I'll take a little bit that's not cool not today well I give him the full package three minutes I gave it to all my thing um you can give one to the manager once I h we thank you for your patience just bear with us a couple more minutes please good evening Welcome to our special Commission meeting the date is um 3824 the time is now 5:46 Madame clerk roll call commissioner Bass here vice mayor Irvin here commissioner Kelly pres mayor Taylor present as we stand for invocation led by commissioner Bass All About the pledge of Father we come before you today Lord to give you thanks to give you praise father God we ask you Lord God at this time father God we ask you God I ask you father God that you would help us oh God [Music] to not to lean to our own understanding father God but father God that we would look for the greater good of our city father God what would benefit us the most Lord I ask you God that we will be able to set our own agendas aside father and that we will put in front God the agendas oh god of our people of our community Lord God help us to serve right that you get the glory in Jesus name amen am amen I pledge allegiance to the flag flag of the United States of America the stand one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice amen okay we're going to go into public input and we're going to ask those of you that are speaking during public input that you stage remain to the topics at hand and remember to state your name and your address for the record public input is open good afternoon everybody afternoon the mayor vice mayor all the Commissioners I'm here tonight tonight I'm exhausted I'm here tonight to talk about re results on results that have been done I've been there since 1993 I have ran back and forth to the city halls trying to get help since 93 2005 was the last city manager that stood up for us that really came and stood up for us between 2005 and 20023 I had lost really all confidence in City Hall truly I wanted to leave I told my daughter when she gone I'm gone but one day God sent this man to us I can honestly say since we've been out he call residents he check on us we not going against none of y'all but none of y'all have done y'all have to realize all us we are citizens of opal Locka we don't need to go backwards to that back time when whatever was going on we need to go forward we need to step forward and keep it the right way all the personal bandas whatever but he has done he have showed us what nobody else showed us from 2005 to 2023 this ain't the first time that we have been on the news we've been on the news since 2005 I don't been on there about 20 times re out so I'm saying to y'all not on his whatever but on his results of what he have done for opal Locker that nobody else did from 2005 till now y'all need to get it together I don't know what's going on I really don't care what's going on and it's some of y'all up there that I love because y'all really trying to get over like a back back on the right path but when you have citizens that say I'm Miss exhausted I'm tired I want to leave op that ain't the way y'all should want us to feel period but that man has a lot of people now that we can actually trust that even not us in building a he come out there people in the other parts of the building know him when it's someone that don't even know who half of y'all is being honest come on y'all we got to keep it real and we need to keep it with God this ain't about personal bandanas it ain't about none of that it's about keeping op Locker together cuz yes it fell apart Through The Years you got to think about the citizen not by St Park all over opak it's everywhere care about everybody I ain't saying nobody have to check on tenis every day or check on the community every day but sometime come talk to us and see what's going on with us that's right M Sharon and y'all have a good evening thank y'all and have a blessed evening you too thank you Miss Sharon are you good evening Mark Cooper um 6801 Southwest 75 Terrace miam Florida 33143 good evening good evening everyone thanks for this opportunity I just want to say that in so far as who you pick for the city manager the city has a problem that's Brewing I own not this I own in the junkyard area these four corners and this canal receives all the sewage and all the waste Mr Mr Cooper we only could we got to stay Dain to the topic okay so I'm gonna get to it one sec this city manager approached me about how we can clean this up I pay about $100,000 in taxes here and I can't defecate one of these properties because there's no toilets the city has to stop focusing on so many bingo kns I know they're important I'm not trying to offend you but you got to get the infrastructure together and this man has told me he's gonna do it and I haven't spoken to the other two candidates and and I give him you know the benefit of the doubt but this is important because the business Community is tired the only tenants we can get in here are dirty tenants junkyards you want to stop the pollution you want to stop the the environmental racism you got to have the infrastructure in place to help us get better tenants I rent these yards for 10,000 a month if they were buildings I could get 40,000 a month this building here just south of the canal it's worth 30 million my places are worth 8 million why because there's no toilets here please please don't make a mistake thank you thank you Mr public input is still open good evening Alonso Irving 770 OA Boulevard I think it would be an Abomination to g r of the city manager I think he's doing a very good job apparently all of you don't feel that way but I think he's doing a pretty good job and I think he has a good support system here who also thinks he's doing a good job we all know where we've come from you know what you got you you don't know what you're going to get and that has nothing to do with the new candidates but you know the hard work this gentleman puts in every day all day every day Sundays