hey good evening I'm going to ask everybody to take a seat is the vice mayor around I know he had requested some recognitions for some students some young students I know we got to get them get them out of here as fast as possible then we have several proclamations we're giving out today if you need a chat please go outside B fa so I want you know so I'm going to hand it over to the vice mayor he has some students that he wants to recognize tonight and we want to get those students out of here as fast as possible thank you mayor and obviously it's a it's a school night so we want to make sure all these kids get to class tomorrow morning on time all right so the first special recognition that I want to do is for a very very special young man in our community who just won a very prestigious Award right so the Walter B Young youth Hall of Fame award is an award that is given through the Youth Fair organization right it is highly highly competitive I was actually uh fortunate enough to be one of the judges a few years back um and I got to see the absolute best and brightest that uh Miami Dade has to offer apply for what is essentially five Award right um in this class the only Middle School student to receive this award is Mr Jeremy JJ Matthews n [Applause] down and Jackie please come up than you J you wants um okay hi um hi I want to I want to thank um I want to thank my parents for getting me to this point their passionate support for you know less toxic medicine and and more funds for Childhood Cancer definitely inspired me to believe what I believe and and you know do everything I do to you know help out in all the fundraisers I do and also I want to thank everybody at Bob Graham Education Center their staff their the administrators definitely pushed me and motivated me they gave me everything I need to succeed and get to the point where I am right now [Applause] so JJ on behalf of the town of Miami Lakes we want to present you with this certificate of recognition in honor of your achievement thank you very much let's get a picture I'm GNA step out of the picture congratulations [Applause] JJ but don't go too far a a little a little far A little far all right so the uh the second group that I want to uh to recognize today about two weeks ago I was invited to uh to participate and witness one of the most uplifting things um that you can witness as an elected official it was an auditorium full of young people who gave up their entire Saturday to become more civically engaged better citizens right and so three area schools competed in uh what is referred to as Trojan mun2 right so a hml's model un competition um and at this competition right we had schools from all over the county compete but one school stood Above the Rest and that school was Miami Lakes K8 Center so I want to bring up Miss Simeon as well as her students so congratulations guys missim would you like to say a few words hi everyone good evening I'm sorry I I I I'm a teacher and as a teacher we are in testing mode and my voice has completely gone um thank you everyone for this recognition uh these are some of my my students that have participated in our model un competitions um this year I'm proud to say that we competed at not only Trojan m 2 we competed at Gman one at Barbara Goldman Senior High where we also won uh best delegation uh we competed at the district level at MDM um and for the first time ever we took home secretary General's award which is best overall school um there were about 300 students there um ranging as far from like Orlando some schools came down and my kids came on top and I'm very proud of them a lot of work goes into model un and they were problem solving issues that you know adults cannot solve uh to give you an idea we talked about crisis situations in Sudan we talked about climate change and the growing AI technology and they were all able to pass resolutions you know to Hope y solve these problems worldwide so thank you so much for this recognition I'm very proud of my children excellent so on behalf of the town of miam laks we want to present you with this certificate of recognition but we also there's more have certificates for the students so let's see if I can get somebody to help me pass these out thank you To Go's our resident MVP here all right let's take a big group picture [Music] e e [Applause] Miss adabi if you are here miss outc come on up and meritz come up Miss adab so for those of you that don't know Miss ADC is is the advisor and organizer of Trojan M to right so a lot of the credit goes to her as well as the the uh Team of stud student uh advisor so I'm going to give her the mic a second so that she can kind of uh good evening everyone um thank you for having us here um so this year we had our second iteration of trojer and the goal of troj mon is like you said earlier to build civically engaged young leaders and I think that's what we're doing at HML so just like Miss siman has stated um there's a lot of good things happening in area schools in Miami Lakes um this year we won best delegation for every competition that we went to from gatorman which is a USU to um nightm which is at UCF to Mii D which is here um Fon so every competition that we went to we won best delegation and we wanted to pay forward by having our own conference for middle schools because they only attend usually one local one which is my day m but obviously Goldman had one also this year but we hope to continue and just to engage the young students in the area because when all of you have retired um you want to have young people who are able to make decisions on your behalf who are knowledgeable who know how to problem solve who is just aware about everything that's going on around them and they also know that there's no hero anywhere we are the heroes so thank you [Applause] again I would also like to recognize members of the Miami Lakes Town Foundation which sponsored Trojan mon too uh I think we have some members of the foundation board I saw Fred in the back thank you Fred all right so in addition to Miami Lakes C won the best overall program we also had students from our other two uh Miami Lakes Middle Schools participate so I'm going to call up some students from Bob Graham we have Joel Gonzalez There You Go sir Justin [Applause] prenza a name we say often in these Chambers Lorenzo [Applause] Koba welcome and JJ Matthews come back up all right you want to take some pictures with the the group from uh from Bob Graham and Mr Brady would you like to come up as well please thank you everybody and everybody say so well I'll leave it at that thanks for all your support thank and I'm proud of you students let's take a picture together see [Applause] all right and then last but not least our uh our favorite and best Standalone Middle School in the town of Miami Miami Lakes Middle School is also very well represented let me make sure I get the right ones I believe so I know Zion is here we can have there we go we have come [Applause] up and karolina [Applause] poretti all right let's take a picture future Trojans maybe no e [Applause] hey if the elderly Affairs committee can join me fi if you can come join me as well uh I just want to make sure if you can bring them over here please so tonight we have several uh proclamations that we have one of them uh they're all extremely special in in their own way one in particular we're jumping around because it was a special request by the elderly Affairs committee they were getting upset at me um full disclosure to everybody else so I apologize a so in in 2012 I'll never forget I I was campaigning for Town Council I get a call from a young lady who tells me mayor I not mayor Manny I need to meet you and I'm going to and I want to set up a meeting with all my friends and I'll never forget I went to a house in East Lakes sat down and I had about 15 women who love Miami Lakes grow me for about an hour because they want to know what I was all about and I'll never forget that day leaving there and and since then all these years later uh 12 years later uh she's still my friend and they're all they're all still my friend uh she's with us today that's uh Miss Dy Wicks a legend in our [Applause] community no no no no no no no no so whereas Dorothy Dy Wicks a longtime resident in Miami Lakes Florida has exemplified outstanding standing dedication and service to our community and has demonstrated exceptional leadership as a volunteer chair of the Miami Lakes elderly Affairs committee tirelessly advocating for the well-being and enrichment of our elderly citizens and during the challenging times of pandemic doy Wicks ensured that shuin and elderly residents were not only cared for but were also provided with social engagement through initiatives like Bingo and other activities despite her own health risk and whereas Dy Wicks organized distributions of meals provided by local restaurants for those who could drive and pick up their meals and she arranged for lunches to be delivered to households to housebound seniors with the purpose of relieving hunger and loneliness among Miami lak senior citizens and whereas with her vibrant spirit and Good Humor Dy Wicks organized numerous community events including the Miss and later miss and Mr Miami Lakes pageant the annual seniors holiday party Halloween costume celebration and informative seniors bingo luncheons with expert speakers on money and health matters held right here at Town Hall and at Royal Oaks Park at the Roberto Lonzo Community Center whereas Dy Wicks went above and beyond by coordinating enriching field trips to Marlin games and casinos for our seniors ensuring ensuring they had enjoyable experiences outside their homes and volunteered her time and effort to compi compile applications for the Jerry's list crew assisting those in need with shutters and supplies during Hurricane Season and whereas Dy Wick's volunteer work extended to the Church of Our Lady of the lakes in St Mary's Cathedral where she selfishly selflessly sorry self sorry sorry sorry sorry self selfishly I don't know selfishly serve her community and we're we love you I'm sorry and whereas Dy Wicks born in Miami Florida and a resident in Miami Lakes for 35 years is the oldest of seven siblings and a graduate of NRE Dame Academy bringing her education and compassion to the Forefront of her community for service of others now therefore I Manny said by virtue of the authority vested in me as a mayor of the town of Miami Lakes and on behalf of the Town Council and all 33,000 Miami Lakers do hereby Proclaim Tuesday May 14 2024 as Dy Wicks day here in the town of my [Applause] of I don't know what to say after that but uh the one I really want to thank is lisis quazo for when we first started the elderly Affairs committee him and I teamed up with I think it was Norma Frankie and there was one other lady and we carried it through to all these years and it was the most blessing the biggest blessing I've ever had working with the seniors is such a joy they bring so much to you so you learn so much history and I'm sorry I'm getting out right now but maybe later I can do little things here and there for them so thank you all so [Applause] much you know when when we have these opportunities to celebrate people whether it's schools or I have never seen a person celebrated like they've celebrated you today here and that goes to speak to the heart that this woman has there's been times where she has put herself selflessly before before every everybody and I'm goingon to I'm going to tell you it's not an easy task but she makes sure that everyone is remembered whether they're at home and they can't make it whether they're sick dealing with an issue whether they're caring for someone she does not allow the event to go on did we remember remember this person and you would make sure that somebody would go visit them take them a meal she would make sure that the seniors were remembered and I think you said it best this group that we do it we do it selflessly right we see a lot of people volunteer for committees to get higher office but you've always done it with a selfless interest and always thinking of everybody else and look at this room here today celebrating you God so we owe you all right thank you so much okay Dorothy Wicks I know you resigned because you know you're tired and but we're only going to give you a month and a half and in a month and a half you have to come back to us to the committee okay that's a promise I'm thinking Dy you and I have had many times that we've shared together as your Vice chair we will miss you tremendously I think you secretly resigned so that we couldn't do anything for you but surprise we don't let things go we appreciate so much what you did for this community and for those that can't even be here today because they're not able to get here you were their speaker you were their voice you made sure they were taking care care of and I can tell you from them from all of us we really appreciate it and you are always welcome to come back we want you back so you know what nobody is going to be able to fill your shoes the way you had them filled and you will be greatly missed so thank you for your service because that's all we could say is thank you there's nothing else more can do there's nothing we can give you that shows our appreciation for what you have done for this town for the elderly and for all of our spirits that show that this is what you're supposed to do for your community not care about yourself but care about your other members that are here that need your help no matter where you come from what you you think of or how you think you are always the one that was there to help them and that's the way it should be and you're the perfect example of that so thank you [Applause] I'll hold that for you I got you spe you [Applause] we love you Dy thank you for all your of course hey it's Jeremy Jeremy's here tonight no Jeremy badron our Parks director all right real quick when I got elected 12 years ago it's crazy how fast time flies one of my first items was to talk about crossing guards and how to make sure that we have Town residents people who love our community as crossing guards and we made a change 10 years ago and 10 years later it's worked out really well and I'm gonna hand it over a to Jeremy because these folks are beloved in our community and I and it's awesome to see that come to FR so jemy thank you mayor and as the mayor talked about right now um our crossing guard program is actually held in-house within our parks department um and the goal was just that to bring residents and bring individuals that cared um and wanted to do more for their Community uh and that's what essentially we're going to be honoring today with our certificate it says three individuals two of which cannot make it here unfortunately um but who have served now for for 10 consecutive years um for the town's crossing guard program these are individuals who are there every morning and every afternoon in rain and sun and in uh cold weather the few days we have in January um they're out there they're there to protect the kids and they're there performing um they're rightfully so as they were trained to do all of our crossing guards are FD certified every single year so it's not just the years they've actually put forward but it's a little bit more about their dedication to the craft and Gary Cardin who is here and we'll be honoring now is a testament to that dedication Gary is now serving his 10th year with us Gary is our lead crossing guard um funny enough I think there's an item later on I talked about Gary is out in the sun and G there's an item to get him in the shade under a pavilion so we'll talk about that in a little bit but I can't think of someone who who's a definition of accountability and that's what this long this longterm uh status here with the town shows not just being here but it's dedication and accountable Gary has been our lead crossing guard for the entire time I've been working with the department now um I'll make 10 years soon so Gary I'm just right behind you um but Gary has been there managing assisting and actually been our boots on the ground so with that I want to say thank you Gary for your service as as somebody who works aside you but as as somebody part of the community and the thousands of kids that you have worked with and assisted and the families that you have become a part of because of this um I just want to say thank you on behalf of the staff side obviously Council and we also got got some of the kids to go ahead and sign for you and then Carmen and uh Mercedes who could not be here today A little bit of appreciation from them but with that Gary I want to bring you on up here and I believe we have a certificate thank you sir I remember seeing you at Ram many of you have been uh seen by me and I've seen many of you over 10 years uh I don't know how it started this and I can't figure out out how I lasted this long the weather out there is unbearable but the rewards are unreal seeing the kids every day and they're a testament to that our police officers are there uh two of our members of the group are here Pedro V Pedro Pedro Pento and ireno Moreno who's currently uh on medical leave see we do get sick from some of that stuff but I think 10 years ago I retired in 2002 and 2004 rather my wife 2006 so I had two years of I don't know I don't want to say but it was it was okay it was good once she retired and joined the crowd then we started traveling b m home and then cruising 13 cruises all over the world and that was fun and then we got home and settled down because the kids were traveling everywhere and she said why don't you get a job look at the one in Palm Springs North you know I don't know what she was trying to do whe she was trying to get rid of me but now she's kind of sorry that I'm not at home and I don't give up so but the rewards are real I'm actually a retired banker and I'm a retired teacher for 10 years I for adults education at the same time as I was Banking and a and a very proud veteran three years of service around 1964 to 1967 so it was fun and I chair not chair I'm the commander of the American Legion Post here in Miami Lakes as well member of the veterans committee founding member of the mental task force thanks to him because whenever he needed so says hey can you and of course I can't say no so but I've seen a lot of these kids growing up and it's interesting to see them that after a while you hear that your name from the middle of the street 67th Avenue car stops and go Gary and I'm going hey I remember you you're the one I used to scream at but they come back and they remember me but it's awesome to see the kids coming up with a sad face say hey how's it going good morning uh no I got to test today I said don't worry about it you're going to be fine you'll see did you study yes then don't worry about it you'll be fine then you see them come back in the afternoon well how did he go no it was okay I told you so so it's extremely rewarding for me and for the these other guys here too because we get to communicate and listen to them so on behalf of my crew and thanks to Jeremy thanks to JP where is he he's back there uh for being there for us and supporting us which is the main thing we can't do the job alone and our police officer too trust me he was Carlos this afternoon com back to me he says he was 103 out there I said I know he had no shade we did but it gets hot it was a lot of fumes and some of it is not diesel or gas fumes if you know what I mean but uh we can see it all but thank you from the bottom of our heart we all thank you for get a picture in the middle sharow thank you guys God bless we have a couple more uh and then we'll get started with the with the meeting we have and then we're going to go to our veterans committee real quick quick come on up hey Gary change your hat good evening ladies and gentlemen uh my name is William Perez I am the chairman of the veterans committee and the veterans committee for this town um we did a fundraiser we did a fundraiser did a 5K run some of you folks participated in that run some of you folks uh heard about the run and that raised quite a bit of money and one thing this town this mayor this Council has emphas to me as the chairman is let's take care of our own let's take care of those who are Miami Lakes residents those veterans who are here let's take care of them and let's not send large amounts of money to some large organization that is headquarters in DC that says they take care of veterans let's take care of our people here so we have a check that's being issued to the American Legion Post 144 which is the post for Miami Lakes and it's going into their veteran Relief Fund we have a lot of veterans who can't make rent who can't make electric payments we have several who car is broke down and when their car breaks down they can't get to work they lose their job a lot of times what has happened is we just basically passed a hat in our Legion meeting to help cover our brothers and sisters who need that money when I told the mayor about this and I told the council about this they said why don't we use some of the 5K run money to set up of that Relief Fund and I can tell you when we brief this to the American Legion Post and we have how many members we have in our post Gary Gary's a 20 226 we got already five folks who came up with estimates for car repairs for air conditioning repair for their house because especially now they don't have the money they just don't have the money a lot of folks a lot of towns like to say they take care of their veterans I'm going to tell you I was in the Marine Corps for 32 years I retired as a colonel I wish I could say that is true of every town and every place a lot of folks just do a lot of lip service but this town this mayor this Council they do and let me tell you that is something that we are incredibly grateful for um so Gary cardinas is the commander of the American Legion and so we're presenting that check and I promise you I'm not going to let Gary talk Sergeant cardinus you do not say a word that's an order but we have other great members here we have Fred who has supported us tremendously another veteran but anyway thank you very much I just wanted to show you what we're doing for our veterans and and really it was your support the sponsors the runners all you folks are the ones who made this happen so you are really the ones who are not playing lip service to taking care of our veterans you're really doing it and so I thank you from the bottom of my heart thank you very much [Music] you're in thank you thank you all right so we have if you guys have ever been there the people's barber shop in Miami Lakes the oldest barber shop in Northwest a one of the oldest in South Florida they've been in business for 60 years uh join me in welcoming the Ruiz Family great great [Applause] people so these these folks are not only Barbers but they're therapist I mean you name it folks from our community from Don schula to rest in peace Governor Graham who who's no longer with us I think uh don Sun still everybody in our community has gone there not only to get a haircut but to feel welcome the way that you guys make folks feel um which is so special and that's why you've been in business for 60 years so you want to take a little a little bit a little bit of time here to to thank you guys and present you with uh with this Proclamation whereas the Miami Lakes Barber Shop is the oldest tenant of the Graham company since 1964 and whereas Rolando Ruiz was a barber at the barber shop during the building of Miami Lakes and asked Bob Graham if he could buy the barber shop and whereas Bob Graham agreed to sell the barber shop to Rolando by financing the purchase to him and whereas years later Rolando later sold the barber shop to his brother Mario Ruiz in 19 1992 and operated until 2013 whereas in 2013 Mario passed the barber shop to his son Richard Ruiz and continues to operate as of today keeping the family tradition alive and well for 60 years the Ruiz Family have served Miami Lakes and its residents with great service and their tradition will continue for many years to come and whereas the Miami Lakes barber shop has served many celebrities over the years especially the most famous customers were Bob Graham and Don schula and now therefore I Manny Sid by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the town of Miami Lakes and on behalf of the Town Council and all 33,000 Miami Lakers do hereby Proclaim Wednesday May 15 20124 as the Ruiz Family Miami Lakes Barbershop day here in the town of Miami Lakes [Applause] um thank you very much um just trying to keep to the tradition Al live going uh cutting hair you know we appreciate all the business Miami Leakes and the people from Miami Leakes are giving us so thank you very [Applause] much God bless you guys [Applause] ear awesome we love you guys God bless you 60 years hey if Tio and Nick Pomo can join me please Mr kasay Mr Pomo if you guys can uh can join me before I I read off the proclamation if you want to say a few words about this uh incredibly special human being will'll be honoring tonight I'll start I'll start CU he knows how to speak I don't so the gentleman that's here today is a good friend of mine good friend of my father-in-law's I'm gonna let Nick H one of his guys talk about him the proclamation will say the rest I just wanted to give him a big I love that guy I've never seen anybody that cooks food better than him he probably won't mention that plays piano better than him and is the nicest human being I've ever seen he's here he's actually brought an entire crew from down south all the way in Kendall these guys have been complaining through a group text ever since they got here saying it took them forever to get here they're standing in the hallway sweating they're complaining about everything but they came all the way down Dr Gustavo Placencia famous surgeon I believe that's his plastic surgeon yes and uh Carlos padron his um Carlos padron is one of your assistants husto Parada another one of his cooking assistants they all came from down south even my brother is here to see this guy from down south so I just wanted to give him a shout out tell him I love may vice mayor Pomo will do the rest thank you my father always said that you can't fail in this country if you work hard you can attain anything you want and it's the American dream and that's what rapael noal is all about the American dream and uh I've known him for a long time he actually came from Cuba on a boat with 300 people I think he probably chummed a little bit of that water too while you were coming up right but uh what what an attribute we were talking I you wish you could add that tie when you came from cubaan and look what you've done so far so it's all about the American dream and picking yourself up by the bootstraps and Ralph outside of this Proclamation I'm very proud to call you my friend look at all your competitors here we all want to kill each other and we're all here together this is unbelievable in the cigar industry so thank you Ralph put your hands together and welcome Rafael noal so we have this token uh of our appreciation where the town of Miami Lakes recognizes the significance of individuals whose Journeys whose Journey embodies the American Spirit of resilience determination and contribution to their Community Rafa noad an esteemed member of our community arrived in key in Key West from Cuba during the Mario boat lift on May 31st 1980 at the age of 15 and embarked on a remarkable Journey that epitomizes the pursuit of the American dream Rafa nad's passion for music and education began as in his native city of SEO the Aila Kua at the age of six continuing in New York City from 1980 to 1983 and later settling in haia where he pursued his studies while while supporting his family through various part-time jobs and despite economic challenges Rafael noal demonstrated exceptional determination and work ethic ascending through the ranks in the healthcare industry ultimately becoming an influential figure in the premium cigar industry and Rafael nad's entrepreneurial Journey led him to Miami Lakes in 1988 where he established Deep Roots within our community fostering a sense of camaraderie and cultural exchange through his renowned Cigar Lounge which became a cherished Gathering Place for residents and Rafa nad's unwavering commitment to Excellence resulted in international Acclaim for his cigar brand aging room earning prestigious accolades such as being named number one cigar of the World by Cigar offici Magazine in 2019 and Person of the Year by Cigar Coupe in 2024 and now therefore I Manny Sid by virtue of the authority vested in me as man near the town of Miami Lakes and on behalf of the Town Council and all 33,000 Miami Lakers do hereby Proclaim Friday May 17th 20124 as Rafael noal here in the town of Miami [Applause] Lakes oh wow thank you thank you mayor and thank you to the council thank you to the city of Miami Lakes I I don't know what to say I love to talk I mean everybody that knows me know knows that I love to talk but I am uh without words I appreciate it I came to this city uh with my wife Alina and my kids and I found in this city a sense of community a sense of friendships and uh with an Spirit entrepreneurial spirit and that's why I was able to succeed here because I got a lot of friends a lot of help um I really appreciate your coming uh Nick vice mayor of the city when we were studying uh a lot the city had changed a lot for the best it's growing growing beautifully uh nick uh if it wasn't for a meeting we had that we had uh over 25 years ago uh where we Hank took me there and we smok cigars I bought my first cigars I smoke it with you I went that evening I told my wife this is what I want to do with the rest of my life but Alina V psychiat she said yeah honey I'm sure you can do whatever you want so uh thank you to my wife Alina oh wow uh not only is an amazing psychiatrist I am the result of this and she treated uh very well-known psychiatrist in the area um you have helped me you have support me but you more than that have encouraged me to do the best I can so thank you thank you very much for my amazing family for my kids Carlos Raphael maros Sandra and my grandson miles that is here uh thank you all the rest of my family I wouldn't be able to do it without you you guys whether it was the the first company on the condominium management or whether with a hospital management or you uh at the cigars you've been there you uh here with me to celebrate my moments but uh I've been there in the difficult times so thank you thank you very much to my partner Hank bear with me for a second there's so many thing in a journey like this you guys so many people that H so my partner h thank you very much what a right an amazing right to Ernesto Perez Caro he came all the way from the south this guy is an icon an amazing guy in the cigar industry is being my friend and a supporter and a teacher so thank you to everybody else my uh the Placencia family the AJ Fernandez family the the all the retailers that are here everybody's that is here um thank you thank you very much you wouldn't be able to do it without you because they say it takes a village but I know it takes a town thank you very much I appreciate [Applause] it in the front Rafael what's your address I hear there's a tonight can we share with everybody no everybody's invited to Rafa's house we have thanks Nick we have uh two more we're going to get rocking and rolling with the meeting so this individual was not expecting uh this honor but I I can tell you I I felt that he needed to receive this type of Honor because this somebody that throughout the years has become my brother our brother a I used to do there was a long time our city council was very busy I used to do a lot of ribbon cting by myself and it was a little boring and now they've turned turned into something where we get requests every day but there's there's one reason for that there's one person who makes PE it's all about how you make people feel this one person makes people feel important makes people feel good makes people feel loved anytime that somebody calls me and says they want to relocate to Miami Lakes I call this person and he's literally made people's dreams come true and those a lot of those folks are his family today um and he's somebody who for the rest of my life you know what's this is true about Tio in politics just and and and uh Lewis hit it hit it on the head earlier a lot of people get in committees do stuff because people think they're running everybody person is running right yet he always tells me he goes no way you know unfortunately politics is like crabs in a bucket there's a story uh a a joke for that but this person always tells me no I have no sense of ever running I love to make people happy I just love to see be when they open up their business love FKS want to live I love I love my family right he's a great family man he's but the way that he makes folks feel has made Miami Lakes a better a better place to live on this you can see why they're all wearing their shirts put your hand together for Deo Kasa [Applause] my that's amazing I love that shirt it's for sale but you could see how our business Community has come together so closely and that's he's the glue I mean he is that person who lives literally everybody is that is that really going to show up in a public meeting online all right all right so a Rafael kasay no known to us all as Tig kasay a respective native of South Florida and esteemed resident of Miami Lake since 1994 has demonstrated extraordinary commitment and Leadership within our community Tio kayod serves as a president of AC Graphics a pioneering printing company established in 1941 which under his stewardship has flourished into a premier provider of Commercial Printing and custom packaging Solutions embodying Innovation and sustainability in January 2020 Deo and his son Matthew Kasam mayot established AC Graphics digital including an office here in the town of Miami Lakes to offer website and development branding and digital marketing transforming AC Graphics into a fullservice marketing company dedicated to Ser this is like a free commercial man this is like like dedic dedicated to serving the the evolving needs of our community um Tigo game's vision and Leadership were in instrumental in fostering collaboration among local business entities including the town of Miami Lakes Economic Development Committee the Miami Lakes Chamber of Commerce my office and the BNI Miami Lakes and hiia chapters which has significantly bolstered our Town's economic uh economy and visibility ame's efforts have contributed to enhancing Miami lakes's economic Landscapes by attracting outside media attention and hosting pivotal events like our ribbon cutting Ceremonies for new businesses thus promoting growth and Prosperity Tigo game steadfast dedication extends Beyond business Endeavors as evidenced by his invaluable support for Community initiatives such as assisting the elderly Affairs committee's Dy Wicks and collaborating with bedro f on food drives benefiting Miami Lakes residents and neighboring communities during the challenges of the pandemic Tio Kasam mayor's altruism and Community Spirit shine brightly through his participation in charitable events from Dawning festive costumes for the elderly Affairs committee celebrations to serving as a guest photographer at numerous town events and generously donating all captured memories to our community and local newspapers now therefore I man say by virtue of the authority vested in me as the mayor of the town of Miami Lakes and on behalf of the Town Council and all 33,000 Miami Lakers do here by Proclaim Thursday May 16 2024 ASO kasay [Applause] tayor is also the master of ceremony of the Year this man is the the best the best let's go they're dying to start the town council meeting okay as the mayor mentioned I was not expecting this so I would have been better prepared if I