##VIDEO ID:xIV7cgyGb_E## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening everybody good evening good evening I've been asked from several individuals in the public that are here wishing to speak that we can start on time and I told them that I would try to settle down the meeting and get started as quickly as we had Quorum so um Madam clerk if we're waiting on anybody else please let me know but I've been asked from several members of the public that if we can get started on time are we waiting on any other council members did you receive any other yes okay thank you so much and vice mayor Fernandez is running a little bit late but he's going to be in the meeting as well uh mayor we haven't started just several members of the public wanted to get started on time and they asked me if we could start the meeting at 6 let's call this meting to order Madam clerk please call the role council member goaso present council member Diez here council member Garcia present council member Mora present council member ruano present vice mayor Fernandez is on his way actually he's absent now but he will be here shortly mayor Sid pres mayor you have Quorum let's all ride for rise for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Officer Amador of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for let's remain standing uh for the prayer and let's all bow our heads Lord please watch over all the Floridians and all of our brothers and sisters around the nation who are facing a major hurricane uh heading their way Lord please watch over uh them their families and all the First Responders that will be helping um afterwards Lord we know how difficult hurricanes are we know this is a really really really dangerous storm so please keep watch over all those folks in the p of the storm Lord um thank you Lord for this other opportunity to serve together uh as a council with our community and our staff as we vote on the budget tonight please uh afford US immense wisdom and watch over our our entire town and may God bless uh all of our residents in the name of Jesus amen amen amen you may be seated additions deferrals additions deletions are any motions to adopt the the order business I'll move the order of business I'll second it all those in favor I I any oppos see none the motion passes uh we have public comments and as a FYI this is not the budget hearing this first meeting is not the budget hearing so just FY the second meeting is the budget hearing Madame clerk public comments welcome to the meeting this is a special call meeting if you're here for public comments please just approach the podium state your name and address for the record and I will be timing you for three minutes and welcome please next okay correct there like two meetings in one this is the first one it affects the budget but it's not the real budget here my name is Daddy Wicks also know Miss Dorothy Wicks and I've been a resident of Miami Lakes for probably over 30 years and I was watching the last meeting of this Council and was very upset with one comment made by Mr quazo especially the last comment that they were going to move the sen Miami Lake I mean Mary Collins Community Center to another year another budget next year this has happened before our seniors have taken the back seat we are the major voters in this town 51% of us are there and voted you all in and what have you doing for us most of you don't even attend any of our events you don't show us you care and they they come to me and I don't know what to say anymore you're the ones that we need and help us out there's no helping out and getting what we need but yet there there's a nice big uh Youth Center over there I don't know how they jumped about before us but how did that get in before us since we've been years going through it and they seem to get it right away now maybe they've been trying like a few years too but I just don't see where you care and that's all of is even you mayor s so I think when you're doing this budget please take some consideration and maybe we can do something by something this year for us cuz we need it the seniors they come to me well where are we going to be this month well I don't know we haven't found out where where we're going to be seated see there sometimes it's uh Mary Collins sometimes it's Roberto Alonzo it's all over the place and it's it's getting harder and harder for them so um I think we need to make it easier make them feel like they built this town most all the seniors in here have built this town and have voted for every one of you and we we need you to vote for us now okay thank you thank you thank you D and and I know we typically don't respond to public comments but I do want to give you the um the courtesy of of understanding exactly what what's happened the Grahams Pro proposing a senior center and the Grahams have withdrawn their application from the senior center the grams have taken away what we envisioned was going to be your future home right so what we're trying to do right and what we directed staff to do at the last meeting was to see what other options we had if the gr proposal doesn't come now one of the things before us in this budget is that we had set aside a half a million dollars to fund that to fund the build out of the gr project right but if they take it away one of the propositions in the budget was using about half of that money in other places so we talked about that said what kind of message would this be sending to the seniors and we talked about the Optics and that was towards the end of the meeting but I wanted to make sure that you encapsulated or captured the entire piece of the meeting not just a part of it and I'll be more than happy to talk to you in more in depth sidebar or after the meeting or later on in public comments when the budget comes up again one question do we own the land no we don't we don't yeah but you you guys are front and center we all debated it we all discussed it and we were very clear on what the Optics were if we were to remove that and I know that that was a sticking point so you might see that coming up in the next meeting and that and that actually that change to actually look for another venue was propositioned by Esther colon right the one who proposed let's find an alternative right then the grand property I think was prop propositioned by Esther colon in one of our public meetings okay so we'll we'll continue in dialogue and and after this meeting I'll be more than happy to speak with you okay all right thank you hi Rosario Navaro I don't know if I have to say my address or not um I'm here after dy I am the chair for the elderly committee now and I really believe that it should go to Mary colins Mary Mary Collins could be designated our space I mean the elderly need a place they need to be safe and they need to have like she said the same space maybe those 250,000 can be used there it could be you know redone refixed whatever and it doesn't have to be just ours other people can use it we need a place and it's not fair for you to take that money I mean everybody has issues and I know the kids and I raised my children here and that's fine but that's our money if the children want a new park or like they wanted to redo the park they were willing to put a bond and raise the taxes and do everything else but this is our money whether it's Mary Collins or I don't know I really don't know but keep it for us because we need it look like she said these are the people that vote for you and we need to keep it that way because they're going to vote different thank you thank you Esther colen 6855 Casia place I'm proud to be standing in front of this Podium because she's been here for many years advocating for everyone in this town and in case you didn't um read the daily word today it was the the title was serve serve everyone this is not even a handful of senior um citizens or residents that can be here and you all know that let's make it clear there was a Covenant attached to the Graham property and I thought maybe two months ago we'd have under a clear understanding of what that Covenant meant by our attorney I mean we have a lot of attorneys now sitting on this Das so someone by now could have informed us if the Covenant was going to be in our favor or not with that being said we need the half a million dollars don't take any of it why because um well Mr Fernandez is not here I mean um and I think Josh was there I'm sorry Josh because I I call every by the first name um you know when you build out a senior center Mary Collins needs work we want a bingo board you know those electronic ones hello we don't want the little pass out papers that we have so when you're talking about building out a senior center $250,000 is not going to cut it in today's price according to everything has gone up so stop jerking us around and I'm sorry if I'm being this way but I have served this community and Miss Wick especially because she calls me for whatever and I've never been part of the L Affairs but I have delivered a lot of lunches and whenever anybody calls me Marilyn knows I'll be the first one there do your part there's four of you leaving this Council your legacy is going to be really really up there when we know that you kept the taxes flat and what did you do you took 250 away from the seniors while some of the other numbers are out of whack but I'll save that for the budget hearing thank you and I hope you really consider our residents thank you thank you mayor I don't see any participants on the screen so again if you're here for public comments your opportunity to speak is right now but there is no one in vimium okay thank you madam clerk anyone no one else public comments is closed uh we're moving on to the next item uh yes please I just want to remind you all I don't need microphone you do you do are you do so that people can hear you I've been working we need you to turn on the the elections for over 20 years and I'm an inspector and I have to check the the age of the people very seldom you see someone that's under 30 voting Y young people don't care but we are the ones that put you there so when you're working on your budget think of us because we already retired and living on a fixed income and as I said the most expensive car is not a an Alpha Romeo or a Mercedes it's a little car from from public with food thank you yeah anybody that wants to speak and come right up good afternoon magali Rubio 139 T Lake Success Place almost 54 year resident of this town I have served this community in different capacities this is my town I am proud to be a resident here and I'm a poll to see what's going on with the money with the senior Center please do something while you can there is a legacy that needs to be preserved and uh Mary Collins fought for that for many many years she attended each and every one of the committee meetings for years do something while you can that's all I have to say you know what you have to do guys thank you anyone else uh would like to speak anyone else you can come right up T night so you're listening at the same time if not you'll have another chance to speak in about 15 minutes when we start public comments again specifically on that um sounds good public comments is closed uh we're moving on to the public hearing uh which is an ordinance in second uh reading this is also uh this also has public comments specifically on the ordinance for the fund reserves um there's public comments for this as well anyone from the public wishing to speak a director Angel if you want to speak add some expertise on uh on the budget items um seeing none public hearing is closed we're on to item eight thank you Mr Mayor ordinance of the town of Miami Lakes Florida amending division 2 Section 2102 titled general fund reserves providing for inclusion to the code providing for repeal of laws in Conflict providing for severability and providing for an effective date thank you Mr attorney are there motions to put us in the proper posture I'll move it I'll second is there discussion discussion really briefly yes counc I just wanted to state that uh this is basically undoing an item that I had a couple years back to increase the amount that we have in reserves and I just want to draw attention to the fact that I do have concerns longterm that the town is not doing enough to put itself on a fiscally sound footing um I'm concerned that we are too reliant on that line of credit that we have which of course would bear interest uh in the event of a of a true Financial emergency so um and then combined with the conversation that we had uh at the last meeting at the last budget uh hearing regarding how we're discussing discing um doing a way fortunately we're not going that direction but doing a way for example with the sinking fund I just want to draw attention that we need to actually be putting away more money as we look toward the future um to ensure that the the residents do not have a bigger tax bill waiting for them down the line um you know because again I think we have a habit sometimes of being tempted to hide the true cost of government so I'm voting for this to balance the budget to make sure primarily that our police services are fully funded um but uh I just want us to be aware of that as a council moving forward with that I urge uh adoption of the uh of the ordinance further discussion any further discussion I I have some further comments thank you so much um and I'm so appreciative of all the seniors that came out today a lot of you that I've known for maybe 20 years now um and you guys have known what what you know the foot and the ground that I've stood on side by side when we've advocated um for senior issues um and I also know that some of you live in celebration point right what just recently happened in celebration point we got hit with a $6,000 assessment right because we artificially kept our premiums low right we didn't want to pay more on the association fee side right we didn't want to pay more but we ended up having to cover roof reserves which we didn't have what we're doing here is we're reducing our piggy bank to cover our bills and one of the other things that we were doing was taking out of the senior fund which you guys disagree with as well but every time that we artificially keep taxes low last year we took half a million dollars away from the Optimus Park every time that we artificially keep taxes low eventually that tax will be paid and for those of you that live in celebration point you know exactly what I'm talking about because we're paying it now to the tune of $6,000 so I know that that it's it's a tough issue we make tough decisions up here right but I also believe exactly what councilman dieas is saying because he may inherit this budget in the future and he knows that sometimes there's things there that we can say that we've done but they're going to be liabilities on the