co-sponsor it what it does is it expands Spaceport territory to include land that was formerly within the boundaries of the Homestead Air Force Base and also expands the scope of Spaceport discretionary capacity Improvement projects to include projects that enhance the capacity for space transportation and then it allows the for Department of Transportation to fund these projects let me break it down now it allows the Homestead at Reserve Base to create projects so there used to be a requirement to where you had you have to be a rocket Zone basically in order to fit under this category that requirement is no longer the case and Homestead a reserve based lands in and around it were included this will allow for the companies that come here for whether it's manufacturing um distribution this will allow them better capacity to transport their goods and services under this particular scenario and this was um um an economic development bill that snuck in that was very very crucial to this particular Community moving forward um we've already heard some of the legislative concerns uh me and the manager have talked about rock blasting we know that there are some other issues that are coming up here um that um we will begin to um take on but just know and I think that every time we get before you or I hope that you hear this tune um that that we sing uh that's that's very true when we're in t has we work as one there is no mention of party um um we don't um even pay attention to our party affiliations if it's something that services south if it's certain something that Services the Homestead Florida City area we work on it as one it becomes our priority um and that particular strategy has allowed us to be semi-old successful um and productive and making sure that we're putting the community before Party politics um and I'm happy to say that then last but not least um I have been working um to make sure that you know when people come are are being released from prison uh that they have the you know the best opportunities at employment that they can have one of the bills that we were able to push made it all the way to the governor's desk and then what happened was the governor vetoed it and someone said Kevin are you were you upset that the governor VTO it I said no the governor gave me an opinion on it um and we're working working with his office to try to make sure that we can adjust our language to to match what his vision of that is um in this process you have to be patient you have to be patient and you have to be in it for the long term um and that's one of the things that you see us do uh and then last but not least we were able to successfully um bring some money to the local areas for Florida city but I think we all would um appreciate making sure that Florida City police department has more resources and we were able to accomplish that in this legislative session it's the first state appropriation that they have had in almost over a decade um and so um those that's something that we can all be proud of and that is my report I can take questions now or later thank you sir questions from council rep yall are so nice thank you appreciate the details good evening Council my name is Sebastian GOI I'm a legislative 8 for Senator anmer Rodriguez she represents Senate District 40 which is Miami dat in all Monroe County just give you a quick recap of what we had going on this past legislative session um we had seven bills passed very important bills I cannot express how each bill is significantly more important than the next one to the senator every project of hers she makes sure she has eyes all over at all times and it means a lot to her when she passes the bill successfully through both the Senate and House chamber we had 30 Appropriations passed about $47 million in Appropriations for Miami dat and Monroe County um as representative Chamas said the first Florida City appropriation in a long time and it was a very big appropriation to get through both sides because it just makes a Snowball Effect for momentum to come and more money to coming from Florida city um other than that I just thank you guys for your time today taking time to listen to us in the day delegation thank you very much thank you appreciate Mone she bring home and all oh yeah um $475 million thank you brought back to the Senate District amazing again thank you all appreciate you uh you being down here with us tonight we look forward to uh the next session thank you all all right um yes we've got the uh well on here we've got the arpa presentation Mr manager so Mr Mayor we have a presentation of the city's Apper funds I'm asking uh ACM kimar BR to give us a quick and a high level presentation profile of what we intend to do there are quite a few projects that we feel comfortable uh to proceed and there are quite other projects that had been previously been appropriated by this Council that will need some redirection because we feel that City's priorities have changed especially with the sewer moratorium that we are you know facing today we need to kind of move funds around to enable us move some of those projects forward with the understanding that the city has a commitment period that ends in December 31st of 2024 based on the upper f regulations uh we do have a number of pump stations that are under a moratorium in the past 60 days we've successfully moved two of them out of the moratorium pump stations 15 and 46 are no longer under a moratorium thanks to the effort of staff and myself we are frantically looking towards addressing the remaining pum stations if Council will allow us to move these funds around thanks thank you Mr manager good afternoon Council um I'd like to start with just a very big picture um as a reminder the council or the City of Homestead received about $19 million um back in May 2021 if I'm recalling correctly to date we have uh spent about $8.3 million across all the projects um as the manager mentioned I'm going to go pretty quickly and then Reserve time for the council to Pro uh make any inquiries regarding the projects and the reallocations uh the premium pay project um is considered complete our magic Camp um initiative is also complete the vaccine incentive initiative is complete the CRA triangle property revitalization so this involved the purchase of parcels um is partially complete uh there's an expenditure of 4.9 that has already taken place and we have a remaining balance of a little bit over a million do our Homestead Regional Park phase one which is design um is partial well it's in progress we're about 60% with the construction drawings and uh we have the last bullet is dollars reallocated we have reallocated about $349,450 BD rezoning um there were two uh applicants that availed themselves of the rezoning opportunities um and we have an anticipated two additional applicants uh that has expressed interest but we are waiting for confirmation um to that end we anticipate that we would be able to reallocate 16,500 back into the pot for reallocation our mobile command center renovation is complete our electric Ami smart meters is also complete our a police it Department um underground fiber Loop replacement which was a an aged about two decades aged infrastructure um is partially complete we have a our business incentive program um it is in progress our commercial enhancement which is uh the business enhancement was within the CRA the commercial enhancement um expanded the opportunity uh opportunities um right outside of the CRA um and it is still in progress and then as the manager mentioned there were two uh infrastructure projects our water meter replacement and our septic to sewer that it is the administ administration's recommendation to re re prioritize those funds to address the moratorium issue now so that is a general update of where of the projects in the movement right so we've spent about 8.3 so far now I'd like to give bring your attention to uh dollars that we need to reallocate we have developed a listing of proposed projects for your consideration so we need to reallocate about 7.8 uh million dollar and the two dates that's very important for us to remember um following this presentation is December 31st 2024 which means all of the dollars uh that are arpa related must be encumbered by the end of the year the second date is December 31st 2026 which calls for all of the projects that have been outlined here or projects that the council will Pro offer through this conversation must be completed right so 31st we need to make sure there's a contract in Hand of this year and December 31st 2026 all projects must be completed so with that uh we have uh categorized the uh newly proposed uh projects at as a part of infrastructure upgrades um I won't list individual prod projects but I want to make sure that you guys are aware that the infrastructure upgrade Pro the infrastructure a I want to call it project list comes to about 5 million um $5.1 million so that speaks to a uh the waste there's a 1.3 for a waste water basin replacement um and that directly addresses Pump Station 22 Pump Station 8 Pump Station 13 Pump Station 24 Pump Station 25 um and helping us to get out of the the temporary moratorium that we're in um the anti we anticipate the completion being I think the manager has directed us that it needs to be as January December 2024 December 2024 Miami Dates County um compliance date is July 25 2025 so our due date is well a year in advance at the direction of the manager uh our