were I would have probably had a list of things to say actually Joseph kind of like ruined the balic my me finding out to him but thank you all right I'll be quick but I won't be quick I'm not going to be like uh my friend that took forever number one really important yeah all you guys got to start coming up number one thing is Daddy Wicks hey Rafa I know that all those people did it on their own they do all their stuff on their own I had nothing to do with this this is very little 10% me the rest of it the reason that this is here is because of this guy right here mayor Manny because of Mr Pedro fiio because of daddy Wicks because of all these councilmen here because the ones that motivate me I see what they do and I suffer for them so I try to help them as much as I can by not running against them trust me I'm not running for mayor so really quick again thank the guys from the south that came to see Mr noal and happen to be here for me today Carlos padron the man that owns tank Brewing Company for all of you that had his beer Mr huster P theas Guy Mr Dr Gustavo Placencia he's not really a plastic surgeon he's put things in places you guys would never imagine he's my gastro inant whatever geologist but the number of one of the greatest people in the world I said Mary Manny I got Pedro fiio daddy Wicks Joseph Sosa without him I wouldn't also do anything when it comes to these ribbon cuttings I said all the council members including Raul gastesi wherever he's at I think he's eating in the back oh no there he is over there my number one attorney Lorenzo cor cor he's here there he is over there my two attorneys all right let's keep going Ed Pitman over there I see him in the gym and he motivates me too he tells me T what you're not doing and enough get more done Gina guano I love her that's my communications girl I sent all my pictures to and never tells me anything or even tells me if she got them but that's okay IO pastora did she leave is I Pastor still here no another Communications girl here Jonathan Gil where's Jonathan he hates pict he hates people to talk about him greatest guy right here and hardest working guy in Miami Lakes even Victoria Martinez which she's around here somewhere I don't know where she's at she keeps disappearing another wonderful girl and then Linda tretta and Alex from the Miami Laker if it wasn't for those two uh my pictures will never come out in the lake or my face would never come out in the lake or I don't know why they do it but they put me in there all the time a who else oh Andrea Graham richichi my favorite little Graham she's the coolest person ever I love her I I always threaten her that I'm going to be her assistant she's yet to hire me but I love her really good without her also she wouldn't help and she had did something else for me that I'll tell you now in a minute my B and I Miami Lakes crew I leave the best for the end they would be all the idiots wearing shirts over there if you guys don't mind I'm going to have them come up and each do a 30- second commercial well there they're all out there you see them H all right my brother-in-law and sister sisters in-law who are not here because he needs to go to bed at a certain time you know he's getting old a the person that taught me how to speak well he kind of like he was the second person that taught me how to speak and how to help and how to do all these kind of things along with his wife who taught me how to be a father and how to be married these two idiots right here my in-laws and the guy the gentleman that actually stood me up one day and made me speak to a crowd when I had never done it before I sweat so much I had to throw away my underwear they were useless cuz I sweat that much Patrick eloa the greatest he taught me how to he didn't do a very good job but whatever I do my best uh my best friend and the Godfather of this guy my other best friend Pat youu and the Godfather of this guy who's in Michigan George Paris who told me when you walk into a room and this is 100% true and I try to do it you either got to be loved or hated never be the guy nobody remembers I'm working on swi switching the percentage from 910 right now 90% of the people hate me 10% love me but as long as I remember you that's the key I'm working on it but he's the one that taught me that all right and then the guy that taught me to be very very cheap to save money not to spend not to buy anything until you have the cash in hand hence my cars and my properties and everything very stressful no not a swear that would be my father right here the one thing he didn't teach me to do that he does very good is dance but whatever so he Tau me that and then who else oh wait somebody T oh my brother where's my brother is he behind me now he's the one this one is like the smart one in the family so he's got the looks and the brains and the money but he taught me how to spend money and not to be cheap and to enjoy life and spend spend spend so between the two of these I'm like one of those generous broke people or going to your generous spender or generous cheap guy there it is generous cheap guy thanks to these two and and of course the lady that gets me the most clicks on Instagram my wife my Ling that's what I care about the most my clicks and the reason the reason that he's alive which is my last guy I promised last one Matthew kasay the reason I'm actually standing here because I told myself you're a you're embarrassed to talk in public that's not a good example to set for someone that's going to open up a marketing company so I have to be good at that you are scared to help people talk to people that had to change it had to be a good example so everything I've done thanks to all these guys back here I do to show the example to him so hopefully one day he'll be better than me which is usually the way it goes you know because I'm much better than him so hopefully he'll be much better than me okay all that said now that I'm done H I love him and then one last little thing we have we have a young girl that's been with us since second grade and then she grew up at Immaculate went to school worked with my wife then she was our intern then she worked with us and what do you get for all that she's leaving us for another company how she got her Masters Miss Lauren rodderick right here I love her very much too thank you [Applause] Lauren so that means I got a commercial left I need a new intern if anybody has any kids that need to be interned we get them jobs thank you very much mayor Manny Sid thank you very much T Miami Lakes thank you very much all of you for listening to me uh I love you all thank you BNI family thank you for the shirts from 2016 I have to shout out Romy Romy PR for leading the pack love you all hey you guys got to get in the picture [Applause] hey can we get all the BNI folks with shirts behind us come on spe e you got to play you got to play spe we love you Tio thank you and last but not least we have Nancy Rogers and our Public Safety Committee tle pass me tle we got you right now [Music] you hey our Public Safety committee's here today for national law enforcement day Mama n no police appreciation but n on the national level we're talking I have to for those of you who don't know me I'm Nancy Rogers I'm chairperson of the Public Safety Committee and my partner in crime haha is George P he is my secretary of the committee of the public safety and tonight he's being an easel for me uh I'm going to make this quick this is in reference to the town of Miami Lakes having a proclamation for the month of May to be known as police appreciation month thank you town of Miami Lakes oh wonderful I'm going to read the proclamation proclaiming Saturday the 18th of 2024 national law enforcement day in the town of Miami Lakes whereas the health and safety of the citizens of the town of Miami Lakes Florida is important to the happiness prosperity and well-being of our Town's families and community and whereas the town of Miami Lakes Florida is the proud home of dedicated police officers who put their lives on the line to keep our community safe and whereas these officers stand as leaders and teachers educating the community about the importance of Public Safety and whereas the town of Miami Lakes Florida appreciates the extraordinary efforts and sacrifices made by officers and their family members on a daily basis in order to protect our schools our workplaces roadways and homes and mostly I'm adding our citizens whereas national law enforcement appreciation day is an opportunity to show our support for law enforcement and now therefore I Manny Sid our mayor Not Me by virtue of the authority invested in our in me as the mayor of the town of Miami Lakes and on behalf of the Town Council as national law enforcement day thank you and and what the blue lights are in front of each council person and the mayor uh seats on the day are for National police enforcement uh appreciation day and thank you and they should be in most of the uh community stores and the uh shopping centers and everything in Miami Lakes if anybody in those uh businesses there have not received a candle let me know thank you so much AE e all right let's call this meeting to order we're going to get rocking and rolling with our council meeting thank you to our officers thank you m all right everything will go as plan father God in the name of Jesus I ask oh God that when they leave this place tonight father God they don't leave alone you promised in your word God that you will never leave us nor forsake us father God so we thank you that you're where we are God and you follow us and you go with us and you cover us in your blood and these and all other blessings we ask in the name of Jesus amen amen and amen I love you guys invite me back I'm on the run to get my grandbaby oh no no you'll be back we got you thank you Mrs Glover we appreciate you uh remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Victoria Sophia Sosa uh from girls Girl Scout Troop 902 Joseph's daughter just so you guys know I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice all thank you Victoria thank you you may be seated uh Council while we do the better you minut it by commissioner Ariel Fernandez please look at the order of business so we can um so we can adopt it do you want motions for the order of business prior or after right after just wanted to see no better you minute Don do we have the better you minute tonight not tonight sorry got it okay a I have items for the order of businessman yes councilman Coy uh there's two items on the agenda that are very similar item 14b and EM 14d I'd like to combine them as well as combining um I see several members of the audience here that would like to speak on that item so I'd like to also move it up immediately after appointments so item 14 B and D if it's okay with the uh the other my colleague I'd like to combine them and also move them up in the order of business I second uh the other item I have are 14n and J uh again items very similar recognizing Mental Health Awareness Month like to combine them but not necessarily move them up in the order business and leave them where they're at and the last item that I see is item 14h I know that there were still some several veterans that wanted to um speak on behalf of that item and I'd like to move it up on the order of business and lastly there's items 14 C and item 17 I'd like to incorporate them in discussion of 11a they're gerine to that particular topic where we're going to be discussing the budget they both reference budget items that that we need to have discussion and I think it it would be proper in the order of business to have 14 C and item 17 the attorney's report heard at the same time that we are hearing 118 so those are my um my recommendations on the order business I move give me one give me one second to uh to just recap um we have after appointments we have combine item 14b and 14d uh we're also combining with keeping in new business item 14j item 14n we're going to move up item 14h um to after public comments and then additionally we're going to combine item 17 uh item 14 C and with 11a that's what I have so far yeah and and I'm fine with that on 14h because there were members of the uh public that are here to speak on that item I'd like to put it after appointments the same courtesy that we're giving item 14 B and D but if the council prefers to keep that um after public comments I'm fine with that as well whatever at the will with Council um I mooved 13B also after public comments that would be the conditional use application um and also uh I actually believe that we should take up the attorney's report before the carry forward Amendment while they do relate the issues could get tangled up so I think that should be a standalone discussion yeah I think you if I may Mr Mayor I think you need to hear the attorney report I I agree with councilman dieas because based on what happens during that report it will have a uh impact on the budget okay that's fine ER real quick so after public comments we we can do appointments as real fast just announcing it um then we'll do 14b combined with 14d 14h 13B and I also want to move up 13A because I know there's some folks here tonight that want to speak on item 13 a so when that comes up if we going to put put those all together then we're going to we're going to combine J and H from 14 and keep it in in new business but then we're going to take up what councilman vas suggested um with the attorney's report and so that's fine but we'll keep those we'll keep those after I know we're moving it up but after 13A after after after public comments we'll take up the attorney's Report with with all the other items that are gerain to that Mr here and uh I also see some people in the audience that want to speak on 14e so if we can do 14e after 14h before 13B 14e got it can we do that after the attorney's report or no after 13A because there's a long list so after appointments 14b and D 14h 13B 13A attorney's report and every other item that was discussed um I would want to do it before the attorney's report so with the other 14s that we moved up okay so after 13A then we'll do the attorney's report before we do committee committee reports okay any other additions deletions on the agenda Council anything else I'll second or motion I'll second if that was a motion yeah that was a motion all those in favor I I any oppos see none the motion passes uh we're on to public comments please if you want to participate in public comments just approach the podium state your name and address for the record you will have three minutes and welcome to the council meeting welcome good evening everyone mayor vice mayor members of the council Town residents my name is Alejandro Sanchez I live at 14531 Cedar Court been a town resident since 2008 since I came back from the Navy most of you know known me on a personal level I'm here today to speak on items 14 D and D that were combined just a few moments ago Miami Lakes is a town for families it is welcoming a new generation of families with young children just because of the pocket Parks we have the familyfriendly environment that we have I strongly believe that Miami Lakes is a proactive Town not a reactive Town last some time ago we had concrete pavers set up in all the pocket parks around town protect the pocket the pocket parks in the grass now it's time that we protect the children that go to those pocket Parks palal Palm is an Avenue that comes right off Miami Lakes Drive and has two of the largest pocket parks in Miami Lakes there are families that live there there are young children that go there grandchildren CH children period and I believe that we have to be proactive in defending and protecting those children from speeding cars that come down that Avenue right off Miami Lakes Drive at 40 to mil an hour some of our neighbors have taken measures to ensure that cars don't come flying by but that is not a permanent measure we need to install speed bumps for those streets to protect those children that are crossing the street to those pocket Parts if not what's the point of even having those parket parts see it but don't use it because the second you cross the street a car might hit you so let's ignore the grass that we already protected and let's start protecting our children that use those areas especially of miam stri thank you for your time thank you for your service and we all appreciate everything you off thank you thanks Alex good evening Mr Mayor councel Madam clerk my name is David compos I live at 6914 bottle burst Drive uh right uh right around the corner from uh paleto Palm Avenue I've been there for 25 years fortunately my children are are grown up now and and I don't have to worry tooo much about you know their use of the park and the dangers that the close proximity of the street brings to the park but but I care about my neighbors and I care about their children I see the little kids there at the park and cars are just flying by unfortunately some of the cars that are flying by are some of the neighbors and and we we've been pretty proactive about asking them to settle settle down but but the truth is we need we need speed bumps because unfortunately someone's going to get hurt and then that's why we're here we want to save our our kids we want to save our grandkids we want to make sure that everyone's safe and the only way we're going to do that is by installing bumps or un name it along that street thank you for your time thank you sir good evening my name is Miriam Campos 6801 D Court um I'm here to support the petition for the speed bombs in Palo and sprad um um my grandkids leave there and I see that they they go by really fast in that street they they don't follow you know the the the speed limit and it's very dangerous so I really appreciate that you can prove that for for them thank you thank you Med even my name is rayan Gul from 14611 pal Avenue I've been going back and forth emailing over a year try to get some assistance with speed bumps um if it's not the cars in the morning or the evening school buses the garbage truck the recycling Amazon you know there's two big Parts at the beginning on each side of pometto palm and then when school's on they cut through pometto Palm because mahogany has speed bumps so we get that additional traffic coming through there uh I mean it's gotten so bad that sometimes you almost have to take it into your own hands with some of the neighbors there um I think it's something we have 17 homes from pometto Palm from the beginning to the end everyone signed all 17 residents are on board 24 around surrounding bottle brush they also came around and uh were for it uh Brian came around one of the days that he was uh talking to the neighbors and he saw car spe I want to thank him for you know putting this on the agenda see what we could do it's going to save somebody's life I mean they put the borders at the park this was more important way more important thank you Ray hi uh my name is Frank V and I reside at 6910 bottle bush uh drive I'm right at the corner of B Avenue I've been here for about six years already I'm in support of the new agenda for the you know for the Pavements uh I see a lot of kids around the area constantly and there is a lot of speeding cars in that area so uh if we can do something about it it'd be great thank you thank you good evening to you all uh my name is Mike KY and I reside at 1 14621 Palm metal Palm Avenue and I appreciate you listening to to us this evening uh I'd like to bring to you a couple sad stories over the last 5 years and I've been a resident of M Lakes for over 40 years we've had a cat run over in the street we've had somebody back up in their driveway and a guy speeding down the street had to drive into the park over the scurb stones because he was doing about 50 like Ray said we even have school buses that drive 50 miles an hour down the street and I work for the school board and have for 53 years um I hope that nothing ever happens like it did when I was an administrator at Little River Elementary we were trying to get a crosswalk on 79th Street it took one of our kids to get run over and killed for the county to put a crosswalk so I support this item and if you have any questions we're here thanks Mike hello mayor hello Council my name is Ryan Campos I live in 6914 bottle burst drive my grandmother my father spoke regarding supporting of the speed bumps every morning before I go to work I usually walk my dog and even on the weekends when I see the neighborhood all the families all the young kids playing in the park const you see car speeding it could be morning night you could just hear the cars going by sometimes even the school buses it's just one straight away going into the street so that might give people the incentive hey let me speed up a little and yeah the gaps between the grass and the road that helped a little but that's not really going to prevent someone from just going 50 60 on a straightaway especially in a neighborhood fil with young children and right next to a park as well all it takes is something to happen and if that person veers into the park then not a good situation so I'm here to show my support along with all my neighbors to install speed humps bumps whatever is needed on petto Avenue thank you thank you good evening esteemed members of the Town Council Town manager Town attorney and town staff my name is Edward Pi most of you guys know me I'm a resident of 6800 Miami mies drive here in Miami Lakes I stand before you today to advocate for the installation of speed control devices on pometto pal Avenue living in close proximity to both parks sit on paletto Palm Avenue one directly behind my house I have witnessed firsthand the reckless speeds at which vehicles travel that road numerous children play in these parts and residents frequently walk in that area the intersection of Miami Lakes Drive as you all know has become a hot spot for accidents endangering the safety of pedestrians excuse me cyclists and residents alike speedol control devices offer a practical solution to a very dangerous problem we're facing by promoting safer driving habits and reducing speeds in our residential areas by implementing these me measures we can enhance the safety of our community and prevent further accidents including potential deaths I urge the council to give serious consideration and support line items which are now combined 14b and 14d at the resources necessary to install the speed control devices on palal Palm Avenue let's prioritize the safety and well-being of our residents especially our children and make our streets safer for everyone thank you for your time and attention to this matter thank you Edward good evening thank thank you for listening to us we appreciate my name is Jim Gorsuch I live at 14601 pal Palm Avenue and I can say the same thing that uh everybody else said my wife's withing tonight you live directly across the street from one of these small par on Pal app P pal and it's a very enjoyable place to live it's beautiful we get to see all the kids playing in the park with their moms their dads their nannies we all know that kids cannot be contained you're trying to keep them one place in t t they run and most of the people come down our street do it sensitively and reasonably but there are very many who go too fast very dangerous speed R speed and again I don't want to repeat what everybody else said but it's very simple if we don't do something to control the speed of the people using that street there is going to be a tragedy and we don't want that to happen thank you very much thank you hello my name is Lardo romstein I live in 6980 B of Rush in the corner I forgot to tell you something a couple years ago a couple of kids were racing and S has a tree in the middle because it know that car it would have been my room so that's why we wanted to put the spinard okay then the kids are playing my kids was growing there so I love place we live here for about 35 years so keep it up please okay like I used to thank you thank you good evening mayor Town Council U Town staff Carlos and Dre 14530 date Pine Avenue miam Florida um the neighbors of this neighborhood have really you know brought up a lot of very good points um you know I don't need to repeat them but I can tell tell you that my daughters are you know nine and and six and they've almost gotten run over a few times by people speeding down the street thankfully we're you know um on our game we have a you know a great you know Community as you can see that's very close to we all help each other but you know let's not let's not ignore this problem this has been implemented before you know we have speed bumps on Leaning Pine Alamanda dat Pine Avenue you know these are all blocks already that have it so this is just one additional block uh so let's make this happen you know I know there was a you know a cut back on the millage rate but I'm sure we can find some room in the budget to make this happen um you know and and please you know just consider you know your kids um when we're asking for this agenda item thank you thank you good evening Town Council councilman Mr Mayor I think today the topic is uh speeding how many of y'all ever talked to a trooper on the highway what's the key word he tells you speed what Hills right there you go you know I wasn't coming up here to talk about speed I was coming to talk to you about a tree two trees that have been dead that I reported to uh Mr coyaso a couple months ago but now I found out with one of the neighbors is those two trees got strike by a lightning almost two years ago and today but now that we're going to now that we're going to collaborate on the speed issue and and he knows about the trees um I'm going to talk to you a little bit about speed the other day I literally got in front of a of a FedEx truck he speeds I jumped in front of him I said this is not Hollywood Speedway buddy if you kill one of my children or one of my grandchildren nobody's going to be very happy Oh no you're you're the only you're the first person that tells me that you complain about it well you know what somebody's got to be the first one I'm the first one and I will be talking to your boss what I'm trying to say is I don't know how many people need to come up here to talk to you about the speed issue I don't know how many times I've heard that we're going to do speed hums and and on and on and on and I don't know how many times I've heard people say that I'm going to fix every time they they run on their campaign I'm going to fix traffic well guess what when I run again I'm not I'm not going to prise anybody that I'm going to fix anything with with traffic that we will be talking about speed and we'll go back to talking about those sidewalks but I sure will tell you take these people very serious on what they're talking to you today about this speed issue and please Mr Koso remind whoever our tree coordinator or whoever this arborist is remind them about these two trees that uh have been dead for two years thank you uh reminder think about it think about that speed issue don't you know don't listen to it and then forget about it digest it and keep thinking about it make it happen thank you thank you Angela all right good evening everyone uh my name is George Lam under P chapter 119 as you all know U as a retired Public Safety Officer my address is not subject to public record the reason I'm here tonight is actually because of an email last Friday approximately five or actually 5:21 it's on the email I received an email from a representative of this town and I'd rather not name names right now in the public forum but the reason I received this email is because I am part of the NSD special taxing district of Royal Oaks East and Royal Oaks section one so that's the reason why I received this email now for transparency I'm not here representing the board nobody think that I'm here representing the board or I speak for the board I am just one of the members who received an email okay now this email and I'm going to just read part of it I only got two minutes left I'm going to read part of it and now obviously not the same thing um following a recent legal review by our town Deputy attorney we will soon Implement a new procedure at our guard Gates security Personnel will begin requesting identification and destination of all visitors this marks a change from our previous practice where no information was required from drivers yes this is definitely a change from the ordinance that created uh the special taxing district many years ago by the county but as well as that I think some of you are aware uh all these guard houses are on public roads okay you cannot ask an individual to identify themselves or worse yet where they're coming from where they're going okay that is unconstitutional okay now better yet or better stated they are not required to provide this information you can ask which will only cause one terrific traffic jam on 79th Avenue which affects me and 167 Terrace we also 168 Street that traffic comes from 82 average so we're going to create a needless traffic jum here asking information that is not required and really doesn't provide much of any additional security right then of course we can get into federal law state law that prohibits all except certain entities law enforcement from having access to driver's license information I have a major concern with this information is going to be properly stored and who's going to have access to it okay I'm obviously out of time but uh I'd like you all to take this up and like I said like to get an answer as of where this came from thank thank you George good evening mayor and members of the council my name is laras I reside at 15235 North 87th Place for the last 30 years uh for the last almost four years we've been trying to get speed bumps in my street seven months ago it was uh mainly approved by all of you but one vote we're still waiting uh what's it going to take for a kid to get killed to put the speed bumps on there so I have to agree with the gentleman before that uh you better get cracking on this thing don't come knocking on my door to ask me for a boat for any one of you fix the problem thank you thank you sir thank you madam clerk good evening everyone Mr Mayor uh Madame clerk Mr Town manager council members so for like the past two years um I've been coming up here every so often um mainly just pushing for like students student rights issues and uh student you know issues facing students in the town you know as a student that goes to Barbara Gan I've always you know had a genuine interest in you know Civic engagement and stuff like that so you know I brought it to the attention of council member coyaso ruano and Fernandez who have been the ones that have mainly like helped me in that endeavor um so I do want to thank vice mayor um Fernandez for the revamp of the uh EAB student rep position um so this month I I assume that the that the committee is going to based on what was agreed upon by you guys deciding on who the next student rep is so I'm not going to ask you guys to support me because there are other students that are running and you know they are more than highly qualified to you know take on the position and represent the interest of the Town um but I am asking you guys to please reach out to them and tell them to show up um because unlike other committees the EAB I've heard that and I've seen from the like last couple of meetings that I've watched not a lot of people are showing up so it'd be nice if at least for this vote which is one of the only positions in the town where every board member has to vote for one position um that they at least showed up and you know um expressed their their agreement or disagreement with either my nomination or the nomination of whoever they choose I also want to show my support for 14a and then I also have sort of a complaint so the freebies in the town they're great um but here's the issue um from Monday to Friday during uh during during school time at in the Barbara Gman area there's only one driver that decides to pick us up whose name is Jason and he actually told told us in the in the freebie to come and ask for some sort of help from the council so the issue is that around that time Jason is the only driver that picks us up and Jason drives one of the Teslas which only fits about like three to four of us and sometimes there's like seven students that want to go around the town and we've been inside the we've been inside the Tesla and the other freebies have have been going around at that specific time and they're completely empty and for some reason Jason has also asked us to tell you guys that they they they expect at least them that he takes on the responsibility of picking us up but when there's when there's free spots for us to ride to go somewhere in the town a lot of the time the freebies do not take us to where we have to go they just await Jason to pick us up but again that's not enough space for a lot of the kids that depend on the freebies so it'd be nice if you guys you know took some sort of uh regard like regard with the whole freebie situation and then also I I'd like to support um the whole idea behind the speed bumps and stuff you know we got to keep keep our kids safe so thank you thank you Diane hello my name is Walter Gil I live in 8711 Northwest 151 Terrace and I'm owner of of the property right adjacent to it of 8721 and so then I'm here for the commercial vehicles and residential areas my father's been working here AC repairs for over 20 years has has been part in the house in the property that I'm the owner of for 20 plus years never had an issue before and now suddenly there's a lean on my property for my father having his van and my property behind a fence gate where no one can see it where it doesn't bother anyone and just down the street for two years we have a residential a commercial vehicle parked on the residential street nothing happens to him he doesn't have to cover anything but yet my dad's vehicle that he's with surgery right now he's can't have his car at the property that he's helped everyone in this city for 20 plus years and it's a necessary job to fix ACS you don't want an old person with a heat stroke in the middle of the night in the middle of summer because he can't get to his van so he could go fix an AC because he works 247 he does does not care what time it is he goes out and always fixes everyone's problems at whatever time of the day and he L he recently just is starting back to work on taking PTO from my main job just to help him this week because he had a hip replacement and spinal surgery on in November uh aside from that also U I just want to say something about the speed bumps as well in about eight years ago there was a car that drove so fast down that street that that girl flew over the fence that's dividing our property I still have the photos and crashed at the moment I had my car outside I think I saved the girl's Life by having the car outside because the car hit the the street post grinded off of it flew over the fence and crashed into my car keeping the car upright she didn't even touch our barrier barely and so then definitely speed bumps should help but also I wanted to bring up the concern about my father's commercial vehicle wise there a lean on my property for him having a commercial vehicle yet there's one two years with no issues at all thank you thank you Mr goam I don't mayor I don't see anyone in live streaming via Zoom so again if you're more than welcome please approach the podium just stay your name and answer for the [Music] record Miami l Middle School [Music] or m for for Gra all right thank you madam clerk are we done yes I don't see anyone here public comments is closed uh we're moving on real quick to appointments I'll just say those uh Julie padon to the neighborhood service District section one not appointed by an elected official she is a representative for the rata point HOA she's a secretary for rata Point Alexandra agar to the