##VIDEO ID:eDEwAfvq-TE## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e hold on just a moment I know that uh councilman cannibal is in the building e e you ready Madam clerk good evening everyone and welcome I'd like to call the City of Homestead community redevelopment agency meeting to order today is September 3rd 2024 and it is now um :3 p.m. would you please call The rooll Madam clerk board member Davis board member Roth board member Bailey board member canabal here board member aula here Vice chairman Fletcher here chairman lner here all right thank you are there any uh deletions or deferrals on tonight's agenda no Mr chair thank you all right we have a force tab one which are the uh minutes of July 17th 2024 do I have a motion to approve it's moved by Council by board member Bailey seconded by board member Davis no further comments all in favor any opposed next item is tab two car number 4376 the CRA fiscal year 202 2 budget Mr Pearl uh yes Mr chair uh tab two is a resolution of the board of the community redevelopment agency of the City of Homestead Florida approving the community redevelopment agency budget for fiscal year 2425 and directing the city manager or design to submit the budget to Miami DAV County and the city council for their respective approval providing for an effective date thank you Mr director thank you Mr chair so the proposed fiscal year 2425 5 community redevelopment agency budget focuses on the continuation of our successful commercial and residential Grant programs investments in infrastructure neighborhood Improvement projects and the creation of Economic Opportunity the homestead CRA is required to have its budget approved by September 30th 2024 it is staff's recommendation that the community redevelopment agency board approved the attached resolution approving the homestead CRA annual bud budget for fiscal year 2425 beginning October 1st 2024 and ending September 30th 2025 it is further recommended that the chairman and members of the board direct the city manager or his design to submit the budget to the homestead city council for further approval the proposed budget is a balanced budget of 10,424 313 and now I'll have a h short presentation for you all to go into the budget in further detail very good thank you sir roll the tape as I so we're doing it live tonight um so just a quick overview of our agenda uh we'll go into some of our accomplishments from this fiscal year do an overview of the budget and then take a deeper dive into the operations programs grants infrastructure projects neighborhood Improvement projects and land Improvement projects for this fiscal year so far we have awarded One commercial enhancement Grant three residential Rehabilitation grants and two firsttime home buyer grants we are expecting to present additional grants that are in the pipeline for your review and approval at the next uh CRA board meeting later this month in our project milestones we selected and commenced negotiations with the triangle project development partner purchased and demolished blighted properties for the triangle project initiated the Chrome Marketplace facility improvements and the C board approved the homestead live concept site plan and other initiatives that we've uh brought forth this year were the pathways to home ownership uh we received uh the brownfields grant award and uh we engaged in other community and development opportunities um around crra projects and uh opportunities for the community as a reminder it is the CRA mission to eliminate slum and blight thereby increasing property valuations so all of our programs grants and initiatives for the upcoming fiscal year will be in line with this overarching goal the proposed budget as I mentioned earlier is a balanced budget of 10,424 313 that is approximately a 177% increase from the previous fiscal year we break out these costs broadly into programs projects employee costs operational costs and then other administrative costs which include our um annual administrative payments to the Miami D County so our staffing and operations this year we are presenting two additional positions one is the assistant director for redevelopment and capital projects as you'll see there are going to be uh many capital projects undertaken by the CRA this position would complement our existing assistant director's concentration in operations with a further uh concentration on Capital and Redevelopment initiatives we're also proposing the addition of a budget analyst who will be able to assist with ongoing compliance and financial obligations of the CRA under programs we are allocating $435,500 Improvement um Grant award is to commercial properties under business incentive grants awarding $400,000 in incentives under residential Rehabilitation rehabilitating 10 homes and under the first-time home buyer program assisting six firsttime home buyers as a reminder slash overview of our various programs uh for business incentives this is a flexible incentive for new and expanding businesses we have budgeted $400,000 for that uh program in the upcoming year for commercial grants uh we have budgeted $125,000 for facade and accessibility improvements to existing businesses and under our residential grants we have allocated $230,000 for residential improvements and Rehabilitation as well as $100,000 for the first-time home buyer assistance in the upcoming fiscal year our project goals are broadly broken out into infrastructure improvements infrastructure planning the kec beautiful initiative which is formerly known as rock the Block downtown Homestead initiatives and Southwest neighborhood initiatives uh each of these we'll talk a little bit more about in the upcoming slides the only projects that we're not going to delve more deeply into are uh triangle shotgun and the Southwest new homes projects these are not included in this presentation because they are not anticipated to have a fiscal impact yet so in infrastructure projects our budget includes $500,000 for Southwest Fourth Street Electrical undergrounding $640,000 for the avocado Village pable Water improvements $120,000 for the Sixth Avenue drainage improvements $240,000 for undersized water main upgrades $1.5 million for the Flagler Avenue gravity sewer M and then $200,000 each for three Citywide Master plans funding the CRA portion only for storm water water and sewer and transportation so our electrical undergrounding these are improvements to the electrical infrastructure along Southwest 4 street that are going to assist with improving resilience and reliability for customers in this area the infrastructure Improvement again avocado Village uh this improves the portable portable water system within this avocado Village neighborhood the CRA funding serves as a match to other Grant funds and will upgrade aged and insufficient water mains the Sixth Avenue drainage project improves storm water drainage along 6th Avenue which contributes to flood mitigation and resiliency during storm events and the undersized water mains is an allocation for um upgrading water mains throughout the CRA that are currently insufficient to meet the needs of modern homes and businesses the Flagler Avenue gravity sewer is um going to address an extremely urgent infrastructure need uh this is going to allow for homes and businesses to connect to sanitary sewer the current main is undersized and does not meet future demand and uh recently suffered breaks so this will be a very needed Improvement and what is also important about this project is that it coordinates with a planned Miami dat County roadway project so that we're able to complete our work just before they come in and do a resurfacing project so we're not um doing double work under neighborhood improvements we have budgeted $992,500 for the keep crra beautiful Initiative $964 th000 for Crow Marketplace $300,000 for Homestead live and $117,000 for downtown business signage Phase 2 these are the um identifier signs that you see on the businesses on Chrome Avenue for keep CR beautiful we have identified two corridors the Southwest 10th Avenue Corridor is directly adjacent to the shotgun property so it's our plan that as we begin to market the shotgun property for development opportunities will also make an impact in the surrounding neighborhood by doing landscaping improvements um providing painting and other improvements to these homes and similarly Southwest third terce is directly adjacent to the triangle property so as we begin to see movement on that project and on that site will also be impacting the surrounding neighborhood with Landscaping painting and other improvements what's also important about Southwest third Terrace is it's the location of the Ernestine Jackson Seymour Park which is slated for a new playground in the upcoming fiscal year chome Marketplace this funding allocation is a continuance of the roof replacement that was authorized this year so it's a carryover of funds as we enter the new fiscal year the parking lot improvements and then an allocation for tenant Improvement contributions as we uh remarket this property and get a uh developer partner on board and finally Homestead live so the allocation here is for Design Services in the upcoming fiscal year we will be launching a solicitation for an operator partner on this site the intent is to actually bring our partner on board prior to the completion of design Ser of architectural Design Services so that we're not uh coming back with changes later once we have an operator on board who may uh like or dislike certain uh choices that were made and in our land improvements we have the allocation of $160,000 for the demolition of unsafe structures this is an annual um allocation that we make uh for various blighted structures throughout the CRA and $420,000 for landscaping which is also an annual uh contra ribution to Landscaping within the CRA and that's an overview of the proposed fiscal year 25 budget I would like to thank you for your time this evening and if you have any questions I'll be happy to address them and if you please uh make a motion to approve our budget we greatly greatly appreciate it thank you Mr director appreciate it we've uh taken it up quite a few notches this year on all our budget presentations thus far so I'll open it up to board questions or comments who'd like to kick it off remember Ro yeah I don't have a question as much as about the budget but uh infrastructure you you mentioned the sewer uh improvements and enhancements um and this is maybe directed towards staff Maui to the South Campbell to the north US1 to the East and Flagler to the West are there any properties that are not able to connect to sewer system uh currently in the those areas because those are that's an area that we're I think we're looking at for some development to to take place but if there's no access to sewer there it causes problems so maybe we need to look at that thank you Comm uh council member we actually in the committee of the whole there is a new one of the items we're going to bring to council is a new infrastructure master plan that determines what is the Baseline what do we have in the ground today what do we need to see at least for a 20e period to make sure you don't keep coming back to council every other year to ask for infrastructure improvements once the master plan is finalized for the infrastructure side of it which is Warr and sewer and storm water and transportation then we'll be able to make a projection how we can face the Capital Improvements to answer your question directly whether there is any property today that's unable to connect that's something that we need to check on our records to determine having said all that I think uh one of the biggest pivot in all this is once we have this master plan in place we should be able to begin to fund them moving forward uh the reason we targeting the one on flag street is that that pipe had broken twice spilling sewage on the street you don't want miid County War to come back with a new moratorium so we have to Fast Track that uh we are hoping to give the consultant I believe we give them uh 9 months to finalize the war andu master plan uh so that by sometime middle of next year we should be able to have a clearer picture as to what the city state of the earth is in terms of what we have available and what needs to be done thank you that was all thank you answer your question okay very good it'sing very good okay um board member Davis mayor I'd like to to make a suggestion and that at this point the CRA we're gonna have a new director we're going to have two new major employees I think it would be a very good time for us to to do a process Improvement review some may call it an audit just to get a good foundational moment for the all the new people that are coming on board to the CRA this is where you stand and I think that could be a very valuable thing for us to consider Mr manager would you like to address that Yes actually he took the words out of my mouth we actually had a requested the cies internal auditor RSM to give us a proposal to look at our whole city process Improvement measures in terms of Grants applications and the way we've manage grants as well as now that you brought up CRA we work together with the c folks to create a proper Baseline in terms of past practices what are the best practices for moving forward where have we done well where do we need improvements with the condition and subject to the consultant giving us a template on how we can prove ourselves I don't want a consultant coming here and telling me you've done bad here you didn't do well here what do I need to do to self improve which is the main issue that I need to get addressed hear what you needed to hear board member D agreed I think it's exactly what we need to do very good thank you C board member Bailey thank you um exciting stuff again um I I think my only question is regarding the traffic study which I'm sure we are all very excited about um and seeing that this is split between different areas does that mean that if for some reason other areas aren't ready or able to start yet we could start within the CRA to have those traffic studies completed so the intent is for this to be a Citywide master plan um will defer to the Consultants as far as um methodology if they're going to concentrate in one area and move systematically or if they'll be rolling out their studies uh Citywide um but definitely we'll be working with the public works department to make sure that this gets done exped Step One is Citywide Step One is a city-wide master plan yes and the CRA contribution will be part of that Master Plan okay thank you question council member can I in the committee of the whole there is an item for the transportation master plan tonight for Council to approve that so that the consultant can start work immediately uh we are very mindful of the fact that there is a deadline set which is the building moratorium so all these Master plans we expect all of them to be done prior to the expiration of the of the moratorium that's great to hear I just thought if there was an opportunity to you know this brt hopefully is going to be working as well as they promised soon so I thought if there was an opportunity to start within the CRA and make sure that that was going smoothly