##VIDEO ID:GeOd-oOpCug## e e e e e for know they you're not you're not early or late e for for e for e e for e e he see spee spee fore second spee you get it yeah yeah M single yeah they got you in charge of making sure you how you doing good good good good how's uh how's storm water holding up with these rains and you get it all in one shot what's what's funny is in my line of work I know things must be fine because nobody's calling to complain and then we're like unless their phone [Music] on because in my world it's yeah I mean if e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e it's 6:30 let's call this meeting to order Madame Clerk's about to call the rooll and I'm sure we'll have two other Council per show up in the next couple minutes Madame clerk please call the rule good evening council member goaso present council member Mora council member Diez is not present council member Garcia present council member ruano is not present and vice mayor Fernandez present mayor Sid president mayor you have Quorum let's all rise uh for the Pledge of Allegiance led by director Santos States ofice remain standing for the pledge led by councilman quazo thank you and and I'm going to ask ask everybody to Bow their heads in prayer please dear heavenly father good evening dear heavenly father thank you so much for the opportunity to be here today thank you for the opportunity to serve this community as we're all here in your name serving our our people today we EMB back on a mission to to fix this budget and make sure that we have all the services in place and uh pray for wisdom and guidance and most importantly pray for a dolphin wi tonight in your name we pray amen amen a order business any deferrals additions uh deletions any motions to adopt the order business any any motions to adopt the order of business I want to move the order of business mayor a second all those in favor I I any oppos see none the motion passes uh we're on to public comments anyone from the public wishing to speak manic clerk is there anybody online wishing to speak think you guys got to mute that computer over there thank you I don't know how to do this good evening yes I only see a two participants and if you want to participate and public comments please do so now Aro there's a mute button on the top left I can't it's not testing testing testing testing testing Madam clerk you have anybody online yes the only I see only one participant and welcome to the meeting if you want to participate as always unmute yourself state your name and address for the record and if not we will continue with the meeting again I only see one participant online hey it's uh it's Stephen herberg 16745 Northwest 84th Court good evening Council mayor I I just wanted to try in on the budget I was I was looking if you think sorry I can't come in uh today but I'll be the next one uh one thing for all you to consider is is based off the proposed millage keeping it flat I mean we're at the I think the fourth lowest millage in the county and when you look at the three towns cities ahead of us they they have very different tax bases with throughout uh Aventura and Sunny Isles that obviously have different ways of having high assessments based off their commercial buildings the mall Condominiums and high value condominium so the rate now is is doing the residents a service I do believe that considerably lowering the rate would potentially harm the residents in the level service we want to keep not the minimum level service but the best service we can make uh this town already has exceptionally low rate this Council for years has has been fighting for that low rate and has done a good job getting that low rate uh I just don't know if the if the room is there with inflation with increased costs for the town I know residents have had it too but unfortunately our services cost more as well is there at this point for for further lowering the rate so just something keep in mind I trust you guys you all make the right decision I just wanted to point that out and U I'll be watching thanks thank you councilman elect Madam Clerk yes I don't see anyone else participating on Via zoom and as well is anyone here um in council chambers you're more than welcome to approach the podium and state your name and address for the record who do you have other people Don the only person that I had was one participant so that is it public comments is closed uh we're on to the next item which is item 6A ordinance ordinance in first reading yes Mr Mayor this is a ordinance of the town of Miami Lakes adopting the millage rate for the town of Miami Lakes for the fiscal year commencing October 1st 2024 through September 30th 2025 pursuant to Florida section 200065 Florida Statutes providing for directions to the tax collector providing for notice providing for conflicts providing for severability and providing for effective date thank you Mr attorney any motions on the table mayor I need to read a budget statement into the record okay the proposed millage rate for the town of Miami Lakes fiscal year 20242 is 2.07 32 this rate is the same as the current year the gross taxable value for operating purposes is 4 b891 million i931 the proposed millage rate will generate 9,634 854 in adalum Revenue budgeted at 95% collection rate the proposed millage rate of 2.73 two is 7.9% above the roll back rate of 1 9208 any motions on the table Council mayor I make a motion to adopt the military AG 2.07 32 I'll second it any discussion Council any discussion um there is discussion on my end I after speaking to the property appraiser I made a commitment to him that I'd bring it up um and also I've seen an uptake in homes for sale