mental health task force by vice mayor Tony Fernandez John Roger welcome back to the special needs Advisory board by council member Ray Garcia Justin througho to the culture Affairs committee by vice mayor Tony Fernandez Patricia Vila to the elderly Affairs committee by vice mayor Tony Fernandez Gladis Espino to the elderly Affairs committee by council member Josh Diez um and I have two folks that are here tonight that were here tonight elad aresto to the blasting Advisory Board uh by me and then Maria Millie Gonzalez to the elderly Affairs committee um real quick Council those two require uh a waiver of section uh 11 M Gonzalez you all know who is here today Mr amesto you all wanted to ask some many questions but I want to make a still yeah Millie's back there Millie where are you oh okay there I couldn't see you um just to be clear the rule that we're waving here has to do that they needed to attend two meetings or attend a meeting rather with the chair okay yeah have you previously been on uh elderly affairs lot sorry no I'm almost there though I volunteer on a lot of um events for the elderly for everyone for veterans you know for my friends for whoever and I I love the elderly no and I understand look and and I I love you Millie and El you wherever you're at um you know you you guys do good work but I guess my my my question is how come you haven't been able to meet that requirement because if we start doing this then we got to do it for everybody and then once again we're back back and spare one of why do we even have this rule because I feel I can bring something to the board I want to bring more more ideas more things more um you know I I I was talking to somebody and I was saying you know how I want to bring some things that we do in different places like things that I've seen at different events that I've gone to no no no I I I totally understand I know that you have the Heart for Service and that you would do excellent I'm just asking how come you haven't been able to meet or go to one of the meetings or meet with the chair um um oh because I didn't know I didn't know that I had to do that I'm sorry okay did did you guys uh Gina and and others explain that no Victoria she's um I think she's mentioning that she's not aware of section 11 that she needs to according to the committee rules um meet with the chair or attend one of the meetings Okay so that I don't have I don't have a problem with doing any of that look mil and you know I love you um if you can just do me that favor of taking the time to meet with them um this rule was put in place because a lot of the committee chairs thought that we were just throwing people on there and while you while I know you and I know that you will put in the time there have been others that have not done that and that's why we're put in this rule here to make sure they get a feel for what the committee does to make sure it's the right fit that they get a chance to meet with the committee chair so the committee chair can be comfortable with them and then also um again if if we don't it you know I I want to say yes because I know you but I have to be equal and evenhanded with everybody so for that reason um I'm going to be a no on the waiver right now but obviously the moment you know you meet the requirement you'll get on automatically and the same goes for Eladio I don't know where he's at um okay he may have left but you know at least I you know I may pass but at least for myself I wanted to explain why you know I'm I'm voting no no problem so I'd like to I'd like to make a motion to approve the waiver um and and the reason that I feel comfortable doing so is look I think I think the spirit of the rule was um for people that maybe are not uh that are new to the community or new to the committee process uh that don't know what that process entails um to be exposed to the committee to come to a meeting to experience a meeting uh but with both of these individuals uh I've I've seen millad countless elderly Affairs uh events right even even though she's not on the committee so um and same goes for ALU I see him uh he's a longstanding member of of the community that participates in other events I think I think with both of them they they know and understand what you know they're they're getting into it's not you know a new experience for them so at at least as far as both of them are concerned I'm I'm comfortable uh making the motion to wave the rule well then I have a followup question I'll I'll second it and real quick I just want to say why I'm seconding it um Millie and and Elio are both extremely knowledgeable on both committees and that's why I brought it up as a waiver i' I've actually voted on waivers on a lot of our colleagues in the past even though some of those folks might not have participated but I really felt strongly about Millie and a lot that's why when Victoria brought it to my attention I was like ah it's fine you know both of them actually attend blasting Advisory Board uh events and Millie's been to um elderly Affairs uh committee meetings and not meetings events events I mean dozens upon dozens that's the only reason why I brought it up in this fashion because I think Millie is is somebody who cares a lot about our seniors and actually has has been there for our seniors so I so I'm that's why I second the uh the mo the motion my followup question was going to be um just if you've attended um in the past then maybe not as part of this particular process but in the past if you gone to an elderly Affairs committee meeting no not a meeting itself okay yeah because that I mean but but I'm on the board of the veterans in haia so I mean I'm on the board of that also and I've attended those meetings I'm on I'm in the chamber of Miami Lakes and I go there quite often um Fred knows me you know um Council woman R well you know me I'm saying Sor through the chair it's not you if I may ask a question through the chair um despite the mic it's on maybe they got to raise me up um do you know when the elderly Affairs uh committee meets no I asked but I I don't know yet you don't know yet you you did mention several involvements you already have um how are we certain that you're able to meet this this obligation or or this commitment to be at the meeting yes if if you don't know if it conflicts with one of your existing commitments well the chamber the chamber is every I think other Wednesday or there's one Wednesday a month and that's not something that I have to I don't think that it's at that time and the veteran board in halia is only once a month also so I don't think you know there's only two those are the only two commitments and even the chamber is voluntary and I just want to reiterate the only reason I'm comfortable with I I've voted on this for my colleagues dozens of time Millie has not only forget about the meetings per se but she's been at all the events volunteering I think if anybody is worthy of some of a waiver of the rules as her I've done it plenty of times for for my colleagues even though F I've never you know everywhere I go it's volunteer I don't work for anyone I don't everything that I do is from the bottom of my heart no and that's why when I thought of somebody and I had a vacancy unfortunately uh daddy Wicks who's who's been my appointment uh for many many years I couldn't think of anybody better than mil and yet Dy would be one of the first people to tell us that that's why she was insisting on this rule especially the meeting requirement with with the chairs because she wanted to also get comfortable with them because just cuz we know them right the chair needs an opportunity to know them um and so that that's my point the rule has to mean something right and and it's not Millie's fault right um you know it's just that she didn't know um but I'm just you know at some point we we can't just because oh yeah we know them right or or they know us you know and get a pass every time I'm just not comfortable with that again that's not a reflection on either of them in terms of their service record or anything like that it's just apparently they were not properly informed as to what the procedure is and that that's my concern mayor I have a a question of thec uh thank you Milli and thank you for stepping up and volunteering I know you're getting drilled here and this is kind of kind of feels awkward right because umio escaped you know and you're here so councilman die is absolutely right um these rules that we're being asked to enforce everybody want want to be the nice guy and vote for you that's easy right actually telling you hey yeah let's be part of a committee but these are the chairs right they're saying you guys are putting people here that can't even come to our meetings right so the first question is very simple can you make it on June 5th in the morning uh yes all right so what time you're going to have an opportunity on June 5th to to get there and and make it can you you typically make it weekday mornings I think they meet every 8 a.m. I think it's at 8:00 a.m. they'll meet like on a Wednesday is it it's the first Wednesday of every month at 800 a.m. so first Wednesday of every month you think you I drop off my son at 7:20 I can come straight here so I I know and I've seen you at the at the committee meeting so that that's one the only other concern I would have is Eladio you know just making sure that he can make it um for instance I have a public safety appointe somebody has been calling Victoria incessantly I felt responsible I said no right this guy who's hyper qualified director of Public Safety University of Miami Health Systems Town residents wants to commit but he can't commit to the committee I would be IR responsible if I didn't at least check down and make sure that these basic questions were were at least on the front of my mind right so I have no problem supporting the the mayor's waiver I don't have anything just understand that what we're doing is just making sure that we're kind of following the lead that our volunteers are telling us that look we don't want somebody that can't even show up on on Wednesday morning so I appreciate you stepping up I I'll go ahead and and and support your your nomination but just understand Elio owes you big time okay I'll remind him there you go thank you so much thank you everyone Madame clerk please call the rle yes motion to approve the appointment of these two individuals without yeah yeah oh okay with yeah motion to approve without the waiver that was a motion council member goaso I'm moving to approve the waiver correct moot well the motion was by vice mayor Fernandez to approve their appointment without meeting the requirements so to approve with the waiver correct yes I'll vot I'll vote Yes on the item thank you council member coyaso yes yes council member morera I vote Yes council member Garcia yes council member Diez no council member ruano yes vice mayor Fernandez yes mayor Sid yes the motion to approve the appointment without meeting the requirement passes are any of the folks that I named Julie Alexander John Justin Patricia Glades Eladio or Millie here if you are please stand up let's give these folks a round of applause for volunteering for our community thank you thank you Justin thank you Millie all right we're moving on uh to the items that were pulled we have first the items that councilman coyazo pulled which he combined which was item 14b and 14 D mayor Mr Mayor yes a point of of personal privilege H Madame clerk there is uh a couple residents that are reaching out that they're not able to view the uh the online feed I don't know yes um it is in the town website not YouTube so the town website I have been informed throughout the Night the live streaming is working to Perfection okay the town website thank you thank you thank you Mr manager yeah I don't know if I know we did the order of business but can we just do the special presentations it'll take all of about 20 seconds if there's no objections from the council we'll move and do that that's fine I have no uh objections I'd like to just make sure that we're in the proper form so I'll reopen the order of business second move forward uh my motion is to move forward special presentations second second all those in favor I I any oppos see none the motion passes uh we're on to the elderly Affairs committee item 88 elderly Affairs committee still here they are not here they they admitted the written report she was not able to wait any longer so she says the report as written 8B cultural Affairs committee they are here well Justin you're part of the committee you got to come on up man yeah good evening everybody I hope you can hear me um here I think it's the first time we have such a large group coming uh we have Justin who just joined in um Geraldine amandola the one and only Elsa raos and we had uh Jack ja Lea but she left and of course you know who I am um okay um I I don't want to take too much your time because I know it's been a long meeting for all of us um today I'm here to give the semiannual um report to council so honorable major mayor um council member staff which are very important to us um thank you for for allowing us to give this report you have in front of you the the the roster or the people that we have and and basically we have two openings I don't know if this is the appropriate uh venue to do it but I was thinking I don't know if we have to run it through the committee to have reduce the number of members because we don't we're not meeting Quorum as you can see in our uh attendance uh roster and and you know if someone leaves you know it helps us with the Quorum or maybe instead of having two members per council member maybe have one because that would help us I mean and and these are the groups that you know work with me most of the time and um just I don't know I need your advice on this but let me go on um we had the the meetings um and then we have all these events that have been happening they have been very successful thank to the hardworking people that I have in my committee uh the book talk um the Hispanic heritage MCH which we had here it was very successful um Des concert was postponed the holiday book reading was one of the biggest one ever so it was very nice um oh the Black History Month we have the mtown review which was also very um I think the only person that attended was Tony and it was a very very very well done event uh then we have our women of Distinction which was done here in this in the chamber very successful again and a peny picture from M which just had last Saturday again very successful so we're happy that um within the budget that we have we have great participation from the community and um the initiative and events that we have coming up or is the fishing tournament on June uh 15 then we have um our independence day celebr on July 4th and um we're finalizing um the preparation so hopefully we have enough sponsors and um we're looking forward to that it was very successful last year as you know we had over 9,000 people participating we have been working with the police to for security more lighting um again trying to get uh the sponsorship package ready and uh we been a little bit delay on that but I think we will do it um um then we have Symphony of the America finally we have schedule for August 17th the book talk which Elsa is putting together is September 7th we already have I mean 5ifth I'm sorry can read this very well and we already have the author and we look forward for some of you to attend is a very um interesting um author and um then we have a concert in the Fairway or in the park actually for November we're still working on that because we have not had con confirmation uh for future projects and considerations um I met with um via Zoom with the Miami day Department of culture Affairs um they want to collaborate with us uh I spoke to the manager in our quarle um chair's meeting and um actually I had a presentation they forwarded to me and they have a lot of resources I spoke with um um several people Ashley uh Thomas the deputy director Graham whik winck and Marie Denise who Chiefs of capital and U construction projects they are very happy to help us so uh I I mentioned to them our initiative which is the next one that we to I don't know if any of you have read this um this was done by us back in 2020 was was put in the back burner because of the pandemic but this is our dream like I said we a cultural center is because we need a home we we keep going to different venues and um we that is something that is my dream and I don't give up on it has been a very long time in the works and this is a beautiful work that we did and please if you haven't read it please uh we need your support on that um also and last but not least um at the corly meeting um Matthew S mayor casamayor I'm sorry I always get their names mixed up I call Castillo and is actually tro so I'm bad with names um he wants to bring back activities on Main Street and I mentioned to he back in the days we used to have an event called Main Street Live where we had bands come in and play to get the the merchants involved and it would be something to keep I mean I I mean we Main Street is a beautiful place to have events and um it's something that we're going to be working with economic development committee hopefully we have other committees that have worked with us like The ucation Advisory board that bring books to our events the fishing not the fishing the the P a picture for Mom and also the holiday book reading they come in and they bring books free books and marily knows because she used to be part of it and the kids love it I mean as I finish painting and get a free book and they go Ah that's nice so they love it uh we also for the 4th of July we have the special needs um committee getting involved to create a special room for the kids with special needs so we do collaborate with other committees and it is it is my pleasure to do that uh you know for for many years um I've been involved in this committee and and now that we have other committees collaborating and um is always weate and I tell my group is with commitment support and goodwi we can do a lot of things together so that's something that I want to promote more with my my group and uh with you uh in the in the council so with that much said if you have any questions I'm here to answer if I can Council any questions through the chair just again thank you so much for everything you do and everybody on the committee and welcome uh just looking at the uh meain stre live concerts I know that a lot of there's been a lot of talk of bringing live music back to Main Street a lot of business want to see that to bring more you know just bring people from outside to come in and shop at our at our um at our Stores um so I will you know I support that 100% yeah we we need sponsorship we need support from from the businesses and it's um I always say and I keep repeating it uh we we we we always say that and I repeat it all the time this um culture is good business and when I saw the presentation that the Miami day cultur Affairs presented to the league of City I think Miami day Le I can't remember the that same I was like impressed the amount of money that the cultural events bring to day county is amazing so they're very eager to present I I don't know if it's it's a short presentation but it shows shows the importance of you know of financially how the the communities can improve with all these activities you can you have seen it with the um our Bassel and other things I mean all all you have to do is go to the website and see the amount of events and there they have grants they have grants for for different categories that we can tap in they say whatever if you're using a venue that they needs something done like like we're doing our concert at the church or stuff in the theater they will provide us the resources so it's it's very important that we work with them and and they're eager to help us but they want to meet with the council either in an individual or maybe have a workshop workshop and I think it works I think it's better if they come in it's a very short presentation and and they they have everything that that we may need to do our activities and again we do it because art is is something that people need culture is what look at like I say in my in our report culture is what people do the same way as going fishing or we going to baseball is is the culture of this town and we want to make people aware some people don't even know at the painting pictures from M we had someone say oh we never I never knew we had this there we've been doing it for years so it's it's communicating and and reaching out to the community because we we're already 33,000 people and when we started it was I think maybe 16,000 so we need to reach out to them and have staff and and and the rest of the council um promote our events and and in in that venue I have a our latest maybe you can hand it out to them of what's coming and no we have enough everybody if you don't mind uh and please come to our events uh I know some of you have sport events and I know this town is very sporty but culture is very is is enlightening for kids uh when you see them painting and and see them enjoying the the Mrs Claus doing the magic and the songs and all that is it I mean I don't know about the rest of us but to me is it's very fulfilling is is uh it's something that we need we need art we need culture in our lives to Yeahs were telling them what to paint yeah yeah one one time years ago we had we one time we had this uh when we used to have the the pen picture her mom in a seis Village when it was just a grass there we had this lady that brought her daughter in her tutu they were going to ballet and and she was rushing her to paint and I said lady you cannot Rush creativity let her think and paint what she want but she was rushing here because they had to go to ballet anyway thank you again uh congratulations to R Brian and the rest of you uh I wish you could stay here forever but unfortunately you you're moving on to to other uh things after the next elections but again uh thank you for your support and uh we're trying to keep our budget the same but we need help to do especially Fourth of July which is our biggest event the sponsorship okay any other questions Council any other questions we'll do no just to thank you on behalf of the council and our residents thank you thank you appreciate you guys okay thank you all right moving on to the items uh that were pulled uh moved up we have item 14 uh B and item mayor the the special presentation can we just squeeze it in for 20 seconds the item 9A got it okay introduction of Miss Annabelle from The Office of our count mayor a as you remember Tomas alala was our Municipal represent resentative he got promoted within the mayor's office Annabelle is our new representative she's already paid tremendous dividends being a go between with between us and anything that's not happening at the county level and uh just wanted you when you start seeing things with her name on it I wanted you to be able to put a a face with the name so I I don't know if you want to say anything else thank you I just wanted to come here personally and introduce myself I'm at here at your service so whatever you need please feel free to reach out I would love to work with each of you and uh the city so I mean the town so thank you very much I really appreciate it yeah she's proven she has great patience between the county bureaucracy and waiting here tonight yeah it's wonderful though I have to congratulations to all of you this has been beautiful thank you very much we have the speed hump issue that's going to be heard right now if you could help us out with it would be great absolutely I'm going to take off but thank you again you guys have a wonderful nightmare thank you thank you have a good night appreciate you uh we're moving on to item 14 B and 14d those items uh were combined you have uh councilman coyazo then councilman morera this is both of your items yeah I'm going to I'm going to uh give the professional courtesy and collegiality that glad that we have the opportunity restore here it's Brian's first meeting and and uh sorry councilman Mora's first meeting so um it just so happens that both of these items are on there and and I think great minds think alike so councilman morera go ahead and and you can present the item and I'll I'll chime in with a few remarks thank you count thank you councilman coyazo uh while while running for for this seat I had the opportunity to meet a ton of residents and become a a repository for a lot of their concerns this by far became one of the biggest ones and not only did I hear it but I experienced it I stood in front of Ray angulo's house for several hours because what happens when you're knocking on doors is you eventually hit one door that they just don't let you go and you know it got dark no one else is answering the door might as well sit and chat for a little while um and while there I got to personally experience cars speeding through there and and we're not talking about speeding through at 40 miles an hour we're talking about speeding through at very very fast rates to speed mind you that's not a street that's particularly really well lit uh so this right away became a concern uh another thing that distinguished this particular street from others is uh some of the residents brought up to me that they had actually uh signed a petition requesting these speed bumps and that they had gotten every single house on the Block to sign it now look speed bumps are are not a uniform issue that every every single person agrees with there are people with very low sports cars for example who don't like speed bumps for you to get an entire neighborhood to agree on anything in 2024 is nothing short of a miracle so that's the evidence I need to say hey you know what this is something that we a as as a municipal government should be able to provide for these residents now I understand that that the county has its requirements and and that the county uh uh wants us to run studies um I did pull up the study um this is the part where people are going to get a little uncomfortable with me because I'm going to say the things that need to be said which is we need to amend our agreement that we just entered with the county um and the reason why is because it it forces us to do these studies which is fine you you want to make informed decisions based on information available but if if my understanding of the criteria for the interlocal agreement between us and the county is correct we are not allowed to put the speed bump without further approval from the county if uh certain thresholds aren't um aren't met and at the moment on paletto Palm they're not met specifically the location's 85th percentile speed does not exceed posted speed limit by more than 10 miles an hour and the vehicles per day do not exceed exceed 750 vehicles to which my immediate reaction is so we're going to let the speeder speed because the the guys who came and spoke today follow the law they they don't they're not Speeders the majority of people who do Traverse that street are the residents who live there care about their neighbors care about the kids and don't speed but it's unfortun and they're the ones who would be if anything detriment by the speed bumps but yet they're the ones asking for it because the ones who are doing the speeding are nine times out of 10 the people who don't live in that neighborhood they're using that street as a shortcut between Miami Lakeway South and Miami Lakes Drive and for that reason I think you know it's imperative on us to take the action that we can uh you know I if if the interpretation of the Ila is that we are allowed to do it I say we immediately move forward with doing it uh if that's not the case then I say that we give instruction to our Council to uh seek an amendment of that um of that portion of the agreement that prevents us from saying you know what yes the study says this but we're still going to to go forward with it because at the end of the day that is what is in the best interest of our residents uh with that I I'll yoke for further discussion I'll second the motion thank you um there is one it additional item that I wanted to add to the presentation of the item since both items were combined Mr Mayor of course go ahead uh thank you in the past um we have a process uh we take uh these issues um some of us may bring these issues forward for the same re very reasons that councilman Mora is bring him forward we hear from residents we hear complaints and I know that you know the town Administration tries to keep order tries to keep a a running tally and sometimes the process itself um doesn't lend itself to maybe seeing unique circumstances and I think one of the things we ran into was a unique situation where maybe a street was being redone or there was you know we were doing repaving we said okay maybe it makes sense moving moving this one up and um the reason that this one in particular made sense to me was the proximity to the pocket Parks um the children utilizing the pocket park its proximity to the Miami leak's K through 8 Center um those things are not factors that are taken into the speeding study which just looks in a very myopic um way the the speed limit and and um and the percentile that that that councilman Mora uh covered so what I did want to do was um and I know we we maybe didn't meet the thresholds uh of the speeding study what I wanted to do was take these these other mitigating factors the fact that it's proximity to the Miami Lakes k38 Center the facts that those those pocket parks are may be utilized in um maybe a little bit more aggressively than other pocket parks and because they're putting these um young kids maybe in in further risk um I wanted to see if we could somehow uh move them up on the list or or or add them and um the other thing that I wanted to add was whatever action we're going to take it be no longer than 90 days right the fact that we move on things and then sometimes we we we hit that that that bureaucratic wall of of the county not approving something so I appreciate U that NFL was here but I I really wanted her to stay for the next item if she could facilitate the discussion but I think there's mitigating circumstances that we could um look at this a little bit uh differently and and see if we can go ahead and install that and I did want to put a um a time stamp so to speak to to see if we could uh make sure there's resolution on it sooner rather than later may can I add a little bit of uh information to this um to this discussion the criteria the previous study that was conducted on paletto Palm was done from December the 11th through December the 23rd at that time there huh well part of the part of the time had school but the the uh criteria that the county had that we agreed to and so forth was different back then it basically only took into account speed as the council member stated speed and volume of of vehicles since then now into 2024 the criteria has changed it's now like a points based system it takes into account uh other factors such as proximity to schools to churches uh commercial areas and puts more emphasis on speeding on exceeding speed so what I recommend we already have this street as well as mahogany on our list we have approximately 10 uh request already right because there's other uh blocks other streets that are experiencing a similar situation we have about 10 in the hopper waiting for this speed study and as I've stated here before the uh the study equipment that we have we have one set of equipment and we can't just put it out because of some of the factors that you talked about no school no this no that the the for the variations in some of the factors we are required to have the equipment out there for a period of two weeks and that's that's what makes it a little bit you know kind of uh slow right so we do have these blocks already on our list to conduct a new round of speed studies based on the new criteria so what I would recommend that we do is not necessarily take any action yet until we see the outcome of that uh of the speed study based on the new criteria we would come back and report to you and tell you this is the outcome just as a point of information the the inous the town's in-house speed studies those don't cost the residents right they don't cost us but we only have one set of equipment that can do it that's the cost part if we had 10 sets we'd be able to do 10 simultaneously but we don't have 10 sets what would be the cost of adding the speed humps uh because I know we're going to be taking a budget item up in in a few minutes and what I hate to do is you know get the study have it approved and then we don't have any money in the funding right and the speed humps you know there were times that we were installing the little plastic speed humps for I think those were a couple thousand Omar you have the expert a couple thousand but within a couple years they're beat and they're falling apart so the like the one that we installed next to K9 Cove the asphalt ones those are obviously much more uh expensive they're not thousand or two probably how much about 8 to nine 10 10 each one of those speed humps will cost 10 but obviously there's permanence to those speed humps uh and they're more significant and um so that's the about 10 any any 10 per speed Hunt is the answer your question council member and how quickly um based on the information that you've provided um how quickly could if if the speed study were be favorable with the new criteria and you were to assume that you had the funding to do it how quickly could those um speed bumps be installed that's a very big uh assumption as long as we have the funding um what what are the steps omark come up here if you don't mind just walk us through the steps because this the there's a little more in depth right the uh the installation process and so forth good evening Council Santos Public Works director congratulations um so yeah so once we have uh a speed study that confirms um or recommends for the installation for traffic C traffic calming device in this case will be the speed hump The Next Step would be to get a a ballot from the residents to make sure everybody an agreement for this location we already know they are in agreement so we we may skip that or just get a quick uh ballot of just the locations of where we're proposing to install the device once that is done we put a work order together and depending on the availability of the contractor it can be between two to four weeks before it's all done so how long total time between the speed study the if you had theone if we skip the ballot and we go straight to work no I mean assuming that that not necessarily skipping any steps I don't necessarily want to put you in that position but assuming that a quick survey of the area we've identified two locations you hit all the you know you hit the block and say hey everybody's okay with it you know how long would that take I would say two months to be mons conservative I me so so putting a timeline of of 90 days on it would would it be too egregious for that like the manager mentioned we would have to do we have funding right now if if tomorrow we had a a speed hump that met the criteria do we have the funding right now in this year's budget to fund even one speed HP I think we I would have to confirm that but I think we do but then that would be at the expense of other things right or do we have speed hump money yeah yeah for for traffic coming okay good enough Mr we would have to reorder the I know you have Council M the vice mayor and I'll I'll say some comments afterwards go ahead okay so my own my only comment um I I understand the necessity for the traffic calming device I know that there are uh parks and children and schools uh in the vicinity however I believe just maybe a month or two ago there was um another group of residents here on an item that the mayor brought