um but no I do understand the need for a Citywide thank you good thank you board member aala thank you chair I wanted to ask um with regards to the infrastructure projects are any of these under funding where an item won't be completed 100% in 2025 um so the as far as the funding amount um these are all complementing general fund projects or Grant funded projects that we intend to have the full amount um but for instance the undersized water mains is an example where that may be an ongoing project as we see the needs identified by the master plan there may be future year allocations needed okay and then are there any areas within the budget that you feel might be able to use additional funds to achieve the mission the CRA Mission and I'm I'm just putting into perspective that we've got about 900 $900,000 in the grant programs which I love the purpose behind the grant pro programs but I don't think that we have year after year fully funded those Grant initiatives and so what I don't want to do is underfund other areas of the budget where we could be maximizing our purpose and our mission because we have almost a million dollars allocated somewhere else so just food for thought is this a one hearing can I come in yes so one of the new initiatives I've rolled out in the city since I came on board is the Dual process of budgeting this month you're going to approve the city's budget for fiscal year 25 we will come back in six months for what we call a Media budget amendment that's when you capture areas that you've underfunded or overfunded and make adjustments so if the CRA is also seeing that kind of trend at the Media budget amendment is an opportunity to fix those challenges I love that opportunity thank you I'll rest there thank you Mr Vice chair yes I I want to thank staff for putting this uh presentation together again a lot more detail this time than previous as far the only main question I had is uh the downtown business business size signs phase two how many total phases are there so this phase two will be uh capturing infill along the current Corridor between Maui and second um in the following fiscal year we'll evaluate whether um those signs are going to be expanded to um North to Fourth Street in order to capture the remainder of the historic District okay thank you I did have a discussion last week uh with assistant city manager Kamar Brown on uh just general signage and branding of the City of Homestead and I think we're all going to come back to another Workshop here in the near future to to look at how we can make those things very cohesive so uh just keep that in the back of your mind but other than that uh very good uh presentation thank and let me piggy back on that for clarification that phase the $177,000 phase two that's for the individual business signage correct not the wayf finding sign yes that's correct typically the the black and white signage of various shapes is chosen by by the businesses okay yes that's correct yeah very good board member accountable anything to add no okay couple of quick questions um and I want to be sure that I I heard right or we have some clarification are we going to design a I mean I'm sorry are we going to pause the Design Services on Homestead live pending bringing in a partner I mean I don't know why we would want to expend anything further until we had a potential operator in place yes that's correct okay so it's not we're just going to do a little bit more and then wait we're not going to do a complete pause all right and then a little bit to piggyback on um comments from from from everyone else you know the the 230,000 that you have budgeted for residential that's for next year that's not anything that's in the pipeline correct you already have okay so here's my question to council I just wanted to see where you where your thoughts were on this move that entire allocation for the residential upgrades to the economic incentive category I mean in the next few months we're going to have another sit down with the sheret people we've got uh business flare working and just thinking out loud I'm wondering if we need to have a deeper Treasure Chest to help incentivize and and attract businesses the residential program has seemed to be very unwieldy and very slow moving and I just you know wonder what any thoughts or or um preference was would be for you know either eliminating it for a year or pairing it down somewhat in order to uh to enhance our economic development side of the house before Council of Pines um we're definitely open to making those changes um I would like to advocate for the continued funding of the program whether that's at a reduced level from the intended 10 Awards um but I believe it is a much needed program especially for our elderly and lowincome residents um and those who may be facing Code Compliance challenges in the next fiscal year and well frankly now it's our um intent to work closely with code compliance to make sure that is part of their enforcement efforts they're also educating that there is the ability for these residential Improvement Grants to help cure some of those code violations like fences uh Windows roofs those kinds of minimum housing standards all right but that's not really the angle we've seen in the past that has been folks coming in saying we need a new roof or we'd like to have impact windows or we want to replace offense I don't recall that there's ever been a component of those applications that this will help bail us out of a Code Enforcement issue and I'm all for for helping folks who don't have the ability to come into compliance but that's not really that's not my feeling of what we've seen in the program in the past and that's a that a fair assment exactly that's a fair assessment and that's a a new strategy as we've seen the interest in the program um you know not necessarily be as High um this year we've decided that it would be a good idea to use this additional tactic to help uh bring properties into the kind of repair that we need to see so generally is it is it a flat is it a limit of 15 or is a limit of 20 per house it is a limit of $20,000 per house the board a few months ago um made that change it used to be 15 okay all right so you know as you said this is generally 10 10 properties yes you know I'm torn I really want to see some economic deel some meaningful Economic Development it will create jobs to allow folks to do their own repairs and and maintenance member AA thank you chair I I'm fine with reducing that to let's say a 100,000 and pumping the rest into the business incentive but the caveat is is that we need to monitor it closely because with the new code enforcement director online and with rules being enforced we need to be kind of sensitive to that and I I'm I'm gearing more towards having more grace and favor for the elderly in those cases but with the midyear review we can certainly um revise that if necessary but I agree I like the idea of pumping up the business incentives and seeing how we can um bring more Economic Development to the CRA thank you and thank you and with the caveat that we're going to focus on folks who have code en Elderly with code enforcement issues that we would help repair all right so very good so when it comes time to adopt this we'll look for that that amendment to to move that money around board member Davis yes sir I mean the I I in complete agreement with my colleague that we can reassess this movement at a later time based on the quantifiable need um because we do need to bring those businesses in we hear it all the time and we need to do something valuable to bring that about so shifting that money at this point re-evaluating at a later date if they we have those elderly outside of cod compliance that money goes right back into that pot again to help those folks out I think that's a I think that's a good way to to utilize that money thank you all right so let me open this up to the public now and ask if there is anyone who would like to comment with respect to the proposed CRA budget this is the not general fund but the CR go on down Susan Santino 2610 Northeast 3D I just have a question about CR a uh budgeting does that fix the sidewalks on Chrome I trip every time I walk a a block it's might be my Clumsy feet but I think it's the uh pavers are popping up talking about downtown yeah the papers well as a side issue we have a uh Federal Transit Grant those are all going to be removed with a smooth replaced with a smooth surface okay so I guess the short answer is no but we're not unmindful of that okay thank you I don't want I don't want to break a hip thank you we don't want you to either all right is there anyone online anyone else wishing to speak on the proposed CRA budget all right I'll close the public hearing then and ask for a motion to approve approve the budget as may be amended pursuant to the comments that we had here tonight as amended with the um movement of $130,000 from the residential Improvement into the economic incentives okay can I second with the request that 6 months from now when we're reevaluating the budget that you let us know how it is going with those residential I know that there are times where we have a bunch and they're all easily um put through and then there are other times that a lot of people aren't qualifying for whatever reason so if we see that there is a big need and they're going well we could we can reassess it that yeah let's let's not tell folks we're out of money when when that 100 is is committed let's continue so that that we can have that that report okay are there any further comments councilman all right well you're going to Second it it's already been moved okay so um all in favor well let's see do we need a roll call on that one I don't think so nope I think we can have a roll call on the um approval of the budget as Amendment on first reading of the CRA so let's have a roll call Board member Davis yes board member cannibal board member Roth yes board member aula board member Bailey Vice chairman Fletcher yes chairman lner yes the motion carries all right okay is there anything further from this board for the CRA further reports any further public comments motion to adjourn moved by board member Bailey seconded by board member Avala all in favor all right the CRA meeting stands adjourned and we will um convene the um committee the whole meeting in about five minutes thank you all I'm sorry special call e e e e e e e e e good evening everyone I'd like to call the City of Homestead um special call council meeting to order for the purpose of considering on first reading the fiscal year 2024 2025 um bu our first public budget hearing today is September 3rd and it 2024 and it is now 5:41 p.m. Madam Court could you call the role please councilman Rong councilwoman aula here councilman cannibal councilman Davis councilwoman Bailey vice mayor Fletcher here mayor La I'm here Mr manager are there any additions deletions or deferrals no Mr chair thank you all right Mr attorney uh yes Mr Mayor we have to read the following statement into the record as we begin the proceedings the city of homestead's proposed operating millage rate is 59604 Mills which is 1% less than the previous year's millage rate of 60206 Mills and the proposed voted debt millage rate is 00258 Ms the rolled back millage rate is 5.14 Ms the proposed operating millage rate rate of 59604 Ms is 18.88% above the roll back rate of 5.14 Mills thank you sir all right Mr manager I understand you might have a presentation on the budget sir before we roll into the presentation I crave your Indulgence to make a quick brief remarks over the past four months our Administration have been dedicated to ensuring that our budget reflects the city of homestead's core values priorities resiliency programming in order to secure the essential services that keep our city driving I'm incredibly proud of what we've achieved in this short period of time including the preparation of a balanced budget of $274 million approximately which is strategically designed to support our City's growth and essential services this budget is carefully allocated to me diverse needs of our community the general fund is set at $ 77.9 million and supports essential city services while we continue to revitalize our neighborhoods electric utility which is a critical service for our residents is set is funded at $85 million approximately and the war and SE fund starts at $ 28196 million facilitating ongo infrastructure improvements Additionally the solid waste fund is allocated at $18.86 3 million to maintain a clean environment and the health Self Insurance Fund is set at 10.1 $10.88 million to ensure the well-being of our resident of our employees and their offic government officials the remaining $42.6 to4 million comes from various other funding sources in terms of infrastructure we've made significant progress particularly in addressing longstanding issues within our sanitary collection system following the conent agreement with midad County durm we have successfully lifted two of the seven affected pump stations out of moratorium and working strainly on the most important pum station which is pum Station 22 I'm proud and happy to announce that a contractor is scheduled to commence work sometime in the next one week or thereabout this is part of a broader infrastructure master plan which is going to come before Council later tonight with the consideration of a transportation master plan for approval so that the cons consultant can get onto it and subsequent to that we are coming back with a stor water and water and SE Master plans that will be coming before Council for approval as well these plans will enable us to proactively address infrastructure needs in the city to ensure that our roads and sidewalks meet Community needs while enhancing our City's uh resilience looking ahead one of our most ambitious projects is the Redevelopment of the greater Homestead Regional Park the AKA Homestead Sports Complex this 85 ACR side poised to become a premier sports and recreation facility represents approximately $63 million investment in a city's future the park will be developed in phases and we'll be secure we'll be looking towards securing that necessary funding from granting agencies for this major undertaking we are actively pursuing multiple Avenues to ensure that this Vision can be realized in the coming year our Focus will be on optimizing processes to Ser better server residents and businesses making S Services accessible online 24/7 is critical making our services available online 247 is crucial as we drive Economic Development EMP emping our customer service team to provide same day connections we provide Homestead as a preferred place to live and raise families a new Citywide permitting Code Compliance licensing and online payment processing Solutions will also act in in enhancing efficiencies additionally providing an online platform for prospective candidates to apply for city jobs will help attract the best and brightest Public Service profess professionals organizational alignment Innovation and strategic planning are Central to our approach for City's future this budget includes several Personnel enhancements across multiple departments including transitioning some of the part-time employees into full-time Ser