heyj hej we're good y thank you so much please take your seats the meeting is about to begin please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 2 1 good morning welcome to the June 26th 2024 Commission meeting it is a hybrid meeting and I'm going to ask the city clerk to provide Zoom info and any other instructions and good morning everyone morning morning mayor during this hybrid Commission meeting the city commission is physically present in the commission chamber at Miami Beach City Hall 1700 convention set Drive third floor the public May attend the meeting virtually however members of the public who wish to attend the meeting or provide public comment in person may appear at the commission chamber to participate or provide comment virtually during the commission meeting the public May Jo join the meeting by visiting the Zoom app on their smart device or on the web at zoom. us or by telephone at 1 305 2241 1968 again the local number is 305 2241 1968 tollfree is 88847591 the webinar ID is 813 928 576 71 pound again the webinar ID is 813 9285 7671 members of the public wanting to speak virtually on an item during the meeting must click the raise hand icon if using the Zoom app or press star N9 on the telephone to raise their hand thank you very much mayor CL before we actually start with sutnik hour yeah we switched to set the tone right last meeting we started with our invocation and uh I've asked Rabbi Daniel Hadar from Temple Moses and before you even start your invocation thank you for everything you do for Miami Beach and for uh certainly the North Beach uh community thank you we'll just take a a moment to say that this morning that we invoke God's kindness and Grace upon this tremendous May beach commission and mayor may you have the strength Insight wisdom to do all that you do for Miami Beach to make our city better brighter and improved in every possible way may you see that just as the tribes of Israel when they March in the desert they didn't March under one flag they had each one had their own flag to indicate that each one had a special and unique talent and a special and unique purpose may you all see that in every one of us and may you have the strength to see that that diversity brings Unity strength and togetherness may God bless you in everything you do amen amen thank you thank you for your powerful words we are now going to do the pledge and it's my honor to ask digna Abella to lead us I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God individual with li Justice for great job we'll hear more from you later who's first welcome Wendy thank you m Mr Mayor good morning to all of you on the day uh today is a special moment for myself and Gary and I think you'll understand why in few minutes uh I'd like to ask our fire chief Virgil Fernandez to come up please please before I go into the formal aspect of my presentation I do want to say a few words about human relations which now more than ever with what's going on in the world and going on around us is very important I think you all know that for 5 years uh Virgil and I debated about My Boomerang balconies and he was doing his job upholding the fire code and I said the fire code has to change but through five years in every or Department head's office in this building the human relations aspect is one that we all should copy I have to tell you if you look up the word decent in the dictionary AR our fire chief is one of the most decent de NT human beings that I know and I hope we all can emulate that aspect of Chief Fernandez that being said this certificate of appreciation awarded to Virgil Fernandez fire chief for his extraordinary leadership extraordinary leadership as Miami Beach fire chief awarded this June 26 2024 from B Plaza residents and I really think from all the residents of Miami Beach [Applause] good morning I'm Gary rug 20 Island Avenue belile I always follow my wife on the days today I'm here representing beera the B Isle residents Association we'd like to recognize a number of people that have done very much for B is and its beautiful Park we invite invite you all to come see what they do on Bell Isle I learned a little while ago that one of the people that I'm repres going to talk about is Joe Gomez and we've known Joe and his team of workers when we had floods when we had broken pipes his team was always there recently he just did Broken sidewalks and great time very beautiful work also John rebar the head of the parks of recreation he has planted shrubs and trees in this park that are beautiful to see it's close to the botanic gardens and uh we thank them we're going to miss Joe we think there are many people leaving that we need here our organization could not do well if we don't have connection to these department heads and I know the board has the commission has to interview a lot of people and replace a lot of people and we need to do the same to know who they are and where we can get a hold of them so we wish you well to do that but we will miss Joe Gomez tremendously so thank you I'm going to go now to zoom and I'll be back uh here the first Zoom caller is Alicia kasanova Miss kasanova please state your name address and you have two minutes please my name is Alicia kasanova my address is 4775 Avenue Miami Beach this morning I'm representing the mid Beach neighborhood association good morning everyone good to see you all the MBNA is glad to know that C7 AA regarding the continuation of The Pedestrian pathway on Indian Creek Drive is on today's consent agenda the MBNA has been advocating for a much needed continuous path on Indian Creek Drive from 41st to 26th Street for several years before construction of this project even began although we appreciate the Improv ments made to the Landscaping in that area we've been very disappointed that this beautiful city amenity does not have a continuous path and is therefore flawed in several sections we support the June 26 resolution and encourage the city to negotiate with the owner of the 201811 outlet parcel or otherwise pursue an imminent domain proceeding we also support the May 24th recommendation from the finance and economic resiliency committee to prioritize funding for a feasibil ility study to determine the design and construction costs associated with the new capital project to develop a continuous walkway for those segments of the pathway which are currently not connected to the path the MBNA requests to be kept a breast of the results of that study and with all plans for the completion of the Indian Creek pedestrian pathway so that we are given the opportunity to provide our input throughout this entire process thank you thank you so good morning Mitch novic 901 Collins Avenue I urge you to affirm digna abell's appointment as our new fire chief Miss abello is extraordinarily qualified she's familiar with all the many nuances of the fire code and equally important digna will be the first female fire chief in Miami day County setting an example for all of us to be proud of on another note my homegrown Miami Beach based real estate and hospitality company which for decades has provided jobs housing accommodations and opportunity will be turning 35 on July 5th on the 4th in addition to our country's Independence we'll be celebrating with fireworks at my place beginning at 700 p.m. everyone is invited and welcome absolutely no gifts please hope to see you there thank you so much our next virtual speaker is Amanda nap miss nap please state your name address and you have two minutes please hello good morning my name is Amanda nap um I reside at 1200 West Avenue um I've been a resident for over 13 years uh good morning Mr Mayor and Commissioners today I'm excited to speak as the human rights committee chair and with my experience as a PhD candidate researching human trafficking for over 10 years it's estimated that 27 million people are victims of human trafficking worldwide with over 16,000 self-identified victims in the United States Florida remains number three in our country with Miami being number one in the state human trafficking affects all Races genders citizens and non-citizens and the LGBT Q Plus Community traffickers do not discriminate our city continues to move forward in efforts to address human trafficking on June 12th we had the first ever Miami Beach Human Trafficking Coalition meeting with commissioner Fernandez and Dominguez the Department of Homeland Security FIU representation to nonprofits and our Miami Beach Human Trafficking detective unit our human trafficking detectives explain the importance of human trafficking victims communicating with them promptly when they are in desperate need of help a major issue with human trafficking Countrywide is the victim identification process victims experience manipulation and are physically and emotionally abused and could fear reaching out for help today commissioner Fernandez will present C4 which is a referral to the public safety and neighborhood committee to discuss expanding the capabilities of public saf safy communication division to support calls reg regarding suspected human trafficking in the city of Miami Beach which has been requested by our expert human trafficking detectives please support commissioner Fernandez and assist human trafficking victims in Miami Beach also please join the human rights committee on July 27th for the city's first ever red sand event to remember the victims who have fallen through the cracks thank you so much for all of that you do thank you please sir you're next state your name address and you have two minutes my name is Alan line I reside at 910 Bay Drive um Miami Beach um I want to lay out a couple of principles um that should inform uh how the commission and the mayor respond to the following speakers they intend to talk about Israel and the commission and the mayor have in inserted Israel into the business of uh this this uh city in in very substantial ways and when the issue has been raised by people with whose views the mayor disagrees he has exercised the power of censorship by threatening to cut off mics in fact cutting off mics threatening people with ejection so I want to remind the mayor and the Commissioners that this is a sutnik hour this is a public forum on which people have a right to speak about issues of importance to them the first amendment of course controls uh what one can say public meetings the mayor has said on occasion we are a nonpartisan body uh aside from the fact that that only applies to the election process that is you don't run as Democrats or Republicans to the extent that the mayor implies that that applies to uh views about Israel of course the mayor's views and commissioner Suarez's views have been very openly expressed so the citizens of Miami Beach have an absolute right to talk about Israel they should be they should do so and you may not like their views Mr Mayor uh or commissioner Suarez but you have an obligation to listen to them and not to interrupt them thank you our next virtual speaker is Nicole M Nicole state your name address and you have two minutes hello good morning my name is Nicole Morris and since December this commission has been committed to stifling free expression on the topic of Israel from anti-free speech ordinances restricting the right to protest to this current proposal of a ban on contractors who are participating in the nonviolent BDS movement this commission has been clear when it comes to Israel and the crimes against humanity that it is committing with taxpayer dollars this commission is utterly this is exactly this is exactly what I'm not partisan can you cut can you cut it I I'm happy to talk about the issues the items we're not going to sit here and start laying the blame that you believe is appropriate it's just not going to happen here talk about the items I haven't restricted and our commission by the way that was a unanimous vote we haven't restricted free speech what we've done is protect people from harassment from intimidation right which is also a protective under our constitution United States that people should be able to walk into a synagogue should be able to go into art basil without being hounded screamed out surrounded simply because they are Jewish I was at those places and none of that happened and you know shame on you they're they're on video they're on video was in front of the temple Emanuel when I was there when Alan DZ was speak she inhibited my speech she she she inhibited my right to hear first amendment speech so that's BS tell me who you represent what Temple do you represent what Jews do you represent no one and yet you let him speak deare shame on you no shame on you oh state your name address and you have two minutes please my name is Donna Neville and I live on Bay Drive in Miami Beach was born and bred in Miami Beach I want to begin my remarks in front of this commission once again reiterating that growing up in Miami Beach I learned from my beloved parent that being Jewish meant fighting for justice always for the Civil Rights and human rights of all people and for dignity for all people I've been here speaking at other commission meetings when the commission shut off my mic saying this was a nonpartisan hearing yet at the last commission meeting you invited as your benediction speaker the council general of Israel in Miami in introducing the Israeli government representative the commission mentioned Israel Independence Day and said it attended a ceremony at the Hebrew Academy where incidentally I went to school as a child but what wasn't mentioned in those remarks was that for the Palestinian People Israel Independence Day marks the Noba the catastrophe where 750,000 of the indigenous Palestinian people living in Palestine were expelled and push out of their homes and their land before and during Israel's creation and the knock book continues to this day with Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people happening as we speak cross the line by the way just one of the many many heartbreaking realities Israel has killed 15,000 children by the way we never mention thean the wom that were raped on October 7th and mutilated is time notm to take that in shut up by the way this is this is that the commission invited to speak the representative of a country committing a we're we're taking a time out I'm asking I'm asking the police department to regain order in this we will not silent asking you to take order of this Comm meeting never again means never again for anyone never again has I'm asking the police department once again to regain order of this commission meeting through our city manager yes our next virtual speaker is Johan Moore Mr Moore state your name address and you have two minutes sir good morning Johan Moore 717 Jefferson Avenue I stand with Palestine and its armed resistance by any means necessary to free the Palestinian people from occupation eth cleansing and genocide I oppose any and all measures before this or any other legislative body that seek to thwart that right to Armed self-defense and self-determination as always I urge this commission to not get entangled in foreign affairs certainly not in support of a genocide indicted regime but to focus on what is before us properly what is before you properly which is our Municipal Affairs and I want to while I oppose r5w praise both Commissioners sadis and fetan Andis for their legislative items that seek to encourage car-free residential units on Washington Avenue which I think go very well hand inand with a proposal before you to put in uh bus lanes dedicated bus lanes on Washington Avenue that's my neighborhood that's my concern primarily while my heart also bleeds for issues abroad this is our city you work for us you need to focus on our needs as a city not entangle us in foreign affairs thank you very much I see here here's the problem I have and this is why I'm intervening and by the way most people in our city agree with me we are not talking about first of all we're starting to get into Foreign Affairs we're starting getting to foreign issues secondly the comments that are being made are not just hostile they're not just anti-zionism they're anti-semitic you may not realize it and you can tell me whoever you are that you're Jewish being Jewish does not mean you're not anti-semitic that's where I'm drawing the line and I'm not going to allow it in this commission meeting and I'm going to ask the body I'm going to I'm going to put my colleagues on the line here too back me up if you agree with me I mean I'll ultimately I'm the mayor I'll make the decision but if you disagree with me tell me but I mean we either we either going to support Jewish people and there's a lot of them in our city by the way it does not take much when I proposed that legislation and we did not restrict Free Speech we did not restrict Free Speech we put a we put a a parameters on reasonable time place and Manner and just directed The Police Department to enforce that we already had it in place it's it's law it's the law of our country we ask our police we directed our Police Department to enforce it which had not been previously been enforced that's what we're talking about here and ultimately what we saw afterwards by the way was the demonstrations that happened across the universities is there anybody sitting in this room that does not think those demonstrations were anti-semitic I mean does it take a lot to make that leap okay we have a CP we CLE couple of hands we got a couple of hands from the from the People speaking here I am not going to sit here it's not going to happen here go to some other city where they accept this I'm not going to C the anti-semitic comments and the revisionist history that you that you individuals are bringing to us I want to hear from all my colleagues I want to hear from all my colleagues here because I am not going to sit here and allow anti-semitic comments being made while I'm sitting right here as the presiding officer commissioner Suarez Mr Mayor thank you um you know I'm half Israeli um half my Israel half my family is in Israel and I find it so disgusting that these people are so anti-semitic I knew people who were victims in the October Massacre and then you have the goal to come here and tell us anti-semitic comments it's disgusting it's horrible you you can be Jewish and still anti-semitic at the same time and you are anti-semitic stop with this nonsense Miami Beach is Ground Zero for Jews and you're making it uncomfortable for us in our temples and our schools and on our streets our next speaker virtually is Audrey bomse please state your name address and you have two minutes uh hold on I'm trying to unmute okay um yeah Audrey bomy 8600 Byron Avenue uh I want to speak today H as a Jew who's lived and worked in Palestine for seven years as a human rights lawyer and as a Jew who made few trips to Gaza where I have friends and colleagues a few have died all of whom have family members who've died and I'm also speaking as the daughter of a holocaust Survivor whose mother taught her that never again applies to everyone not just to Jews so I find it really incredible that you had an invocation at the last council meeting which recognized the suffering and honored the deaths of only Israelis and said nothing about the over 37,000 dead Palestinians which is surely an underestimate because there's so many bodies that remain under the rubble he only talked about the Israeli soldiers who've killed them you know others have told you about the findings of various human rights bodies and the world court court which found that genocide in Gaza was plausible but I just want to give voice to my friends who have had no means to escape the bombings or to protect themselves and their children one friend just wrote to me and it's want to quote I'll be quick about this at the end of the day you have to sit with the family play the role of a good son a good father husband brother and friend and be a hypoc you so much your time is upine I want to make a correction by the way in my comments last month I actually specifically mentioned that all deaths are tragic war is ugly speak to any Soldier by the way who's fought in wars and they I actually spoke to a soldier once not not an American soldier who had to go in during the Gulf War he went in with passion with with a Zeal and he told me he came back broken from what he saw war is ugly it is atrocious but let's remember that Israel did not start this war you know I don't want to get into history but you keep bringing it up Israel's Army and pulled out Jewish people living in Gaza think of what the Israeli Army did pulled out people living in Gaza in 2005 for those who don't know Gaza is a coastal city a beautiful can be a beautiful city like Miami Beach perhaps they could have built hotels they could have built gambling or whatever they want to build to bring in tourists by the way which used to exist in some level but they chose to build tunnels underground to wage a war so let's not forget what's going on here I'm sorry I don't want to get into that I don't bring up these issues you're bringing them up so I have to counter them so for 19 years instead of building a beautiful beach town where you and I could have visited and gone there and let's not forget a lot of people sitting in this room by the way if they went to Gaza would be killed and it's not just Jewish people I don't want to have to name the groups but you know who you are you would not survive going there so let's remember you go to Israel it's a free Democratic country everyone is free to practice their religion their faith what ever they believe in and you will be safe that is not true in Gaza test it out if you want sir go ahead state your name address and you have two minutes my name is my name is Ken Barnes I live in uh North Miami uh you mentioned the army of the uh Israeli of the Israeli country because you have an army the Israeli Defense Forces that has killed 37,000 Palestinians and it calls itself how many of those people were terrorists it killed 37,000 give me a number how many of those how many and 15,000 children calls itself the most moral army in the world it is here you have an army that is destroyed almost 60% of the housing in Gaza and calls itself the most moral army in the world who builds Terror tunnels and you have an army that supports and is in an integral part of using starvation as a weapon of war and calls itself the most moral army in the world what I find particularly reprehensible is the inability of the Israeli government to tell the truth it promotes itself more as a as a moral Force for good by calling for a tactical pause in the fighting to allow the delivery of humanitarian Aid to uh to people who are starving yet we have not seen any increase in humanitarian Aid reaching starving Palestinians as the IDF protects those blocking Aid at border crossings as people of conscience we are Enga enraged about these actions by the Israeli government and his army that being said all peaceful popular efforts including boycott and investment must be used to hold accountable those corporations and institutions which in doing business with Israel are promoting and supporting Israel's grave violation thank you Siran human rights thank you our next virtual caller is Quinn go to Washington DC this is not the place where Mi local the Israeli counil General to your meetings leave us alone get out of here you self-hating animals no you guys act as a human beings okay committing genocide look up the definition of genocide I just want I I just want to say has found oh an international an anti-semitic International this is the Miami Beach commission Miami Beach people have issues they want to talk about local invite the Israeli council General to your meeting and we can talk about local issu they introdu Israel not us yeah so I I've been trying to be very generous to say the least but we we have we have decorum here we have a an agenda that there are items and this happened the same thing when when we talked about the demonstrations stick to the item talk if you want to talk about the item talk about it and give us your your plea by the way some of what you just heard I get emails regularly from at least one person who spoke today I don't want to call out names that are so violently full of hate and anti-Semitism it's it's beyond and I don't block it because I don't I want to have it in my phone I want to prove the stuff that I get literally on a daily and weekly basis that is horrific and now I have to listen to it here but the problem is it's not fair to our residents it's not fair to our residents talk about the issues that are at the Forefront talk about the issues that we are going to vote on today 30 minutes have elapse uh since we began the set hour so just is there anyone here issue wants to talk about something on the agenda I have an agenda item okay thank you please state your name address you have two minutes sir thank you my name is Adam sa I live on South Beach and I'm speaking to r5w in 1990 only four months after being released from 27 years in prison Nelson Mandela traveled to the United States for an8 City Tour on his final stop here in Miami non no governmental official met him at the airport no proclamations were issued in his name and local leaders at the Miami Beach Convention Center turned their backs to a man who has recognized the world over as a symbol of peace How Deeply embarrassing for the city in response to the snubbing of Nelson Mandela Miami's black community led a boycott against Miami Beach and its hospitality industry the boycott lasted almost three years and ended with the adoption of the be black Hospitality initiative a program Now touted by local leaders the anti-apartheid boycott of South Africa lasted 10 times longer from 1959 through the 1990s activists used economic pressure to expose a system of racial stratification political disenfranchisement and force relocation of black Africans into violently controlled Islands known as pusans today's BDS movement encourages the boycott divestment and sanctioning of Israel to protest these same atrocities committed against Palestinians and ethnic religious stratification Mass illegal displacement and the forc confinement to ever shrinking boutin whether one views Israel's actions in this way or not there are many who do they do so because of what they have heard what they have read and what they their friends and their families have personally experienced as an American Jew who has lived in both Israel and Palestinian West Bank I fall into this latter category if people choose to express their political views through the same means that ended segregation on buses in the American South or topal partide in the South Africa they have every right to do so without governmental interference proposed ordinance r5w seeks to silence those with political views that differ from Miami Beach's current leadership it attempts to extract a loyalty oath to a foreign Nation to do business with our home City this type of governmental constriction into Political alignment is both terrifying and it is barred by our first amendment in 1966 black mississippians boycotted white businesses in response to racial segregation it took almost 20 years for the US Supreme Court to weigh in but when they did they said that the government has quote no right to prohibit peaceful political activity such as that found in boycotts because we have a quote profound National commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited robust and wide open this ordinance r5w slams the door shut on debate and it's silences those who think differently from the rulers nothing could be less American and I urge this city not to do that thank you very much for your time do you wish to continue or we 30 minutes have elapsed okay so we have one minute let's do one minute uh thank you I was going to suggest that as well and and please please limit it to agenda items quen Diaz go ahead please one minute state your name and address good morning Quinn Diaz 124 Third Avenue I'm the public policy associate at equality Florida as the state's largest civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for gbt key flan equality strongly supports commissioner Fernandez's recommendation in c4t to exempt unisex or gender neutral restrooms from Far calculations at a time when lgbtq florians find themselves in a state of emergency every single day this Innovative proposal will incentivize private developers to construct restrooms that transgender people can use without fear of discrimination harassment or criminal penalties itself is the most business-friendly state in the country its recent policies have set the private sector up to take the fall for the state's overreach businesses a mun IP alties know that discrimination is bad for bottom lines and that inclusive practices and policies make them more Innovative profitable and attractive Miami Beach has long served as a leader in supporting the rights of lgbtq employees residents and visitors and its inclusive policies stand among the strongest in Florida while harmful policies like the state's anti-rb law are enforced Statewide it is the responsibility of local governments to use their tools to mitigate harm to Residents and Visitors by leveraging new and innovative solutions Solutions like next please state your name address you have one minute I am Susie rodone chair of The Advisory Board of the wolfsonian FIU I'm a full-time resident of Miami Beach residing at 1500 Ocean Drive on behalf of the wolfsonian FIU I want to express thanks for the leadership of this commission and the City of Miami Beach for investing in and supporting a vibrant Miami Beach Arts and Cultural Community we at the wolfsonian FIU strongly support commissioner bot's referral for exploration and discussion for the city of Miami Beach to make one-time grants to the Arts Community to mitigate the impact of the loss of State funding passage of this referral would allow the Arts Community to maintain their staff and planned programming for the coming year many of my neighbors were residents from areas with Rich Arts and Cultural communities and they and the city's many tourists want the same experiences here in Florida State support is necessary thank you thank you our next speaker is Wayne Roberts Mr Roberts that your name address and you have two minutes go ahead Mr Roberts one minute pleas thank you thank you um I want to state that um I love you guys and and you know it's infuriating to hear these these folks come up and waste your time but um I want to state that uh there's a there's a there's a legis ation I spoke at at Mr Miner's mayor Miner's um uh meeting yesterday and my concern is that uh approving uh existing projects should go forward uh but if there's a if there's a change in price or scope uh in a significant way that's material that it requires still uh you 4-3 vote rather than a 52 or 61 um it's imperative because the implication s would be really really damaging for uh 5 or 10 years from now uh approving projects that started out at 50 million and requiring you know six7 or 57 to turn down uh $200 million uh which the way that's written would would would happen I apologize Mr Roberts where your time is up next please I'm not sure which one was next but go ahead hi uh good morning uh all my name is Adam G I live in El portel and I'm coming here today representing the Rhythm Foundation the Rhythm Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit that manages the Miami Beach Bandshell uh on behalf of the city of Miami uh Beach I'm speaking here today um in support of including a housing component into the Byron Carlile plan um we have uh the Rhythm Foundation has about 50 employees uh their work is contributing directly to the vibrancy of of the neighborhood the bans shell is a Comm is a cultural Hub and economic driver um for the neighborhood most of that of my of my staff does not live on the beach many of which would uh like to would like to live on the beach so they can live in the very neighborhood that they are so tiously working to to contribute to and to make uh more vibrant um they're commuting over the bridge um every day uh and and add to congestion and the traffic Oh wow was out a minute already uh and also want support for any effort that you all could do to we also subject to the budget shortfall so any support would be greatly appreciated thank you our next virtual speaker is Cynthia Cynthia you have one minute please go ahead hi good morning mayor and commission thank you for all you do I appreciate you supporting our entire community and keeping everyone at peace and like you said out of political issues that unfortunately we are not able to do anything um I did want to speak to you and thank you again for the item that you have on the agenda which is First Street I've been involved in this project for over seven years my concern today is um the last commission meeting there was talked about parking Alternatives please note living here for over 20 years there's not any we're already full um we sent videos to you last week of we're full um almost all the time on First Street please note that the commercial spaces which are 46 of the 85 are almost always full 24 hours a day um the last Marina project Rebecca towers with promised parking was never received as of today and it's also private property and it can be taken away at any time so I urge you that there are two strong options to be considered is either thank you so much I'm sorry but we out of time next speaker please you have one minute sir go ahe Steve bubo and 11 Island Avenue Miami Beach I came here to follow up with uh some issues on handicapped parking which I know you're partially addressing requiring residents to register one of the other things uh that uh I spoke to a couple of you about were the uh residential zones and I think especially for people over 65 years of age those residential zones if you're residentially approved in zone 4 you should be residentially approved in zone 14 one of the reasons I think we should go forward with that is um there are no handicap spots there may be one handicap spot per three or four blocks and the parking Department's answer is well find a handicap spot if you're handicap you're handicap I got two bad legs where it's pretty difficult to go over to Washington Avenue and all the spots are residential zones and there's no place for you to park and I have a legitimate handicap sticker you sir I have legitimate problems and I hope that someone can make a motion to uh extend the handicap parking permits our next virtual speaker I apologize our next virtual speaker is Amy Amy you have one minute please state your name and address Amy please unmute yourself Amy May Amy Mayhew with 41st Street bid um recently the bid has released its Vision plan and we're really focused on Traffic Solutions and using 44st Street for Traffic Solutions and we're supportive of the commission's initiatives to help in those regard with Workforce housing and the Royal pal traffic plan we're only asking that that for the traffic plan it start not two weeks after that it starts prior to so that routes can be established um prior to school starting and not have Be A disruption once School comes into session and then cause some Mayhem um because that can be an issue um when it comes to Workforce housing we like to support our businesses our Medical Offices our facil our medical facilities we have great hospital nursing staff um great nursing technicians that would love to live and work on the beach um so we'd like to support that and we appreciate your efforts on that so if you can help with those consent items would be great thank you thank you next please state your name address and you have one minute hi my name is wow is that a minute thank you thank you for [Laughter] speaking hi my name is David seon I'm a 30 plus year resident of my Beach and I'm here today to urge you to support the workforce housing model at the byrin for two reasons community and economy Community every single one of you has said to me at one time or another how special you think North Beach is we are in danger of losing that specialness because the artists the teachers the First Responders the plumbers who work in that Community could no longer afford to live there so please help us keep this community special economy if we use the bond model that's successfully been implemented at the Collins Park Cultural Center you will save the city $15 million and then that money from those rents can go back to the Performing Arts Center you have the the opportunity to create a groundbreaking business model funding gets cut for these organizations this would be a self-funded organization it could do additional free programming for the community this is the best way forward North Beach needs your help thank [Applause] you state your name address and you have one minute yes please you thank you good morning mayor commissioner Blanca viello owner of a unit in 6484 Indian Creek Drive we've been here before because a huge problem with our landlord unfortunately I'm here today because the problems we have with the last rains were horrific I understand the video is going to be passed later on but uh the water of the intracostal came into the building but the worst part was the switch the Swit came into the building on it cover all the pool half of of garage we lost our laundry we lost two cars and the main problem is the switch I understand it's a huge problem but if we are spending so much money and recertifications insurance and things like that we really need the city to come and check what's going on before it used to happen here in Washington Avenue is not happening anymore but there in 60 and Indian Creek between 63 and 65 is a complete swimming pool our garage was all the way to the West so I'll appreciate if you come and take a look thank you good good morning mayor and Commissioners my name is Matthew ganof and I live at 125 Jefferson Avenue I want to speak in support of c7a and c7z which are two items that would resume progress on really important resiliency projects in South Beach we've been reminded by recent rainstorms even even last night when it rained for 30 minutes uh some of the streets become Mini Lakes so I applaud the efforts of the land use and sustainability committee and the entire commission to reach consensus and to work with stakeholders and I hope that it is passed today as part of the consent agenda thank you good morning my name is Rafael 5300 calling S I came here not to talk about the war in Israel I am here to talk about a different War the war that Mr David Suarez had declared to our group of Artisans please don't mention specifically we are 60 refer to him you know head of the family and he want to take out the food of our family about three 100 person I don't I don't know who's going to stay in Lincoln Road the criminals and all these people that's what what don't what he don't present an initiative to clean or criminal and and ugly people with the street that's a good initiative not the other one because the the other one is hurting the family and in this country the politician work for the people not for the elitist thank you sir next speakers please hi Hi D my name is janif f I'm one of the artist vendors and what he's saying I know he's very passionate he been in artist vendor for maybe more than 15 years I've been here in Miami Beach being arst vended for seven years now and one of the problems that I see by us being moved from Lincoln Road or being move for the locations that were assigned to us is that we're here we help all the tourist that come in and ask us questions where's the bathroom where is the store where's this at they are lost some of them don't even their phones turn off we have to look for the hotels and our phones and tell them no it's this way sir it's this way ma'am I had a c a customer she was walking down Lincoln Road the sidewalks are all destroyed she broke her leg in couple of pieces they had to put a metal BRS on her leg she was mute she couldn't speak the person that was with her was able to talk silent which try to pick her from the floor sit her down I had to call the ambulance for them okay they had to pick them up this lady her legs was was destroyed we try to help people thank you so much our next virtual speaker is Betty Betty you have one minute please state your name and address Betty please unmute yourself we're going to go to the podium please state your name address and you have one minute hi my name is Claudia jaged good morning I'm representing the Lincoln Road bid on item C7 bi we are in total support of the ike kios we want them installed yesterday as soon as possible um obviously it's a huge upgrade from our static Clear Channel kiosk we have now um and that's it thank you thank you so much we're going to try Betty one more time Betty please unmute yourself you have one minute Betty go ahead please state your name address and you have one minute please Mickey Bloom 104010 Street on South Beach the proposed ordinance r5w attempts to limit the right to protest through boycott in order to force compliance with a certain political agenda as others have noted the right to peacefully protest has not only been recognized by our Supreme Court but has been used as an effective tool to achieve social good throughout the history of our country now married to a proud michigander I have become all too familiar with the atrocious Legacy of Henry Ford a racist Tycoon who is nonetheless hailed in textbooks throughout this country what many don't know is that he was also the subject of a boycott in 1920 he published the Dearborn independent a newspaper that's founded vitriolic hate towards Jews such as myself in response Jewish communities began advocating for a boycot a Ford Motor Company imagine if a municipality ened a ordinance requiring people including its Jewish people to pledge not to boycott fortunately no one at the time had the audacity to attempt to limit political speech by mandating an oath not to express their political views in response to the boycott the racist publication was eventually shut down the right to be able to express one's view mayor there's no one else on Zoom that either hasn't spoken or hasn't been called and I don't see anyone else in the audience so sutnik is now included mayor could have 30 seconds for Sen Nick I just want I didn't I don't want to ruin the uh the vibe in here I came for two reasons one was to congratulate Virgil Fernandez on his retirement she been a true professional I also want to say I didn't start off right good morning mayor Commissioners Madam manager Mr Deo Mr Granado I also want to say that the union fully supports the appointment of Chief alello we want to continue that relationship with we call our first cousins which is the fire deping thank you okay thank you for uh everyone for being here we went over time but I think it's important to hear from uh the public and we are a little behind I am going to at uh commissioner Rosen Gonzalez requested um to call c4d because uh Rabbi Hadar is here and he may need to address it so Commission gonzale May hello oh okay new system um Rabbi had and his wife Dina have a wonderful school at Temple Moses in the North End of the city and what they've noticed over the past several years is that many of the students that they're getting um have autism and and certain disabilities and issues with learning and so they would like to do a summer camp and Rabbi hedar would you like to speak uh about it a little bit because there was a request for funding sorry I didn't put the amount in the item but it's $10,000 and um RAB would you like to yeah thank you so much uh just very quickly um with uh over a decade of experience with preschool kids we've realized and we've been talking to many directors and people around the city as there's a nonpartisan and non specific issue in North Beach but just around the city that there are children children that uh fall in a category that are labeled as behaviorally um problematic when in fact they they are they fall between the cracks they they are not able to be diagnosed as they because they're in preschool with certain diagnosis that may come after preschool and at the same time