forth um that also brought all of the residents from their block with the same complaint and the same need and so what I don't want to see is this particular speed hump moved ahead of all the others right I think that everyone has the same uh the same need right and the same Fear With regards to the speed and the children in the in the roads so what we had discussed at that moment was perhaps Outsourcing some of these studies so that we can do all of them at the same time move quickly um even though you said that there's maybe 10 streets that are on on our radar and it takes about two weeks to I guess to install and to register that information so it would be 20 weeks to get all of those streets um I guess analyzed if we did them back to back yeah you you may want to add a week in between when we take the 30 so about 30 weeks right it would take us to so I mean I'm I'm definitely and I and I understand where council member Mora is coming from right when you when you campaign and you canvas you you really get to the meat and potatoes of what people want right you you get to talk to them and see what their what their needs truly are and that's that's the Wonder right of knocking on doors so that you can sit up here and bring those those issues to to a Forefront but I don't want to see this particular Street I guess brought forward brought forward on that list because there are some streets that have been on that list for quite some time yes perhaps even you know and one thing that we do not have control over is other traffic calming uh devices like three-way stops or four way stops Etc and I know we've already submitted pal me Palm to the county that when we don't have control over we don't have the ability to just go in and install it that is one that we have to request to the county and then for them to consider so we have already a paletto palm and mahogany or just paletto pal Ju Just paletto pal and then in the last council meeting we also after the last council meeting we submitted 77th quarter and 149 so we have to so do we have to wait because we've already submitted that do we have to wait or we can move forward with our um study as well no we can do the study and if we decide to go if if it comes out that it it's favors the installation of this traffic calming device I would have to get in communication with the county and and just let them know to pull that request right because we're going to be moving forward May it's running parallel courses right now us with the speed study for uh uh speed hump and at the county for them to consider installing uh a three-way stop threeway stop and the request was made because it didn't beate criteria for the speed hump and there's still a concern for the the behavior of the traffic in the area then we requested to get an evaluation for a three-way stop have did we were we able to do any research with regards to Outsourcing these these machines that we utilize to to do the traffic study so that we can knock everything out I reached out to another municipality that there something similar I unfortunately have not received any data but I put a rough estimate together which is is in in the carry forward no yeah okay so I just wanted to put my thoughts on the record with regards to that I would like to see it all happen simultaneously so that there isn't one particular block that feels that they've been neglected because we've pushed forward another thank you vice mayor then I'll say a few comments and then anybody else and we'll close it out thank you mayor I have a I have a few questions some some of the questions I have I have been answered um so I guess the first question is why and and I guess this is to to legal and to the manager why did we agree a to still follow the County's criteria when evaluating the speed bumps why did we do that did they compel us to do that obviously in any negotiation it's two sides have to agree they demanded that in order for them to give us cuz traffic calming when we did the road transfer agreement when we incorporated as a town the county transferred over control of all of the uh streets other than 67th Avenue and 87th Avenue to the to the town that was done through a vehicle named a trans uh uh Road transfer agreement in that road transfer agreement they retained traffic calming right and traffic engineering so this is now our way of trying to nickel and nibble back some of that they said yes you can go ahead and do for certain things like speed humps but you have to do it based on this criteria right so when when that uh agreement was negotiated did we push back at all did we say yeah okay thank you but we don't want to do that the the agreement we had and I think the the manager already clarified but the the first study that was done that only put an emphasis on speed and volume so that's no longer the case so what we have now is a Point based uh evaluation that does put more of an emphasis if it's going one to two two to four or or more uh miles per hour over the speed limit so it's no longer 10 and above and that's it also it gives uh a different set of points based on the volume so it takes that in consideration and the type of road if it's uh very small or just a regular local Road and we also look at are there schools within half a mile are there places of worship within half a mile other kind of pedestrian generators like multif family uh complexes business centers so we take that to consideration it gives points to to the evaluation and in the end it's it has a higher chance uh of of meeting criteria than before right no no I I understand that the the new criteria is more favorable and may result in more speed bums what I'm interested to know is when we when we negotiated the agreement agement and they said yes you can do this but you have to follow our criteria did we push back and say we don't want to use your criteria I I'll answer that question so that's something that both Omar and I kind of work together there are certain criterias that have to be met by state so a lot of these have to be met by the the green book I think is what it's what it's called and it's based off of so we took a look at different uh cities uh with them the Miami Beach uh City of Coral Gables City of Dural uh and those were the three on on that there had been Road there had been these interlocal agreements transferring certain Road functions to the municipalities and based on you know the the criteria that's based in that handbook and based on some of those uh agreements we modeled ours uh so it does have to it does have to follow a certain criteria can't just be you know we we want to do this and we're going forward on it okay um I I think I think that one deserves a little bit more discussion further down the line the the other part um do we still have so if if what changed is the criteria do we still have the raw data from the previous study and can we recalculate the outcome using the new criteria with the old data and save ourselves the two weeks of of doing this again yeah that's something I was going to mention that haven't discussed it yet but we're looking into doing just that okay yeah I I that streamlines the the process some two Council woman Tano's point I think we have a lot of these in in a in a lot of different places and I too was hoping we would have an answer to have a cost to to expedite these what does the equipment to do these studies cost do we have an estimate on that it's about a little over $4,000 each so with another piece of equipment we can dou double the out okay I think that might be something we might want to consider uh when we have have the budget conversation okay th those those were my questions thank you that'll that'll lead to more informed decision making thank you look councilman morera your your thought process is in the right direction specifically about questioning the process we need more that and I I'll give you an example I personally disagree with our attorneys and our staff on their interpretation of uh the County ordinance over this issue I was recently in another city I visited a school they did a crosswalk in two weeks the principal asked for it the city did it and I asked the question I was like but you guys didn't need County approval and they looked at me and said no this is a residential Road um so every city has a different perspective back in the days Miami Lakes also took the position um that our roads we were able to do certain things like entrance features and caling devices it became very cumbersome now I respect our staff respect their attorneys but I wholeheartly disagree with that interpretation I really believe residential roads are completely in our purview when it comes to especially temporary speed bumps and those things of that that nature that's been always my my position on that and I've seen other cities take the same exact um position uh that I have but quick quick uh question for you Omar so months ago councilman Rano refreshed my memory and I and I see Mr P sitting in front what what happened with their their we're running the study as as we speak the machine is out there right now got it it was placed out there about a week and a half ago so we're refresh I could have sworn that and I don't know maybe I'm incorrect we didn't take a vote to uh remove a any sort of study and just go ahead and and install the speed the speed bump because it was a road that was under construction we want to do it all together or that wasn't yes uh if I remember correctly the the request was once the the construction cleared out to place the the device and that's what we ended up doing got it my and again I know I'm the minority in this my interpretation of the County lost but residential roads when it comes to this completely in our in our purview I in other cities agree with that perspective mayor I I'll try to I'll try to be brief um there there was one other point and you uh with your comments you refreshed my my mind I think the reason that we exist as a municipality is so that we don't operate in the in the realm of county level you know one siiz fits all codes and criterias right so the town of Miami Lakes is very unique design right our residential streets were created in such a way to promote um you know safe pedestrian streets without a lot of through traffic right terrible design for moving traffic as we all painfully know but they were designed to to have a certain uh residential character to these neighborhoods where you don't have traffic going through there right and so a criteria like traffic count having to be 750 and it doesn't apply to a lot of our streets because that particular Street only has 17 homes on it right it's not going to get the same traffic than if we're evaluating whether or not to put speed bumps on Southwest 8th Street right so I I think we we have to be very careful when we look at at doing things in the future the whole reason we want you know the autonomy to do this is to separate ourselves from some of that criteria that doesn't specifically need earns thank you there's a motion in a second if there's no further comments um closing councilman Garcia just quickly how many speed homes have we um erected in the last two years since November of 2022 that I would have to go back into the into the records to check I'll I'll provide that answer to the manager do you have like a what was the question I'm sorry how many speed hels have we erected since November of 2022 we'd have to go back and and come do we have like five 10 couple streets I mean can we do we have I would have to say it was less than five less than five yeah I have to give your a number is less than five less than five yeah okay so this is my take I think the interlocal agreement that we agree to does not take into consideration the uniqueness of Miami Lakes as my colleagues have said I think we need to start pushing back on these interlocal agreements especially it only takes one right uh again these streets weren't designed as as Council vice mayor said to handle five six seven 800 cars is it only takes one so I think that we need to push back um and if we only done five be it because of budget constraints or be it because we've accepted these interlocal agreements oror yeah yeah absolutely or we haven't pushed back for example the criteria change when December yeah the criteria change the criteria change to the one that doesn't put as much emphasis on on volume and some of the other things and the speeds are yeah so what I would like to have seen is maybe the moment it changed like I'm maybe you did become proactive and say all right it's already changed let's go back and use the raw data that we have and see if we can push get this going so we can present the council Hey listen we went back with the criteria change and guess what two or three streets now meet that criteria and I would have said wow okay great we're being proactive let's put them on the list and it's our our turn to our you know it's our duty to to budget that um so you know I'm honestly I'm going to take I'll take responsibility I think five is not enough um I think our unique the way our streets are made we we need to have had more more speed humps also when speed humps are not an option three-way stop signs four-way stop signs whatever it takes um but yeah I I would let's go back let's push back on on on um on the county and on the state as well it's not meeting our needs we're we're we're failing when it comes to this I think we're not moving fast enough especially when every single resident has said on that street we want it um I think if we all work together guys I think we can make this happen we need to push back these inter local agreements you know we have to the town comes first the residence comes first and we have to push back on these agreements they they just do not satisfy our needs and that's why we incorporated in the first place in the year 2000 to to get away from the County's restrictions so that being said um that's that's my two cents on that so I know there's a motion in a second right Madam clerk uh Madam clerk had a I heard Council we don't have a motion per se if council member murera would like to brief put his wonderful thoughts into a motion would be highly appreciated sure I will move to add paletto Palm Avenue to the ongoing list of uh roads needing um speed humps I don't know if it would be appropriate procedure but I would further move that uh the council directs our town attorneys to begin the process of amending the Ila for the purpose of giving the Town Council a bit of a broader Authority I'll second that all those in favor I I I any oppos seeing none the motion passes we're on to item 14h councilman quaz thank you very much um I'm going to ask uh representatives from our veterans community to come on up and speak on this item and I'm also going to ask um if any of my colleagues would like to co-sponsor this item I know it's something that maybe has been raised to several of us um but I also wanted to open up uh to co-sponsors and I'm going to turn my time over uh thank you very much uh council member colazo uh good evening ladies and gentlemen okay you know who I am uh for the record uh my name is William Perez my hand is 7167 balance rate Court I am the chairman of the veterans committee and I have to give councilwoman Morano credit for this idea and because you you actually said it about two or three years ago that um you should name one of the uh Pavilions after somebody and I was like all right that stuck in the back of my mind and uh I approached councilman colazo and I thought who better than Gary who turned 18 as he likes to say flip the numbers and who has done so much he's a veteran who served three years in the army during the Cold War he's the commander of the American Legion Post 144 um he's a crossing guard and we all know about that and he's a he's he's a member of the veterans committee and he's a founding member of the mental health task force you cannot get a more a person who epitomizes you know faith family and service than uh Gary cardinas um and so I thought it would be a fitting honor that we named The Pavilion that the American lead always does their Barbecue on anyway after him so I would hope that you would you would support that um and I appreciate your time thank you got it the entire Council will co-sponsor if anybody not all right and there's a motion by councilman coyazo yeah I'll go ahead and make the motion to name the uh Pavilion um after Gary gardas I'll second uh all those in favor any opposed see none the motion passes thank you very much I appreciate thank you uh we are on to 13B and then I know there's two items are several items that are important to people 13B is the Quasi judicial hearing [Music] for put the the exact name of the BB hars that item is up right now um we have to go anybody that's going to speak our clerk will read the rules and you'll have to get sworn in uh for this item as is a it is a quasi judicial public hearing Mr Mayor before we get started I'm going to have to recuse myself uh my wife serves on the board of BB hars so I will be recusing myself and um maybe getting some dinner right okay uh please be advised that the following items on the board's agenda are Quasi judicial in nature an opportunity for persons to speak on each item will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item all testimon including public testimony and evidence will be made under oath or affirmation additionally each person who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination if you do not wish to be either cross-examined or sworn your testimony will be given its due weight the general public will not be permitted to cross-examine Witnesses but the public May request the board to ask questions of Staff or Witnesses on their behalf persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for the organization any person uh presenting documents to the board should provide the town clerk with a minimum of 10 copies further details of the Quasi judicial procedure may be obtained uh from the clerk this is for the uh item uh 13B conditional use to operate a School of Performing heart of Performing Arts uh BB Hearts uh Madam clerk if you want want to go through your process really quick anyone who's going to speak please raise your right hand do you swear to say the truth and only the truth so help you God thank you you may be seated and real quick uh we'll let staff do the presentation first then the applicant then we'll open it up for the public only folks who were sworn Susanna before we start the Quasi judicial exp parted Communications that I always for purposes of the record we state I have received an expart Communications from mayor Manny Sid council member Lis coyaso council member Ray Garcia councilwoman marilene ruano council member Josh Diez and of course and council member Brian morera do we still have to State it on the record Sor do we still have to State on the record yes I council member morera did you have any none councilman Kazo I had no Communications with the applicant councilman Garcia no Communications with the applicant councilman Ronald's not here councilman dieas no Communications with the applicant although they did bring a nice gift by the office which the staff appreciated got it hey I had no yes I can read into the record Council woman Rano stated none nonone Communications I had no communication with the applicant only one resident lero who's uh who's a who told me he was going to be here tonight so he's the only I didn't even know before I saw it on the agenda about this one a all right go ahead well good evening uh mayor and uh congratulations to the new council member um this is a conditional use application as we have discussed in the past uh conditional uses are special uses that would otherwise be regulated by the code but because they don't necessarily fit in any one category they get uh regulated independently and this is the process that by which we do so I'm hereby entering the staff report into the record um the conditional uses for a for a school of dance um they call performing performing art school and uh the reason that is before you is because it's a little rather a large space is 4,000 square fet and it requires approval by the council as we discussed in the past uh when we do a conditional use we're basically talking about mitigation of any problems that may arise it's not necessarily a yes or no you're not voting it up or down because it is an allow probable use via conditional use but we're here to talk about how to mitigate any potential problems that may arise from the use at the location um so I'm here by entering the um staff report into the record uh we're recommending approval with um mitigation considering uh things with traffic like the fact that they were going to be using their own van let me uh if you want me to read the the conditions as they stand really quick oh where I went too far hold on and I think the applicant is doing a a a little short presentation and be able to answer better questions um basically they're requesting 250 students maximum um at this point they're still enrolling only 100 uh but that's basically what they hope to do in the next five years is to prevent having to come back regularly uh every time they expand a little bit um they obtaining certificate of uses and uh getting their and um they're going to be as submitted in the letter of intent so and the letter of intent is attached as well to the staff report thank you uh staff real quick before you leave uh Council questions just of staff on this questions just of Staff one one quick question what is the current approved use there uh currently it's um um uh a clinic it's IC use which a is a use that has a high uh traffic count okay um it's a dialysis center right now so I guess that that might be a question for the applicant but at the moment the the school has not actually started correct the school is right now operating out of uh PSN so they're they're hoping to move their facility to Miami Lakes all Council any questions just of staff at the moment just just quick question the chair uh hours of operation if you want you could asked of unless you want to ask the staff but the applicant's going to do the presentation now yeah they may they may be answering a lot of your questions within their presentation so it's better to just and I'll be I'll be around I'm not going anywhere all right I have a staff questions um mayor Susanna staff questions by councilman yes I know you wanted to get out of it um just help me understand the math 18 parking spaces 250 students correct explain to me the van and the what we're trying to work through is the logistical so just walk me through it and and again they're going to go through a lot of this themselves but basically they have a 15 seat band uh with which they pick up the kids in in in school and bring them to the facility to do after care and their classes so basically it's not parent drop off the core of their business there are some parents that do drop off and then there are some pickups and they're using those 18 spaces precisely and also because they're operating after hours so basically they start uh that that entire area is office use so there's a lot of offices around there that are usually operating between 9 and 5 so they start their operation around three uh so they're sort of like staggered uh after the main uses in the street are getting used perfect makes perfect sense um had you have an opportunity to visit their current operations and their utilization of parking the outside yes um and they're they're tight and that's why they're moving because they would like to have a little more current operation have less less than than 18 spaces much less yeah okay I think they have like maybe they can answer but very little I'm going to I'm going to go ahead and and and ask them when they the presentation thank you so questions of Staff just of Staff see none thank you uh the applicant welcome and then we'll take public comments afterwards everybody good evening I usually speak from my heart but I'm going to read today because I think it's better my students say that I take too long when I do that so good afternoon steam Council and community members and thank you for providing us with this opportunity to address you today I am honored to stand before you as Miriam the Francisco the founding director of Bilingual School of Business and Performing Arts also called BB Hearts clarification we are not a school right now we operate as a after school program um with over two decades of dedication and Service as an educator within the Miami day County Public School System I had the privilege to contribute to the educational journey of our community and youth my tenure um as a founding teacher at matter Lakes which is in our community M Gardens and the the chared schools in the area has enriched my understanding of the unique needs and aspirations of our students for the last 12 years I have had the privilege of directing BB hearts a journey that has seen and we have navigator to pursue our mission which is to basically use the Performing Arts as a vehicle for our children to discover talent and purpose um from our homble beginnings at matter Gardens Elementary uh in 2012 uh some subsequent moves to matter lakes and PSN shopping center our program has continually evolved to meet the dynamic demands of our students and Community amid adid amidst the challenges posted by the global pandemic in 2020 we persevere and adapted ultimately finding ourselves situated in the SN Town Center by the library despite the growth and expansion that ensued uh managing multiple spaces with the same shopping center um that brought its own set of challenges including leasing right now from four different landlords and and ensuring that our students are safe as they cross within the shopping center uh something that we really truly um wanted to avoid and I heard all of the conversation before we came up about speeds and bumping and speed bumps and that is an issue yes I actually thought of that because that is one of the main reasons we want to move to one space one location one building one everything uh we're in four right now moving around um with that being said as we look ahead to the future I am confident that this new space will continue to serve as a beon beacon of inspir inspiration and Excellence fostering creativity collaboration and individual expression among among our students together we embrace the opportunity to cultivate a community where every artistic Endeavor is celebrated and every student is empowered to reach their fullest potential and now for those of you wondering if this sounds too good too be true which is you know it's very proper um who better than our staff our families and students of more than 12 years some of them including my assistant director uh but we did put in a brief video because some of them were here and we didn't know if they were going to make it some of them didn't um so we have a short two two minute video that we'll show you a little bit of why we um we would like to be part of this community don don you got to put up the audio raise the volume we cannot hear the why should we be hard to get a new building uh be be because because this studio is amazing and we wanted it to keep keep expanding so it could stay amazing all the programs are really awesome I've been at since I was 4 years old and I don't know where I would be without it today after school I walk in I'm like I'm here hurts I've been there for a lot of years and I now work there I have a friend who lives in Spain and I still talk to her because of like the connections that I made with her I'm the fres assistant at BBS along with a BB Hearts alumni BB Hearts means a family a home a safe space for all of our dancers because not only do they instill the love of dance but they instill so much more like love kindness and a sense of purpose and for me that's priceless we wouldn't I don't know if we would have survive Parenthood without them I wouldn't trust anyone else than BB Hearts to take care of my child BB Hearts truly takes care of my kids like they're their own with your eyes closed I know I can I can trust them with my child no questions asked has become a star in the making and that's all to BB Hearts we can continue to grow as artists as a family and in essence it's great for our Miami Lakes Community safety just peace of mind a great town I really look forward to having my kids be a part of the new building at BB Hearts well that was it from them um to close our presentation I I wanted I want want to thank the entire the all the families that have been here waiting since 6:30 but I would like to close with Sarah she was my student when she was a ninth grader she's a little older now hi good evening okay all right so my name is Sarah Valera um I'm the assistant director here at BB Hearts um BB Hearts holds a very special place in my heart and my journey with this incredible organization began long before it even opened its doors it actually began in a matter Lakes classroom in 2008 where I had the privilege of being Miriam D Francisco's drama student stumbled into that class by accident but I was there I did not I prefer to take a science or something but it's okay I was just 14 years old and at that tender age she saw the potential in me unfortunately when I was 15 my world was turned upside down with the passing of my mom I was devastated it was devastating time for me but Miriam kept tabs on me and that summer she started a program out of her garage and I would walk from school to her house to teach ballet and I didn't realize it then but she was providing um me with a sense of belonging and support during the darkest season of my life in short she saw me by the time I turned 19 okay Miriam's wavering dedication to the vision of BB Hearts profoundly impacted me and I joined the team when it began in 2012 that and the fact that she's incredibly gifted at casting vision and persuasive as heck but she didn't need to do much because I fell in love with BB hearts's mission to enrich lives through the Arts and I knew that I had found my calling just simply put today as the assistant director BB hars I have the honor of passing that same love and passion and support that Miriam once gave me I get to see dozens of kids every day and hopefully impact them in the same way that they can see themselves the way that I see them um this new building represents more than just a physical space it symbolizes growth opportunity and the continuation of the Legacy that has touched C of lives including my own I respectfully ask for your support in granting us the conditional use um we need to continue our mission at this new location by doing so you will be helping us to inspire and uplift more young people in our community just as BB Hearts has done for me thank you for your time and consideration thank you um Council questions of the applicant just the applicant and once we close with that we'll let the public speak if there's anybody but questions of the applicant councilman Kazo and councilman dieas you're up thank you so much and um you know your your passion speaks for itself and and I love the fact that that you took the microphone away and said I I I need to I need to say this because it's actually it's it's it's forming who you are as a human right and and you can see the impact that the school has that that is is is priceless and and I can see the admiration that you have for for for the school and I'll be happy to support the application but at the same time I need to humiliate my concerns with the fact that you're going to have 250 students there 18 parking spaces walk me through a day of programming and is that enough uh do you anticipate traffic problems walk me through that um to help me feel comfortable with this decision of course and I totally understand you think 250 students arriving in that street you would be concerned but no we don't we don't uh number one we've never had 250 students and when we do we don't ever have them all at the same time because we are not a school they don't come at the same time we they don't come every day they all have different schedules there may be students that come once a week and other students that come through after school the entire from from 3:45 until they leave at 900 p.m so we have a rotative schedule it goes by age groups we do leave behind we leave gaps in between so that the entrance and the exit is not the same parents do not um stay with them uh since 2020 after the pandemic they got used to that uh they used to get off the car and they used to sit down but they don't anymore thanks to some something positive right uh after the pandemic they had to leave we we didn't have a space for them so they drop off and they leave the only ones that may come are the ones that are either dropping off or the first time they're little they still want to see them which we are very aware of who they are so we are very aware of the schedule and how we need to block that schedule so that those groups which are the little little ones are not during your operating hours usually pews come on Saturdays so um that is completely understandable but no we don't ever have 50 anything at the same time or 100 or not even 50 or 60 like it's usually rotating our after school program holds around 45% if not more of of our student body and they don't come with their parents they come with us we pick up in different locations different School matter Garden matter l b gr and after we we it's 15 students at a time we drop them off they come together and there are but van comes back we only have one van and we are able to do that thanks to the that which a reason why we selected this building because we are able to continue our route in the same vicinity so um we where we are right now we don't have our own parking lot either and we've never had an issue other than on Saturdays when our PE with come which is when you guys have zero traffic in that street they love to come down they they do I I would lie to you if I told you that they don't know we like they're three and four years old so they like to watch them so we even then have a h entire um video system so they can even watch from their C and go to Starbucks and still watching them but those are the ones that I know that we put on Saturdays on purpose councilman coaz you have the I have no I have no further questions thank you so much and and helped explain to me and I'm pretty sure to everybody on the council the staggered scheduling it's off hours and in particular on the weekends when you have really small toddlers three and four year olds you make sure and and let me ask you something the adjacent businesses um I'm assuming in in that particular is not operating on Saturday and Sunday so we consider that actually we have a neighbor uh downstairs and the first thing I did was ask him his hours of operation so we already changed the schedule time because he does work on Saturday mornings so we already moved P's times to when he's not there so that he doesn't um conflict with us all right thank you yeah I have no further questions thank you thank you councilman quazo councilman dieas hi and uh good evening and I'm I represent actually the buildings next door to you guys um we didn't know that was not on purpose yeah no no it's okay um we have two units there and we're we were actually very glad when the dialysis center left and um I know that you guys run a very good program chassity speaks very highly of you guys so Karina Castro that you had on the video um and so your program is is not an issue to me I do have similar to council M corazo concerns because again I would be one of the people affected as would my employees right and the other members of uh of the building that also think to be Miami Lakers and that have all vo some in some form or another some concern with the early portion of your classes nobody that I spoken to has had an issue with the Saturday programming you're absolutely