job positions we are also reactivating the general Services Department to over Fleet facilities management and asset management and maintenance while renaming several departments to better align with their evolving roles mandates and functions finally we are prioritizing pursuing Grand opportunities in order to maintain this momentum this project this budget proposes creating a dedicated grants Administration and management division within the city manager Office that will be responsible for administering the Citywide Grant process the recent space sport designation offers new opportunities for economic growth and innovation further enhancing our series processs as we look forward to the new fisal year I'm excited about the transformative projects and improvements I have planned for Homestead our staff has laid the ground work for a productive impactful year on all fronts ensuring that we continue to provide exceptional Municipal services in a financially and environmentally conscious manner I conclude this budget remarks with deep gratitude for the opportunity to serve as your city manager but more important importantly I thank the mayor and Council for their clear Direction and confidence in my leadership and I extend my deep profound appreciation to our city staff and especially the directors for their tireless efforts in delivering Services Stellar services to our residents businesses and visitors with a promise that we can do better together we will continue to make Homestead a better place to leave work and Thrive thank you Mr Finance director sir good evening mayor and Council and residents of the City of Homestead tonight's presentation will provide an overview of the fiscal year 2025 proposed budget as well as the proposed millage rate used to develop the general funds proposed budget under our new leadership the goals and objectives for this budget lays a groundwork for exciting changes in the City of Homestead changes will create a framework where both Council and staff can work for a common cause which is to provide the best Services possible to the residents of this great City while spending wisely building safely and O is serving proudly the goals and objectives include a 3 to fiveyear strategic plan that is vital for any organization that provides a clear road map for achieving long-term goals it helps align resources priorities and actions with the organization's vision and Mission by setting measurable objectives and outlining key initiatives a strategic plan ensures that all team members are working toward the same goals fostering collaboration and efficiency to enable a more resilient and sustainable infrastructure the Administration has identified the need for a comprehensive infrastructure master plan which will have three components a Water and Sewer Master Plan Transportation master plan and a storm water master plan organization realignment includes the renaming of several departments to align them with their core mandates creating new separate departments and divisions while shifting other divisions under better suited oversight establishing full-time leadership presence in development services and the city attorney's office the implementation of a Citywide permitting Code Compliance and Licensing solution will Revitalize the the city handles permits Code Compliance violations and business licenses Staffing enhancements is critical to a growing city investing in its existing staff as well as providing much needed human resources to many departments of the city will ensure their success and in turn the overall success of the city and finally the city council has provided clear Direction on its desire for the city to achieve a possible reduction to the M rate this proposed budget is a result of the combined efforts of staff and the council to address the operational needs of the entire city without raising the millage rate the presentation will focus on the following areas of the budget a general fund overview Citywide overview Citywide CIP projects overview Staffing enhancements proposed millage rate and a recap so now let's look at the general fund budget overview property taxes for the city are a result of two components property values and the millage rate also known as the tax rate property values are assessed by the county not the city the Miami dat County property appraisers office is responsible for assessing property values this slide represents calculations based on the values certified by the county on July 1st 2024 the city assesses the millage rate which represents the amount to be paid for every $1,000 of property's taxable assessed value it is important to note that the operating millage rate only impacts the revenues of the general fund and the CRA as you can see the city is recommending a 1% reduction in the millage rate which based on the July 1st 2024 certified values results in property tax revenues of 30,9 31,5 for the general fund this reflects an increase in property tax revenues of $ 5,471 152 on July 18th 2024 one day after the council approved the tenative Village rate of 6.20 6 we were notified by the Miami date County property appraisers office of an error made with the certified values the slide above reflects what the anticipated revised value will be when these values are certified as Final in October 2024 the revised increase in property values will be 11.3% not 19.7% as shown on the previous slide with a 1% reduction in the millage rate the city's property tax revenues are expected to be$ 28,5 29,185 which still represents 2,644 1832 increase over the prior year year however this $2.4 million is lower than the tax revenues based on the July 1st 20124 certified values as a result of the 1% reduction to the millage rate there is a $ 24,26 difference in the estimated nonspendable tax revenues the fiscal year 2025 proposed budget has been developed with the 2,426 584 in property tax revenues as being nonspendable and with an offsetting amount in the contingency account staff plans to propose a budget amendment in October 2024 to reflect the revised revenues and expenditures resulting from the expected change in the property values at that time we can account for the estimated $24,275 difference as additional contingency this is an overview of the general fund sources of revenues please note that this is based on a total general fund budget of 77.93 million which includes the 2.4 million do in nonspendable funds this is being done because technically this is our proposed budget based on the certified values rest assured that the budget was developed without the use of the $2.4 million as you will see in the upcoming slides much of the discussion regarding the general funds budget involves property taxes also known as adalum tax taxes which make up just over 39% or $3.9 million of the funding for the proposed budget the state shared revenues make up approximately 20% of the general funds revenues the state shared revenues include Municipal Revenue sharing of $4.9 million Communication Service tax $1.9 million and the halfon sales tax of $8.5 million combined these account for $15.3 million these are estimates provided by the State Franchise fee includes $1.2 million in fees being generated from the fpnl serviced areas of the city These funds were previously remitted to the county as part of an agreement when the city annexed the area from the county cost allocations and Pilots also referred to as intergovernmental charges are funds paid to the city primarily from the four enterpris funds for use of city services and at the cost of doing business within the city together these make up 22% of the general funds revenues other revenues represent just under 5% of the general funds revenues and these include rents leases and interest income on investments here is an overview of the general funds budget by functions Public Safety represents just over 46.9% of the general funds budget Parks makes up approximately 88.6% while building and planning and Public Works comprise 6.4% and 2.7% respectively Code Compliance a new department created by moving a division out of the police department represents 2.5% of the general fund budget the rest of the Departments are General government making up 32% of the budget transfer other funds includes $400,000 portion of the jet service on the PTP ponds for the multimodal transit center project $111,000 to the home fund and 169,000 to the CIP fund please note that the police budget is at $ 36.5 million while property taxes without the library taxes are at only approximately 28.5% based on anticipated revised revenues there therefore property taxes cover only 78% of the police budget this slide provides a side by-side comparison of each general fund Department's prior year adopted to current year proposed budgets total increase is 12.76% however without the impact of the $2.4 million nonspendable portion the increase to the general fund is really 9.25% stated earlier upon being informed by the county of the issues with the property values staff made sure that the $2.4 million was deemed nonspendable because our budgeted property tax revenues must agree with the dr420 forms required by the state under trim we had to include the $2.4 million as part of the property tax revenues with an offsetting expenditure of the same amount set aside in the contingency account to Ure it would not be considered for spending in developing the budget the significant increases in the general fund expenditures will be based on the spendable increase of 6,391 n84 based on the spendable increase the highlighted changes in the general fund expenditures are as follows 2.5 million dollar investment and new Staffing later in the presentation we provide the detail of the new positions $1.4 million increases to existing Personnel costs for merit or steper increases and enhan compensation or benefits $542,000 increase in the police and fire pass through pension costs this has a matching Revenue Source from the insurance tax premiums a reduction of $325,000 for the elections a cost incurred every other year besides new personnel and capital Improvement projects which will be discussed on later slides other increases for operations include for Public Works $108,000 increase for roadway and sidewalk Improvement cips $100,000 for project and CIP management consulting for General Administration $8,000 cons for consultant for Community Development Division $85,000 for a consultant for strategic planning initiative 50,000 for the family stabilization program a homelessness initiative and $42,000 for other Consulting for the police department $236,000 for the fifth year of the body camera contract which is no longer funded by a grant $210,000 for the shot spotter contract which is no longer funded by a grant $79,000 for computer and server Replacements $110,000 as the estimated f school year 2025 costs for the equipment financing for the replacement of 13 explorers as Patrol vehicles $53,000 for increases to various other contracts for Code Compliance $111,000 is the estimated fiscal year 2025 cost for the equipment financing for two new code vehicles for two new hires from the prior year for parks recreation and Open Spaces $65,000 for increased Supply and repairs for development services $59,000 increase to contracts for inspection services $50,000 for a consultant to perform structural Plan reviews $50,000 for an arborist as a consultant $112,000 for an Shi subscription and 154,000 in other operational enhancements for procurement $53,000 for a bids and administrator as a contract T position $25,000 for openup training seminars on the procurement module $9,000 for increase in property insurance for the Innovation and technology department $43,000 for the net motion software for network security $35,000 for the exchange online migration $770,000 for various contracts and subscription based Information Technology agreements for finance and budget $40,000 for a cost allocation study $50,000 for open guub expert services on the budget module $95,000 for accounting Automation and other Professional Services for human resources $51,000 for a new applicant tracking software $55,000 for a compensation of benefits survey which is usually done every 5 years for special events staff has reprogrammed $225,000 for a National Day of Prayer concert event along with the existing $10,000 for a donation to a non-for-profit organization City staff also recommends the unfund of $80,000 for the New Year's Eve event in the fiscal year 2025 budget but to possibly revisit this at a future time a $331,000 increase to other events providing for unforeseen events that may arise during the year on a separate slide we will provide a listing of all existing special events funded and with some Council recommendations to be considered the parks department has asked for small increases to three events that include funding through Parks these include holiday and Homestead the spring event and the Halloween event finally the last change includes $169,000 transfer for the CIP fund to fund existing equipment financing leases and three procurement projects and a one-time transfer of $111,000 to the new home fund and net miscellaneous reductions of $116,000 to account for the $ 6,391 984 increase in the budget comparing the proposed and spendable fiscal year 2025 general fund budget to the 2024 adopted budget there is an increase of 6,391 1984 we have the same amount in increased revenues to cover the general fund budget for 2025 The increased revenues are primarily due to increases in certain major Revenue sources shown on the slide the most significant increase is from property tax revenues the 2,620 68 in spendable property tax revenues accounts for over 40% of the total increases the increased property tax revenues are primarily the result of increased property values one significant Revenue source is the fpnl franchise fee which represents over 19% of the increase in revenues representing a little over 9% of the revenue increases are increases from the municipal Revenue sharing and ason sales tax the city relies on the estimates provided from the state for these revenues $543,000 of the increases from the insurance tax premium funds which are used to pay the police and fire pass through pension costs part of the general funds budget includes the fiscal year 2025 impact for CIP projects being approved as part of the proposed budget the total costs of the projects are $1,315 727 but through some financing the impact of the fiscal year 2025 budget is $291,400 to summarize this includes two new vehicles for the Code Compliance department for two new hires from the prior year 13 replacement vehicles for the police department along with computer and server Replacements cost to cover the electrical and structural miction cost related to the 40-year recertification and an industrial ceiling plan for the warehouse at procurement partial funding for a Parks project these are just the cips funded by the general fund in a later slide we will see an overview of all cips funded for fiscal year 2025 this slide shows the special events budgets for fiscal year 2025 as stated earlier the highlighted amounts reflected small increases requested by Parks Additionally the New Year's Eve event has been unfunded for 2025 and the other events shows an increase of $31,000 