Pump Station 22 super bypass um we also have an emergency Pump Station 22 super bypass pump rental um our there's some lining uh that is necessary for uh our sewer lines a there's a storm water infrastructure survey that will be a precursor to the city's stor water master plan uh we have a $419,000 allocation for water meter replacement which is intended to uh cover about uh 90% of the annual uh Capital replacement that has been ongoing since 20207 2017 as I understand it uh we have about a million dollars for the Flagler Avenue gravity sewer and then there's several lining another lining initiative um then there's a heavy equipment and vehicles so that encompasses our 5.1 million then we will move to uh parks recreation and Open Spaces we have uh several improvements that we would like to make to the JD red Park um amounting to about 155,000 uh then we will move to the Innovation and Technology initiatives uh we would like to um implement the agenda management software for the city more specifically the the clerk uh the we would like to introduce a Citywide permitting software to allow our customers to be able to apply online and essentially facilitate the internal workflows of the city departments that participate in the process um there is the require EST for an upgrade of our Microsoft um Exchange Server as well as an intra ID which calls for access management with our it Department uh we would also like to replace 33% of our aged workstations um and moving into a more mobile friendly uh City so we're looking at monitors um laptops that we are able to to work in a mobile manner uh then we will move to our marketing and marketing and branding category uh we have about 22,8 54 for the America 250 rollout we have also slotted a the replacement of four lighted Monument signs to the tune of $888,000 um we have an interior and exterior renovation um amounting to 600,000 this this is the uh former adult facility that Miami Dade County occupied um that has recently been handed over back to the city that will serve as our new code compliance public works or Parks and Recreation administration building uh we also are uh proposing a the the buildout of the elevator and bathroom Renovations for the cium third and fourth floor floor and last but certainly not least we would like to uh uh present for the council's consideration the BR a Broadband infrastructure um initiative that looks to um make our Parks Wi-Fi enabled and then also providing uh Wi-Fi capabilities to uh persons within our our homes within our CRA uh community and uh with that i' like to kind of pause and get um feedback from the council and return to the manager thank you so you based on this presentation we do have a combination of capital projects as well as some programming that will address citizens needs uh for the first time in the city It's Our intention to make all our city parks to be Wi-Fi enabled so that our kids that are there playing can have access to the internet either they bring their homework to the parks while they're waiting for their turn to use the parks or they can use their devices to get access to the to to the internet uh based on controls that will be placed so that they don't go around wandering around on the on the internet so with that we're asking for your permission to do the deallocation and reallocations and to come back to Council in a future meeting with actual resolution uh we would like to leave you with this presentation feel free to have us come back to each of you to walk through the various items for refinements thanks very any uh initial comments or questions from Council Council Bailey thank you mayor just quickly a really big kudos to staff I mean just thinking back to when we first received These funds and how uncertain those times were and we we weren't sure what we could do with it um just being able to here um the decisions that were made I think it was all um they were all really good ideas I'm definitely a big proponent to have Wi-Fi in the Parks I don't know why I never thought that we didn't and it actually just came up a few weeks ago for me and I was like no of course there there has to be Wi-Fi in the Parks so I love that idea and just again another big big thank you to staff I know that uh that it was really tough to be able to put all of that in order I'm sure that you've already looked at the projects that we are still pending and we make sure that we can move those funds over if that project isn't able to be completed by December 31st that we've got something to fall back on I'm sure you are already on that um but just thank you very much thank you mayor vice mayor yes thank you and I I too want to thank the staff for going through and giving us a a good outline and detail of where the money's been spent and where we need to spend it I do have a a couple of concerns in regards to how we're spending some of this money so uh if we could go back to your slide or in your thoughts regarding the sports complex and the upgrades there uh you want to reallocate some of those funds uh and then I want to go and then at the same time we're talking about spending uh several hundred, to upgrade the third and fourth floor of the cium and I don't know that there's been a call for the use of those facilities as at this point in time so I would rather focus on you know the ball that all of us looked at one point and say let's focus on the sports complex that's going to be a uh a community area that that can really uh benefit the entire city of Homestead so I just ask that we take a look at that and ensure that we're spending those monies in the right areas uh as far as the commercial enhancement grants um we had 250,000 I believe can you repeat that Mr the community enhancement grants um we have 250,000 250,000 there uh how long has that been offered to the community have we advertise that to the community so I'd like to maybe ask my colleague to speak to that um uh yes so at this time the program has not been advertised to the public uh we were working through some internal challenges uh as far as the uh Grant agreements and and processes um however with um the management Direction and with council's buying we would be happy to FastTrack this um and I believe within that area we should be able to get uh those grantees qualified and awarded quickly okay so I think that's a great opportunity for some of our local businesses to to redo the facades of their buildings uh but I'm just going to stick on that Park project we have to maintain our eyes on that ball Mr vice mayor may I explain for a moment the do you want to do it Zer yes um go for the vice mayor all we are asking for for the sports complex is to reallocate $349,000 only the original Phase One Design of the sports complex is in place is progressing uh it's already been encumbered up to I believe $660,000 a consultant is already doing the design work is the remaining funds that we're asking for permission to move it we feel very strongly that the mon the moratorium and sanitaries who are in the city is the biggest challenge this city has today no doubt about that but then I would offer that you look at the cybrarian funds in lie of so so Additionally the cium funds this is one iconic facility that we have in the city that has remained vacant unoccupied not Ying any revenue for close to four to 5 years well Chrome Avenue is unoccupied and not making any money right now so I think we need to focus on the the community and and not that building in specific we need to focus on the parks we're taking we're taking into consideration that's all Mr Mayor may I may I just give one uh point of clarity so Homestead Regional Park phase one the entire design the council initially allocated $1.1 million the design came in at 657 uh so we had money to to essentially reallocate we anticipate a 93,000 change order coming in for that design so if we let's assume we leave the 349 400 in the in the sports complex that money will be essentially unspent um by the end of the year so that is the intent of the reallocation um I I hope that provides some clarity so I appreciate that that information but I got to look at it from an enduser or a private private business you know if you have that money savings you look at fast-tracking something else to get that project moving faster I'll leave it at that you know where I stand I know where you stand vice mayor and uh he's taking on advisement thanks no it's councilman Roth mayor yes we'll hear from councilman Roth and then I'll come back to you Council woman yeah I just want to just piggyback on the the cium uh allocations the we talk about the property we bought on Chrome Avenue that we just lost a potential business and we're going to re uh Market the plans for that um and to to increase the return on investment on that property I think if we do the project and add the bathrooms we can begin to Market that property as well and it becomes an asset to the city and begins to funnel revenues into the city that we could use for other projects so um that's just one aspect of this I think we're going to get an opportunity to look at this again and and and give input on other thoughts and ideas as well um there was one I thought might be a little the the 250th one how does that actually comply with the the arpa funds how are you allowed to use arpa funds for that uh the that expense would be in the revenue loss category which can be used to fund uh essentially any uh traditional government service or government expense