right the street is mostly dead at that time it's maybe myself or my father or some other attorneys or couns have to come in on the weekends but other than that nobody has an issue with it a later than 5:00 when everybody else is leaving again no issue I H I still have a slight concern not right now because I believe you're only have an enrollment of 100 right now correct give or take for the new location yes yeah you know I mean but obvious in 5 years let's say we know we hope that you get to 250 um you know and that you have much success but let's assume then that you're operating at maximum capacity and um for your three or sorry your four o' class is that correct um that that's your first class of the day no actually the time that you that you're thinking about is after school program so they don't come with their parents so that's that's the time when they come in the van um so our schedule starting um at 3:45 is the kids are already in the after school program and we have moved down all the kids that are not in the after school until after 4:30 precisely to not conflict until you guys leave so that that basically is that the those students that come in our van are the ones that are going to be staying there until maybe 6 but the group that has class from 3 for actually from 1:30 because the the kindergarten students come in earlier so when we bring the Kinder students which is why we could have so many um those their scheduled is going to be all the way until 5: so they leave at 5: or 6 depending on the parents that work until 6 and then so forth and so on the second third graders then continue and the rotation of that time is all after school okay but um I I still have questions so one of the biggest issues that we had when when the dialysis center was there is the trucks are back in but as you know in that space it's very difficult it's not like a loop or something to get out right you know so the trucks would frequently back all the way up or they'd have to do a point turn within the space and of course that backs of traffic I guess what what um so I understand that yes it's your after school program they get picked up by the bus but then now when they get picked up um how do how do they get um or what is the plan for the pickup portion of of that to drop them off no to pick them up sorry like after they've been picked up and and taken to the center they take their class how do they get picked up the parents come by to the center right so that those are the after schoolers their pickup time range is from 5: to 9: because they're working parents so usually they leave work around 5: they have until 6:00 p.m. for the little ones and then the other ones some of them stay until 9:00 p.m. because they're older so depending on the time the earliest they're going to come after school is going to be five because they work that's why they're in after school that's usually the cas and how many of the after school kids do you currently have um right now currently I don't know that number 40 43 and um and the uh the next class after that would be at what time again 4:45 5:30 5 and and that is um that is just for those that sign up in classes or is that still considered part of after school um after school depending on their level they're ending like level ones for example can end between five and 5:30 depending on the day most days it's 530s except for Friday Friday's 5 uh level twos won't until 6 uh or 7 or 8 if they chose to pick classes at 7 or 8 but really if they only did like the first class it would be until 6 and we do that again for the parents so um if they need them to be in more classes because they have other hours and they can run until 8:00 if they wanted to and then my bigger kids that are still here way past bedtime um until 9 o'clock got it thank you oh yeah they start at five yeah yeah they're doing homework volunteer and then their classes start at 5 okay yeah I'm gonna thank you for answering my questions going to think about then I have a question uh as well for staff when they come back thank you any other questions of the applicant if not okay mainly just to congratulate you on the fact that you're expanding thank you to those that you brought with you for me it was Taw do it wasn't this it was it was martial arts but something to instill discipline in the youth in our community bring in a new business you know I'm very much looking forward to your future riing cutting all right um if not thank you thank you guys very much and we're going to open it up um for any public comments as this is a public form you guys can take definitely take a seat um if there's anybody from the public who got sworn in and would like to say a few words you're more than fine to do that if not that's fine as well um but if you were sworn in and you and you would like to say a few words the public hearing is opening open at this moment um all right seeing none the public uh hearing portion is closed and we'll deliberate as uh as a council we'll take up any motions that the council has uh at this moment I move to approve the conditional use I'll second so I'll put some few comments on the record um based on the evidence that's been placed on um submitted on the record and and the and the uh the feedback that I've received from my colleagues and staff and the applicant I'll be voting uh in affirmative a on a side note outside of the quasa judicial hearing a I've only heard great things about you all um from many folks in our community a l rega what they speak about her the impact you've all had on on their granddaughter um is is amazing so really excited along the lines of of uh of what councilman morera said looking forward to to that ribbon cutting and and uh hopefully if this passes tonight welcome to Miami Lakes any other comments to that effect uh Council councilman dieas yeah I just needed suzan to come back up remember I had a couple followup so the conditional use again has be renewed every year correct correct so the way that conditional and this is for the benefit of new members um conditional users get renewed every year uh basically the conditions that we impose today that are based on what they've submitted on their letter of intent is how they're supposed to operate their business and that is what code enforcement is going to use to keep them in the straight and narrow if there is any um things that are that are raised you know code code issues you problems with other we always get every year a a chance to sort of go over with them and say Hey you know this this we need to fix or we need to it wouldn't come before you again but it would be more at my level when they come in for renewals that I would have a conversation with them that let's fix this issue or less um you know yeah and I just raised that point because I'm going to support the application but I just want to be very clear though that I need you to please tell your your parents because this became a huge issue with the dialysis center that they need to not Park in the adjacent property at least until 5 because cars we got to the point where we started towing cars and everything it just it takes away from our businesses too right so you know obviously we're looking forward to welcoming you to uh to the neighborhood I'll be there at the ribbon cutting I think in fact councilman coyaso and I actually judged one of your trunker treats at one point at one of your older locations is that correct no different one okay let's say that's on me but with that said again I've I've heard a little a lot of great things about your program and I'm just you know trying to help you succeed here because in the past as R can tell you as a member of the business park Association there parking is very scarce and and as a result there have been some very heated turf wars so uh we want to work with you um but I just want to make sure that you know that again you're you're aware that we need to all work together for everybody's interest and you know worst case if we have to revisit the conditional use as far as the the operating hours in the future or something you know I'll be more than happy to work with you on that and let's see how this goes on a trial basis but congratulations yeah and and Susan my comments are exactly very similar to to the councilman welcome you know to Miami Lakes I'm going to vote in affirmative as well but you know just monitor the traffic situation we're trying to make sure everybody's happy uh you know you've had a lot of outpouring of support we're we're happy you guys to be here but at the same time we need to be good neighbors to the entire uh business part so that's going to be the number one concern that's going to be riding with me at least with staff and it's not going to be now it's as you grow into your success and you grow into that space you know hopefully you have another problem right that you need even a bigger space right so that that God willing that's the issue that you're having a few years down the road so I'm going to be voting in the affirmative as well van right I'm going to be voting in the in the affirmatives as well and um just know that that's that's our only concern is as you grow thank you so much thank you Madame clerk let's call the rule council member Garcia yes council member Diez yes council member coyaso yes council member morera yes council member ruano yes mayor Sid yes item 13B passes welcome to Miami Lakes all right all right we're moving on to for sure bye guys guys have a good night later guys uh we're on to item 13A uh resolutions Mr attorney a resolution of the town of Miami Lakes Florida to approve renewal of the of the license and use agreement with the Optimus Club of Miami Lakes for a period of 7 years for use of Miami Lakes Optimus Park providing for incorporation of recitals providing authority to the town manager and town attorney to implement the terms and condition itions of the contract authorizing the town manager to execute the agreement and providing for an effective date a director Jeremy B now let's welcome back uh the vice mayor welcome good evening mayor and Council uh the item you have before you uh is the renewal of um I'm sorry it's the actual new agreement for the Mi Lakes uh Optimus Club as well as um we also do have the Mii Lakes United Soccer Club um these discussions that we've been going back and forth on the agreements uh since November have been taken into account uh between Council meetings between workshops um and this agreement uh these both agreements before you uh reflect those items and Clauses that have been discussed um and incorporated into each and also to kind of make them a little more similar together so with that if there's any questions I'm here any questions any motions on the [Music] table so there's any motions to approve or disapprove I'll move to to approve I'll go ahead and second there's a motion in a second I see members of the the Optimus Club here I don't know if there needs to be any further discussion or if the council we're voting on one resolution at a time that's just the Optimus CL cuz there's two resolutions one for the Optimus club and one for the uh soccer club I just saw under that I saw one item all together it's a single explanatory memo but there is there are two uh resolutions in here I it was a motion for one of them or motion was to pass both coun well I only read one all right then we we're taking up the first one which is which is the Optimus Club all right any questions there's a motion in a second any other questions I I have a debate yep debate councilman dieas and then councilman Rono had her hand up thank you and I want to thank uh Jeremy as well as the members of the Opus club for taking the time to meet with me and better educate me as well as as far as uh the history of the club and the services that you all provide and out of those conversations we ended up uh learning some other ways perhaps where we can expand your functionality right you know with the talk about potentially what we may be able to achieve or not at Barbara Goldman um I still feel um that with respect to with respect to the main issue that I have always had which has never been with the club and I just wanted to be clear about that you know which is that there are just there's just not enough park space made available to the average kid right that just wants to play with their friends you know and that they have to go out to PSN or to lakes in the green in order to play football with their friends without being part of a club that has a whole set schedule you know instead of the Leisure aspect of it that that's not going to resolve tonight but again I'm going to support the agreement with one exception which is just that I'm going to ask that it continue to be at five years I really do not see why it needs to go to seven um I think five years is more than reasonable there's also a termination with cause which is something the M lak United is not getting um which I think is a great security measure um but I just you know on on you know just on principle I really think seven years is a very long time right um for any agreement and uh it wouldn't work in a regular business in most cases I I I don't see why it would be acceptable here so um my my one amendment that I'm going to see where it goes is to amend the term to be five years instead of seven everything else is the same I want to thank the club because they did accept the change which involved that if we do um get the Gman space right or access to there um we would have a conversation about them contributing toward uh those acquisition and and Improvement costs um so I you know I thank them for their cooperation on that but that is the only change that I wanted to make um which I think they would agree is me coming a long way you know from where I started is that is that a motion or is that a that is a mo that yeah the motion is to move as I mentioned is to Move It from Seven a term of seven years to five years um and again we're taking both contracts separ uh separately but I'm I'm assuming that that that same motion is going to apply to the soccer club as well it will be coming up when we take that right now we're only taking up the Optimus Club okay so um I'm I'm going to support that motion but and I'll go into my my my comments but I'll I'll second the motion uh for discussion all right discussion just on the fivey year moving from SE from from uh seven years to five years through the chair yes um I and I understand the 5year seven-year dilemma with cont TRS um but I believe because the Optimus Club has shown decades almost half a century of of incredible service to our community that um in this case a seven-year contract to me uh is not only saying thank you but and and the fact that changes they're open to making changes if if um we open up other other other areas they can play and they're willing to to to be uh um you know just flexible with that uh I I have no no no problem with with uh approving a seven-year contract with the Optimist they've more than earned that respect from from from me myself and I think the the community so that's my two cents on that any other discussion on years yes mayor I just want to clarify something uh I think Josh might have mentioned that this one was terminable uh without cause this one only shows for cause yeah no no that's not what I said okay I said that the uh United contract allows them or requires or rather permits us to terminate without CA this one's different so they got that added layer of protection which is already I think a way of saying thank you you know in addition to the fact that we're renewing the contract got it okay I just wanted to make sure that Mard you yeah the only reason I'm I'm going to vote no on the on the going from seven to 5 is this is an organization that's going to be here hopefully forever it's been the most consistent organization um in our Town's hist IND with the most consistent leadership and if looking at it from even the private sector perspective in in the NBA when Jordan was at the top of his game super consistent the Bulls try to give him a 20-year contract right I think he ended up signing an eight-year contract um so I actually would have liked to seen it longer um you guys are a nonprofit you guys are going to be here I want to see you guys here um forever and if it's my grandkids hopefully are are going through would go through the uh the Optimus so if it were up to me I'd make it a 40-year contract as long as possible with you all you're a nonprofit organization and if something were to go wrong we can like the private sector you can ultimately um right you can we can come back and resend the contract um if need be but I'm going to vote no on on going from 7 to five and I think since it was Germaine and it was mentioned the we voted already on on the the soccer one and they're not even here to to to defend that uh portion um so I'm going to stick especially seeing that they're not here to defend one we have one member oh okay from the soccer club I didn't even no I didn't even see I thought I he but uh but no um if it were up to me i' i' I'd make it um I'd make it a little bit longer the club I know vice mayor wanted to speak but the club also wanted to say a word if if after well that's that's the word that I wanted to say was I wanted to hear from the club what the drawback would be to to five years versus S good evening Council staff Jeff Rodriguez 655 Lake Kom Terrace in Miami Lakes I'm here on behalf of the Optimus Club um obviously if it was up to me this would be an evergreen contract I think they deserve that um but seven years if you think about it most kids play from the age of six to the age of 13 that's seven years wouldn't you want to have the same organization there from a time that a kid starts at 6 years old until the time they're 13 years old working under and under the guise of the same operation the same directors the same presidents running the same quality of program that they've run for 50 years so I get it we gave in on every other concession every single concession that you guys asked for we gave in on so I think to cut their legs off for two years it's really not that big of a deal but giving it is a big deal it shows that the meetings that we've had we've had two separate meetings two actually with just with the president and then there was a third one where we had um school school board member Alonzo there to help us out with the potential of getting additional field space and really that time and effort is volunteer-based none of these people get paid in fact they pay $100 to volunteer it costs these people money to volunteer and they've been doing it for 50 years so you can want your two years I would ask you just give them the seven years keep the contract the way it is let's see them here for another seven and potentially another 50 all right so thank you any further discussion on the motion on the is it okay if I speak on behalf on behalf of the Optimus Club yes of course I'm Lyn Matos I live at 1 16340 woodwalk I've been involved in the Optimus park for a long time the Optimus Club my son played there my son and the kids still play at the park this organization has been here for more than 50 years nothing else has been here for more than 50 years so I sat I stand corrected it's late I stand correct corrected so trust and confidence they've established that they built that Park from the beginning put up the lights put up the clubhouse when hurricane um Wilma hit in 2015 in that Clubhouse stayed you know they were instrumental in cleaning up the park and doing things when your children play at a park you want the same people there the gentleman sitting behind me Mr Hamilton has been involved as long as I've been here more than 30 years how many kids have gone through that program and Chris Mcall picked up the Baton and carried on where his father left off Jack is still out there I feel him every time I'm there so whether it's 5 years or another 50 renew the contract at seven years put the contract where it needs to be where it's been the point of reducing it to five years is moot to me I do contracts every day renew the contract for seven years this is a volunteer organization that's out there almost every every single day of the week giving back to our children do the right thing renew the contract for seven years thank you any further discussion on I have um some items if uh is everybody from the Optimus Club done are you are you you guys done you need any more time no I I have absolutely no questions but I wanted to give you all the the respect because I do believe in everything that you guys have said an organization that's been here I've had the opportunity to go through uh my children went through it um they're not currently participating but they've gone on to Greener pasture so to speak but that you've given every opportunity for every kid to participate in every sport and I don't think that anybody wants to take that away and this actually is nothing right of demeaning or derogatory actually quite the opposite right and I think you you were privileged to that meeting um when I think we spearheaded it and I think myself and councilman die were there right for the first time you guys were actually in the room and we were talking about how could we partner right how could we create more space how could we give you guys more opportunities to make the impact um it's somehow kind of spiraled into do we support or do we not support and we're back at that same conversation again and I don't think anybody here is in disagreement with that right we want to continue to support the organization for me the seven years and the five years just is it a good Sound business practice practice is that kind of I just want the two contracts to match right and I think that's kind of where we were going we were trying to make these two documents look similar to so I appreciate you guys taking all the Clauses on and and some of the other uh conditions that we have because as you can see in and the environment that we see in Youth Sports it's growing right so um with that being said uh I I just want to make sure that whatever we agree to whether it's seven years or five years um that we we make sure that it's happening on this other contract as well and and they kind of parallel and and mirror each other my questions now are to the attorney because I've uh had this discussion um in particular when we were having the meeting um you raised some concerns uh with the Clauses the extension of time being uh seven years is there any concern with with the time on this contract the contract contains a lot of Clauses and and a lot of conditions that uh the organization needs to meet uh and also gives a lot of leeway for the town if there are other providers out there that wish to uh use the part that we wish to engage with we have that opportunity to do so um if there are issues uh with use we also have uh priority uh so there there are a lot of Clauses there that do give the town um some not not some I think a good amount of leeway to be able to use it and prioritize our needs perfect and the reason why I was asking that is because extending this Beyond seven years and I remember vice mayor the the previous vice mayor before councilman uh Fernandez one of his big things was he was leaving office and he didn't want to leave obligations right he didn't want to leave responsib he actually said well other than voting for the vice mayor he said I don't want to take a vote on these issues which are then going to carry like this Legacy through but what you're telling me is and and I understand this to be correct based on the language and based on the concessions that the Optimus club and and the soccer club are agreeing to are that if there's any concerns with future councils and that's really where I was going five years seven years and I remember this was being a big thing for christas call he go well now I have to go retrain because we have a new Council coming up here right short of three of us that that are going to remain right um there's going to be an entire new Council and if issues do arise you believe that whether the term be five or seven years that new Council will be able to to address any concerns that may or may not come up correct based on what my understanding of of your concerns which is to be able to uh make the best use possible be able to partner with other entities those Clauses were added into the into the agreement so it does uh the agreement doesn't bind the talent to say well Optimist is the only organization that we can partner with for the park it doesn't doesn't do that if that's your concern well again my concern future councils my issue with five to seven years is kind of similar to the former Vice mayor's vote right what am I going to be doing to hinder or lock in and if if you're saying those concerns are kind of humiliated regardless of who the party is right whether it be Miami Lakes United whether it be the Optimus Club whether it be a new entity wanting to come in um I'm I'm fine with that if you believe that the Clauses are in here give them or give those future Council or the future body the opportunity to to revisit those scenarios that word discussed right and again these are Partnerships to address councilman die's point right the fact that the limitation on field space we're limited on field space we don't have without necessarily getting new space from the Schoolboard right we have a cap on the way that the programs can be managed run and our residents don't have that space so I wanted to make sure that that that we get away from the you know this is a vote against the Optimus Club it's not right this is actually a vote in favor of our resident and making sure that that we have the best possible opportunities to make sure that all of our kids right can participate in Rec Sports and um and new sports so uh I'm I'm I'm I'm okay with the seven years based on the feedback that you've been giving me okay appreciate it thank you thank you um I I have some follow but after uh the council sorry I just I just had a question for for legal um in this in this particular contract right it can be terminated with cause what would be those causes what would what would fall under those um there are a myriad of of different uh terms and and uh Clauses in there that both um the town and uh The Optimist have to follow um one could be in I mean I I don't I don't want to set us up for you know for for a conflict with while we're we're we're trying to go with the agreement but you're asking me I mean one could be that there is a term of the agreement with regards to uh maintaining of the concession stance and they they fail to do so or follow through with those well that would be uh one of the reasons that we could terminate the agreement and then send them the 30-day notice for them to cure and then thereafter uh if they don't cure terminate the agreement uh there are other parts in the agreement that require them uh to meet certain uh travel teams uh without impacting their their W program uh if and they have to do that to the satisfaction of the town if if we're not satisfied if if there's a conflict there that could be something where we could then send them some kind of letter and ask them to cure those Provisions also if there there's an impact in in our ability uh with other vendors or other organizations we wish to partner with I there's there's a myriad of different things there that that could come up in the future uh that we would have to uh again notify them in in good faith and and have them uh see if they can cure and if they can't then we may uh have to part ways based on on on the Clauses of the contract does that answer your question the Cure Provisions the 30-day cure Provisions is typical in most contracts and you have a contract they're supposed to do something they're not doing it right you give them 30 days to cure that that's pretty standard in most contracts um you know the term and things like that that's a decision for you but you know the fact that there's cure provisions and things like that that's pretty standard okay I understand that thank you and with regards to other providers utilizing the park at a future time or for a different type of activity um what what do we have in here because that's that's something that has been brought up to my attention that's that's in the agreement too I'm sorry I didn't mean to put you on the spot no that's okay feel free to help him Jeremy okay 4.3 Town shall have the ability to enter into written agreements with other organizations entities or persons for the use of the properties as provided by this agreement obviously for areas of the park that are not being utilized by the Optimus club and that's my question because the the the question always arises where yeah I mean the so that's period let me let me continue reading on to the second part lenses shall be notified of any agreements that may impact scheduled programs and activities and the town shall be used the best of its ability to attempt not to impact so it could arise that there might be some slight impact it's our job to make sure that we try in good faith to work with them so that it doesn't but it could okay and that's one of the reasons why the timing of it or the length of bit comes into into play right if there were another organization that would want to utilize some section of the park or would want to start different programming that that's where that five to seven year mark plays right comes into play because there we might have to wait a little bit to introduce something new as far as with regards to The Optimist Club I mean I think that for baseball they've been working with Miami Lakes for so many years my son played baseball with The Optimist Club and it was a wonderful experience both for him and for me as a parent so it's something that I I don't Envision us you know working with a different club or or different group but with regards to programming for other types of activities which is usually the the questions that we get from residents right can we play this can we use this field can we do something different if that opportunity were to Arise at some point there I you read this to me so there's there's room in here for us to be able to I guess contract with another or with organiz but if there's a conflict then that's where the 5 to year mark comes into because we might have to revisit the contract at the fiveyear Mark to be able to introduce something new so there there's nothing in this Clause the way I'm reading it that impacts our ability to make agreements with anybody else uh it's it's our it's our part to to use the the the question is or the issue is is it says the town shall use its best ability to not impact the operation of of the of The Optimist but if it impacts its sum it impacts its sum I mean again this this Clause does give us the ability to so that gives us the ability to do it even while this contract is in place absolutely yes and to add to that we currently do so we have summer camp providers that are providing at their location and it impacts their ability to host a summer camp while their summer camp is specialized and on the field we still hold an actual summer camp within the main uh Rec Center uh similar to that we also um work with them to of uh to not create any conflicts and open up space for events we've done some charity events before for running events throughout the park um and food and wine is probably our biggest one where they have to kind of am mean to our needs as a town of what other event or what other organization needs to run an event um for the betterment of the community so some of those items are already coming um but yeah something direct conflict would be something that we'd have to work through as far as another Sports provider something of that nature right we have to work through it but it's still doable with this with okay thank you very much I appr can we just put in the agreement that uh you know food things like food and wine and certain other items can we clean that part up or is it too late to do that can we clean up the fact that that we are allowed to use the park exclusively and not uh that they don't have an exclusive right to use the park I mean the the Clause is very broad right now as long as and and by the way in 50 years I don't think there's ever been a time where the Optimus Club has said no we need it they shut down for food and wine they the town rents on Saturdays and Sundays to whoever wants to go even if they're not part of a program the town charges residents to host birthday parties at the at the at the park at the field right that's not restricted I just want to make sure that we are clear at this meeting that you guys don't have the exclusive right to use the park extremely clear extremely broad on your side good and all that the club asks is that you do your best not to impede on and really it comes down to if we have games that are already scheduled right it's for the it's kind of a pain to to change that stuff around but if we have enough notice Chris is very reasonable the club is very reasonable they're going to work around there they're going to give you guys whatever access you need this has been the history of how the park has been run correct by the way that 30day that 30-day notice I was just informed has never happened in the 50 years that this club has been here not once and theyve gotten a notice for failure to default on the 30 days so all right just right I'm comfortable with it then so my concern was not so much with like town events like food and wine my concern was more with a potential future provider that might want to come in and say I want to use this field exclusively for rugby and that we may not be able to offer that opportunity because the contract doesn't allow us because the field is do we have room here to sit with the Optimus club and say we have a new opportunity and we would like to utilize this field can we negotiate them giving up one area for something different if it were to arise there's nothing that's on that's on the table now but if it were to arise yes I I believe so okay then that I believe so one of the things that it says and I'm glad that Jeremy brought this up is the beginning of section 4 and what the Clause I was reading was from section 4 uh it says the town grants the licy a priority but not an exclusive right over Miami Lakes Optimus Park so do they have priority yes do we have to give them priority yeah we we got to do best efforts to allow them to be able to operate the their their their games but now they don't have exclusive right over any area of that part absolutely so that retain that that clears my concerns thank you if I may the the the games I see over the weekends uh the adults um playing softball is that unorganized or is that no that actually goes that actually goes through the through the town not through Optimus exactly that's that's a good example so those those those organizations all come directly to the town on the periods of time that we're not using them um telling you this is a very fair contract that's why I would love to see it as an evergreen because there's these types of things that we're always working towards you know working together amable to organiz organized it really comes down to scheduling right as long as we have enough time we really could work around just about about anything with the exception of and it and it scares us and I know that it scares the soccer club when we hear things like other provider that's like a a really bad word for these clubs right especially soccer because there's a very competitive soccer aspect to to to wreck and and travel so the last thing we want to hear is other provider right because and that's kind of why we want the longest contract possible because as long as we're doing a good job don't kick us out because somebody's coming to pay you guys more money right and we've kept the the fees for the kids extremely low we have a discount for Miami