over the prior year to provide for any unforeseen events during the year on this slide we show some recommended changes suggested by members of council that staff would like a consensus from Council before finalizing the proposed budget the current recommendations include adding another event $25,000 for the Haitian heritage month and $6,000 for pictures with Santa for two weekends these would be funded by reductions to the other events line and therefore has no net budgetary impact two other recommendations would use funds from other events to increase the parade sponsorship for the Veterans Day Parade currently at $3,000 and to adding sponsorship for the South dat Connections in the amount of $10,000 these last two would reduce the total special events budget from $580,000 to $563,000 and conversely increase the public relations account by $177,000 we have seen an overview of the general fund now let's look at an overview of the entire Citywide budget this pie chart reflects the components of the Enterprise funds these funds are intended to be self-sufficient and rely on user fees to balance their budgets the electric utility makes up over 62% of the Enterprise funds for fiscal year 2025 the solid waste fund has been balanced with a rate increase of 4.57% representing the CPI increase last year Council approved an annual rate increase based on the CPI index with no need for further Council action for 2025 the water and sewer budget has been balanced with a proposed rate increase of 4.57% representing the CPI increase and a. 2613 per increase representing the Miami date County passer rate increases for the purchase of water and the treatment of sewer these will be two separate car items for Council consideration at tonight's budget hearing pursuant the state statutes the elect utility reflects the reappropriation of $6.2 million of remaining fmpa loan proceeds for four capital projects to be continued or completed in fiscal year 2025 in fiscal year 2021 and 22 the electric utility secured loans in excess of $12 million to invest in the capital projects to improve the capacity resiliency and redundancy of homesteads electric grid these projects are currently underway and will provide the capacity to serve future projected electrical demand growth as well as hardening the electrical grid to better withstand the effects of severe weather last year the storm water utility included $760,000 in appropriation fund balance in order to fund the matching portion of a drainer project on 6th Avenue that is also funded with a grant electric utility Debt Service funds reflects a Debt Service for a new bank loan approved in fiscal year 2024 while the utilities replacement renewal and improvements fund reflects a transfer of $500,000 to fund cips in the electric utility this pie chart shows a city-wide budget broken down by fund types the general fund makes up just over 28% of the city's budget while the Enterprise funds make up 49.8% of the budget please remember that this proposed budget excludes cdbg home and other grants as those those budgets are approved by resolution upon acceptance of the grants additionally excluded is the arpa funding that is also being treated as a grant staff continues to work with Council on identifying proposed projects to be funded by arpa and most recently approved the reallocation of over $9.6 million in arpa funding for several projects some of those projects will be reflected in the city's his school year 2025 CIP plan I would like to point out that un use funds for certain Capital related projects like the cyberium will be brought forth to council for reappropriation of an amendment of The 2025 budget at the November 2024 council meeting this slide reflects a comparison of the Citywide fiscal year 2024 adopted budget with the fiscal year 2025 proposed budget the general fund as well as all the Enterprise funds have been discussed in earlier slides notable highlights for the remaining funds include the internal service funds which includes the health insurance fund which reflects an 8% increase in the Citywide health insurance premiums a 20% increase in the Citywide Property and liability insurance premiums the CRA fund shows an increase in the budget as a result of increased Tiff funds due to the increased property values in fiscal year 2025 Tiff funds are budgeted at $6 million 2.6 million from Miami dat County $3.4 million from the city additionally there is $4 million in appropriation of fund balance from PR previously unused funds earlier tonight you saw a detailed presentation on the cra's budget PTP fund reflects Transportation Ser tax revenues of $4.8 million anticipated for fiscal year 2025 additionally the fund reflects the reappropriation of $4.8 million of unused use funds from previous years other notable highlights include the impact V funds Revenue projections for 2024 have been lowered but for 2025 projection reflect increases over the prior years the proposed budget also reflects reappropriation of unused funds from prior years the CIP plan reflects many impact fee funded projects while some funding has been set aside as contingency for future uses we have looked at an overview of the Citywide budget now let's take a look at the Citywide CIP projects for fiscal year 2025 these following slides represent a recap of the city's Capital Improvement projects these are projects that required funding in fiscal year 2025 it does not include projects previously funded in a prior year Water and Sewer projects include $6 million in grant funding for Pump Station 22 $1.5 million in CRA funding to replace a gravity sewer line on Flagler Avenue from Northeast 8th Street to Chrome Avenue $1.25 million in arpa funding for various vehicle and Equipment Replacements and $879,000 in various Water and Sewer funded projects including the rehabilitation of trenches and upgrades to lift stations 9 and 35 the 4.2 $2 million in electric utility projects includes over $1.8 million in annual recurring projects along with another $2.4 million for 19 other capital projects during the year the utility will still be working on four significant projects funded with loans $6.2 million in appropriated fund balance representing loan funds to be expended on these projects have been included in the fiscal year 2025 Budget Transportation and Transit equipment and streets and sidewalk improvements include projects funded primarily with LGT and PTP funds in addition to $1.4 million in annual recurring projects the most notable projects for 25 include $550,000 for the purchase of a new trolley and $350,000 for stamped concrete work on Washington Avenue the parks department includes $1.7 million in projects funded with Park impath fees for playground Renovations and expansions at aabon whitcock and James Archer Smith Parks a new large Pavilion at rosow War Park upgrades to the harrisfield gymnasium lighting and Phee 2 design of the greenway Trail $217,000 in ARA funding is year marked for three projects including improvements at JD red park and finally we are able to fund 400 14,000 for the roof at the fop Lodge a rear drainage system at seminal theater and two other projects primarily with $392,000 in savings generated when the city leveraged alternative purchasing tools for roof Replacements capital projects earlier this year for the police department it includes $846,000 in equipment funded with police impact fees the new equipment includes 400 $5,000 for five new vehicles for the five new police officers proposed to be hired in 2025 and the remaining $431,000 in Impact these will be used to fund two crime scene light towers a crime scene vehicle message boards with trailers a new canine vehicle and a new gun detection dog forfeiture monies are being used to fund $145,000 for the floral replacement of the indoor basketball court at the pal gym $114,000 for a Traffic Unit drone and $335,000 for replacement of existing message boards $20,000 in arpa funding is year marked for the replacement of a utility card other cips include $79,000 for annual computer and server Replacements as well as a replacement of 13 vehicles for patrol the vehicles are valued at $997,000 but will be financed over 5 years the solid waste fund includes $252,000 for a self-loader truck $250,000 for a parking lot resurfacing project and $384,000 for other projects and Equipment storm water includes $320,000 in CRA funding and $200,000 in storm water funds for a storm water master plan and funding assistance for the Sixth Avenue drainage project annual storm water projects include $75,000 $100,000 has been appropriated from art and public places the public art committee proposed spending the acred public art funds finally equipment software and improvements for various other departments include $272,000 in ARA funds for computer and server Replacements by the IT department $70,000 in improvements at the procurement facility and for the Citywide permitting code and Licensing software the city has year marked $400,000 in ARA funds and an existing $138,000 in CIP funds for Code Compliance two vehicles valued at $999,000 will be financed over 5 years total CIP values for 2025 are 23,522 with over $3.6 million representing recurring annual projects over $8 million of these projects being funded by arpa or other grants and another $1.1 million expected to be financed over five years resulting in a budgetary impact of $121,000 in debt service for 2025 a detailed listing of the 2025 Capital Improvement projects as well as the fiscal year 2025 2029 5-year CIP plan can be found at the end of your budget books these next few slides will identify the investment the city is making a new Staffing upgrades to existing positions and conversion of some contract 10 positions to full-time positions all these Staffing changes are intended to help bring about the initiatives and goals of the city proposed Staffing enhancements for the general fund includes Staffing for the city attorney's office to bring about a full-time onsite presence a new director for the newly created Code Compliance Department which was formerly a division in the police department also for code there is an upgrade to an existing code compliance office from a one to a two for the finance and budget Department we are adding a new assistant director to oversee the budget operations for General Administration we are adding new or reopened positions to staff some newly created divisions like the office of Grants Administration and the office of communications Pio additional Staffing enhancements for the general fund include a new director of General services to oversee the recently restored General Services Department that will now include facilities maintenance seminal theater operations cyberium operations Fleet Management and asset management an existing position is being upgraded to a facility's maintenance manager to oversee the division of facilities maintenance for the Innovation and technology department we are upgrading an existing position to an assistant director and adding a new it support analyst for parks recreation and Open Spaces we are adding five part-time Recreation leader one positions for the police department we're adding five new police officers which are partially funded with a cops Grant adding an administrative coordinator to handle police related grants adding an administrative assistant for quality control data entry and adding a part-time gym attendant for the pal gym and finally for procurement we're adding a new fire two position total change to the general fund Staffing is 18 new full-time positions and six part-time positions and three upgrades of existing positions Staffing changes to other departments outside the general fund include for the CRA we are adding a new assistant director to focus on Redevelopment projects and a new budget analyst to assist the department with its growing budget for electric utility we are converting six positions from contract 10 positions to full-time positions these positions include an administrative assistant an associate customer project leaz on clerk 3 Journeyman Electrician 2 Journeyman Electrician 1 substation distribution engineer 2 for self- insurance which is under the human resources oversight we are converting an existing contract 10 to a full-time position for risk analyst and finally for C customer service we are converting three contract 10 positions to customer service two full-time positions to recap the city is increasing its total staff by 30 full-time positions and six part-time positions with these additions the city's full-time staff will be at 503 and part-time positions will be at 83 for a total combined count 586 please note that many of the part-time Physicians that work in parks recreation open spaces are seasonal and the part-time count also includes 41 police Reserve positions after this presentation the first item to be discussed is the proposed millage rate for the fiscal year 2025 proposed budget it is important to note that the millage rate only impacts the general fund and the CRA at this time let's take a look at the proposed millage rate this slide provides general information about millage rates by Florida law the maximum allowable rate for for the operating millage is 10 ms the tentatively established millage rate reflected in the property owners trim notices was 6.26 the city's current fiscal year 2024 millage rate is 6.26 most of you received your trim notice showing the city's tax rate is 60206 Ms the first thing you need to know is that this was a tentative rate set at the same rate as the prior year the proposed budget includes a proposed rate of 5.96 04 not 60206 the proposed budget results in a decrease to the millage rate so to reemphasize the point as recommended by Council the proposed budget includes a reduction to the millage rate of 1% here's the millage rate history showing the recent reductions to the millage rate since fiscal year 2022 so let's recap the priorities set out in this budget process have been achieved a new code compliance department has been created by moving the division from the police department and under the oversight of a new director of compliance and enforcement the General services department has been restored with a new director who have oversight over several divisions moved from other departments these include the facilities maintenance seminal theater cium and Fleet Management the department will also be responsible for the asset management and real estate we created three divisions under the general administration department the office of Grants Administration Office of communications Pio and the community Community Development Division the latter is expected to have oversight of Home ship and cdbg Parks has been restructured and renamed parks recreation and Open Spaces Pros by removing facilities maintenance seminal theater operations and cyberium operations the department can focus on its core responsibilities which is Parks procurement 2 can now solely focus on purchasing and contracts responsibilities because Fleet Management has been reassigned to General Services its has been renamed Innovation and technology department also known as do it Department of innovation and Technology Finance has been renamed finance and budget to reflect its two core responsibilities $85,000 in funding