so that's an expense that would normally be borne by our general fund that uh we would be moving over to the arpa funds okay I mean that's good it's you know because a lot of that we had a lot of re uh restrictions and and things that we had to make sure we complied with when when it came to the arpa funds but the um the cybrarian one I think is something that we should continue to move forward with and begin to Market those those exra stories and get a return on investment with that as well so that's all thank you uh councilwoman aala thank you mayor I want to thank staff for putting together this um this presentation I think uh Kamar was the one who worked on this if that's my understanding and it's very thorough um and I do look forward to having a one-on-one with our city manager so we can go through these items and see you know where we can try to you know move some pennies move some funds around to make it make more sense um I agree 100% with vice mayor one of the things that I was looking forward to when we um took on the new Administration was being able to get the sports complex done faster and more affordably um so I'd like to have you know the conversations about that and and maybe we can maybe we should have a meeting sooner than later to kind of refresh ourselves where we're at with that project it's super important um also just looking over the top of this of this presentation $150,000 is not enough to improve JD red park and yes we need the Wi-Fi there I too thought we had Wi-Fi for some reason I'm I you know I thought that that was um already addressed in their in their um activity room but we need to we need to maybe do a walk through Zary if you have time with to do that with me sometime this month so we can look at the stand look at the the the um the batting cages look at just in general there's a lot of deferred maintenance and a lot of things that uh need to be addressed and then of course harrisfield um you know the parks there the the you know the the facilities there I know that we have project pending and we know I know we have funds that probably already allocated in a different different pots so just on our one-onone let's have those those details ready so we can uh refresh ourselves and then um I can give you more feedback on this but thank you in general and um I look forward to to seeing the these projects completed and it's very refreshing to have kind of clear concise Direction on how we can use these funds like councilwoman Bailey said like we we never really had clear you know clear Direction on whether we were using these funds in the right categories and so that's very much appreciated thank you thank you councilwoman councilman Davis uh do you wish to weigh in I have no comment at this time thank you thank you councilman now and I would just look at and I understand that you know the renovations of 653 Southwest forth I know we'll sharpen our pencils on that one uh we were kind of led to believe by prior staff that in order to get that ready other than a new roof in order to get that building ready for code enforcement was not that big a deal uh $600,000 is is a pretty big deal and I'm I'm hopeful that that's a a way overestimation and let's uh let's value engineer that as the engineer say and uh the code enforcement and whatever Department uh you've ultimately decide to move in there uh in there with as little reasonable expense as possible and vice mayor I I do agree with you your principle on the park $350,000 isn't going to make or break that that project um you my phrase recently is it's not sexy and pump stations are not sexy I would venture to say that had this staff been in place at the time we had the arpa funds this conversation about getting our Wastewater system up and running and out of moratorium would have been had at that time and should have been had at that time so you know it's it's not a lot of flash but it's certainly necessary for long-term found foundational progress in the the city to to get these pump stations out of moratorium and solve these these issues talk about deferred maintenance that's the textbook example of deferred maintenance so just this is just for presentation purposes and we'll we'll see this again that's great sir very good thank you all right so we are now on to the consent agenda we have a motion to approve the consent agenda moved by councilman Roth seconded by the vice mayor questions or comments all in favor any opposed Mr White yes moving on to the quazi 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 be either cross-examined or sworn your testimony will be given at 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 full agenda packet on each item is hereby entered into the record persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for that organization further details of the quide judicial procedures may be obtained from the clerk in accordance with code section 2590 any lobbyist must register before addressing the Council on any of the following items at this time I'd ask council members to disclose any ex parte Communications concerning any of the qu judicial items on the agenda that would be tabs 8 9 10 and 11 I'll disclose 10 and 11 are we all at 10 and 11 for disclosures yeah yes it's this is Davis yes all right so the the the disclosure is all for item uh 10 and 11 thank you so at this time I'd ask anyone in the audience who wishing to speak this evening on any of the quazi judicial items please stand raise your right hand to be sworn in by the clerk do you here by swear airm to tell the truth and nothing but the truths that help me gone thank you you may be seated first item is Tab 8 C number 4269 the resolution of the City of Homestead Florida approving a special exception requested by hay tigga for the velopment of a single family dwelling unit on an approximately 6,850 foot parcel within the multiple apartment R3 zoning District generally located south of Northeast 11 Street East of Northeast 4th Avenue with front with Frontage along Northeast Fifth Avenue as legally described in exhibit a and providing for an effective date right thank you um at our prior meeting we did have the staff report on this item that was ultimately deferred is there any OB ction to waving the staff report again tonight um we have any initial questions or comments from Council all right is there anyone here other than the applicant wishing to speak for or against this matter is there anyone online right so we'll close the public hearing and I'll invite the applicant or the applicant's representative to introduce themselves and make any uh statements you'd like to make in support of this matter appreciate you being here tonight thank you and good afternoon uh Council um we intend to build a property in this um uh parcel that is currently under an R3 uh zoning the the lot the parcel is quite small it's about 7,000 so uh we intend to build a single family home uh the property is located uh between uh Northeast 4th and Fifth Avenue and just south of uh Northeast 11th Street uh we believe that this will help embellish the area uh I can tell you that we've been having some some issues with uh neighbors throwing trash in the lot so I think we can avoid those issues uh by just building a family home there so thanks for the opportunity and for hearing uh our request thank you appreciate that thank you and uh you know understand that we like to see the applicants at least on on a first reading or on you know if it's a single reading such as this so that's the reason for the deferral I think clearly the commentary last month was is uh single family in place of multif family anytime so do we have any questions or comments from Council do we have a motion to approve moved by councilman Cannibal seconded by vice mayor Fletcher all right if there are no further comments we'll have a roll call councilman rth yes councilman Davis yes councilwoman aula yes councilman Canal yes councilwoman Bailey yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carries thank you appreciate it thank you so much than for coming moving on to tab nine car number 4299 a resolution of the City of Homestead Florida granting final platter approval as requested by U-Haul company of Florida for the development of a 121,00 ft self storage facility on an approximately 4.1 18 acre of parcel of land generally located on the northeast corner of Southeast 18th Avenue in Southwest 320th Street Maui drive as legally described in exhibit a and providing for an effective date good thank you are there any questions or comments from Council there's any anyone here other than the applicant representative who wishes to speak on this matter all right go ahead good evening mayor vice mayor council members Lauren con with offices at 1450 Brickle Avenue bills and sunberg I'm joined by my colleague Carlos marovich um as well as chrisell Alvarez um who's from ownership um we're here before you on the final plat um for a property that's located at Southeast 18th Avenue and Southwest 320th Street um the tentative plat was approved by Council your code requires us to come back um when we have the final plat so that's what we're here for we respectfully require re EST um your approval of this plat what's being proposed to be constructed here is a self- storage facility um if we're available if you have any questions very good thank you any final questions and for the record we'll wave the staff report on this this final plat um so do we have a motion to approve the