Saturday nights he's here you look up the lights on he's here working the odds of the next city manager doing what he does sliming none think about what you got you don't know what you're gonna get Darin Williams keeping we're gonna ask that you we're not clapping um Chambers we getting ready to go citizens and put it St Jasmine W and Gloria the guas 134 Alexandra Drive call 103 okay I'm here to say yes to keep him because y'all already know about Gloria the Guardians and him always being there for us no matter what it is already had came here and as you guys to be more input with us make us feel like we opck instead of just glor the back blues that we feel like we our own Community because we don't have we don't have nothing to do with you guys y have stuff we don't know about everything that's going on he the only person that makes us feel like we open lock he cares about us you guys probably care about us too but we don't see it y' behind the scenes doing everything and I feel like y'all should be more open with it and keeping him because guess what day he's the one who's doing everything the front of everything you guys are not I know four of y'all personally I really don't know Kelly no matter how long he been here but you guys I feel like y'all should keep him because he's the one who's doing everything here that's all thank you J citizens input is still open that's commissioner Kelly thank you good evening my name is Jalisa bar I'm with Gloria the gardiens 13010 Alexandria Drive I stand with Mr Williams I'm for Mr Williams keep him he don't helping us right now he all we got at this point Thank you thank you hello my name is adah Mo baller that's my daughter Jalisa and like she say we stand with Mr Williams a lot lot of y'all just show up when y'all want to give away stuff and want our votes and whatever he hasn't been here long and he's done a lot for us so I say keep him too thank you hi my name isisa Hamilton I live at 13116 Alexandra Drive Apartment 331 and overlock got and I say keep the city manager as well because his work is speak for him thank you public input is still open good evening everyone my name is Sarah Allen um address 600 Shira Avenue opaka Florida 33054 and I am here to say that since I have returned back to the city I've really seen an improvement in my city since I've been here since 77 and came back after I graduated from school to come back to my city and we have had different changes of people from on this side and here that we changeed so much that I by the time I'm talking about this person they will tell me oh that person is no longer here and I'm like oh my God this gentleman I must give him credit since he came in he reached out to make improvement in our city and I've seen it and I love it and I would love for my city to move forward in regards to making this a great city as we keep saying so again and let us keep our city manager Mr Williams because he is showing us he care about our city and city of opaka we need to stop playing um these switching chairs all the time this gentleman is showing he can do the work he is showing us he is showing us now because of my career if I were to give him a grade of what he is doing so far he will have a awesome grade on it and if he was taking the fast test those of us who have parents we know what that mean I will give him a five of five based on what I've seen already thank you thank you Miss Allan public input is still open good evening Audrey Dominguez 1147 J Avenue happy women's History Month to all the women the day is here that we been waiting for and searching for a permanent city manager for the past two years I just want to remind the Das that you were elected for the people and by the people okay whomever whomever is selected they need to follow the charter they should not have any ties with any commissioner anybody in the Das okay so it's something that I recall and remember former Vice marus say um promises made Promises Kept public input is still open laana Owens am a resident of glor Gardens apartment 21108 um I'm voting yes for Mr Darin I feel like the time that we got to know him he has proven to us that he cares and um he's willing to work with us as far as this the community of Glorietta um I can't say the same for some of you guys because I do only see you guys around voting time or when it's time to give away things and stuff like that back to the community but as far as being on the front streen or on the front line to talk to Residents whether it's his email or his personal phone number he's reaching out to us so yes I do want to vote to keep Mr Williams in chair thank you Gary Johnson 13235 Alexandria Drive Apartment 10 OP Locker Florida 33054 I'm kind of a little confused up here all right for the commission I heard everybody come up here and state by the commission to them that you guys are not present you guys are not doing this I don't know about them but I could go back with let me just go back a little history before I get into her I met commissioner baz when she used to come to opo oh the glory of the GS cuz the kids wasn't going to school so I made agreement with her I said I use my van charge the parents a dollar a day to take them to and from school and get him there she ain't had to come no more I met commissioner Kelly when somebody on a bus driver called this County on me and say I was running illegal bus service in which he made a phone call and by the time I got there the ticket was thrown out you see what I'm saying so to you guys I know I call me the mayor the mayor is responsible for the whole entire meeting at glor outon he called and he would like the thow Mee I said okay bring city manager bring Fredrico Wilson bring the county bring the State Rep bring everybody he got everybody in line and brother I met Miss Natasha the vice mayor through some of the programs she used to run especially the nonprofit and the g away the property so I would like to commend you guys but what I what else I want to talk about