they don't they're not getting the tools they need to be able to to uh function well in the classroom with their classmates so what we're trying to do is a small pilot project to uh create a a summer environment to see that certain therapies and certain developmental educational approaches would work for these kids and then we can apply that during the year to school and share this with the rest of the city and and really help a lot of preschool kids who are now really being shunted aside or or or labeled in ways they shouldn't be labeled so because there's some expediency with this item I would move that we approve it um now the program would be open to any um Miami Beach child who wanted to apply and we will work with Leslie and our marketing department to send out an email so that people are aware of this program if this program works and the certain therapies um and modalities that they're going to use in this program hopefully we can roll it out across the city and have a summer camp for children with special needs so um it is a $10,000 ask um I would like to move it would anybody consider seconding it so we have a second from commissioner Fernandez and we just wanted to I want to thank you and your wife Dina um for the work that you're doing in our community and hopefully this will result in some something very fruitful for of the children of myi beach who have any issues whatsoever thank you so much thank you is that approve thank you all in so this motion is in favor it's the motion was made by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez seconded by commissioner Fernandez all in favor hi 70 the item is approved thank you commissioner Rosen Gonzales we have a few time certains that we're a little behind on I'm going to ask our state house representative Fabian Pabi to give us an update of what's going on in tassi and thank you for being here thank you for all the work you do and your service thank you good morning Mr Mayor morning commission before I begin with the update um I walked in on this as you absorb every Commission meeting and I can't not comment um just to put some things into perspective for the listeners and I think they're all sitting outside um the ones I'm trying to address There Are Rules of Engagement in battle there's a level of honor and code in war and to just take the acts of October 7th into account the Act of War of one party was to be head to mutilate to kill to hurt women and children in the most vulnerable communities at a very unexpected moment of family celebration you mentioned rape earlier as horrific as that is in the act of War itself there are prisoners at this very moment eight months later after they've been captured tortured unarmed and broken that eight months later are finding themselves pregnant while in these prison camps so I just want to make sure everybody really knows what they're talking about and who they're talking about when you compare someone as honorable and humble as the Consulate General who we proudly recognize and then ask us to honor or recognize terrorists or terrorist supporters the State of Florida is clear this district is declared for is Israel we have a fund for anybody that wants to try out Palestine oneway tickets on behalf of the State of Florida we will proudly send you there and don't come back so on a more positive note which I always do enter the room with um greetings everyone we've had an exciting first term for me first ever in office and uh a really strong session times are tough everyone is concerned about the cost of living and uh the state is here to help we do what we can um I want to go over some tax incentives to start off with because there are specific dates that you might want to jot down and not miss um I'll start with a small business tax relief we've got $5 million credit for the next three years against corporate income taxes this is for any businesses that employ people with unique abilities I think this is a strong way for the state to say we recognize everybody we want to make sure they're included and we want to help you do so the bill also in increases the annual cap for strong families tax credit program this incentivizes businesses to donate to charitable organizations um that are focused on child welfare and their well-being we care about our children and we want to make sure our community is involved in the betterment of their Futures we have property tax relief um we there's a house joint resolution that will be amended to the Florida Constitution requiring a $25,000 homestead exemption applied to all Ador taxes except for the school district taxes so those aren't affected this will be adjusted annual for positive inflation growth we also have property insurance tax relief so you will not be paying state tax on your property insurance for the next year um that also applies to the um Fire Marshall assessment for residential property insurance policies we've renewed the toll relief which I know everyone really enjoys so if people going to and from work if you're using the SunPass lanes for 35 times per month you're getting a 50 50% rebate on that I know we all get the text alerts I think that's really exciting you should know that that's a $450 million investment on behalf of the state um to help your pockets we have some sales tax holidays coming up so August 24th to September 6th this is for disaster preparedness so everything from flashlights radios lanterns coolers Etc um let's get prepared for the upcoming storm season um there's tax relief on that we also have a skilled worker tax holiday on all tools power tools toolboxes belts Etc that's September 1st to September 7th um upcoming in the month of July we have a freedom month this is taxfree on all entertainment so visit your state parks visit your museums go to concerts go to the movies join a gym those annual memberships all taxfree um some things that affect our local business we've got uh and also throughout the states we're not the only city that I've heard these uh comments on but we've got a bill that's going to demand for the expedited approval of residential permits uh this mandates local governing bodies to implement programs to accelerate the billing permit process it also allows applicants to employ private providers also in protection of the Cities it also requires applicants to indemnify local governments from libr ilities due to their construction we all struggle with vacation rentals uh a bill that will be hopefully signed on July 2nd it's gotten a lot of positive feedback uh it defines the advertising platform they must show their licenses we need to know who we're dealing with um and this division is also going to create and maintain a vacation rental information system which facilitates compliance and provides a mechanism for local governments to verify vacation rental statuses it ALS also establishes criteria for local governments to fine suspend or revoke vacation rental registrations for non-compliance there's the controversial live local act um while we need housing and throughout the state this bill does apply there was a lot of concern on how this would affect overdevelopment in our district um while we have certain areas protected from the unsafe structures Bill like Ocean Drive in the Arco District this bill does apply to all however I've met with some of you and we've discussed how setbacks and assessments on projects can help us carefully guide those projects into our city um the homeless encampment law that was passed I think that's a very strong legislation that I know you've um you've enacted your own similar legislation so that we can address the homeless needs but on top of that we have HB 721 which addresses the real problem um and the state is investing 15 million million in an initiative where we are now focusing on mental wellness and substance abuse which we're all familiar all too well with the cycle our homeless population goes in where they're just busted around and if they don't meet certain criteria to be in specific facilities they're put right back where they started taxpayer funding has been wasted and the issues have not been resolved we now have real time real resources and real Partnerships from the state to address the needs to find out what's ailing them if they're suffering from substance abuse we have time uh to hold them and detox them to carefully consider a diagnosis for their mental uh illness conditions and to get them the real help that they need it is inhumane that they've lived this way for so long and I'm really happy to partner with Miami Beach in your initiatives and addressing this issue sorry for my voice I talk all day every day um a lot of people are concerned about the um the waterways we've got a lot of abandoned boats we've got homeless encampments on the water we've got a lot of issues and Bad actors ruining it for the good boers uh HB 487 will address that it's giving the FWC real teeth to address the um Bad actors on the water uh we've all dealt with flooding especially lately I myself lost a car last week um we have $200 million in Wastewater management grants that were funded last year this year they became uh renewed and they will be automatically renewed as we as we expend those funds um I urge every city to um tap into those resources the portal is open this month we've got another week to to uh attain those grants we also have a crime prevention and intervention grant that was funded at $5 million to address the needs of our law enforcement agencies but also to address the gun issue um we need to not only teach gun responsibility but also accountability and we need to educate especially our young um but all citizens on the Civil uh liabilities and consequences of gun ownership uh we've got tremendous funding I'll try to speed it up a bit for Everglade restoration funds um as far as Miami Beach specific funding we've got uh thanks to my Partnerships in the state 4.85 million granted for the Miami Beach intersection and beachwalk upgrade and safety improvements also the fire department ladder truck replacement at 417,000 we also got the senior services and programming funded at 175,000 and hopefully the state will continue funding this in the future so that our seniors know they have a place to go their fund is secure um I want to talk a little bit about spring break I gave you a more in detailed uh update on that when you did your your law enforcement update I think I think people really noticed that with a strong partnership and and a strong hand and law enforcement we can accomplish our initiatives and our goals um spring break was a tremendous success I've heard from so many business owners they've actually finally been profiting uh people feel safe um I myself took my family out and walked on Ocean Drive just about every night I thought it was magnificent I encourage everyone to go revisit Ocean Drive um it it's truly a paradise and we are globally renowned for it we must protect it and celebrate it and and support it everywh we can um as far as the um HOA and insurance crisis that we face um the governor has signed uh we've got record funding going into the dbpr which anyone who's had any experience with them in the past you know it's an office that's not very responsive because it's extremely understaffed I think they have three people I tried to knock on the door once nobody answered uh never got a call back in the past we're now adding 65 agents to that throughout the state um huge budget they are going to be a partner for our residents to take on the Bad actors that are in place in our HOAs they are misrepresenting legislation are making side Deals they are not protecting our most greatest asset which is our homes and uh and it's just wrong what I see happening I see a lot of people misrepresenting the in the uh reserve requirements those are not something that's due immediately that's something doe in the lifespan of the products that have not been funded a lot of uh I literally when I leave here I have to go up north to one of the other cities where a family is about to be uh selling their property for way undervalue and and forced to move out because they simply can't for the assessments that were put on them um I'm hoping people seek legal counsel until the dbpr can get involved and and help you with your case um let's see we've got uh emergency refills for IND insulin approved we've got HIV preventative uh medication more easily accessible to uh all all people uh this was a really important bill because anyone that's aware of this issue you've got to jump through a lot of Hoops to get medicine that's been available for a very long time and it's at a very high cost and now it's as easily accessible as having a pharmacist prescribe it to you so that we can live responsibly and uh and protect ourselves from illnesses that are that are out there um I want to recognize um our law enforcement every day a lot of politics get in their way um I'm really excited and proud of this commission for how you stand alongside and behind our law enforcement they are our heroes every day we thank them we thank their families for all they sacrifice and endure with us I also want to thank the community um it's been a hell of a year for me in politics and um it was really a pleasure um with everything that was thrown out I think uh I think I remain more inspired than I was when I began because when you see the good outweigh the bad when you see the people that are trying to get in office my Partners in the legislature my partners in the communities I represent really trying to do the work and get past the bureaucracy um it is impressive and it's not for it's not for everyone to jump into this and uh and they don't make it easy but uh if you're a heart is pure and you are trying to do the right things you can accomplish a lot for a lot of very good people so I thank you all for your partnership and uh I hope I'll be back in the next session to give you another update but thank you thank you if you have any questions let me thank you representative basabi appreciate the update and for all you're doing and representing Miami Beach's interests in Tallahassee you're always accessible and thank you and I I have to comment on your last comment it's uh it's it's very true it's politics can be and is often a blood sport but there's nothing that I can think of that I could do and I think we all sit here up there and say and think this that you can help people literally every single day um so you uh and we do it and uh hopefully we do it with a pure heart thank you thank you Mr Mayor have a good day everyone okay why don't we uh before we get to the fire chief item let's just wrap up the consent agenda and let's why don't you call that Ralph thank you mayor the following items have been separated from the consent agenda you all have a list with these items but I'm going to read them for the public mayor Miner has separated C7 a y and C7 BG commissioner bot has separated item c7v which has a Time certain of 2:30 p.m. as well as C7 bi and c4a vice mayor Dominguez has separated item c2e commissioner Fernandez has separated C7 Y which has a Time certain of 11: a.m. and c2e commissioner magazine has separated c7e and C7 U commissioner Rosen Gonzalez separated c4d which has already been heard and approved as well as C7 BM and C7 Z commissioner Suarez is separating items c7p c7x C7 a z and not on your list so please add this not on your list he's also separating c7w those are all the items that are being separated mayor thank you anybody want to move the consent agenda so I have a have a motion from commissioner SW uh Suarez second from commissioner Fernandez all in favor of the consent agenda except the separated items motion passes 70 an additional announcement mayor Miner is going to be listed as a co-sponsor of c4c and commissioner Fernandez is going to be listed as a co-sponsor on c4d thank you mayor thank you now uh we have a special moment to call r7n and uh I'll turn it over to our city manager Raquel Williams but it is uh it's a special moment because we get to not only honor and uh really Express appreciation to those who served our City so honorably but also to take a vote and bring in um the new it really is a mark of a Hallmark of a of a city and Leadership when you have a proper succession plan and can bring in new leaders uh to bring our city um into the future so take it away city manager thank you kindly mayor I really appreciate the opportunity to high light this item on the agenda today although it is a significant day for the Mii Beach Fire Department it is also a really important day for our entire Community although we want to express our congratulations as it relates to the Future leadership of the department I would be remissed if I did not highlight the service of Chief Virgil Fernandez [Applause] [Applause] Chief please come to the podium for over 10 years Chief Fernandez has served the Miami Beach Fire Department with integrity and distinction and the highest level of professionalism with over 42 years of fire service in South Florida he is a true leader of our broader Community he reflects the best of Public Service his countless contributions to the city of Miami Beach and his personal sacrifices have not gone unnoticed from delivering babies to his deployment to Ground Zero following 911 to his response to various hurricanes and emergency events Statewide and his response to the champlaine tower South collapse very close to home chief Fernandez has seen and done it all and I just honored to have had an opportunity to work with him a testament to his leadership is the fact that he has developed a strong leadership team well all members of The Command Staff please stand okay okay please please raise your hand [Applause] Chief Fernandez has had the foresight to cultivate a leadership team that is capable experienced and professional and that leadership team has included deputy chief digna abello for over 19 years Chief abello has served the city of Miami Beach's fire department rising up through the ranks starting first As A Firefighter ultimately serving as division chief for three of the major divisions training Support Services as well as rescue then being promoted to Deputy Chief of administration she has been right by Virgil's side every step of the way and there is no doubt in my mind that she is ready and prepared to take on this new role her unwavering Integrity breath of experience and Leadership skills make her the clear and best choice when I had the opportunity to sit with each member of the Command Staff each one each one wholeheartedly recommended that Chief aello become our next fire chief when I disc with the Union same thing when I talked about Chief abello to members of our community and our stakeholders including those at Mount Si same thing so I have the utmost respect for chief abello I am honored to be able to recommend her for this appointment to not only be the first woman fire chief in the city of Miami beach but also in all of Miami Dave County [Applause] chief chief abello has been a part of what makes our fire department world class and top tier she has led during the covid-19 pandemic leading our vaccination efforts for our most vulnerable residents she has led two rigorous accreditation Cycles yielding the prestigious Insurance Services office class one rating she has also LED through our triple accreditation from the International Academy of emergency dispatchers through her oversight of our dispatch unit so everything that makes our fire department remarkable Stellar it's a part of what Chief ofel has done over the past 19 years so at this time I'd like all of the firefighters here with us today to please stand as well as members of the administration of our team to stand in support of Chief abello as I I hope she will be unanimously approved as our next fire chief we of course we could take the vote but do you want to say something uh deputy chief presumably soon to be fire chief aell or you can take the vote because you have a motion in a second Chief yes I just real quickly um thank you very much it has been a an incredible ride um I got I got to do every day uh what I love to do um and it's hard to believe it started 42 years ago um I I think uh the mayor the vice mayor the Commissioners thank you for your support throughout the years thank you to the residents our businesses some were more than just friends some became family um and and of course thank you to you know the men and women that I got to work with whether they wear a uniform of a dispatcher a lifeguard a firefighter um these are incredible people these are Heroes that you see behind me with white shirts and black shirts because I got to work very closely with our Police Department uh with Chief oats Chief Clemens and now Chief Jones um these are incredible incredible public servants and and it's not just to the uniform personel every single Department in this city I in awe of the work that they do the spirit that they bring the compassion that they do it with and the extreme dedication um you know it it it's I guess it's kind of Bittersweet you you I sit here and I go well the sad part is I'm leaving I think the happy part is that it happened and and I I I just I can't put into words how that feels obviously you know thank my family who um I guess almost 38 years ago I I met my girlfriend who later became my wife and little did she know she was uh had just been sworn into the fire department also and and as far as Chief abello um I I hope I hope that she gets to have the same amount of support that I got um you know there are tough issues that that that we're facing and and just know that from the fire department all we want is what is best for our entire Community uh there's no if we win somebody loses hopefully everybody wins and I hope that her humbleness um I hope that her demeanor is not confused with weakness because she is an incredible incredible firefighter she's an incredible administrator and I know she is going to be an incredible fire chief who's going to take this department to places that uh I could only have dreamed of so congratulations to her and thank you uh Mr mayor and and [Applause] Commissioners thank you Chief honorable mayor minor esteemed City commissioners Madam manager Williams City attorney city clerk cherish members of our community all the city staff that is going to sit here for a bit and the dedicated men and women of the fire department and police department today I stand before you with immense gratitude and profound humility as I accept the appointment as a 14th fire chief of Miami Beach this moment is not just a significant milestone in my career but a testament to the dedication and Collective efforts of many who have encouraged supported and believed in me first and foremost I want to express my deepest appreciation to the mayor and the city commission for entrusting me with this vital role your confidence in my ability is both an honor and a responsibility that I will uphold to the highest regard to Madame manager Williams the choice of either convincing Chief Fernandez to stay past his second grandchild's birth or ensuring the intram city manager recognize my qualities Chief Fernandez saw me was very Dreadful I'm grateful you took the opportunity to interview and speak to each one of us it's not because I didn't have faith in the process but it's so you understood that whoever was chosen was supported and just not giv the role when I was hired in 2005 at the age of 22 I was an athlete who never expected the fire service career to take me from being one of a handful of women among 190 men to being the first fire chief in 105-year-old department when you're hired you enter a 10we mini fire academy every morning the instructors will line you up in class to this uniform inspection it was exceptionally thorough your bunker gear had to be a certain way your uniform Immaculate press and your boots shiny to avoid any smudges but it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into pressing your uniform or polishing your boots it wasn't good enough the instructors will always find something wrong for failing the uniform inspection the recruits had to run the never-ending Road roads of Miami Beach or do raise the roofs circles on a for count until every part of your body was twitching and pain I remember going home and thinking to myself this torture was unnecessary especially when instructor was always in La Chas if you don't know what that is it's the one that would come flying off your mother's foot into her hand every time you started to cause even a hint of trouble I don't know about my classmates but I much rather had that furry chanas than any more arm circles and for count razor Ro at the end of the 10 weeks your final was to walk up 44 stories of the Peno 130 pounds of bunker gear on air up and down in less than 12 minutes the recruit Academy is a great equalizer nothing mattered but your will to succeed your dedication your role and your responsibilities not your color not your ethnic background not your education not your social status and I still serve with those same ethos as we look forward to new chapter is essential to honor the legacy of fire chief Fernandez Chief Fernandez has led the department with unparallel dedication courage and vision a leader must recognize that with leadership C responsibilities and obligations not privileges throughout this journey I've been Guided by strong moral compass the importance of staying grounded making formed decisions swiftly and understanding the Dynamics of power and influence but above all each decision was reinforced with the belief that true leadership is about service it's about working for the betterment of others before personal gain his leadership has been a Guiding Light and is a contribution to continue to inspire me throughout my career thank you chief fernandis for your unwavering support and laying the strong Foundation that we'll build upon to my wonderful wife two older boys and my incredible 9-year-old son your unwavering support and belief in me have been the driving force beside my perseverance you have stood by me through every grind and hustle every spring break every Memorial Weekend standing on 10 Street throughout the long hours and demanding 20-hour days that I've been working for the last 14 years your love has been my anchor my time's not up right your love has been my anchor keeping me grounded and focused even when the path seems Steep and challenge is very daunting I'm profoundly grateful for your endless encouragement your sacrifice you've made for the countless ways you've Lifted Me Up Your Love is a foundation upon which I've my all my achievements that I will always cherish More Than Words will ever express to my friends who have been my rock throughout this journey I extend my heartfelt gratitude to to the men and women of the fire department remember that we share a common mission to protect and serve our community with unwavering commitment each of you plays a crucial role in this Mission together and we will continue to elevate our standards of excellence you undertake a big responsibility and that's to Serve and Protect this community you undertake to protect the lives of us all and for all that I am humbly thank you for your support for taking the time out of your day whether you're forced to be here or not I appreciate it my vision is to build upon the strong Foundation laid by Me by my preditors we will continue to enhance emergency response capabilities invented cutting itch technology and prioritize the health and safety of our members I recog I recognize the immense pressure and stresses that comes from this job every day is a duty we see things that we may not think about today and it just randomly just pops up four five six months later but I am committed to fostering a culture that will continuously improve not only your mental health we your mental health but also the Innovation and inclusivity of our department together we'll face challenges ahead and I continue to make the my beach a place where Safety and Security and Community strives on in closing while I am honored to be the first woman of Miami Beach Fire Department in the Miami T County it's my fervent hope that I'm not the last our community is a vibrant tapestry of international cultures perspectives each contributing to the unique character of Miami Beach I love the city I love the people I love what it means for so many it stands for Hope freedom and opportunity I know that we have a long agenda they said that we're an now already behind but we do have a Time certain of 700 p.m. so I'll cut this speech short and let us move forward with the courage and determination as we work together to protect and serve the beautiful city of Miami Beach thank [Applause] you thank you thank you for your we're going to take the vote in a minute I just have to make a brief comment uh first of all to thank Chief Fernandez I actually not only want to focus we have a worldclass fire department we we we absolutely do everyone knows it our residents know it but I want to talk about what a human being he is my first time I met Chief Fernandes he knows what I'm going to say I was a candidate for commissioner and outside my family and friends nobody really knew who I was but I reached out to learn about the fire department and he sat with me for an extended period of time and I remember walking out not only learning a lot about the functions of our fire department the EMS Services the dispatch but I walked away saying wow what a decent human being you could just see it and talking to him and that's been evident uh for the four and a half years but was also evident after I got elected is that every time there was a function and chief Fernandez was representing our city you were right next to him uh Chief Abell and it was pretty apparent to me and I never asked Chief Fernandez but it was pretty apparent that you would be our next fire chief so um I look forward to working with you closely I don't know if Chief Fernandez told you I I do call him but I don't call him not I call our our police chief Wayne Jones way more than I call Chief Fernandez and uh but and and we'll see but we're really looking forward to working with you and thank you for your passion and representing our city the way you do roll [Music] [Laughter] calls it's all good should we take the vote and then take a picture has to be R my M on I can't believe you climbed the Pino in 12 minutes you got 44 sles up and down with a full bot of a wow congratulations to all of you actually for doing that and congratulations to you um J since I've been in politics for the past decade you've always been by virtual side and when um when CH Hernandez announced that he was going to retire uh and and we got the phone call it was just such a smooth transition there I don't think any of us had any questions whatsoever because we were so used to seeing the two of you like two peas in a pod all the time you've had tremendous training and um I'm just so happy that you'll be our next fire you are now our fire chief so thank you congratulations thank you okay let's take the vote there we go uh so I have a motion by commissioner bot a second by commissioner vice mayor Dominguez all in favor please say I I motion carries 70 congratulations thank you [Applause] Bobby good SL that way awesome awesome all right all [Applause] thanks for the suggestion open sure okay while we're finishing up the pictures well at least announce the next item we're going to hopefully try to make up some some time Ralph let's call rda1 thank you mayor we are recessing the commission meeting and reconvening as the Redevelopment agency please note that commissioner Higgins is absent item one is an amendment number one to lease between City and Collins 1960 LLC G to continue with the meeting okay we're back in session we're back in session if you can everyone can please uh either quiet down or step outside that would be appreciated thank you so we are in item rda1 Liz Liz go ahead please okay wait good morning chairperson and members of the RDA um this item is basically to provide an 8mon abatement to the existing restaurant that's being underdeveloped right now at um anchor garage and this is basically it it's due to um delays that they were doing a gra a grease trap and currently they need a couple more months to complete this project we have a motion do have a second I'll second so I have a motion by commissioner Fernandez a second by mayor Miner all in favor motion carries one absent commissioner Higgins good job that's it Elizabeth thank you let's call C1 and C2 we are uh reconvening now as the North Beach Community Development agency we have two items for the record commissioner Steinberg is absent the first item and uh is wave conflict of interest authorized NBC advisory members who applied for facade program that is item one good morning chair and members of the north beach the board I am Heather Shaw the interim director of Economic Development and I am here to present c 1 which is an item to wave a conflict of interest the CRA has a a number of programs and and it's to support the businesses in the CRA district and currently we have a member of the CRA who would like to apply for one of our programs and under section 112-311 of the Florida statue any member of the CRA advisory committee or members of the uh or employees of the uh CRA have to disclose in advance if they would like if there's a conflict of interests we have presented the item um for one of our members which is Romina Ino who is here with me today um and she has presented that she would like to apply for one of the programs our general counsel of the north beach CRA has presented a um recommendation that it would not be a conflict because Miss Ino has disclosed it in advance which is also in compliance with section 112 of the Florida stat item second so I have yes I have a motion actually I heard it from commissioner Fernandez first and then I heard it from commissioner bot uh so if you would like me to call the role may I so all in favor so it's seven uh one individual absent commissioner Steinberg item passes thank you thank you Mr Clerk and our well you have to call the secondment I guess you're GNA call this second yes ma'am the next item is uh nbc2 approve and authorized facade program Grant to Normandy Isles investment thank you Mr clerk again Heather Shaw interim director of Economic Development and I'm here to present North Beach C item number two which is as um a a a approval of an application presented by the Normandy aisle Investment Company which is located at 1203 71st Street in Miami Beach and they have presented an application to apply for our facade program which allows um funding for businesses up to $20,000 and the Normandy Isle investment um company would like to do some um renovations to their facade to glass in front of their business and so the application is a request for $1,198 which is below the 20,000 threshold for the program and it is 70% of the total cost of the renovation so we're making a recom recommendation to approve so I have a motion from commissioner bot and I heard a a motion from a second from commissioner Fernandez uh all in favor of this item say I please motion carries one absent commissioner Steinberg motion passes thank you very much we are reconvening as a commission meeting let's go let's try to knock out we have a couple of time certains coming up at 10:45 let's do r5a yes sir R5 a is a ordance of the mayor City Commission of the city of Mii Beach amending chapter 42 of the code of the city of m city of Mii Beach entitled emergency service Article 2 entitled alarm systems division three entitled burglar alarms by amending section 4285 thereof entitled required equipment in in an intrusion alarm to require calibration of motion DET detectors to generate outdoor sound or verbal response and providing for repeater cability clarification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing it is item r5a oh oh wonderful this is not a controversial controversial item um it is about the alarm systems that take over the right of way with uh with a loud speaker that says you are being filmed and recorded and when that happens when you're on our streets or on our sidewalks it is very egregious it is happening in some of our single family home neighborhoods as far as across the street uh when you're walking uh you can hear these alarms so this is giving Code Compliance if somebody if it if it is taking over right away it just gives Code Compliance a tool um by which we can control these very egregious um systems that uh that don't allow us peaceful walking on our sidewalks and streets so with that I would um move the item the second call the vote oh it is a public hearing I see no one in the audience and I see no one in Zoom I have a motion by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez seconded by commissioner Fernandez commissioner magazine yes commissioner Suarez commissioner Fernandez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes May Miner yes the item is approved 70 uh r5b r5b is in ordance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of man Beach Florida amending chapter 110 of the city code entitle utilities by amending article two entitle Water by creating a new division 3 entitled permanent year round landscape irrigation restrictions to comply with the south Florida water management District's mandatory year round landscape irrigation conservation measures for chapter 40 e-24 Florida administrative code and providing for repealers have ability qualification and an effective date this is a second reading public hearing it is item r5b that's my item I will let her then uh te it up good morning mayor and Commissioners hernand cardino Code Compliance so this ordinance restricts the times and the number of days landscape IR ation can occur in the city uh basically it's 2 days a week uh with restrictions from 10:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. it also provides for an alternative method of compliance for those folks uh that need um an alternative method to uh irrigate their Landscaping thank you so much um Mr city clerk please call the vote so you're you're making the motion call the vote this is a public hearing I see no one in the audience I see no one in Zoom commissioner Suarez is in favor of the item you vote it yes commissioner bot yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Fernandez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes Comm mayor Miner yes motion carries 7-0 the item is approved r5b thank you commission uh vice mayor Dominguez r5c r5c is in ordance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of man V tro amending chapter 34 of the city code entitled Community Development by amending article two entitled community redevelopment by amending division 3 entitled Redevelopment trust fund by amending section 3487 entitled prohibition to authorize a review and approval of certain requests for funding from the Redevelopment trust fund of the city of May beach Redevelopment agency to support the development of public areas of the convention center headquarter Hotel consistent with sections 16337 subsection 2c3 Florida Statutes providing for repealers of ability qualification and effective date item r5c is a second reading public hearing it is commissioner Fernandez says AF yeah um thank you Mr Mayor this is uh an item re related to our Convention Center Hotel it's a necessary item uh in order in order to in the future potentially consider any Grand funding that might be necessary for this important economic engine that the taxpayers of Miami Beach and Miami day County have invested in just across the street uh in the Miami Beach Convention Center with that it's a it's a pretty straightforward item I uh move the item let's call the vote this is a public hearing I see no one in the audience no one in Zoom I have a second from commissioner bot I'm going to call the role vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner swarez is a yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner bot yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved r5c r5d as in David r5d is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commissioner of the city of M Beach Florida amending the resiliency code of the city of Miami Beach by amending chapter 7 entitled zoning districts and regulations article 11 District regulations Section 7.2.1 cd2 commercial medium intensity District by amending section 7.2.1 111.3 entitled development regulations cd2 to eliminate the floor area ratio bonus for hotel uses in the cd2 district along all Road Normandy Drive 71st Street and Collins Avenue North of 63rd Street and providing for codification repealer salability and an effective date this is a first reading public hearing the item requires a 57 vote commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor uh this is an item that um that I've placed on the agenda that's been making its process through the land use committee through the planning board uh and now it's before us in the form of an ordinance in essence this item removes uh the 0.5 floor area ratio bonus the F bonus uh for a site that has a hotel unit currently our code gives a f bonus for uh Hotel development for sweet hotel for hostels in the cd2 districts on Alton Road on Normandy Drive 71st Street Collins Avenue and for us to incentivize more residential development we're seeking to repeal uh this 0.5 F bonus separately there'll be a separate item coming through the pipeline to address those cd2 districts along Collins Avenue uh south of 20th Street and also on Washington Avenue I'd also like to state for for the record that uh the planning board and mbu have both uh endorsed uh this item mbu and I want to quote from mbu mbu because they specifically stated that since Florida state law preempts municipalities like ours from prohibiting short-term rental and the city goal is to increase housing removing the bonus point5 f for hotel development is a viable tool to accomplish new housing with that Mr Mayor I move this item let's call the vote so this is a public hearing there is no one in the audience that I see and no one in Zoom commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez commissioner Suarez commissioner bot yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes the item is approved 70 the second reading public hearing is scheduled for July 24th thank you commissioner Fernandez r5e yes sir r5e is an ordance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of May Florida amending chapter 7 of the m v resiliency code entitled zoning districts and regulations by amending article two entitled District regulations by amending section 7.2.2 entitle rs1 rs2 RS3 RS4 single family residential districts by amending subsection 7.2.2 point2 and total uses RS to conform to the Fine schedule for violations of subsection 7.2.2 point2 to statutorily prescribed limits in chapter 162 of the Florida Statutes and providing for repealer sub ability qualification and an effective date this is a first reading the item requires a 57s vote it is item r5e so this is a housekeeping item to uh ensure that our code is consistent with uh State Statute and as the mayor I was asked to sponsor it let's see if there are any questions or somebody want to move it I'll move it let's call a vote so I have a motion by commissioner bot second to by commissioner Fernandez commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes last mayor Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner bot yes mayor Miner yes item is approved 70 the second reading public hearing of this item is scheduled for July 24th that was item r5e thank you Rob r5f r5f is an ordance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of Mi Beach Florida amending chapter one2 of the code of the city of Miami Beach Florida entitled taxation by amending article four entitled local business tax by amending Section 102 d368 thereof entitled posting of business tax receipt and decal by requiring the specified vessel related business pro prominently displayed their city issued business tax receipt number in all advertising solicitation and marketing materials and providing for repealers have ability