final plat for the U-Haul facility moved by councilman Ross seconded by Council woman Bailey a roll call Madam clerk councilman Roth yes councilman yes councilwoman Bailey yes councilman Davis yes councilwoman abula yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor La yes the motion carries thank you thank you moving on to Tab 10 car number 4298 it's the resolution of the City of Homestead Florida granting final plat approval as requested by dear Horton Inc for the development of a 69 dwelling unit residential town home sub division on an approximately 8.63 acre partial of land generally on the southwest corner of Southwest 162nd Avenue in East Mai drive as legally described in exhibit a providing for an effective date all right very good and uh we'll wave the staff report on this uh final plat and since you came all the way down I'll give you the podium thank you mayor um uh good evening mariss Haro office is at 200 South best C Boulevard it's a pleasure to be before you this evening um you're all familiar with I think the Machado project uh we received site plan and T plat approval last year so we're back before you similar to the prior item for final plat thank you moved by councilman Ross seconded by vice mayor Fletcher is there anyone wishing to speak on this matter hereby close the public hearing let's have a roll call vote I just pull sure before you start remember this this project has already been approved this is like the last step just a a ministerial boat but go ahead give us your name and address for the record well I live in the um Lake Shores here in homestad I recently moved into my own spot I was previously homeless but my name is Fernando Vargas born and raised here in the City of Homestead and uh I guess I'm very passionate about what's been happening in our community you look at that like the city Homestead signed behind you and it's like Farm fields and ATT tractor might as well just put a lenar building right there in front of it and that's what what it is now it's like it's almost a shame of what's been happening here in our community it's never going to be back to what it was before and I don't feel like I guess people in my age group are public about these things or vocal about these things and I guess it's my aim to just make people more aware of what's been happening I'm relatively new to all this stuff a lot of the words that y'all using I'm not even sure but I'm a product of the public education here in Homestead which I'm proud of anyways you know it is what it is and I'm a little nervous right now I ain't going to lie but um I guess I just want to voice my opinion on what's been happening in our community and I'm not even sure what me as a single individual can even do here but this is the importance of having this thing being brought to the attention of the public because I know like tab 11 there's a th000 blah blah residential unit next to where I'm living at it's like small little signs like Hey we're going to have this little city council meeting and you know we're not aware of these things people are just so glued to their phones and if you put public Wi-Fi people are going to be more glued to their phones even more and uh I just think there's no I maybe there is public information it's just the lack of resources that are being brought to us for my age group to be aware of these things and uh it's just like it's like our community being swept right from under our feet without us really having a chance to fight for it and it's just it's a it's a shame it's a shame and it's like okay sure it's in the name of progress and now we're getting more money from the taxes because of and then now people get to fill these things with things that they get off of Amazon so it's bringing in new jobs I guess and it's bringing in more money but I don't know it's like they're going to level up all these fields to build more homes and it's going to add to the flooding issue it's going to add to what's been like the traffic City and I'm also really big on City infrastructure as well and it's like they just prop up a red light and think that this is going to help with the flow of traffic but I don't know what really goes on behind the scene it's like I'm just this one dude coming to this meeting for the first time and just learning how all this stuff works trying to learn the words that y'all use as well but I don't know that's kind of what I had to say about everything well hey hey we're glad you're here you know sometimes one person can make a difference and help spread the word yeah and uh it's it's not just your age group on all of these development matters we hear it from across across the Spectrum from every Walk of Life and every uh age bracket yeah well thank youall for hearing me out but I hope that I get to see y'all again for many future events thank you all thank you appreciate it all right did we have a motion all right we had a motion a second let's have a roll call councilwoman aula yes councilwoman B yes councilman Roth yes councilman Davis yes councilman cannibal vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lawner yes the motion carries and tab 11 yes tab 11 your last qu judicial item this evening car number 4300 it's a resolution of the City of Homestead Florida granting final plat approval as requested by lenar homes LLC for the development of a 1,287 residential dwelling unit subdivision on an approximately 26 acre parcel of land generally located within the Villages of Homestead development Regional impact south of South Canal Drive in north of Southwest 352nd street as legally described in exhibit a and providing for an effective date thank you sir and we'll wave the staff report are there any final questions from Council anyone here wishing to speak on this matter a final plat approval for uh the last piece of keys gate B all right you're just waiting for the next hearing go ahead enter your appearance hug go is a 701 brick LA and you happy to answer any questions thank you we have a motion okay so let's open the public hearing I think we did all right do we have a motion to approve moved by Council Cannibal seconded by vice mayor Fletcher let's have a roll call Madam clerk councilwoman Bailey councilman count B councilwoman aula yes councilman Roth yes councilman Davis yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carried may we on on the tab 12 that concludes the Clause ey judicial correct correct moving on to legislative items first item this evening is tab 12 this is the first reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead Florida amending the city code of ordinances by creating section 30-5 54 exception for existing schools to Article 5 non-conforming Lots uses and structures to allow certain expansion exceptions in whole or in part within a property or onto adjacent property contiguous property or property separated by a public Street alley or right away not already containing such use to existing schools having already received site plan approval pursuant to section 3047 of the city code providing for severability inclusion in the code conflicts and an effective date s first reading thank you and if there are no objections we'll wave the staff report we discuss this at length and have the report at the uh local planning agency meeting earlier this evening um this was brought forward to council with an amendment to the proposed text which is in effect what's before us now correct deleting okay um so let me open the public hearing is there anyone from the public wishing to speak on this matter all right so we'll close the public hearing I'll entertain a motion for uh approval on first reading subject to the amendment moved by councilman Ross second by Council woman Bailey roll call Madam clerk councilman rth yes councilwoman avula yes councilwoman Bailey yes councilman Davis yes councilman cannibal I he mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carries right thank you next item is tab 13 it's a first reading on a budget amendment yes that's you Mr Pearl yes Mr Mayor tab 13 is the first reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead Florida amending the budget for the electric utility fund and water and sewer Utility Fund for the fiscal year beginning October 1 2023 and ending September 30th 2024 by increasing the total budgeted revenues and expenditures by $1,900,000 providing for cability and an effective date thank you let's have the staff report on this one thank you Mr Mayor uh car 4320 is an item related to the city's issuance of two rfps seeking funding for $5.1 million for the construction of the electric utility substation and also $10.8 million for financial for financing several improvements for Warrant sewer including the affluent filters a Trojan UV 400 system and other PM station improvements especially pal station 11 that is connected with the sanitary s moratorium the amendment provides for the recognition of the bank loan proceeds and the appropriation for these capital projects I'm going to ask the finance director if he has additional input we might as well get him warmed up for Budget season sir the only additional comment I'd like to make is we are hoping to be able to bring back the approval for those loans at the August meeting along with the uh Award of contract for the electric utility project because we do have a vendor that provided us a quote for that very good thank you all right any questions from Council this item all right I'll open the public public hearing