in our community just recently when everybody got their trim notices eight new homes went up for sale about 88 homes uh for sale at the moment and it's becoming more and more difficult uh not only for a longtime homeowners but that second third fourth generation of Miami Lakers to stay here so while I not going to propose a full roll back I know I'm the I'm on the minority on these on this type of issue but I I'd like to see a 3% um reduction in the mill rate so my motion is to uh to make uh to do a 3% reduction in the M rate I'll second for discussion councilman Garcia uh 3% would um would be how much exactly again uh in Revenue 289,000 I'm sorry 289,000 289,000 thank you we have councilman Rano who's attending uh online as well a discussion Council I I'd like to um just like to ask you mayor um and I know you know you you've you've been very transparent you know you push for for these types of um cuts in the past about $300,000 in the budget where would you anticipate P getting the 300,000 without the residents um losing level of service or us not funding um infrastructure or usse where would we get the 300,000 a I I have a very Frank conversation about our two manager system we got to get rid of one in the budget if this were to happen there we would that would take us to about 70% of this of this cut uh secondly I I take away uh the the the non-procurement threshold all the I'd eliminate all the contracts that haven't uh been procured that are under the threshold of of uh in the manager's discretion on the 25,000 a additionally i' I'd push to make those changes within immediately add those changes within inter departmental procurement where that alone you see about a 5% decrease in contracts across the board so just making the first one is about 70% of that of that cut and then well I mean just making that first one we'd probably have to give a severance package to one of the individuals the other individual is here on a non-contract basis right so if if you're actually looking at this then what you are entertaining is removing the individual that we do not have to fund a Ser sance package for and I mean I I know we can't make decisions on Personnel here but it's very clear by a process of elimination what that decision would be just by the the feedback you've been given so I I understand where you're going with that two manager system the other side it would take extensive amount of time to come back I mean I I don't think that this is something that you're going to see the 300,000 in Revenue come back um on this fiscal year while I agree with you it might be something in the future it's not something that we'll be able to mitigate the 280 so I appreciate you profer those but right now immediately from the budget where would we get the 289 I'd immediately remove that first off that position from the budget start off with that you can't not us firing and secondly I me every single every single threshold I don't know if we can I mean well and I would I would go find tooth me ask now attorney attorney and I'm going to ask the attorney and I appreciate you giving me the clarification by us removing a position in the budget isn't that like removing an IND individual and I don't I don't I don't want to put you in a bad spot but I'm saying are we allowed to do that in this form of government you're teetering we're teetering is what I heard we're teetering so I appreciate your your interpretation Mr Mr attorney and I I don't want to say you know these are the types of conversations that that I would rather have one-on-one with you I understand but the mayor the mayor is making a proposal for us during the budet you you as a council your uh as Charter uh there are specific Provisions there that discuss uh Administration is is with the manager and your job is policy you you do control the purse so do you want to eliminate uh from certain line items you certainly have uh the right to do that uh when you're talking about particular Provisions that's where uh you are uh you you need to be careful I appreciate it thank you so my uh my preference uh for where to at least initially fund the uh the 289,000 would be from uh the amount that we're uh putting back into the syncing fund with the the pledge to then fully fund the remaining amount into the syncing fund from the carryover um later in the in the thank you VI mayor and I've you know I appreciate where you're coming from and I would say in years past um that's something that we've done and when we've been afforded the luxury of having huge surpluses unfortunately this year um the carry forward is not that ambitious and from what I've done my research with staff it's approximately $70,000 so to remove the funding of the sinking fund especially at the manager recommendation at this point um simple math right netwise we're not going to be funding it um and I think what we're doing is we're we're again undercutting uh future councils and I appreciate what what councilman elect hburg came on the deis and and I think he's the only one that's provided as public comment was we have nipped and tucked this budget significantly to the point where now um we're getting creative right but to the point where we're Bard teetering to use the word that their attorney is saying on on things that are legal or or or not proper and um furthermore eroding the fabric of the budget that you may inherit right the the viability of the budget that you may inherit or or or counil and dieas may inherit but more importantly to the other people that are sitting here so well I've been a big proponent in the past of voting for these measures which force right us to to Really tighten our belts um the tightening