qualification and an effective date this is a first reading it is item r5f commissioner Suarez co-sponsored by commissioner magazine thank you mayor uh is is Hern in the audience today if you could te this up for me please and why uh this was uh um needed so this particular ordinance um her cardino Code Compliance so this particular ordinance um mirrors um the ordinance for short-term rental legal transient use of properties uh the advertising platforms where they are required the platforms to advertise the resort tax number and their business tax receipt uh right now we have a proliferation of uh advertising for charters of vessels um that are not license in the city of Miami Beach uh and conduct some of these activities at some of our public seaw walls with that I'd like to move the item any discussion may I call the rooll thank you so much commissioner Magazine on item r5f yes yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes so commissioner Rosen Gonzalez was a yes yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion passes uh second reading public hearing is scheduled for July 24th that was item r5f thank you r5g r5g is in Ord of the mayor City Commissioner of the city of M amending chapter 82 of the code of the city of Mii Beach entitled public property by amending article six entitled naming of public facilities and EST establishments of monuments or memorials by amending section 82-53 thereof entitled naming of public facilities coaming and renaming of streets by amending sub section c1a and subsection c2a to provide additional criteria and procedures for the c-amat in honor of a notable woman figure who made significant contributions to Civic cultural or political fabric of the city of Mani Beach providing Sunset Provisions thereof providing for repealer of ability catification and effective date this is a first reading it is item r5g sponsored by vice mayor Dominguez and co-sponsor by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and commissioner bot we be taking public comment on this even though it's a first reading well let's get through the item first and if I'll I'll I'll let you have a brief comment okay mayor uh there are uh many notable women that uh should be recognized in Miami Beach and the way our code reads we can only uh co-name streets for men and the the suggestion of the legal department uh we are updating the code in order to be able to add women as well can I speak thanks Mitch novic 901 Collins avue I would just ask that language should include that nothing should be named after anybody who's not yet deceased thank you commissioner Rosen Gonzalez oh like to move the item well I'd like to say something you don't have anything you want to say commission oh thank you oh okay I'm recognized you know when Lynette long brought this forward and she's not here right now but um she was in the audience earlier today um a lot of us don't realize that as we drive around Miami Beach and we see all of our streets named there was only one street named after a woman and what this does is it's SE an example that you kind of have to be a man or to be a leader to accomplish enough to get to get an a street named after you and this is something that happens when we look at our money or we look at many statues uh there is a gross inequality and so I'm really uh pleased commissioner Dominguez that you brought this forward um and I'm glad that we are going to begin to name some of our streets after women so that as young um boys boys and girls drive around Miami Beach they will see that everybody has something named after them and these are very slight nuances but culturally they really do make a big difference they're things that we don't notice every day so uh this is a a very Grand uh gesture overall for uh women and men for everyone in Miami Beach and I'm happy that we're moving this item so thank you Mr clerk please call the vote so how motion by commissioner bot seconded by commissioner Dominguez sorry about that commissioner Suarez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Fernandez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved the second reading public hearing is scheduled for July 24th and commissioner magazine has will be listed as a co-sponsor on this item that was item r5g r5h yes r5h is an ordinance of the mayor City Commission of the city of Miami Beach Florida amending the Miami Beach resiliency code by amending chapter 1 entitled General Provisions Article 2 entitled definitions at section 1.2.2 entitled use definitions at subsection 1.2.2 .9 entitled specialized uses by establishing a definition for sexually transmitted infection STI testing service and by amending chapter 7 entitled zoning districts and regulations Article 5 entitled supplementary District regulations Section 7.5.1 entitled specialized use regulations at subsection 7.5 5.1 entitled assisted living and medical uses by exempting sexually transmitted infection STI testing services from the regulations of the of this Division and providing for catification repealer and an effective date this item r5h it is a first reading and it requires a 57s vote commissioner Fernandez co-sponsored by vice mayor Dominguez thank you Mr Mayor this is an item I've placed on the agenda at the request of of residents who who came and met uh with me and and with with I think I believe several of you including our vice mayor Dominguez um about about the concern over our community being an H TV hotspot including the ZIP code 33139 which covers all of South Beach and clearly this is a public health crisis that disproportionately uh impacts our lgbtq community it also impacts people of of color and we want to increase our response to the rising rates of transmission and it's clearly in the best interest of the city to Pro and to the health of our residents to provide better access to testing services Citywide so what does this item do uh it it it allows for STI testing facilities to be Exempted from the bureaucratic restrictions that we have outlined in the city's medical use regulations especially in the commercial and mixed use zoning districts to facilitate the expansion facilitate the availability of STI testing services in our city uh I see we have our planning director Mr Tom Mooney at the podium if you allow me Mr Mayor I'd like to recognize him in case there's anything else that should be placed in the record uh no I think that pretty much covers it the only thing I would add is that the ordinance itself does two things it creates a definition for um sexually transmitted infection and very slightly modifies the medical use regulations um to provide for this exception for that type of testing so that it can occur not just in a residence but also in multif family commercial and mixed use districts thank you Mr Mr Moody we know that the only way we will reduce the rate of infection of HIV is through testing and through detection and making sure that we have testing facilities available in discrete locations to reduce the stigma of testing is so important to reduce the rate of transmission with that Mr Mayor I move my item yeah thank you for bringing the item um actually during covid I worked with John Jonathan Welsh and his organization to help uh bring mobile units to Miami Beach for testing so thank you unless there's any other comments let's call the vote thank you sir uh I have a motion by commissioner Fernandez a second by commissioner bot commissioner bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Fernandez yes yes commissioner SARS mayor Miner yes motion passes 70 second reading public hearing scheduled for July yes second reading public hearing scheduled for July 24th commissioner bot will be listed as a sponsor as a co-sponsor and commissioner magazine will be listed as a co-sponsor r5i R5 eyes and ORD of the mayor and City Commission of the city of May Beach Florida amending chapter 46 of the code of the city of mayi beach entitled environment by creating article 12 entitled light pollution and creating section 46 as250 entitled garish flashing strobing and or multicolored lights prohibited to prohibit garish flashing strobing and or multicolored lights on Residential Properties that unreasonably disturbs the quiet enjoyment of a neighbor neighboring residence by a nearby resident and establishing enforcement and penalty provisions and providing for repealers of ability clarification and an effective date this is a first reading it is item r5i um so this item as many of you know people love to purchase and then rent out houses in single family areas as party homes and sometimes to do this they will hang disco balls have strobe lights in backyards so instead of going out to your backyard in the evening and you know like for a special occasion every night is a disco night because these lights are just programmed to go on and it's happening in waterfront homes it's happening across Miami Beach so it's important because uh this is light pollution and what this does is it allows a a homeowner who has you know some strobe lights right next door that's occurring every single night to actually call Code Compliance and have something uh and have this taken care of and it's it it it's it really is um it's kind of disturbing as much as we try to force uh you know the short-term rental laws uh those party houses are here they exist we are constantly fighting them and they do make living egregious for people who are just living in their homes and trying to live a quiet normal life in Miami Beach uh where party homes abound would you like to add anything to this that was an accurate uh summary of the whole thing I'll be here to answer questions if you need to the only thing I would B is that there is uh an exemption for the period 30 days before and 10 days after uh national holidays and major religious holidays can can I say one thing what if okay so but that is every single month that's all the time I'm striking that exemption because then the I I'm moving this without that exemption obviously if somebody is holding a party for one evening this is not going to be enforced this is for homes that have a disco ball all the time I did not even know that we had that exemption Rob so I'm striking that exemption from this and I would move it um as such I see that Mitch is here I don't know if can I request to this should also Mitch Mitch let the commission well and I'll call on you but let let us do our discussion thank you if I may actually I like the spirit of the item I I guess just looking at it well one there's private property rights but if clearly they're going above and in interfering with with neighbors no question I I guess reading the item I was having a hard time deciphering how this gets enforced like what what what's the measurables here so if you live next door to a party house and every single night your backyard looks like a Christmas tree lit up with strobe lights you can call code and they can only have the lights on when they're having a party now if that's a party house that's having a party every night well then maybe they don't have the right to make everybody else's backyard look like a disco every single night I mean we're paying you know tens of thousands of dollars in property taxes a single family homeowners so um this is something that will just allow code a tool when this is happening because right now we have nothing and there are some I had a um a resident call me the other day across the like next door to her on the water she has a party house and every single night those lights are just automatically on so whether she wants to be or not she goes into her backyard every night and her backyard is a disco and that's not right that shouldn't be allowed every single day okay yeah I I hear what the spirit of the item is it's not it's it's not to take away people's ability to put up decorations for holidays or this is not for Holiday like I mean if you have regular holiday lighting I don't think anybody's going to complain um it is not if you're throwing a party at your home one night and you want to light it up this is for specifically for party houses that have permanent disco lighting every single night in their backyards and this is happening so Mr Mayor commissioner bot so commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I also love the spirit of the idea here I think um it's not quite fleshed out yet in terms of how it could work and um you know we've heard at other meetings somebody raised the concern about I can see across the bay somebody with big you know their palm trees are wrapped and I find that to be offensive I don't want this to become that so I would make a friendly suggestion if I might um to limit this for um short-term rental houses or party houses as opposed to any neighbors because I could foresee this becoming a war somebody borrowed a rake and didn't give it back and now they put up their lights and so I'm going to call code on them repeatedly until they take their lights down I I don't want that to happen um and I think having um having something be so subjective of garish lights is problematic so flashing lights strobe lights um and and uh and um disco ball I happen to love a disco ball so I would have no issue with keeping that in um but but you know so maybe it's flashing strobing and um specifically to um short-term rentals I have no problem restricting it to a short-term rental but let's say that you have a house next to you nobody's going to say I have an illegal short-term rental which means that there's no enforcement but I guarantee you as much as you like a disco ball if you walked into your backyard every night and you had a disco ball and let's say that you were just trying to have like a quiet peaceful evening um I I would like to I mean how do we determine if it's a short-term rental or not or a party house I mean that kind of strikes the entire thing I think it has to be something egregious and and egregious needs to be what it says strobe lights disco lights like if you're lighting up your trees that's fine nobody has any problem with ambient back lighting nobody is going to be complaining about those things but some of these lights are really awful they really are yes um so in the interest of getting this right and making it something that is actually a very correct and precise tool that we can use versus something that um is vague and kind of unenforceable would you accept um a deferral for a month to keep working on it to make it work what if I fix it oh sorry what um what if I fix it between first and second reading um and I will make sure that the language is extremely L clear thank you um I'm fully in support of this because I've also had a lot of complaints about neighbors um and party houses and it seems like it's a disco almost you know every weekend when there's a party going on um I think there should be ample time between now and first and second reading to to button this up I mean I think it's a I think it's a great initiative to to clamp down and unfortunately you know these houses that are Airbnb houses you're not allowed to have an Airbnb house in Miami Beach so um you I don't think you can single out short-term rental houses because they're by right not allowed so um I I would be okay with between now and second reading to um button this up okay and I promise that I will meet with legal between first and second reading and make sure that is very clear so that nobody can use us as a tool against neighbor Mitch even though it's not a public hearing I'll give you the courtesy thank you come over here okay thank you m Mr Mayor Mitch novic again I believe th I love the spirit of this ordinance it should apply to businesses as well flashing and strobing lights uh especially on Ocean Drive uh I've always found very intrusive and uh I would take I would urge you to take this a step further thank you also you you need to consider the Kelvin temperature of the lighting anything under 3,000 degrees is appropriate anything higher it's truly offensive to the census thank you um I don't know how you feel about this but somebody just um texted me that maybe we should add the boats at the Beach Marina to this because some of them have like I don't know if I don't know if they have strobe lights or what's happening and I don't know if that's bothering people but this is just a tool for residents whose quality of life is being ruined by party houses and party boats so mayor Miner this is kind of like right up your alley this is just something that you would Embrace no pressure commissioner oh well commissioner magazine and commissioner bot uh yes I'll be supportive um happy to add my name as uh co-sponsor Ralph uh with confidence that this will get hashed out just as somebody habitual offender of keeping my Christmas tree up until February uh want to be sure that I don't self-inflict any penalties on me but I'm confident you'll get this hashed out Cod will be stopping by commissioner bot um it was just suggested to me that maybe a way to um help limit this and and get to what we're wanting in addition to the other suggestions is to um limit it to properties that are not homesteaded well as you as you toss it around with the lawyers and figure out how to make that work maybe toss that into the mix and see if that's useful and thank you to the person who suggested it okay I have I have no problem with that because if it I'm okay with that okay let's uh it's first reading it looks like we have a little work between first and second reading but I think we're ready to call the vote I I need a second so commissioner still as amended excluding the holiday lights and including ex uh including Homestead Properties well I I want to strike the 30 within 30 days right so excluding the holiday light provision and including a homestead properties that are not Homestead and you will work with legal between first and second reading so I have a motion by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez has amended seconded by commissioner Suarez vice mayor Dominguez and I've been ask to please everyone open their mics can can I can I ask one thing code compliant will be able to easily find out which properties are homesteaded because if you're well I guess if you're calling on this complaint and it's happening all the time then I guess they can go and do the research and find out commissioner Suarez I let's let's not let's wait till um legal fleshes this out a little bit more because what if it's not homesteaded and they're still running it as an Airbnb party house you know so um let's not make an um any sort of uh uh um yeah let's exactly let's let's just let the let's let the legal department see what they can do and I and the goal is to really stop the party scene in residential houses or communities so um let's not tie our hands to that and add me as a co-sponsor please okay so I have um a little bit of work to do I'll meet with Rob between now and second reading and we'll see and we'll go through the language very carefully so that nobody can abuse this but okay so I guess we're call so would you like to then call the vote as is and then you will work on it no I would call the vote with those items amended and then I will amend uh further I'll go through it and see what happens between first and second so again the clarification of the amendment is exempting or removing the holiday requirement and exception the holiday exception and adding uh for properties that are non-homesteaded no we're not going to do the homesteading one for right now I think we're just going to do um we're striking the holiday exemption and what else oh and I'm going to move it like that and possibly add in boats at the Miami Marina that have strobe lights um I don't know how you guys feel about that can I take a temperature on that are you okay with that strobe lights and the marina party boats yes okay so add in uh the Miami Beach Marina strobe lights egregious Lighting in the marina thank you so vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Suarez please unmute yourself to register to vote so we need our board members to uh utilize the mics to either mute or unmute so that your vote can be registered so as Ralph calls each member uh we're going to need you to unmute and then mute yourself so it can go to the next party really we commissioner commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes mayor Miner yes the item is approved as amended second reading public hearing is scheduled for July 24th we are listing Commissioners magazine and swars as co-sponsors of this item this was r5i we have two time certain we'll go to that let's go to a Time certain R9 a R9 ah is discussed take action programming for new Byron car geobond project may I oh Ralph you have to call the oh you read the whole thing may I may yes commissioner bot and co-sponsored by commissioner Suarez um before I turn it over to the administration to talk about this this has been a passion project for a lot of us for many many years um the original goal was to first of all I have to say that when I moved up to North Beach in 2016 I could walk to what was then being used as the O Cinema the Byron Carlile and um sit in that great old movie theater and watch movies and I've been to panel discussions there and it was a wonderful neighborhood facility um there are people who grew up in that neighborhood who now have grandchildren and they remember going um to the Byron carile and loving it as a wonderful cultural facility uh years ago when the late commissioner samin was still on the commission there were a lot of us trying to salvage that building um there had been flood issues there had been I won't go so far as to say demolition by neglect but there was a lot of work that could have been done to mitigate the damage that was done to the building and it didn't get done for I don't know what the back story is entirely because I wasn't on the commission at that time but I will say that we ultimately were faced with um a building that has sort of outlived its design function um it is a building designed to be a movie theater two movie theaters in fact and we know that that is not the best use of space in that um in that area um we also know that there is a significant amount of work that would take to just make it functional as a tosc screen movie theater so using money to bring back a building that um is not the best use of that space seems like a poor stewardship of our Collective tax dollars so then the idea went from how do we um make that space into a bigger better more multifunctional multi multidiscipline Art Center not a giant Arch center that is not the the goal but something that has a variety of functionalities that it can put um not for-profit Arts organizations or um staff in their offices there that has um movie theaters has a stage A prenium theater where you can mount actual Productions has a black do the theater has Gallery Art Space has um Gallery Studios for art artist or excuse me Studios for artists has a recording studio um potentially has a cafe potentially has an outdoor space how do you build that and keep alive the and and pay honor to the building that's there now and the building that was there when it was originally built which by the way looks nothing like the building that's there now this building has not been architecturally designed so this the images that have been put before you and have been circulated are not designs of the building they are schematics to show how the space that is available to us could be used to best effect it's not a finished built design or building design the idea is to have um as we have in South Beach so many cultural facilities we've got the New World Symphony we've got the bass we've got the Jewish uh Museum of History we've got the wolfsonian we've got the uh Arco Museum on and on and on the New World um uh Miami new drama we've got the ballet it's all down at South Beach we would like to have a an anchor institution that has the same kinds of opportunities for residents of North Beach and Metro Miami and wider to come and enjoy arts and culture in addition to the incredible programming that happens at the Band Shell thanks to the Rhythm foundation in addition to the great organic kind of block party events that happen for most of the year when the weather is tolerable at the Normandy fountain in addition to the the worldclass Jupiter and Fine Arts galleries that that are in North Beach that sort of happened organically my vision as as somebody who loves the Arts is to be able to drive up Washington as what I call the the cultural Corridor and go to all these different cultural institutions and I use it Loosely because I know the art deco museum is off on Ocean Drive and you know everything is literally on Washington but drive up there to all the great Arts institutions make a stop at fena enjoy something at their at their location head on up to the Bandshell take a hard left go see some fun family-friendly activities at the at the Normandy Fountain and then you have this incredible Arts institution that um offers something for everybody that has programming that is experimental experiential for the community that offers free programming for residents where your kids can go and do art classes or studio time for emerging artists um for kids who just want to find out what it's like to produce a a piece of music all of these things can be incorporated so then we have muty for this we $30 million from the Geo bond fund we also pause on that for a second we also have an obligation by law to build Workforce housing in the district of the uh the C in North Beach right now there are two Parcels of land that the city owns that wouldn't require us to spend 15 or 20 million to buy land for Workforce housing it is the parcel of land that the Byron carile sits on and it's the West lots and I don't know I've not spoken to my colleagues about their how they feel about building anything on the west lobs but I for one am not interested in Touching that for anything at this point the other part about affordable housing being included in this incredible Arts and culture um facility is that it pays for the arts and culture facility it helps make it a better facility it offsets some of the costs and with the ongoing rentals it will help subsidize the the programming which means that we taxpayers will not be subsidizing the programming going forward it means that when the State of Florida decides to cut the Arts grants to the organizations that are based in the Byron Carlile they won't be scrambling to try to make up missing money it means that the the Arts organizations which are based in the Byron carile will be able to offer more programming for more different kinds of people and more free community oriented programming it is in my view and I will get off my soap box in a moment it is in my view um financially irresponsible to not take the opportunity to provide housing for people who need it whether they work at the organizations that would be um anchored in that facility or whether they are people who are in housing insecure situations teachers First Responders anybody who fits the criteria who can make build another um Anchor Point of community in this area of North Beach you know we spent a lot of time in North Beach working on the master plan in 2018 I think it was finalized and the community spent hours and hours along with the staff and the consultants and everybody was thrilled with the result thrilled with what the promise was and that promise was broken by prior commissions that promise was broken because instead of having seven or eight story buildings that have all kinds of offerings including retail and residential and arts and including the buyer and Carlile we now are going to have a concrete Canyon and that is not what we're proposing what we're proposing here is actually the embodiment of the spirit of the plan noi that we were all so enthusiastic about the workforce housing makes it a better deal for residents makes it a better deal for people who want to enjoy the Arts and provides much needed um affordable housing Workforce housing for a community that is being bought up and priced out in what used to be the last affordable part of Miami Beach and with that I am climbing off my soap box but I hope you will support me in adding the workforce uh housing component to the Byron Carlo project where there's money from the CRA there's money from another section of the go Bond um to help offset some of the costs and uh and let's have at it thank um thank you vice mayor Dominguez you know one thing that stuck out that you said commissioner bot was that you know all our cultural institutions are in South Beach it it would be really nice to have something in North Beach um and you know I co-sponsored this item I I believe wholeheartedly in your in your desire to to to Really retrofit this um this building because it's been sitting there empty forever and there's a you know you're not going to have the perfect solution but that makes everyone happy but I think this is the best solution for for for our city um and you're right we need we need Workforce housing it is I mean it's probably the the top two issues of when we were going door to door you know people especially in North Beach especially in North Beach um so I'm going to fully support uh this initiative oh thank you vice mayor uh sometimes saying less is more and I think if I went on with my thoughts I'd be doing a disservice to uh the incredible thoughtfulness that you led with commissioner bot so uh wholeheartedly uh support this support this Vision uh and city clerk if you could add me as a co-sponsor so thank you for your leadership here commissioner Ros Gonzalez um commissioner bot I'd like to commend you on all of your work with the buyer and Carlile and I'm really happy that you're staying on top of it and I think that in order to make sure that it happens you have to do this every single month put some item on pushing this through because I get complaints all the time even now you know I get emails you know when is it going to be open what's happening with the Byron Carlile and I really think the community at large is upset that it's been closed and shuttered um my only question in all of this and I'm 100% supportive is how much longer is this going to take because as you know the Collins Park Workforce housing I mean we do have that experience so that might be able we might be able to expedite it but is this going to add on years to this project or if we do this right now is it look what do you see the timeline for with the workforce housing from right now as we approve this until we break ground what kind of timeline could we expect hi good morning uh Vice chair Commissioners danieli facilities um from our from our estimation uh it we are starting our models in 2027 um it is difficult to say right now uh next steps on this project would be to engage the expertise of a firm uh that could start creating financial performas and operating plans for the cultural centers this will inform the finances that we have to work with and the debt that it can take on that will inform the building program and then what kind of or uh the scope of the of the construction itself at that point we'll have a better idea of how long construction will take I don't mind uh yielding to yeah I don't I don't mind yielding so they so they can I just I'm sorry it's my fault because I turned off my mic and I'm not I can't do that anymore um so 2027 just to do we need three years to do what so so the first stage is the planning stage so that we start with the end in mind and then once we've defined what this uh facility is going to look like then it's about bidding it out for the the construction itself I'd love to be able to deliver something earlier than that but I I don't want to sit here and promise something that I I'm not 100% sure that I can deliver so if you start in 2027 and that's where the planning stage starts we were looking at like no no no no I we have uh contacted uh different firms uh we are building off of our knowledge from Collins Park our financial models start the year of operating in 2027 uh that could move back or forth that timeline will be informed by the by the building program by the nature of the cultural center uh really we're not going to understand what it's going to go into construction how long that construction is going to take until we Define the facility and there's a little bit of work to do before we Define that we are in conversation with AMS uh planning and research on what they suggested in their report were the next steps so that we can almost immediately uh and the the memo outlines some of the next steps if it is decided today that we are going to move with the workforce housing um the the next steps in moving this ball forward and keeping it moving forward so the 2027 is opening you will be opening it I can't stand here and promise that but that right now our financial modeling is assuming opening in 2027 well I would encourage commissioner bot to somehow create some sort of prioritization so that we can move it forward and expedite it so that it doesn't take you know 3 to 5 years to get it done I don't know how we do that and I don't know if that's possible but um the community is really suffering was an anchor they don't have it anymore um so yeah I'm supportive I just wanted to encourage exped Expedition uh through the chair if you would like we could come back with a proposal for next steps at the next commission meeting yes please okay commission uh commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor uh I too want to uh commend the leadership of my colleague commissioner bod uh not just for for for guiding this process forward but for the community buyin that this has uh yielded uh and that's and that's the most important thing here that the community is supportive of this and I have to say getting emails from from individuals who at one point Didn't support this and I just want to quote from one you know while we would have liked to save the Barron carile as it exists it is clear that a cultural center with a wide range of uses including spaces for theater and other Performing Arts rehearsal studios Cinema offices for cultural uh cannot be accomplished in the confin of the current building we are pleased that there is a commitment to preserve and incorporate aspects uh of it in in a new uh project um when you hear that the income generated by the rentals will help fund the programming and development of the performance Art Center that resonates and it's resonating with with with the community and one of the um more important uh aspects of this uh that was highlighted in an email uh from from David Saxton is the great need for housing that is Affordable to the North Beach Community and one of the points he's he's written in his me in his email said in the past year North Beach has seen a huge rental cost increase that is forcing out teachers and artists and middle inome residents and he highlighted for example the Miami Beach Bandshell uh and it's 50 plus uh employees uh many of whom cannot afford to live in Miami Beach anymore and how this could potentially support that part of of the community uh so I see this as a win-win opportunity supporting arts and culture but also supporting it with a much necessary housing that we need in this part of Miami Beach and again my commendations to you commissioner B your leadership in pushing this forward but with the unity of the community uh is uh is is what's making this um move today and I'm proud to support you thank you um commissioner bod for taking this on and all of the hard work that you've done on this item I did receive a lot of uh uh emails and support and then a lot of communication from people who can gain financially from this project and then I also received passionate emails from people who were the stakeholders that knocked on doors and wanted a rehab so as you go into the planning stage I will ask to please include um residents in North Beach that had wanted something different and fought and worked for years for something different and now it's a completely changed um project in order to get there buying through the mayor Fe yes um thank you for those comments yeah um and some of those comments came from people who um we were Allied in trying to change to save the original Byron car um in the first place but the situation and and conditions have evolved but I as you know as everybody knows I always think that we are more successful in our efforts when we have um the community engaged in what we're trying to do so um I know we've got people here um who want to speak but I think we have the votes for this so I don't know if it's NE necessary to do that um but I will thank you guys for for coming out everybody who came to speak I don't want to delay um calling the vote any further I would also just ask that the commission that the administration comes back in the July meeting with an action plan of what's happening when I know nobody's going to hold you to a an opening date of 2027 but let's make that the goal and try to move Heaven and Earth to make that happen so if it's you know if we need to issue rfps if we need to whatever we need to do let's let's be prepared to discuss that in detail by the next commission meeting please with that um I'd like to move the item if I can I'll second just to clarify the motion is to proceed with the Byron Cara project to include a cultural center as well as Workforce housing and that uh Daniel will return at the next meeting with uh proposed next steps if I may uh just one thing not to prolong this but we'll actually waiting until next month prolong this ironically uh could this be achieved through a letter to the commission if you're ready to move forward with this next week I don't want the infrequency of our meetings to essentially hold you up in this uh stage so if saying come back with your recommendations a month from now if you'd be able to do so in a letter to the commission tonight somewhat kid I I'd PR but uh next week um let's not let a month hold things up yeah sure through the chair uh we've already engaged uh AMS Consulting on the next steps we do have a preliminary proposal there's some work that needs to be tweaked in the proposal to align more with what we're we're going for but it it should be ready in short order if I could at the appropriate time your call your item no go ahead um I was just going to mention that uh AMS has been working with us diligently and they've been doing an excellent job uh we do have a $100,000 limit under the city manager's Authority uh we've already spent I believe about 97 on with the AMS so I want to just make sure that this commission is comfortable with us going beyond that limit to move forward with the next steps with AMS on um putting forward a plan what how much more money do you need over the 97 to get to being ready to to go so that's part of what is being adjusted the lifelong uh potential commitment of AMS is up to 224,000 but the next two phases which gets us to an RFP uh is roughly about 160 so I'd like to make a motion to approve the 160 to get us to where we okay call let's call the vote so this is LT see this is Art and Workforce housing and 160,000 I have a motion by commissioner bot a second by commissioner Miner mayor Miner all in favor please I actually didn't make the second I think it was commissioner Fernandez sorry I've been told there was commissioner Suarez so I'll correct that so it's commissioner bot commissioner Suarez and it's 70 approved thank you thank you commissioner bot and uh colleagues literally the entire team a lot of people came so thank you it's call A Time certain C7 y C7 Y is accept recommendation FPL undergrounding uh that's my item I'll turn it over to you first uh let get us started please absolutely we have a presentation ready if let's introduce who you are this Alex bis I am the senior external Affairs adviser for Miami Beach here in support of item C7 Y and I'm happy to get going once we get the presentation pulled up here all right good morning mayor minor and Commissioners my name is is Alex bis I am Florida Power and Light senior external Affairs adviser I am here today in support of this item which would facilitate the hardening or undergrounding of of distribution laterals in the city through FPL storm protection plan or SP next slide as you can see here our distribution laterals are at the very end of our power delivery system these lateral lines are the most common service points for private property and they're what we target for underground through our SP next slide please on the far right you can see what an overhead lateral looks like you'll notice the lines coming off the pole as well which is how we connect customers served by overhead service to our power grid next slide you can also see a rendering of this in the image to the left which shows the Service drop coming off the overhead lateral and connecting to the property to the right you'll see that the overhead Transformer is removed and replaced with a pad mounted Transformer after the conversion is complete next slide by undergrounding your laterals with the storm protection plan City residents will not incur any upfront cost this is because all SP programs are funded through the storm Protection Plan cost recovery charge which is already paid by all FPL customers systemwide and is reviewed and reset annually by the Florida Public Service Commission undergrounding through the SB also places the onus on FPL to complete these projects and when customers do begin to receive their underground service they enjoy faster restoration fewer vegetation related outages and reliability that is 12 times better than they have with overhead laterals all right uh one point that I do want to make very clear is that FPL does not arbitrarily select which laterals to harden and when all s lateral projects are exclusively determined in a PSC regulated datadriven process that considers power line performance during storms outages uh due to vegetation issues and performance during day-to-day operations this data is refreshed after every storm season and is subject to change based on new information on this slide we have a sample bill for a typical customer in May of 2024 you'll see that the storm Protection Plan cost recovery charge for this year is $557 cents per month once again this charge is already included in the monthly bill for every FPL customer across the state so when we say no upfront cost that is why you are already paying this your residents are already paying this you've been paying it and you will continue to pay it uh whether or not you underground via the SP with that I would like to show you fpl's latest SP hardening and undergrounding projections for Miami Beach as you can see FPL currently projects at over 10 lateral miles will either be hardened or converted to underground service by 2031 the three laterals that are highlighted which span over 6 miles are currently included in our forthcoming filing with the psse pending PSC approval later this year these projects will begin in 2025 and FPL will recoup the cost of these projects over time through the Statewide recovery charge that was previously shown and at this point I think it is natural to ask what is the cost of undergrounding if we'd like to do it ourselves Based on data we have from the state we range between $500,000 to upwards of $4 million per mile if we were to take this range and apply it to the roughly 10 overhead miles that we're projecting to be a part of the S by 2031 the city would be responsible for raising anywhere between 5 to $41 million to pay for that service conversely by opting to Underground through the S residents of Miami Beach would not pay one cent more than they already pay through the SP cost recovery charge I want to thank mayor Miner and commissioner Fernandez for their leadership in implementing an underground solution that works for Miami Beach we are fully in support of this item here today and look forward to its passage thank you very much thank you Alex I appreciate it and um and all the work you've done you know the Genesis of this item that I originally brought and thank you to my co-sponsors commissioner Fernandez and vice mayor the