is there anyone online or in the Chambers wishing to speak on this matter and appearing I'll close the public hearing and ask for a motion to approve moved by councilwoman Bailey seconded by councilman cannibal roll call Madam clerk councilwoman Bailey councilman Canal yes councilwoman aulo yes councilman Davis yes councilman Roth vice mayor FL yes mayor lner yes the motion carried thank you next is a tab 14 a second reading on car number 4308 increasing the city manager's purchasing Authority for Professional Services agreements Mr Pearl thank you Mr Mayor uh tab 14 is the second reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead Florida amending chapter 2 Administration article 8 contracts and purchasing division 2 competitive bid section 2-4 111.1 exemptions from competitive bidding to increase the city manager's purchase Pur purchasing Authority providing for conflicts providing for severability providing for inclusion in the code and providing for an effective date thank you sir no objection we'll wave the staff report as this is a second reading and has been fully uh discussed at the prior meeting is there anyone here from the public or online wishing to speak on this matter seeing none I'll close the public hearing and entertain a motion for approval and second reading moved by councilman Cannibal seconded by the vice mayor let's have a roll call Madam clerk Council Bailey yes councilwoman aula yes councilman Davis yes councilman Roth yes councilman cannibal vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor laar yes the motion carries thank you moving right along to tab 15 Mr Pearl as Mr Mayor tab 15 is a resolution of the city council of the City of Homestead Florida approving a memorandum of understanding between the City of Homestead and Big Brothers Big Sisters Miami Inc establishing a mentoring program for Resident school age youth providing for authorization providing for implementation and providing for an effective date thank you do we have a presentation from Big Brothers and Big Sisters that's great sir all right well real quick do you have a staff report or is uh there is actually the staff report is simply to ask Council and the mayor to approve the tzo and also to ask Mr Gil Nelson to provide additional information well let's have the presentation welcome thank you for hanging in there with us tonight it's a pleasure Mr Mayor vice mayor councel uh this is a followup to our meeting on my presentation on May 22nd and we appreciate the support I'm joined by our vice president of programs aim pleas and just want to walk through this uh deck rather quickly uh Big Brothers Big Sisters has been in existence for over 100 years we were founded by a court clerk in 1904 in New York City and that Court Clerk Ernest couter wanted to prevent kids from going into the juvenile justice system so Big Brothers Big Sisters was born and so as you think about an organization's been around for over a hundred years oh let me make sure I'm going in the right direction okay sorry about that uh we've been serving Miami date County since 1958 and our mission and vision are very clear we believe that all children can achieve their full potential regardless of where they come from language they speak and our mission is to ignite to create and support one toone mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of our youth and as I get into our programs in our last meeting on May 22nd it was abundantly clear that this Council supports mentoring but it was also abundantly clear that you all challenge me bring it all don't just bring school to work bring it all and tonight we're bringing it all and so as we think about our service areas we serve all of Miami day County and and we've expanded to the Florida Keys as well so what better place in Homestead before we even go to the Florida Keys we are working with the uh Key West Police Department as a matter of reference but I want to focus in on what we're doing and what we will do in Partnership and in collaboration with the City of Homestead uh we serve over 3,000 youth on an annual basis throughout Miami Daye County pre pandemic we had about 300 Littles here in the City of Homestead over the course you know keep in mind a little we match them we ask the big the Mentor for at least onee commitment but most matches last 3 years and so we certainly saw a drop off in all of our programming uh during the pandemic and just this past June uh a month ago we gave over $2 million away in postsecondary scholarships when someone becomes a loal in any of our programs any of our programs they are eligible to uh for postsecondary assistance through a number of our partners so I won't bore you with what mentoring does because we all know it it helps you know the efficacy of mentoring academic uh progress social progress as well as just kids feeling more confident in their skin and so the awards we've received over the years just really show our longevity and they show the efficacy of mentoring we became the lead Agency for Tak stock and children and so an organization many are familiar with in June of 2018 my first year as president and CEO we became lead Agency for takestock and children that's why we can leverage Florida Prepaid scholarships for Homestead youth so when I talk about $2 million in scholarships that's not com we're not asking for any money that's not coming out of our budget but it is those Florida Prepaid scholarships that are purchased that we can assign to Homestead students as well Homestead residents who are going to school in the City of Homestead I didn't I took notes from my May 22nd meeting uh let's look at the x-axis I was a former math teacher so the the matching process we engage the matches we engage the parents we provide the support and we guide the match every single match has a program specialist on Mr P's team who will support the match I have four kids none I treat them all differently and so the same thing with our Big Brothers Big Sisters matches we said we meet that little girl right where right where she is and on the y axis going up we prepare the volunteers through training interviews we would when we connect with homestead staff we will do all the training right here on site the homestead staff for the school to work program would never have to leave uh the building if you will and so we encourage family and engagement as well so as we hasten on here's the menu here's everything you all ask me to bring everything Community Based mentoring school to work workplace mentoring that you all approved in our last meeting bigs in school and bigs in blue I'll go quickly 10 seconds on each one Community Based mentoring the signature program in 1904 this is what all we had a big signs up my little brother lives in Liberty City I call as grandmother Valerie I pick up my little brother Isaiah we he took him to his first Marlins game game his first Heat game his dad's incarcerated unfortunately but I was there as his big brother that's Community Based mentoring that will be made available to Homestead uh staff and and residents school to work that's the fastest growing program that's where we engage uh City staff kit homestead school high school students will come here to City Hall once a month matched with a staff member and they can be exposed to Career Pathways little sister Shantel Homestead hosal hospital she was M she was a Homestead High School student match with Big Sister Amy that young lady is now a registered nurse she was saving lives during the pandemic she was matched as a junior in high school uh to uh someone to Amy uh at Homestead Hospital you asked her what she wanted to be when she was first matched she wanted to be a party planner nothing wrong with party planners we like to party but that little girl was exposed and now she's still saving lives so school to work us once a month here at City Hall success I want to be quantitative and be very specific success would be 30 matches in school to work in our phase one 30 matches working with the city manager I think we can get there and school to work leads to this is another menu option they're they're not all required in phase one we can phase this as often as you need it or as much as we need it's one hour a week in a local school typically when we engage law enforcement they visit the school it does a few things one their presence two their match with the with the child at the local school and they they can even match at our headquarters as well but we want to keep everything here in the City of Homestead so bigs and school is one one hour a week helping with homework building their relationship and most importantly helping these kids have that friend I talked about First Responders We Love Our First Responders the flag that sits in my office my first Mentor was my late Uncle deputy sheriff Gary Claypool and so as we think about bigs and blue uh this allows our First Responders to be matched they could be matched in school to work they can so when the high school students come once a month law enforcement can be involved there we have most municipalities involved in this Miami dpd is involved City of Miami and and City of Miami Gardens so we would love to get Homestead police department uh through school to work through bigs in school through community based it doesn't matter and any of the one toone programs involved in bigs and blue so as I close the process is very simple we interview The Bigs right on site we fingerprint The Bigs because child