lak's residents I mean we've really this club has gone above and beyond so I would ask you to change your motion from 7 to 10 if if you could but we'll take the seven if we can get understand it just to clarify when I say other providers I mean for other other sports yes okay but other sports right correct that's how I meant it got yeah and I'm going to speak a little bit about the meeting that we had with Roberto Alonzo and and um the school board and really it was quite the opposite it wasn't to kick you guys out it was to give you capacity because you have so many people leaving the program because they don't have the opportunity to play there right and in particular travel ball right it's capped it's capped and wck is a priority so you have so many families going to other leagues leaving Miami Lakes because they don't have that opportunity right because you you you run out of field space so the the reality is is this is trying to give you right better amenities more access more field space more opportunities to have those kids play and not just you the soccer program right and partnering with our school board and having our school board say Hey you know let's look at this let's look at these opportunities and the way that we talked about other providers in that meeting was um by going out and doing I think an RFI right and really that whole premise was giving you guys the rights of first refusal right if you guys didn't want to do that if you guys didn't want to bring in better programming if you guys didn't want to then we would be forced to look elsewhere right but that's not the answer that we heard we heard we want to be your partners we want and I think that's what brought us to to to this point right so again I think it takes this this you know this I got frustrated at the meeting I'll be quite honest with you I'm frustrated now because it's not against one party or the other right it's just making sure that we're all working towards the same thing which I believe we are right again the five year to seven year might be big to you Evergreen I'm comfortable with with the language that's in here the reality is that it at any point in time that organization or this organization is not doing a good job both parties here are protected right yeah we're going to go for an RF by we're going to go that was part of the discussion that's part of what school board member Alonzo wants that's part of the deal of getting more space you don't have to be participants in that you can say hey I want to continue to do what I'm doing I'm fine not growing I'm fine just staying here on on on this property and you know what if school board's going to do that do that with other that's your prerogative and I think that's kind of encapsulated in in this um in this document that we've created right and and so again you know I'm I'm trying to bring It full circle because I don't think we're talking different things here I think we're kind of moving in the same direction but somehow it it continues to go backwards the continue the conversation goes backwards so I I'm ready to take a vote um whatever you guys want to do if you want to add some more comments to the record you're you're more than no my I just wanted to agree with you the the meeting with um Schoolboard member Alonzo was fantastic you know our hesitation right and the reason the the agreement was drafted the way it's drafted is there's so much un certainty with the cost aspect of what that additional space could be that we just wanted to be in a position where you know let's say the the Gman field or the HML field comes available and you say hey guys you can have this but it's going to cost you $50,000 a year something that the club is either going to have to look at heavily and see how much are we going to have to add on fees to kids or we got to pass and you guys can do whatever it is and and it was perfect so that's why I thought it was a great compromise in the agreement so I'm very I was very happy with the way the meeting turned out exactly perfect example right yeah that's a perfect example yeah so so let let's put no I I have some some additional commentary on the five to seven on your motion yeah I'm not ready to vote yet um so again this defensiveness really work works against the club um and that's and I think that's the main common thing here now what I want to know is you mentioned earlier that the club has agreed to every concession can you walk me through what those are they're all redlined in in the brief okay there all the agreement was actually submitted to you guys in red Lin so if you want to go I'm aware I have it in front so there's the Preamble that has the change from January of 2019 to May 2024 there's a section that changes it from uh five years to seven years to expand until May of 2023 I'm not talking about every Amendment I'm talking about the concessions the concessions okay I'll give you the exact sections so we added the section 6.4 that talks about field space availability and our willingness to sit down with you guys and look at what that fee would be and make our determination as to whether or not it's good for us and if not you guys can go ahead and use whatever Schoolboard fields that you guys get for for your use we also added in section 6.4 which says that we're going to make our best efforts to have competitive and travel operations to continue to develop within the organization obviously subject to field availability and that was a big issue and I'm glad councilman Koso brought it up our current program right we are one of the few wreck programs left in Broward and Dave County one of the few and we're pretty much the cheapest the only one that's cheaper than us is haia because they have a significant number of fields and a much higher population and they subsidize part of their their program right but this is we do the best that we can with what we have the the field availability that we have our recck teams get two games one practice a week our travel program gets two field usage a week and we have to make the determination as to whether we want it to be a game or a practice I can guarantee you that there's not another travel program in South Florida that has a field two days a week but we do what we can we go out we take we go to private batting cages we pay for that we go out and we use uh additional fields we rent those um so we would love to give to have more programs it's just we don't have the time and the space to do that we're Limited in the number of fields and we're not going to do it at the expense of our wreck program so yeah and just one real quick counil I I apologize if you think there there's some defensiveness maybe it's the attorney of me I just get a little red up but there's no defensiveness my only issue was when you bring up a motion that changes what we've been talking about at three different meetings with the president from seven years to 5 years and the and I know that the soccer club also wants as much time as possible and I know what you guys are saying that you're not looking to bring in other providers for the sports that we operate but other another Council might and so we need to make sure that a new council is not going to have a quick opportunity to shift out because they may not appreciate everything that The Optimist Club has done for 50 years does Miami Lakes United deserve uh with Clause uh provision as well if I was representing Miami Lakes United I would absolutely have fought for a with cause absolutely and and I think you should give it to them they've they've been here long enough they've been here long enough I think you should absolutely give it to them now I just want to you know be very clear um in my like the conversations that that we sat through I don't know if I'm Mis remembering it but I don't remember was talking about the seven years remember we were talking about how to add additional park space to enhance programming um that was at least seven years maybe I missed it I don't know how but you know that was not part of the discussion right because it wasn't brought up it was it isue but I well it was brought up actually when I first you know when this first came up and when we deferred the item right you know it was something where I made it very clear I was not comfortable with more than the five years you know um and as as far as the items that you delineate as as concessions I agree that yes those are changes are being made into the contract you guys are agreeing to it but they're ultimately just using be best efforts right they're you know we we'll talk about it right there there agreements to try to reach an agreement they're not really agreeing to anything so I would be careful about characterizing them as concessions uh because that might be a bit generous with that said I think we've beat this up enough I'm just you know again to crit Chris to you to Jim to Lynn again um the intent was never to try to knock you guys over the head and try to say that you guys are these evil overlords right um you know but again at the same time we have to look after the taxpayers money making sure it's being used wisely right and I'm very I just am not in the the habit of just saying I'm going to give you additional years on something just because I like you right again it just I think that's a horrible precent to set uh you know long term but um again I think we agree that on every other part of this contract we're we're fine all right um it's solely on that issue um that I that I just have some heartburn with and you know but it's not a a slight against anybody in fact is I'm Jeremy am I wrong but this is actually a change right yeah so this would you know what I'm advocating for is just what's been there already right so you know I don't think it's it's trying to send a bad signal or a bad message but you know it's just a difference of opinion that's all it is got it now we would just ask for your reconsideration so to try to bring consensus on this cuz I think this is one of those issues that's good for our community overall and we all agree would you be open to converting this to to an evergreen instead where where the council has the ultimate oversight it's not because I would I think that that brings everybody's concern and it makes every all of us happy and it gives us because I think the Evergreen is good for every party I mean and that's that's something that that even our attorneys had for for about a decade um I would be open to that because I think it benefits everybody so if I'll make a motion to amend this motion and turn the contract into an evergreen an evergreen with um no right I understand that part but with no the same termination without cause with the same whatever CA our termination with cause if we give you a reason to kick us out and we don't fix what I'm not comfortable with an everen with termination with I didn't ask for ever it was a joke I I appreciate your your efforts Mr Mayor okay um I won't that's why I'm I'm trying to avoid getting cut down to years if I can get 10 I would I would I withraw I'll ask you do 10 do 10 maybe maybe councilman Council woman attorney just popped up I withdraw that I take that back but yeah you even got me I'm going to let's just take this up I'm going to vote on on this keep it at seven Madam clerk please call the rule yes so the motion for the agreement with the Optimus club to go down from seven years to five count right it's the the amendment of council member Diez council member goaso yes council member Diez yes council member Mora yes council member Garcia no council member ruano yes vice mayor Fernandez no and mayor Sid no it the motion passes we have four yeses yes the amendment passes got it we're back on to the main motion is amended any other uh comments that effect uh councel any motions the main motion is amended Madam clerk please call the RO so the main motion is amended council member ruano yes council member Diez yes council member goaso yes council member Garcia yes council member Mora yes vice mayor Fernandez yes mayor Sid yes the motion passes item 13A thank you madam clerk we're on to the next the item are there any motions on the table 1 no it's the same same item the other resolution I call it 13 13 a-b is the second part exactly part two move for discussion all but doesn't he need to read into the record because he said he only read one into the record yeah doesn't only ordinances he's the one that mentioned it earlier only ordinances have to be read to the record all right so there's a motion by councilman Garcia second any discussion I have an amendment which is um again for uniformity which is just to reduce the term from seven years to five years that's motion I'll I'll second I have a a point of order and a parliamentary uh inquiry to our attorney um this item was voted on by the majority of the council I think less than six months ago and councilman Diez was in the minority of that motion and he's bringing it back up uh my point of order is is that there's a point of order I I okay I'm I'm going to tell you what the general rule is I don't know that I agree with the facts but I'm just my under your rules of order it is typically that if you bring up an item and it fails it cannot proceed for six months although someone who was in the majority can bring it up right that's why I called I don't know about the facts though I'm not saying 100% we voted on this and we passed it to to make it seven years and then you guys were like hold on but there's a difference between making a motion that fails and then there's being on the losing side that's why I asked for a parliamentary inquir well okay that that's why I I keep saying I don't know about the facts I'm not sure what what what you're referring to but what I'm not sure what the question is based on the facts the the the Parliamentary inquiry is that exactly that this this item passed months ago to make it seven seven years and he was on the losing side and he's bringing it back up this item passed no no no no yeah but no that's different hold on when if you bring something up just just failed no the answer is I think it can be done what what councilman dieas is saying is if it fails if something did not pass the only way you can bring it back up is if you are on The Winning Side this item did this item fail and and he's just trying to argue that me being the minority that that prohibits me from uh voting on this issue if it passed and you want to amend parliamentary inquiry yeah no but I think we're always confused about the facts and that's why he's asking you to kind of you know if it okay if it passed and you're bringing something up to amend it I believe you can do that what you can't do is if it failed then bring it back up if it was your proposal that failed no no no no no no no if if the item failed how about we do this since he asked for Parliament parliamentary inquiry I don't know who's got the rules you know let's just take a moment to read them all right can we do this we're about to run out of time and I have and this Psy item and this budget item have to go today can we defer this I withraw my motion okay I I will I'll I will make I will make the same motion since I was on the prevailing side of that particular item to amend the term of this agreement to five years I'll second par mentary inquiry I would like to see the vote count on uh on that item okay guys we have until midnight we've got to get to the budget and to the P all right let's call the RO Madam clerk so motion to amend the agreement for it to go down to seven a to five years but mayor mayor hold hold hold on one second we we have one council member that just exited the room we just called the item Madam clerk the item's been called got it that's the idea no I mean I I I'll wait I mean he could bring it back or you guys could bring it back or just vote vote in the in the opposite we're going down I'm fine hey let's table the item so till till we wait exctly I I I prefer to table we're trying to get off started on the right foot I also just want to note that November 2023 is when uh this item passed today would be exactly six months that's all I was asking for parliamentary inquiry with for the fact seven be seven councilman morera is back in the room and um with with respect to the item that got the seconded that's going to that's going to be voted on now um again not trying to get into the politics of it we are trying to mirror these contracts as much as possible what I don't want to do is have one at five months at five years now have a different one at at seven trying to mirror these two contracts so both of these organizations are kind of on the same path and when future councils have to deal with this they're dealing with the same at the same time so that was my just want to put on the record I I disagree every organization can be treated differently I was on this St is when an organization from the outside came in and promised this Council $50,000 to eliminate the contract with our the Miami Lakes United um what wasn't disclosed was they were going to raise fees on our kids they we had CS members all like itch you oh my god $50,000 but what wasn't disclosed was that it was a private organization that was going to to raise fees on our kids hence why I want to give um Miami Lakes United that Clarity long term it's a nonprofit who''s done a great job in our in our town and I don't mind personally that there's a difference in contract if they don't do well it is what it is not all of our contracts in the town mirror each other we have hundreds of contracts and 100% they do not mirror each other contracts for tree trimming contracts for for uh for cutting grass at the park different companies and their contracts are very different just wanted to make that that point so I'll be voting to keep the seven but we'll move from there so Madame clerk call the role on okay so for everyone to be on the same page the because council member Mora you exited the councilwoman ruano made a motion to amend the agreement to go down to five years for a period of five years and it was seconded by council member coyaso council member ruano yes council member goaso yes council member Garcia no council member Diez yes council member Mora yes a vice mayor Fernandez nope the um the amendment passes mayor Sid no oh I'm so sorry mayor Sid am passes mayor Sid we're back on to the main motion as amended Madam clerk please call the role no main motion as amended council member Garcia yes council member Rano yes council member morera yes council member Diez yes council member coyaso yes vice mayor fernandz yes mayor Sid yes the motion passes thank you madam clerk we're on to the next item which is 14e [Music] thank you Mr Mayor I am going to be recusing myself on this one because there was a gentleman who spoke on this item and I talked to the attorney after he spoke I spoke to the attorney so in an abundance of caution I will recuse myself because I had worked with that individual or works for me in the past and currently so I rather recuse myself on all right Council so 14e is my item uh on commercial vehicles in residential areas um I heard something okay a essentially the spirit of this item is there there's there's a couple things that are going on that I I don't believe to be uh to be correct right so one of one of the things that's going on is in some of these areas uh where we have uh people that have commercial Vehicles right uh we're not enforcing a uniformly right there is this this concept or this per perception or this construct of if you have a commercial vehicle but you cover it and it can no longer be seen from the road to be a commercial vehicle it could be a you know a box of brakes or you know I don't know a purple unicorn that's covered in a tarp right then it's no longer a commercial vehicle and code enforcement goes away right and essentially what we've what we've kind of done um maybe well-intentioned at one point is create a a plague of blue tarp covered commercial vehicles right out of of a desire um to to be accommodated right so essentially what what my item aims to do is look through the definition of what is a commercial vehicle and become a little bit more granular as to what commercial vehicles if any it is that we wish to allow in some of these areas right and so let me uh let let me specify what I mean 90% of the town has deed restrictions deed restrictions that we were all made um aware of when we purchased our homes right or or rented our homes we should have should have been told what those deed restrictions were there there's only small sections of town uh predominantly West Lakes where those deed restrictions didn't exist and some of these homeowners purchased homes that didn't have um deed restrictions that precluded them from doing a number of things that most of us um in other communities are are precluded and knew that we were precluded from doing when we incorporated as a town the town essentially adopted most of those same restrictions that were in the deed restrictions into our code and applied those townwide including two homes that were not previously subject to these these restrictions right and I I don't I don't believe that to be necessarily fair you know some of these homeowners made the decision to purchase these homes like the uh the homeowner that that uh that came and spoke before us today purchased this home before the Town Incorporated before that was uh put into the code and you know was already in that line of business and part of performing work in that line of business is um having a a commercial vehicle right I think we can all speak to how important it is um especially something like air conditioning right I think the the only people that you are happier to see show up at your house other than maybe the you know the police or fire department if your house is on fire is the AC repair man when year AC is broken right and so I think in that particular case the the community is best served by that gentleman and and predominantly you know presumably others being able to provide a Service quicker because he has that commercial vehicle at their disposal so essentially the the spirit of my item is to go through the ordinance where we restrict commercial vehicles um and make that ordinance something that that number one is more fair number two something that's easier to inform to um enforce uniformly right I I think we've created this this kind of you know dual system of of enforcing it it tends to be commercial vehicle uh ordinance violations tend to be one of the the things that are most often um um brought before the special Master uh for for fine mitigation right so something that that should be a sentinel of something is is wrong right we we look at it with the variance process when you have an item that you know you have a section of the code and constantly there's people coming and asking for variances it it may be you know something that needs to be revised in the code and I I view that the same way so essentially my motion uh is uh working with with with staff and convening a working group with uh code both you know some of the Code Enforcement Officers with um you know uh Danny Angel and with the legal department and sitting down and and retooling this ordinance so that number one we do something that's that's more fair to all of our residents and we make we we produce something that can be more justly and uniformly enforced right so that is uh that is my motion and I I will be making a second motion after that I'll second all right uh for discussion councilman Garcia yeah um no and and I get I guess all of us have seen when we're in the town and we've gotten calls uh we want to make sure of course and I know our our code enforcement are doing is doing the best job they can that we are giving them the tools to do the best job they can and amb being ambiguous anything that's ambiguous hurts that that goal of being uniform so yeah taking a look at this making sure that the language is is clear and everybody's on the same page our residents are on the same page uh and we're being as Fair as possible I I'm open to to looking into it and making sure that we we're as uniform as possible in the language to make it easier for code enforcement and also the residents to understand you know what's allowed what's not allowed so I I I would be supporting this item thank you councilman Mora you had comments sure for me it's more of a question either to you if you know the specific situation or to the town staff if they know the specific situation of the gentleman that came up during public comments H specifically as it relates to the nearby property that according to him was not receiving violations do we know for sure that that that property was not receiving violations and and that we do have that lack of uniformity so I can't I can't speak to to that part that might be a a question for code what what I can speak to so and and kind of the other part of of this item and the spirit of it is in this particular homeowners situation he's got a a little bit of a different situation than maybe most others he's got two separate Lots right so he's got a lot with with a with a home built on it with a you know regular driveway regular um big old house in Westlakes and immediately next door he's got a second lot with a 6 foot concrete fence that goes completely around it where you can't see most things inside that fence right so I definitely I I I want to take a very deliberate approach when doing this I don't want to open the door for commercial you know or even entertain commercial uses that that are definitely not noxious to the to the residential nature of the neighborhood I don't I don't want U you know semi-trailers in in the neighborhoods I don't want school buses in the in the uh in the neighborhood but in this particular case what we're talking about is a small um work van type of thing whose only um the the only criteria that makes it a commercial vehicle is the fact that it has an exposed ladder rack right it does doesn't mean the requirement doesn't have the signage it's just a so what I want to try to avoid which is what's happening now is you drive through the neighborhoods and there's things covered by Blue tarps all over the place right and so we have to decide do we want would we rather see the top Edge or see a a small portion of you know a commercial vehicle the white roof of a commercial vehicle or would we rather see a blue tarp right and that's that's kind of what what I'm getting to right through the vice mayor to the town attorney is are are those blue tarps even allowed uh under our code I I I thought that you weren't allowed to have tarpine covers in in my I'd have to take a look that might a restriction there's nothing in our code that prohibits a car cover or a vehicle cover so my my main concern uh vice mayor is this is a very far-reaching thing in the sense that there's been a lot of I mean I dealt with it in sator we had Danny come to sator and say to actually it was a phone call between him and I when I was President saying either you start finding them or we're going to go in there and start finding them those people are now all going to come back and they're all going to want to say well hang on I had to move Heaven and Earth uh to to comply now sudden uh it it's getting allowed I just think that overall um the system has worked thus far um I get this gentleman's particular situation you know if I don't know if he has a garage if he has that extra lot and uh if it's allowed in our building code for him to build a a carport or something where it could be fully enclosed that would be a more reasonable accommodation uh but I just don't think that but um doing a full-fledged uh modification of our code to allow for it where even like you said where it's just peeking over because then next thing you know it's just going to be boat t-tops peeking over and other issues like that and I just think it that's a a dangerous precedent right so the the one part that that might assuage some of your concerns right so uh a neighborhood likes aor or a neighborhood like where where I live or most most of us live um the the residents knew exactly what they were getting into right so the the resident purchased the house hear the deed restrictions by the way there's an HOA these are our restrictions in in the case of this gentleman you know the the restrictions kind of came later right he didn't buy into those restrictions and maybe he would have made a different Choice um had those restrictions been in place at that time I think that's I I think that's the mitigating Factor that's why I don't necessarily um feel it's it's une Equitable to look at it maybe there or maybe look at it you know because most people are still going to uh it's still going to be restricted for all those people that voluntarily agreed that it be restricted right it's not going to it's not going to blanket um allow this in in uh in most areas of the town probably in 90% of of the Town um Council mcoo you you look like you had a comment no I first of all we moved the item forward thinking that I guess it was somebody else from the public were trying to accommodate and now at that request we're now pushing back the attorney's report and possibly not even getting to the budget which is really really important not saying that this gentleman's um concern is not not important so um you really you know I think put a lot on the record that it's a very very small thing that you're trying to do and I'm just trying to move through this this agenda because I agree with with r um councilman morera I don't want to open up Pandora's Box I don't want to start getting into that but your item seems like it's so narrow focused you know let's see what comes back you know if if it's something that we don't feel comfortable with we'll you know vote it down and and I have no problem with you working with staff and really trying to f- tune it but to be quite honest with you I I think we moved it up in the agenda and I don't want to sacrifice some of these other things that that we need to get and and the gentleman's not here and you know I have the kind of similar concerns so I'm good with just moving it to give you the opportunity to work with staff and then coming out of my skin huhuh I'm coming out of my skin right now I really need to get to the physic thing yeah so I'm I'm I'm in favor of moving the item just for it to come back and and let's see what it is but I'm kind of along the same lines as councilman Mora okay so um Madame clerk on the the item um as presented 14e council member Garcia yes council member goaso yes council member Diez no council member yes council member ruano no vice mayor Fernandez yes the motion passes M mayor s is not in all right hold on just I said I had a a second motion on that is uh in the and I think 90 days is reasonable to to complete that process uh to to do that um I request that we suspend um any enforcement activity that's my motion through I need a second or the motion dies the amendment dies quickly second through the for discussion second are you saying for those for those particular um examples that you gave yes okay but those specifical the example that until we clar verify yes okay I'll second that then all right Madame clerk on that Amendment yes I for the discussion I even have more of a problem now we're just specifically targeting some examples so just because of the clarity that you provided I'm absolutely no on that that particular item thank you okay so to suspend any enforcement until you we get clarification that's the amendment Vice Council council member ruano no council member Mora no council member garciaa yes council member Diez no council member goaso no council a vice mayor Fernandez yes okay the motion does not pass all right can we get the mayor all right we're on to the next item which [Music] is the attorney's report and all the other items a 14c 14 C and also with the attorney's report okay and also 11a yep ordinance in first reading oh 11a right okay um let's start off with with the uh with the pH here's where we are and I'm going to ask you to take I'm going to ask you to take U action we have been negotiating this case Michael pizy was arrested in August of 2013 we're we're working on 11 years of this issue uh with the town uh this was not the town's fault the town did not trigger the investigation the town never reported anything to the FBI the town was caught by surprise just as much as everybody else uh the town this is not something that is the town's fault but unfortunately under the common law of the state there is a requirement uh that if a public official gets indicted uh for something that is a public purpose the uh the common law of the State of Florida requires that the entity reimburse that person for their reasonable attorney's fees there's a lot to unpack there uh especially when we're talking about public purpose reasonable attorneys fees those are the two main issues in the case as far as I'm concerned there have been two two real litigations one having to do with the reinstatement case meaning reinstating uh Mr pizzy into uh back into office um that case has been done for a long long time so then the case that's left is what we refer to as the criminal fees case where uh they filed suit essentially on two theories number one our we have an attorney representation policy and number two uh we have a the common law that we just talked about the first judge judge Marin we requested that they that he dismiss the case and he did uh he made them rege the complaint then uh they filed an amended complaint and that same judge dismissed the case again the judge was substituted and a uh the second or third judge on the case because there have been at least at least half a dozen judges appointed to this case rotating in rotating out things like that I believe one judge even recused himself uh because he felt there was a conflict uh judge M maval Ruiz uh heard our motion again and she dismissed the case with prejudice with prejudice means that uh as far as she's concerned at the lower court level they have no more ability to amend the complaint and their only option is to appeal to the Third District Court of Appeal they did that uh motions to dismiss especially with prejudice are rarely sustained uh I was surprised that it was with prejudice pleasantly surprised we went up on appeal they appealed and one of the things that they asked for on appeal uh which by the way was the second appeal if I'm not mistaken because at one point they were arguing whether Mr pizy had to appear for depositions and things like that and the Third District Court of Appeals said he had to when they appealed one of the things that they asked for was instruction from the court as to how to proceed there are not a lot of these cases uh in in in decisions either from the Third District Court of Appeal or the other four circuit courts of appeal or the Florida Supreme Court but they asked about certain questions about things that were admissible and things like that I thought the Third District Court of Appeal gave us a fantastic ruling it it essentially provided that the uh that we could bring up stuff that happened in the criminal case we could bring up all kinds of uh things and it was a good road map and I reported all of this to you as we've gone along but I'm just doing a the quickest summary I can to bring this to where we are and why I'm recommending what I'm going to recommend since then the judge was uh switched again and I believe we had judge Carlos Lopez who we filed what's called competing we filed competing motions for summary judgment meaning based on the facts we believe that the judge should under a summary judgment and the case shouldn't get go to trial they filed the same motion on their end we argued uh the motions and by the way when I say we presented we did and everything else this all takes months and months and months this isn't week to week or day to day or something like that when we finally get to hearing after we brief