is I think we're missing a point here okay can we agree with glory of the god in a bad shape yes can we agree that the decisions that were made to misplace those people was that the right thing to do no the reason I say that is I don't know if you guys aware of it h we up under H now hap that mean H has the property so first the county the city which is you guys y'all red tag a building then the county came and red tag a building now H got it so guess what the residents don't even know we're in the lingo we don't know if we wake up tomorrow and that owner say you know what I don't want to deal with h get your people up out of my building where we going where 338 residents gonna go we stuck we stuck right as we speak today ha has that building so was that the right decision to misplace us is it right for them to say yeah they might be in thed with him but everybody's not looking at the bigger picture the bigger picture will we be there in the next two or three years can't nobody answer that you see I'm saying I understand the city manager done what he had to do okay cool I'm cool with that there but did he look down the line and say okay I'm saving these families or I'm destroying the fames to me we're destroyed right now cuz you got the county with his red flag you got you guys with the red flag and we got H got control of the building so now who who's going to render the decision you guys can't render the decision because you know why you lost your power when Hood got the build you lost when the county got involved you lost your power so it's municipality it's County it's state it's Governor you guys way to the bottom so he can't say what's going to happen to this building he can't promise a resident right now that two years from now we still got glory of the god so so what are we commending them on you see for shutting down a building and we don't know where we going that's the main issue the main issue is do we still have a place to stay in two years and was that decision the right place hold on I'm going to finish and the program that was offered today about paying bills you guys been had that that's all like a two years thing that you guys know who was there to say any money left to pay rent but you came to us today with pizza and say you know what we're going to pay you guys rent today how you had it two years you mean tell me two years since program been initiated you ain't never come to Glory out the god offer but guess what you done done you didn't put us in a hole because we had management by the head as far as charging people back pay you can't charge back people back pay it's two rules I can't give them away because I'm in the courts with them you see what I'm saying but you should you should have called our attorney Rebecca and say listen we gonna try to go pay back pay and it's wrong I gotta go but I'm saying no for the simple reason we stuck we jamm and you just pay made them people pay back pay so you just made them sign they life away so now when all them evictions come who going to save them that's what y'all ain't looking at thank you Mr Gary citizens input come on come on come on we gotta maintain theorum public input is still open good afternoon good afternoon I know the majority of the people here you all know me I'm not here to smoke in mirrors not here to fool anybody we all know we've been around I remember commissioner Kelly's Dodge pickup truck back in the days um I met Joanna fles when she was a cashier across the street and she was like 17 years old so it's been a long time the only other person that's been in city of opaka also for the police department is Jerry I tell everybody he's my dad but he's not he's been here 32 years I've been here 31 years I've been a sergeant for 13 years I didn't introduce myself Hermon bskis 780 fisherman street I'm sorry um real quick it's not about me except for the first 30 seconds I met my wife here on kyola 135 street she was 22 years old I was 40 at the time I know what you're all thinking we went out for fun 10 years later we were still having fun we got married had two beautiful kids I got an eight-year-old a 10y old I love being a dad so that's thanks to opaka too but I brought that up as an example because I thought that that was just going to be passing through just going out for fun and look 21 years later we're still together we got a good recipe when I started with Opa Locker right after Hurricane Andrew I thought I was just going to be passing through folks and look 31 years later here I am more than Mr Williams and chief fley I love the community I love the people I love what I do I'm lucky blessed that I do something I'm fortunate um and for the love I have for the community I see we've all seen I was proud of the old station it had leaking roofs I'd be talking to folks getting reports with the roof leaking and a bucket of water that's a true story and now look at us we got a brand new station down we've seen this is the best before I get to that I've been through 31 years I've been through 24 chief of polices stability is important we've lacked it in the past um for the first time I have a city manager that I love chief fley that I love uh I'm not gaining anything by coming up here I was a sergeant before they came I'll be a sergeant if they're gone um I'm not gonna look to get promoted by coming up here I love being a sergeant on the road I'm exactly it was my calling in life to be a sergeant for opaka and I love it um but this is the best I've ever seen the the police department I'm speaking for myself uh this is the best folks and we we've all seen it we we know what time it is and thank you thank you for allowing me to be a policeman here for you okay guys thank you s thank you public input is still open good afternoon everyone Mr Mayor ladies and gentlemen esteemed city of oaka commission colleagues fellow citizens I'm here today for your imp impending decision on hiring a permanent city manager I follow my Sergeant BOS Mr Mayor commissioner