safety is Paramount to everything we do we do the references and then we uh all the interviews will take place on site I want to keep stressing that because most people tell us Mr Mayor and vice mayor and counil that they just don't have time we bring everything to you so after that interview and the screening we make the match Big Brother Gerard and his little brother Ronald he was a little boy when he was matched now he's a grown man and the litts outgrow The Bigs I don't know what happens there but maybe it's just all the confidence our headquarters were just south of Miami International Airport the homestead lotos on Saturdays from from time to time we have workshops we're putting in a team tech center they will have access free access to our headquarters as well even though all the matches would take place and we'll meet here in Homestead and our impact activities we're doing a back to school event July 27th at our headquarters this is a list of the things we've done kids just got back from Spain farle fishing trips of Florida Fish and Wildlife just exposing these kids to all that beautiful City of Homestead in South Florida has to offer and so as I close it takes little to be big and I just ask you tonight to Let's enter this partnership let's renew the partnership formalize it through anou so that we can make some matches here in the City of Homestead thank you so much very good thank you appreciate it councilman Roth thank you mayor So for anybody that's watching tonight right and we have a huge audience that's watching us tonight how how would they be able to uh apply to be a mentor it's right on the screen so they just use that Q code whatever they call those things what do they call those that that's exactly what it is sir it's a QR code councilman all right good so and then it gives them all the information how they can do that once they click on that QR code they're going hit a little yellow thing it takes them right to the digital application that goes right into the National Database for Big Brothers Big Sisters Miami and of course our national office has access Big Brothers literally watching and so with that once they get into the system then Mr play our VP programs his team will then assign an individual interview and they can pick in their interview what program they want to be a part of great that menu of options sir great thank you and so our staff and as you mentioned the police department those guys have access to this information as well so they can begin to if they want to share time with uh little boy or a little girl whatever it is um and get registered for those programs yes what we would like to do to be more intentional into with the school to work program right here at City Hall we will work with HR uh the city manager and Wendy and HR have been phenomenal we've sent them all the insurance we sent them everything they ask for they already have it so we're ready to come in do a presentation somebody looks just like me will come in it actually will be me and Mr P we'll come in do a presentation for the staff give them a chance to sign up via that same link and then we'll schedule the interviews and fingerprint them right on site great thank you thank you mayor yes sir thank you councilman thank you mayor I could not be more excited about this I um you know when I started on Council almost eight years ago that was the one piece that I thought that I could make a difference in the rest I I thought I'll I'll figure it out as I go um but to help the after school programs I'm I'm in education I'm in preschool and I've been doing it almost 20 years and well 15 um but a lot of my preschoolers were getting into middle school and there was just not enough for them to do and I thought knowing that um you know hopefully I can make a difference so that being said I'm part of a lot of groups I'm on the board of together for children which is is all these different organizations here locally we help with resources help tie each other up with whatever it is that that we're looking for um so my question is how do you find the the littles that that uh that you're helping the lotos we work with the schools primarily the the entry points for the Loos come from the schools they know what kids they see them every day okay uh so we would get referrals from the schools parents existing Littles uh they can refer their friends and family members that word of mouth is very very strong other community- based organizations we would like to uh leverage like the rotary clubs and coming down and speaking to any Civic groups to let them know we recruit bigs through that lens I know your question was more about the children but schools are our biggest feeder for Littles can I encourage you to partner up with an organization like citrus that deals with foster children absolutely because there is such a huge need there and they are not necessarily going to schools and Homestead because they're getting busted out somewhere else okay and um I would I would really personally love to see that happen and I offer myself whatever I can do to help um bridge that Gap um I think that is where a lot of our children especially in the southwest are just not being helped they're just getting bounced around from one therapist to another from one school to another so anything that I can do to uh to help with that we we look for you we need that help and with your uh program with the bigs in blue I don't think that you'll find another uh police department that is more engaged with just boots on the ground and Community Police and just going out to where they know that they're needed um and just shooting hoops and talking and making conversation so I look forward to see how great that piece of it goes as well thank you Council thank you yes all right so uh we have anyone in the public in the chambers are online wishing to speak on this matter okay hearing none we'll close the public hearing and now I'll ask for a motion to approve move by councilwoman Bailey second by councilman Roth have a roll call vote housan Davis yes councilwoman Bailey yes councilwoman abula yes councilman cannibal yes councilman Roth yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carries right looking forward to it thank you all thank you thanks for coming down and waiting tonight all right tab 16 yes Mr Mayor tab 16 is a resolution of the city council of the City of Homestead Florida establishing a proposed operating millage rate of adorm Taxation establishing a proposed millage rate for Debt Service on the general obligation bonds for the fiscal year beginning October 1 2024 and ending September 30th 2025 and providing for an effective date thank you Mr manager I kick it off to Mr Perez good evening um you may have already known but uh property values in City of Homestead went up by over 19% the highest in in dat County I think following us Florida city had an increase of 17% and most of that was from an increase in existing values not as much from from new construction um what we're asking at this time is to keep the mill rate we're asking for the status quo keep the millit rate at the 6.0 206 and that gives us an opportunity as we continue to develop the budget that by the time we reach the budget hearing hopefully we can present to you a reduction in the mil rate we know that that was a directive given by council at the at you know last year's budget hearing um just to point out that for the average homesteaded property whose assessed taxable value is uh 158,000 the city's portion of the operating millage comes out to $952 that they would be paying to the city um the debt millage rate is being reduced to 2580 from 3075 to generate the proceeds for the annual Debt Service on the general obligation Bond and that'll always continue as property values go up The Debt Service Remains the Same that millage rate will come down that's it he thank you I'd love to have a deeper dive into why our average homesteaded taxable value is still so low because we have so many you know multi gated communities that are predominantly owner occup that have sold for far more than $150,000 it just it seems artificially low I mean the East side's outb built the west side so I you know I I I know what uh some of the averages are for Homestead and some of the communities sister communities to the north and we're a tenth of that it's it's the taxable value okay the no I get that the tax just value is like 3 58,000 MH yeah but e even so with all of the Acquisitions over the past past few years it's uh kind of eye openening as to the real impact to cities as to the to the caps on on the the taxable assessment but that's another conversation for another uh another day uh Council Roth yeah I had the same inquiring mind about the the average price of of the values of their homes yeah it just didn't make any sense and um and one of in in the one ones I I did mention to City staff and I wasn't sure if anybody else had mentioned that to them that prior to the September 3rd public Hearing in the past I think we've requested and asked for a workshop prior to so we can get all seven of us in a room and start talking about our priorities and uh whether we need additional police officers which I'm sure we will with the the the amount of population increases we've had and uh maybe some Park and wreck stuff that we need to look at vice mayor brought up the the uh the new uh Homestead Regional Park that obviously uh the past was total was probably going to cost us 60 or 70 