of the belt has come at sign significant cost last year it came at taking away 500,000 from the park right this year it's taking away out of our piggy bank out of our savings so well I think it's an honorable gesture right to to to kind of um say look we can continue to tighten continue to tighten I think it's at a point where we're critically uh tightening where we're we're undercutting to a point where we're we're hurting um we're going to hurt our residents and services and we're we're teetering on areas where it might not even be proper so I I you know I appreciate it uh I don't think I can support the the this motion at this time but I'd be more than happy to listen to other people's comments um as well thank you thank you councilman uh any further comments mayor yes H the both items that you have before you the only two items that you have before you tonight which is number one is the adoption of the millage rate in first reading and secondly the adoption of the budget in first reading we have a presentation that I think is applicable to both items uh obviously both items are are linked they're tied at the hip so I think that it may be beneficial if you'll allow me to make the presentation if not I could hold it for uh just the second item during the budget uh conversation yeah right now we're we're simply on the millage and then we'll take one step at a time yeah it's if I may Mr Mayor uh it's important that you guys pass the millage first before you really have any in-depth conversations on the budget no I knowy any further discussion on this Madame clerk please call the RO I have I'm sorry no no I have a question yep with regards to the with regards to the Staffing and the um the proposal from the mayor um I do believe that it is at our discretion to fund any line item so I understand that that it that the attorney said they were teetering but I I believe that this is something that has been done in the past and uh and if there's just no funding for a line item I don't think that that's us uh teetering with regards to getting involved in in Staffing it's just budgeting ma Madam councilwoman that's that's exactly what I said after that maybe I'm not sure if you missed that part but maybe I didn't catch that part yeah I did put that into the record that yes you absolutely which you said is 100% correct um it's when you discuss particular positions or you get into the actual weeds of uh Personnel uh that that's where you have to be careful but as far as line items you have complete discretion uh to go line item by line item and make the changes that you feel are appropriate okay thank you thank you any further discussion on this item Madame clerk please call the role so the motion is from mayor Sid which was seconded by council member Garcia motion for a 3% reduction in the millage rate council member Garcia yes council member Mora no council member Diez no council member coyaso no council member ruano no vice mayor Fernandez yes mayor Sid yes the motion fails thank you madam clerk we're on to uh the main motion any further discussion on the main motion Madame clerk please call the rule ordinance in first reading item 6A motion to adopt the current millage rate council member coyaso yes council member ruano yes council member Garcia no council member Diez yes council member morera yes vice mayor Fernandez no mayor Sid no the ordinance in first reading passes thank you madam clerk we're on to the next item which is item 6B it's an ordinance in first reading Mr attorney thank you Mr Mayor uh this is an ordinance of the town of Miami Lakes Florida approving and adopting the budget for the town of Miami Lakes for fiscal year 20242 providing for expenditure of funds providing for amendments providing for carryover of funds providing for the incorporation of the adopted capital budget as a the capital Improvement element of the comprehensive plan providing for conflicts providing for severability and providing for an effective date thank you any motions on the table so we can start uh the presentation I'll move the budget as presented with the uh recommendations from town staff second it any presentations from staff yes if we can get the presentation up next page okay this presentation is also before you it's hard to read sometimes on the screen but anybody watching on Zoom then can watch it on the screen what we have done is following the um budget Workshop a week or so ago a couple weeks ago we made the changes that we thought there was consensus on the uh on the deis obviously there cannot be votes so we had to uh we believe that there was uh some sort of a consensus on a couple uh different things so the first thing under the revenue side we did and you took the first step in making this so at the last council meeting by adopting the first reading of the uh ordinance to make this happen which is adjusting the ordinance that requires the requirement for unallocated fund balance moving it from two months uh of the general fund budget which is 16.67% moving it back to 15% which is where where it was about uh 2 to 3 years ago the second item that we are uh proposing is to transfer $250,000 of general fund dollars that are currently sitting in the uh Capital account for the senior center interior buildout uh transferring that back into the general fund to be allocated in this budget with that with those changes under the expenditure side from the items that we were originally proposing to uh cut from this budget we are able to reinstate funding or recommend reinstate funding for all of the police overtime which is the traffic enforcement detail the auto theft detail and the holiday Grinch Busters detail obviously the uh