long run so um I just wanted to draw that that that that line um and I wanted to make sure that you guys were clear this is not taking money away from the senior center that's going to come up in the next vote and we can go ahead and remove those items around but I wanted you to know what this item was we're having to dip our Reserve fund balance to cover our expenses this year might have to raise your that that might be a conversation at at another time but right now this is reducing this Reserve fund balance that what we have to do right now to stop that because that vote was already taken we can't raise the millage at this meeting so I just wanted to put my thoughts on the record and I'll be voting in in favor of this item thank you vice mayor and any other F further comments after that councilman Rono right after the vice mayor then councilman Mor I um you know the this is a difficult conversation to have right because um you know I think having fully funded reserves is important um I I completely supported councilman uh dieg's uh item when it was first introduced I wasn't on the council but I was I was definitely in support of it um um and it it's a shame that it has to be rolled back um I I do you know and we're going to have plenty of differences of opinion uh tonight as the as the night goes on uh but to single out last year's reduction in taxes as the reason why this is necessary and not the million dollars that came out of this year's and next year's budget for the psy settlement is irresponsible I have to point that out because the biggest difference budget-wise from last year to this year is that settlement it's not it's not the amount that we cut taxes if we would have cut taxes and not entered into that settlement we would be perfect this this ordinance uh repeal would not be necessary so I I I wanted to put those thoughts on the record I want to make sure that we're all um putting the uh the entire deck on the uh on the table thank you mayor councilman Rano councilman morera then councilman Garcia thank you Mr Mayor my comments are to the members of the public at the end of every budget cycle when we reconcile all of our figures nine times out of 10 we do have excess funds and it's important not for myself because I will not be here but for future council members to consider the plea from our community to consider replacing this money there are options and moments in time where this money can go back into that account for future use so when that moment comes in the future and there are different projects before the next Council one of the options that can be given to them is to replenish These funds and that has been done in the past with the money from the Optimus Park where it has been utilized and has been replenished and unfortunately when these projects are not happening right away it's money that sometimes gets pulled and put back when necessary so the explanation that council member coyaso gave with regards to the senior center it's a project that doesn't it's a property that doesn't belong to us so it's not something that's in our hands right now and that's why this money is being utilized but there will be a moment where it can be put back into its place so I just wanted to let you know that at that moment when that discussion happens I urge you to come back so that the council can be reminded of the money that was utilized and the money that should be replaced thank you councilman ronal councilman Mora thank you Mr Mayor again like my colleagues just want to get my thoughts on the records on this my my heart says to vote no my brain says to vote Yes um I I the average household has or should have three to six months of savings uh the 16.67 I believe uh was equivalent to 2 months I believe so we're now going under two months of uh reserves it's it's not good budgeting I understand why we need it I'm going to support the item I I urge my colleagues to support the item uh in order to prevent further slashing uh some necessary items and or having a tax increase which at this point we're not even considering um but yeah uh resentfully I will I be supporting this item Council Garcia thank you mayor um dy I just want to know that uh I know all of us up here understand the contributions that you've made and the rest of the seniors in our town uh first of all just you know you were the founders right you were you've been here for decades you were the ones that you know wanted us to become a town and gave us I started yeah and you gave us the opportunity to have this honor of serving you so uh I know speaking from myself and I know the council they they want to do everything possible to to have a place of your own you deserve a place of your own it's sad that it's taken that long um some realities have come about right that have changed that but it doesn't mean that the fact that you deserve your own place is going to change and I know we're all going to fight for it because you deserve it as far as changing the reserve percentage uh the council decided uh I I I did not decide to reward a criminal and pay him money that he didn't deserve I honestly feel he didn't deserve that he he stole from us and now we are having to make some adjustments here and the reason one of the reasons is uh I know that uh Council Mora said his heart says something and his mind says something else unfortunately U those are decisions we have to make because we we decided to pay over a million dollars um but again um reserves are very important and in my book cuz rainy days always come so um I just want you to know that we're going to fight hard to get you your own get a senior center for you you guys deserve it thank you thank you uh just brief comments on mine one of the reasons because I got touched upon that I voted for the roll back last year is that valuations in our community have far outpaced um even inflation I mean we're at a record high where we actually in Miami day County we have the richest the most valuable city in the United States today um um that's why I thought the roll back U was uh the right thing to do last year and based on how fast it continues to grow um even a 3% this year would have insulated our uh low-income seniors and a lot of our elderly folks uh in our community whove been homesteaded for a long time so I know it's the discussion for later on but that's where on that it got touched upon so I just wanted to put my comments on the rec Mr Mayor yes counc thank you uh since we're previewing the mayoral debate in October already I figured might as well uh for the benefit of the residents that are here uh give a very clear explanation that this is not because of the psy settlement although that is an added expense obviously like all of you the town has seen the cost of services go up right we're not resistant to inflation either that's number one for example the Police contract uh went up much faster than our property values did so we were already working from a deficit to start with but beyond that what I there's been talk about this being capitulation to a Criminal Mind you whatever your personal thoughts on him the man was acquitted he had his day in court and secondly the other thing is two courts ruled the town was liable and when you throw in a prej the prej prejudgment interest that they were requesting on top of the 2.1 original claim in the complaint the town was facing potential liability of over $4 million and if we were to appeal it as the minority was already anticipating to do on a technicality right you know on what would have been not in the substance of the case but a technicality all we would have done is go back to square one having to relitigate this more attorney's fees right having to be spent on this case from 11 years or so ago right I think most of us agree it's time to turn the page one uh we already had spent prior to then $1.9 million on that case if you do the math at at a cost of $150,000 per officer we could have hired an additional officer for each year this case was being litigated what I voted for was to stop the bleeding and what the majority in this Council voted for was to stop the bleeding and the attorneys especially on this Council uh made an evaluation of that case as people that actually litigate in the in the court system and made a judgment call that this was in the best interest of the taxpayers and after again two different courts had ruled against the town that this was not a fight worth having again retiga past battles it was time to move on I still feel that way but to be clear we are here in this position of having to consider this uh issue with the senior center not just because of the psy payment that we are making but for a variety of factors but let's take the politics out of the discussion and let's uh speak true to the residents please in the uh in the spirit of taking the politics out of the discussion I'm I'm sure we'll have an opportunity to uh to debate this further I think we've we've said enough about that uh can we call the question I item 8A ordinance in second reading council member Diez yes council member coyaso yes council member Garcia no council member Mora yes council member ruano yes vice mayor Fernandez no mayor Sid no the ordinance in second reading passes thank you madam Clerk and it's still 6:30 so we got to end this one real quick on the senior a lot of people are in talk forget one thing we still have a covenant or or um a site plan that's approved on 87th avenue4 for an 8,000 Foot Center as well so just nobody T we haven't mentioned that as well but I'm sure we'll talk about it now in public comments um this meeting is adjourned and then we'll go ahead and start the we have next meeting mayor we have to stop for five minutes for it for it purposes well five minutes e for --------- ##VIDEO ID:j6GqX0tGHvA## e e e that's that's that's foree get no when you start building something you're not going to build it with 250,000 I heard was but now we have we never repl so 250 these are my rain are my I can walk through two of water and not get my feet okay e as asto and it was conditions placed into the zon so those are still there that so they can build that 220 unit complex that they want to build no no but you can only stick seniors in because the okay the conditions literally say see about that we ready to roll we are but we haven't oh the mayor's over there together all right let's call this meeting to order Council uh let's all stand for oh I'm sorry madam clerk please call the role I'm sorry Council council member Diez yes council member Mora present council member coyaso present council member Garcia present council member ruano present vice mayor Fernandez pres mayor Sid pres mayor you have Quorum so I prayed I don't want to put anybody in spot anybody want to volunteer to pray thank you Melissa bow your heads Heavenly Father Lord we thank you um for all the blessings that you give to us today Lord we pray for this meeting Lord we pray for our elected officials that you provide them wisdom in the decisions that they're going to make for our town Lord we pray that your guidance be here that your spirit be here and that we have uh a productive and good meeting and all these things we pray amen for the Pledge of Allegiance L led by uh our town clerk G guano pray the allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to theic stand God indivisible with liy and justice for all you may be seated order of business deferrals additions deletions mayor I'll move the agenda I'll second all those in favor I I any oppos see none the motion passes we're on to Public public comments Madam CLI welcome to the second budget hearing if you are here and would like to participate in public public comments please just approach the podium state your name and address for the record and if you are participating a for public comments via online via Zoom please as well always press nine and raise your hand and it our department will allow you to speak again welcome to the second budget hearing we have to say it again yes for its account this time yes you go no if you want to you don't you don't have to but it but if you want to this is now this is the budget hearing so anyone wishing to speak during the budget hearing do it again hi I'm Rosio Navaro 6384 milk wagon I'm here to say to express my concerns regarding the allocation funds to the intended seniors Community um our fund should stay at Mary Collins possible if we take out the funds they might never come back that happens you know um if you knew that you were going to run short of money maybe you should have kept the millage higher and you knew that was coming because you knew you had to pay peasy and you knew you had to do other stuff please think of the seniors they are voters okay thank you would it be okay to call you chado or is it just Rosario it's is okay okay okay my name is Daddy Wicks Dorothy Wicks also and um I had an idea and it was given to me by Tony Mr Tony Fernandez this summer he had the seniors um a bingo here at the senior for the seniors here at this town hall they never had such a good time and their comment was to thank him cuz it's the first time they felt like they were first class now my question is can we start having our bingos here once a month or twice a month during until we can get this all settled that will give them a little bit of a light that we're doing something for them so it's something for you to think about thank you good evening Mr mayor council marasta Vice chair town of Miami Lakes youth activities task force it's great to see you all again it's been a while since I've I've spoken behind this this Podium and I'm joined here today uh by Miss sto as well as Haley PTO both members of the town of Miami Lakes youth activities task force what we're here to speak about today um I'm representing our chair Brian r Rodriguez and the entire committee uh just to um you know start this discussion about the committee budgets we understand that this Council for the past few years has decided to keep those budgets constant um and we just want to to share our perspective and hope you can take that into account as you continue making your decisions tonight uh the the problem is is that our budgets have remained constant but prices keep on going up and it keeps on being harder to find sponsorship we've done our best uh and and we do get those sponsors every year uh but the purchasing power keeps on going down every year every year every year and every year we spend hours crafting a budget in in the meeting room that then this Council decides uh to to not even evaluate line item by line item and just decides to keep at the same rate it was last year um so I'm sure you guys can understand that for a lot of the Committees and for the committee members it can be frustrating um the youth activities task force continuously puts on the largest events in the town from our Halloween event