minguez was an article I read in Miami today that actually talked about the FPL undergrounding program and and the funding and I checked with our Public Works uh department and learned that we were kind of far down the list and and that's the purpose of this initiative is to to get that moving forward because it is a great program something our residents I've heard in many different neighborhoods would be beneficial and obviously for so many different reasons to have the undergrounding so thank you for your partnership um commissioner f this thank you for obviously co-sponsoring along with vice mayor Dominguez but also the work you've done at the land use as chair of the land use meeting and uh and I'll let you take it from there thank you Mr Mayor uh and I think a number of us have been working on this uh I I know you've been working on it for for a while um the current iteration of the land use committee and the previous iteration of the land use committee have been working at commissioner domingus as well uh I've been working with FPL and drafting the the resolution that's before us today uh which directs our staff uh to expeditiously work with uh FPL to facilitate the successful implementation of the storm protection plan uh projects uh Citywide and to prepare a utilities relocation agreement uh with FPL so that we can further uh Advance uh this project as well as developing an enhanced and expedited permanent process uh for these projects but most importantly one of the most important things that we need to do is uh communicate with with the public providing the public with information about the upcoming storm protection plan projects as it becomes available from from FPL and working with the other telecommunication providers and other overhead non-electrical providers so that they can also underground their infrastructure as we uh undertake these these projects throughout the city it's worth noting uh that that without this program it's usually Community Le uh undergrounding processes that that get this overhang unsightly overhang buried under underground and that's all at an upfront cost that's paid by the city or by the residents of those areas through special taxing districts by passing this resolution that we have before us today and by working with FPL we we're going to be undergrounding over 10 miles in our city by 2031 and saving our taxpayers up to $41 million that is correct and that is significant usually is special taxing districts usually it's residents paying out of their pockets up to $500,000 a mile to get this undergrounded and when when when I say the taxpayers paying out of their pockets it's not that the city is paying for it no it's that the residents themselves are getting an extra Bill and they're having to do it to improve reliability to improve the the Aesthetics of their neighborhoods to improve their property values and here by this partnership that we're approving with Florida Power of and and light we're able to advance this uh project at no cost to the residents and taxpayers of the city of Miami Beach and I'm proud that we have this item on the agenda I want to thank uh FPL mayor Miner uh commissioner do Dominguez and the work of the landuse committee and advancing this resolution for the benefits of our residents thank you Mr Mayor thank you commissioner Fernandez vice mayor Dominguez uh first and foremost thank you so much Alex and uh your predecessor Christopher for always being so accessible and available you and I were just uh few days ago doing a walk through in the Sunset Harbor neighborhood and checking out um what's going on there on Bay Road and this item is so critical and so important we're a Barrier Island and um some of the neighbors have paid for their own undergrounding but as we saw during our walkth through uh even polls that FPL no longer has cables on if those polls stay up there then you have AT&T and the cable companies that take advantage and and start adding um things and it really is very unsightly it looks unsafe and the more undergrounding we can do the better so thank you for all that you're doing agreed thank you commissioner thank you I'd like to move the item second call the vote so I have a motion by commissioner Fernandez second by vice mayor Dominguez all in favor I I I motion passes 70 commissioner before he left said he was a yes so we're recording that vote let's go back to where we were on the regular agenda off R5 J R5 J is an orance the mayor City Commissioner of the city of M flid amending the Cod of city of b beach by amending chapter 82 entitled public property article four entitled uses and public rights of Way by amending division 3 News rxs by creating section 82- 259 entitled news racks and newspaper storage boxes prohibited the city's historic district and providing for repealer codification cability and an effective date this is a first reading it is item R 5j commissioner Suarez co-sponsor by commissioner magazine thank you Mr Mayor uh PJ can you pull up my PowerPoint please okay so this has been a long time coming um if anyone walks around the city of Mayu Beach you'll notice that you have these news racks that are in utter despair um the one on the left was on fire um and as I go through the presentation it'll be surprised at at how bad these things are um mistreated you want next slide please yeah uh I mean you can go test it out today and and look around they use as trash cans they're used to start personal belongings I mean I think even the police have told me uh if if Chief Jones wants to come up that that they that they've been used in drug deals people have actually put drug dealers put locks on them with a with a key for whoever's picking it up and they they they use it as a a transaction box uh pet waste uh graffiti and it's it it certainly doesn't just use its purpos for uh newspapers and next slide please um also it's in the middle of the right away you know we've passed legislation just recently um you know letting our RightWay access um you know be more open and free these present A Hazard um you know very much like the broken windows Theory next slide please and a lot of them are are also just in really bad shape in fact you know we're not supposed to be responsible for upkeeping these the for example the new times they are but we end up having our Public Works uh facilities to repair these and paint them because they just become so unsightly next please and here you see the one in the middle there's a lock there so drug dealers will use like locks to to lock up a news rack for uh a drug deal and you can see just other condition itions of these news racks and once you see them unfortunately you can't unsee them they're everywhere uh next slide please uh so as as far as I I know there's only the Miami New Times racks across City I don't see any other news station maybe in some in in a private shop there might be I think a Herald one but um the ones littered across the city uh are the Miami New Times on public property uh there's 165 of these unsightly boxes and on private property there are 130 go to next slide please um you know about half the New Times News rexs are within historic districts are located on private property and will remain unaffected uh neglected abandoned news rexs on the public right away often don't fit with the overall aesthetic and design of historic districts approximately 3/4 of newer on public rways are located within historic districts next slide please these are just just a quick overview of the historic districts in Miami Beach and the areas that it would be um affected next we only get Believe It or Not $25 per year for these news racks um so in total we get $4,125 based on current estimates um in fact when I asked Joe Gomez what when's the last time they made a payment it's been I think like 7 years since they made a payment on these um on these boxes and so uh currently we pay for the removal and Disposal costs of of these boxes um yeah to either moove them or or replace them next slide again waste of paper most people go online to read and most newspapers you see on the street are just not recycled last slide okay and so you know when I presented this to the city attorney's office their recommendation was to start with the historic districts in Miami Beach and I want to see what my colleagues think about that you move the item I move the item I second yeah well commissioner magazine your co-sponsor uh thank you commissioner Suarez um when I first thought about getting involved in our city and especially in elected capacity I said to myself you know what's missing is just riding around town or walking around town and saying this doesn't make sense that doesn't make sense and these are little quality of life things that affect our every day so I walk down West Avenue uh daily with my daughter and we already have a limited capacity on the sidewalk uh there and we have a news rack that I've walked by and thousands and thousands of residents have had to squeeze past for years but nothing's ever done and I hope we can actually uh come up maybe with a city task force uh maybe the neighborhood Affairs team that just sits there and drives around I'll plug my golf cart drives around the golf cart and says this makes sense that doesn't make sense let's be proactive about it and this is one of those core things not only do I support this commissioner Suarez but I wouldn't say just start in our historic districts people want to uh give out uh newspapers there are plenty of commercial establishments there able to do so as evidenced by uh the large amount of private property that these newer asks uh are on and occupy So Not only would I support this I'd be supportive of moving them from the public right of way in not only our historic districts but Citywide and allow a private sector business to go out to private companies and say if they want their Publications they can do so in a private capacity so thank you for bringing this uh over the weekend I was actually thinking to myself I should go out and take pictures of some egregious news stands but I said something tells me my colleagues uh could have been on top of that before we get we have commissioner Fernandez then commissioner Rosen Gonzalez want me to go or the reverse thank thank you Mr Mayor uh and I too U Want to commend my uh colleagues uh leadership on this as it is uh our public rways are very limited in space um and there are opportunities for newspapers of uh whether they're General circulation or not whether they're free or not there's plenty of areas within our city that is not the public RightWay for them to be distributed for example we see it with the Miami today the Miami today you see it all throughout our city uh in establishments whether they be private or public establishments and you can pick it up uh and so so there is opportunity for news papers to be uh distributed within the city for free or for charge without having to use the taxpayers property and that for me is what is the key here someone is be benefiting from the distribution of Publications generating add revenues by utilizing the Public's property and uh no one should be entitled uh just to be utilizing the public property in this in this manner I completely support in in having this removal from from our uh historic uh districts uh as the as it does take away from the Aesthetics of the areas but Citywide as well I do believe that they do pose a public safety uh challenge what I do also believe is that if we have to store these or dispose of these because a company failed to pick these up after 30 days we send them a bill and it and and it really it TR truly has to be a bill reflective of the city's expenses of it because it's going to take time to go throughout our historic districts to collect these it's going to take the taxpayers money to store these and if and we have to ultimately dispose of these it's also the taxpayers incurring that and this company uh or whichever other company it is uh should be required to fully reimburse the taxpayers for that expense that is incourage thank you and I'm proud to support this item commissioner Rosen Gonzalez then commissioner Suarez and then let's try to take the vote I think we got unanimous here here I go I just want to thank you for figuring this out you know sometimes I walk around sorry I have a list with this retainer um sometimes I walk around the historic district and I think gosh it looks so like you know icky or you know like it needs freshening up or cleaning so and I guess it's because of this pollution that like never really seen you know like like my eyes never even it never even occurred to me so thank you for this item um and I'm looking forward to seeing cleaner you know overall sidewalks and this continued beautification commissioner Suarez thank you thank you everyone um just briefly because a I'm getting the temperature of the days here that this kind of wants to be City applied Citywide not just historic districts can you give a brief um I guess description of why we're doing historic districts and if we were to do it Citywide what would potentially be the challenges or risks that we could take and if my colleagues feel like they are comfortable with those you know challenges or risks that might happen i' I'd be more than happy to uh amend it to Citywide okay I I I don't want to say too much in this setting I'd be happy to talk to each of you individually but the newss in general are protected by the First Amendment there is no case within our federal district or the State of Florida that has addressed this question however out of state Authority has approved a an ordinance that uh ban news racks in historic districts and there is other out of state Authority that has not approved Citywide uh bans on news ra so none of that is binding on uh the city on the Florida courts whether state or federal but they would be persuasive Authority and so we followed the cases that were the where the legislation was approved rather than where it wasn't the risk is if you go Citywide uh we would be presenting the Florida federal or state courts with a question of first impression here and the risk of loss increases when you have no Authority anywhere supporting you if I could um if I could Mr Mayor um however it's not as if we would be at risk of if we went Citywide and then there would be a ruling where it's like you know what this is only good for historic districts and then they wipe out our ability to govern historic districts correct no uh not not per se no you could theoretically if Citywide was stricken down you could then adopt just historic districts however courts often form an opinion of the litigation as a whole based on what you initially present and while it is theoretically possible to just amend it to do something less restrictive if the court rules against you it always as a practical matter it doesn't always work out so easily and I just want you to be aware of that because it would be the same judge that threw out the prior version who would hear the new version and possibly would have already reached an opinion in his or her head about news RS in general based on where we went so but yes in if if a court struck down Citywide we would have the opportunity to pass uh historic districts only and fight that out in court but it would be before the same judge I would uh you'd be okay if I made a motion to essentially uh bifurcate uh two different Visions one actually um removing in a historic districts and the other Citywide extoric District so maybe actually if we bifurcate that legislation uh it would give us even an additional little buffer oh okay may um Rob I I'd like to mention that if we do B bifurcate that could potentially resolve the issue but we should look look into that before we we take a motion in addition the title for this item was specific to Historic District so we would need to bring a a new first reading commissioner fernandz thank you Mr Mayor uh because one of the things that resonates to me which is clear is our efforts to make our public rways safe passable walkable uh for pedestrians for bicyclists for people with disabilities and the reality is often times you see the placement of these newspaper racks and you have to ask yourself is it safe for for for pedestrians is it safe for B bicyclist most importantly is it ADA Compliant and so and so we are a city that we've taken you know great efforts to provide for ADA compliance and then to have an outside entity come in and then obstruct the public right away obstructing an individual's ability to navigate through our sidewalks safely in a in a way that they're not jeopardizing their their their their their safety in a in a device they if they need to doesn't that give us any legal standing Mr attorney yes we would certain we would certainly make that argument uh a court that was sort of inclined to find against us would say that you can position the news racks in places where they don't block the sidewalk where they don't but we do not position these are entities that come into our city and they position them and they're the ones that are positioning them on the taxpayer's property but on the public right of way obstructing the ability of someone with a disability to safely navigate the public right away they're the ones that are placing it not not the city and it's the city's responsibility to provide safe and passable areas for individuals with disabilities not not just within historic districts but Citywide and that's our foremost responsibility protect life and property uh look after the Aesthetics of the city but most importantly also in all of this discussion is is it safe but anywhere within within the city right and those are all very valid arguments and we would very vigorously make them in court but if they but but but if they if the companies are placing them because it's not the city play it if these companies are placing it and blocking it blocking it in s in such a way that individuals with disabilities can't safely get around it then the city has to go in and do something about it the city needs to remove them then because it's it's not right for the individuals with disabilities that then can't access the the right of way commissioner Fernandez to back you up and and I appreciate we have a great legal department but at the same time their job is to tell us the risks that we face when we do do something and ultimately it's our decision to make those and we do often make those decisions that it's a good policy decision it's worth the risk you can be sued on anything um so ultimately I think that's that's that's something and we I agree with you commissioner Fernandez I think we're on Good Grounds can we take the uh this is a good item good quality of life um dealing with Aesthetics that our residents face um literally walking down the street every day so thank you for for bringing it ready to take the vote so I have a motion from commissioner SARS second by commissioner Dominguez commissioner Suarez yes yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes what the second reading public hearing schedule for July 24th the item passes 70 it was item R 5j and if I could just clarify what passed on first reading was as written r5l sorry r5k r5k is in Ord to the mayor City Commissioner of the city of manach for amending Chapter 30 of the manach city code entitled code enforcement by amending article three entitle enforcement procedures by amending section 30- 72 thereof entitle conduct of hearings by creating subsection d allowing only one extension of time to extend a compliance date and providing for repeater SE severability codification and effective date this is a first reading and it's item r5k thank you Mr clerk so this is uh my item I've been working with different neighborhood associations and residents on improving the special magistrates process in order for the Bad actors to be held accountable um at the suggestion and after many meetings with uh Steve rosin who regularly attends on the City's representation for the special magistrates meeting um that's this item that I'm bringing forward and the code allows for one continuance and this allows for the discretion of the special magistrate to do another one I had a conversation a few days ago with the incoming uh special magistrate and he was fully supportive and mbu had put out communication saying that they're concerned um but I'd like for Steve Rothstein our City attorney to address um this item and why it's so important to move forward sure thank you very much vice mayor and members of the commission um Mr Mayor uh this is one step further um in streamlining the process and getting the new cases heard before the magistrate which often fall through the cracks because there are cases that are currently having compliance dates that are not complying statistically I looked at May 9th which was right before your UH last commission meeting and in the morning there were 23 cases scheduled for hearing an outstanding number of 15 of those were for continuance of time meaning that they already had a compliance date set by the magistrate but for whatever reason they could not accomplish that compliance date so under the current law which there is none conceivably these 15 cases could come back any number of given times they can come back once twice three times in fact one of them was already six times before the Magistrate on more time so what this does is once you get a compliance date you can come back once and ask for more time it also has built in a good cause feature which the continuing section had so that if you're running in issues with regulatory agencies such as Derm if you're having problems with funding if you're a large Association that has Financial issues with a recertification or if you have just supply chain issues with replacement of windows for whether it be a property maintenance or a building violation this would allow uh within the discretion of the magistrate to go further so it also uh saves on City time and City expenses because each time a hearing is set the clerk's office has to send out the notices certified mail which is required by the state statute so I haven't checked lately but I believe it's between $7 and $9 just for a certified mail so on those 15 cases if there's multiple parties we just keep snowballing at down and the bottom line is the new cases for new people that have violations that aren't in compliance taking into account when you get to the magistrate that's not the first day you know about it you routinely have 30 days let's say from the Department till the file gets down to the clerk's office maybe another 60 days then another 30 days for the initial hearing then we deal with the continuances and in the interim we're not getting compliance so this is to hold the feet to the fire to those folks that have compliance States but just choose for whatever reason not to comply thank you I'd like to move the item call the vote I have a motion from commissioner Dominguez a second it by commissioner Suarez commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commission uh vice mayor Dominguez yes vice mayor magazine I didn't know I had the uh honor but promotion commissioner magazine yes commissioner Bond yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Suarez job yes mayor Miner yes thank you vice mayor Dominguez it's a good item pass item passes second reading public hearing is July 24th it was approved 70 r5k thank r5l I believe is being deferred as per commissioner Rosen Gonzalez correct sir correct it's being deferred till July 24th R5 R5 l l it's call r5m r5m is an ordinance of the mayor City Commissioner of the city of man Beach Florida amending chapter 2 of The Man Beach city code entitle Administration by amending article three entitled agencies boards and committees by amending division 16 entitled youth commission by amending section 2-1 188 thereof to allow members to serve up to three years total on the youth commission and providing for repealer of ability qualification and effective date this is R5 MMA can the sponsor can I yeah uh commissioner vice mayor Dominguez uh thank you and and co-sponsored by commissioner Fernandez uh thank you so the youth commission sent us all an LTC urging to make this change so that while uh their students at baii they can attend and be part of the youth Commission while they're in high school so I'd like to move the item commissioner Rosa Gonzalez can I add something to your item which I always wanted when we created the youth commission they wouldn't allow the teenagers serving on it many of whom have cars to also get the parking sticker for working on uh the committee and I think that they should get the parking sticker because they're attending the meetings just like anyone else and why shouldn't they have that benefit so is there any way would you consider putting right I mean I just thought when we did it I forgot who at I created the youth commission by the way which I'm very proud of and maybe 2017 2018 but I think that they should get the sticker I don't know how you feel about that commissioner Dominguez but they're working like anyone else I mean they sent a resolution that you guys are actually putting that that you put on the agenda and they're creating laws so how do you feel about that they not get the certificate they I thought they did but they if they drive that's I I so that wouldn't change but okay no matter what if that's a direction that will be done so I have a motion by commissioner uh commissioner Dominguez seconded by commissioner Suarez vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner magazine yes yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries item second reading public hearing is scheduled for July 24th that was item r5m r5n that is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of man Beach Florida amending chapter 2 of The Man Beach city code in title Administration by amending article 3 entitled agencies boards and committees by amending division 2 disability access committee by amending section 2-31 thereof to reduce Quorum and voting requirements from 8 to five members and providing for repealer of ability qualification and effective date this is the first reading it is item r5n commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor uh I think we're all familiar with the disability access committee was created to uh formulate recommendations uh and proposals for for the city on how to make our public property our sidewalks our public buildings uh our streets uh more accessible for persons with disabilities we were just speaking about that a few minutes ago uh the current composition of the current Quorum requirements of the committee of eight members to be present uh has created a logistical challenge for for the committee to conduct its uh business uh especially when um when a person is unable to attend um or vote in person due to a disability related accessibility barrier so what this item does is that it reduces the quarum requirement for the disability access committee from eight members to five members so that they can meet more regularly and formulate the recommendations uh that they need to be sending over to our Administration and to our city commission with that I move my item Mr Mayor if there's no disc discussion I'll call the RO uh moved by commissioner Fernandez seconded by commissioner Suarez commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Suarez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes mayor Miner yes motion passes second reading public hearing is scheduled for July 24th I was item r5n let's call one more item before our lunch break which for us is going to be a meeting among the Commissioners to talk about the charter review and the charter Review Committee but uh let's call r5v as in viictor r5v is in ordance of the mayor City Commission of the city of Bambi Beach Florida amending Chapter 70 of the code of the city of Bambi Beach entitled miscellaneous offenses by amending article one entitled in general by creating section 70- 1.1 entitled habitual Municipal ordinance violation offenders and providing for repealer severability codification and an effective date r5v it is a first reading so uh I'm the sponsor of this item thank you to our Municipal prosecution team you're doing a great job getting convictions at a close about a 90% rate under State Statute if an individual is convicted of four or more misdemeanors they um they can be potentially uh get enhanced penalties for committing those for those convictions and what I'm seeking with this item is that our Municipal prosecution team under Municipal ordinance should have the same rights as one would have under State Statute again because the state attorney's office deals with the state statutes and we generally mirror with our misdemeanors uh under Municipal Code the state statutes so we're just looking to mirror the the state statute let's call the vote I have a motion by commissioner sorz a seconded by commissioner Fernandez commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner Suarez yes mayor Miner yes adem is approved 70 second reading public hearing scheduled for July 24th that was item r5v that went so smoothly let's try one more R5 o R5 is an nor of the mayor City Commissioner of the city of Miami Beach Florida amending the code of the city of Miami Beach sub Part B entitled Miami Beach resiliency code chapter 2 entitled Administration and review procedures Article 5 entitled rezoning and Redevelopment approvals to establish mandatory progress report requirements for condition use permits issued for Neighborhood Impact establishment and providing for catification repealer of ability and an effective date this is a first reading it requires 5 vote is item R50 commissioner Fernandez co-sponsor by commissioner bot thank you Mr Mayor um this is an item to to require that those establishments that are neighborhood impr uh Neighborhood Impact establishments that have a conditional use permit to be required uh to go before the planning board on an annual basis and to provide uh the uh the planning uh board with an update with an update on how they are performing on the conditions that they agreed to the Privileges that they were granted by the planning board in order to conduct certain activities that they weren't allowed to conduct as of right uh and I believe this is an important accountability because what we've seen over time is that often times an entity goes before the planning board they request from the planning board and from the community rights for certain certain activities that they're not entitled to under under the code they present themselves as honorable establishments as as good actors in in in the community and then once they're granted that conditional use permit and they begin to operate they'll have a progress report under in six months one progress report in six months which is required by code but after that one progress report what I've witnessed as a former member of the planning board is a decline in their performance of their condition use permit they start to engage in impacts to the quality of life of residents in activities that that that that harm the surrounding businesses in impacts of the traffic on impacts on sanitation on impacts on noise and other issues and so what this does is that it requires them as a checks and balances mechanism to protect and Safeguard the quality of life of these neighborhoods for these for for for for these Neighborhood Impact establishments to have a conditional use permit to go back before the planning board that granted them that permit and tell them how they're performing to those conditions are they respecting the terms of that conditional use permit are they respecting the quality of life of our residents and the sanitation levels and the performance standards that are put in place that's a purpose of this of this item I would like to move the item and I'd appreciate the support of my colleagues thank you Mr Mayor commissioner Suarez i' just like to be a co-sponsor on the item too please Mr Mayor I see we have our planning director on the Podi I forgot to recognize uh our planning director Mr Moody I don't know there's any additional background on the intent of the item that that needs to be clarified no I think um commissioner Fernandez you covered everything commissioner Fernandez good item um a year or two ago I had brought an item at the recommendation of so be safe to put all the conditional use permits online so there is a dashboard now of that uh which is helpful this takes it to another level I think we're doing some good work so thank you thank you Tom and commissioner Fernandez and we're working on on a separate item uh to require that every conditional use uh permit any establishment that has a conditional use permit uh to place a for them to place a QR code um on their on their on their window or somewhere in their establishment so that when Code Compliance shows up or someone has a complaint they can scan that QR codee pull up the conditional use permit and know what are the unique regulations uh for for those establishments and that's an item that'll be uh coming uh in the future I want to thank the co-sponsors for for joining me and support of this item let's call the vote Yes sir so I have a motion by commissioner Fernandez a second by commissioner bot vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner swarz yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion passes second reading public hearing is scheduled for July 24th we're adding commissioner uh Suarez as a co-sponsor to this item as well great and city clerk Ralph if you want to call r9d our lunch meeting for the charter review so we will be convening next as the committee of the whole to review and discuss the final report and recommendations of the charter review board this will be held in the city manager's large conference room break we'll break and Endeavor to be back here at 1:00 for Sonic half hour thanks the public is welcome to attend we was n [Music] a [Music] he he [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] o [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh no [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] High [Music] [Music] take [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] High [Music] [Music] [Music] take [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] 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[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my is fall from [Music] [Music] up [Music] [Music] take take me take me [Music] [Music] n [Music] you [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] it [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] la [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] he n [Music] [Music] [Music] please take your seats the meeting is about to begin please take your seats the meeting is about to begin please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 1 welcome back we're going to start the afternoon sutnik hour sorry we're a few minutes late so during the lunch break we we met about the charter review recommendations we had a charter Review Committee that met uh numerous times H over the last I think 18 months and basically every 10 years we review our Charter and there's going to be potentially some recommendations coming before us to vote on a commission whether we're going to give it to you the voters to vote on to make uh improvements good suggestions good governance for our um for our for our govern governing body here and our Charter that governs the commission so that's what we're doing we ran a little late but we're going to start the S snic hour thank you mayor if there's anyone who wishes to speak please approach the podium and if you're on Zoom uh please raise your hand come forward please state your name address and you have two minutes go ahead please thank you my name is Brenda Jordan I'm a resident of Miami Beach for almost 30 years and I've seen a lot of changes I'm also an artist I had a non-for-profit um called wat World African traditional Arts I brought the yaya oon Festival many different cultural festivals and events I've also worked with the county teaching art the Arts Center of South Florida I'm an artist all around so you know I know there's changes being made to the artist vendor program but the reason I'm here is because this program was set up without any artist involved in the setting up and even though the intentions were well because we had a lot of issues as we still have some issues but I feel like it needs to be a committee of artists helping to guide the city and I know the city has ordinances and things that regulate what you do but we also need guidance from the artists because this is an artist program so I think even though the intentions were well you know meaning but for us it's been like hurting cattle no go over here go over there stop what you're doing no you can't do it this way and I adhere to the rules but there are real artists who are viable artists uh what I have my non for-profit is when David whitmann and other people went to Basel to bring Art Basel to Miami Beach and arts is a very vibrant important ingredients in our culture here so being hurted like that I know residents oh we don't want this we don't want the noise we don't want this and I understand but I think that we need a committee of artists and people from the commission to sit down and get together because this is a vital Lifeline like a vein that runs through Miami Beach and I would appreciate if we have some input thank you so much is there anyone else the audience who wishes to speak good afternoon rapael Bea um I just want to add something you know I was confused with what the commissioner and argument that people he said that the people of the Lincoln Ro complain about us but it's not I I get to know that is they are complaining about the people that saying find jeweling you know and another those are no us you know this is other people because anybody can set up over there now you know before when the program start it was on point because accomplish what it what it is and the and the and the ordinance you know and the co comp pass many times and see what we selling see if you're selling something they don't let you to do that so but uh some people I understand there is a Oriental lady you know that she present to get the license some you know handcraft but when she got to the the place she put it down and she displayed the jewelry they find Jewel that's that's not us that's not they had to cancel the license all we worried now my name is Jennifer and I'm also an artist vendor what we worry is that this is a livelihood this is how we make a living some of us have disabilities we're not we're not qualified for Social Security because we're too young but we have all disabilities that this is all we we could do because we cannot do the jobs that I used to be able to do before I was hit by a car in the ma destroying the car damaging my neck my back making it the job that I used to do as a manager I cannot do anymore and I try to tell people this is an important program because this is how I still could make a living because my my health was taken away by reckless driver so this is all I have and this is how I support my family and I'm the only bread winner right now in my family and this program the assigned the the 50 spaces that were assigned is all what we have and if it's taken away and we have to go somewhere that's more far away then we could travel because we can walk the distance like him her she has a back injury as well then we cannot make a living honestly should we be submitted to or go to welfare or ask for food stamps when we are trying to work this is the only thing we have and we also help the community when people need us and they say tourists where's the bathroom where's this where's that where's L where's Lincoln Road where's Ocean Drive where's the Espanola away we the ones that tell them where it is do could you refer us to a restaurant where's the nearest restaurant where's the nearest where where's the store at we the ones that tell them where it is where's the trolley where's the bus to take to the airport it's the 150 bus it's right here on Lincoln Road we the ones that give them that direction and we take from our table time from my C with the little customers that we have but we give them that extra treatment and they feel grateful they said thank you for your suggestion thank you for telling us where the Apple Store they come back and they tell us hey thank you for for telling us where it was thank you so much thank you is there anyone else who wishes to speak if so please approach the podium mayor see no one in the chambers and see no one in Zoom we may conclude if you wish okay snck hour is concluded we are now going to call C7 bi so C7 bi is approved amendment number three ik smk City it was separated by commissioner bot sorry yeah I'm I asked to have this item pulled um we spent I don't know half an hour 45 minutes before lunch talking about having um um newspaper boxes in the right of way um what made sense what was compliant what was good for neighbors and neighborhoods um for the record this has nothing to do with the two parties involved the dueling uh vendors I frankly couldn't care less about that drama I have been a staunch opponent of um kiosk since a previous mayor tried to inflict them upon the city and I have not changed my position since then I don't think it's best practice for us to strike um legal language in our in our um undertakings with this with this project um I think it's bad for our residents to have people installing things and then unin installing them if they don't belong there I don't Bel believe they they belong in our historic areas I um I have no desire to break a contract I'd be very happy to see these kiosks put someplace where they'd be really useful like a parking garage where people are still sorting out which way to go and where to find what they're looking for but putting them in our historic districts and in other places um you know if you look at the comments made by multiple residents if you look at the comments made made by the land use boards uh before which this this uh project had to go it's not the right product for our city and I know there are lots of clever uses for them in other places but they are not the right thing for us and so I want to not change our legal protective language that currently exists in our in our documentation and our contract um and let the process work out the way it it is supposed to without inflicting the burden of um tearing up sidewalks and making things more more complicated for Resturant residents once or maybe even twice um you know once we see whether or not these things can stick around thank you commissioner Bach commissioner Rosen Gonzalez oh okay um I I hear you Tanya um I also heard the Lincoln Road bid come up today and talk about the fact that what we have right now are these really old have you seen them they're these really old uh clear Channel kind of beaten up um stands and they have to constantly uh change them they don't so sometimes we have outdated information on them and frankly nothing new um has come to Lincoln Road in a very long time and from the way I see it nothing new um is going to happen anytime soon but when you put these kiosks there and by the way you know I if you put the kiosks on Lincoln Road um now uh there's some really cool stuff that you can do with those I I read an article that um they took like poetry from elementary school students and they did a contest yeah right and no so you could you could any especially now that we're having you know different types of you know emergencies and stuff and we need to get information out to people you have it directly there I I was opposed to the kiosk until we got them at the on the Miami day college campus and um since we've had them um it's been wonderful because students are getting more involved in activities than they never would before because we can change the messaging on the kiosks instantaneously you don't have to print something out you don't have to I mean in an age where I mean it really does uh share information I mean obviously there's