the amount of overtime necessary for minimum Staffing was already in this proposed budget and now we've added back these items we've also reinstated the funding for the new level of uh the newly calculated amount for the syncing fund and that amount is $366,000 next page so what we did is I'll walk you through this next page so you could see exactly uh what are the how the numbers uh work out so if you look across the top the fund balance requirement uh last year with the last year's budget of $2,373 th000 uh uh at 16.67% equal [Music] 3,395 64 well the uh level that we presented to you at the workshop at 16.67% would have required the unallocated fund balance to be raised to 3.5 58 uh million with the change of moving it back to 15% uh that drops the unallocated fund balance requirement to 3.25 in the workshop budget we had an amount on the expense side of $162,600 [Music] not have to uh move the 162,000 on the expense side but we now have some capacity of $144,950 moving the uh the number down to $155,000 however from that $144 we have to take away legal reserves which is the amount of money that's sitting today in this current budget in legal reserves that were pushing into next year and that 93,587 will be used used to go towards the uh year 2 payment towards the P py settlement taking that amount away that leaves us $ 48,3 to be allocated within this budget so if you look at the bottom and you look at the burglary detail adding that back the auto theft detail adding that back the holiday Grinch Busters detail the sinking fund and then taking away the amount of money that we now do not have to fund in allocated fund balance of 162 uh there is some reduced tree trimming because we were able to fund $36,000 worth of tree trimming from the fpnl franchise fee um on the revenue side we now have the 48,000 that I told you that is able to be transferred in from fund uh fund balance the transfer in from the senior center and then there were some uh Revenue lines that we took a a second look at we looked that forecasted Trends uh we also had some new estimates and we were able to make adjustments in about 4 to5 Revenue lines that equal total uh $28,000 and that uh uh council members is uh leading to this balanced budget next page so I just want to recap for you how we got to this point and some of this you saw already from the um from the uh from the workshop so these are the items on this next page that were cut in last year's budget or this year this current Year's budget fiscal 2324 budget and obviously then they're not being funded or recommended to be funded in next year's budget they were the syncing fund this is from the workshop so we did not make any changes other than to highlight a couple things that we were able to add back in the infrastructure syncing fund obviously it's in yellow because we were able to add that back in uh the fewer motor cycles we're cutting five of 35 M Cycles in the uh Parks eliminated the mulch applications eliminated the top dressing uh and so forth as you read down that list we reduced RightWay maintenance by most Cycles mulch applications less fertilization these are all things that you saw at the workshop uh we reduced tree trimming and partially were able to fund back with the fpnl franchise um and then we reduced travel and pum for the mayor uh and councel what we were able to do that was already happened that already happened last year and we just kept those cuts for this year in addition uh to uh fund the budget at the 2.37 that the millage that was adopted in first reading today you saw these items also that we reduce traveling perdm for Town and staff eliminated miscellaneous expenses operating supplies reduced training and education uh you see the police overtime because you saw that during the workshop but it's in yellow because we were able to add that back in eliminated the holiday decorations uh eliminated the enhanced fot maintenance off-ramp at 826 and uh the 154 further reduced tree trimming reduced additional emergency janitorial services and you see down the down this list um that is essentially our presentation the next page is there just if any uh millage reductions were would have been considered we once again put this list for you for uh Food For Thought on the next page um but uh since the millage rate is right now in first reading at least uh being left flat these items are not necessarily need to be considered um so what we um the only thing that is outstanding and we were not able to do it because this budget had been published uh for several days now was the conversation that was had at the council meeting two days ago which was to fund the lprs so we would have to entertain an amendment uh to move and fund that from the general fund uh and if um if if you want the staff to bring it back on second reading and uh with recommendations on where those areas need to be uh uh cut on the expense side we can do that if you prefer to uh give us Direction tonight and tell us to take the 32,500 Melissa that's the correct amount lprs 32,500 um if you want to give us Direction on where to make those cuts to be able to fund that from the general fund we'll be more than happy to uh to hear that Mr Mayor I have a question for the manager when and it's a clarification on two items when floor's open to us no no the floor's open the floor is yours Mr manager um thank you for the budget presentation I just wanted to go back into can you give me the exact dollar amount on the revenue side first slide of the that um and I know we're we're talking about adjusting the allocation from the ordinance from being 16.67 to 15 what's that exact dollar amount say that again the Melissa noted yes