which is coming up and and we've heard the concerns of this Council in some of the events when it comes to attendance and his old age like the Bike Rodeo and we continue to adapt like the Bike Rodeo that's happening this Saturday we moved it to Main Street in hopes to attract more people with the farmers market so we're doing what we can on our end to make sure our events keep on improving our Halloween event uh which has been hard to organized because of lack of funds is attended by over 10,000 people each year and we still do our best with what we can but the reality is is that the money at this point is is is not just it's not cutting it um and the same way that everyone is feeling the financial strain so areu businesses that sponsor us right so it's it's getting harder um and it's it's it's come to a point where uh I think the committee is just frustrated with the idea that the staff asks us to prepare a budget each year and those are our longest meetings we're here sometimes we start at 7:00 we're here till 11:00 p.m. going line item by line item making sure that we put time and effort into the the amount we're asking for um and then the council decides to to not adopt uh which which I respect and understand but I'm just coming here today with a different perspective and hoping you guys can take that into account tonight thank you very much thank you thank you good evening Council and community members my name is Moto Gonzalez and I am the chair of the uh education Advisory Board next to me is our EAB student member Haley prto which some of you know we appreciate the opportunity to come before you today to ask for um a little bit of extra funds for some of the things that we have planned for this year our new board initiatives um we feel that in order to be able to reach um more people in the community and and expand our resources we would like these additional funds provided for us I think Mario pan asked for like an additional thousand um and we'll be speaking Haley will be speaking a little bit about some what these new initiatives are um we are requesting an increase in funding to support the following key areas Community engagement initiatives strengthening the relationship between our schools and the community is vital we wish to host more events that will bring families into the educational process ensuring everyone has a voice and feels invested in our schools to do so we will be hosting our first ever the lake spelling be in January we'll be hosting monthly student representative meetings with over 20 students from our local schools that will provide food and bages for and finally we'll expand the EAB Awards of Excellence to provide more winners and increased funds Awards this year we also plan on engaging in meaningful Partnerships with local organizations such as the educational fund to hold meaningful workshops to share information about several programs to teachers and students in our local schools we understand that the budget the budgetary constraints are a reality but investing and education is an investment in the community's future by providing our education Advisory board with the necessary resources that we need we can cultivate more informed engaged and capable citizens together let us build a community where every child has the opportunity to succeed and every educator is empowered to inspire I urge you to consider our requests for additional funding with the vision of a brighter future for our students and Community thank you for your time and consideration and we look forward to working together with you to make our educational goals a reality thank you thank you thank you very much anyone else from the public wishing to speak anyone else from the public wishing to speak I mean you could speak it's an ordinance in second reading as well so you can speak during the the item at the beginning if you want Esther col 6855 see a place um I'd like to thank Miss Grant who emailed me the financials as requested um via the town clerk's office um I don't know if I'm I'm I'm sure you know um I've been monitoring actual financials since um Alex Ray and is Mel Diaz was here the former Finance director and Alex and I used to have great debate because I do like to look at numbers so I start looking as of when you published your cafer in 2023 which you got in April why you take 9 months to publish uh annual financial report beats me because in my 30 years 32 years mostly they they usually done by the end of the year so I've been reviewing those I reviewed your 2024 legislative priorities and when you mention taxes this year in 3 days you're projecting $8.3 million in taxes your budget was 8.34 to you're projecting 8.3 but let's be honest with the flat tax that you propos which is not a tax increase you're generating 1.3 extra property tax ADV valorum income so when you say that we're generating less we're generating 1.3 and you know that's because property values have increased almost 8% so when the property apprais are said maybe you should consider lowering your and I attended the workshop with the property appraiser 3% well this is why because you're getting 1.3 million more in property taxes without even increases increasing your taxes well I know that utilities groceries your FPL everything costs more we all know that at the end of the day if you realign your budget you're going to find funds to at least meet the two months um Gap General accepted counseling principles for your reserve which I agree you need to have in place however I'd like to bring something out um your building department has almost 2 million in reserves it's a special Revenue fund my family this year has contributed over $22,000 in permits you know when you're have all this extra Reserve maybe it's time to lower uh Revenue fees permit fees but that's just my observation um nobody sat asked me to sit and review the budget I did speak with councilwoman ran Rano because some of the docu numbers on this budget document I think are not accurate um I'll give you another example you have $170,000 for Speed humps I am really upset that in May you had my neighbors here asked for speed humps on pomal pal sorry mayor I'd like to move to extend the time for all those in favor I I see none the motion pass as you know I live in the intersection of PTO pal it'll be afforded to everybody else speak thank you um mayor s um I live in the intersection of mar um pometto pal council member ruano clearly said when you put the speed humps make sure that that Direction gets put on the bottom of the list well wow within 90 days pal meow Palm had speed humps on both sides if that's not selective what is so if you g if that's the way you're going to continue to work we're going to lose we're going to continue to lose our faith in you and I say this because I saw homero Cruz who I really don't really speak with um and I got kind of an ear fearful I did not know people knew I lived in that area um but he was right there's residents who you've put to the back burner and chosen to serve others first I also looked at um your current year budget you did have money left over for road repairs you had money left over for pressure cleaning I can go and on because I've gone through I've gone through both documents and I really believe in actuals and encumbrances and all that kind of stuff you only have three days to go so you should be you should have had a Reconciliation for this meeting of what that three-day Gap was and I I didn't see it in the agenda but I want to say something to you and I know that um Jeremy is here and Jeremy is awesome I contact the town via residents that's how I connect because some of the seniors just don't want to send you know do that little website thing that you have um and I'm sure some of you know Jose Enriquez so the town uh did the cleaning of the park at Lake CH uh Lake Champlain and then there's and Candlewood okay the Town didn't do that good of a job they left some of the two parts of the sidewalk very slippery so senior citizen longtime resident Jose Enrique went out there to finish the job the town did not finish that should not happen the seniors should not be doing the job and if our town is not having oversight we have a manager we have a deputy Town manager we have all these directors somebody needs to make sure that the job gets done right with that being said I don't know if you know um Oliver fell fell trimming a tree and was in the hospital and you know I remember us Seniors Helping Seniors in the back in the day I think Marilyn knows her son helped put out shutters if if a senia needs help trimming a tree why don't why can't we help him you know instead of them falling and being in the hospital the same thing with Jose Enrique the town goes and and they just did this last week by the way and here he comes two days after he C he reached the town and he said well I decided to do it because I didn't know when the town would get back to do it I reprimanded him you shouldn't have done it I would have called he didn't give me time to call Jeremy um those are the things that you're not looking at or you're just choosing to ignore and if this budget document whether it's your financials whether it's document if you really don't take the time to digest it and find with the extra reserves you have extra reserves by the way um you have to look for it because Alex Ray would tell you and you know in this town the historical Surplus has existed mayor since our Administration changed so Alex Ray we didn't have these big numbers in reserves we have them all over the place even if they're in a special Revenue fund or they're in a designated Capital Improvement fund they're there let's just do a little bit of homework and realign and make sure that our reserves are intact so you don't have to keep on jerking around with the property tax and please restore $250,000 back to the senior center fund thank you thank you thank you for the thank you very much anyone else from the public wishing to speak anyone else from the public mayor I don't see any participants online public comments is closed um we'll definitely have there's two public hearings so I know CH you wanted to speak again so you'll have a chance to speak again uh a little bit later it's an ordinance in second reading uh we're on to item 6A this is on the millage this is a public hearing anyone from the public wishing to speak on item 6A which is the mil millit rate adoption anyone from the public wishing to speak on uh ordin ordinance adopting the millage rate for this upcoming year seeing none public public comments is the public hearing is closed for item 6A Mr Mayor um I'm going to be reading now the ordinance and then after I finish uh and conclude reading the ordinance uh the manager will be reading a budget statement and putting into the record uh remember that the conversation after I complete finish and and the the manager finishes needs to be focused on the millage exclusively uh afterwards we will uh deal with the next item which is the budget this is an ordinance of the town of Miami Lakes Florida adopting the mill rate of the town of Miami Lakes for fiscal year commencing October 1st 2024 through September 30th 2025 pursuant to section 200.0 65 of the four statutes providing for direction to tax collector providing for notice providing for SE conflicts providing for severability and providing for effective date to put us in the proper posture any motions I'll move the item there's a motion in a second um for clarification Mr attorney I know we can't raise the millage but we could lower it you can lower it but before we entertain any motions I believe that the manager needs to read the budget statement to the record the proposed millage rate for the town of Mii Lakes fiscal year 20242 is 2.07 32 this rate is the same as the current year the gross taxable value for operating purposes is 4 billion $891 mil 93116 the proposed millage rate will generate 9,634 854 in adval Revenue budgeted at 95% collection rate the proposed millage rate of 2.07 32 is 7.9% above the roll back rate of 1.92 08 all right there's a motion and uh and a second I have a quick question to uh to Melissa real quick and I'm sure it's easy math what would be I know we voted no on the the 3% just say we would there would be a voter on a 1.5% which would insulate our Homestead of properties at least half of their property taxes how much would that be can you give yes yep so half of what the pro I think before it was 289 or 290 so half of that I think the last calculation was at 3% Melissa and if you have a if you have a formula ready to go to to do that the number that I had in mind was uh 2.6% reduction so if you can get that number as well and 2.6 please thank you if if you make a new so we're we're just on the millage and we there was a motion in a second to to move forward to start discussion and then the first question I asked and then uh by the vice mayor just asked right now that just happened right now so there's been no we're still on the millage no vote no no nothing for e e e so yes I have the 1.5% okay it would reduce the millage to 2.0 421 and it would be about 144,50 32 Less in ad Balor got it the other one was a 2.6 2.6 for for okay the 2.6 would reduce the millage to 2.01 93 and it would be $250 491 Less in adalum so so I'm going to repeat the 1.5 would be 144,50 32 less and the 2.6 would be 250 491 Less in Ador thank you uh any discussion any further discussion councel any other motions Mr Mayor I'd like to make a motion to um set the millage at 2 0193 Mr Mayor point of order my my motion hasn't been voted on your motion is the main motion okay was it an amendment yeah that's your motion I'll second there's a motion in a second uh to do a 2.6% cut any discussion Council any discussion yeah I I have a question for Melissa uh through the chair to our bud director since you seem to have so many formulas and numbers out there do you have the total number of parcels there because I'm just curious what what that uh decrease in the total budget would amount to if you were to spread it across the parsel you know what savings that amounts to the the the tough part there is is there's different tax rates for different people so if you if you're uh if you just buy your home you know you're in trouble right so if you've lived here for a long time it's 3% you're at you're at a but yeah the calculation will be interesting because everybody's different because it's not only homeowners it's yeah it's just to get a general idea business owners also for the record I had a text message that they can't hear anything of this meeting whoever's watching online it please take note that um the residents are saying that they can see the meeting but they cannot hear so please try to fix that immediately thank you it sounds like like mumbl it's not clear can you can you hear this okay well can you hear me said no I think they