going to be advertising on it too but I will say that it changed uh the dynamic of the college and I think there are certain areas I think it's it's is it 15 for all of South Beach right and how many of those are allocated to uh Lincoln Road as of right now there are two of them uh at good afternoon sorry Rodney NOS the assistant director for the public works department hi Ronney hi uh there is a kiosk that's designated for uh Lincoln Road Mall and um Alton Road and another at Washington Avenue I mean I think especially because we have oh I was still go you okay um so so I think that in many cases because we are tourism driven and we have all these great events sometimes people don't know about these events the city will be able to say hey we're having Orchestra in the park tonight at this time or businesses and and I I I do think that it's beneficial and I think that the messaging that we can put up and I do think that we should share different Community initiatives we should go to Leslie and have schools submit uh different student things and students can go and see their stuff their their their poems on the kiosk or see a picture of their award or graduation ceremony on the kiosks and I do think it creates community so at a time where we live in a a technological you know digital age um you know and and our bus stops are not are the are the bus stops going to have kiosks in them like electronic messaging in them probably and they will not they're not not they're not so I mean we could even put like bus schedules on them it's the only opportunity we have to give out information dynamically and I know a lot of people don't like them um but I'm not I'm not opposed to them especially after the bid came up this morning and told us please don't get rid of the kiosks we really want the kiosks um there are a total of six that will if approved be implemented throughout the Lincoln Road mall but at this point they are not approved at least those with at least those commissioner are you done I wasn't really so I mean if you were opposed I understand like all 15 but if we at least do the six that would be like a compromise at least get them on Lincoln Road see how they work um you can't I mean I don't think they're um as bad as you know everyone's saying Boogeyman I think they're good for the community commissioner Suarez commissioner bot thank you Mr Mayor um you know I I believe the it was at a committee meeting where they you know I think it was Ike and outfront and they were going at it on each other and it seems like this is like a tit fortat sort of thing um and I I told um you know I I I think I told the representative from Ike that look you know we're not going to be doing um we're not going to have items that are going to try to even a score um and I want to I want to have I'm going to have that same sort of application to to outfront and I you know because it certainly seems that these two companies are are just they're going at it on on a public display um and look we you know as the Miami Beach before we got elected the three of us you know there was a contract to install these I I I I certainly understand that outfront is going to be trying to challenge that and this this is going to uh I guess solidify the deal I think at the end of the day we as a commission you know we we need to decide are we going to move forward with this because that is the um that that is the direction the last commission gave and we gave them our W and on paper um and so I think I I think it is a good tool for that um on a separate matter you know I have an item on on this agenda for wayf finding signage for the businesses on Lincoln Road and I you know you have you have a bunch of businesses on on the side streets of Lincoln Road where they're struggling just because people just do not know that they're they're there my ordinance is is really temporary um where I'm going to request um like upside down T signs or a frames on Lincoln Road but that's just temporary this is going to be more uh permanent and much better utilized um but by by by the businesses and and the users on Lincoln Road and not to mention there's a bunch you know I think you said Washington it's going to be on Washington run I mean there's a bunch of side businesses on off of Washington that could also probably benefit from this um you know maybe you know to to to sweeten the deal um you know maybe someone from Ike can say like if you have a business uh that you are at a storefront in Miami Beach maybe you give the business a year of free advertising in to get them off the ground uh so that they can you know that we don't have empty storefronts for example on Lincoln Road or or Washington Avenue I don't know if you guys are amable to that um and we can sort of bake this in but I think you know we you know we we have an issue now where you know we have a lot of vacant a lot of vacant um prop storefronts and if this can sort of facilitate that I think that's a great tool for my Beach uh good afternoon the mayor oh was that a question or I asked yeah one wa commissioner magazine given my thoughts on this um I don't particularly like these though I do think that there's an argument for places like Lincoln Road unfortunately I don't think we can bifurcate this current issue but I'm happy to be corrected on that because that's something could be amable to um when this originally came up I think at this commission's first commission meeting uh there was an ordinance to essentially resend or cancel the contract I said well I don't particularly like these I'm also not in the business of relegating things that have already been decided on and I'm just going to stay uh neutral on that and I think I'm going to take the same stance here uh where I'm not going to take any proactive measures to ratify the existing contract uh the other way so um well I I commissioner bot was next commissioner bot and commissioner Rosen Gonzalez so I'm not suggesting that we uh disengage with our contract the way the contract was written is saying that once any appeals should there be any are exhausted then things can proceed this is a request to take that language out of the contract I'm not trying to put my finger on the scale one way or the other what I am trying to do is make sure that we don't install things and go through trouble of of you know disrupting uh pedestrian right rights of way uh and then Road Washington Avenue sure that those could be good places for them but it's not 15 it's up to 30 is my understanding um throughout Miami Beach and I think we need to just let the process take its its its course um you know we wouldn't we wouldn't let a a building well we have done this but not not I was going to say wouldn't let to let a building be demolished while we're still waiting for um to pursue all of our legal uh Avenues or start building a building before you know the issues haven't been worked out the issues have not been resolved it's going to court um you know people are people on the land use boards are saying the only reason why uh we're approving this holding our nose is because there's a contract so I'm not saying don't you know dis don't honor the contract I'm saying don't start the the the work don't start the building of anything and the installation of anything until the process has completed itself instead of I don't I don't even know why this is in here um because the language is already in the contract so through the mayor can I commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I hear you commissioner bot and um but you know we passed this item I do think that um on some level this is not even about you or about me it's about two lobbyists that are in a duel and I think we're both uh you know both of them have contracts both of them dislike each other both of them they you like each other you're just in a fight okay but you know what you're you're kind of you this whole thing is is becoming a somewhat of a mockery I would like to just move it and the two have their contracts let's move forward as is let's not let ourselves um you know uh become party to this Petty uh D I know but I know you were Fel feel strongly about the kiosks um but you know what I I think that you know the appeal is part of this uh fight that we're now getting dragged into so with that I would like to move the item if there's a second Comm commissioner Fernandez I just my mic is head on but it's fine um you know I've again the city commission approved this um I think that there is a useful purpose for for these devices especially in commercial districts uh and pedestrian corridors uh like Lincoln Road as commissioner Suarez mentioned the efforts being undertaken under his leadership to help those small businesses on the side streets and how these types of devices could could help direct uh people to those smaller businesses that perhaps can't afford um you know retail storefront uh you know right on the on the main road so so so I'm supportive of of having this go forward um technically assuming the appeal says this wasn't placed here properly and they need to go back in and remove the equipment is there any exposure to the city Mr attorney and just for the record this mic situation is this is not conducive to an efficient meeting I have my mic on I'm asking my City attorney a question and unless I turn off my mic the City attorney can't talk so I just ask please for whenever the next public meeting is in these Chambers we're City commissioners we should have an efficient microphone system where we can ask questions of our staff and they're able to to to answer so please guys yeah and I agree with you by the way as you know I'm not controlling this um we we need to I think the problem is we each have the obligation to turn off our mics to let the next person talk it that shouldn't be on the onus on us and so I agree with you we'll work that out in between until the next meeting um the the applicant here or Ike would be traveling under Section 2.2.4 point8 paragraph e paragraph 3 of the Land Development regulations uh that includes language that requires Indemnity to the city throughout their entire appeals process and further that in the event that the court determines or which you know whether it's decided at the court or at a different level um that the order was incorrectly issued by one of our land use boards then they would need to return the property to its condition prior to whatever work they did thank you Mr attorney and and and just one separate matter uh because I see representatives from from ik here um I understand one of the components on this is a wi-fi system is that correct correct and is that by Ike or is that a thirdparty entity that's providing the Wi-Fi it's a third party entity is and is there is there any data collection and sale occurring from from from that third-party Arrangement hi commissioner Jabron Sher muhamed with ik we are not Gathering any data of about the user nor are we selling it the third party here is the internet service provider it's T-Mobile and so it's whatever T-Mobile collects on its own regarding its general internet do they collect or andell data does T-Mobile collect or sell data commissioner I I'm not able to answer whether T-Mobile collects or sells data we refer everybody to their privacy policy regarding that we do not collect any data nor do we transmit any individual data to T-Mobile that's between the person using the cell phone and T-Mobile and what they allow on their personal device with T-Mobile I just want to make sure that that the people's information is protected uh I think you know this is just you know it's a unique era that we're living in um and so and so that's that's the one thing I do want to make sure this is some public property if if it does have Wi-Fi through an arrangement that we're providing I want to make sure that you know the the proper privacy policies are in place to protect uh people's personal identifiable information uh as they as they go through these areas with this third-party Wi-Fi that doesn't have an arrangement directly with the city it's through you uh and so I just want to make sure that proper protections are there in place thank you commissioner we can commit that we will not gather any personally identifiable information nor will we transmit it to T-Mobile yes sir so just I'm I'm not supportive of this item two reasons one I voted against it to begin with when it was on a couple years ago when we could roll back the tape but my the main objection I had was the there's no termination for convenience clause which basically subjected our city and our residents to 15 years worth without us even having uh much input so here we have a contractual obligation and we're seeking to amend it I understand it and I had to put some thought to this but ultimately it is a contract that was agreed to uh by the parties and and I think we should stick to it um Mr Mayor Mr Mayor commissioner Suarez Mr Mayor um couple things um we did put a provision that if the residents didn't like it in a specific location it could be removed so I think that that concern has been addressed um there was much more to it but that aspect yes um if we were not to do this how how long I'm assuming you'd get bogged down in legal uh Warfare right and it would prolong uh the installation of these you know by doing this uh through the chair you know what can we expect and and why yeah sure so and then I have one more followup the this process would take approximately 2 to three years and objector attorneys who who are trying to delay delay projects like this will use every trick in the book uh once they get to Circuit Court uh to delay the hearing you know filing necessary motions and things of that nature and the g just the goal here is clear right outfront doesn't care about your residents about the city they are a publicly traded billion dooll giant that wants to maintain its Monopoly on advertising in the city and they want to maintain that Monopoly as long as they possibly can so they are going going to do and use every trick in the book to achieve that outcome yeah and so I think part of what commissioner Gonzalez's item is is to you know make sure that this doesn't turn into a a a tit fortat and the utility of these kiosks are great for the residents and if if I can make an amendment to that uh to commissioner Gonzalez's motion uh or or item is to like I said earlier allow one year free for any local business to advertise on the kiosk so it looks like we're going to have the votes but it would be great if you can yes we agree speaking of voting ready to call the vote Yes okay as amended yeah so I believe we had I made a motion and commissioner Dominguez seconded the motion so let's call the call the vote Ralph um the motion was amended so commissioner Suarez made a motion to amend we need a second on that to amend the amendment so that businesses get a one free year of advertising on the kiosk we agree with that yes so a second for that so as amended uh wish want going to do a roll call on this order roll call commissioner bot no commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner magazine no commissioner Suarez yes mayor Miner no motion passes motion pass passes as amended thank you thank you all have a nice afternoon thank you and congratulations on your grandson r7m we have a Time certain I'm sorry the Su no that that that's passed but I'm happy we can I'm happy to step down and hear what what you want to say but we we finished that portion of the meeting I'm sorry thank you um r7m r7m is authorized implementation of modified hybrid payment service model commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor um this is an item uh being uh being brought forward uh through recommendation of our city Administration uh to provide for for cost savings to our city in the payment offerings that we uh provide to to to the public while still providing the public uh with ways to pay their utility fees to the city without incurring extra costs I'm going to defer to our CFO uh Jason Green uh to explain the technicalities of this of this um ordinance and the options that our residents will have and our businesses will have uh for their payments uh once this passes welcome thank you commissioner uh just for the record I wanted to just to note there was a a scribers error technically in the title of the resolution a memo it should say say unfavorable recommendation I'm going to explain that a bit as we had our first uh time uh at FK discussing an item with our new four-person format we had a two to two split on it which technically makes it an unfavorable and I just want to just explain quickly about uh what this is what this is is uh hopefully an attempt for us to stop the sub the subsational would kind of um a quick a quick story of what this kind of came to me as an issue was one of my finance accountant people came to me a little frustrated because they were dealing with credit card processing and we had a developer making a a two or $300,000 payment which you know they were able to pay via credit card and it cost a several thousand in processing fees and then about two or three months later they withdrew their application and we had to charge back that credit card fee for another few th000 so at the end of the day we paid five or $6,000 in credit card fees for nothing so you know pulling that string a little bit we looked into this a little bit more and as you probably come across now if you're paying a bill at the county or FPL the DMV the state things along those lines it is extraordinarily common nowadays uh to have if you going to pay via credit credit card if that option is even available uh to pass through that expense to the customer what we're hoping to do is to go down that model but what a couple of things is we will always have several different free payment options uh to Residents whether it's paying uh again a permit or Utility Billing is probably the two main areas we're speaking about uh is to be able to come and pay in cash pay via check pay via money order to go online and pay via e check or debit you know direct debit from your account all of that is a lower much lower cost to the city and that would still be free to the whoever's paying that bill and uh discussed I think was twice we had at FK various discussions on that and I think the actual final motion that was uh ended up being unfavorable but if I could was they asked to come back and say on the utility bill I think it were comfortable in everything else with the credit card fee being passed through which is again mostly going to be permits and you utility uh not the utility billing was can we have an option where uh about single family homes who are paying a smaller Bill to have that additional option although the administration still recommends we go with a full uh uh pass through model on the credit cards what was this the final discussion at FK was a hybrid model there where uh we would still have on the uh Utility Billing side a free option for everything but when it came to the credit card uh we were looking at because I think the average utility bill for single family homes is $300 and the motion made uh by commissioner bot was to accept credit card payments up to $300 so what this would do is you would have all the free options like I talked about paying cash paying via check money order going online auto payment with your eche you know debit direct debit from your account but if you wanted to pay by credit card you could do was a one-time payment and up to a $300 Max and what this would do is so commercial buildings My Condo building example I I just checked recently as a board member we pay $35,000 a month for our utility bill uh that would be a really big thing if we put on our credit card in a fee but we don't do that so what this would do is limit it to those really that are single smaller single family homes uh at no cost on the credit card fee so that would be that's the the the administration recommendation that had ended up in an unfavorable we're hoping that the full commission will look favorably upon this that we would go with the full pass through on everything else other than Utility Billing but on credit cards uh we would limit it to onetime payments up to $300 at no cost and thank you Mr CFO for for for your description for your analysis of this and uh and I think there's other situations uh that you explained that at committee where it's the taxpayer the city that's absorbing these large costs like for like for example we were talking about permit fees uh there might be a developer coming in having to pay you know tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands in permit fees and the credit card transaction fees for those transactions uh for private development is being incurred by the city by the taxpayers not not not by not by the applicant for something that might not even pass for something that might ultimately be denied for something that might not even end up generating revenues uh for for for the city so so I appreciate the creativity that staff has brought forward where we're able to minimize the city's expenses in these credit card transaction fees without adding an expense on the single single family homeowner or the residential accounts thank you commissioner bot for that great amendment that you proposed because this is a hybrid that is truly balanced and with that with those changes uh even though I wasn't able to support it at committee uh with with this with these tweaks I'm able to support it today uh because ultimately you know our taxpayers our residents can continue paying with their credit card if it's up to $300 uh that's within the average uh cost of what homeowners are are spending but the city is being relieved of the greater burden of the other commercial accounts so I'm happy to move this item thank you second the second by the vice mayor uh second the item does any of my colleague do any of my colleagues have anything to share um Mr city clerk please call the vote everyone in favor of this item r7m I uh so it is unanimous to Mayor is absent and commissioner Suarez has said he was a yes on this item so will Mark yes and one absent the mayor thank you thank you uh next I'd like to call item r5x r5x is an ordance of the mayor and City Commissioner of the city of Miami Beach Florida amending subpart a entitled General ordinances of the code of the city of Miami Beach chapter 18 entitled businesses Article 15 entitled street performers and art vendors by amending section 18- 906 thereof entitled regulations procedures and prohibitions to regulate sound levels produced by any person in close proximity to outdoor dining seating and providing for repealers of ability clarification and effective date r5x is a first reading um so this was my item I brought this item forward um through several complaints from residents and my own personal experience being out on Lincoln Road in different parts of Miami Beach where the artist vendors would um have amplification and you couldn't even hear what you were doing uh or have a conversation with with somebody in a restaurant even though they were half a block or a block away on the other side of the street um we already passed this once but at the city attorney's recommendation there were some tweaks that we needed and that's what this new language brings in with that I move the item I'll second thank Mr City attorney would you call the R thank you I have no discussion commissioner bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Fernandez yes vice mayor Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Suarez on item r5x mayor Miner yes motion carries second reading public hearing is scheduled for July 24th that was item r5x can just for the record if if I may can I switch making the motion by commissioner bot and the second by commissioner Dominguez since commissioner Dominguez was the person with thank you littleone yes sir this is appointing Chief Special magistrate Jose Smith for a period of 8242 24 to 22325 city manager good honorable mayor and Commissioners uh this item is to appoint Jose Smith uh a local resident and also one with lots of experience as a special magistrate uh Jose Smith did have a meeting with me where I reviewed his qualifications and experience I also met with another interested party and made the determination that Jose Smith should be recommended for this appointment uh with the concurrence of the City attorney I'll second may I call the RO if I if I may ask um what what's the factors what's the consideration how did you come to your conclusion okay um uh both Rael and I understand the direction that this commission wishes to move in in terms of quality of life and we have both had experience with Mr Smith as the chair of the north beach CRA uh committee um he is committed to making sure that our code our our code is followed and he will be very strict in terms of ensuring compliance um we we believe that he is the the proper candidate for this position Mr May uh first commissioner Fernandez my thank you Mr Mayor um I want to first and foremost um thank the the the administration for for taking the time to uh meet with h with the different interested parties um I'm a big believer of you promote from within I believe that a lot um I think I think the world of Jose Smith I think Jose Smith is a great uh served our city honorably as a City Commissioner um known for the ethics legislations he he he put forward he was entrusted to lead our legal team for a number of years um with with with great respect and and and honor setting forth their um you know great leadership that eventually assumed the the chair of City attorney he developed a great team there and then he went on to do great work in in other in other cities I think that Jose would be a fine uh special master I I think he would he would do a great job and do well by the residents of our city uh in the position as a as a special Magistrate I and while I also feel he could do a great job and that he certainly is very well qualified to do the job of Chief Special master I feel it's unfair to to to to those to have been a special Master for a number of years in our city taking away from private practice to be doing work in our city on behalf half of our our community in a non in in a in in a non-biased way in a fair way in a balanced way in analyzing our code analyzing the unique circumstances and rendering Fair judgment uh to bring um you know proper closure to issues in our community that often are not easy often it's neighbor against neighbor often is resonance against special interests and and and it takes uh a special person I think both Jose Smith I think is 100% more than qualified to do this job as I feel and that uh Canon is I just think it's unfair when we have people that have been ascending and working at something over the years within the system and then we say well we're gonna circumvent them we're gonna let them there and we're gonna just go to the outside and bring someone in Jose's a little bit different because Jose is really not from the outside he's been part of the of the city system he's involved in different boards and committees but he hasn't been a special master um and so I am really very torn by this because I I give great deference to staff recommendation um but I see the work that we did today today we promoted from within our fire department uh from from deputy Chief to Chief before we did it with our with our Police Department uh soon we'll be taking recommendations on on a on on the Public Works director we did it with our city attorney's office where we promoted uh from from an assistant uh City attorney to to to City attorney we've done it with our interim city city manager role I think it's a fair thing in any position in our city as much as we can provide for growth and Ascension within the ranks where you grow to earn that position and this puts me in a really torn position because they're both highly qualified individuals who can do this fairly and who could do it well if I commissioner magazine um thank you for those comments commissioner Fernandez I when I was going into this I was just going to give uh deference to the city staff recommendation uh you really made a compelling argument and without putting pressure on staff you know uh high stakes here any thoughts on commissioner Fernandez's comments because now I'm kind of leaning towards that not to say here reut that but uh if you had any thoughts to the contrary on what he was saying sure through the mayor commissioner I I I'm going to Echo a lot of what commissioner Fernandez said you we we want to make we want to incentivize leadership in the city and you know we've had we have other candidates who have been with us for a long time uh who's done great work and who has sacrificed outside practice um for the betterment of not only our city but their city right uh and so you know I think you know this I I I think this rol is with six months is that correct um and you know I I want to give a strong recommendation for Anette and I you know she's she's she's a resident of my beach longtime resident she's dealt with um a lot of a lot of cases she has the most experience I'm sure if she was put into cheat chief M uh magistrate a lot of things would change she knows it from the ground up and so um I'm going to hear what the rest of my colleagues [Music] say commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I'm actually very happy to hear all of you say this because up until very recently I was under the assumption that Annette had been in this position she was next in line she's very patiently served the city um for many years and um I think that that merits consideration for this position and Jose is qualified I mean he has been our City attorney and he has served as a commissioner and I do consider him a friend and I do support him and um but in this case um I if if there's if the will of this body is to go with the net um I would support that because of her hard work and the idea of promoting from within and you know swooping in you know at the last minute it doesn't there's something about it that just doesn't um seem fair so um uh if somebody did make the motion I would be supportive of Anette Canon today and very very proud to vote for her as our chief special magistrate because I think she's worked very hard and merits this honor vice mayor Dominguez thank you um I too I'm very supportive of Anette Canon but what we had before as today was to approve Jose he would be here in person but he's um sick at the moment and I find it disrespectful to make these changes on the day is after it was already said and done um but that doesn't take away from the fact that Annette is fantastic uh I'm also in the process of revamping a lot of special magistrate stuff to make the process better um so it's it's a a real difficult um thing to do on the day is when something has already been put forward commissioner Suarez uh as a point of order I don't think I can make an a motion to I can okay I'd like to make a motion to appoint andet Canon as a special magistrate I'll second that Rick Rick just can you resolve the motion issue you have to vote on the initial motion before you vote on the additional motion and and who who made the motion who second and who's second commissioner Fernandez okay I can't speak yeah okay I really want to be very respectful for everyone because you know I have such great such a high level of respect for Jose Smith I really have the highest level of respect for for Jose Smith I really feel in such an uncomfortable POS position right now because I consider him not only a great public servant someone who I respect someone whose guidance uh I I in the past I've saw it a lot um but I really feel uncomfortable voting against him or you know not giving him the opportunity to be here pring when this item is here when when he's ill um and I actually haven't had the opportunity to meet with him as it relates to this position in spefic specific um I think it might be respectful perhaps to defer the item uh to allow him to be present uh since since he was diagnosed with with covid I don't know if if I can say that or not I guess I just you just violated Hippa did I just you're not a doctor you can say anything um but um I just want to be fair I really I truly want to be fair um and but the same way I want to be fair to Annette who's here I want to be fair to to to Jose and I also just just want to for the record to reflect these thoughts that I have I did share with the city manager with the with the city attorney since this is their recommendation I felt it was important for them to feel what has been my long-standing position of promoting from within to support the mor of those within our organization I would do a motion to defer to allow Jose the opportunity to be present well you are the guru when it comes to the Rules of Order and you know a motion to defer takes precedence over the prior motion so are you making a motion do we have a second uh yeah let me just go our uh city manager has uh wants to speak I I would defer to commissioner bot but I would like to make some comments as well commission bot um so miss Canon is here and um is a very talented um uh person advocating on behalf of the city and um I think it is amazing that she is willing to stay on and continue in her role I I also think um I think this sort of horse trading on the days is unseenly I think that uh we've all had plenty of time to share our thoughts with the city manager with with the city attorney um and make this an elegant and respectful process I think it is a rare opportunity to have somebody as our special our chief magistrate um who is not only an active and engaged resident as Miss Canon is also um and very knowledgeable as Miss Canon is also but also was not only a commissioner but our City attorney that doesn't happen every day and I think that we need to seize the opportunity to keep Miss Canon on the on the um as one of our magistrates our special magistrates and bring in this person who has um put himself forward not I I would like to correct the record not at the last minute he's been talking to to I don't know about all of us but certainly to me about it four months as soon as um it became known that there might be a position available so I would respectfully having heard all of what my colleagues have have said and respecting your Collective views I would respectfully ask that we continue forward with the path that was recommended by the administration um the administration listens to what we say and then U makes recommendations based on on their best um best uh knowledge of the situation and I think um I think we should approve it well we have a motion to defer I I I'll second the motion and that takes president you want to take a vote oh yes recel you wanted to speak sorry I did just want to add a few comments uh I wasn't sure that this discussion was going to be as robust uh based on our briefings however I did have an opportunity to discuss with several members of Staff uh before making this recommendation I do uh want to highlight that uh Jose Smith and Annette are very qualified individuals and I think uh Jose Smith will would be um open to maintaining the existing team uh that works in our our special magistrate process and I think U Miss Canon was also open to you know being a a continued member of the team and so I just want to highlight that I don't know that the addition of Jose Smith would disrupt the composition of the team that is currently working with us uh aside from the fact that uh we had a resignation I also want to highlight because there was a motion earlier I think pursuant to section 3036 of the city code the city commission would have to take a vote based on the recommendation of the city manager with the concurrence of the City attorney so I just want clarification I'm not sure that the city commission could make a recommendation from the floor as to the Chief Special magistrate I just want to make sure we're consistent with the code provision well we have now is a motion to defer the understanding is that the motion to appoint Mr Smith would be voted on at the next meeting to enable Mr Smith perhaps to reach out to other Commissioners um and for Miss Canon to also reach out to Commissioners who may not have spoken with her yet yeah I guess a question because this will be pertinent next month as well the question from from Raquel is if this item remains can we then could the body then vote for a net Canon based on the way it's written the body would first need to vote on the on the recommendation of the manager and then if that motion fails the body could propose a different candidate commissioner Fernandez but under the provisions of the code that the city manager just just just mentioned section 30-36 it has to be the recommendation of the city manager and the City attorney so presumably this item comes back next month um and let's just say the city commission presumably votes against the recommended in individual on the on the agenda um would the person the candidate at that time that the commission has to vote on be a different person that comes with the recommendation of both the City attorney and the city manager or can the commission put a name on the table for consideration that might not Happ this was a matter of first impression I will have a response when we come back in a month Perhaps Perhaps between this meeting and next meeting you could Circle back to us individually with your opinion on the matter yes of course or or perhap uh if I in through the mayor or perhaps we could ask the administration to prepare an option A and in option b I think that would take the legality out of it correct I mean there seems it's going to be a apparently a Clos vote so it might as well go with no I'm there's nothing sorry we have two very qualified candidates this is a good discussion I'm just saying we're we're clearly exerting the will of the body that we want two options and we'll vote on them we go through the timeit through the mayor uh so we are listening intently to the discussion here today and as I mentioned before I think both candidates uh bring lots of qualifications and experience to the table I mentioned earlier uh as to why the recommendation was for Jose Smith and so if the commission um would like to have two options I think that's feasible because we do need to fill this position I think by July correct uh Mr clerk so it is not our intent to hold up the process in the selection of a chief special magistrate however the administration's recommendation will still stand uh however uh a backup is always a good idea so thank you so we have a motion to defer in a second can we call the vote all in favor of deferring this item to the July 24th 2024 meeting please say I I andette thank you for being here and uh Jose I'm sure you're listening please feel better quickly we'll see you next month there are four fire related items why don't we call those yes sir I'll be calling items R R9 Au r7f r7g and r7h so r7f is temporary suspend expenditures fire station one project at Southshore Community Center r5g is develop plan reopening lunchroom at Southshore Community Center r7h is repaint South Shore Community Center Le Leonard hars Switz color pot pallet and r9u is discuss take action alternate sites for new fire station project start with r9u good afternoon David Gomez intern director uh with Capital Improvements for the city there was an error in your packet some of the exhibits did not print properly for r9u so I have a hard copy that I'll share with the commit with the commission as I'm sure you will all recall this item uh has been looked at in one form or another on different commission agendas uh the latest one this item being the the commission asked staff to look at variable or various uh potential alternate sites for the fire station one project we did go through that exercise and narrowed it down to three feasible sites uh the third one which which has not officially been discarded but it is the what we refer to as the whole food site um is a little more problematic than others and therefore um we're not recommending it is viable at this time that leaves the original site where it is currently designed known as the Southshore Community Center site as well as the flamingo site which is within the West End of Flamingo Park along Alton Road between 11th and 12th streets uh in your exhibits you'll see the comparison Matrix that that we provided that shows potential additional costs as well as uh times and what delays to the project and other uh considerations yes oh um thank you uh for starting this conversation so um this has been a a contentious topic of conversation for a number of years we clearly need a new upto-date fire station the one that is contemplating being uh uh replaced needs to be replaced so that's not the issue the issue is not whether or not we find a new fire station for various reasons um which we won't go into here the previous administrations ruled out a number of options that could have been pursued but weren't my goal in this effort was to go through the process with an incredibly diligent team of Staff who gave an enormous amount of effort and enthusiasm and uh fair play to the process um to look at anything that we could consider even if it meant buying something um and my colleagues on the commission a resident um all suggested sites for us to look at lots of residents actually suggested sites for us to look at so we had seven additional sites in addition to the Southshore Community Center that we looked at to determine if there was an option for a point of reference the Southshore Community Center serves and until very recently um when it became clear that it was on the on the uh queue to be demolished um served a number of important functions in the community for seniors for kids who had uh daycare um for job services it is a solid building it is a building that is historic in terms of it what its import is in in the development of Miami Beach um PJ if you could pull up that um that item that I sent you a moment ago in 2021 the Florida trust announced that the Southshore Community Center was on its 11 sites to save um somehow that detail did not make it into the final consideration um when it when this was determined but this is not done lightly um for those who are interested I can I can share more about why this is a site that needs to be saved but more more than all of that we have found um through a lot of due diligence and going through these additional um six sites that there is a a spot that is perfect if it is taking a small 3% of of park space away from its current use but it is park space that is currently underutilized it's not smack in the middle of the park there's no playground on it there's no passive park there um both the former Chief Fernandez and the current brand new shiny Chief abello um and the fire Union are supportive of this location in Flamingo Park we have an item on the countywide um ballot for November for August excuse me um to ensure that we get approval to put the site on um on uh the park site because that needs to be approved by voters countywide um there is a lot of uh conversation about how much more money this is going to cost um it will be incremental monies over the course of the next several years and in fact to start this process of of um putting this fire station in Flamingo Park will not cost additional money in the next year or two the incremental funds will come down the road um our our CFO can speak Jason I don't know if you're here oh there can speak to that to help if there are questions about how that that money would um be tit traded out over the next number of years um there is an increased cost but I ask if you all my colleagues I ask of you what is the greater cost to find money over the next 2 three four years that will be amortized over the benefit for the city the entire city and specifically the south of Fifth and South Beach neighborhoods um over the next 50 years to get a category 5 rated fire station without destroying one of the most important buildings in our city at a time when our state is preempting our ability to protect our important historic buildings what is that worth to you