she understood my question oh you didn't hear me the the the ordinance where we're we're we're adjusting the UN unallocated fund balance from 16.67 to 15 how much is that it's uh just a little bit over $300,000 over 300,000 okay right and um and and if you look at this sheet here the busy sheet that's got a lot of um you can see that by the 1626 11 that is the amount that we in the workshop we were proposing that had to be uh put in from our expenses and left in unallocated fund balance to be able to meet the 16.67 uh% requirement now that we've lowered that that 162,000 does not have to be expended in addition then that leaves an additional capacity in fund balance of 144,145 that's if you add those two numbers together that gives you the just over $300,000 um but you don't have that total amount because of the legal reserves that have to be uh pushed into next fiscal year to help offset the payment for the pizy settlement got it so what is the real number 144 minus 93 if you see on the sheet the 144 oh 48 48 035 oh that we're use you're utilizing in this budget is 48 yeah got it 483035 and again just tracking and trending um this is probably going to be one of the years where we're coming at least in my years the closest that we've ever been um to the actual number what are you projecting a surplus uh are you projecting a a loss and what is that projected number I know you don't have an exact number but what are we projecting um for carry forward yeah obviously the the fiscal year hasn't ended we have a few more weeks and the numbers uh haven't been uh updated to the minute right but the last the number that we have the last update um was about forecasting about $774,000 um exp uh Revenue over expenses for uh to finish out the fiscal year I just wanted to make sure that I was still working with that number in my brain it was around the 70 I remember 70 something but 74,000 thank you Mr manager I'll I'll yield my time on the floor for any other discussion you guys have thank you I have a quick question Mr manager we in the budget for example and I don't know if the the council knows you a lot of them don't might not remember this but you have a threshold of $25,000 right to give out professional contracts where where in the budget can can we see these do you have an amount of of uh like is there a specific line item that says these are the manager has $200,000 a year to expend on professional contracts under $225,000 is that is that is there how do we how do we see that in the in the budget yeah there I don't believe that there are any left we've been over the last few years trying to uh uh get rid of those types of uh individual uh uh account or agreements contracts icas and we have one that's right now ongoing which is a small one for like three or $4,000 for uh Natalie Garcia who left our employment to assist uh Rosa in the transition into the procurement position so she has it's a small one and she charges us by the hour when Rosa has questions about uh different things and where is this where is that and how did you do this and she's also assisting Rosa and uh Tony in doing the first blush of the uh of the procurement ordinance rewrite um I believe that that may be the only one that's active now I I offered one to Renee uh before she left uh last week uh she deferred and she asked uh not to do that so we were going to do the same thing you know that's it's one of the things when we we try as much as possible to promote from within we think that there's a lot of benefit to that uh people who have shown loyalty to our town loyalty to this uh Council we believe that there's value in promoting from within the downside to that is that as we promote up the up the line then dominoes keep falling behind that right so when somebody leaves like a Natalie who was a a oneperson show in procurement or somebody leaves like Renee who was a oneperson show in Grants um it there's value in keeping them on for a few months just with small icas to be able to give counsel and advice and answer questions of the person who's um uh transitioning into those positions I believe that there's that's those are the only icas that we have now on the books Melissa do you no and then the I didn't question the value of them I was just questioning where is there a line item in the budget that shows where not only icas but if there's any other contracts that that you um for for certain services that you would give under 25,000 like where in the where in the in the budget does it show would money for the they would be Department by Department if I'm not mistaken it would be under a Professional Services account but but in every departmental budget there may be multiple areas in the budget where they're found so so give me give me an I just want to see give me an example where where do I look on on I'm just curious about that so Professional Services account under every if you look in under Administration there's a Professional Services account for administration if you do not recall um in this I'm not sure if it was this fiscal year it was in the prior fiscal year we had a grants uh support service and that was a professional service and it's in that account under Administration that's for uh the grants yeah the grant support person right got I understood I thought I thought maybe I thought maybe it was under each each department depart had a if they need a professional Serv what's that what's that number right now under F wise like storm water has a Professional Services account Administration has a professional service account which is under general fund in other funds they have their own because their funding is only for that particular fund but it's