got to raise our volumes a little bit yeah can you guys hear me in the audience or no some of the residents are letting me know that YouTube stream is working perfectly but to please speak into the microphone got it all right sounds good YouTube is uh is working okay the total um number of real estate Parcels which includes single family homes condominiums multi multif family commercial industrial agricultural Bacon Land institutional governmental and other properties is a total of 10,378 so that's roughly $25 per parcel your question was asked councilman or answered Council Diez you're good yes all right councilman Ron yes and I'm sorry because I had stepped away from for a moment um can you walk me through um your thought process with this um with what you requested please forgive me because I just wasn't on the days so my my thought process behind the um uh behind the 2.6% if you look at um the the information the line item for the mayor so by Charter the mayor s salary is set um at a at a certain amount and then it increases by CPI CPI the CPI number that was used in that calculation was 2.6% right we're also and and this is later on for the budget conversation also contemplating uh a cola increase for our employees of 3% so my my idea kind of across the board is um we we match everything right so we give our employees 2.6% and we give the residents 2.6% and to to do that we get that's how we get to that uh 2.93 what thank you I appreciate that wait so what you're saying is to to cut the a 2.6% increase to council and mayor staff no no no no what what I'm saying is if if and and it's really it only has to do with the with the mayor because that's what's what's tied to CPI right um but if if that's the CPI number then let's use that CPI number that we're going to use across the board let's give that CPI increase to our to our employees as a cola and let's give 2.6% worth of relief to our residents by way of uh millage reduction and that 2.6% um millage reduction equates to um the the number that I just asked for um from Melissa which is the two it's a $250,000 reduction and I have I have some ideas on where in the budget to uh to find that but that's really secondary to this point yeah the the tough part for me is I I want to raise or or lower taxes as much as the next guy but this is very difficult when we're trying to have a conversation exclusively about the millage and then excluding the discussion on the budget because without knowing how you plan on getting that money it I find myself struggling to to support the item because I need a budget that's properly funded um but you know I'm open to hearing out the ideas so reducing um reducing the cola that's stipulated throughout the budget from 3% to 2.6% would result um in a you know I'm I'm going to make Melissa's head explode um because it's in 60 different line items um is going going to result in in somewhat of a substantial reduction um and then the remaining uh part whatever is left over um so I know I know we kind of and it was much the the topic of discussion earlier the $250,000 transfer from the senior center to the um to the syncing fund right to to try to make the syncing fund uh whole I think there's there's a way to um make the senior sender build a whole from another funding source so we can we can restore that to the 500 not touch that and then uh rather than transferring that full 250 from the senior center buildout to the syncing fund we transfer a smaller amount to make up for that difference and then we commit to funding the rest of the amount on the syncing fund from whatever carry forward we have which you know I know that the number that was thrown about as a as a potential um er projected Surplus was around 70,000 I think prior uh um prior experience tells me that number will will be higher substantially higher all right any further discussions on this seeing none Madame clerk please call the rule so amendment by vice mayor Fernandez seconded by council member Garcia motion for the milit rate to be set at 2.01 93 rate which is a reduction of 2.6 percentage council member Garcia yes council member diez no council member goaso no council member Mora no council member ruano no vice mayor Fernandez yes and mayor Sid yes so the motion does not pass thank you madam clerk I'll take one more swing of it I wanted to make a motion to lower it to 2421 is that correct Melissa the one and a half 2.04 21 yeah at first I was not going to knowing the Dynamics I was not going to make a motion but actually after hearing um the vice mayor's perspective I I think this is a a no-brainer lowering it to 1.5 to the 2.04 21 a 144 four 532 yep so that's my motion I'll second discussion discussion yeah again I think um you know I I'm also going to mimic exactly what my colleague said um you know these are kind of hard issues to take I think we all have been budget Hawks we've all kind of um wanted to reduce uh tax and I think um you know I'd be I'd be supportive of this position if I better understood um where the the money was coming from and and um again we go through these exercises in a workshop fashion where we try to Hash these things out ahead of time right and then trying to do these things on the Fly I think is one of the things that sets us up for this type of situation right where we don't necessarily understand um you know maybe these things have just been thought up of maybe they're came up with today um and being that the 70,000 shortfall is the smallest we've ever talked about I mean this is not six figures $70,000 in a $21 million budget um to be P forecasted as Surplus or deficit right if you want to talk about a percentage it's a 0.00% of of the budget it's it's as fine-tuned as you can get a a budget so without necessarily undercutting ourselves I just wanted to understand exactly um mayor if if you were along the similar lines of the CPI aligning the CPI with the cola um or did you have different ideas for the 144 no I initially I I had asked for the 1.5 and I said to myself I'm not going to make a motion and then I heard the vice mayor speak and I think it's beyond doable based on what he proposed even for what he said at the 2.6 it's even less at the at the 1.5 I don't know if you want to repeat that vice mayor what I I think I think what he's asking is for the vice mayor to to to repeat the calculation that Melissa I don't think is prepared to provide which is what would be a 04 percentage Cola decrease in total salaries because if that's what we're is that what we're talking about that would be generating the Surplus so taking the cola from 3% to 2.6 yeah no and again you know we we kind of do this and we have these Workshop meetings so we can ask these questions have staff be prepared and unfortunately you know in in the absence of that data um you know until Melissa can kind of go through the budget I I'd feel more comfortable leaving it as is but I'll be more than happy to hear everybody else's concerns and and move through it and I I I want to apologize to my colleagues I had a I had a meeting uh earlier this morning with the manager and Melissa to kind of go over final um you know prepare before this meeting and that was uh something that came up during that that meeting so just wanted to put that on your reader e reducing the cola by 0.4% would then make it a 2.96 and um what it would be saving the general fund is a, 3% Melissa sorry point it's 3% so it's to take it's to take it from three to 2.6 so it's a 4% reduction $1,491 going to a 2.6 Cola as opposed to the 3% I mean I didn't I'm not a you know nowhere close to to but 15,000 doesn't cover 144,000 uh mayor and and that's that's the math that I was looking for and I know that there's other opportunities in the budget so I mean I'll be more than willing to continue to entertain them um um that reduction amounts to 15,000 right and then the the second uh funding source that I had identified was was the syncing fund which we're currently funding at the highest level we've we've ever funded traditionally we've funded it somewhere between uh 150 I think we did we might may have done 250 one year we're funding it right now at 316 I believe yeah and and I would completely be opposed to that as well because we have historically also not funded it at all and um what we have studied and what was come back to from staff is that it's grossly underfunded and we have dipped into that several times to fix AC's in community centers when they haven't been functioning we've dipped into it to fun to repair the AC system here so I completely agree with continuing to fund that syncing fund at the rate that that we should or else we're going to run into a very similar situation that we're running to in celebration Point unfunded items in the long run will end up costing us a lot more and um that's exactly what's happened there in that Community um and I'm I'm one of the people that's paying that that that consequence right now so I would not necessarily be in favor of of reducing the syncing fund I am looking forward to other opportunities to maybe refunding the funds in the senior center through other um line items in the budget um but I I can't support that that reduction at this time so I I was able to uh to to identify with with the town manager and with uh Melissa a line item to make uh the senior center a whole so my question to you is have you identified any any other um sources or or buckets that could be used and then maybe we can meet halfway on on a number um I'm looking forward to to uh actually recapitalizing or refunding the money to the LPR Network and I know that that was something that was actually reworked into the budget I think that's uh something that we needed to correct um I'd be open to entertaining that 70,000 right so the 70,000 that's uh projected right now in potential Revenue sources coming back into the budget maybe that's an opportunity that we would have to maybe reduce uh the syncing fund but um I'm still not reaching that 144 uh threshold that you guys uh are are suggesting at this time and to be quite honest with you anything short of that has already proven us over time how we have had to dip into Reserves I mean we did it to the Optimus Park last year we're doing it this time with the senior center and we continue to do this because I know that it sounds good at the same time we're getting more money but our expenses have increased significantly and um I I don't think it would be responsible for us to continue to go back without us identifying that money on the front end so that's why I'm being a little bit more hesitant than usual um on that 1 1.5 reduction has anyone else identified any any other line items or buckets that they feel can be reduced to get us to this goal the chair um well I know I asked the the manager to take a look at existing open positions to see the total uh salaries that we can save if we don't fill them right now this year uh were you able to take a look at that yeah I didn't calculate the dollar amount but I could tell you that there we we we saw four one is the um Deputy town clerk which is also serves as the council's uh assistant uh the second was the and What's the total salary there it's a range it you know I can't tell you a specific me average if anything not that we're not going to fill the position but I just like to give a 40 something I didn't hear what the question was I just want to know what positions are still open and the salary the average salary just to give give us an idea you can Pro a rough number you don't probably about 50 for her 50 for that position and the other position the open part-time receptionist mhm which is the relief for uh Sandra and also uh handles most of the phone calls all morning so that Sandra can do the uh inspection phone calls uh that position I think is about $19 an hour or $20 an hour for 20 hours so um so like for is that yeah that's not the other one is the uh Arbor coordinator the arbor coordinator Jeremy 45 45 the uh is that including um is that including no that's just salary insurance right that's just salary so you'd have to then you know any insurance and taxes and federal income tax and 15% florid retirement system and okay yeah and then there was uh one more oh the Transportation uh planner that uh since Renee left and we moved Olivia to uh from transportation to Grants that uh and we're in the process of of um interviewing for I believe all of these sure yeah so what's the Transportation uh salary I think average probably I think around 60 60 the transportation manager does not affect the general fund okay oh that's right that's that's PP right that's okay so we're looking at uh about 10 well if you add the insurance and all that stuff now I I or we're looking about 60 if you if you don't include the the the assistant town clerk you're looking about uh 70 or 80 when you include salary plus insurance and all that stuff would that would you say that yeah and I know you asked me to calculate that but I have to put on the record council member that I completely uh recommend against not filling those positions those are vital positions that they they do uh uh important work and uh a lot of them are do important work that are direct impact to resident uh and customer service sure I just wanted to again the reason for the question is you know no stone unturned right trying to trying to find out where we're where we're at um you know if if um I'll tell you my my thinking on this as well is everybody's had to tighten their belts uh over the last four years um and um you know I think the residents although they they they want Services absolutely 100% we we need to give it to them I think they expect us as a as a organization to do our best to tighten our belts and go through that uh exercise and you know through a fine tooth comb kind of thing and U you know 1.5 even a one% to show that we are going to do our due diligence to find that and opening up those you know turning up those stones might find something that we weren we didn't think about before and say wait wait wait there's an opportunity here as well you know $500 here $1,000 there it adds up right so um and that's and that's the reason I asked you to uh uh Mr manager that that's the only reason why I just want to make sure we're we're there I I I would ask let's a 1% um I said a 1.5 1% uh Mill reduction would that be around um about 70,000 then 75,000 less Revenue closer to 100 closer to 100 okay thank you 96,2 96,2 and that would the millage would be that 2 point um reducing it by 1% it would be a 2.0 0525 052 okay so just some my colleagues uh you know 1% drop on that I I was asking the manager for about a couple positions that we might hold off on filling his position is he you know he feels they're vital of course um but there's still I believe there's an opportunity also the sinking fund is super important I totally understand but there might