million to get that thing up so I'm sure going to re-engineer some of that and get that Park up and running sooner than than later so but some of those things we can can talk about and uh in some of the the the projects that other council members may want to have so we do it in a public form and get it done prior to so that there's no real uh messes when we get to the public meeting so that's just my suggestion and I would add all while driving to an ultimate reduction in the military correct as we did last year we've done it for several years in a row now we've uh done more and and continued to to reduce the uh the millage rate correct mayor did you have a Mr Mayor Mr Mayor yes so the administration has plans to actually schedule a workshop uh sometime I think uh second week or so in August well before we come back with the actual budget in September so Council will have an opportunity to vet the recommended budget and we make changes as you deem fit so there is a plan in place for that thank you sir all right yes I'll just piggyback a little bit on councilman Roth I appreciate him bringing up uh the the need for possible additional employees across the city and I want every Department to give us your wish list we need to know what your wants are what your needs are and we'll help make that decision in the long run but uh ultimately driving to that lower tax rate is the the number one goal but uh we want to make sure our citizens are taken care of with the right Personnel when needed thank you and finally I would really my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to staff for not putting as an agenda item going to the maximum rate as has been done in in Prior years that was uh I advised something I'm glad we've we've gotten away from uh councilman Davis anything to add no sir councilwoman alala thank you mayor yes um I definitely want to keep our our military going in the down direction as we've been doing in the last couple years I think that's been um a great Initiative for us as a whole um but I if we end up keeping the millage rate the same I can't imagine increasing you know our residents taxes $1,000 doll and then not having more officers on the road and the parks improved and our um you know Services where they need to be so we just got to keep a focus on that I know we'll have more conversations in the future so I'll leave it up thought thank you thank you all right did we already have a motion moved by Bailey second by councilman Roth open the public hearing if I didn't already do so for public comment close the public hearing then and ask for a roll call vote setting the proposed uh tentative operating and debt millage rates councilman raw councilwoman Bailey councilman cannibal councilwoman abula yes councilman Davis yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lawner yes the motion carries thank you thank you all thank you staff and Finance in particular all right that takes us to tab 17 yes Mr Mayor tab 17 is a resolution of the city council of the City of Homestead Florida adopting and authorizing the submission of the fiscal year 2425 annual action plans the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for approval establishing a budget for Community Development block grant and home investment partnership funds providing for implementation and providing for an effective date thank you sir Mr manager what do you have for us on this one so the administration is asking the mayor and Council to approve the resolution so that we'll be able to submit the Community Development block grants as well as the home annual action plan as required by hard uh let me have the finance director take the tund that he seems to want to take the accolite the city for the first time is receiving the home funds this is his sixth weeks in the spotlight yes I want to be in the spotlight believe me so make the big announcements um with respect to the cdbg plan obviously there it's outlined in your uh in your agenda and it includes projects for Parks improvements at harrisfield and JD red the stem program the swimming program and The Debt Service for the section 108 loan and what the mayor is alluding to is that for the first time ever we are now the recipients of Home funds um for the initial year it's $388,000 388 732 um the one caveat is that for the initial year there's a threshold that we have to meet of $500,000 so the Delta of 11,268 we have to make that up um we can either make it up through a contribution from the general fund or um maybe in our discussions with arpa we can use arpa funds as as the match for that and then subsequently every year after that we just need to make a 25% match which we can do with basically the affordable housing initiatives that the CRA does good thank you questions from Council is there anyone here wishing to speak on this matter okay seeing none I'll close the public hearing and ask for a roll call vote on Tab uh 16 Mo a motion motion Please Mr May oh okay moved by councilman cannibal second second by councilman Ro thank you councilwoman Bailey yes councilwoman aula yes councilman Ro yes councilman Davis yes councilman canall vice mayor feter yes mayor lner yes the motion carries thank you our next item is tab 18 yes Mr Mayor tab 18 is a resolution of the city council of the City of Homestead Florida adopting and authorizing the submission of the amended Consolidated plans and the home investment partnership home program and citizen par participation plan to submit to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for approval providing for implementation and providing for an effective date thank you sir Mr manager so this is actually a housekeeping item so I'm going to ask if Finance director to provide details and like the manager said it's a housekeeping item when we first did the Consolidated plan the 5-year consolid plan obviously we didn't know anything about homes so once we became aware of the the uh home funds this is basically an amendment to incorporate that into our Consolidated plan so again it's just a housekeeping item very good thank you is there anyone wishing here wishing to speak on this matter he I'll close the public hearing uh this item is now moved by councilwoman Bailey seconded by vice mayor Fletcher there's nothing further we'll have a roll call vote councilwoman aula yes councilman Roth yes councilwoman Bailey yes councilman cannibal councilman Davis yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carries thank you let's move on to tab 19 yes Mr Mayor tab 19 is a resolution of the city council the City of Homestead Florida accepting a grant award from the Hispanic access foundation for the urban Forest reforestation project authorizing the city manager to execute the grand agreement and related documents providing for implementation and providing for an effective date thank you Mr manager so it's worth noting and actually placing on the record that the project will increase Equitable access to Urban Tree canopy by planting a total of 898 native trees as well as noninvasive grasses and Landscape Improvement in what is considered disadvantaged communities within the city uh there is a list of locations that was submitted with respect to this grant uh what I'm asking for is for Council to Simply accept the Grant and we come back with a revised location list by touching base with each of you so that you guys can vet and advise us as to recommended locations very good thank you sir and let me just thank and commend staff for finding and winning this this money you know nearly a th000 trees is a big deal really is makes makes a big difference in the Aesthetics and feel of the community council any questions comments all right moved by councilwoman Bailey second by councilman cannibal is there anyone wishing to speak on this matter I'll close the public hearing and ask the clerk to do a roll call vote councilman Davis yes councilwoman Bailey councilman canabal councilman Roth councilwoman abula yes vice mayor feter yes mayor lner yes the motion carried thank you Mo on to tab 20 yes Mr Mayor tab 20 is a resolution of the city council of the city of homestate Florida authorizing the accessing of various contracts via the interlocal purchasing system tips and approving an interlocal agreement with Region 8 Education Service Center provide for Cooperative purchasing services to the city through the tips program providing for implementation providing for an effective date thank you Mr manager so the good thing about this legislation is it grants us the ability to utilize previously competitively solicited contracts by public agencies and cities and municipalities for free so we'll be able to as a member in purchasing Cooperative uh tools vendors as well as contracts that are in place uh we really need this type of contracts like we've been making Savings in some of our prior commitments uh earlier this evening we're able to demonstrate that we made a substantial Savings in the roof replacement project so this is one of those platforms that you can buid a contract out without actually doing solicitation by yourself so he saves us time he saves project cost and it makes things very timely uh we intend to utilize this contract if it's approved tonight for the procurement of the next item which is tab 21 good thank you questions from Council move by by vice mayor second by councilman Roth any public comment so roll call vote councilwoman aula yes councilman Davis yes councilman Ron councilwoman Bailey councilman