under 001 um 1301 hold on I'll give you 5310 Z what's what's the amount what's the budgeted amount for next year or what's the budget amount in the current year no for next year for next year give me one second the budget that you all are presenting that that we're discussing now the proposed so the budget for next year is 15,000 got it okay and this past year it was this past year we had it at 20 um and we had a yeah it's hidden give me one second so is that enough to to pay Natalie what you're all saying to pay Natalie's contract the 15,000 for this year if she's as close to three to four that or do you at some point do you all move it within uh the departmental transfers what's the threshold for the manager's departmental transfer 700 a month got it a month got it so how which I I may add is probably the lowest within the within the count we're funding Natalie's contract within the existing budget so we don't have to transfer money so if Renee were to accept where would you have all found this money from also from the same source okay sounds good interesting thank you any other discussion Mr Mayor at this time I don't have a discussion but I will note we started the meeting right at 6:30 which I applaud but uh I think it didn't really give much of a chance for members of the public to show up and give public comments uh I noted that the members of the audience arrived after public comments was closed I'd like to just briefly reopen uh public comments to allow them to speak if they have anything that they'd like to say that's fine second all in favor I I EST knows you can come up whenever and speak where it's uh we're never going to tell you no Nancy mama and ncy you're going to speak as well thank you mayor um thank you for opening the public comments um obviously you know there's one light item I'm really upset about I cannot believe that you're going to take the 250 from the capital fund which was designated for the senior centers to put into general fund I promise I can sit with any single one of you and I can find that 250,000 the other thing I think you need to to start recognizing and I understand I'm a budget person I've sat in that chair many of times you need to start looking at salaries when I hear that our employees the ones who do the work don't get cola but you are administrative heavy and look at some of those salaries something's got to be done you know it can't be six figures here $200,000 here close to 300 thou you know look at them they're here they're here every time I come they're here it's got to stop and if you don't want to do the homework I'll volunteer to do the homework on the senior center I spoke to Michael Sal I have written grants Michael Salem you know writes grants the area agent has a lot of funding for the senior center Lewis you know that I'm sure Ray you know that you know what's going on when are you going to give the seniors a home why are you so resistance in doing that they're the ones that vote for you well did you look at who voted last election and maybe I'm a so voice I went to the Bingle today and I spoke with several people I'm taking it real personal because I think while we have a generational Gap I mean Peterman you're my age too so you know we're in the same Gap almost um but you're close you're a senior you're a senior I mean it's not like you're not a senior who's going to care because obviously some some don't and that's probably my biggest comment salaries I agree with the mayor 120% something's got to be done but them who do the work you start start taking care of people because the morale in this town hall is terrible we lost two good people and you ever wonder why procurement officer I was a procurement officer as a town manager 70 over 70% of your services are contracted why do you need a procurement officer for full-time I mean 51% is the police department you need a procurement officer for that too come on maybe some of the administrators need to start doing more work but are procur officer when over 70% I'm not lying look at your document is over contracted it's contracted so what are we procuring offic place um I get a little bit of motional when we talk about seniors thank you thank you for reopening thank you eser Ma Mama n do they know do they know about the uh Public Safety coin no no that's a secret okay okay I won mention listen you all know that my memory is not so great I think this is one of the first times I'm coming up here and I got to tell you guys years ago and I want to say it's 14 years ago when I joined the elderly Affairs committee and I spoke to a particular gentleman and I said how come that committee's got seven members and this one elderly Affairs has got 21 you know what I was told I know some of you may remember me telling this story I was told it was because elderly people vote now I'm telling you all that was the answer elderly people vote and I don't want to see the elderly Senior Center messed with it's about time that the elderly have a place to be please don't do away with that plan okay thank you thank you m and ANS appreciate your uh your service to the town a any other I'll just move to close it oh yeah no no public or you can CL public comments is closed H any other motions on the table or just discussion a brief discussion or a brief comment on this and it's a little bit of a I guess a confusion on what may or may not be getting done here but with with this uh transferring of the senior C Center funds of of $250,000 what what confuses me is are we essentially saying we're not getting a senior center for the foreseeable future I mean I think that that is contradictory to council member kyo's item at the last meeting that