be an opportunity to not fund it as much maybe a 1% I think the residents are looking at us saying hey guys we have to Tien our belts at our homes I think they expect us to at least make an effort right so um you know have we voted on the on the on the 1.5% yet okay well then I I I'll hold off on any anything all right any further discussion yeah I I have some some additional remarks uh and this is to the vice mayor and vice mayor appreciate the kind of thought process and and your Insight and I appreciate the the cab and the CPI lining up is this something moving forward that you would like to do yeah yeah I think that moving forward is good policy I I think so as well but and talking about tiing our belt last year and I know it's only one Charter office one one individual reference CPI the CPI was 7.8% and tying ourselves are mandating us to a CPI of 7.8 which is actually more than double what we're considering now I I think is is is going to put us in a worse position right if that CPI CPI grows so you know again you know if this is something that we're to long term I'd like to see exactly what maybe that trend has been over time and maybe last year was one of those anomalies where it was 7.8% is is really a big number but I don't think any of us here would have voted for a 7.8 adjustment across the board right yeah absolutely not and I mean obviously so I can see the methodology that got you to this point because this year the number kind of works out but I think long term um you know if we're looking at this as a strategy we probably have to rethink that point approach I mean I understand the comparison the need to really think about a little bit about the next step that you're going to take but it's really important that we go to the millage and kind of stay on point um that's the provides yeah I'll I'll end the discussion we'll we'll move forward later Madam clerk please call the R so the amendment and the motion on the table is motion to reduce the millage rate to 2.42 one which is a reduction of 1.5% council member ruano no council member Diez no council member Garcia yes council member goaso no council member no vice mayor Fernandez yes mayor Sid yes the motion fails thank you madam clerk we're on to the main motion seeing no further comments um Madam through the yes Council I'd love to make a motion uh to adopt a 1% drop in the military second all right discussion discussion discussion discussion yeah and that would um you said it was uh 969 96 or 98 96 to uh 2.52 I believe if we reduce the millage by 1% the millage rate would be 2.0 525 and it would generate 96,2 Less in ad Borum okay so I would take a look at the $220,000 position um maybe just be a little more open I know there's a range in salary but uh you know not I know you want to find someone that's experience and of course but maybe you're somebody internally who has the has the you know the wear ofall to do the decision but not the total experience and maybe the salary doesn't have to the offer doesn't have to be as as high uh and then the syncing fund perhaps if if our colleagues were amable not to dip too much into it but to use that as the other you know to to get to that yes and apologize for interrupting really details but you're really going kind of into the weed of the budget all right so I'll keep it at 1% guys I apologize yeah I'll stay there sorry so the the only reason I'm and I'm going to vote for the one% and it it might not sound like it's a big deal for for that next Generation by buying a home in the town postco a lot of us bought it pre-o we're locked in people are are losing their opportunity to move to the town and different communities because when they're at the closing table the real taxes get disclosed and people there's a new rule now and I'm Chad knows a couple years back where they're actually forcing at the closing table to disclose what the real taxes are going to be once that Homestead disappears and people are losing their opport so I think anytime that we have an opportunity to do that especially now the interest rates went down demand's going to go up valuations are going back up I think it's it's really really important a for our seniors they'll see a 1% decrease in there but that next generation of Miami Lakers because valuations aren't going anywhere anytime soon we're becoming the most expensive community in the community in in the United States South Florida is and interest rates are going down Chad's a real estate professional M knows she's been in the industry for forever it it it's it's becoming harder and harder and harder at the closing table especially for that next generation of Miami Lakers and any percent not only from us from any other governmental agency is really welcome because it's starting to impact the opportunity factor for that next Generation who's leaving Miami Lakes to be quite honest with you and it's and leaving South Florida in general so that's why I'm going to be voting for U the 1% mayor thank you and um again you know historically we've had these opportunities and we've taken um the opportunities to roll back this budget and I think we've we've all voted um in that regard um but at the same time it's come at a price it's come at a price of taking $250,000 away from our seniors right for the senior center it's come at unfund half a million dollars from the Optimus Park it's coming at a price now that we've had to reduce our piggy bank and absent of seeing a concrete way to bring these dollars back into this community um you know I feel that further reducing these these numbers are going to Contin us to put us in a position where we're reducing services in the long the long run so you know right now I haven't heard any compelling argument from any of the three makers of the motion to to sway me um and trust me I'm I'm one of those people that loves taking the the opportunity right to reduce it but I haven't heard anything compelling enough or at least backed up by our staff's um numbers that are going to get us down to that point what I would love to see what I would love to see and that's really the future Council where the C councilman Diez you know uh anybody who who comes up here I is really take these talking points right Implement them and show us on that Surplus and maybe give some of this money back right refund the Optimus Park money refund the senior center money you know start fully funding the the but stop pulling these monies out of you know these these um these funds that we have or the the the reserves that we have um or the the services that we have to our residents most of our residents that I've talked to whether it be in the gym whether it being the school drop off they're not sweating $10 they rather see that going back into their community in the way of the trees being trimmed the sidewalks being repaired making sure somebody's here at Town Hall to answer the phone they're not sweating 10 or $20 in their bill so I again I haven't heard the argument to to to compel me to to to to move the the budget any lower than it already is thank you Mr attorney quick question is it possible to pass the millage pass the budget and if need be come back to the millage no at the same meeting must yeah yeah no no I get it but what I'm saying then we could open up the budget again and come back it's all listen I I was an aid in the legisl and they only the only thing you you can do there there's one thing you can do you can you have to take the millage first you have to pass it but you can table it go to the budget and then pick up the middle jackter you can't vote on but but you can't vote on budget have a conversation I'd be okay with that then you got to go back to the millage pick it up pass the millage and then pass the budget one has to be pass before the other I would be okay with that I don't know how everybody else feels on that we just I know we're on a motion now I think we're kind of doing that anyway no no no we're not you got to do it that way the way I just said if that's what you want to do that's fine but you first have to then just table this item go to the budget discuss the budget then yes no no you you guys aren't listening you're not listening what he just said no no no no you you have to table this item take the budget you can discuss it then you have to table the budget and come back go back to the millage pass the millage first then pass the budget yeah procedurally you can do that other municipalities do all right we're back on to the 1% any further discussion yeah Council and thank you and uh again as I I typically I I am always sympathetic to any effort to reduce the millage rate I voted for the 2 uh 2% reduction a while back uh ultimately voted for the rollback rate um historically joined councilman alsoo in reducing uh this the uh the NSD budgets uh in order to reduce assessments there the list goes on a but if there's one thing I learned especially from the 2% reduction is that ultimately nobody felt any of that um and so a one% reduction especially is doing nothing more than virtu signaling and uh I don't believe in doing that I think it's either we provide meaningful tax relief or we give the residents the services they deserve so I just cannot be uh in support of the 1% reduction thank you any further discussion seeing none Madame clerk please call the rooll so the motion is to reduce the milit rate to set it to 2.05 to5 which is a reduction of 1 percentage council member Mora no council member Diez council member Garcia yes council member goaso no council member ruano no vice mayor Fernandez yes mayor Sid yes the motion fails thank you madam clerk I make a motion to table the millage discussion and we take up the budget and table the the budget after that I'll second so the motion at this time has to be just to to table it's not debated it's just procedurally under Robert's Rules you just have to vote on it okay Madam clerk please call the rle council member Garcia wait Madame clerk uh what are we voting on motion to table the discussion of the attorney said we cannot debate or ask questions so it's a tabling motion okay Madam clerk please call yes motion to table the discussion of the militate mo council member Garcia yes council member Diez no council member coyaso no council member ruano no council member Mora no vice mayor Fernandez yes mayor Sid yes motion fails thank you madam clerk seeing no further motions unless there is we're going to take a motion on the the main on a vote on the main motion item 68 ordinance and second reading motion to approve the ordinance and the milit rate to be set at 2 0732 Ms council member Mora yes council member ruano yes council member Diez yes council member Garcia no council member goaso yes vice mayor Fernandez no mayor Sid no the motion passes thank you madam clerk we're on to the next item item 6B this is a public hearing anyone from the public wishing to speak on item 6B which is approving and adopting the budget for fiscal year 2024 2025 anyone from the public wishing to speak May read the ordinance first before anyone from the what public wishing to speak well it's a public hearing then he reads Esther col 6855 Casia place I really don't have much to say except do you see what you have been doing here we we should we should have been doing this a month ago and maybe we would needed another budget workshop and you could have sat with the town manager and identified all these problems we wouldn't be doing this this reminds me of the council we had before Brian sat here it was 4 to3 now it's 4 to three the opposite so at the end of the day you're really not being effective and you're not representing the people you're just playing a game and it's very offensive that I personally take my I always I also view all your meetings and committee meetings this has to stop let's bring bring some normaly back to our town and start looking out for each other not for individuals thank you thank you Esther thank you anyone else from the public wishing to speak anyone else from the public wishing to speak nobody's online nobody's else in Person Public hearing is closed Mr attorney thank you Mr Mayor uh an ordinance of the town of Miami Lakes Florida approving and adopting the budget for the town of Miami Lakes for fiscal year 2024 2025 providing for expenditure of funds providing for amendments providing for carryover of funds providing for the incorporation of the adopted capital budget as a capital Improvement element of the comprehensive plan providing for conflicts providing for severability and providing for an effective date are there any motions on the table to get discussion going I'll move it I'll second all right discussion on the budget for fiscal year 24 25 if I the the this is the same exact budget as you saw at the first budget hearing the one and only change was the uh item that was adopted at the last budget hearing which was to fund the lprs out of the general fund and not out of the neighborhood service districts so the 32,500 to do that what we did in the last four to six weeks we've had uh several staff changes of uh people that have left and then we made internal changes the salary savings the people that have gone into those positions uh collectively uh have given us the capacity to fund the 325 from salaries so it's a transfer of from 325 because they are making uh slightly less than the F the folks that were there before so adding those together we were able to find the 32500 without having to make any further Cuts in tree trimming or mowing or anything else got a question uh for you as we get into to discussion uh does this budget in include a rebate for our low-income seniors no does this budget include a rebate for our our disabled Community or are disabled veterans no rebates whatsoever mayor all right thank you very much all right any further discussion any motions councel I just had a question I know that there was um public comment that came up earlier um regarding the committee budgets and I just wanted to understand um from what the individual was was referring to um what was the ask I I know what we're we're we're funding it at the same level but what was the ask uh cumulative ask of all of the Committees so the direction that the Committees were given is that they essentially had the same total budget as the prior year they could allocate within whatever line items they had so if they had 30,000 they could allocate the 30,000 within their budget however they sell fit so if one event seemed to be more um did better than others they would allocate more to that um as far as what they asked for I would need some time to look and tell you what they asked for in addition to what they already had and council member if I can interject if you remember last year's budget when the millage weight millage rate was rolled back um in order to balance that budget and it's been mentioned here already a couple times