has been set aside for a consultant to assist the city to develop a strategic plan funding for several of the m plans can be found in the fiscal year 2025 CIP plan While others are being funded with fiscal year 2024 available funds for the Citywide permitting code and business licensing solution it's part of the fiscal year 2025 CP plan the city has earmarked $400,000 in harpa funds and $138,000 in CIP funds for this solution the proposed budget invests funds in 30 new full-time positions and six new part-time positions while providing possible enhanced benefits during 2025 and finally for the third consecutive year the city is proposing a reduction to the millit rate 1% for 2025 Council action required at this hearing includes the adoption by resolution of the operating millage of 59604 and a debt millage rate of. 2580 adoption by by ordinance of the proposed budget and the CIP plan approval by resolution of the water and sewer rate increases for the CIP of 4.57% for fiscal year 2025 approval by resolution of the Miami dat County Wasa Pastor rate increase of 2613 per for fiscal year 2025 this is a reminder that the final budget hearing is scheduled for Wednesday September 18th at 501 p.m. at this time staff would like to thank the mayor and Council for their valuable input clear guidance and full support throughout this year's budget process in conclusion I will now turn it over to the city manager for his final remarks immediately following the city manager's final remarks we will move forward with a hearing in the order outlined in tonight's agenda with the discussion of the millit rate being the first order of business okay thank you Mr Finance director and staff for such an excellent uh detailed and profound presentation at this time we ask C the mayor and the council to consider the millage rate as well as the proposed budget while asking that you consider passing it keep in mind like I said earlier that we hope to come back in October to reflect on the County's revision of the verified property tax Bas as well as a proposed Media budget amendment which is something that will be new in the city thank you thank you and I certainly anticipate waving the staff report on September 17th we won't make you do the presentation again okay Mr attorney you'll read into the record tab one yes Mr Mayor tab one is a resolution of the city council of the City of Homestead Florida establishing a proposed operating millage rate of Ador tax ation and 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 thank you sir nothing to add at this point correct we just okay I'll open it up to questions from Council on the adoption of the millage rates any further do we let me see if there's any comment from the public on the adoption of the mill drain beinging none I'll close the public Su this is on the adoption of the rate of Taxation not the budget all right do we have a motion to approve the militate move by Cannibal seconded by the vice mayor anything further from Council all right let's have a roll call vote councilman cannibal councilman Davis yes councilman Roth councilwoman Bailey yes councilwoman abula vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lawner yes the motion carries all right next item tab two Mr Pearl yes Mr Mayor tabs he was the first reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead Florida adopting the budget for each of the several funds and Departments of the city for the fiscal year beginning October 1 2024 and ending September 30th 2025 approving a capital Improvement plan providing for repealer severability and an effective date thank you sir initial questions or comments from Council who would like to kick off this discussion councilman Roth have at it I just have one question Carlos could you go over all that again one more time please no I'm happy thank you guys thank you the staff to all the hard work you put into putting this together for us and the the times that we spent going over this with st this is this is not the first time we've seen this we've been over and over this many many times and um by far one of the better budgets I've seen presented um at this time thank you mayor thank you councilman Council Davis counil AA thank you mayor I want to thank staff for doing such a great job and keeping us very informed and a breast of the um budget preparations various meetings and workshops um it's it definitely takes a village and you guys did it well so thank you for that I'm very happy to see the um the allocation for on-site director under our building department I'm happy to see the additional police officers as well as the um healthy budget for our Parks it's always been my priorities to focus on um Parks our Police Department as well as our process for development services so I think that this budget achieves that obviously there's so much to to make sure that we're accounting for and um you know I think that we're we're handling it here I I want to make sure that we um you know have the opportunity to you know keep some things um in discussion over the next week or so couple of weeks leading up to our final budget hearing so I'll just rest there for now and take it from here thank you thank you you're certainly a a fully vetted well-rounded and transparent budget and budget process Council accountable let me go to Bailey Council Bailey thank you mayor now echoing the same thing I'm very excited for the new positions um always with PD of course um and the new gym attendant at the pal I think that's going to be a big a big difference for our kids there so just to clarify we're not going over any of the specific events I'll get to that in my comments we'll we'll take a deep dive into what was circulated perfect thank you all right vice mayor Fletcher thank you Mr Mayor so uh just just kind of off the top again uh overall very well put together budget but I do have a few concerns when it comes to some cost allocations that were in the capital Improvement plan I'm not going to bore everybody with those tonight but I but I will say we're purchasing 36 new vehicles based off of this Capital Improvement which is $5.2 million and if you average that out that's $146,000 per vehicle now some of these vehicles cost a lot more than others okay uh but uh we definitely need to look because there's some disparity between a Ford Explorer and one Department such as uh electric services department and then there's another one for uh which actually is in next year for sewer uh the Sewer Department of about uh $16,000 difference for the same vehicle um then you know like the police new hire new hire vehicles are $83,000 83,7 a piece based off of this math uh but then a can9 vehicle cost $82,000 and I would think that would cost more than a regular Police Service vehicle um again I think we we need to talk to one another we need to reach out and find out what these actual costs are so we're all talking Apples to Apples because there are some disparities in here that that we need to clean up with that I do have again some additional questions from the line by line budget but I will do those individually through the manager's office uh so we can clear that out with that thank you Mr thank you okay I have a couple of items that I think we we need to talk about tonight it that if they're mood forward that they'll be ready to come back in the final uh budget adoption so that we're not here as we have have been in in Prior years where Carlos is counting on his fingers and to and has his uh little portable calculator and we're and I don't mean this in a bad way playing Let's Make a Deal I should say well what about this what about that and I hope we're we're not in that situation on the 18th so I wanted to to go ahead and and vet these couple of items now um the first item I have is with respect to the city manager's salary and as our my colleagues I think all are aware um manager took a $26,000 pay cut to come to the City of Homestead you know versus where he was versus where we were so on a prata basis that you considering April 1 as a start date that's $119,500 and I would like to uh to have your support on and I understand I think there may be some uh funds available and the manager uh contingency budget to make it this is not a raise this would be a lump one-time lumpsum bonus during this calendar year of $119,500 to to equalize the pay and again maybe this is something we need to look at at the midyear um review which is almost the the time of his his contract but for myself he certainly proven his worth and even at the additional amount amount we got a bargain and not just relatively speaking thank you thank you councilman so that that's my first item as as a proposed budget amendment to leave here tonight I've circulated to to each of my elected colleagues the manager the clerk and um the finance director you remember we had a slide here of special events and I met met with a couple of my uh colleagues that I could Round Up um over a couple of different days and had some sunshine meetings and we took a deep dive into um what was spent what the actual expenditures were for some of these events in Prior years versus what was was budgeted speaking for myself and I I think the flavor of some of the others was is that we're driving toward really supersizing and enhancing a couple of the really big events one being the the Christmas program in laer park and some new functions here in City Hall and our fourth of July so you'll note here that that a lot of the reductions have that we have accomplished are are dumped into in in big numbers Fourth of July and the holiday in Homestead most of the rest of the reductions are are I say the reductions are really reflective uh of looking back to what was spent the prior year rather than just well this is what we had last year in the budget Let's uh let's do it again uh this coming year and and again we we've we've looked at those uh one one issue I have though and I I'll clarify this I know that I think there was a request to add funding to the sponsorship for the Veterans Day Parade and is this a correct distinction these events are events put on by the City versus Veterans Day Parade MLK parade are sponsorships so so I don't know that this would be the location to to do that but I understand there's still the the request that somewhere in the budget there's still only the $3,000 sponsorship for the Veterans Day Parade is that correct the the request was made from one of the council members asking for some of the special events funds instead of spending so much on those to putting those aside and putting them for an increase to the sponsorship uh for the Veterans Day to increase that when it's currently at $33,000 to increase by $7,000 to1 and then also to make a uh sponsorship contribution for the South aade connections that's totally new that's never been done before that was also a request okay very good thank you so you know and and there's an unallocated let's say what was before an unallocated $881,000 with the math that you gave me it would be 96 the new the new math is ma the new math is less than that you'd have other about 96,500 with the changes you've made okay so there is there are funds that can be reallocated so you know there is a request for an additional seven for the Veterans Day Parade um if it's if it's the pleasure of council we we can we can go ahead and and go through these and this is drawn these these events are drawn from the staff generated special events uh list um any initial comments on yes councilwoman Bailey thank you mayor am I missing the Hispanic heritage or the fiesta that was not on the the staff list was that still going through Main Street or that was on sorry for the for the Haitian Heritage that was one of the ones that on the slide was proposal yes she Hispanic heritage Hispanic oh no that one was another the Hispanic heritage was a Main Street event in the past of the fiesta USA so that was not reflected in the city budget are we no longer doing Main Street events uh the city does have an allocation for the Main Street contract uh but there is not an additional budget outside of the Main Street contract okay do we have a specific budget budet for Main Street this upcoming year I didn't see anything uh yes that's within the Professional Services or Management Consultant for as as the contractor for Main Street yeah not as a city sponsored event in the list that we have okay but main Street's budget Remains the Same as previous year so we can assume that was going to continue they did that event out of their want to make sure because I think that was a really great one also to continue and the only other um clarification is for South dat connections I think that a lot of their a lot of their program programming has been great but for our specific uh sponsorship I think we should consider on the in the black history B the black business month um for that to be specifically what the city is helping with especially with our our efforts with economic development I think that that specific event of theirs um would help the city out the most if that's if that makes sense it it it does make sense and my concern and I think some of the concerns of others is that where does it end I mean South day connections is in effect a black oriented Chamber of Commerce and this city to my knowledge and recollection has not supported the 110y old broad-based Chamber of Commerce ever so you know my question certainly is what justifies it and what would they do I wasn't the one that I wasn't the one that made the request so that's why I was just specifying because I see how that would start yeah so um if we're not if we're not sponsoring towards any specific organizations then that shouldn't be in this in this category coun yeah just um I thought in the past that we did help and sponsor the South a chamber of commerce it's a membership fee that we pay for then what is that what is the amount of that I'm sorry what is the amount of that membership fee that we pay justos yeah it's minimal Mr Mayor can I I get it yes Mr manager so the while he's searching for that information the city also pays a membership dues to the EDC which uh will run in line with Sate connections uh I know that Miami Foundation gives a lot of Grants to Sate connection so I think giving them even if it's in uh something in appreciation of the great job they're doing in Sid I've been to some of their meetings I see the nurturing the guidance and handholding pointing people in the right direction some of the small businesses as we C begins to look for economic empowerment and development some of these businesses when I talk to them they have no clue how to go get money downtown and uh this group theard connections have been assisting them to point them in the right direction so whatever little assistant the city can render them in this budget I think it will go a long way to kind of help them out what was requested 10,000 10,000 so if we can get that number maybe have it next next time if we can dig that out and circulate that yes and and I think probably with respect to chamber events each one of us have likely dug into our PR allocations and helped help the chamber there um yes vice mayor did you want to wait took the words right out of my mouth because we're all supporting these different organizations as well