clearly and which which passed on this Das and I think uh clearly demonstrates that this this council is dedicated and or better yet committed to providing a senior center whether it be in the grams property or somewhere else in an alternate location doesn't this send a mixed message uh don't doesn't this contradict what the council very clearly uh indicated at our last council meeting mayor can can I chime in yeah if you don't mind um as you know this town this Council for 25 years now has always valued our seniors very much so right uh currently we have a slew of senior programming that we sponsor that we host in the Mary Collins uh Community Center so for all intents and purposes the Mary Collins Community Center uh acts as a de facto uh Senior Center as you stated correctly the council member goaso asked at the last council meeting for the staff to go out uh to have a uh backup plan right a plan B an alternative uh uh contingency plan in the the event that the senior center that was uh promised to the town in the Grahams uh property that was originally the senior village that's now being called Lakeside Village uh if that Senior Center shell is never uh provided to the town so we have that it's a mission for us to continue uh we are going to identify whether it be an existing facility or some future facility uh and identify a facility that we can continue we it's not like we're abandoning the seniors we are can continue somehow some way whether it be in an existing facility or a future facility all of the programming that we host for our seniors this is just that currently there's half a million dollars sitting in the capital fund for the senior center in with the original expectation that the grams would give us the shell in that development now that that the the plans that are being discussed that were on the table last meeting that then they were deferred uh the senior senator may on that property may not happen so but in that Capital account there was half a million dollars 250 of it came from Impact fees that were restricted that we cannot take and put into the general fund the other $250,000 were monies that this Council uh transferred in there on a carry forward Amendment uh fiscal year or two ago uh to complete the uh what we thought was going to be what the monies that was needed to uh uh Finish the build out of the Interior so all we are doing here is making a transfer of just the general fund dollars because we cannot transfer the impact fee dollars into the general fund but the general fund dollars that went in there to bring them back out and once we have a more uh complete plan on what's going to happen happen with the with a senior center whether it be at an existing facility the grand property or somewhere else then we'll continue to devise a plan for a dedicated uh Senior Center and the seat for that the starting point for that will be the $250,000 that we have uh of impact fee dollars that are not being removed from the capital account they stay in the capital account I don't know if that's a short story long sorry that that answered the question thank you Mr Mayor Mr manager got it if there's no motions we'll just go to some comments and then yeah we'll start closing I wanted to ask uh the manager uh to please provide a comparison similar to what you did before when we were discussing increasing your salary uh to provide just a comparison as far as the departmental director salaries compared to other cities of a similar size I think that would be helpful in addressing um Miss colen's concerns and the mayor's concerns well not only that I got to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges unions sort of you know size so just yeah thank you eser look forward to seeing that Mr Mayor I had I had some questions um actually to uh to my colleague to the right I know both the the senior center and the syncing fund are both um things that you've championed during the years right and I also Al NE neither one of of those um neither one of those budgetary items is something that's going to be expended right away right they're both uh items that are in holding in one uh form or another so I wanted to hear your perspective as to what you thought your preference was um as to whether we should leave it in the senior center build out uh Capital funds or if you would rather see those funds move to the to the syncing fund uh thank you um vice mayor I I think both both line items are equally important I think a lot of this um especially what I heard from from two people that I consider um leaders right and champions and advocates for seniors and Mrs colen and and and Nancy I I know how you know this is a very important I think you're the the reason that that I brought forward the item right Mr colon um because we were scared right we were scared that the senior living Village this model for for for taking care of our elderly we were losing it right and um even chairman Wick said oh you know when that was first passed I finally have a place you know she felt safe that she can leave celebration point and now we're on the verge of losing that right so I think the Optics um is is really what councilman Moro was speaking to and kind of what the the Panic that's setting in in the senior community is we're somehow abandoning this this project and and that couldn't be further from the truth but that's that's the message we're sending by removing that money so well it is a placeholder I think it's sending a message right that this is somehow something that that we don't want to do and um my concern with with that is that the same thing happens that happened in The Optimist part we took half a million we got a roll back