once it's gone it's gone we can do both things we can get the fire department the facility they need we can get residents the response times they require and demand and rightly so and we can protect our Legacy and that is what I'm asking you to do commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um I agree with everything everything she said um now I have several items regarding the Southshore Community Center which obviously we're not going to know until the August ballot but I have an Ask of the commission um I think that we're going to have to because I know that four of us definitely a majority are approve this site so what I would ask is that we uh close to election day in August we um do some social media so that people understand what that is because it's going to a countywide ballot and I think the cheapest way to get our message out would be to do uh some Instagram Facebook campaign in favor of the location on Alton and I I I don't know how you feel about this but I do think it's important uh you know just you know vote Yes to saving the Southshore Community Center a vote for the fire station in the park is a vote for saving um moris Lapidus and historic preservation and I think you'll see that the electorate will rally behind that I don't think it will be controversial what oh hold on through through the chair and just and through sorry I just a quick question I don't think we're legally allowed to Advocate um Mr City attorney the city I thought there was that as a city as Commissioners oh as a Commissioners okay misunderstood no the city can take a position and we could allocate some funding to no law they when did they do that why don't we turn to our City attorney Rick really oh open this up agreed the city cannot use public resources to advocate for or against any particular item on the ballot yeah commissioner Rose Gonzalez commissioner magazine commissioner Fernandez I think I'm up okay I'm on all right so then all all my items um concerning the Southshore Community Center I would like to defer them till after the vote in um August if it passes then please I want to paint it I want to open the senior lunchroom I want to get it every all of this stuff approved um in the interim uh you know it's I I don't think it will be very controversial um I I haven't seen the ballot question that's going on have have you have you have you read it yeah do we have that it went because it went to the county right do you have it by LTC I just want to read for everybody I want to know how it reads to see what level of commitment even I'm going to have to make like I feel like I'm going to have to go down to the community newspaper send a countywide email let people know what's going on and run like a little Campaign which I did not want to do but I'm willing and I'm hoping I'm not going to be fighting the firefighters on it because it's one teacher what they support it okay all right so as long as they're supportive I just don't want to have some weird you know campaign come out so I think that it's also going to be important that we get the word out to people too just so that they know so I was going to defer all of my Southshore Community items until after the August election which would mean the September meeting if that's okay with all of you guys I'll differenter my items wrap them all up I mean I commissioner Fernandez all right um and this is tremendous work that commissioner bod has has has done um analyzing a number of different uh sites uh together with a working group that was convened internally um I've been I've been individually working on the Flamingo Park site uh that I referred to the working group that commissioner bot has been has been leading um I've been working with the county uh and with our city attorney's office and the county attorney's office on the ballot language that's going to go to the countywide electorate in August um and commissioner Eileen Higgins has been incredibly helpful and supportive in our efforts and getting that ballet language uh in in August before our voters um I think out of respect to the electorate um you know I've I I support what uh commissioner Rosen Gonzalez is saying deferring these items till after the voters uh speak I would say you know perhaps we should defer decide what's what what's the action this before us today commissioner I what I would like to do is make a motion to uh pending the approval of the electorate move forward with the construction of the new fire station on the Alton Road Site I'll second okay I'll second that P pending the approval of the El correct the countywide yeah second that uh through the vice mayor if I could I also just think it would be prudent if we prepare for a number of different situations so ahead of time uh maybe we at the next meeting um just prepare for if this doesn't pass countywide referendum then what direction do we take or if it does pass countywide referendum but uh Miami Beach comes back and doesn't support it what direction are we going to take are we going to follow the will of the voters are we going to move forward so I think it would be prudent to do that ahead of time than reactionary um not saying that that will happen but just to prepare for it have disc yeah I I think it would be prudent if we have discussions ahead of time preparing for scenarios what if the countywide referendum doesn't pass what direction would we take or if the countywide referendum does pass but Miami Beach actually comes back as a geographic district and says no what are we going to do I I think it would be better to make those decisions ahead of time than kind of reverse engineering and reacting but that that's just my thought not a hill I'm going to die on city manager thank you so I think one of the the goals of the sponsor and correct me if I'm wrong is to have this conversation so that we can prepare from a budgetary perspective and so while yes I think we uh would wait to see the outcome uh I think we probably have to start thinking about options from a budget perspective as we be heavy into the budget process by August and we'll be bringing budget for first reading in September so I just want to make sure that you're aware that if this does go forward we're going to be thinking about options from a budgetary perspective through commissioner bot thank you um my commitment when I started this project um in January was if the Southshore uh if the if the new alternative site does not get approved um then we are not going to go back to square one and start this project process from scratch nobody wants that I did not commit to that so it's either one or the other it's a binary choice to to the second point that the the city manager just raised um Jason if you don't mind um explain to me what you and I talked about that it's not going to affect our 2025 budget because $30 million are already allocated towards uh the building of the fire station in in regardless of which site is chosen so the Monies to start the project you know on September 1st we can go forward and and start this if that would be our will um and it's it's the funding for 2026 27 28 depending on when those would need to flow through uh thank you commissioner uh yes so from a budgetary perspective and I won't speak to process and procedure about scopes of services as we amended and coming back to commission vote just speaking about the about the numbers approximately $30 million is has already been appropriated towards uh this project uh if there was a determination uh to uh you know cancel the existing contract and to move the location to Flamingo Park And discussing with the implementing Department uh we would have sufficient funding to begin you know a new permitting and design site layout phase that would incorporate the new location plus all of the uh renovation work that would have to happen at the Flamingo Park Stadium so the design phase which might take 12 to 24 months and that will have to be determined uh after negotiations uh with the existing uh design firm but there would be existing dollars there uh in talking to the implementing Department you know they have a back of the cocktail nap an estimate very rough of $5 to20 million impact uh for the actual monies for the fire station then obviously for the new uh Stadium the work would have to be done uh also I was discussing with the commissioner was also just you know for everyone's radar and transparency if uh then we then save the South Shore Community Center and talk of the facilities I believe that they're able to probably not a lot of money to get it reopened and restarted but I believe there was a fac facility condition report done that it in the medium term and I don't know if it was 3 to 5 years there would probably need to be around an $8 million Capital project to renovate that but that's not necessarily needed right now but I'm understanding is down the line that that would would uh would be would be needed at some point but not necessarily right away um so you would be able to we would have to a couple of years just on the 15 to20 million that we spoke about uh would have to fund that now those would be nor primarily payo dollars and as we had spoke about the primary source of that more likely would be the rollover uh that we do every November you know that'll be the Surplus dollars that are not expended through our general fund last year there was I think around 15 or16 millionar and by commission resolution the commission's policy those dollars would be rolled into the capital reserve but often we request a wave of that to split it like we did this last year where Half 8 million went into capital reserve and 8 million went into the payo so we would have to come up with a funding scenario over the next couple of years to ensure that when the final design is done and we're ready to put that out for construction that we have that 15 to 20 million now we at some point let's say 12 or 14 months from now will probably have a better decent cost estimate which will get updated as you go through 30 60 90% uh design in then actual bid and you know I will work very close hand inand uh with the implementing Department to ensure we do everything in our power to make Rec recommendations to the commission over the next couple of years to set aside as many dollars as we can so that we hit that mark when those dollars needed because I would assume that this would be the top top Capital project priority of the commission okay oh um I walked the Southshore Community Center with our facilities management team a few months ago and they said that it was fine and we asked we looked at Water intrusion there was no water intrusion um is it like the most beautiful of facilities inside No but then I went to the bathroom today on the fourth floor of City Hall and it's just gross even the soap container is broken and they have to have a towel underneath it to collect um old soap and it has this like orange form Mica counter so yeah I mean that's also a need of a renovation but it's not we're not I mean but we're not throwing it out and the $8 million I don't know where that number came from but that but um but when I walked in with them they said that the facility is in fine shape it's not need anything right now at the moment and frankly um $8 million uh seems very excessive uh for for anything relating to that you know what Liz we don't even know what's going to happen right now so I don't even want to hear because it's just going to make me angry so um unless you guys want to hear what's going to happen because I we're not even there yet yeah okay commissioner bot um it you know as we're going through the budg process oh as we're going through the the budget process we're looking at our facilities overall and we're spending $800,000 for some garage doors and we're spending a couple million dollars on our Old City Hall well quite a few millions of dollars on our Old City Hall um you know buildings require wear and tear so the fact that a historic building that is in actually pretty good shape it's not glamorous but it's it's solid um we'll need some updates and some some work done in the next medium term you know 5 to 10 years okay that's a thing and that's a that's not that should not be factored into the decision of whether or not we choose to protect it and and do the right thing for the city and for our Legacy as a community because every building needs updates over the long term and so I don't know what the 8 million would be for we haven't even talked about it because it's not imminent it's not a big deal and when it becomes apparent what the scope of work is to update a building like all the other buildings that we're updating that need work then we will find a way to fund it as we do with all of our other ones but that I do not want that to be lumped into the cost of making the right decision for the city for the community um because it is unfair that is not it's it's conflating issues and you know we're not update we're not um throwing the cost of updating the police station onto the Fire Department fire department's need for a new fire station right so why would we update the the or throw the cost of updating a historic building into the cost of building the fire station and and what I would say when we throw out these numbers like the 8 million it should never reach that kind of number because it should be constantly painted and the roof should be replaced whenever the roof needs to be replaced so that these are palpable numbers instead instead of throwing out 8 million for the Southshore Community Center and then yesterday we were all sitting there by the way the site looks good at the Barkley with that 16 million another property that you know we're going to lose because of these high estimates so um I I I agree that they should not one thing should they should be mutually exclusive um but those kind of numbers are are very frightening and what's happened in the past with those types of numbers when you throw out 8 million 10 million that everybody says oh we can't afford it we got to get rid of it and this is an asset and I think you're seeing up here that the will of this body hopefully this referendum will pass and um and you know we can begin to in the next budget cycle do things little by little once we save the Southshore Community Center which I'm feeling very confident that we will um you know don't let it get to a massive number like 8 million it it should never be like that in my opinion you know that's because it's I'd like to call the vote Mion Fernandez thank you we have this item going to the voters I think we shouldn't let the voters decide on this site before we say that this is the site I mean what if the voters say what if the voters say we want to preserve the green space in the park I think we need to you know we've already we've already approved for this question to go on the ballot we've already indicated an inclination towards that um it's now from like how I see it it's not in our hands anymore it's now on the voter's hands if the voters selected then you know we ratify that here at at at the day is but if they don't select that then we have to make a decision do we want to go with an alternate side or do we want to continue at the Southshore Community Center um I I just I just feel that right now like it it really is Falls squarely on the hands of the of the electorate we've already voted numerous times you know we already you know studied the possibility of putting it on the ballot we then you know Ed to put it on the ballot we then had a ballot question that we approved to put on the ballot um and so now it's on the ballot and now the B the ballot goes to the hands of the voters um and I think that that's after the voters speak I think it's the time to then take the action that you're suggesting commissioner bot so what I'm proposing is as I stated before uh pending the approval of the voters that we can start moving forward with the the Alton Road Site because I don't want this to get picked apart after the fact um I obviously if the voters say no then that's the end of the conversation and as I said before just a few minutes ago I don't think there is any agreement among most of us and certainly not the residents in the community to start this process from scratch right so I I'm not I'm not willing to say you know what it it won't be on Alton Road but we're not doing Southshore either let's start from from zero so I want to just say pending the will of the voters I have exp exp I'm sorry but I need to explain why I have a concern with that when we met when I met with the Flamingo Park neighborhood association and I brought them the the the suggestion of this of this U of using this underutilized green space uh and then when I brought them the the ballot language the draft uh ballot language for this space I think they felt inclined that and I don't want to speak on their behalf this is my perception of my takeaway from the discussion from the flamingle Park neighborhood they want to make sure that the will of the Miami Beach precincts is respected so if we say so if we say Okay following the outcome of the election well the outcome of the countywide election might say go forward with it but that might not reflect the outcome of the Miami Beach precincts and so that's why I I think it's it's important to see what does the result of the election say we need to see not only what is what the countywide voters saying but we need to see what our our residents are saying on this land because they're the owners of of of the land uh and that's why if we do it the way that you're saying well the outcome of the ballot might be in favor of of of of of approving this but it may not reflect Miami Beach precincts the countywide precincts might say you know very I'm I'm very okay sorry through the chair yes I'm very okay saying pending the election specifically the Miami Beach precincts because if the entirety of Miami Beach says no Then so then it's not going to fail I don't know I've been trying to save this building for so long and I just feel like I understand that you want to find a solution um I would say that they rebuild on site where it is if not if rebuild it where it is where where it currently is I don't believe that's possible why is that not possible without without getting into um a whole rabbit hole on this that is also a Mars Lapidus building that is also a protected building um this the site itself from my understanding is that the site itself is too small for the facility that needs to be built and it is undoing years of work one of the benefits of this site the Alton Road site is that it is basically taking the project as it is and retrofitting it onto a different piece of land but you're not reimagining the entire project right I mean had this been done differently 15 years ago we might have had two smaller stations to service the service area which would have obviated the need to destroy any historic buildings but that ship is sailed in my view because I don't think the community has the will to go and spend another five or seven or nine years trying to find an opportunity um and I don't believe we would continue continue to enjoy the support of the fire department in the fire Union and I think the residents who are being served um by the fire station would be really frustrated now mind you the residents are still being served by an existing fire station so they're not being put at risk but I we have an excellent location an alternative location and look if if the county and the city voters say no don't do it then okay I'll listen to that but but otherwise um you know if if the vote passes let's move it to the Alton Road location I me I think it's going pass we can't I I don't want to waste any more time speculating I mean I think now this is a political Campaign which is okay um but you know if it passes countywide and it passes in all of Miami beach but you have one Precinct that's like not a Nim then I mean we can't just sacrifice the community center I I can't speculate how my colleagues would vote um I don't believe one Precinct should sway any conversation about anything it didn't in the 2 am uh roll back straw poles right because we're Seven Mile Island we're a small community our decisions whether or not you live next door to something or in the middle of the entertainment District or where the new museum is going it doesn't it it may not affect you every single day but it's still your community we're not LA or or you know or Beijing which are these enormous dense sprawling cities we're a small community and we're I mean you've heard me say this a million times God forbid you walk into the supermarket to pick up milk without having brushed your hair that morning you'll run into 12 people you know so I I don't believe that that any you know we don't we don't make decisions based on how one Precinct votes on anything and I don't think this is the time to start now with all due respect to my friends and Neighbors in Flamingo Park I know this is a divisive issue and I know that it is divided pretty evenly so for every person who's adamant about saving the Green Space which I understand and I respect and I hear there's another person who's equally adamant about saving the structure just I want to wrap it up too okay agree agree agree let's wait the outcome see what the results are move forward then and not make any decision right now I think we should defer all of these items till we get the election results in September and I know that the people are going to vote in favor of saving the community center once they understand what's at stake and people educate them or me can I Mr me I I'm just gonna I don't know what's the current motion on the floor right now I lost I lost track of that um I'll tell you what's what's difficult for me on this issue right now the the the issue right now for me is actually quite simple what I have a challenge with what's going on right now I think this item's been on the agenda as a discussion item for like three months I I had no idea that this is going to be called like right now you know like I mean and I it's not anyone's fault I mean this is you know r9u you know it so like you here we are having discussion now it's been on the agenda for three months you know how are you supposed to know that you know you know now is when this is happening how is Flamingo Park supposed to know that now is when this is going to happen at you know 252 uh of this meeting after it's been on the agenda for three months I'm going to support you because you've been working hard on this um we we've both been working hard on this um we've all been working hard on this because Mr Rosen Gonzalez has been fighting to save the Southshore Community Center for years upon years um and staff has been meeting with stakeholders our fire department needs a new facility uh we have our County Commissioner that's been pushing forward legislation of the county for us um I've been working with our city attorneys on drafting that language what's the action that you're seeking today is just just so that we're clear what I what I would suggest is agreeing that pending the positive affirmation by the voters we move the site to Alton Road which voters the electorate the election results we have to respect we have to respect the election results keeps keeps I think I think we need to have that discussion once it comes back Mr attorney who owns the land that is going on the referendum is it the taxpayers of Miami day County or is it the taxpayers of the city of Miami Beach City of Miami Beach and right now if this goes to the voters the voters that are voting on this are the countywide voters is that correct the county Charter requires that the county voters approve this transaction so you could have this the county approved but the city not approved thank thank you and so in essence the county voters who do not own the land could be speaking for the city voters who do own the land and what I'm simply saying is that if you wait until after the election to have this discussion we can respect the will the voice of the people who own the land which is Miami Beach taxpayers not the countywide taxpayers not the electorate in Kendall not the electorate in Miami Shores or in Golden Beach or Miami Gardens or CER Bay or Florida city or Homestead but the voters who are paying taxes in the city of Miami Beach we can if if if countywide voters say yes we can then go in in September and then take a more narrow look okay what did Miami Beach voters say did Miami Beach voters say yes well then move forward but if Miami Beach voters said no those Miami Beach voters I think we should be uh listening to them because they're the taxpayers who own that land where that Park sits um I'm fine with that because it is our land so I would I would suggest pending the affirmative um approval by the voters specifically in Miami beach but not Precinct by Precinct the voters of the entire city city yes Collective collectively colle itively of of all the precincts in in in the city that I can support because that is consistent with the discussions that at least that I had with the Flamingo Park neighborhood association what I think they were expecting of us and I think it's what is most fair to the taxpayers of of of Miami Beach it wouldn't be right for someone that lives you know 30 miles away from here to be saying what's happening with our Green Space can I clarify the motion the voters of the county will have to approve it regardless the voters in the city you just said all precincts so is it a majority of all the precincts or is it a majority of Voters in each Precinct no in theate in the aggregate thank you just wanted to clarify Electoral College here and and you know we'll have a faux slate of elector and we'll have popular yeah in the agregate the popular vote no Electoral College no fax SL of Voters in in its entirety yes simple majority okay let's wrap it up I think it looks like we're deferring so no we're not you miss well three of the items so commissioner Fernandez if you would like to make that I'll second your motion okay then I make the motion we've got a second let's rock and roll can you repeat the motion please got to make sure we got this right yes Electoral College yeah I only stepped away for 30 seconds actually we're goingon to have a king now so um the motion is to pending the affirmative approval by Miami Beach voters within the U and obviously the countywide voters um but specifically the Miami Beach voters uh we will move forward and accept the Alton Road site as the site for the new fire station so that we can begin work immediately yes that's my motion that's what I said I just want to call Chief uh Fernandez just to get your quick thoughts from the fire department standpoint uh thank you Mr Mayor uh Commissioners uh the fire department fully supports the alternate site we we worked uh with commissioner bot with commissioner Fernandez and we had multiple meetings uh and they they either meet or exceed the the alternate site mean to exceeds the uh the expectations that we have for response times so um we support the new site um and and we just look forward for uh um the county saying that it would be okay that our city residents say it's okay and and go ahead to building of the new Fire Station great thank you call the vote all in favor of this item r9u I who cares it's unanimous R9 you yes it's called c7v C c7v is accept approv funds designate Miami Beach as a Blue Zone it was separated by commissioner bot as a Time C so um I am doing the unusual thing of pulling my own item and I'll tell you why um mayor I don't know how you're going to vote on this but in the two committees that it went to this was unanimously approved um the reason I'm pulling it is because we had identified it as a budget priority for 2025 but in order to start the process of designating Miami Beach as a Blue Zone City the first step is to um finalize the contract that would uh allow us to move forward with the funding for a six-month study which puts the the wheels in motion for how this would be implemented in the city of Miami Beach from there on out um that's basically our only real expenditure unless we choose to do you know something above and beyond but from there on out any expenditures become um part of our regular programming we just do the programming slightly differently or we enter into um we get Partnerships with private Enterprise who is looking to support this for their own benefit as well as the benefit of the of the residents in that people don't get sick as often people make more money at the restaurants because they're serving food people want to eat um it it makes a tremendous statement about the type of Tourism we're we're migrating towards um and the kind of branding we're migrating towards so this is really the only big expenditure that is foreseen uh for this project and I would like to request my colleagues to not only support doing this but also to fund it now so that we don't have to wait until the end of the year when the budget is approved to start negotiating the contract which would basically delay this whole thing by a full year who's this contract with with the Blue Zone cities um organization Dan Dan Butner is the man who um created this and um actually we've got Sid stz on the line um on Zoom if you have questions with him it's it's a it's a full business that has done this in cities uh in Hawaii in California in other cities around the country including other cities in in Florida it's incredibly successful I do have two questions one where what does the 220,000 that we'd be expending go to and what does if you can name some municipalities you just mentioned a few that have been successful and what is what is the definition definition of success what could we see here as Miami Beach that would be considered um gentl on sure um PJ could you let or Ralph could you let Sid stz on so while we're getting um Sid on the line um it generates healthier outcomes for residents more sense of community uh better longevity um better uh crime statistics in and that they're lower uh better outcomes in school because people are connected to community um it generates millions and millions of dollars in positive publicity um it attracts investment and infrastructure and new development uh in terms of not not new buildings but people coming to embrace this kind of quality of life and it fits really beautifully into the mission that we all have as as as a unified Commission in making this a stronger resident friendly Community um where people are living healthier and better and and more connectedly Sid go ahead please yeah I'm here thank you commissioner blot um blue zon's purpose is to empower everyone everywhere to live better longer the six-month assessment would review all of the policies peoples and places um to evaluate uh the well-being of of the entire population of Miami Beach the two big cities and counties in in Florida that have worked with us with great results are Naples has been a partner of ours for 17 years and so just across the um away and we've been working with Duvall County so the largest Geographic landmass city in America with Jacksonville uh and they are two years into their process and we would do a full assessment and develop a blueprint to create um Miami Beach as a as a a certified Blue Zone a city did you hear Sid's answers sorry did you hear Sid's answers yes okay I have a question thank youz so is there a recurring cost uh with this because I see that um it's it's it's a cost recurring is there after we got a blue City designation we don't have to continue paying for anything exp explain this to me depending depending on how the how the blueprint comes at uh uh commissioner Fernandez we would we would present a road map and as commissioner bot mentioned we would we would seek um private funding for that from entities that that would be aligned with imp improving the well-being for the population of Miami Beach we would not expect the city of Miami Beach to to fund that so commissioner Fernandez for instance about to tell Mount siai um you know some of the big hotels uh big employers people who do business here already uh Hotel groups restaurant groups Etc so can I make a motion of course or you more questions I'm thinking go ahead I would like to make a motion um to get the support of my colleagues to not only approve adopting um moving forward with the Blue Zone City program but also funding it out of this budget year so that we can get this process rolling 220 finance and finance Jason I don't know if you're still here but Jason said that it was okay I checked with Dad and he said it was okay yeah oh I'll move the item second actually I have a motion from commissioner bot so I'm going to make the second uh commissioner Dominguez V Dominguez so all in favor of item c7v I I anyone opposed call um thank you colleagues he's got we got Jason here and Tama let's do the r seven a and R7 yes sir R7 uh r7a is a public hearing adopt Fifth Amendment to fiscal year 2024 operating budget r7b is a public hearing adopt seventh amendment to fiscal year 2024 capital budget uh good afternoon Tama Stewart budget director and this is the Fifth Amendment to the operating budget it contains two items the first is the pet waste cleanup pilot program that was approved by the commission at the April 3rd commission meeting uh it recommends the appropriation of $75,000 for the installation of 46 new pet waste dispensers and 14 additional Victor Stanley trash receptacles in addition to what we have already to be implemented Citywide funded would be appropriated from the sanitation fund reserves the second item is a franchise waste hauler analysis this item was approved by the commission on May May 15th and the recommendation is to appropriate 100,000 in order for the city to engage a consultant to assist with the RFP program for the new space holder contract this would be appropriated using sanitation funds that's it for operating it is a public hearing seeing no one in the audience and seeing no one in Zoom I have a motion by commissioner Suarez I'll second can I can I say something you know spending a 100,000 I'm sorry we have beaten this horse to a p now we're going to get spend 100,000 on the consultant can't we come to this is for the waste hauling right yes correct I mean why don't we do something Noble and come to a some sort of decision on our own without engaging the $100,000 for a consultant and take that $100,000 and give and split it across our schools I would so much rather spend our taxpayer dollars on that than another waist hauler consultant it really is not no pun intended but we're throwing it in the trash you like it we're literally a this buum okay oh I'm not on you're okay I'll uh make a a comment here so we had voted unanimously to have a single hauler and then um at the next meeting because of holler interference um things changed on the day so I think the best approach is to continue with the Consultants so that we can get the right answer on the holler because it was a radical change and I believe there's a motion and a second Mr city clerk can you call the role thank you your m is thank you um and and and and and I agree I mean I I think we need this consultant study and there was a resolution uh passed by the city commission uh 202 24-3 3070 Which authorized for that for for for that to uh take place um so we need to do that consultant study um I just have a question is there a debt within our sanitation uh uh Enterprise fund do we currently have a debt no no okay it it does uh just for the record it does have a deficit and that we spend more money than we take in um but not any outstanding uh debt obligation these are important Appropriations that we're allocating dollars to I think these Appropriations have received the support of the city commission and it's appropriate for us to move forward with these but you know at some point I need to know how we plan to address uh the existing deficit uh within the sanitation uh Enterprise uh fund uh you know because other initiatives will come forward and I don't know if you have a short answer for that answer before before you begin there are a few items on today's agenda that will assist us with that so there's an item uh to discuss rolloffs and how they're defined there's another another item about the single family recycling program and how we potentially pass through those funds or those costs to users uh also this item will allow us to get moving on the RFP process so that we can now have a contract in place that may be to the advantage of the city in a way that it hasn't been before so I just want to make sure that we're moving in the right direction with all of these items because they will help our sanitation fund yeah and and just to dep tell the city uh manager spoke to is yes there are two uh referrals to fir one on Friday's uh firk and one on the July FK uh sponsored by commissioner bot which I believe it was response to the uh Spotlight section that we did during our budget retreat in May where we spoke to the structural deficit uh that is growing uh in our sanitation fund uh if these move forward and we very much hope so that they do we'll help to plug part of that hole but will not go all the way there are several million dollars worth of budget enhancements that uh this commission has looked at either at the committee level or going commission for for endorsement uh it will be very difficult for the administration to that we absolutely think spending dollars uh on sanitation and cleaning our city it was shown as a top priority of our residents when it came back in the Resident survey uh without funding that Gap is going to be a little bit difficult uh but that'll be something we are definitely going to be heading on in the July 12th uh firk budget briefing on operations what would be helpful uh through through the chair um because what what happens now is that we approve uh priorities um you know the pad waste cleanup that's important because that contributes to the quality of our our Bay water and and and in our general environment the was Soler analysis that's important as well um but I think we need to be aware if we are going to be incurring funds and we're making commitments through resolutions uh to funds that have a deficit and those commitments are going to further deepen a deficit we need to be aware of those deficits at the time that we're approving those resolutions and we can't find out about it you know later when we have these budget amendments and somehow if if the administration could help us through the process so that when these items come forward and we have some of these funds that we're going to be tapping into that already have a deficit and we're going to be deepening those those deficits I think we all uh can make better policy decisions uh when we are aware of those from the in going into it rather than afterwards when it comes time to adopt an amendment thank you commissioner I think that's is an excellent point and uh the budget office will work closely to ensure and I believe it's just the sanitation fund that really has the structural ongoing deficit uh that's of concern major fund yes yeah as a ma as a major fund so we will make sure that that's highlighted I know I speak to it to it often but we'll make sure that in all our documentation is along that point and I'm listening you're speaking to it and I'm listening I appreciate it I appreciate thank you thank you Mr Mayor want us it we have a motion a second let's take the vote same yes sir so on r7a the budget amendment it is a public hearing no one in in the audience no one in Zoom all in favor I item is approved 70 r7a okay so the next item is the Seventh Amendment to the capital budget we are requesting if we could hear two other items which are tied to this budget amendment and it's for the intelligent transportation system project if if if possible two of the what are the elements of this capital budget is tied to items uh 7 U r7k r7l related to the its so um there was a request uh from the implementing Department that when we get through this budget amendment if they could be heard because it's kind of tied to the uh part of it but I think well it to me could maybe start on the uh geobond sure so this actually has seven items five of which belong to the geob bond but the first five are basically the first set of trch to Appropriations for the geob bond that was approved by the voters in 2018 so this would appropriate funding for the street tree master plan project in amount of 2.23 million the sidewalk improvements project in amount of 3.5 million milon the street pavement project in the amount of 8.6 the seaw walls and shorelines project in the amount of 5 million and the traffic Comm Comming in the amount of 500,000 these will be funded from funds that were setting aside um today's C7 Q There was a companion item to basically approve and intent to issue Bonds in the future uh the sixth project is the intelligent transportation system project and the recommendation is to appropriate 5.4 million to this project this project actually has money funded for phase one and two which is in progress right now under construction and this would be funding phases 3 to six which are the last phases of the project uh funding for this would come from the concurrency management and parking funds and then the last project is the water and wastewater Main and Rehab project and this is located on 41st Street between Pine Tree Drive and Indian Creek Road Indian Creek Drive uh recommendation is to appropriate $36,000 in order to cover the cost of police off-duty services to help with the proper management of the project and traffic this would be funded using uh water and sewer funds uh I'll take any questions if you have and then there's a companion two companion I through the chair was r7k one of them the r7k and r7l both it related okay um and it was originally funded at 12 million the IT project right now has 18.7 76 million okay and um is it complete is the first phase complete so phases one to two are under construction no and will be completed in 12 months and then they're asking for additional funding for phases 3 to six okay um this is for like parking garage count right where you see the number of spaces are available it includes yes yeah when you go outside City Hall and City Hall garage it's not working is there any reason why it's not working that's correct so the um the the digital message boards that provide that real-time parking information have been installed in uh all the garages and are being installed in the major the the larger uh parking lots but they're not fully online yet they're being installed and then once you know once it's checked then it'll go live it hasn't gone live yet okay and and so so what What's the total budget for this program Jose where we're spending I think close to 20 million yeah it's 24 if this is approved for all six phases and and most of it is is digital counters of of the parking spaces can you be able just explain a little bit there are various components including cameras throughout the city digital message permanent digital message signs throughout the city sensors at strategic locations throughout the city to gauge travel time uh along our major thars the traffic Management Center which has been completed and is operational was an integral part of this program as well that's part of the 20 million that yes the the room that we have in the county at the do okay in district 6 can I go commissioner Rosen Gonzalez to be fair it sounds like a lot of money but Jose has been working on this since like 2017 2016 this has been a long time how many years it's been a few years I don't think it's been like a decade so you know we have to fund it it's Citywide it's going to I mean I really do think it's going to be transformative um and you know I'm happy to to fund that um I do have a question about the tree the 2 million extra in trees is this for the existing tree planting program because I don't want to keep planting trees in parks and swes where we already have them what is this two is this $2 million for the parking lot trees or is this like two where is this this is this is for the voter uh the voter um Geo