Kelly is the chief coming as a citizen or you coming as a chief of police I'm coming in to represent the men and women of the department say again I'm coming in to represent the men and women of the department the union or you coming to represent the union stop you on that too you're just trying to understand the men and women of the police department okay all right thank you so as your chief of police I represent the men and women of the Oak Police Department and our shared support for Mr Williams he's been our 315 315 is our emergency backup uh for our s for our department he's been our sounding board my personal Mentor you heard at my swearing in his story and how we came together back in 1994 where I was the senior I was a lead intelligence guy on the ground and he was a junior now the rever r is reversed and he is my senior and my leader um I appreciate the efforts that he put in bringing me here myself and assistant chief Starks two 32 plus year veterans bring us in from retirement uh to lead this agency into the 21st century his commitment i' I've talked a lot in public comments on podcasts and I've talked about the vision that you guys and the and the city manager have had for the city and uh again at by swearing in it's in real time we see it every day uh today our response our responses to the train uh crash the the tragic incident with our Citizen and the way we responded the impacts that we had on had on the traffic the way we handled it the comments that that we have from the from the other uh agencies is all in part to his dedication and commitment to the police department new vehicles pay raises PBA contract uh coming up again um he hired me here as a captain in criminal investigations and here I am here I sit so I appreciate the support that he gave us and the support that you guys gave us and we look forward to maintaining that that support I can tell you that I am opaka Mr Williams is opaka thank you thank you Chief public input is still open public input is closed oh we have one I'm sorry public is back open Mr cook John Cook I'm a resident of the city of OPAC I'm also an employee my address is uh 780 fisherman street I'm here tonight in support of Mr Mr Williams we've seen the changes are quite obvious the growth of the city um I think that the stability is an important issue uh it's important for the employees to know that they have a an environment that they can work in and don't have to worry about issues and drama which seems to surround the city of opalak occasionally I believe that the professionalism and his fairness in dealing with people uh we've had raises that we haven't had in 10 years we've had new vehicles that we've never had we've had a lot of things make a difference obviously not everybody's perfect obviously there there are differences with everybody's personality but you have an individual that cares about the city and it's proven it over and over again uh complete and full support of Mr Williams thank you thank you Mr Cook Public input is still open apologize for The Rush um got him on at the radio good evening all I'm just speaking to you as Lawrence H be leaving soon as the PBA rep but I'm still the PBA rep representing the union for the for the most part um city manager Williams has been very attentive to our needs he's been very Pro police he gave us along with your uh help one of the best contracts ever may you know that better than anybody because he used to find you uh basically I'm speaking for the PBA and and the membership um we haven't had a better man by for us for our uh contract if you look it up yourself you'll see you're the first board to give us a contract thank you very much for your time thank you all right public input is now indeed closed all right so we're going to move on to uh item six which is going to be a presentation from the human resource director Miss um Adams good evening Commission so my presentation will be in six steps uh five possibly six if needed be I've shared with you the outline I will have a summary of the recruiting process to date introduce each shortlisted applicant and ask each a final interview question they will be timed and have three minutes to give their answer this is so the community can get to hear from from each applicant I will then present the summary of each applicant's level one and level two background check results number four I will pass out a ballot to the commission to submit your choice of city manager if there is no tie we will move to number six and close the recruiting process by awarding the city manager a written job offer which the City attorney has already prepared are there any questions so far commission thank you we will proceed so from all 98 responses I presented you a spreadsheet showing each applicants weighted score based on the previously approved job description requirements the scores were assigned based on information the applicants presented and their prior knowledge skills and abilities in the areas of Redevelopment government experience education budget city manager or assistant manager and man management at an executive level and people management from that spreadsheet you chose a shortlisted and you chose and shortlisted three applicants they were Darin Williams Kamar Brown Louis Chapman Jr and one alternate Edward Dean Walker the alternate later asked to be removed as an applicant therefore there is not an alternate each of you interviewed the three short-listed applicants oneon-one and I attended each interview with you per your resolution IA zoned with the background check company that was awarded the external independent contract to conduct the Nationwide level one and level two background checks for the three applicants that has been completed the process included fingerprint scans to the FBI database it was now my responsibility to complete the compliance training to view the results that has been completed this summary brings us to this final meeting with the intent to hear the