cannibal vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion Carri thank you let's move on to tab 21 yes Mr Mayor tab 21 is a resolution of the city council of the City of Homestead Florida accepting Proposal with Vortex Services LLC through the interlocal purchasing system tips for the completion of an sses cycle 2 Wastewater Basin repair project authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute an agreement exempting the project from competitive bidding in accordance with section 2-41 11185 of the city code providing for implementation and providing for an effective date thank you Mr manager this is one of those good things that we are hoping to accomplish before the end of this fiscal year sorry before the end of the calendar year rather uh we intend to use this contract that has been approved under tab 20 to be able to deliver pum Station 22 pum Station 8 pum station 13 P station 24 and P station 25 inclusive of the basins which is the conveyance system that Serv is all the residential units associated with those pump stations to be able to address the sanitary s moratorium in the city the good news is that the vendor had assured us that they'll be able to deliver sometime this year so we should be able to rever back to durm to lift the temporary moratorium associated with the pump SS outstanding thank you questions from Council we have a motion to approve moved by councilman cannibal second by vice mayor Fletcher any public comment close the public hearing and have a roll call vote councilwoman Bailey councilman ra yes councilwoman avula yes councilman cannibal yes councilman Davis yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lner yes the motion carried thank you uh there doesn't appear to be any new council member business listed on the agenda uh anything from Mr manager so just a point of information we received information from Miami date County uh agriculture manager Mr Charles lead that the Miami dat County in consultation and coordination with Community Health of South Florida would like to host a health fair for f workers in the City of Homestead for everybody in South V uh this is probably going to come up in the second or third week of September so just want to give councelor a heads up very good thank you that concludes your new business yes just a little bit of good news in one of our prior meetings actually in the special call we informed Council about the the emergency repairs that we intended to do on the on the air conditioning system just to report back that the second chill ad the roof has been completed so you continue to see that the building has come back to life good yes what a difference thank you all right uh any further from the attorneys all right Council Bailey thank you mayor real quick um future innovators and creators along with the Southwest advisory committee and myself we are hosting a big summer Art Festival July 28th at Harris Field it is a book bag giveaway along with games food trucks Raffles bunch of fun stuff so July 28th harrisfield also just a heads up that the firefighter of the year is coming up again so please share where possible for the community to be able to nominate their firefighter of the year really quick as I mentioned last month Starbucks chose Homestead as the first place in Florida uh where they hosted their all Allin Allin um program where they give back to communities in need so we were we were very lucky to be chosen it was a huge huge event at ficho Williams the turnout was amazing so just a very big thank you to Starbucks along with all of the organizations that helped them put that Allin program together thank you mayor thank you councilwoman um councilman cannibal anything no councilman Davis nothing Mr Mayor thank you thank you coun Roth thank you two things uh one announcement for the uh military Affairs council is having their annual Vegas night at the Redland Golf and Country Club if you haven't been to that event before for uh you pay $25 to get in and you gamble all night long and buy cocktails and joy fun and food and all the money we rais there goes to the military Affairs Council which helps to uh help families out at the uh Air Force Base here and the other thing I have is last month I mentioned or asked about finding who's responsible for the repair and maintenance and repaving of Flagler from chrome to 11th Street do we have any information on that yes we do um we reached out to miate County which is responsible and has jurisdiction over flag Avenue as we speak the county has a millionary construction project for that Corridor so what the city would love to do if you look at the upper font presentation we had a provision for a sanitary sewer along that Corridor so we want to see if we can either do a joint participation project or perhaps go ahead of the county so love perhaps love to go ahead of the county to put the the sanitaries who are in the ground and have the county come back and pave it since they have a project in place great thank you and then uh just a mention of the roads there's some potholes on I want to say it's 162 basically in front of the Dr DR Horton project they repaved portions of the road there but there's been some potholes that's opened up with all the rain we've had so send some by just to fill those up for us will it's just uh just south of I'm sorry just north of of Lucy or North Canal I think it's 162 Avenue Farm uh that's um the Parker Point project right yeah I think it's right yeah around the corner they're where they're doing the the new they had the grand opening there this week if any went to it yeah kind of across from our electric substation that's on right exactly thank you all right thank you councilman Roth Council alala thank you mayor just an announcement about our Citywide book collection book drive that we're having on July 27th which is h a Saturday morning 9:30 to 12:30 uh the kianis of Homestead organization will be gladly receiving those book donations and then we'll redist redistribute them at uh various local events in town um special thanks to staff for helping to put this together and for mayor and counsel for supporting this initiative to get more books in the hands of children in our community also uh wanted wanted to make sure everyone has on their calendars for our faith-based uh families and organizations to come out August 10th for the praise and worship concert that we will be hosting I think it's a beautiful Endeavor and I think it'll be a wonderful blessing in our community we will be uh granting that donation check that our mayor uh um nominated the organization the soup kitchen to and so I think it'll be a wonderful evening so thank you to uh County I'm sorry staff and for all of our um volunteers that will be helping that evening and um we'll have some great talents so see you all there thank you thank you councilwoman vice mayor Fletcher a couple quick things so uh first off uh just uh important announcement not sure if they're still out there or not but uh Amazon did notice uh jobs on Friday evening for 1,00 positions at the new distribution center near the Air Force Base which is Phase One of before they start in opening the one in Homestead so uh look at amazon.com and and if you want to have a job they might have an opportunity for you um had the opportunity to uh go to the uh have a meeting with the Greater Miami convention and visitors bureau president and his staff along with uh a vice president uh from uh NASCAR and uh Al Garcia from Homestead Miami Speedway in regards to uh us going after the 20 or I'm sorry the the Nascar championship again and I can tell you the meeting was uh very fruitful um we've gained a lot of uh opportunities working with uh different organizations to to attempt to go after that bid in 2026 uh more to come on that but just want to make sure everybody's aware that uh we are in the in the high Runnings in order to get that uh race back down here in Homestead along with some other things that are going to be coming up soon uh wanted to say I was extremely impressed with the uh Big Brothers Big Sisters uh presentation tonight uh I I just wrote wow down uh I'm going to be uh signing up as a big brother there so uh I would ask my colleagues to look at doing the same thing um quickly on uh the uh public work side uh I had a discussion tonight with the lenar representative that was here uh they have come through and uh dug right down the middle of a recently repaved Palm Drive uh and put a sewer pipe in there uh and I've been assured that uh lenar will be coming back to resurface that once they get through their main construction uh process here but uh let's always keep an eye on those developments that do have those impacts in our city and and uh to kind of go back at the start of the meeting I might have sounded a little upset or I just want to say I'm passionate about uh some of the things we're doing here in the city okay uh call me crazy but you know from the private sector I think we can find efficiencies and find ways to do things faster uh we have a lot of smart people that work here in the city and and sometimes we tend to stay in our own Lanes think outside of the box that's all I ask think outside of the box look at different ways of trying to to gain those efficiencies and and keep those projects moving that's all with that hope everyone has a great week thank you thank you sir and since I have nothing further I'll ask for a motion to adjourn so say we all good night everyone thank you