from our personal account so it's still an option we can do and as well we can continue to look for those corporate sponsors or event sponsors to help us out with other events throughout the city as well through our connections that's awesome well and you know this this is something you know new to the table and if we could get some detail as to what they might utilize an amount of money for certainly I'm not interested in paying salaries or having friends and family do advertising um for them um it's almost you know that to me is we're stepping out on that slippery ice to uh to do that and and again we do have that unallocated pool of money that we could come back if we don't have the information we need in front of us by final reading we come back councilman what was the organization again you were asking about South Chamber of Commerce the uh dues is $220 that's it yes Council baile um just as a refresher and maybe that's where this came from but when South dat connections came to speak to us right before the event what I brought up was for the CRA to check within their goals to see if that was something that would line up for us to continue helping that be a yearly event but I didn't I didn't mean for it to be under one of the special events just to clarify yeah so I don't know is you have change tables change your hat change tables is there room within your budget to do something connections yeah the CRA we um cannot fund an event uh but we can do like what we did this year which was pay a fee to be present at the event and um present in order to support CRA initiatives that is certainly something that we can accommodate in the next year's budget and certainly we all have the ability to accommodate Refreshments or goodie bags or whatever whatever that may be can I yes Mr manager so I'm very familiar with these type of things right the Miami Foundation gives them money but it's tied to uh economic empowerment uh business incubation so I think these are kind of ideas that the city can utilize in funding organizations like this tied to business incubation growth in expansion of their businesses and perhaps professional and uh some specialized type of training for their employees and not just to give them money so if we create that Niche I'm not in support of using CRA money for one purpose CRA money is meant to be spent within the CRA so these organizations operate Way Beyond those confines so it might be better to use use City general fund money I'm not advocating for something big just something to show them that we appreciate what they're trying to do to raliz the city's economic engine so like maybe 2500 bucks the first year and and have them come in and we'll talk about that that incubator component which here we are in the shadow of the former side of the incubator which was a colossal failure um and isn't that what they do in part in that building in the Miami day College building is is an incubator of of sorts they do they do I'm okay with $2,500 see how it goes all right um let me just chime in just for a second the the whole thought process was to to help them do what they do it kind of goes with what you were speaking of earlier in the CRA budget of of allocating the $130,000 towards you know business industry any recruitment and I can't name off the top of my head how many businesses that they nurture and Mentor inside the City of Homestead because there are a few there was 30 that are City of Homestead businesses right so so they are doing kind of what you were asking in in in supplying the mentorships and and in creating business opportunities within the city some some some haven't been able to get to the point of opening and doing certain things sweg Lanes is one of those right that didn't didn't come to be um maybe not no fault of hers but there was problems with the landlord and other issues there but um and I was kind of thinking the same way with what we did with the soup kitchen last year this doesn't have to be a a yearly thing but last year we gave uh an allocation of $10,000 to the soup kitchen which is a you know human you know typee service industry that they definitely need the money too so this kind of this almost leads into your your plan as to helping you know bring business and and spur you know economic de development in the city so um whether it's $2500 or $10,000 you know it at least we're showing them that we are are supporting their efforts to stimulate Economic Development inside the city limits as well so um I I would appreciate at least maybe doing the 10,000 this year we can evaluate what they do maybe the manager would set up a program and do something that would help um you know uh show accountability for what they're actually doing too and maybe even put together a list of the businesses that they're supporting inside the City of Homestead because I think that's what we really need the economic development yes Mr vice mayor so I can agree with with that in in theory but uh again I think if we start them off with a lower amount and have them come to us with a presentation of what they're going to use the money for we're going to have we're going to have additional funds to give out later that we might reallocate to them anyway but start them out with one amount and then as they come and they give us a plan on how they're going to spend the money then we can make our final decision but I think you know just just you know arbitrarily picking a $10,000 number out of the Hat just doesn't work because next thing you're going to have the next person come in and ask for the same thing and just it just continues to beat those those issues and that's my thought process and I would agree and he's fairly new to the party versus a soup kitchen who's been a known entity here for 43 years or so South dat connections is yes just another angle to look at it and I don't compare this this discussion to a donation to um you know like a a human services uh program but I do like the idea of dedicating funds to towards business incubation I don't think it's necessary for us to tie an entity to that allocation and we can make it a caseby casee analysis where if they have an event coming up for the first quarter of the fiscal year it comes through the you know City manager's request or through one of us we submit it it gets reviewed and if it meets all the criteria for the program it gets issued whether it's sof a connections whether it's uh Chamber of Commerce or a different entity that provides the same kind of programming in the city so I I think that neutralizes the discussion on who's getting the award but it does give us the the added benefit of having the business incubation events budgeted and if you do 5,000 a quarter it's what is that 20,000 20 a year so you can start with just 10,000 it's 2500 and and you can have the opportunity for two events a quarter that's 2500 each so whereas not one entity is absorbing the entire amount so it might promote some competitiveness as well as um broaden the the opportunities and through the manager um I would just like to add that the CRA could provide a match to a business incubation program so if the general fund were to allocate 5,000 the CRA could also allocate 5,000 as long as those funds were utilized within the CRA for a CRA business well and let me if I ask our finance director if and and this is about reallocating a special event pool of money and and this allocation would would not be considered a special event do we have somewhere to Pigeon hold this yes I'm I'm looking right now at the public relations account the general fund and there's two line items that look like they're one's General uh public relations and another one said South date Economic Development so I think those could be used for that that seems to fit the bill and and Council I I kind of like your thinking there on the Fly that we establish this kind of this fund first first come first serve and if it meets the criteria espoused by the manager that's probably maybe even an in-house funding I don't even know that it is a uh a council decision as we want it to be um so in terms of an annual allocation what' you have in mind if you do the 5,000 a quarter well that's 20 that's 20 but if we want to start lower we can start at 10 and then mid midyear review maybe we reduce it if it hasn't gone anywhere or we double it if we really like it well or and yeah 25 I just like the idea idea that it's Merit based and in what is the F what are the funds going to actually do and it's and it's quarter by quarter so they you know you can't use up the whole amount in in quarter one correct and I would think that you know it's 2500 per quarter and each inti would we put a cap on the annual allocation to an entity you only get an reward one time you get 2500 bucks you're done for the year right and I like the idea of the CRA having the opportunity to match it if it's going to be a much bigger event broader impact um specific to the CRA so it it there is opportunity so potentially CRA may be on the you know have the opportunity not on the hook I have the opportunity to match up to $10,000 for that stated stated purpose think you have more sorry one last thing um just as far as what you just said that it' only be given to one entity a year no is that what you meant no an entity is under my suggestion it would be $110,000 a year with an allocation of $2,500 per quarter but that a given entity would be limited to $2500 per year for the year and we could give them 1250 in one quarter and 1250 in another quarter but however they do that 2500 a year I really like where this is going and I even spoke to sou connections and told them it's really important to come back with the numbers of how it's affecting the city so I agree completely the only thing I would I would be worried about is if it's South a connection let's say and South D chamber that are the only two that are posting things that qualify do we want to limit it to one quarter per entity per year now we can revisit that yeah sure I just wanted to two quarters from now will be the mid year yeah right okay no great thank you plus our Council budgets can also support too sure certainly and then just to to clarify this special event budget for named events does not contemplate the Haitian Heritage that it doesn't mean we can't or won't it's just not provided for at this time mayor yes for for my contribution I think this is an excellent idea and and also for a different reason we're we're talking about these entities that that we know but there's a whole lot of nonprofits that are struggling that do excellent stuff that this will give them their opportunity to come forward and say this is what we do don't you want to give money to it and I guarantee it' be not for proper you never heard of um that are that are out there or churches what have the one recommendation that I would have is that we do construct template because a lot of non forprops talk in great terms of of aspirational you know kind of outcomes that they want to see and things they want to do and but they need to be able to say we help this many people do this you know and it needs to be quantifiable we make that template up everyone fills out the same template when they come forward um and then that way they're they're at that Level Playing Field because again some non for-profits may have the assistance of people who have been doing the nonprofit world for years and years and years and others you know they don't but I I think this is a great idea and I think we're going to be we're going to be very pleasantly surprised by the variety of outcome that we see and I'm confident that this will be better advertised than this availability would have been in the in the past are there any other amendments or comments i' like to make thank you mayor I wanted to just say in general regarding the special events I've said it in the past in our workshop and on our one-on ones that I'm looking forward to having more of a global um cultural events program um review and director in charge of planning and organizing this throughout the city and using our facilities versus US kind of trying to pull from the air what programs are the best what budget is appropriate because when you look at what was budgeted versus what was utilized there's a large gap and so it kind of leaves a lot of um you know question as to you know what what was the the source of the budgeting plan and what not but and and either way just because we've had a certain program or a certain event for so long doesn't mean that it's you know not stale and maybe something different and something more unique um and and invigor invigorating for the community would be appreciated and a better use of the funds so for now I'm fine with these um changes but I would like to have more focus on that programming we've discussed it in the past but thank you I'll rest there mayor yes mayor if I may yes in your proposed changes the one thing I just want to get clarity uh one of the events last year when it was developed it had a $10,000 donation attached to it I don't see that here is that the intent well you're speaking of the soup kitchen last year it was specifically for the soup kitchen but I think the idea when it was conceived it it would be a different organization every year well and and again that could be in the unallocated and we can have a further determination okay yeah but like you know if we want to conceptually say that we will pick an organization to receive the $10,000 from the unallocated money I'm just a now so to clarify the center column in the handout will will reflect the budget approved if the amendment passes subject to the remaining balance whatever that number may be being reduced by $7,000 to go over into another category for the Veterans Day Parade and $10,000 to go over into another category for the business incubator and development program everybody clear all right so let's open it up to the public hi Susan Santino 2610 Northeast 3D um I'm here because we need a public Community Art Center I've been saying this for eight years now that's why I'm here tonight I'd like to tell you why and I have a good idea where it won't cost anything okay so hear me out I've been doing paint parties for one year now at Heritage Market we were doing one a month and now we're doing two a month we hold 24 people in the upstairs room but I've done them for 50 people downstairs um I worked with Pedro um to get it done for our Dickinson Community Center we started talking in um I guess it was March he scheduled one for April he bought the supplies and we've done it every other month so we've done three so far we get 30 people sign up for it and we pretty much fill the room and it's wonderful it's not just the regular paint party I teach them to paint I do one at cium once a month and uh unfortunately their room only holds 15 people if they put it up to sign up on one day the next day it's full and we have 15 people waiting at the door for someone not to show up so they could take the chair we were we did one a month this whole year and we're down for two a month in December and they're going to propose that for 2025 um I do paint part I did it at the a Women's Club it's not you know it's not just a paint party it's teaching art it's Community I often sit there and I have