rate but at what cost right at half a million dollars that we took away from the Optimus plug that we haven't put back nor can we put back right because we just there's not enough money there so while I know we all like to Champion the roll back rate and say look look at this great thing that we did the counter to that was we also took away half a million dollars from the Optimus Park and there's really not a plan to put it back so I think that's really my fear with the 250,000 right that we're we're sending out a message and there's really not a plan to put it back now realizing that it's not an immediate project right that it's not coming there's going going to be opportunities to put it back right especially um as revenues shift especially when when um you know the the ordinances go back uh to maybe fully being funded because I I don't like what we're doing here either right taking out of our God bless you taking out of our piggy bank right to to fund ongoing recurring expenses is not sound financial practices right and that's exactly what we're doing here some of us have even championed that this is bad fiscal fiscal you know fiscal policy and that's exactly what we're doing we're reducing our piggy bank to go ahead and and fund recurring expenses um and I think you're you're going to be the one that's going to you you or councilman dieas are going to inher this right and it's going to be very easy to deflect and blame Administration and salaries but the reality is that we're digging our own hole right and the residents come back to us and the residents are going to come to blame us right we're going to deflect the blame cuz we're experts at deflection but this is the moment where the rubber meets the road so going back to the syncing fund why is that equally important because we have grossly underfunded it year over-year we have taken some opportunities to chip away at it and one day we're going to need it and we're not going to have it so to in a roundabout way it it sucks on both ends right why I'm in agreement with leaving the sinking fund maybe even reducing the amount of the sinking fund um and looking at that carry forward expenditure as maybe a possible stop Gap um is because there is a budget Revenue Surplus potentially and because the type of money that it is we're getting out of a reserve item to kind of fund a reserve right so I really see that more analogous the adjustment to the fund and fully funding the reserve of the sinking fund as something that's analogous well I believe that maybe um you know if anything there's money that we can put back into the senior center with that $74,000 I I appreciate your input the the one uh thing I wanted to to add to that I think for everybody's consideration is the the project formerly known as the senior village is is still something that's still very much um you know fluid at at this point and isn't isn't fully set and um I'm also concerned about the Optics as as it refers uh to the the people championing and and developing that project and I don't want anybody to get the impression that we're in any way uh less committed or less able to fund the buildout of of the senior center that we're essentially defunding the buildout of the senior center so I I don't want to uh to give that impression to to anybody that's kind of my preference to to leave it leave it whole and then make the uh the syncing fund whole after afterwards but just wanted to put those those thoughts out there you know I I appreciate it vice mayor and I think we're we're we're lock stpp in that and you know I think that that's good fod for the second reading right um and and uh a good opportunity to maybe revisit what those numbers are but uh I appreciate the sentiment and I don't I don't necessarily disagree with you on that thank you seeing no further comments Madam clerk please call the rule mayor just the to the point that I made earlier that we need an amendment on the lp our uh fi financing of 32,500 if you'd like for staff to come back in second reading you can give me that direction and we'll come back with recommendations on how to fund that 32500 if you uh had something that you wanted give me direction and say take it from here no I'd like to move to direct the staff to come back with options okay is there a second on that I'll second have discussion and I want to ask the police major a question since you're here now if it's okay major Gonzalez T Commander have we finished the uh the LPR net based on where your game plan was uh no we have um two intersections that need to be uh they're still pending to be complete are there residents that live near those intersections that can Poss some criminal can possibly go through those intersections and commit a crime and go back out undetected sure thank you any further discussion on this all those in favor I I any oppose no a no Madam clerk please call the rule so in the motion from council member Mora seconded by council member coyaso for Town staff to look into options of funding the 32,500 um for the lprs council member Mora yes council member Garcia no council member Diez yes council member goaso yes council member ruano yes vice mayor Fernandez no mayor Sid no the motion passes thank you madam clerk please uh call the rooll on the main motion as amended a ordinance and first reading item 6B council member goaso yes council member Mora yes council member Diez yes council member Garcia no council member ruano yes vice mayor Fernandez no mayor Sid no ordinance in first reading item 6B passes thank you madam clerk uh that is it for our first reading we'll see you at the second uh hearing of our budget this meeting is adjourned have a good night