all these issues and everything else we were extremely surprised and disappointed that Judge Lopez entered a summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff meaning the pizy team on the issue of liability meaning meaning we are liable for his attorney's fees we agreed prior to that to divide the case into liability and damages meaning whether or not we're responsible because if not we were going to have to take a whole bunch of depositions as to the amount of the attorney's fees and everything else so instead of doing that just focus on liability if the court finds that there was no liability the case would be over so we wouldn't have wasted all that money the court like I told you entered summary judgment in favor of the pizy team that means that we have to pay according to this ruling that we have to pay the only question now is how much according to how the pleadings are we filed a motion to have the judge reconsider it the judge summarily and when I say summarily I mean very quickly denied our motion uh to to reconsider because the the the Third District Court of Appeal issued a mandate and we believe as part of its mandate said these are the factors that you have to consider we filed what many people call an interlocutory appeal those which it wasn't but that's essentially what most people in our business know it as interlocutory appeals are very difficult to proceed on and very difficult to obtain so instead of doing KN that we called it a motion to enforce the Mandate the Third District Court of Appeal considered our briefs and denied our motion meaning we have to wait until the end of the case to appeal the case is set for trial in August this August I am pretty sure the case will go to trial at that trial like I told you before the decision will not be whether or not we win it will be how much much we have to pay um we've been advised and I'm going to get to the to the bottom line we've been advised that 1.625 million will settle the case all of you know this we've discussed this any number of times in executive session and um and outside of executive session individually um we've gone in this case to two mediations one very early on uh and then we went to another one now because of the mediation privilege and everything else I cannot go into everything that was offered the amount sought the discussions that all I believe has to stay there I believe councilman dieas the town manager were present there uh throughout to me the issue of public purpose in in this case was a very iffy one um when I say iffy I mean I don't believe personally uh that this was the mayor's actions were for a public purpose the judge disagrees and we've tried to convince him twice and he disagrees there's a new judge on the case who will try the case um and indications are that he will not upset the prior judge's ruling we've done our analysis they've done their analysis the exposure in the case if they were to get all of their fees and everything else we believe could be close to $4 million if you if they get if they hit a home run they could get $4 million because you've got had add interest and everything else onto it attorneys fees uh costs they we filed an offer of judgment I believe it was for $300,000 um essentially that means if if they did not recover 125% of that Mr fizzy would have been liable for all of our attorneys fees I believe they filed an offer of judgment for $1.98 million so if they recover uh 125% of that I'm sorry yeah yeah if they don't if they recover more than 125% of that then we would be responsible not only for the fees but their fees for getting the fees when you put interest on and everything else our worst case scenario could be $4 million that's a huge number uh and it would be we'd have to pay it in one L sum the Alternatives we can go to trial in August we'll lose because the question is only going to be how much then we can appeal if we appeal there are n any number of ways that it could go number one the court could say Miami Lakes you're right guys you got to start all over again that's one option that's one scenario I believe the judge committed several errors number one we wanted a jury trial on the issue of Damages he didn't give us that that they could say we agree with the judge on the issue of the summary judgment but you have to try the issue of damages to a jury we would have to come down and spend more money it's you know and retry the case on the issue of Damages again and some things in between uh the the you know district courts are you know very learn Ed judges and you know they could come up with with another solution or another appeal another uh a ruling going forward by the way our firm is not Council of record in this case there's an outside Law Firm I believe that law firm will have to work almost fully time between now and August uh taking depositions they had 10 lawyers I believe that's way too many very good lawyers for every single one of those lawyers is a good lawyer I've litigated against them one way or another or witnessed them in this case and they've all got Stellar reputations um but it would take our law our outside Law Firm almost fulltime I mean you got to put two or three lawyers on this full-time they've got to take at least 10 depositions uh plus plus plus we have uh retained an expert I believe the experts retainer alone was $155,000 just to go through hundreds and hundreds of pages of building records um I believe the amount that they sought was excessive but when you throw 10 years worth of interest on it we are where we are this is a this is an opportune time that I wholeheartedly full throat recommend that you settle this case for the $ 1.625 million I believe we have the opportunity to settle the case by making three separate payments they have not told us yes to that but they also haven't necessarily told us no uh I was told today uh onethird now and 2third uh a second payment of 2third uh something like that uh and I discussed it with the manager and everything else and that's not something that I believe is possible budget wise I believe that we should go to them and offer them 62 $5,000 now you know now meaning you know within 30 days or something like that wait till the next budget cycle in December because even though it starts in January the manager asked me to exactly our fiscal year as you guys know is October to September um so because of the cash flow coming in we need until January so I would tell them 625 right now 500 in January and then 500 the following January okay that is what my math is right in 20 months 1.6 yeah but I mean in 20 months uh eight months or whatever 7 months now and then whatever I think it's 20 months um I think that's something that they which is three budget Cycles which is three years for us um but it's a total of 20 months look the bottom line is if we decided to try the case they wouldn't get the money probably until then anyway the ex the downside to us is that it could be a huge number a budget Buster for us um you know I I just think it's time the expenses going forward 3 to 500,000 between now and and August maybe maybe a little bit more uh then we've got appeals yeah at least 300 I mean it's it's full-time lawyers it's full-time we have to take 10 depositions some of those depositions will last more than a day of these guys going through records experts exhibits no that's just the trial that's just getting us from here to August then after that let's see what happens then these judgments start to run interest then we have to then we have to appeal I mean it is real money that we're talking about here uh I Mr management correct me if I'm wrong I believe an attorney's fees on this case we've spent is it $733,000 in this case I'm not sure I'm not sure and don't quote me on that figure but it's a lot um um there have been significant periods of downtime because of appeals and different reasons and waiting for rulings and everything else but it's crunch time and this is a decision we have to make now uh and the reason I've been so insistent today is because the very next item after this is the budget and I don't think you can decide one without the other uh I'm not happy about this uh I'm not selling this this is not anything to celebrate this is nothing to to be happy about about to be joyous about or anything like that we didn't do anything wrong the citizens of this town didn't do anything wrong unfortunately unfortunately we have to carry that load and it's just something we've got to deal with and move on in my opinion this is a this is something that I have to recommend we are stewards of the town's coffers and we have to make the right decision even if it's the bitter pill even if it's a bitter pill but I believe that you should uh settle this case under those terms I'm not saying they're going to accept it but I wouldn't be telling you to offer it if I didn't if I would if I didn't think it would be extremely seriously considered by them that's the only thing I can I can tell you they don't they have not said yes but they haven't told me to go fly a kite either or that I am crazy or anything like that so he needs a motion to start discussion on this are there any motions on the table I'll go ahead and I'll I'll move it exactly as the town attorney had presented the the offer and again it's just an offer I'll second discussion discussion discussion councilman Garcia um thank you so much for everything you you've done uh in this case I know it's been a long time coming it's been more it's been over a decade and and because of that that can you quickly remind us really quick on the charges that the indictments that he was facing he there were I believe it was six counts it was conspiracy uh bribery um in three and and if I'm wrong I apologize but three in medley three in Miami Lakes um yeah it's M they are there were very serious charges and I believe they carried serious jail and he brought out every gun he could and I would I can't say I wouldn't have done anything different I'm not that there I'm not blaming him okay also uh part of that was lying to the council and having them vote on something that uh was correct yes I believe that the that it that he did not disclose what he should have disclosed or what he was told okay all right so uh so our former mayor who supposed to have the Public's trust decided to lie to the council lie to the uh basically spit in the face of the of the trust of the residents okay now he was you know was indicted he went to court um and the result of that was he was acquitted he was he wased he was found not guilty he was acquitted however all these things he did was not for a Miami benefit or for the resident for the public trust here in Miami Lakes he did that on his own and he tried to to to do what he had to do uh and now now he wants us to pay his his bills right uh and I understand the point of settling and and trying to cut cut our losses which is and I totally understand it the reason that I cannot support this is because we would be rewarding this incredibly bad behavior that all of us up here as as as public officials try to push back when residents tell us or people tell oh you guys are all corrupt you guys are all this you guys are all that and we're like no not all of us are like that in fact 99.9% are not like that unfortunately you have you have uh you have Mayors like like uh mayor pey who did something that wasn't for Miami Lakes is a benefit um and I don't think we should reward that it would set a horrible precedent and and I understand all the arguments about you know cutting bait and and trying to save some money but I I just in good conscious I'm not going to reward this horrible misguided um uh uh distrust of the I mean uh just the public trust was just destroyed here and I can't reward that with with a settlement especially after all the the good uh uh the judge some of the judges and the appeals appeals process that said hey we were we were kind of in the right and other came in and just gave a total different understanding of that um I just can't do it in good Consciousness it'll be rewarding this this man who honestly destroyed the reputation of this town and we've been fighting for 11 years to rebuild that trust with our residents so that's all I got to say about that thank you councilman any further discussion yeah yeah councilman Di and um while I understand my colleagues um hesitation and his frustration which I think we all share I think that when the three litigators on this days are telling you it's a good idea to settle you need to listen to that advice because while you may be concerned about rewarding bad behavior you're also punishing the residents who have done nothing wrong in this process right the reality is that the $4 million whatever it might be once the interest is added up is a lot of police officers that we say we want or in fact there's an item later on the agenda to discuss that that's a lot of tree trimming a lot of Park uh cleaning Cycles that's a lot more uh that we can do for this community right if and basically what we're having to do is eat our medicine for one year and then be able to finally move Beyond this right I still remember being in this chamber when mayor Sid was just elected I standing right over there where the flag Poes are at he had convened everybody shortly after the runoff election in the chambers to talk about how it was a new day in the town of Miami Lakes unfortunately though this has been hanging over our heads as a cloud draining our budget year after year after year hundreds of thousands of do I think the last number we got from the finance department was 1.9 million right again a lot of money that we spent at this um and early on when those decisions were favorable to us agreed you know it made sense to continue and you know and a lot of things actually point in the direction of continuing right it was still early in the case but things have progressed right we have the motion for sumary judgement the judge has already said you lost right and what we're going to be arguing at the to the tune of another 4 to 500 ,000 right between going to the damages trial right then going on appeal and then let's say again if we Prevail we're still going to have to just continue arguing this at some point it it's it you you have to ask yourself what are you fighting for exactly right in a way clients like that that argue that it's a principle of the matter are exactly the kind of attorneys that we love right they're going to spend money and money and money and next thing you know they have lost a lot more than the original case was worth right but it's the principle of the matter and for people that and for those clients that are willing to pay that great the attorneys love that all right um but but we're also not in the private sector we're in the public sector right continuing this case is requiring our taxpayers including ourselves to continue to spend money fighting this again for the hope that we might be proven right right at the end right and by then how much more money how we're going to spend we're going to be what at 2.5 million 2.6 I mean at what point do we stop do we say enough is enough and we stop the bleeding at what point do we say it's finally time to turn the page right here we're talking about let's see if it gets accepted yes the 1.625 which is a big number considerably less of course than what the judgment will come back um in August 4 right and also and by breaking it down will also allow us to put this behind this by next year right I I'm at the point where I think we need to take that chance for our residents and for those who will continue on the council too because they'll finally be able to clear the barn and move past this right um you know but just again one point nine um is what we're currently at looking at two point whatever I mean look it it makes sense to settle and if I wanted to be political about this I would have brought this up at the last meeting right it likely would have died 33 and then made it an issue uh you know at the election because that verdict is going to come back against the town right again this is not about arguing whether we should pay it or you know it's about how much we should pay and I and I need to reemphasize that this is not a winning battle that this is going into August knowing we are going to lose and get a massive judgment against us right and then just arguing hoping that the third will overturn the judge's ruling again I I think most people I speak to about this case when I tell him oh I was just at a meeting about the py case that's still going on uh that's the most common response people want to move on I think at this point they all agree what happened was egregious it's ridiculous that medley got off so easy when most of the acts that led to his arrest happened over there right but at the end of the day this is just the world we live in right and we just kind of have to take reality as it is so I I would ask you to please reconsider because I completely agree with everything you said I just also don't see what without a winning strategy and unless somebody can lay that out for me without a winning strategy that has a strong chance of success and also that is going to cut our bleeding sooner rather than later I just don't I just have very deep uh seated concerns with continuing again knowing especially that in August we're going to lose right so we already know we're going to spend 400,000 to lose that's basically what we're saying and that that's what I have an issue with and that's where unlike in a private setting I think in as a public entity where it behooves us to put this behind us so we can get back to the issues our residents want and instead of paying the attorneys over and over and over and again the three litigators on here you know are all in agreement so I think that's worth you know paying attention to yeah a couple of other things please keep in mind we already settled with the insurance company several years ago they wrote us a check for $300,000 and then the formula was something around or something approximate to we get 20% of our defense and settlement costs up to $200,000 if I'm not mistaken I don't believe we've used up the $200,000 in 20% and asking for it and everything else so there is a portion of the money that we're going to get from the insurance carrier now one other thing that's that's really important the lobbyists that were cancerous or the lobbyist that was a Cancer and was Unleashed on our town who was used as bait for this uh was Mr Candia and Mr Candia worked for Becker poov at the time I believe the firm is now called Becker but we have an agreement with them where the statute of limitations is has been told this entire time meaning stopped we're going to look into that litigation to go after them for what they did I don't want you to count on that litigation to settle this case and that could take an additional number of years I'm going to investigate and approach one or more firms about maybe doing something on a quasi contingency or something like that going after the poov firm Becker poov firm for that to get some of this money back but you need to know that that is something that that that is also in the works and I've discussed this with you guys in executive session before um but any further discussion Council any further discussion yeah I'm going to I'm going to put my my comments on the record and so obviously this this item has been the subject of many an executive session and we've we've all had um you know many discussions both with the attorney and and with each other uh on this on this topic right and you know obviously the public hasn't had an an opportunity to be to be privy uh to that but there's there's a lot that has uh Gone on and we've heard a lot of this uh repeatedly from from the attorney so the the other part that we've repeatedly heard from the attorney is what how he feels about us prevailing on appeal right that that's something that we've heard from the attorney so uh Mr gasi if you can walk me through what you believe our chances of prevailing on appeal look like well I thought the Third District Court of Appeal should have looked at our mandate when we filed the motion for the Mandate and everything else I was very serious about it I don't you know you can't go filing frivolous appeals you'll get hammered for that as a lawyer uh in in many respects I thought our uh I was surprised uh I wish the me the ruling would have come down differently I can tell you that Judge Lopez is well respected he's learned but that doesn't mean we all we always have to agree with each other and I vehemently disagree with his ruling I gu I am extremely disappointed by it um but it is what it is uh you know he's the judge he considered and and I but and I believe he's acting in in utmost good faith I mean I I believe he's ruling the way he believes the law is we just disagree on it um you know we we could Prevail the the Third District Court of Appeal could come back and say you know Judge Lopez you are completely wrong when the town filed its motion for summary judgment we gave you guidelines and we told you what to consider and you hav't considered them and you should have uh you know reversed and remand remanded and reversed I mean it's going back down and we're reversing you completely that could happen that I'm not discounting that possibility I'm very concerned that it doesn't insurance companies evalu a risk in other words they take the worst case scenario and they want to know what the chances are of that happening and they usually and I'm oversimplifying but you know it's a $4 million uh exposure and it's a 50% chance that it'll happen their numbers $2 million you know that's been my experience with them especially when I did Insurance Defense work many years ago you know at 1.625 based on the rulings that I have in front of me I would never have even remotely thought about recommending such a number with the Motions to dismiss being granted and and everything else it's a whole different game it's a whole different situation a whole different analysis but based on this analysis based on everything I have before me and everything else I got to recommend it we could get hammered for $4 million you know when you start throwing in interest and uh attorney's fees on top of attorney's fees and everything else it could be a very large number and you're going to have to come up with that money you know relatively quickly you know and you're going to spend I was going to use a bad term remember how when we're in executive session and I tell you watch watch your language because it's being transcribed thank God we could get hit with a boatload of attorneys fees let's just say right you know it it is not pretty but but the uh the possibility is still yes definitely I would even say likely we Prevail on appeal we pay zero I'm not going to go well if the third if the Third District Court of Appeal says that we're right and that we were right all along yeah we come up with zero but what if they don't and and I can't tell you what the chances of that are so so my experience right and I I'll kind of walk everybody else through it my experience dealing with this case and getting briefed on this case and this the case was one of the first things that I was briefed on when I joined the council um his too yes I I imagine the Outlook and and the uh the probability of of prevailing was always very high as it should have been because philosophically we all agree we are in the right and I and I had court rulings in my hand I had court rulings in my hand correct so so um the Outlook was always very positive until it wasn't yeah right and from my understanding historically 85% of the time that this matter has been a dealt with which is 10 years we've have felt and we have gotten ruling after ruling after ruling that has been positive we are now in a state of a we are now in a at a low point right and I think being at that low point is the wrong time to capitulate the wrong time H to to give up on this when we know we're right so philosophic Bally look I have I have an obligation I have an obligation to the residents number one to do what's right and in this case it doesn't pass that snuff test number two I have an obligation to do what I think the law says we should do and in this case it doesn't pass that s test either number three if all else fails do I think this is the best decision for the residents and I I've definitely heard from my colleagues that their opinion is yes but for me it's not because yes resigning yourselves to we're we're going to lose and it's $4 million yeah maybe maybe that's one way of of looking at it but on the other side we pay this 1.6 that's 1.6 guaranteed worth of police officers sidewalk and other things that were not funding right and the probability still exists the probability still exists that if we continue to see this to its course we will prevail and we are right so every everything else aside we are right there's just too much for me to to overcome to be able it's it's I think it's you know I I think the world of my colleagues I I think it it's a it's a bitter pill for anyone to swallow but this one's way too bitter for me to swallow um because it it just doesn't doesn't pass any of of the uh of the tests that I'm putting it through so I I'm going to I'm going to be a no on this thank you before we go around for for one more round or is there anybody who would like to speak that hasn't had a chance to speak CU I saw councilman jump up councilman Mora I always wondered what it would be like to be on the other side of the equation normally I'm the one shaking and telling my client you know it's time to settle it's time to settle and I always wondered what I take my advice and that's the conundrum I find myself in now I'm in the client's seat instead of the attorney's seat and one thing I do know is I've been in that position where I'm shaking as I'm tell the client and that's usually the moment where I I know where the case is heading the client doesn't the client thinks that they know but they don't and the reality is this this has nothing to do with countenancing bad behavior this has nothing to do with we're right this has nothing to do with uh we did anything wrong or any of that this is a matter of we have an outgoing mayor who's termed out and we're still talking about his predecessor the town needs to put this in its in its rearview mirror say goodbye to it and never look at it again I also want to correct something that councilman Diez said he said there's going to be 3 to 500,000 to get to the appeal that's not even correct it's three three or 500,000 to get through trial if you go to appeal it's even more let's say you get the full Victory you get the full W in appeal that means you get the chance to come back down to the trial and Do It All Over Again by the time it's all said and done you're going to spend more than the 1.6 we're talking about just to get the zero you'll get the zero but you'll spend probably over 1.6 in the Turning streets in the process it's and yet we're dragging the town through this the every step of the way and I always tell my clients this there's a a element of this that is finan anal there's an element of this that is emotional and there's an element of it that is just put this thing behind you move on and do better things with your life and sit in depositions that's what I'm talking to my clients in this case as You' both alluded to I'd rather spend money on sidewalks on police officers on on on the things that actually make our town better rather than focusing on some guy who did some bad things years ago uh I mean from from my perspective the the way us attorneys tend to refer to it is it's a business decision it's a business decision none of us like it it sucks but at the end of the day all logic leads to that conclusion that's all I have got it anybody else in the First Council Mo yeah all and then councilman quazo I'll say a few words and we'll go around again if anybody else thank you Mr Mayor and um you know I I listen to the sentiments of my colleagues and I can't agree with you more that that we didn't do anything wrong and that the residents didn't do anything wrong but I don't feel like it's us that is failing the residents it's the justice system that's failing the residents the system is broken on so many levels and we see this every day in so many different ways there's criminals that are on the street there's there's people that get hurt all the time and there's there's no justice this is one more of those moments where the system has failed Miami Lakes it has failed Miami Lakes and it has failed us as council members because we have spent $1.9 million defending the fact that we are right defending the fact that we didn't do anything wrong defending the fact that the previous mayor in my opinion is corrupt and that has already cost us $1.9 million and it could possibly cost us $4 million more so even though I agree 100% And this is by far the last place that I want to be I was I was just a a a a resident sitting in the audience when the mayor was arrested it seems like a million years ago I can't even remember when it was I didn't even think that I was ever going to run for office yet I'm on the end of my second term I've got six months left and we're still talking about this decision council member morera sits here for the first time today and this is what's dropped on his lap that's not fair at all he had nothing to do with this and I don't want to leave this on the lap of four new council members in November that is not fair so those of us that are here those of us that have been talking about this for the entire time that we've been setting up sitting up here that includes council member goaso it includes vice mayor Fernandez it includes mayor Sid it includes the council me council member Garcia and council member Diez and myself this is all we've ever talked about the entire time that we've been sitting up here and I'm tired of fighting to be right I know I'm right Miami Lakes knows that they're right and mayor pizzy will have to look at each and every one of us in the face at Publix and at the gym and on the street and that's on him and on the system that has failed us but to me this is like going to Vegas and gambling am I willing to lose another $4 million am I willing to lose another $2 million to get the win or do I want to just count my losses and back out and walk out today and it's not something that I'm going to enjoy doing I will support this I think that it's the right direction that we have to go in does it hurt it hurts tremendously but I can tell each and every resident in Miami Lakes that this is by far for me the right decision and if it was a personal one I would be making the exact same decision because we cannot afford to prove that we're right we just can't continue to pay attorneys fees we don't even know what that number might be and at this point the judge whoever the judge is I'm not an attorney and I don't live in the legal world the judge is wrong the judge possibly knows that he's wrong the judge has doubled down on his opinion we've tried every which way so we really have to think about how much are we willing to spend to be right or to ultimately like council member Diego said to ultimately lose be$ million more in the whole and then owe them $4 million how much money are we willing to throw behind this I just at least for me I want to see it over and done with my conscience is clean this is between mayor pizy and the residents of Miami legs he will be the one that will have to you know face the music when he is out in public because he still lives here and quite frankly you know I would be embarrassed to live in a town of miul Lees if I were him so I I I have no qualms about moving forward with this I will be fully supporting him thank you councilman Rono councilman qu yeah similar similar position I think you know um we've all heard the numbers right we've all been in the meetings we've all been in the executive sessions right and we have taken already millions and millions of dollars away from taxpayers that's already a done deal from the beginning I probably have been the most vocal person at those executive sessions saying let's settle let's settle I knew it was going to come to this point I knew because I'm in the health care business one of the most litigated businesses in the world okay and I've seen doctors Advocate because on principle they are right I've also seen them lose their practice and this is the path that you guys are sending on us down a Gam to really lose our practice we have one opportunity to settle it's today we have the money in the budget if we play our cards right maybe enough time but you want to put us down a path where we continue to put the residents last and that is our failure because on principle we're right I agree with what everybody's saying here on principle I believe we're right I believe councilwoman um Rono said it best the system is failed this but Over My Dead Body right are we going to continue to put the residents last because this has been here I have been at every single executive session I don't think everybody here can say the same and I have been advocating for a settlement when we were doing well and now when we've not been doing pull the record pull the record because I knew this day was coming so my position is that we get this behind us and we put our residents actually in the Forefront of this decision and we stop we stop the madness it's midnight just uh I want to move to extend um for as much time as we consume in order to cover the remainder of the psy settlement discussion the carry forward amendment in the consent agenda second I'll second all those in favor I any opposed see none a motion pass and I apologize I apologize if I'm being a little passionate on this issue because I'm getting those looks from my wife that are kind of raising her eyebrows at me um but it's it's it's frustration because we we have been dealing with it at least I have been dealing with this for way too long and if this is the time then let this be the time but um I I just I just think that that the ones that are here that are here to make the tough decisions this is probably one of the toughest ones we make and I think we need to we need to close this chapter already in Miami lak's history thank you Council M quazo um say a few words and I'll pass it around for 30 second closing if anybody else wants to add anything I respect all of you vote your conscience vote however you want I'm not here to to change your mind or not um my vote for against this is a little different than everybody else's that's for or against I I was a little taken aback when the when the attorney advised me uh today yeah I'm going to bring this up because I was prepared to talk about a different item I was going to continue to be that voice for a rank and F police officers um who who don't have unfortunately don't have a voice currently who are yearning for it and you saw it in their um in their survey here of of our town um but yeah I was really taking back because our residents I kind of not one human being called me on this and then when I looked on the agenda it wasn't wasn't there right so that's one of the primary reasons why I'm voting no I mean I I my item got combined with this obviously my item looks like it's not going to go anywhere again um but it's gerain because it's brought up by several people when they mentioned police officers and just wanted to mention this to council morera the last time we hired police officers when sator got built where where you live and you were the the president and and that's something we set in motion years ago obviously things changed Town Center got built Luc got built a different areas got built and we still haven't had officers and been forced to vote on against two budgets because officers have not been added uh to our force and then this Friday how am I going to continue speaking for those officers where this