we had to take half a million dollars from the Miami Lakes Optimus Park just to balance last year's budget so we knew we were starting half a million in the whole when we started this whole budget compilation uh process in addition we've had the uh extra allocation that had to be done for the settlement of the legal case that the py case so if you total that we uh we went through the exercise the Committees and Melissa is going to get that for you they had their their request but we knew that we were going to be already pressed this entire budget we did not foresee that the council was going to consider a millage increase to make up for some of these uh changes that we've had over the last few years so we kind of told them more than likely you're going to stay with your existing budget from last year flat and uh but they did go through the exercise and had budget request and Melissa will get that for you but I wanted to kind of put that in in context as you know this is not just a snapshot in time it's a compilation of of the several actions that have taken place over several years yeah no and and I get that and I you know I think that's kind of the the tightening of the belt so to speak that we've been doing over year and year and year and um but I also he heard what what Merit said you know um it's come at a price right they have the exact same funding but I'm pretty sure that all of their events cost a lot more to produce right especially at a time that maybe individuals aren't giving them as much so the yield or the end up the end product that the residen see right is less programming potentially right and that that has taken place throughout the entire budget in all of our operations right so if you remember from the workshop when we first started having this uh conversation we laid out for you that with leaving the millage rate flat we start off already recommending to you series of uh Cuts in parks and Public Works and different real you know bread and butter uh operations that we had to cut back on mowing on mulching on a lot of different uh things just as a starting point with having a flat millage rate uh so already the the Committees were far from the only ones that had to uh suffer that uh that that that cost uh all of our operations are being uh taxed with this U Revenue stream that we have thank you I have a brief question why is it that the senior exemption why is it that I see it was funded at or or last year's adopted budget was zero and then uh I see 77,000 in the uh carry forward Amendment why are we funding it in the in the Amendments and not the main budget maybe it's just a lack of institutional knowledge on my part but yeah it's just something that's happened traditionally when it was first when when I first proposed it it was at the time of a carry forward and it's traditionally been something that has been funded with the the carry forward rather than during the uh making it an evergreen during the yeah no the general budget proc it was just a concern to me uh and I think the the mayor slightly brought it up a moment ago that uh I didn't like seeing a zero there um you know I think that is important to our seniors um you know personally committing that that's going to come back in the carry forward as it has in the past and that's that's been the same kind of Mo and the vice mayor's correct when he brought it up it was at a carry forward and then when we went the following year we were in a similar position as we are now and we were unable to fund it so then again they said okay we'll consider that the carry forward then it h I think this it's happened like two or three fiscal years now and every year we've had the same conversation at this point in time but then it's been a consideration at the carry forward and sometimes it's able to be funded sometimes it's has not yeah that that's the institutional knowledge that that that I didn't have from being new but um so thank you for answering that the the other main thing for me is uh just in in general about this this budget is you know I I do strongly object not just to the fact that 250,000 uh is is being taken from the the senior center uh interior buildout fund uh but not only is that a as Miss Wix put it a slap in the face to the elderly Community um it is frankly bad budgetary practice you shouldn't be funding uh ongoing operating expenses with capital uh Capital funds um that's basic budgeting 101 um I I I I don't claim to be an expert in budgeting I'm not like um Miss colon I'm not like Melissa uh but even I know that um it seems like the town is getting too comfortable with the idea of borrowing from Capital funds to artificially keep our our our millage thank you uh low and and that's just not something that should be continued at this point you know I I understand where we're at but I'm not happy with it and and I will be you know proposing some some items at at a future date uh to address the Injustice that I think is going to be done tonight to our elderly Community councilman if if I uh if I may and I had promised that I was I was going to to speak to this point before um a few things so um while I I do wholeheartedly agree that moving money from Capital funds to uh to to funding ongoing operations is is definitely not the right thing to do in the um in the long run I think the the the the Genesis of of the item was to move that money to the syncing fund right which is essentially it's not a capital item uh but it's an item in in um in support of of other Capital expenses right so it's it's quasi Capital if you if you will um so it for me that part of it was was not as offensive I think taking it from the seniors is the uh the offensive part now um in the conversation in the in the meeting that I had um with the the manager and Melissa this morning one of one of the potential ways of making that hole is so I if we're um you know still uh still talking about and I I I definitely uh hope that the vision remains to have a senior center on uh the the gram property that's set to be developed um on Lakeside because that facility would be a new town park in addition to being a senior center it's it's both it's a park with a senior center on it then we would be able to use Park impact fees to make the senior center build out whole and I believe the manager um conferred with the county and and that is an acceptable use of of that pot yeah just I'll give you the uh Park impact fees 101 and I'll try and make it quick just especially for the benefit of uh council member morera who's new to this conversation um Park impack fees there's two pots one for improvements which really is money that should go for improving a facility that you already have the other pot it goes to open space which means to acquire or develop new spaces the open space money we believe we took a review of the well first of all we do not have our own impact fee Standalone ordinance we are working together with uh Lorenzo we're working on developing our own uh uh impact fee ordinance because we believe there's a lot of benefits and flexibility that it'll afford the decision makers to have our own ordinance um SOC the um the money that is uh that is now in uh Improvement money is very limited and that's the money that's gone for improvements to mop improvements to Royal Oaks Etc because that is really what our greatest need is so we have used most of that there's not a lot of capacity there money for acquisition of new um uh open space there is more uh on that uh fund we have $1.5 million available for that it has been informal kind of targeted or earmarked for par three for Bridge Park and for other things because there's not a lot of open space really to acquire and to do so we believe after reading the ordinance that the O since this is going to be a property we do not have but we are going to acquire new property it's just that it's going to be uh acquired it's going to have uh partial development at that point it's going to have a building and this money would go towards finishing the building we believe that uh that it is an applicable use we have uh asked the county for their interpretation to make sure that is okay so if this Council uh makes a motion and it passes to make a transfer of park or open space monies from that fund into the senior center um Capital fund to replace the 250 that is being uh considered to be moved then I would just make sure that you couch it with subject to the approval of the Mii dat County and to avoid repeating that that is my motion Madame clerk second yes discussion on this motion discussion on this motion um no no discussion here but that's in exactly aligned with the the type of principles and the type of creativity that I think we need to start moving towards rather than nipping and tucking at things that could cost the services I completely agree with this one you you know if we can take it out of open Open Spaces we can refund the senior center I would even say you might even have to double it right I would almost say that entire allocation right should be something that you should consider just because I don't think half a million dollars is going to be that that build out but that's going to be for future councils to decide so I'm begging right that you get an an answer to that question from the county and that it's favorable God willing that that answer is favorable I think that's a win-win for everybody so I wholeheartedly support that motion thank you any further any further comments see none all one second just uh to to fin put a bow on the on the issue 100% that I I piggyback on on councilman kaz's comments on this it doesn't take away the argument about um using uh contingency accounts or or capital accounts however uh if I'm going to take from one or the other and I got to choose uh between two evils this is definitely a a lesser evil than taking from our seniors I I think the frustration of our senior community was pable uh today and and I I really appreciate being able to to calm them uh and show them rather than tell them that that we care right so in a nutshell and I know it said a lot of things but in a nutshell if you approve this move the senior center will still be whole and fund it at $500,000 it'll just be from a different Source correct all right any further comments Council Rano then councilman Garcia thank you thank you council member Garcia so what are the probabilities of this being approved because I I mean I feel comfortable doing it but I don't like to leave it up in the air subject to contingent to like that doesn't seem concrete to me so I mean I can't I'm not gaming can't tell you it's 5050 or 955 I mean we took a significant read had it today and we looked at it and we believe that this is a property today we don't own that proper right so it would be the acquisition and that's for sure 100% could develop contri there's a lot of differents that is so even okay so even if the even if even if we're not purchasing this property even if it is being given to the council it is still considered a new acquisition yes and the funds are we have the ability to use the funds for buildout purposes not just to pay an acquired land yeah because it's for the acquisition or uh Improvement of a new piece of property and this is a new piece of property today as we speak we do not own that property it's not ours it would be a new acquisition and it's like you if you buy a a piece of property uh from some somebody and you you build a park a community center on it all of that is is applicable and it's usable with open space not just the land the building as well correct cuz it's because you don't have it today it's it's new but if you have like an MLL or Royal Oak that it's an existing building and you want to make improvements to that that open space money cannot be used for that no understood the way that you're describing it now I feel a little more comfortable I thought that those funds were only were only to acquire land but they are also for building and improving okay thank you m Mr manager um I I to feel comfortable that we're right on this but what if we're not is the senior center now 250 in the whole remember what you're doing right you you have we have discussed here different pots right different savings accounts we have the pot for the syncing fund we have the pot for unfunded uh unallocated fund balance we have the pot for different capital accounts we have all these different pots and really what you're doing is allocating because you're setting a priority right with this vote tonight is you're setting a priority that the Senior Center is important to this town to this Council so what you're doing is moving money from one pot into that pot into the senior center pot to prioritize it by your vote by funding it to a certain level so if if this turns out at the end of the day after discussion after arbitr trting with the county or having discussions and beating it up that it cannot be done then the money is still there it's just not in that pot and then we we can work on uh finding the money to put into that pot but I believe that that we have a very good case that this is an appropriate use for th those funds council member and if if maybe this this will put you at ease so the different buckets of of money that we're really talking about are not um buckets of money that are actively being used for ongoing operations right so um I I'm fairly confident that the county will will agree with our position in the event that it it it doesn't then this Council will have the opportunity to ident identify other funding sources to make uh the senior center whole some of which could be either going back into the into the syncing funds some of which could be unforeseen um Carry forward funds the you know a there might be other line items in here that a future Council decides that it wants to uh to cut to to be able to make that happen I think we're we're clearly making a statement that we're committed to making this hole and you know if if not through this funding source then a future Council will have the opportunity to uh to find a different one when will we when do we anticipate hearing back from the county it's the county I I I understand well that that's that that's more of my fear but but this is now this is now on the top of at least my list right so I I I leave my to-do list as my inbox in my emails and it's there so ask the staff I I I have good I have a decent system of bird dogging those pending items and I get back to them hey give me an update what's the status and this is one of those things that if I don't hear back in a week to 10 days I'm going to follow up with that person and say hey what's up and if I don't get the right answer then I have Avenues right we have elected officials that represent uh this part of town that is uh a subsequent Avenue right we try all the nice ways but ultimately at the end of the day if we