bond amount so remember we voted as voters for certain dollars we set towards our program this wouldn't be the parking lot once ex I I have a problem with spending more money on this because what we've been doing so far with that money is uh planting them in parks and swes where we already have canopy um any money that we wanted to do something transformative with tree planting I would rather keep this money at $2 million and have like a serious plan that I think we directed the commission did we not um because I would like to see us cutting through concrete and and doing something transformative to give $2 million to keep doing it in the soiles and and Parks doesn't make sense hi Amy hi good afternoon everyone Amy knows Brazilian officer um so there are various plans for the future uh remaining fun funding for the trees the next big project is the beachwalk and you'll be seeing a lot of communications coming out to that the beachwalk is very hot um there is a lot of extreme heat issues and um there's a need to put trees that's been presented to the geobond and that will be happening this summer so that procurement is already underway and um so so that is like a a huge portion of the final fing so that's what this is for okay then that's fine additional projects too um and we're happy to share them uh with you there's additional planting locations um that that are really in need um if there's a need for tree funding for example um for the parking lot you're referring to we can use go tree funding for that we will have enough money for the trees not necessarily the underground infrastructure because that's not how they were it was approved okay um but it can help with those trees so there's a total of 5 million that was approved from go funding for the trees or this is just okay so this is just all that exra is the remainder of the 5 million okay no I'm glad that you're planting trees on the beachwalk I was upset when I saw so many palm trees when we initially did it and no shade trees but you're going to put shade trees yes it's a really nice planting um palette and you'll see the information coming out where there's even like a a map where people can see the type of trees and where they're being planted we're trying to you know maximize the viewscape and not block anyone's view but also plant enough shade that will really cool and also be able to handle the salt water and be very tolerant going forward okay that's transformative I'm okay with that okay okay may if I could uh Amy uh thank you for all you do could you share that map with the commission before uh as soon as possible when you have it absolutely so much y um so one more question for Jose um so it's to my understanding those they've been up for a year when are they going to work the counters is it is it dependent on this funding or is it is it is it an administrative issue so the the uh currently phases one and two of the project are under construction what this item entails is adding subsequent phases to the project and a funding allocation but in terms of the devices that are installed um they are being tested that's why they're not completely you know online yet um can I get a date as to when we expect them many of them are already online and they being AED we haven't gone through the system operational test yet offc Roger if you could just come hi my name is Roger M with TransCore the uh parking system has been installed majority of them are actually operational and showing the valid Park and we've been auditing for two or three months now and they're providing uh within 1% accuracy um so until the until the full system's up and running and we're in operation maintenance mode we won't have a person out there to do what's required which is random audits yeah because it's it's been up for a year and hasn't it hasn't been on right I mean some of them have been City Hall in particular had a um Lane change from one direction to the other on the parking garage and we had to install a new sensor for bidirectional that was new to us when we first went after uh the project we installed City Hall it was One Direction uh exit and now it's bidirectional which uh made the counts off so we had to install a new sensor that was recent okay just spending millions of dollars on sensors seems like a lot of money we we we are going to have that City Hall up and running and it'll be under audit very soon and commission it's more than just sensors the cameras themselves there's does know how much cameras cost in the city yeah that are the cameras have built in Analytics these are smart cameras that are the premium cameras in the traffic industry I don't even want to ask how much the cameras cost these cameras at the intersection do provide vehicle counts classifications pedestrian counts um and and so they give the ability for for a traffic engineer to do real-time traffic uh timing changes which will help alleviate the traffic okay I'll move the public hearing take the vote it is a public hearing and we have someone someone so no one now on Zoom is there anyone in the audience seeing none all in favor of item r7b which has been moved by commissioner Suarez seconded by commissioner Fernandes all in favor 70 the item is approved unanimously r7b for clarification uh would that Encompass r7k and r7f we have to do those items next yes if you want if mayor may we do those two items that are related to the budget item yes so item r7k is amendment two TransCore agreement intelligent Transportation smart parking system and r7l Amendment four Kim Le horn PSA intelligent transportation system may we take a vote on one uh one vote on both items do we have a second take a vote so motion by commissioner Fernandez second by commissioner bot those two items all in favor both items passed those were r7k r R7 L they pass 70 it's call r7c r7c it is a public hearing accept recommendation to rename Miami Beach drive to Miami Beach prominade it is a 57th vote not the title self-explanatory make we have a motion I'll make a motion isn't work all in favor commissioner bod no one in Zoom no one in the audience all in favor I item passes uh 70 r7c does sound much better let's call c7z yes sir it is accept recommendation proceed with Phase 1 and two of First Street project it is a separated item by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez Hey Joe hello commissioner how you doing I'm going all right um this is my final attempt to somehow save First Street by rerouting the pipe granted I know that you had a meeting was it at land use I was not present what where at there was a special land use meeting and I and I didn't attend it and I know that you worked out some of the details but um how if let's say and here's my question to you let's say that you were unable to put that pipe down First Street what would you do if somebody came up to you and said you cannot use First Street but we need the resiliency project Joe solve the problem what would what would you say good g go to qu G and I will tell you what I've said before I'm not going to engineer engineer from the podium because that this are engineering decisions that take a lot of time effort and a lot of studies and this team has spent an exorbitant amount of time studying this and commissioner I have to tell you I would not stand here before all of you and tell you that the only only possible way to get this thing done is to put that pipe down that is the only logical way if not we would have to start essentially from scratch the pump station would have to be relocated it it is a domino effect that will delay this project for years and keep in mind that this project has grant funding associated with it $35 million that we could potentially jeopardize so I I I have to say and we've looked at this at nauseum and truthfully this is the only path forward and I think we've adjusted it and we've made the adjustments necessary in order to be able to accommodate the the the traffic servicing the the the restaurant so they can stay in operation while we construct Shifting the the pipe slightly to the north uh and to be able to have the Machinery be able to construct because it's not just the pipe it's the envelope that the equipment needs in order to be able to excavate turn and all that so again uh option one is the alley what does that mean option one the alley isn't there option one on here on no option one was an option that um had a median um that constructed a median but then what it did was it narrowed the green space on both sides and it also made reduced the width of the sidewalks and that typical section at the end of the day when it went through the process the the the public public and then the commission approved option two which is the one that's at 60% which is no medium but having the wide area for the and the important part of that is again because we're raising the road an average of a foot and a half and that's the crown of the road not at the edges the ability to have that green space gives us the ability to be able to harmonize so that we don't disturb the properties on either side so there's going to be we're ripping out the trees and the Center those shade trees and you're going to plant mature trees on the sides so um I I guess we need to take a step back one of the the things that we looked at and we agreed to do is to to root prune three or four months before construction starts all the oak trees that are out there be able to relocate them to a a temporary site maintain those oak trees and then bring them back to First Street once the project is done and then plant them on both sides of of green area uh that sounds very expensive though I mean like to root prune if what's the cost to babysit the trees for the for how long for six months it it it'll be more more than that it'll it it'll it'll probably be somewhere between you're talking about you have to root prune at four four four months before you start construction and construction would start construction will take 6 to 8 months on First Street proper so you're you're talking about uh close to to to year but it's important to note that why don't we just buy mature oak trees and just put those trees someplace else right now well I I I think there there's an attachment by the community um to those oak trees and I think it's important to note that we also said that those trees that do not survive we would replace those with mature oak trees with a 10-in caliper I mean I think we should instead of oh that to me seems a little absurd I mean if look if this is moving forward and I can see that it's moving forward I would say take the trees out and put them someplace else and then we just purchase mature oak trees which would be much less costly than babysitting root pruning these trees for an entire year I don't even know what that would cost per tree is that like 100 200,000 per tree what's that going to cost you I I I can't give you a number right now it's got to be exorbitant I would not um rud prun and there's okay so I just want to Envision what's going to happen I love this street with Milas and to CH and intimo so we are going to close it down it's just going to be shut no no ma'am um how we're going to do this is we're going to close one the one side of of of First Street that would be the the the side where the residents are the the residential side we would put a barrier wall in between everything would have to be the medium would have to be taken out the trees will be taken out and then we would start construction on that side of where we're closing out while we keep two lanes a Valley Lane and a through Lane eastbound on First Street from Alton to Washington and that would be so that we can construct the the pipe cuz the the the what takes the longest on the construction of First Street is constructing a pipe these pipes uh the pipe is 96 in in diameter um they come in 10ft sections so you have to excavate you have to put a what we call a trench box in to be able to set the pipe in place better and then move forward to the next section so it's a it's a complicated process but it's one that once the contractor starts makes good progress he starts to pick up speed okay so that's going to take six to eight months you said six to eight months with one side of the street closed and then when you're finished there you're going to close the other side the the other side would would would the construction of that would would be very quick because all we're doing there is we're already putting the lateral connections to the inlets on the other side so it' be just re essentially uh taking out the pavement and and being able to to reconstruct the so and this plus the pump station and the actual Pump Station itself is going where I just want to be able to the okay so the pump station the underground components of the pump station are going to go just south of of of First Street on Washington Avenue just south right next adjacent to the city's parking lot which is right next to toles that the parking lot will you mean where Calli Gabby is over there the pump station is so we're sacrificing that lot's going to be gone that is correct because that's where all the equipment the above ground components of the pump station the electrical equipment on and it'll be screened and it'll have landscaping around and all be it it'll be we've have renderings of it that we've shown the public okay so the pump station in the parking lot where Milos is right now and then the massive pipe coming the 96 in pipe coming down first and then what is and then that's phase one no phase one is the pump station and the outfall the outfall is a pressurized Force mate 96 in also that goes down Washington Avenue goes through South Point Park and and and and makes its way out into the bay so phase one is just the pump station and an exit for the water and then phase two which is not funded right now is First Street we have funding we have a shortfall between faces 1 and two I believe the the the number I don't I believe somewhere slightly above 10 million 18 million 18 18 million that's the shortfall for phases one and two but I think we're pretty conf and and that funding will not have to be ready until 2026 at the earliest which is when we start construction so you're not going to okay so you're going to start construction in 2026 and what we're getting is the 96 in pipe down first street with a pump station and an outfall all the way to to the beach through South Point Park through South Point Park and that's phase one and that's phase that's phase one and two and that's what we're voting phas one is the pump station do that you're that that's assuming that that entire area is going to remain dry that is part of the backbone of the system eventually we'll have to do phases three and four which are Washington Avenue and Alton Road because those are the trunk remember this system that we're designing is for the entire South South Point neighborhood from Fifth Street all the way down to South Point I just don't understand why if all you're doing is putting a pipe and a pump station why you just can't move it over I wish it was that simple commission I I really do um it's a pipe going through the park you just can't move it to a different you just can't move it over it has to outfall into the bay so I mean that that's the only real estate out there is for me to be able to go out there is South Point Park there there is no other place to go and I have to discharge vote against it because let me just finish and and then I'll be quick I I I want to vote against it in my heart of hearts I feel like we're ruining a very beautiful street but I can't vote against the resiliency project right now because I'll get attacked at some point because of it at the same time I think it's throwing Common Sense out the window um I think sometimes we're reactionary I mean the idea of babysitting trees for a year per oak tree is a waste of our money but I understand that Joe is trying to attend to the emotional attachment that certain people have to these oak trees um you know we have no choice I suppose because if we have another rain event and we vote no on this then we're going to have a major problem but I would say that in the future though I mean when the engineers start a project like this that I mean they need to really look at what they're planning and you know and and and and at at the outset of this First Street there were other options apart from First Street and then all of a sudden it just became only First Street and it really bothers me because I thought of streets around Miami Beach that I love as much as I love First Street um and it was hard for me to think of another street that I liked as much as as F Street which is so beautiful um maybe there's parts of West Avenue that don't have vacancies on them but for the most part every other street is a is a disaster mess like in terms of commercial corridors so the fact that we're choosing to destroy one of our only successful streets is um is upsetting hopefully if it's only going to be done on the one side um I guess that's fine uh what can I say um and so I guess if you guys want to move it I don't know commissioner Dominguez um thank you um thank you commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I appreciate all of your comments so this um particular project has been a very complicated one and uh it's been complicated for a number of reasons when commissioner samul and first Put It Forward he stood behind it because it was nominal Road RIS in uh with up to 6 in since then as the design phases have progressed uh Jacob's Engineering came and said that they needed a 96 in pipe and that's what complicates things and um because then you have to do it in the middle uh put the pipe down the middle and then uh from there uh the streets harmonize with the residents or businesses on either side but a 96 in pipe means a foot and a half of Road raising and not the initial 6 in also the different residents that had uh gone to the forums and had approved the different um Notions don't even live there anymore one of the ladies moved in the middle of the night um so what I'm proposing for this one is we need to move forward with the resiliency project um there's no question there 96 inch pipes aren't all that common and one of the things that we're supposed to approve is a 96 in pipe so what I want to take out is the Comm commission shouldn't have to approve that because if something goes wrong they're going to say well the commission approved it if the engineer and the public works department feel that they need it then they should move forward with it but not have us be the ones approving a 96 inch pipe but question I have a just commissioner Fernandez thank you through through the attorney uh because I'm looking at the item that's on the agenda the item I'm seeing on the agenda doesn't specify the size of the pipe and so if if I could get some clarity on that on on the record Mr attorney uh when we look at item c7z because what I'm what I'm seeing is we are authorizing to proceed with phase one and two of the First Street project maintain the previously approved typical section for First Street with parallel parking and L other pecly proposed diagonal parking identify additional parking for use by residents in existing public and private lots to work with the housing authority to establish reduced parking rates at the garage located Alon Road and Fifth Street for persons providing health care and related services to older adults to maintain the the 60% designed trunk line alignment through First Street shifted to the north as possible to allow for two lanes of eastbound traffic during the installation of the pipe and to preserve as many of the existing oak trees as possible and relocate them within the project footprint and replace any oak tree that does not survive but I don't see that we are and we're and we're directing the administration to negotiate a task agreement change um but I don't see us ma directing mandating legisl in what the actual size of the pipe is I think all that we're doing is we're accepting a staff recommendation correct it's a it's I need that for the record because to my colleague's point to the vice mayor's point I'm not an engineer what I do as a as as a member of a governing body is I accept recommendations uh from from professionals I listen to the public we try to strike a balance so I don't want us to be legislating the size of the pipe or the engineering that that that gets installed so I need for the record Mr attorney does this item legislate the size of the pipe that is being placed in the ground he need to oh sorry um commissioner I think that that would be a detail that would be part of the of the project designed so so this specific item it doesn't reference the size of the pipe but but uh but included within the design of the project are are are details like that correct that is correct sir I brought up the size of the pipe is because at the land use meeting where you're the chair and I'm a member one of the items in the um presentation that was given to us that we were saying okay to was the PM wire we saying that so that's why I brought it up so commissioner Dominguez if you have an issue with the pipe what do you suggest we do size pipe so that this is nominal Road raising and not the foot and a half um but I think we need to move forward with the project and resiliency is very important and we need to address flooding um but if it were up to me it would be something smaller because First Street is beautiful it is one of our most gorgeous streets and this project will destroy it forever I know yeah through the chair I'd like to move the item am commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I would say that where's am Amy Amy NOS here yes well yeah no what I would say is that we take those oak trees and we just plant them elsewhere and then we just plant new oak trees on first Stree that way you have twice the amount of trees and you spend half the amount of money because babysitting these trees someplace else where they're going to die and then improving that doesn't make any sense you take the tree we're not traumatizing these trees Joe that's tree abuse we're going to take the tree and you're going to move it once we're not going to move it twice and then plant it elsewhere and then we'll just buy new oak trees I guarantee you that that's going to be cheaper than what you guys have planned here that doesn't make any sense this pruning and and removing and then if they're going to die it doesn't make sense commissioner Suarez if if the trees are going to survive any place it'll be in the same location that they were that they were taken so I don't I don't see a problem with with putting them back I mean I go on First Street at least multiple times a day I'd love to see the the trees that were there stay there I think all the residents in the neighborhood would love to see that as well um because you're going to end up with Twigs there and so if any of the trees die we're going to be replacing them with the same size tree um so uh look First Street is going to be even more beautiful than it is now because we're adding an extra how much green space I mean I believe it's 17 and 3/4 feet on each side yeah and right now we have what six foot sidewalks 7 foot sidewalks I mean and that'll be 10 foot sidewalks wider sidewalks oh it's going to be transformative for First Street and you know again we need to move forward on this I think we have consensus with everyone in the community especially with the trees and the parking finally um and and given the recent rainstorm and more to come let's take action today oh and look and and for uh this is for Michael greo this is he brought his shoes here I brought my kids little Crocs for the water last committee meeting he he brought that so g go up um so if if I if I may Mr Mayor um I'd like to second the motion on on the table um there's just I just want to make sure that the record reflects at the recommendation of the land use committee was not only to work with the housing authority to establish reduced parking rates at Fifth and Alton for the caretakers but we wanted to you know make sure that they would be able to negotiate for at least 15 parking spaces I don't see that here in the conclusion of the memo and I just want to make sure that that we mention it as part of the motion and I so if the maker of the motion would would approve that amendment to to specify 15 uh parking spaces for the housing Authority there's a number was not listed there but I wanted to clarify I have an idea as part of is in okay it's in there okay yes but I just want to include it in the motion just just for clarity sake it's in the okay perfect thank you m Mr I one second I think commissioner Rosen Gonzalez uh add something okay I will second your motion and vote for this if we take those oak trees and plant them in the parking lot next to South next to North Beach Elementary and then purchase new trees that way uh it will lower the cost of uh the corridor that we are going to create next to the elementary school now you've got grown trees we can move them ASAP into the parking lot and uh Amy and our tree expert where ises our tree expert where's our arbores would this be a possibility could you take those trees and put them into plot 63 is that what it is plot 63 yes we could look I've got CIP he's shaking his head yes David Martinez I saw that oh oh okay would you consider please why why wouldn't you do that why do you want to keep why do you want to babysit the trees for a year when we could just put them in plot 63 right away and have mature shade trees and then just purchase we could purchase them now and babysit them where they are right now for a year look the the the trees the canopy in south of fifth on the first street is unique to First Street and I think you know moving it to a parking lot where it the soil is different I mean it's it's completely different geography it has a less likely chance of surviving at least here the soil is going to be relatively the same and it has a much higher chance of survival and if I'm I'm totally in favor of adding more trees if we have to perhaps maybe purchase more grandfather trees for North Beach and parking lots I'm okay with that but I think we should keep the trees where they are because it's intrinsic to the neighborhood it's intrinsic to people who live there and it has a much higher chance of survival in that particular location but then again like I said I'm more than happy to to support you on much more uh mature trees in a parking lot or North Peach to purchase so they're not ripping out the trees he just said we're pruning them and we're taking them to a different location for eight months and then we're bringing them back question is and this is the question for the arborist would those trees survive in plot 63 no because it's like literally written into this right now of course through the through the hello Amy hello so in terms of actually root pruning the trees that's a that's a really big effort and so if this item is approved the urban Forester would work closely with Public Works to do assessments of those trees and to see which ones are viable to be moved or healthy enough and can survive that and then there would be the root pruning process and then they have to be physically moved so they would have to be put on flat beds and and moved to whatever area north beach is pretty far so I think that it's just a lot to consider mid Beach it's not that far I mean like but it's like a mile more something to consider in terms of those they're not keeping them there no they're not they're ripping them up and putting them on a flatbed truck and they're right yeah but they're being moved I mean they're being moved someplace else how do you know are you on arur we we have a motion in a second on the on the floor I just wanted to clarify something for the record mayor if I may before you say that Joe I just want to acknowledge today is your last commission meeting uh last day with the city you uh I'm going to speak about you for a minute yes sir it's okay you you are a true public servant you answer the call you you are a you know how there you always say there are go-to people you are you are a go-to a go-to person you get things done you do it with a great temperament um you work hard always willing to not only speak with me but residents um when necessary so thank you for your service and and you're going to be missed and Raquel you have a big job to fill uh Phil Joe's shoes than thank you mayor and Commissioners thank you um the the past three years have been the best years of my professional career of the 40 almost 48 years that I've been in this profession they have been the most rewarding and uh I thank you for the opportunity I want to acknowledge uh a former city uh former city manager Alina Hudak who gave me the opportunity 3 years ago to join the city it's the best decision I ever made in my life and um it was a tough decision but um it's time to move on um I know I I'm leaving this department um in in in really good hands I've got an incredible team I think you've seen them out there in action and uh they're committed public servants and I'm just grateful for having having had the opportunity to be part of the city of Miami Beach it'll always be home for me for the past three years and I thank all of you and Eric um your friendship and and your mentoring has been exceptional thank you [Applause] I Joe was actually about to say something and I cut him off to uh to extol his virtues yes sir and I just wanted to clarify something for the record the the issue of the 96 in pipe has no no relation per se to the road raising the road raising is part of the resiliency so whether the pipe is 96 in or 84 in 72 in the road raising is in a component for us to be able to elevate the road to stay because of the king ties and the raising of the of sea level the that pipe is going to be very deep so it it it really doesn't matter whether the pipe is 84 or or I just wanted to clarify that for the record thank you mayor um Joe just a quick question yes ma'am if we stopped asking you questions about First Street would you stay h you put me on the spot no I already gave my word but thank you that means Sal lot so we have a motion in a second the um I know a lot of work has gone into this unanimous consent from the land use committee and thank you commissioner Fernandez for for leading that and also suggesting it at the last meeting um this has worked out well we had a lot of community engagement by and large uh consensus and there's no better proof and evidence of how imperative these projects are from the storm we just had and the videos we see from this very area that was impacted significantly with flooding so we need to move forward with these projects and and thank you for for for leading the charge thank you sir we have a motion in a second yes sir call the vote Yes sir uh on c7z all in favor I motion carries 70 it was a motion from commissioner Suarez a second from commissioner Fernandez 70 approved bit of a housekeeping item but let's let's call R5 Y and r5z thank you I'm going to read both titles so R51 Y is in ordinance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of Miami Beach Florida amending chapter 78 of the Miami Beach city code entitled Personnel by creating article four thereof entitled unclassified employee leave to cify as part of the city code and amend the city's employees leave ordinance number 1613 for clarity and ease of reference to delete and or revise outdated Provisions create new sections and make substantive Amendment as follows section 78181 entitled definitions amount of leave section 78182 entitled special Provisions for employees on military leave section 78-1 183 entitled accumulation of forfeiture of annual leave and sick leave section 78-14 entitled conversion and transfer of annual leave and sick leave section 78-1 185 entitled use of annual leave section 7886 entitled use of sick leave section 78- 1887 entitled changes against annual charges against annual leave and sick leave section 78-1 188 entitled timing of vacation section 7 8-19 entitled payment for annual and sick leave section 78-1 190 entitled other leaves with compensation section 78-1 191 entitled workers compensation and supplemental injury pay section 78-1 192 entitled use of annual or sick Lea for purchase of pension time section 78-1 193 entitled donation of annual leave and sick leave section 78-1 194 entitled paid parent leave section 78-1 195 entitled leave sellack section 78-1 196 entitled use of use of cly for retiree Health Savings Account section 78 197 entitled city manager authority to adopt administrative procedures and regulations Section 78-1 198 entitled Domestic and Sexual Violence and section 78-19 entitled donation of annual and sick Le for humanit humanitarian disaster relief repeal or repeal ordinance number 1613 in its entirety and providing for repealers of ability codification and an effective date that was item r5y item r5z is in ordinance of the mayor City Commission of the city of M Beach fla amending chapter 78 of the Mi Beach city code entitled Personnel by creating Article Five thereof entitled classified employee leave to cify as part of the city's city code and amend the city's employee leave ordinance number 1335 for clarity and E of reference to delete and or revise outdated Provisions create new sections and to make substantive amendments as follows section 78-22 entitled definitions amount of leave section 78- 283 entitled probationary employees section 78- 284 entitled provision employees section 78285 entitled special Provisions for employees of military leave section 78- 286 entitled accumulation of for fure of annual leave and sick leave section 78287 entitled conversion and transfer of sick leave to annual leave section 78288 entitle use of annual leave section 78- 289 entitled use of sick leave section 78290 en entitled charges against annual leave and sick leave section 78- 291 entitled timing of vacations section 78- 292 entitled payment for annual leave section 78- 293 entitle other leaves with compensation section 78 294 entitled workers compensation and supplemental injury pay section 78- 295 entitled use of annual leave for purchase of pension time section 78- 296 entitled donation of annual leave and sick leave section 78- 297 entitled paid parental leave section 78 2-98 entitled leave sell back section 2 78- 299 entitles use of sick Le for retiree Health Savings Account section 78 300 entitled manager authority to adopt administrative procedures and regulations of section 78301 entitled Domestic and Sexual Violence leave and section 7832 entitled donate annual and sick leave for humanitarian disaster relief and section 78303 entitled Collective barting contingency repeal of ordinance 1335 in its entirety and providing for repealers have mobility catification and effective date this is item r5z it is also a first reading there was an amended ordinance on that was handed out on the day it is for uh ordinance r5z welcome Mark and Mara we have a motion I'll second I want to understand the item a little bit better so I don't know if maybe the manager could just explain the item a little bit just so I can understand fully sure sure through the mayor uh so this item has been worked on at length uh with the administration and the city attorney's office uh these these items will assist the city in cleaning up and codifying uh elements that we have been utilizing since 2016 uh there's some new Provisions that are also being added that will help with Recruitment and Retention of staff and to correct some inequities uh within the Administration uh across the bargaining units as well as with the unclassified so Mara and Mark are prepared to go through the various details of these items but I can tell you that in my time uh you know just in my discussions with staff uh across the board uh this item is something that our staff needs right now to ensure that we are recruiting the best and the brightest and retaining them particularly in our leadership positions Mara you want to start to the chair thank you my name is Mara lpar HR Director um we have been working on this with the city's attorney's office for more than a year and so I appreciate the opportunity to discuss these items in front of you um as the city manager said we are bringing before you um two leave ordinances that are complex and they're complex because they're not codified for many years as changes have been made to to these ordinances our notebooks have grown bigger and bigger and what this does it says let's take all of this legislation on leave ordinance uh for both classified and unclassified employees and let's clean up our language get rid of obsolete provisions and put it all into one ordinance so that going forward is codified and we don't have to maintain years of changes to these ordinances which is literally what we're doing today it's very complicated um it brings our military leave in line with state law it gives us the opportunity to provide um for example as the manager said um a domestic violence leave that the county has um uh provided an ordinance for up to 30 days it provides us the opportunity in particular to um do some cleanup to bring our practices in line with what uh our our ordinance in line with our practices for example paying our leave out with it to uh clean up and um make our practices clear but at the same time um the opportunity for the future as we work with our employee groups and as we bargain it gives the manager the opportunity to uh provide a a parity in our leave values as well as uh possibilities of future benefits such as retire health savings and sell back programs and to discuss just very briefly one of the inequities that the manager mentioned and and Mara addressed as well is we have issues within our Police Department for instance where police officers will recruit up become part of the management staff the executive staff and the police department and then to do that they lose benefits their benefits are greatly reduced to go up into the management staff and then what they end up doing we've had it in the past is they self demote towards the end of their career so that they can get those benefits back so it's creating an issue Within um the equity of the police department and it's discouraging people from wanting to recruit the same thing within the fire department so we've had both those issues and we think that this will clear up a lot of things we're in the middle of collective bargaining with with all five unions um and this will I think give us additional tools to be able to negotiate and hopefully bring back a positive contract and and just to add a little bit more color one of the elements that I I think is truly needed uh relates to our domestic violence and sexual violence leave where this would provide employees with up to 30 days of leave and they wouldn't have to worry about losing their job uh during that very stressful time in their lives so I think that's one of the major elements that we uh incorporate here and I just wanted to highlight it we good yes okay we have a motion in a second yes yes sir so I heard it was second by commissioner Fernandez am I correct so uh commissioner chars moved us second by commissioner Fernandez this is a roll call on both r5y and r5z commissioner magazine yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes but then she came won't hear me commissioner bot yes yes VI mayor Dominguez mayor Miner my worst yes I will thank you sir so the item passes second reading public hearing uh for R5 Y and r5z are July 24th thank you Ralph if we can call we'll call the um we have several items relating to the storm and emergency responses um we have arf R9 a n R9 a and R9 a yes sir so R9 n is discuss enhancing flood flood response strategies and infrastructure resiliency AK is discussed take action steps may be Rec can take to make a flooding and AP is discussed take action June 2024 flood preparation and response great I'll I'll lead it off I I have one of the items commissioner magazine has another commissioner Suarez has another they're all fairly related the city Administration has an item that was referred to committee if I miss one please let me know referred to committee oh commissioner bot has one I know we're all on the same page so you've okay I think all of us we're we're all in this together I think we all have the same uh goals I gave you a little break Joe after uh the First Street figured you need a breather so uh but but you're back I'll just tea up my item so I I guess a couple things that we'd want to look at one is sort of just the immediate storm response uh the timing of opening parking garages for our residents to park cars um whether that could have been done a little earlier um I'm also looking at something that would bring a permanent sandbag solution because I feel like every time we go through one of these big storms we're sort of in Rush mode to try to make them available so this would be something that our city wouldn't have to rush and residents wouldn't have to to rush it would be available um all year round also wanted to discuss lot there was a lot of talk about the Technologies and the pumps and what we saw is that where the areas that were equipped with modern pump stations we saw some great results but in areas like North Bay Road that rely on gravity fed small pipes not so good and what we've had is a situation where I mean this this precedes actually my term as an elected official but we had a project for North Bay Road that ended up getting cancelled um and now we see the problems the way I view it and we're not going to resolve this all today but these are things that I'm going to start highlighting front and center is we need to have the updated Technologies but we need to examine whether the road raising or the extent that we were proposing to raise the roads needs to be a necessary component of that because as we've seen in areas such as Lake View North Bay Road other areas the residents legitimately are concerned that their homes are going to be flooded if the technology doesn't properly work if the roads are raised above their homes so I think we need to get these projects done with the technology even if we don't raise the roads to the maximum extent we had been looking at um so that's that's kind of teeing it up um you can why don't you respond and then I'll let commission any anyone else uh speak as well Mr Mayor um uh thank you um and and you're absolutely correct uh really the only way to counteract these storms is through a robust uh storm water system that has pump stations pipes large diameter pipes to be able to the to convey the to and carry the the the the am the large volume of water that um has to be discharged what we experienced in those two days was uh an incredible amount of rainfall 22 1 12 Ines in in a little bit over two days that's unprecedented at least than my recollection I can't think of and what made it worse was that we as as the first as the first day we got bombarded with over 10 Ines of rain we had maybe 3 4 hours of reprieve and then by noon of the second day we got slammed again the system was overwhelmed what happens is in in in Miami Beach as every from 47 Street South we have the majority of our storm water pump station north of 47th Street there's only two pump stations up in in the northern end of the beach everything else works by gravity a lot of the the drainage system that's in place it's older drainage system so it's been kind of piec meal together over the years so you have pipe sizes that are 12 in in diameter 8 in in those AR aren't even used anymore because they're too small to be able to con the inlets are smaller inlets um so the system itself is not set up to receive the incredible amount of water that we received um North Beach is a perfect example because um North Beach is mostly by gravity so it has to wait until the water makes its way through the outfall well when you get that amount of water the water's just building up eventually it'll recede but that that it it takes it takes time so um the the only way to to Really address this holistically is to continue on with these