students that don't speak English and I don't speak Spanish and language means nothing I teach them they understand they hug me when I leave and they come back and back and back this community needs a Community Arts Center um I have an idea and I know that Dr zui will find out a way to do it and you don't know me very well but I have confidence in you um the public art flexible master plan I was chairwoman of the public art committee I worked with David for two years during the pandemic David Hennis with the committee to develop this plan and get it approved it's dated 1921 it's called flexible master plan and it's flexible we could revise it I back then there was about a millionar in art and public places fund I I see that you're spending only a 100,000 now be coming out of that fund I would assume why don't we use art and public places money to make a Community Arts Center all you have to do is revise this this plan all of you could approve it to use these funds for art for the community I suggest you do this in the cium for that third or fourth floor I know I heard last month that you found a way to do re uh finish the bathrooms and the elevators with some funds from the um grants I was so impressed thank you this city has moved for eight years like their feedering quicksand but not since April so thank you sir I would like to see this community center at the sibarium now let me tell you what it would look like it would be one whole floor and maybe not just art Maybe music and it would be a gallery it would be a stage where performers could perform and this would support our locals there are over a hundred artists in Homestead you wouldn't know it CU there's no place to show except the ETC gallery and a 10- foot Gallery um so this could be tremendous you could have artists there working and teaching and it would be wonderful it's our community is unbelievable and how you could walk into a room and 20 people not know each other and by the end of two hours we're cheering each other on for a paint stroke or something else and they're all talking together and it's not just for the seniors over at Dickinson it's for the young people and families that are at Henderson Park uh Heritage Park Heritage Market I'm sorry and over at cium it's an adult paint party that I give and we get to know each other and it doesn't matter I have taught people who work in the fields and they're sitting next to people who own the farms and it's really a wonderful Community thing we need it so if you can open that cium floor one of the floors to an Community Art Center it would really serve the people leave it open till 10:00 open a coffee shop in there and it'll be a meeting place for this city I thank you thank you I let you roll over your time from last month all right mayor we have one online yes go ahead yeah Brandy online go ahead hello speaker it's online Randy I'm trying requesting to unmute but it's not can you hear me there it is we can now thank you Brandy Ramirez 2231 Southeast First Street good evening to Mayor and councel would like to thank the city manager and his staff for doing an amazing job with the proposed budget I definitely do want to speak in reference to the topic of the nonprofit subject I'm glad to hear uh C Tom Davis who mentioned uh the template that's a great idea where it opens it up through longtime nonprofits that been in the City of Homestead serving the community for more than 30 years being part of the together for children we have tons of nonprofits that our councilwoman Jennifer biley has worked well with and we know that they're serving our Homestead resent with utility allow you know utility assistance payments and South a connections does great work too as well don't want to take that away from them but I think it's a great idea for mayor and Council to open it up for all nonprofits and with the template it's a great idea I'm glad to see that our city manager supports um this going on and the last thing that I would like to say is that also supporting what my fellow Homestead resident Susan Santino just said great idea uh great location idea as well and she's right our new city manager Dr Ziri can make this happen whether it's that location or any other location I believe strongly and have faith in our mayor and councel and our new city manager that our City of Homestead residents will be served will they will bring new fresh ideas for our community for our youth especially for the Youth and our elderly families this would be great so that's all I wanted to share and thank you for the time have a good evening thank you Mr Ramirez appreciate it tonight all right there anyone else online anyone else in the audience all right I will close the public hearing and ask for a motion to approve on first reading uh tab to the adoption of the fiscal year 2025 budget subject to a the one time bonus for the city manager and the allocated amounts in the centrer column of the handout together with allocating away from the unallocated amounts here the special event amount uh for an additional sponsorship of 7,000 an additional seven for a total of 10 for the Veterans Day Parade and with $10,000 allocated as discussed to that uh public relations uh fund so we have that motion moved by councilman Cannibal seconded by Council wman Avala are there any further comments let's have a roll call vote Madam clerk councilman Davis yes councilman cannibal yes councilman rth yes councilwoman Bailey councilwoman aula yes vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor lawner yes the motion carries good thank you all mayor yes just to go back a little bit on what M Santina was speaking about um the vision of doing public art on top of the cian is something that I had thought about for many many years in fact I think during one of our meetings I mentioned with Zach that there was a location I walked into I forget where I was was it in Tampa that it said um I think it was called empty spaces or something like that and they they fill up dying malls with exactly what she was talking about um they sublet the space to artists and they go in they do their craft they have classes they do all these things um and it does generate some revenues in some way so um if it's a part of the the overall plan um to utilize the cium as a cultural center right we've created the first cium in in the world and we could we could back that up with Arts related activities as well whether it be Arts whether it be uh drama dancing performances or whatever um if we can you know with the with the uh blessings of the dis maybe explore one of the floors I don't think we need do both of the floors but one of the floors um and and bring that back to us maybe with some ideas I think it would be um a great um addition to the area quality of life thing that would be added to the downtown area just just it's sitting there vacant we've allocated the Monies to fix the building make it where it could be tenable with the elevators and the bathrooms I just think for quality life purposes for bringing more people to the to the downtown area I think it's going to be very beneficial to at least explore that opportunity thank you mayor and certainly to that end I know was Santino every time there's an article about a community doing something like that she saves it so it's not like we're Reinventing the wheel and we can explore and investigate and make inquiry there and and determine how that could be brought to fr fruition together with other multiple other uses in that 30,000 square ft second yeah and and mayor if I can add to that yes if I can add to that I mean the art just Falls right into the whole steam initiative so it just makes sense that it would be there and I think the cium has a steampunk uh type of thing on the them right on the second floor so it just seems appropriate but but we want the those floors to also generate Revenue as well so it's got to have to have the Dual Purpose thank you always add balance artist that's why I call them Starving Artists the money doesn't matter just let me do my art right okay let's move on to tab three Mr Pearl yes Mr Mayor tab three is a resolution of the city council of the City of Homestead Florida authorizing a water and sewer rate adjustment to reflect an increase in the Consumer Price Index is authorized by ordinance number 2020 08-04 providing for implementation and providing for an effective date Mr manager so this is something that the council had already authorized that it should happen on a yearly basis the increase is going to be 4.57% based on the CPI good thank you any questions from Council let's open the public hearing is there anyone online or in the audience we close the public hearing do we have a motion to approve moved by councilwoman Bailey seconded by councilman cannibal roll call Madam cour councilman Davis councilman raw yes councilwoman Bailey councilwoman abula yes councilman cannibal vice mayor Fletcher yes may Lawson yes the motion carries and moving right along to Tab four Mr P yes Mr Mayor Tab 4 is a resolution of the city council of the city of homestad Florida authorizing a 2626 13% increase of the rates charge for water sanitary sewer services in order to defay the impacts of increased costs imposed by on the City by Miami dat County providing for implementation providing for an effective dat thank you sir manager so um most of the waste water that we generate in the City of Homestead is treated by our own utility which has been a fantastic uh facility winning a lot of prizes over the years however there is a segment of the waste water collection that we have to discharge into the county system for treatment just because we don't have enough capacity to do that so this pass through is to reflect the increase the county has done to its own rates for waste water I think it's approximately an increase of $42 per applicant per entity peray year for an average customer that consumes 6,000 gallons of water monthly basis that's what it would be yes very good thank you questions or comments from Council open the public hearing is there anyone who watch wishes to speak on this item okay I'll close the public hearing and ask for a motion to approve move by the vice mayor second by councilwoman Bailey roll call Madam Court councilman Davis yes councilwoman abula yes councilwoman Bailey councilman Roth yes councilman cannibal vice mayor Fletcher yes mayor Lawman yes the motion carried very good thank you all anything further Mr manager for this agenda none Mr attorney motion to adjourn all in favor we will convene the uh Committee of the whole meeting in five minutes excuse e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right let's see if we can convene the committee of the whole and make it a night all right good evening everyone and welcome I'd like to call the City of Homestead city council Committee of the whole meeting to order today is Tuesday September 3rd and it is what time is it 7:28 p.m. let have a roll call Madam Clerk councilman rth here councilman cannibal here councilwoman aula here councilman Davis here vice mayor Fletcher here mayor law he left I'm here all right thank you Mr manager any additions deletions or deferrals none Mr chair all right we have before us the committee of the whole minutes of August 6 2024 uh move approval move by councilman Roth seconded by councilman cannibal all in favor any opposed next item is tab two a motion to place car number 4369 on the Cal agenda cyber Library Insurance Mr manager I think we have so M Willie oh Mr Jones you want to step up to the pody yeah this be a um a Consolidated uh presentation on all of the insurance coverages we'll go ahead and do tabs two [Music] three4 three and four Mr Mayor city council my pleasure to be here Tom Jones 17780 North Chrome Avenue Homestead Florida I stand before you with great news um on a million dollars spend you had a 1.6% increase on what I call the pidet which is the preferred governmental Insurance Trust Insurance package and the Cyber liability so the actual the actual spend was 1,645 64 compared to expiring of 1, 47,6 40 increased 1.6% or 16,924 on a million dollar spend so we we were very pleased with that and you may say well why did that happen or how did that happen well it happened for several reasons number one your staff has done a great job Priscilla Thompson over here who I think is trying to retire on us um has done a great great job with along with Wendy and others in in the department heads the claim experience is is is improved over the years so that has helped us the insurance Market has stabilized over the years so that has helped us so Michelle and I Michelle Wilson County Executive here my teammate um we went back to the carrier and said we need to we need to work on this a little bit so we we had three areas of coverage where we had rate decreases uh the general the general liability in the marine and the Employment Practices liability and those decreases were 10% on the inland marine 10% on the general liability and 20% on the epli Employment Practices liability so we had the the relatively small well very small increase despite the fact you had 11% increase in payroll and a 5% increase in employee count so again we were very very happy with that the the heading on the agenda item says general liability insurance but but the insurance included in that pidget package is the general liability Auto liability public officials liability Employment Practices liability um law and and law law enforcement the excess workers comp coverage is also in is in that and that that when I say the excess you have a $250,000 retention which is extremely low meaning you pay the first 250 which is extremely low for a municipality that has the police department so it's it's very attractive and I don't want to use the word or the term you've been grandfathered in because that suggests you will always have it but you have very low retentions we have not had pressure from the company in terms of increasing them although at the state legislature there is discussion about increasing sovereign community and when that happens we will we may have another discussion um the Cyber liability by the way the limits on the pige uh program is is $6 million which is strong limit very good the sber liability is a $2 million limit um and again those premiums came in 1.6% increase I mean I can I got 400 pages of notes if we'd like to get into the weeds but um congratulations to the city congrat ulations to staff and the team um it's a great renewal questions questions for councel thank you and we don't watch your 400 pages of notes because Carlos gave us his 400 pages of notes tonight he did congratulations Carlos that was a great that was a great presentation thank you any any questions from Council okay so we need a uh well we have to open the public hearing on each well let's open the public hearing on items two three and four do it Consolidated um no one online we'll close the public hearing with respect to tabs number two three and four Mr attorney uh yes Mr Mayor unfortunately a couple of the resolutions were printed to the wrong tabs if I could just get a motion for clarity sake that it's the council's will to move a resolution approving each of the policies onto the consense agenda and that'll be corrected uh for the final council meeting