need to uh get our representatives in the county that can uh consider our request because we're not getting the right answer from staff or or lowering the food chain then we will exercise those options not as a first choice but we have those uh in our tool Bel tool belt one uh one last question in under the special Revenue funds under the transportation gas tax you do have a line item for um Roads Traffic calming I'm assuming that's speed bumps right yes um I I noted that 22 23 actuals were real quick Brian can we finish this motion because it's specific on on one item that that uh that the vice mayor had then we we'll jump to you yeah because I think you had a a comment on the motion yes let's get that and then we'll take a quick vote and then we'll get back to councilman no I just wanted to just say uh thank you to the vice mayor it's very and to the staff um for coming up with something Innovative and and thinking out of the box on this um and that's what I was referring to when we're put in that situation we're up against the wall we're looking at different areas that we can find out of the box thinking so thank you to to to the vice mayor and the staff for doing that that's that's an amazing um idea that they have that um and and they follow through did the homework and it's something that actually look we're we're doing what we we're put here to do and that is fully fund you know the the the buildout right so um I just want to thank the vice mayor and the staff for that all right on this all those in favor I any oppos see none the motion passes we're back on to the main motion as amended councilman morera so as I was about to say under um under the special Revenue funds under the transportation um section yeah I literally lost it while we were talking uh there it is Page 117 or uh if you're looking in the middle it's 117 if you're looking at the bottom right it's uh 57 of 106 um I'm noting that 2223 actuals were $50 um the adopted 2324 was 1353 sorry 135,136 191 so we significantly UND spent here why are we telling our residents that we're having issues in putting up these speed bumps if we're not even using up all the funds in our in our budget good evening good evening Council so that that budget was uh passed the last the last budget cycle in anticipation for the the new criteria passing earlier in that fiscal year that did not happen we got it um recently I think it was in January January February and that's when we went ahead and proceeded with the reevaluation of the the location that was just discussed this uh this evening which was petal Palm we've also done uh a few another Street and in addition to that we've with the recommendation from this Council we've purchased an additional unit to accelerate the studies with this new criteria now that we have it in place the approval of of the locations once they study the the probability is higher so we anticipate that we're going to be accelerating the installations of these in addition to that we have other locations that the old style has failed and we're proceeding to install the new uh asphalt which is more expensive but in the end it has a longer lifespan so we do anticipate that we'll be using a significant amount of this throughout the the next phool year approximately how many roads how many speed bump projects do we have currently on that weight list I remember seeing the list I just can't remember how many were on it I want to say is over 20 let me that many is 17,360 enough to cover that yeah well I I would have to run the number before I give you that that answer because we we make a an estimation of what's going to be the approval rating uh so I don't want to say that every single location is going to get approved so I good R numbers and the ability to yeah true and the ability to speed this process up is dependent on the purchase of that device that you mentioned right we already have it and it's actually we already purchased we just finished doing the the troubleshooting and testing that we typically do and we're about to deploy it next week okay thank you yeah real quick on that uh director Santos the the and it's Dain to the discussion we're going to proove the the budget the comments that that uh that Esther made was there a street moved up on the list or do we follow the list very strictly we follow so that street had already been studied and with the past criteria it had failed when the new criteria passed all we did was re-evaluate it with the the new criteria so didn't require us to go out there and do a new study or bump anybody down the line it was data we already had yeah the machine was running in some other location while we were just evaluating old data how many other streets were you able to do that on uh for this yep that reevaluate data because I know we have data from 152nd I mean there's a bunch of 153rd that's the only one that's the only one we've done at the moment okay yeah thank you would it would it be too much to ask or do is it do do you need more money to reevaluate in the budget to reevaluate the other streets that that haven't been evaluated or is it does a manager need to give you the direction what one of the reasons we did that once because the data was very new it was recent the other ones is much older so yeah when it gets too old it gets stale right we yeah we we can go and check if we have recent ones that that are closer to that timeline similar to BM metal pom but if it's too old traffic patterns may have changed and and we would prefer to restudy understand just like bread it gets stale if you leave it out too long so the studies all right any other discussions or motions on the budget any other discussions motions on the budget anybody else seeing none yes councilman Garcia um just just an item that I want to bring up again um uh about adding an additional officer um and that's the main reason why uh Mr manager I I ask you to come up with the numbers when it comes to you know positions that we do not need or not that we don't need but they're open okay um I I'm I'm still under the um I still believe since the growth of the Town um you know and I know we are pretty much built out right however there there are new apartments coming out online and um I just want I just believe we need an additional officer and uh just to be sure the additional officer will be 160,000 is that yeah it was 160 right uh Melissa one officer 160 all in yeah so I I would just ask my colleagues if we could not fill two positions I'm not including the the the the assistant uh Deputy town clerk but the other two positions uh that would be about what about 70 80,000 when you include insurance is that is that what U what we talked about the 45 the 20 for the part-time position and the it would probably be more than 70 probably about 80 yeah I mean if you look at the two of them together okay with all you know with the uh Federal withholding the Social Security tax all the pension the health insurance all with all the uh the package yeah so all in how much that will be what was the number I'm sorry about 80 which for those two positions and what and what are the two positions which position were you ref he excluded um not not the deputy town and not the the transportation because that's funded from PTP yeah the other the other be the part would would that part-time receptionist what else which I don't recommend the transp the arist the arborist right which is the one that is on day-to-day basis handling uh phone calls and going out and doing assessments on trees and and that I think is something that is we get calls every single day of the of the week uh from folks who want to have their trees uh trimmed or assessed or Mr manager who who's taking those calls now who's dealing with those they're splitting it amongst the other uh staff members the person who was doing that before was moved into another spot it was promoted from within and he's handling uh some of that in addition to his new role and trying to learn a new role uh so everybody's doing a little bit more right now just to cover but I can tell you that it's not being done at the same level as it was when there was a dedicated person with the ability to go out there uh Jeremy sometimes has to be Jeremy or JP have to be the ones to go out there and do an inspection of of a tree or what have you and and yeah it's doable but it's not it's not the way of delivering the the the the best level of service if if I may just to add to this particular disc discuss I receive many phone calls regarding this issue where people have put in to have a tree looked at or and I think that aside from maybe sidewalks trees are the next thing that's on the top of the list of priorities and the residents are not happy with the speed at which we are responding to these calls no understood what I'm doing right now is just trying to figure out see if there's any areas that we could take from to to counc off if I can interject something and and I know that's been a focus of of yours I know it's been a focus of of the mayor and I know it's Public Safety is a focus of this entire this entire Council and and it's a focus of mine I live here too my my family lives here too and I want this to be as as safe A place as as as possible um and not just to claim that it is but to really be as safe as possible right so um what I could tell you is I have been working with uh major Gonzalez and his staff on developing a staff ing model that may enhance uh well not May will enhance Staffing will enhance uh some of the distribution of uh days off for the police officers so it it could end up and with the addition of two officers this this Staffing model could work with the with the uh addition of two officers and it could pay many de uh benefits to the uh level of police protection in the town as well as uh for the officers and so forth so what I can commit to you and I promise to you that um so long as that we don't get into rolling back the millage raid in in subsequent years that I will bring that model to you in next year's uh budget so that you can consider um and look at with the uh with the Proviso that we don't you know take from one side and and and adding on the other side so just to clarify um what I'm hearing is that you already working on a plan that's going to add two officers without um so what question I would have where would that money come from next year why I that's why I couched it saying we cannot uh take on one side which is reduction of the millage rate and adding on the other side because those things are incompatible with each other so so so long as we consider that and and you know you go to the store you want to buy a shirt you have to pay for the shirt you can't just go to the store and say I'd like that shirt but I don't want to pay for that shirt so things that we acquire that we get we have to you know so pay for them so assuming that the military stayes flat next year you're saying that you would be able to add two additional officers I I it's really too early to tell you that I'm not 100% sure of that because there's so many other Revenue sources but I will bring you the Staffing model for your consideration when we start early on in the conversation for your consideration when we start talking about it in Workshop I I guess the question I have is um you know you know the the expenses are going to with inflation continue to go up and we're going to have the same issues we have now so it's like you know we we able or you think you're able to find two next year and but we can't find one this year that that's that's I guess the question I have is it doesn't jive to me that because we've already taken a step right back in July this Council set the cap on the military right of course I think that this this the subsequent Council that may include uh some of you will not include some of you because some several of you are term limited out the the council is going to have to have a conversation next year uh at the beginning of the conversation on budgets to have a conversation about to what level do they want to to fund things and uh the consideration of adjustments in the military because it's a real it's a reality and that conversation is going to have to be had and in that conversation I want to introduce this model uh which I think is going to be beneficial to the Staffing levels and it's going to be beneficial to the officers and um I believe but that conversation H has to be had together because you cannot talk about just e extra expenses without extra Revenue right Mi Mr manager if I I'm sorry Council I'm a little I'm a little confused and maybe you can you can clarify for me so what what I understood from your comments is uh so long as we don't roll back the millage next year you would be able to bring us a plan with two more officers we didn't roll back the millage this year we kept the millage flat no but and and when I say roll back the millage rate because that the the effect of last year's roll back we're still feeling it today you know and and that's I go back to my conversation early on which was we started this year before we even did made a single decision put a single number on a on a single piece of paper we started half a million dollars in the whole because of the borrowing from a capital account last year of $500,000 right so right away that and that's why I always say that the um the adjustment of the millage rate is a one-way valve it only opens in One Direction it only goes down down down because the hard part is adjusting it back right so when we make that adjustment that that adjustment is a Perpetual adjustment Because unless this year we would have have said okay let's raise the millage rate back to what it was the previous year where that would have given more capacity to make uh to consider uh increases in uh in extra officers or whatever uh priorities this Council Set uh short of that you know we started out half a million dollars in the whole and that so that's why I say it's a those those are perpetual and and multi-year decisions it's not just a single budget year that that affects so I I I think I'm still hearing what what I was afraid that I was hearing which is that plan for increasing for bringing two additional officers is going to come with a increase to the millage well it's a consideration that I'm going to I'm going to but that that's that's a consideration you guys will have to make right um and I'm going to put that plan before you with all the different ways and different uh you know ideas for you to consider uh but I want to have the conversation because I know it's important to this Council to to look at Staffing levels in the police department thank you than you for that uh clarification uh would it make it easier to see if we can find $160,000 this year get one going and then and then next year it'll be a lot easier for us we won't have to consider raising the