Friday our 40 30 something regular employees get to enjoy uh uh summer Fridays yet our police officers don't get the same benefit yet they're risking their lives on the street every day here in in our community and they don't get to to enjoy summer Fridays they don't get 410s yet everybody else gets it and and it's a a continuous system and I just see my item once again I didn't know until the attorney told me today that this was coming up I didn't know the price tag our residents don't know a so I'm voting know our residents has serve a a notice a resident a resident's first a resident first but that's my that's my opinion you all vote the way you want to vote I'm I'm voting no because I believe all this item should go uh all the this money should go to to our police officers specifically H to hire more police officers and to afford our police officers the same thing that our general employees get um so that's my vote on it it's it's I will wait for councilman coaz will come back and we'll take the the the role but again I respect you all vote your conscious this is my my opinion 30 seconds yeah I just um I perked let me start backwards I perked up mainly just because when I heard the language of capitulation this is exactly what I hear from my clients that make the principle of the matter more important than the actual as the councilman uh pointed out the business decision of it right how much is it worth it to you to be right versus continuing on with your operations and making money etc etc right and sometimes people lose the force for the trees as part of that right we're in if we listen to those that say no to this right we're at risk of doing that it's not about philosophy because yes we all philosophically agree we're right and perhaps legally right but how how much money are we willing to spend just to prove that we're right right by that point we would have spent basically the same amount of attorney fees and we're just prolonging this longer and longer and longer and what's and what's more is that you know with the police officers I think we there's actually still room in the budget even with this to do that my understanding is that you know even with this uh money you know we're going to have almost a million dollars uh to look at you know for hiring one two whatever officers I'm personally kind of telegraphing where I'm headed I'm leaning toward at least one every year and kind of do a gradual ramp up but uh with that said again I just wanted to point out that again I perked up because that language is exactly what I hear with clients that end up spending a lot of money to that ultimately kind of puts them backwards in terms of where their position is on the case and that that's just what I wanted to point out that you know that that's why I perked up it wasn't you know cuz I thought I was going to we were going to get into a fight or anything but it was just that but yeah just wanted to close with that that this isn't about the principle this about doing what's right for the taxpayer and I guarantee you most taxpayers want to move on and they want to put this behind us thank you any further if now we'll call call the yeah look I I I think this I think this speaks a lot to to why we're here right I I think this some of this and and there's a lot of factors at play but some of that mentality which seems practical right is the reason why our justice system is so messed up because people get away with doing bad things and this is what happens we sit up here people sit up here and make business decisions and those people are rewarded with in this case 1.625 million and at some point it somebody has to draw the line in the sand every single legal change every single legal achievement in this country has happened because somebody at some point said not me it it's the only one I got in front of me Madame clerk please call the role okay so motion motion um which was moved by council member Diez which was the offer explained by the town attorney council member goasu yes council member Garcia no council member Diez yes yes council member Mora yes council member ruano yes vice mayor Fernandez no mayor Sid no the motion passes thank you madam clerk we are on to the next item which is the consent C no actually it's the uh the budget amendment it's item 11a the ordinance in first reading boy an ordinance of the town of Miami Lakes Florida amending the town fiscal year 2023 202 24 budget established by ordinance number 23-38 providing for expenditure of funds providing for amendments providing for conflicts authorizing the town manager to take all actions necessary to implement the terms and conditions of this ordinance providing for severability and providing for an effective date thank you any motions to get into discussion on this all second discussion discussion discussion have an amendment Mr Mayor yes councilman I move to amend uh the uh the first reading of the carry forward amendment to include the budget Workshop recommendations listed on page 143 of the agenda and to transfer $500,000 to the legal reserve and accordance with the council's uh prior decision to send over a settlement offer related to The Busy case is it is it 625 isn't it 625 no because you already have something in there uh currently so the The Proposal is to move the additional 500,000 okay is there a second on that yes I'll second I'll second second for discussion I'm going to I'm going to end up making an an amendment to this as well one of the issues I have um the police overtime when we for the initiative for the theft the the the traffic Auto and the theft when we started that was because it was a temporary thing and the idea was to start investing into our department start the department growing as we had in a internal plan many years ago um but this is to tell you the truth this is a bandaid and it continues being a bandaid um and it's good for a temporary for a temporary reason but we have to begin hiring more officers right our our Rank and file who in election time everybody up here is running as fast as they can to get the PBA endorsement not telling them hey no no I'm not going to vote telling them yes we're going to support our police I I have to make a motion to to a lot funds to begin the process of a from from the carry forward to begin the process of augmenting our our Police Department adding one officer uh per shift and then trying to work and working towards the the 410 for our Police Department is that there's a motion I made a motion to amend a councilman die's motion to begin the utilizing a carry forward and coming back in second reading with a plan that shows hiring of an officer uh this year and then every year after that you get hir another one or add however staff comes back but and start working towards the 410 which is afforded to our regular employees during the summer and should be afforded to our police officers who risk their lives would you be fine with just you know with them coming back with the plan that hires just one officer the 410 language and all that you're you're going to have to bring us up to speed and that's probably not you know there's not enough time maybe for that tonight yeah if they could bring it back for the second hearing but allotted within the budget to work the numbers out within the budget for one office and for this year that's a start but just to clarify that's your motion yes okay yes that is is in mayor maybe it's just for for discussion once it gets a second but so you're basically removing the police overtime initiative and using that money in L to start hiring an officer it could or within within these weeks between first reading and second reading to come back to find all the funds in here to come back to to to have us hiring that that uh that first officer I want to give staff it could we could think I think that's happening already and I don't know if if at least it came up in in some of the questions that I've asked of of the manager and and um our Le staff I I think there's a hybrid plan that they're working towards right now to already start implementing the 410 shift and I believe um we even have a workshop scheduled that's going to look at some of these public safety concerns because you you have been pounding that that that narrative pretty pretty you know since last budget cycle right let's hire let's hire let's hire we've taken this position of the overtime so I you know I I don't know if we're already on similar paths to have staff come back with something at least that I believe manager you told me something there's some conversations that are being had between the uh the major and his staff and and us about looking at police Staffing and and looking at different Alternatives but it has to be coupled with um ultimately and that's why it's super premature so I wouldn't even want to talk about you know the specifics because it's far from being flushed out but it's it has to be coupled with uh added Staffing on the street in other words just to uh hire more people to to provide more vacation slots or or what have you that's not that's not because there's no benefit derived we're at if we if we develop a plan that calls for adding more officers whether it's one two three 100 it has to be coupled with an enhancement of Service delivery out on the street because I think that's where it's could be justified to the residents is you're you're we're being asked we're asking you to fund this extra uh level of service but there has to be a tangible result at the end and that's so that's why I I I don't think that it would be anything that's ready to be flushed out at this point but it would be something that can be flushed out during the regular budget process for implementation in in in October that's where I think that uh that it would be ready by the time that we put you know beat it up and make sure that that there is a tangible result at the end in Service delivery I mean just for all practical purposes right the reason that we have the budget Workshop is to not get into this kind of trying to balance The Ledger right and providing very clear direction to Melissa and her staff which then have to make this into and you have to make this into a workable product right so what I'm looking at is if we're going to hire a new officer tomorrow because that's the will of this Council and that's a discussion of the item that's being proposed because that puts us on a path to immediately start making that impact it's going to have to come out of somewhere here on the budget I'm trying to look at where it's going to come from the only thing that I see that's kind of in that realm is the 120 police overtime it's a zero sum game so if you're 100% right if we take it and you know the the the dollars that are in this item here with the uh Workshop recommendations that there seem to have been consensus from this Council that night um if we were to implement and add something different like an added another officer or two extra officers it would have to come at the expense of something here that's what I'm trying to get to which is is is just trying to understand the mayor's motion what is the plan to get to where you're you're kind of so that's that's the main point is this is coming back so have staff with our Direction not historically the last several years management of the town has been against hiring officers right they see and this is not a disrespect this is just the reality they see policing similar to the fire department right which is call of service Calla of service yet our Rank and file officers not only what I hear on the street but what they put in their in their survey is hey we do a lot more than wait for a call we're patrolling we're taking radar we're doing XY I mean there's a lot of things that go into police work and that's why they're asking hey we don't have enough men and women on the street so my motion is to between now and second reading to prioritize if it's taking 10,000 from each so whatever it is any item to prioritize between now and then that the council set says hey we need to hire starting now that one new officer and have staff come back hey we moved $10,000 from this line item 5,000 from this line item 5,000 from that one $10,000 from this 50,000 from from that one and this is where the money's coming from we're going to get all of these at a at at maybe a lower number but this is where the money is going to come from to hire the officer so I don't want to say tonight hey just we could but I'd rather give staff that leeway between now and then look the reality is and you heard it right now we're getting we're getting this conversation no let's see come to the the the the budget cycle we'll see what happens in October with look the reality is staff this is not a disrespect staff does not want to hire they see it as a a level you hear you hear the lingo the level service the the the response how many how many calls are they getting yet our officers our Rank and file are saying the opposite they're saying man we do a lot more than we do not sit wait for a call and go respond and that's where there's a huge disconnect between the rank and fou and and our management that we that responds to us so that's why I want to give that direction tonight tonight hey look and it and it puts even and I've talked to other majors in other cities and stuff it puts them in a tough spot because our major doesn't respond to us it's hired by the manager right so it's hard for police Majors police lieutenants to take a different position so I just want to start setting that emotion that between now and second reading that staff work on all these items see where there's wiggle room and come back to us say hey you know what here's where that money's coming from to hire that extra officer that's going to be on midnight that's going to be afternoon because we're doing X Y andz in afternoons and give them that wiggle room I don't want to be tonight hey handcuffing folks no take so that's my motion prioritize hiring that new officer right now and coming back in second reading with the plan to hire that new officer through the chair with it's it to the point where my only concern with that is that the number one thing that that I get requested from my rank and file people and Healthcare Services they want more Staffing because it helps them right with their workload and I don't understand that workload enough right I can tell you what it takes to run maybe Healthcare setting right like what I do but this is where I come back and defer to to our Command Staff right so I don't know enough right and without hearing from them God I would be so like I I would just feel like I'm not not qualified right to say that this is the the solution right and that's my concern that we're saying with the passage of this we must hire one person because that that that's going to put us on the right track what I've heard from management is we're listening to your concern we're trying to get to where you're at we're implementing the 410 shift we're implementing something else it's not here right now it's going to come back in the future but I feel like we're pigon holding that we must hire one officer right now because that's the that's really the the thing that we we need to to stump on or you know that's that that's the selling point I don't know if that's true or not right I'm telling you again I'm looking to My Command Staff and I'm asking you what is it that you need because I think that's been our position always right and the thing that always has set this decision forward at least from the majority of the council not speaking on behalf of the people that said we need officers maybe one two three or four I'm not speaking for the rank and file but I've always looked to the command step saying dennet this is your job you know this is what you do on a day in and day out basis you know I know what my nurses need what do your people need do they need 410 do they need 85s do they need three more people on days do they need I don't know that I'm looking to you and if you're telling me we're working on that plan it's not that I'm hearing resistance from them not wanting to do it is that they're trying to arm us with the information that is going to help us do our job better right so my my my position is that right before pigeon ho holding him and saying You must hire one officer or two officers or three officers and we need to put them all in each other ship I need to hear from them what's the plan and I haven't heard that plan yet I haven't heard that plan yet what I what I heard was like you said from the rank and file a survey was sent out and they all said I want extra people right we we need more people but I don't know the reasons why right I haven't heard back from our Administration so absent of not hearing back from the administration I don't want to Pigeon our hole ourselves into this is the solution that we need yeah unless you tell me this is kind of the path that we're working on and instead of because right now what you're asking me to do is remove either police overtime take out something from this budget to do something that I don't know if that's what you guys are asking for where where we got pigeon hold and I agree that's uh that that's a a great word was when the plan that we had got thrown to the Wayside so Alex Ray you can call him and ask him always had an internal game plan as the town grew our our department got augmented one of the first things they told me when sator got built Manny were hiring the two new officers we're going to make sure that we do X Y and Z and then he had plans for Town Center for the various different developments around town as an anticipation been talking about this and the so my the the part where I get not and not with you councilman just overall with the process where I get frustrated been talking about this almost four years and I it got to the point where i' I've had to vote no to send that message vote no on on the budget just because I don't agree with the process that's why I'm being continue to push this forward and I pushed it forward a thousand times but look I respect your your perspective and and and the governor's perspective but I'm going to stick with that with that motion and and we'll go from there up or down hey councilman Garcia yeah uh you know of course respect of of of the Town manager and the major and the officers who said in in the survey yeah we can use more people I am 100% convinced that if over the next three years we add three officers to the force that the major is going to be grateful and he's going to find places to put them nights and weekends where right now we're weak um and I I don't want to speak for him I don't think he's going to say no no you know what I'm better off with those three officers unless there's some equipment that he needs that he needs to that he say oh actually we need this type of equipment or we need this or we need uh newer body armor whatever it is that he needs for the existing officers then I would listen to that argument say okay wait he's got some needs that he might be able to use but I I mean I'm almost 100% no I'm 100% if we add an officer a year for the next three years I think the force and I think the town will be better off for it now we don't want to get into weeds right now now but asking asking the manager to take a look at this for the second reading like for example $40,000 in curbing for 1077 trail park honestly those curbs to me I've never been a real fan and and I think that that can be held off 10,000 for four extra four for July fireworks I'm sure if you ask if you ask uh our residents hey would you like five more explosions or an extra officer they'd say give me an extra officer okay um the K9 K9 Cod improvements I love dogs but maybe we can that's another 25,000 a the the the lighting at Veterans Park I understand uh you know during the winter time it gets darker quicker we we haven't had that issue we haven't had that before we can do different things the $150,000 um overtime I think we need to keep that to make sure he has I'm sorry the 120 to make sure he has the flexibility that we always ask for every every every once in a while there's a trend where people are stealing cars or we need to have that flexibility for the overtime but there are certain things here the sinking fund instead of 15 150 maybe 125 maybe 120 I think there's areas here without going too crazy that we can find that 150 I just think that we need we keep talking about it but we need to start with one officer um and I I I I think I think our our residents and the police department will be happy with more officers instead of less I mean instead of St the status quo they'll find a place to put them they'll use them the way he needs to use them to be as efficient as possible and the way the manager feels as efficient as possible but the money's here um and again I think we got to get started let's pull the trigger no offense let's I mean sorry for the thing but let's pull the trigger on on on new officers and if we do it one a year you know it's better off where we are here I just think that's that's it's a no-brainer to me but you know I just want to put in perspective the results of the survey and and I think that it's unprecedented what we do which is the fact that we put the survey out to our staff I've never heard of that in any managerial role and then we fine-tuned it because we thought that the the needs of the police department are a little unique from the staff in general in the last two years we've done a specific one just to the police staff and then we take the the crazy step of sending it all to you we send it all to our staff so they can see the I don't know I never heard of that in any managerial role so I think that's unique and I'm not afraid of that and I'm not ashamed of that I think it's a good practice but I just looked at the survey and the more officer comment was I think it was either five or six officers made that comment out of nearly 50 officers so I I just think and I'm not saying that there's not a sentiment right and those are the things that we're working with the police Command Staff uh to to work through but I I I we got to be careful about not letting you know the the sentiment of two or three or handful you know dictate the day and I'm not saying that it's not needed and those are the things that we're working through in an analytical way with the command staff from the police uh major and his staff to make sure that the numbers for instance I asked the major to look at the some of the demographics and some of the numbers and for for instance countywide all of the police districts Northside Northwest South hammock uh the Cutler Bay uh paletto bay Miami Lakes all of the different districts in the network of Miami dat police and the average in in total if you take them all and sum them up the average is one officer for every 1,400 residents we have one officer for every 1,00 residents so we have different Dynamics right and a lot lot of it is certain districts may have one for every 700 but the crime rate there is through the roof so we I know that we always talk about how great the crime rate is but the geography in the town has not changed we still have the six miles we still have the same level of crime and I understand the mayor's point about that the call for service is not the only metric that needs to be looked at I completely 110% agree with that even though I came from the fir world that that is a very much greater metric to look at in the police world it is different they do some uh activities out in the street with the patrolling and everything I understand that but you you you cannot just do it from a gut instinct I think that we have to take it and look at it from a lot of different Dynamics and the major and I had a long conversation about okay other than calls for service what are the other things how do we quantify the patrol time how do we quantify some of these other duties that they're responsible for and that are time consuming and we think ultimately that it does produce results and lowering the crime rate and we have to factor in the the technology improvements right that's why we made the investment in lprs and other things is for that to have a tangible result and we have had that right so we have to take there's a lot of different factors we can't just say well my gut tells me more people more officers I think that's that's just taking a shortcut and we have to take this more analytically and that's the the very stepbystep approach that we're taken in conjunction with the major and his staff all right so and again I'm trying to to help us all get to the same place we're talking about four months right a third of the Year assuming that the offic is 150,000 a third of that is 50,000 so really what we're trying to get to is a $50,000 price T to get us to start having that conversation because I understand what the mayor's trying to do right it's part of something that I've seen happen time and time again let's inch this issue forward right but at the same time I can't be blind to what's happening with the officers right or who responded it may be that he needs one officer right for us to get there it's going to be 50,000 where is it going to come out of right well I I got that I got that but for right now we're I'm just trying to get through here if the is is the 50,000 going to come out of the 120 overtime right and and and maybe we reduce the overtime to 70,000 right I'm just trying to get this item through right and without it necessarily being beaten up to yeah and the answer to your question is I don't know the mayor I think his proposal is for us to you know take this back and then bring back some ideas on how this could could inch forward and that's what we would bring back in uh in June okay I I'm I'm done with my comments I I wanted I wanted to add something there there's there's a couple of things it's late and I'm tired so you know I may not be very kind I would have appreciated this conversation Mr Mayor during the budget Workshop the reason why we were here for three hours during the budget Workshop was to have this conversation to hash out all of these things and to tell staff exactly what direction we wanted to go in and this little box down here on page 143 is the direction that we told staff to go in after three hours of conversation that unfortunately you were unable to attend so that one thing that I have to get off my chest same thing with the settlement agreement with the Michael pizy case executive session would have been nice for you to be there because that's where we have these conversations and it makes the our time up here a little bit easier number two I've always remembered you saying that we cannot we cannot fund recurring expenses from one-time revenues and this is this is where we are these are surpluses that are one-time revenues so a new officer would be a recurring that's the second point that I want to make and the third point is that we have had two police Majors that have both told us that overtime funds are flexible funds that can be used in the areas where they are needed very different than having an additional police officer one body that has to you know be on the shift that he's supposed to be on or she's supposed to be on that has additional expenses you know uh retirement Insurance all of those expenses that that do not generate more hours on the street so the reason why we've been funding these overtime line items is to give the major flexibility to utilize this money in the moment that it's needed in the area where it's needed whether it's vehicle burglaries or whatever the major determines is needed right I haven't heard anything different from the major I understand there's conversations going on that perhaps we can address in the next budget cycle but for right now this this was done by Design design it was done to give him the flexibility to be able to utilize the officers that we have where they are needed I understand that everyone in every in every Department would want more staff because more staff means that the workload is a little bit easier but I just I don't see the reason why we need to be discussing this right now and you know tearing apart everything that we put together during the budget process during the budget Workshop when we were here for hours and hours discussing that so it's not that I don't understand understand where you're coming from I do look at statistics I do look at response times I do all of these metrics that are sent to us they're I mean they're utilized for a reason we we're still within the parameters and I do agree with the fact that there may be more individuals living in the town but the the size of the town is the same and from what I see right I don't see a heavy crime rate or I don't see things happening in the town that are alarming to the point that we need three more officers there was a plan in place that plan for many different reasons I don't think that there's been one easy budget cycle since I've been sitting on this day every year we seem to have a different curveball thrown at us and for different reasons we haven't been able to do that but three more officers means an increase in the millage mandatory there's no other way to do it whether it's this year or next year or the following year we have to raise the millage in order to be able because we cannot just fund it with this little box it's it's just not feasible no thank you councilman for uh sharing your perspective uh with us and with me he I can tell you this man just to to inject some pers my perspective in there my positions never change on this I years ago four years ago before you and the rest of the council and I was in the minority before you all raised salaries and pensions I said hey we should hire more officers yet it fell on De fears it happened several years in a row to the point where I had to vote no in the budget two years unprecedented two years in a row um same thing the I never said that I didn't know that our attorney was working on a settlement I was actually on the phone the last uh executive session just like you um what I said was the notice for the meeting was different I always knew that there was a settlement being worked on notice for this meeting that's what my comments were um and the same thing with with the budgets the last several years years I know I'm in the Deep minority when it comes to prioritizing our our department I dis I wholeheartedly disagree with staff I've disagreed with our with our police Majors I I see it I mean I'm I'm out there I ride bike with our guys I go on on I've gone on patrols and I see that level service and what our residents want is more officers patrolling their neighborhoods look I I I respect your perspective but I also have to share mine where I leaded with this Council for years hey before we give staff's raises when you guys were giving the manager raises other staff let's hire let's do do that but let's prioritize our Police Department unfortunately here's where there's a big divide and I think we're going to see a shift in the way the transparency and police work when the new sheriff comes in that now you have less bureaucracy over policing right so right now our Majors don't answer to the public they don't answer to us they answer to an unelected official so whatever that position is it's the position they're going to take and that's where it becomes difficult the same thing with the people running a right now the the heads the directors of the Miami day Police Department there are things that they want to say but they can't because they have a bureaucracy on top of them but when you see that shift I think you're going to see the sentiments of our everybody running for Sheriff today everybody running for sheriff is saying that the Miami day County Police Department is severely not only underfunded but undermanned every single one of them has said that on the record so look I your your perspective is is well noted but also understand where my frustrations come where I sit in these budget hearings for the last four years and and you guys don't listen to me and I respect you all on that and then my last recourse is to vote no on the budget and to bring it up today as well which I'm going to be very honest with as long as I'm here for another six months I'm going to continue doing that because I have no other reason course to get that out there but besides that I don't want I'm not going to be the mayor that say when there's an issue all there's not enough officers not and it's it's it's it's transparent on that end but look I'm fine take a vote however you guys feel um up or down on this issue Madame clerk please call the role so the Second Amendment which was by mayor Sid for directing Town staff between first and second reading to prioritize um trying to to get um one police officer to be hired for this year um and to get it from you know the budget Workshop recommendations or from the Carri forward council member goaso no council member Garcia yes council member Diez no for now council member Mora no a council member ruano no vice mayor Fernandez yes mayor Sid yes the amendment it fails got it thank you madam clerk back on to main Amendment yep so the First Amendment just to remind all of you was from council member Diez seconded by Council Wan ruano which was to accept the ordinance and first reading but to include as an amendment the budget Workshop recommendations which are included on page 143 and to transfer half a million dollars I believe I I copi to the town attorney line item to the to the legal Reserve okay on that Amendment council member Diez yes council member Mora yes council member Garcia no council member goaso yes council member ruano yes vice mayor Fernandez no mayor Sid no okay the first amendment passes and now yes Orin a ordinance in first reading item 11a motion as amended council member morera yes council member Garcia no council member Diez yes council member coyaso yes council member ruano yes vice mayor Fernandez no mayor Sid no ordinance and first reading passes item 11a thank you madam clerk we're on to the next item which is the consent C second all those in favor I I any opposing none the motion passes are we continuing or we're done we're done right the motion to extend was only to cover those remaining items pzy uh the carry forward and the um consent there was the other items I think we're going to get moved over to uh there was only one item I put under just to see if you guys wanted to sign a letter or not if you guys it was real quick I'll be open to extending just just to um I'll second all those in favor I any post SE none the motion pass so real quick the the item on pomal Hospital traditionally I won't even bring this up because it's a private issue the challenge is until Baptist is not operational our residents are being taken there from major medical emergencies and there was a physician that went on the radio the other day on TV saying that you know when folks have a pulmonary embolism that they don't have the equipment to to so I want to send that letter but I would love for us to sign it all together so that's why I I brought it up because it it is a major public safety issue I know you you've talked about in the past but it's a letter that would be signed by all of us there's no nothing I've read it I'm I I'm in agreement with it I would support it if you're going to make the motion so just making a motion so the entire Council can sign second together God forbid just in case I'm going to reserve uh I'm calling for an executive session in case we need it I don't want it I don't want to hear about it anymore but just in case I'm making the putting it on the record that there may be an executive session in the pizy matter got it got it got it all those in favor I any oppos see none the motion passes this me meeting is adjourned all the items will be whatever's left will be for the next council meeting this meeting is adjourned have a good night we'll see you all in June