very good so we'll just on each item we will move and vote on the car number that's correct all right so we need a mo this is tab to a motion to place car number 4369 on the agenda mooved by councilman Ross seconded by Avala all in favor any opposed moving on to tab three need a motion to place car number 4368 on the council agenda moved by Avala seconded by by Roth all in favor and finally Tab four a motion to place car number 4364 on the council agenda moved by Bailey seconded by cannibal I'm sorry Avala uh second by cannibal all in favor thank you Mr Jones and your team feel free to uh mail out while the get's good all right moving right along to um tab five this a motion to place car number 43804 on the uh Council genes Transportation master plan Mr manager so Mr mayor council members this item is to actually authorize myself and staff to accept the proposal and also to execute the agreement to Kim lehon and Associates which is an engineering consultant uh to SC sched them for development and preparation of a 20e transportation master plan in accordance with RFQ 21307 professional architectural and Engineering Services the fiscal impact is $269,000 and it's going to be funded from the PTP which is the people Transportation uh program fund and the applicability is Citywide uh the the data that they will generate will allow us to analyze residential development atorium as well as to how the impact is and as well as updating the 2006 Transportation master plan that's how far back the city had a transportation master plan so this is going to be an update as well as a new plan that will establish long-term Vision to organize connectivity and access for homesale residents workers and visites now this is going to be coordinated with the TPO in downtown Miami as well as fot in terms of having a seamless Transportation master plan for state county and local streets we look forward to working with the consultant and they are known as a national Transportation Company good thank you any questions or comments from Council Council thank you mayor this will include evaluating our trolley Services correct the entire gam the entire system of transportation is vehicle bicycle of course pedestrian uh freeb all types of um modular Transportation Systems Citywide uh I think there was something they offering to do in terms of uh the transportation master plan we keyed into segments of fiveyear audit to make sure that's immediately trigger for for reassessment depending on how fast the development is going in the city thank you and if I could just um add a request to include um evaluating the alternative mod of Transportation like uh scooters and whatnot I appreciate it thank you we will but I must con you that scooters are not really fanciful these days thanks okay anyone else let's open the public hearing close a public hearing we have a motion to approve put you to move by AA seconded by cannibal all in favor any opposed moving on to tab six and this is a motion to place car number 4353 on the council agenda the homestead Regional Park cultural facilities grant program application Mr manager so this is actually a resolution of support by Council to enable the city Administration to submit a Grant application uh there is a matching fund of $1 million like I tell staff this is $500,000 we don't have so if we get the Grant is fantastic so the grant is in the amount of 500,000 on the condition that the city will match with $1 million which is a 2: one this is for the homestead Regional Park which is the famous Homestead uh sports complex and the funding is specifically meant for the construction phase of the project Thank You moveed by Council ala seconded by vice mayor Fletcher let's see if there's any public input close the public hearing it's been moved and seconded all in favor any opposed next item is tab seven this is motion to place car number 4352 on the council agenda this is seminal theater building waterproofing Mr manager uh this is a construction project for semino theater building waterproofing in the amount of $163,000 with a 10% allocation for unforeseen conditions uh is already budgeted in the capital Improvement plan and is being funded with both cdbg funds as well as a grant from from the state uh we're hoping to finish this project in 90 calendar days so hopefully it should be done by the end of the year and there is liquidated damages for any day they delay the project for $580 a day tremendous thank you questions comments Mr prce Mayor so is this is going to bring the building up to par and we are currently at like phase zero of any future items until something news I don't think vice mayor I'm not sure anyone can actually predict the future by telling you nothing is going to happen however this is in response to an engineering assessment that made a recommendation to do this so we're following the assessment report while believing that this is the solution that we need however remember groundw is a problem in South Florida as you wrap a building and make it waterproof there's always that likelihood that there will be groundwater intrusion which you cannot do in with what we're trying to do so um which if you have an insurance Mr Jones is gone they will always tell you that groundw intrustion there's no coverage for that they will cover you for water intrustion and the wall the roof the windows and the doors they coming from under our bets are off and for clarification this is the treatment that needs to be completed before the Everglades murals are commenced is that correct yes that's correct veryy good all right is there anyone in the audience or online wishing to speak on this matter so I'll close the public hearing and ask for a motion to place this on the council agenda mooved by Council Cannibal seconded by Council wman Avala all in favor any opposed next item is Tab 8 this is a motion to place car number 4380 on the council agenda this is regarding the SOS use of the police department facility Mr manager Mr Mayor and Council this is simply a housekeeping item we're not doing anything extraordinary other than getting the SOS folks to have the confidence that they are permitted to be where they are which is a revocable license agreement uh it's a wonderful program want to make sure that they continue to stay where they're staying by giving them the the peace of mind that they have the cities at permission to be where they are good thank you anyone in online or in Chambers wishing to speak so I'll close the public hearing and ask for a motion to approve mooved by vice mayor seconded by uh councilman cannibal all in favor any opposed moving to tab nine motion to place car number 4375 on the council agenda and this is the fmpa Homestead solar project participation agreements Mr manager so the city PRI previously had a contract with the fmap to buy so to buy electricity from them this item is simply to reopen the agreement and have it expanded just not from traditional sources of energy but also to include clean energy res resources for our utility which means what solar and it's going to give us I believe substantial uh savings I believe there's a representative from fmpa Mr Chris Galder who's here with us tonight if you want to say a few words I think he traveled all the way from Alando to come for this after what he just had to sit through he's we got to let him talk and we'll give him a medal come on down good evening welcome to Homestead coun uh and thank you to Mr kones for the invitation to speak um I had a presentation um I can go through or not uh just on the background history uh at your pleasure if you'd like or I can just summarize how long is the presentation a few slides but uh I can try you came all this way let's let's do it right have stop all right so Florida Municipal agency fmpa is um the the role of fmpa is to help facilitate joint action among Municipal Utilities so we um we facilitate joint action among Municipal Utilities around the state electric utility so the FL missal Sol project is one of those uh such joint actions where we came together with many cities around the state to build larger solar facilities for the benefit of the uh Municipal Utilities uh and I will uh spare you some of the detail in background we'll try to move through this I realize we last on the agenda here but uh when the Amendments here are finalized which other cities around the state are are currently today um also considering there'll be 14 cities involved seven solar facilities and two developers that are are producing solar uh renewable energy for us Homestead has been a participant at the City of Homestead in all three of our phases um unfortunately the first phase the the project that you participated in got terminated it faced challenges with site development and um conditions of that site as well as cause pressures uh the second phase one uh began producing test energy last week uh and will become commercial here within the next month or or so and then uh whistling duck the second facility in phase two is the one we're here to to discuss amendments regarding and then our phase three uh has also been wrapped into this amendment uh and you'll find out in a moment but there's a total of about 15 megawatts that the city is looking to procure from renewable energy so origis energy the developer of the Rice Creek and wiing duct facilities came to us uh with concerns about the viability of the project uh they're facing uh cost pressures and uh timeline pressures from uh not only being able to interconnect the facility to transmission grid but also getting the labor necessary to to produce the uh to build the facility um and so they were facing delays and uh potentially uh asking to terminate that agreement as well so we've renegotiated with them along with consultation with the other participants uh to keep it alive extend the uh the commercial operation date a little further but it does come with a price increase because of that price increase 8 eight of the 12 participants in that facility decided they no longer want to participate uh in Consulting your your staff at the utility they thought they would like to proceed and so we have included them in in this amendment um we have a total of six facilities with origis energy across multiple phases of this project and as a result of those eight members deciding they no longer want to participate one of them will be terminated um and then additionally we have an exchange agreement that allows us because we have facilities that are connected to the FPL transmission system system and Facilities connected to the Duke transmission system agreements that allows us to exchange that power among the cities and Save in transmission [Music] costs so this is a quick look at the before and after these amendments for uh the city Homestead uh two and a half megawatts in Rice Creek that I mentioned began operation last week stays the same two and a half megawatts that's in whistling duck gets a price increase uh around a 20% increase and then the 10 megawatts that you had in phase three no price change there but there will be a site change the source of the the energy will be changed uh to deal with that one facility that's being terminated as I I spoke about all of those you'll notice are are under the the general cost of electric service for the city um I'll spare you the details of this this chart but this was the number of cities involved and the number of facilities and it's been reduced to to something a little more concise and you can see City of Homestead highlighted or bolded there um the change that we're making is pulling some of your participation from the previously the Hampton facility into that whistling tuck facility and that's a benefit I believe to the city because out of all of the the uh facilities being built that one is probably the furthest long in production and the most likely to to not face further challenges once this amendment is is finalized so we've kind of waited that with N9 megawatts in whistling duck and the remaining three and a half in a future facility that will come online at the end of 2 so we're targeting final approval for for all of the Cities involved um there's 12 cities that have to get various approvals as I said a couple are doing that tonight as well um once all those cities have their approvals fnp's board and executive committee will will be looking to approve the final agreement on September 9th but we need all the local approvals before that I believe your next council meeting is the day before that I'm correct 18 so there's three agreements involved in this for the amendments to take place there's an amendment to the solar uh Solar 2 project contract which it revises the shares in wesling Duck I spoke about as well as the price price Rice Creek in that agreement stays the same Amendment one to the solar 3 project uh removes the Ben Holloway agreement which doesn't necessarily directly affect the city of homstead other than it reallocates some of the other facilities involved in that phase and then energy exchange agreement that I spoke about uh that is all the information I had and uh unless there are any questions that Havey to take those again thank you any questions or comments from Council good um so I guess Mr manager to confirm the bottom line is is even with that one price increase we're still confident that that allows us to provide Power um at the lower rates we enjoy now overall so I think it's appropriate for me to ask Mr Chris G are you comfortable that or confident that the City of Homestead is going to receive a reduction in cost in terms of these new changes in the contract even with the increase with with regard to solar compared to your Alternatives I can't speak to I'm not an expert in your your entire stack um but I believe that's the case Cas for solar if solar and renewable energy is important to your portfolio do believe this is the best available price that you will find at this moment if we were to go out for request for proposals today um it's likely that it would be another 20 to 30% higher than this appreciate that we'll let the record reflect that our utilities director's head is shaking you know in the in in the affirmative and and smiling all right is there anyone in the public wishing to speak on this matter I see none I'll close the public hearing there no further questions from Council I'll ask for a uh motion to approve move by Council NOA second by vice mayor Fletcher all in favor any opposed and I believe that that brings us to the conclusion of the agenda go ahead you uh just to to one thing for clarity um I was very interested in the franchise fees that we collect from fpnl and if there's contracts that get renewed or how those fees get negotiated I'd be interested in learning about that process um and then if I can get if we get somebody go look at uh 3 28th Street and 167 Avenue just to the east there's a part of the uh sidewalk that's becoming encumbered with overgrowth vegetation it makes it almost impossible for people on the sidewalk just a quick glance at that and see who's responsible for taking care of that area that's all thanks mayor thank sir all right Mr manager anything further no Mr attorney we have a motion to adjourn we by Council aala seconded by the vice mayor all in favor any opposed thank you all good night