millage and keeping the the millage flat yeah the the $160,000 this year will only come really one way which would mean additional Cuts not just cutting just making even more Cuts in some of the areas that we've already talked about or not funding some of the things that you've talked about like funding the sinking fund and sun and and funding these other uh operations these other uh properly uh you know savings accounts so that's the only way it's the only way and and operationally um council member adding one officer it sounds good but operationally a single officer on a staff of 50 officers approximately operationally it doesn't really do all that much right um so it may just give a little bit of relief on one of the shifts but remember that officer now is going to be off two days he's going to have vacation days he's going to go to court he's going to have sick days so the the adding one officer doesn't necessarily give you as much bang for the buck as you would think right because you say okay we got another officer you're not going to have an extra person on duty all the time 247 I agree 100% no no I understand I'm sorry I and that's why the the plan that the major was that we've been discussing may have multiple uh you know effects that will that will help and really increase Staffing levels across the board but one of the things that I know I brought up and I know some of us I think most of us brought up is if we know we're going to grow it and we need to grow it um would it would it be easier to do one at a time to get to that level you say two you know I was thinking three or four but if you say two I'm going to go with the experts of course with with the major would it be easier to do it one year at a time put less pressure on the budget each year right and uh we have more flexibility every time we work with the budget so that's why what I'm proposing is not filling those two positions taking from the the syncing fund for now um U taking the rest from the from the syncing fund and uh I know that uh uh seeing what the carry forward has in store and then um there's going to be another there's going to be another Council up here uh brand new members and then they'll take on that that aspect of it but I know we've all committed and even the new uh uh council members and the ones that are running right now have committed to Public Safety and I think all of them committed to extra adding extra officers and then we can deal with that in the future but um I just think that it's easier if we add one now and then one next year um and if two is all we need then two is all we need uh if that's what you if that's what the Major's telling me then that's what the major telling me I just think it's a little easier and less pressure on us uh in the next year's budget and I know you're saying your arguments 100% % I just think uh even one officer will cause less headaches than not is what I'm trying to say I guess that's that's my thinking I don't know my my colleagues councilman if you can make a motion one way or the other so we can get to the proper post and and I just want to make a point of order um we have multiple opportunities to dissect slice and dice not from the deis we have workshops we have private meetings that we're invited to and every time we kind kind of come back to this slice and dice from the days which is not just a bad look right it's terrible on staff we're trying to get our thoughts across and we're not organized yet we we have these opportunities moving forward I'm not going to be here but take up the manager take up the budgeting staff's time slice and dice the budget try to come up with these ideas at those times so when we're actually talking about the budget it's nuts and bolts and and I was about to call the question so I appreciate what the mayor did which is basically trying to bring us back into the discussion we we got to start making motions so we can get into any discussion now we're going to move on and we'll get into closing statements if anybody wants to make it I'll just make a quick motion that we do not fill those two positions and we take the rest from the syncing fund to be able to uh fund one additional officer I'll second that uh discussion if not we'll go straight into a vote Madame clerk uh I'm sorry I'm I'm not going to support the motion and I and I want to explain why we are funding police overtime we are funding the traffic detail the burglary detail the holiday detail um and time and time again our police major has expressed to us that overtime dollars are more flexible and more effective with regards to putting more bodies on the street so I know that bringing more officers in is something that we've that we've discussed but I don't want the community to think that we're not focusing on Public Safety because we are it's in the budget it's being funded as it was funded in previous years and these dollars are utilized in a more flexible way and the police department has an easier funding source with which to fill those gaps where necessary because one more body like the manager said is not going to be everywhere all the time so I'm not going to be supporting it but I wanted to assure the community that there is Public Safety dollars being uh implemented in this budget thank you well at least I'm consistent so I I just want to say why I'm I'm voting on this in affirmative one of the opportunities that the next mayor is going to have is nego renegotiating the Police contract is going to be out of the the bureaucrats hand it's going to fall in your hands one of the things that's going to happen is the negotiation of the fee of what we pay right now it's between 5 to eight depending on the year taking that to three will give us more than enough money to to actually not only add one maybe even add four the other thing it does although I I think major Gonzalez major Perez both major Perez's and no major Ruiz major Perez Amy and Jean deppa who I've served here with they've had one issue is that they don't work for the council they don't work directly for the people they got to speak through whatever the manager wants them tell them that's theone who hires and fires them there's going to even though I'm scared of certain aspects but the accountability aspect is going to be great and I think there's going to be a huge opportunity in November so I'm going to vote in affirmative for this so we can start moving forward in that direction come November if it's the the vice mayor councilman dieas un Gonzalez you're going to be empowered to renegotiate that directly with an elective sheriff and there's one aspect that you'll be able to do that staff can't do is on that is on that fee and demand that that decreases we're going to have a lot more money so moving that ball forward the fiscal year starts in in a in a week next week I'm wholeheartedly comfortable with uh with this I've SP to police Majors throughout the the county from different departments and they've all told me Manny you cannot continuously fund certain details to make up for for loss and Manpower in terms of having you know four or five officers mandatory minimums in different uh which we do in different units but you have to augment the department as we as you grow you can't just put a bandaid on it and again our major the previous Majors can't say that because they don't work for us they work for the manager who the reality is is not in favor of this I mean that's just the truth and the the whoever the major is can't Advocate on the other side of it but I've spoken to enough who have told me the right thing to do is to augment it as your population grows again I'm okay with this and I see a huge opportunity come November to make things a lot better any further discussion not we'll take a vote Madame clerk please call the role so the motion from council member Garcia seconded by May mayor said to not fill the two positions that he spoke about earlier and to fill one additional officer council member Garcia yes take the from Sing fund and take the balance from the sinking funds yes okay council member Garcia yes council member ruano no council member Mora no council member Diez no council member goaso no vice mayor Fernandez yes mayor Sid yes the motion fails thank you madam clerk any other motions and then we'll get into any closing closing words that everybody has to say about their vote and we'll close us out but any particular motions we're going to take up right now I'm just going to uh move to call the question oh sorry council member dieas we couldn't hear you that I move to call the question hold on hold on I'll take a point of personal privilege no without debating it so I do have closing arguments and I'll use my my point of privilege to to to do that and you guys can can superseded me so I'm going to be well I do have a point of order to the attorney our parliamentarian really quick on that because so we talk about collegiality all the time all I have I'm not going to make any more motions I do want to say closing statements no say the other day the other day I'll give you an example and I'm fine with way the other day when councilman coyazo had asked hey one of you guys are out we're going to take a vote we stopped the meeting till you guys came in I'm not going to vote on anything anything else I just want to add closing arguments as to how I'm going to vote that's it I'm not going to make I'm not going to make I'm not I'm personally not going to make any other motions so on a collegial standpoint that's all I ask well again with all the same it's a point of order to the parliamentarian and I just want to hear his response to that if you're if you're calling the questions that's ending debate and asking for the vote to be taken that's that's correct I just said it's correct if if he's calling the question it's for a vote to be taken so I I want to put on the record the mayor asked if there were any other motions to be heard and then we were going to have closing comments so I did not profer a motion because I I was under the impression that I was going to have an opportunity for for uh closing comments um if the only way that I can do that is by making a motion I would like the opportunity to profer a motion it's it's up to you you called the question if you uh if you want to retract your motion that's fine if if nobody wants to hear my comments that's fine I'll I'll save them for next year I have a follow-up question to to the the attorney and this is why I don't think it's such an issue right call in the question vote on it and then if people want to take their point of personal privilege before we join the meeting to explain the vote that just took it's all the same so you are correct yeah so it doesn't affect collegiality doesn't affect anything else so that I just want to make that clear uh for for my colleagues all right Madam clerk please call a rooll and I hope get voted so Council me this is a motion by council member Diez which was seconded by council member coyaso motion to approve um item 6B ordinance in second reading council member Diez yes council member coyaso yes council member Garcia no council member ruano yes council member Mora yes vice mayor herandez no mayor Sid no the motion and SEC ordinance in second reading passes I'm going to take a point in Personal Privilege uh though and explain why I voted no on the uh on the last three budgets ER for our for our town um this budget hurts the next generation of Miami Lakers it makes it more difficult for them to stay here it does not add value across the did not add police officers um we talked about writing a wrong what it did was defund move move money arounds for something that was never a wrong the whole LPR issue you all you got to do is talk to Helen Costa very intelligent attorney Marbel Balin HTO Cruz all these people they live there they they're the ones that voted on it recommend it to us secondly another one one of the reasons I voted no having yearly colas without performance is destroying the culture in town hall I get it big bureaucrats love the colas and our manager loves them but without performance you're really harming our culture we there are employees who go above and beyond and I do know they feel bad because they get compensated the same as the one that leaves at 5:00 and it's inherently unfair to pass a cola without performance um ads immense amounts of long-term uh liabilities unfunded liabilities a to this day nobody's made a a a a real substantive discussion or perspective on as to why we have high paid manager and a deputy manager with 30 employees and and eight of those being crossing guards um I can go on and on and on obviously the 3% did not pass we would have insulated our our seniors um one of the points that councilman Kazo made was about slicing and dicing here on the days and this goes to you Mr manager one of the most disappointing moments of my time here on on the day is months ago I asked for staff to analyze a 3% cut very similar to how councilman and it passed very similar to how councilman morera asked for you all to find money for the lprs and you did you were very you went around you looked for it everywhere and you found it from obviously he's in the majority that's so you found it from I asked for it and what you came back with was number one the veterans parade and to me that was extremely disappointing as an elected official who's been up up here for 12 years and instead of and it wasn't me asking by myself it was a vote of this day to the point where even I think the Laker fell for it as well and put it on on the front page something like that where and it goes back to as to why this day is before why I asked for a budget committee why I wanted people like I to look at these things because my items weren't getting treated the same councilman Mora passes LPR issue you find the money you looked everywhere you found the money I passed it first thing you said let's cut the most important a a event in our Town's history no phone call no email to give me a heads up no hey look these are the things I'm going to recommend what do you think think or let's think outside the box none of it and I get it this Council allows it but I can tell you I am beyond uh disappointed with that it was a request that I didn't make directly that I made in a transparent fashion in a collegial fashion and you heard councilman kazu's um discussions to that end that we're up here slicing dicing I purposely put my item months before to do that so voted no for the third year in a row uh a 4-3 budget councilman dieas you're well within your rights man um but I've gone above and beyond to try to be collegial with you with everybody I asked I don't know if anybody else had motions but that's all that's all I got to say ER have a good night and this meeting is a Jour God bless and go to the mayor's gala this weekend I hope to see a lot of you there