large scale projects that have a a very strong storm water component just to give you a a frame of reference in when we do our neighborhood Improvement projects 50% of the cost of those nip projects is only related to storm water the other the 40% is water and sewer combined and then 10% for the above ground so that gives a sense of the importance and of the vastness of the the the systems that we have to incorporate thank you Joe can you also address the some areas in May beach have new drains others do not and the impact that has uh and the differential between the two yes and and um we when I spent hours and hours uh driving through through different parts of the city I can tell you that um uh Sunset Harbor Indian Creek which we completed within the last uh year um even palm and hibiscus except for one location and that's because uh uh issue of the yard drain on that property other than that the the the the system worked the pumps worked where we saw the the majority of the problems is where we have a deficient drainage system and we don't have the ability to be able to pump the water out and and really the the tides weren't it's not King Tides now imagine this kind of rain during King Tides yeah that that would be drama because now you're trying to pump against the ocean and that complicates things that's why part of the component and I and I stress this and I know that uh there's uh different points of views but it's important to note that the only long-term survivability for for the for the the rideway the public rideway and for our residents is to be able to raise these roads to stay above the water because the the it's it's not going down it's going it's coming up so you have to have both you have this rain and you have this coming from from from the ocean commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor and I want to thank my colleagues for the items they've uh placed on the these discussion items that they've placed on the agenda having to to to do with our uh strategies uh and infrastructure and our preparedness um you know similar to this conversation I I have two referrals that we adopted uh with the consent agenda um one referral to the land use committee where where we're asking our staff to conduct a more a deeper analysis of of those areas where we've done improvements uh Palm hibiscus Sunset Harbor the sunset Islands three three and four Indian Creek um to you know a deeper dive as to as to how um the neighborhood Improvement plan performed in uh in the handling of the storm water we know you know preliminarily they performed well but a more formal report at at that meeting and separately uh with c4z uh we approved a referral to the Landes committee for an assessment to consider the critical needs projects that are part of the already approved storm water master plan uh to determine whether any of them need to whether any updates need to be made uh including changes to the timeline to the timeline or or even to rep prioritize projects in areas where we saw that the need is so critical that the flooding was so bad that they just can't wait as long to be sold down in the list and so we made that referral uh this morning to the land use committee so that we can make those recommendations as to any updates to timelines and rep prioritization of projects because clearly our community needs these projects but there are areas that are lower lineing and that needed more quickly than others and we need to look at that list of priority uh and so we can make a recommendation to this city commission uh whether we should rep prioritize and BN um bump some of these projects up in the list thank you Mr Mayor magazine do I have it or okay um excellent Joe thank you uh thank you for all uh staff all the electeds um this was all Hands-On deck effort but certainly we need to learn and better prepare for the future um I'm going to ask some Elementary questions you know I think there's very prudent discussions that'll make their way through land use committees and certainly I I think what you've seen just evidenced by the last item we have a commitment to resiliency over the medium and longer term that maybe uh you know previous uh commissions did move forward on so I'm proud to be a part of that however in the short term if we get another unforeseen uh significant storm a few weeks from now what would be your suggestions about collectively what we can all do better uh I don't mean you know oh we but what could we do and when I say we I don't mean just our elected body but collectively as a city and a Community Elementary level speaking why are some roads flooding on Alton roads so significantly uh I live on West Avenue on 8th Street some days when it rains it floods there other days it does not is it storm drainage blockage uh what would be kind of your La laundry L is it mobile pump stations tell me what you need from our support or to get out uh the message in the community to how we can improve thank you commissioner magazine and through through the chair um I I I think you you bring up a great points uh I'll address first the issue of for example Alton Ro why did Alton Road flood as much as it did in looking at all the service requests that we had for from June 11th through the 13th the the majority of service requests I think it was 129 Ser flooding service requests were the mid Beach area which really encompasses that area so the brunt of the of of the the rains were in that area followed by North Beach which had uh I believe um 77 for the three for the 3 days and uh South Beach had 44 so the the rain was not was not uniform throughout the beach we're 7 square miles so it it it stands to reason that you're going to have areas that are hit harder than others mid Beach got hit extremely hard the drainage system along Alton Road is deficient and as you know fdot has projects in the pipeline to improve as a combination with with the city of Miami Beach to improve the drainage system along with the other infrastructure um dots now because of of the commission resolution that passed in April they've now delayed the first segment of of Alton Road to at least 2028 or 2029 so um those decisions may may have to look at them and and revisit those because I think it's critical Alton Road is a is an evacuation route for the City of Miami Beach it it it it it is essential that that road uh have the best and most robust drainage system and and and and its infrastructure has got to be intact because really that's in and this is just rain in the event of an evacuation where we have a category two or category three store we got to move our residents out we we got to make sure that the road is clear and then once a Rec once the recovery comes back that our Our First Responders can get in so that that's important now to answer your question as far as um we can always use more pumps and and I've already asked my team to put a list together kind of a wish list and I think that's when we at the conversation what are the things that we would need bigger pumps uh I think what we we're finding now is that 8 in pumps they used to work pretty well and in some Cas mob pumps yeah those are the temporary pumps but the 12in pumps like the one we put at 59th in North Bay Road that thing was a I mean that that was a tremendous help along with the 8in pump we were able to move substantial amount of water um larger pumps uh obviously it takes a little more in terms of logistics to get them there but that that's that that's you know we we can we can work with that uh additional pumps um I think uh we're putting we've got three more Factor trucks that are coming in this I believe it's in in for 2025 that were already ordered as part of the budget uh we're looking to upgrade our Fleet and and add additional back to trucks because that's also something that that helps us uh to not at the moment where it's where you're you're having the but post the the rain War we can quickly remove the the the standing water which is a a real safety issue so things like that uh I I I think are are critical to to us being able to move forward and and deal with these weather events that are going to become more frequent me understand sorry to catch off why do we get that standing water right it's just talk to me like a simple person in layman's terms we get standing water there because the the underground drainage isn't flowing properly it's getting clogged up or the system is just at a capacity because the pipes are only have so much capacity and the rainfall is exceeded that level it it it's a combination of things so um if the volume of water that's falling exceeds the ability of that pipe to be able to receive the water it's like it's like a funnel think of a a funnel you P water in a funnel but there's only so much that's coming out the rest is all stacking up eventually it'll make its way through because the head or the weight will actually push it through in a gravity system that's kind of how it works so it pushes its way through but what happens is in these older systems you have a hodge podge so you may have let's say a 24in pipe for and then all of a sudden instead of usually Downstream you have larger pipes as you go you may have a smaller pipe so now you're creating a constraint right here so that tends to back up into the system the catch basins that are that were used in the past those are smaller catch BAS the grates are smaller um the newer generation they're more sophisticated they're larger they're able to hold more water things like that so is and and then also um just the slope of the of of the road if the if it's not properly graded the water will tend to not be able to move as it should Down The Gutter and then it'll stand there so that's why even on a sunny days sometimes after the rain you'll see standing water because that gutter that that grade is not set right so we got to come in and and vacuum it up and how about removal of debris over uh the drain systems because that's one of the things that I've seen yes and and that was one of the the the issues that was brought up by many other residents and yes and again when you have these tremendous uh storms um all all of the the leaves and the Palm FRS and all that will tend to come down they'll be rushed through and then they'll stack up on top of the inlet so now you're only getting maybe 20% of the function of that Inlet until you able to remove it so even if let's say for on Monday the day before uh the first the first day where we had the big rain I was already driving out to just to and on North Bay Road there were landscapers that were actually finishing the yard work and they were blowing the stuff right down into into the the the gutters so no matter how much we clean if if that isn't if we don't get the our residents to work with our landscapers not to do that to pick up the debris and dispose of it that would be a big help as well so one of the action items I'd like to consider um is kind of twofold but relating to that last point we talked about one possibly in our Communications Outreach I talked to Residents I was going up and down Alton Road they they actually didn't put two and two together to actually clear the debris from their drainage and perhaps some of it was just assuming City staff would get to it eventually and that sounds great in theory but in practice that's just impractical for us to expect so important of our communication I think it would behoove everybody to say it is incumbent upon residents to go out and make sure your drainage is cleared and then I think we could do A Better Effort uh with kind of the entirety of our city staff not just our public works department in making sure a lot of this drainage is clear even if it's incorporating some of our First Responders uh our our fire department I know that's not maybe list in the roles and responsibilities of them right now but if we'd be able to have their assistance lot of hands- on Deck there to go out and help us clear that would actually free them up and not have to go out and perform some of these Road rescues earlier so you take some of those preventative measures and you save things in the longer term so thank you very much for this commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor uh PJ can you pull up my PowerPoint please you know I think it's important that we we learn from our mistakes okay um as a city and that you know we address the the pink elephant in the room as far as you know how we reacted to uh this particular storm because I you know because residents right now their homes are still damp from this storm and so uh I've had numerous emails and complaints um and I wanted to address them here so if you can go to the next slide this basically gives a basic timeline of um of the series of events Sunday June 9th it was uh forecasted 7 to 10 inches of rain Monday the flood issue was issued for South Florida Tuesday flash flood warning that's when we had uh the beginning of the storm the next day that's when it continued uh the day after when the rains were pretty much gone was a state of emergency and the day after our city ordered a report you go to next slide please I wanted to bring some more attention to um the forecast um so this was from the National Weather Service uh General 7 to 10 inches of rain is forecast to fall with locally higher amounts possible uh that was issued on July on June 9th at 4:30 in the morning if you go next slide please and the next day heavy rain and flooding concerns this week so uh they re they reiterated the the concerns um June if you can look at the bottom left June 10th 20124 10:30 next slide please okay uh so the day of um where the county uh so Tuesday June 11th at 3 p.m. that's when we started to experience the the the tremendous amount of floods next slide please okay and then it continues on through the rest of that day specific to where we live in Miami Beach and and for laale in Miami um extensive significant extreme flash flood possible which is exactly what we saw next slide please so this is is interesting um this is showing where the most significant rainfall happened at a on an outgoing tide so this wasn't at a high tide um and I think G Joe you mentioned that it necessarily wasn't a tide issue correct and if it was you know God forbid at a king tide things probably would have been a lot worse um and so something like this this screams to me a drainage problem okay uh which we which Joe has covered if you go next slide please so these are some of the the pictures commissioner bot that was your image from your email um and there was another image from Facebook ma Kelly uh on Wednesday next slide please and you can see the significant amount of flooding in these in these areas next slide please okay um on Thursday pretty much after the the floods um we declared a state of emergency and then sandbags were given and then you can see there was a comment that said after the storm question mark um clearly you know we we sort of dropped the ball on on on doing on being proactive on this this might have saved you know single family homes or businesses if we would have been a little bit more Pro active um given the the amount of warnings that we've had starting on uh on the 9th you go next slide please um so the parking concerns 7 to 10 inches of more rain was forecast in June 9th uh the parking flood relief program was acted on July 11th for only registered residents see this didn't make any sense it it it it was activated during the the the worst of the storm and if I'm in my car and and I I I see that there's starting to be like a serious flood I'm not going to want to register my car to park in a garage um I think the more appropriate step would have been to say open the garages for for everyone uh and I and I do mean everyone because if you're a worker in Miami Beach and you don't live in Miami Beach you know I I don't want to let their cars get stalled and total I mean it would have been it would have been nice to have the garages open um for for everyone you know preferably you know with a with a mass message that says hey look you know our garage are going to be open in case of uh a flash flooding or a significant flooding which which did happen uh not until June 13th where parking garages open to all residents a state of emergency is declared and sandbags distributed um and you can see some of the residents here that you know this should have been tested um and you know what about North Beach next slide please so we I had some there were a lot of questions that residents emailed out and we got a response so why were portable pumps ordered after the start of hurricane season and the answers we got was Tuesday June 4th the city ordered five portable bypass pumps for the main for the rainy season two of the five pumps arrived on June 13th the day after flash flooding so um a question I have is why and I'll have a series of questions you know hurricane season already started it doesn't seem wise to order a a portable pump you know well into hurricane season I would assume that we would want to order these before hurricane season um 7 to 10 inches of rain were forecasted for Sunday on Sunday for June 9th why were and drains cleared and storm water system service on Sunday Monday and Tuesday before the storm uh the Public Works infrastructure division cleans the entire storm water system annually we ensure that hotspot storm water areas are serviced before heavy rains and drains are cleared of debris so um I understand we clear it out annually I don't know if we want to do it you know quarterly uh if that would make it makes better sense um and so I think we need a little bit more attention to that because on that on that curve graph of the tides it clearly shows that this is is a drainage issue and I don't think annually is going to be um enough for something like and you know I was out I think commissioner bot some me on the road I mean I was literally pulling out Tarpon off the bay off Alton Road and putting them in the bay and one thing I realize is that they were all congregating near the manholes and when I would go and I would open up the manhole to get these Tarpon out there I mean there was all this debris in there I mean it was like leaves uh mostly leaves and just a bunch of random debris there um and that was on that was on Thursday so you know I think a little bit more thoughtful planning as far as debris removal from the storm drains um so and we we address the sandbag issue sandbag distribution was up and running on Thursday June 13th at two locations 21st Street and 79th Street again that's that's too little too late I mean you know the worst of the floodings was on the 11th and the 12th um and I discussed the parking garages so you go to next slide you know so these are these are the communications that went out and you know it started on June 11th um heavy rain is expected to move through our our area today uh that's at 8:30 in the morning so that was the morning of which is which was good um it can the the alerts continued on the 12th um a a couple alerts and what really got to me was that um you know the sandag distribution text message came out obviously after the fact and um that there really was no text message about the garages being open prior to uh this this significant flood because again if you remember the first couple slides there was s there was ample warning that this could have been a really bad weather event um next slide please yeah look we we need to do better obviously we need to learn from our mistakes here because there there has been a lot of mistakes in my opinion um and you know there I can't imagine the amount of property damage that has has occurred from this particular event um I think one of the biggest takeaways really is drainage dra drainage uh maintenance and you know I'm sure we're going to be flushing this out at committees but you know I think more than anything if we keep our drains cleared you know that's going to really make or break someone's home getting flooded um and so you know I I think we owe it to the residents that have that have emailed in very frustrated and and rightfully so that we get our timeline of events right we address their concerns and we acknowledge that you know things could have been handled better thank you commission um commissioner Suarez I agree with you on the drains being maintained and maybe what we need to do is look at how many people we have going around the city right now with the equipment and actually cleaning out the manholes you know I live on Alton so I take long walks up and down North Bay Road and uh you can see the outfalls on every Corner sometimes I call you and I say hey can you guys come uh clean out this Sal F cuz I see them just stuffed with uh debris and I don't think we maintain it regularly I know you say that we do um I would say that maybe what we need is an additional crew would that help and and when you when you leave now and and Brad is taking over who's going to take over this entire storm water program I mean as Brad Brad's been on another side of this I know Eric when you first started you were in charge of Public Works were we giving you public works too and building department I I am happy to take on any responsibility that is helpful to the city um I can say that we've expanded our drain cleaning operations significantly since I've been here uh Joe and his team do a great job with cleaning uh we've done comparables to other municipalities and we probably clean twice as much as the next closest municipality as it comes to keeping the drains flowing and open um you know Joe mentioned and I and I think it's important to reiterate that when that first Squall blows in as the fronts come in it blows a lot of leaves and a lot of things off of the trees that you could have cleaned 15 minutes before that Squall blows in and those leaves are still going to get collected by the Rainwater and transmitted to the to the inlets and so so why don't we put metal grates why don't you put metal grates on on those because I walk past them all the time one time uh Joe I was walking up and down North Bay Road and um I said you know you guys I see the standing water you came in you cleaned out one side and I looked at the one side and it was perfectly drained and then on the other side of the street they didn't pump it out and it was full of of water so I do think that maybe just put the grates up in until we figure out where we're going to do on North Bay Road why don't you just put something to keep the debris out um of the drains and just retrofit those I don't think that's so hard I don't know what you if you guys know what the outfalls look like on um North B yes because there are no grates or anything there if I may all of the storm water inlets on our system have grates today there are there have been numerous discussions in the time that I've been here on putting some additional grates on top of the grates but all that does is reduce the cross-sectional area 100% of the time and make sure that the leaves can blind the system completely when the rainfall does start and so we've piloted those grates in a couple of areas of the city and the flooding actually got substantially worse with those additional Inlet grates and so I would just I want to be careful about creating unintended consequences with things that we're trying to put in place to be Solutions so um I do think that you know there are plenty of things that we can work on to do better um every storm is different uh we have lessons learned from this one just like we had Lessons Learned From the last one and the one before that and the one before that um we do get you know reports from the National Weather Service like this probably six or eight times a year uh this is not out of the ordinary but obviously the outcome of this particular storm event was extremely out of the ordinary and you know we were ready to respond um but we were not anticipating 22 Ines of rainfall but H how many people do we have right now that are their only job is to go around and clean out these drains our storm water team is comprised I believe of 12 or it's I think it's 12 12 uh team members plus the contractors plus the contractors because in this particular storm event we brought in FL te and we brought in um I forgot the the the name of the other company so we brought additional Factor truck resources to help us because it was just too much for just for our resources and we have them all year long all year long clean the system oper so basically we have four people for South Beach four for Mid and four for North or it doesn't work like that it really doesn't work that way because there are some areas that we have to maintain more frequently than others we we clean our system by by permit by permit requirement you're only supposed to clean municipalities are only supposed to clean their system once every four years that's the npdes required required I didn't say that some some municipalities you know rarely clean them we clean our system and mannually as an average there are areas that we clean on a quarterly basis simply because we know those are are problem areas um okay listen I the one thing that I felt very positive about you know we now approved those two massive projects that have been plugged up in the pipeline and extremely controversial and I'm happy that before you before you ditched us Joe at least you came up with the hotspot project and wait and and that is so key to get done and the question is like funding the um that project we're in the process right now B Bonding the money for that correct we approved that those funds we the commission approved the storm water master plan which has uh the 20 critical needs projects that I think it's about 80 a total of about $85 million that's over 10 year period and how long is that going to take us to over over 10 years and um when are we going to get the funding for that and when are we going to start and did we look at the areas that most flooded um during this rain event and we're going to start with those I'm supposing interesting enough the areas that were hardest hit the North Bay Road area and all that those are the ones that are up on uh we have two analist right now that are already under design ready to go to construction next year we have two others a and Lor c um in the two hardest hit areas that will start designed next year and go to Construction in in 2027 so it takes it takes permitting for storm water projects is a is a arduous process so it takes us at least from the time we start design to the time we get break ground takes us about two years to do these uh storm water projects so we're doing two every year that way we keep the sequence going two per year yeah okay I think like those are our our key takeaways from that is that we have to really push forward get that funded and you know do those hot button areas um I saw a house like um one of my friends actually she was one of the people who uh did not want to do the project on North Bay Road and came before the commission and her house completely uh flooded so that was interesting no I I understand that we have to do it you know I just think at the time it was just too extreme kind of like the mayor said at the beginning when we started this out it was like some navd that was really ruining neighborhoods the aesthetic of the neighborhoods I was wondering how did for example Sunset Island one and two which had pumps installed but didn't Extreme Road raising how did they fa during the storm so if I could just to correct the record um it was three and sunset Islands one and two has outfalls and French trains they don't have pumps pumps were put in on three and four but they had all the work done on one and two too didn't like a decade ago right one and two was done um actually that project finished the month that I started and so it was under the prior design criteria before we had adopted the storm water master plan in 2012 so how did one and two do and how did three and four do looking at the comp the GIS compilation that we did for the the 3 days June the 11th through the 13th we had only one service call in the four Sunset Islands only one only one so you know it it does work when we did so so what but what we did on those islands was not extreme it was pump systems without Extreme Road raising and they're staying dry and I think that's working so I mean I think that's what we need to adopt and that's why we stopped that's why we changed the priority on North Bay Row the big questionable quote unquote pause yes if I may sorry um just to be clear there's a huge difference between a rainfall event and a tial flooding event from the design of the solution and so the concept of not raising roads is to deal with the storm water event it doesn't help on the title side correct so that just to keep the apples and the oranges separate commissioner Dominguez do the pumps help with that the title event the pumps actually help with both yes yeah so that's good and um I was going to address what you talked about what feels like an hour ago um so there were things that the city did well and other things that could be improved so I'm not going to belabor that I know that I've um uh spoken to Public Works in the past and I know the drains are cleaned out annually and in South Beach uh twice a year but if funding permits and increasing that is a possibility I agree with commissioner Suarez that it's a good idea to do that um I also agree with the mayor I think he was spoton on the road raising um not worry too much about the extreme of the road raising and let's get the pipes and pumps put in uh in order to move forward with our projects and as far as the sandbags I've already had a conversation with the inm city manager um instead of doing it after the fact June 1st the first day of hurricane season pass out the sandbag so that people are ready for the season thank since you just mentioned and I'll let can we I can't move it but can we just maybe make a motion body directing the city Administration to have those sandbags as soon as reasonably possible for this season and this way people can go pick them up recel through through the mayor so we are planning a sandbag giveaway for July but annually we can certainly do that before the start of hurricane season we've already had an after Action meeting uh and I appreciate the unanimous approval of our referral to the neighborhoods committee to discuss uh Lessons Learned and what we could potentially do uh for the future uh so I think that the sandbag giveaway is something something that we can uh pull together for July and we've already started to put that in motion this body be amendable to sort of codifying that going forward yes somebody want to move it I can proced like can [Laughter] okay I'll second it so you want to take a a vote on this directing the administration to start next year on June prior to June 1st to the distribution of sandbags so all in favor motion carries 70 it'll be an after Thea resolution commissioner B um I just wanted to um point out to my colleagues and to the administration and to anybody who's listening online um one of the items on referral on the consent agenda that was referred was to codify the way other cities in South Florida do to um make sure that anybody who's employing a landscaping company they have um remove the grass trimmings and the palm frons and the leaves and anything that gets blown out because right now it's perfectly fine for people to um blow all that stuff down into our street and down the sewers but other cities Coral Gables and and Miami don't and the way we we proactively adopted a um a a measure phasing out Leaf gas blowers in favor electric gas blowers I think this is something we need to do as well um it'll help with drainage even in minor rainfalls but um it will certainly help alleviate the pressure put on by major ones okay this is oh commissioner magazine and also wanted to gaug uh from the body if they thought it would make sense after what we just heard um I think maybe if we would direct the city manager to possibly uh look into expanding the emergency management team of some sort we talked what is it 16 people I think you mentioned Joe that's the storm waterer team I I I believe the numbers it's somewhere between 14 and 16 yeah but if if we would essentially look to in the Declaration of a state of emergency or prior to that if we would have some other term that says we're expecting large amounts of rainfall if we would essentially have a mobilized team on standby pulling resources from other departments that would essentially be able to provide an all handson deck effort people that may not that may not be their primary responsibility but have a profound sense of community uh and they want to have an all handson deck effort I do want to point out uh uh commissioner magazine that um in in cases like we we experienced La the two weeks ago we have people in our sanitary sewer team and water team we we deploy we move them over to all hands on deck so the storm water team is just you know the the regular team that does the the regular work but when we have situations like this it's all hands- on Deck so we pull everybody you know our pump mechanics everybody I mean I yes sir that's correct I know I have seven mayor elected May Commissioners that are happy to be part of the team more resources we can get on that city manager if you to um Mize some sort of Emergency Response Team uh that would be dedicated to essentially responding to uh drain cleaning and we can identify areas of the city that are hotspots that we're all pitching in on through the chair we can certainly do that commissioner magazine and I just want to highlight also that we are embarking on the creation of an educational campaign you mentioned something to that effect earlier where we sort of try to reframe everyone's thinking about emergencies because it's not just named storms and hurricanes but it's events like this that uh can happen swiftly and in an unprecedented fashion so uh we want to uh give tips to our residents as to what they can do uh before and during a flood event and we also want to educate our team a little bit more on uh flash floods and uh emergencies that are of this nature so thank you commissioner Suarez mayor thank you um as a final note I I'm not sure if one of my colleagues had this on referral to a committee um but if we're if we're doing sandbag distribution now can can we can we have a a resolution pass that in the event of another anticipated heavy severe flooding event we open the garages to to everyone that way you know because this can happen next week and so I'd like to have something today where if there is an issue um the city manager can can put out a notice that you know and a text message uh saying that hey you know if you are caught in this rain head to the nearest garage you are you're you're free to free to park Mion Fernandez I think that's a great idea um you know clearly clearly um people needed this they found out about it too late and as you well stated not just our residents our Workforce the the the the problem is when we have people stranded on the street whether they're residents or not we need to avoid that situation how to respond um I just want to make sure is is there an after action that got referred to committee and which committee did it go to commissioner it was referred to the public safety and neighborhood quality of life committee if we could get that item on in July if if the chair would approve that uh the garage uh flood program is something that we have discussed uh After the flood event there are some opportunities to amend the existing program and that's something that we would bring forward at that after Action meeting uh with more specific as to the recommendation can I say something um I think we should add the Convention Center Garage cuz we're going to need it too many cars were total this time so you're going to have to just use all of our garage capacity above um you know sea level I would open up the convention center and you know when we have the kiosks and when we install the $20 million Transportation information system across the city we will be able to get in the future get the message out better I think this was really just like something that took everybody what throwing that in um no but I think that you know once we like now that we understand and I don't think it was just Miami Beach I think everybody was in shock right municipalities were unprepared and the county was unprepared even the State of Florida I'm sure that this legislative session there's going to be funding available you know I don't I mean well we need to be more prepared I don't I also don't think we need to be like you know well not extreme just have a plan and you know I and I think that now I don't think this is never going to happen again I mean that not not that we're not going to have a rain event that we're not going to be prepared and we'll do these things after the fact so you know it's it's it was an an anomaly I mean we've seen this before we've seen severe flooding but I mean we've never seen anything like what happened this time correct it's the worst I've seen in my 11 years here plus the 11 years before that that I lived in the city so okay so so now we know and now we're going to be monitoring these you know these rainstorms as they come in and look at the level of inches and you know it said we were going to get 7 to 11 in we got 22 in the question is um what how many inches do we start to react and implement the plan and that's something that nobody like that we have to now do that we never did in the past so maybe at when we know that we're going to have five inches or above that's when the plan goes into effect and garages are open and text messages sent out sandboxs handed out and then I think will at least be and storm drains cleaned you know um es especially in those low-lying areas you know where people's homes were flooded how many homes were I I know that I I I only saw one home that was really like destroyed basically by this did we have do we know of more than one home how many homes were literally uh ruined I don't know like I don't know that we have a number I've personally been told of at least three um and it was the one area near at the at the yeah at the top of North Bay Road 63r street right there at the entrance to Island I think that got hit the worst and homes were literally um basically destroyed I mean I saw like a home that had almost a foot of water in it well what and one final thing we've been putting off the project on Alton Road not wanting it to come north and kind of like not not pushing it back but I would say that you know on Alton 47th where I was the water was like encrypting and I was out of town and my kids were filming and they're like the water is getting you know very like Danger ously close to where my front door was so you know we also need to I was trying to save the trees on Alton Road cuz but you know at this point I mean what it's going to start 2026 so we do know that that's not even our purview I mean Alton is going to be they already have a plan right with pumps and drains in place they're going to take care of Alton Road right so maybe um instead you know we instead of trying to save the trees at this point we're going to have to just say okay forget the trees and move for forward as quickly as you possibly can and maybe we reach out to F to and tell them that they're starting in the South and going north but really where the problem is is 63rd Street going south and I think that fot needs to change the trajectory of that project and possibly start in the North End and not in the South End Suarez um Joe you said that you get maybe six to eight of these National Weather Service severe flooding alerts um a year roughly I think it was I that said that yeah yeah um I mean look I I want to make sure that you know if this happens again between now and the next committee meeting or commission meeting uh I think a simple resolution would be like whenever the National Weather Service issues a severe flooding event all our garages are open immediately uh I think I think it's prudent that way if this happens again uh between now and then you know we have our residents and our Workforce you know not stranded in the middle of the streets and their cars get total may may um so I would I Echo that sentiment and I would also urge that it gets uh communicated by text as well as any other ways that it gets normally communicated a motion in a second a motion by commissioner Suarez second by commissioner Fernandez but then we got to wrap it up I I know that there were a lot of people out there that literally needed to be rescued something we'd never seen before and people were waiting through this water this sounds ridiculous but were we out there with canoes or something trying to help people how many boats did we have that can work in shallow water like that do we need to purchase this yeah I mean well you know what if depart our fire department was out there I mean you know I I do think maybe we need to also consider like well not an airb but like what do you what do you use what Johns how many did we have did we have enough um do we need to purchase more and thank you for the question commissioner um we had two John boats that we deployed uh with our special operations team and uh we have on order uh um elevated uh high water Vehicles so that in the future uh instead of having to deploy our fire trucks to actually go in there we're going to have vehicles that are uh strictly dedicated to that where the John boats will actually sit on those trucks and uh be able to use them to evacuate uh residents if they need or or people that are stranded and how much are those cars how much are those high water Vehicles they have been ordered and oh we were is coming with and they predict we can we the a little B hard thank you one com I wanted to make is how unpreceded this that uh there's going to be a two-month educational campaign Flyers Flyers placed on vehicles okay no citations during this time and in-person assistance at the North Beach building department office next slide please uh here are some of the safeguards that we're going to do so it's not onerous to to the residents a one-year pilot program uh after two-month education period citations will be issued $36 P per citation no there's going to be no Towing during this pilot program um there can be there's going to be temporary permits can be issued for 90 days to allow residents to switch to their vehicle registration to Miami Beach uh we'll very we'll be very lenient on the citations their first citation can be dismissed and um all the new developments that are happening in in North Beach are going to be excluded from participating in the residential zone parking next slide please um the accessibility of the program it mimics basically all the other residential zones uh parking in Miami Beach um I think most of us know how how these work if you go to the next slide please and you know Community Support has been positive and widespread uh residents are tired of coming home from work and circling to find parking residents shouldn't have have to compete against transient uses and Bad actors uh this is a one-year pilot program lot to gain very little to lose and I'm hoping to have the support of my colleagues thank you Madame vice mayor if I could add another usage I've become aware of because this is so lack and just the wild west up there um videos have been shared with me that a lot of construction companies and construction workers come in park in North Beach and then are bust to construction Lots further north in Surfside and Sunny Isles where there's more restrictive parking measures so they're not even workers working in our city they're just abusing the free parking parking there taking our residential parking and then being busted to their job sites it's egregious this is not meant as a money grab this is meant to disrupt people's lives there is no other purpose than this to improve the lives of our residents living there I'm fully supportive I'll move the item and I have a second already by commissioner Fernandez commissioner magazine okay I call the rooll yes uh all in favor of r70 with