commission your choice of the city manager from these three applicants I will ask each applicant a question based on their background I will ask them to come to the podium and respond to that question allowing them three minutes each so I will first give you a refresher and professional introduction of their background their education I will then read the question and if they want I will repeat it when they come to the podium we will start with Mr Williams professional introduction is as follows Mr William has Williams has held the role of interim city manager and assistant city manager totaling about three years he has also ownership with businesses in Florida in the at the executive level roles of CEO and chief operations officer in businesses totaling about 14 years his education is as follows Bachelor of Arts in North Carolina Bachelor of Science North Carolina master's degree Miami master's degree George Washington University in DC jur doctorate degree George Washington School of Law Mr Williams your question is as follows feel free free to ask me to repeat it if you would like as if as your your background is extensive in the areas of executive management sir could you elaborate on your approach to taking responsibility for both successes and failure within an organization please approach the podium thank you Miss Adams thank you uh mayor vice mayor and commission I I do uh have an understanding and a strong understanding of uh leadership and my experience and the onew response is accountability uh you have to understand that as a leader whether things go right whether things go wrong the buck stops with you uh you are my bosses and whether I it is the director of parks or whether it is a senior coordin Ator I have to be accountable for that I have to answer to you I have to make sure that the ship is sell right so I'm always looking for ways that we can improve and also looking for ways we can praise uh focus on that behavior that we like make sure that we support it make sure that we increase it uh make sure that we Implement Pathways to continue that and also focus on ways that we can identify behaviors that don't work uh that's my leadership style uh I think I've exhibited that here uh in this position the first thing that I implemented was a review of the organizational structure of this business uh of this uh of this city it's something that I do when I enter in every single business in a senior role what is the organizational structure how does it work how can we implement it what can we tweak the first thing that I noticed is that we have 12 departments and all department heads were reporting to the city manager uh good business practices said you should never have more than seven director reports um because of the extensive review that you have to do for them so we or reorganize the uh organizational structure internally of the city to meet that business principle uh we hired assistant city managers uh to assist with e executing the the vision and the mission of the city uh your roles and responsibilities your legislation your ordinances uh that is one way that we can actually that I've actually demonstrated here in these Halls uh good leadership uh one of the things is also praise um we had some challenges with our school crossing guards well upon review you have to look at both sides uh upon my enter into this role our school crossing guards were making $10.25 an hour it's very difficult to demand more of someone when you're paying so less so the commission was able to pass a budget that allowed us to increase that to $15 an hour now we can demand more of our school crossing guards and now we can hold them to a certain standard but it's a review of what we're giv and what we're expecting so accountability uh that is the Hallmark of good leadership thank you thank you Mr Williams I would now like to introduce and reintroduce the second applicant Mr Louie Chapman Jr his professional introduction is as follows Mr Chapman has held the role of town manager assistant city manager and city manager in another state for about 24 years that averaged a population of approximately 40,000 citizens he's worked in Union and non-union employee environments since 2024 four he has worked as a private consultant providing consulting services for municipal and private clients involving Florida local government relations matters Mr Chapman's education includes masters in science and planning and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Services both from University located in Virginia Mr Chapman your question is Sir your prior government experience is mostly out of state because of this I'd like for you to please tell the commission how your private consultant work in the local government matters are relevant and how that experience can be an asset for this role of city manager you have the floor please approach the podium thank you for having me tonight Consulting is an interesting business because you only get you get to do what it is you want to do you get to choose the clients you work for and their issues um I I I've only worked for people that I thought I could offer them quality advice that would help them to move themselves and Advance their situations they don't always listen um but you're offer them your best professional advice uh as Miss Adam said I um I have um degree in social science and one in urban planning and so I've used my urban planning background to help Cities A lot of times because often times their issues center around future planning future the future of their community and I think that that would end up giving me um a substantial leg up in terms of opaka look at a place that looks to reinvent itself looks to to um to its future as opposed to focusing in on its past um and I think that that the community has a lot of potential in terms of you know if I were if I were advising you as a consultant I would have a very high um recommendation quotient for you because again I think that all your Pathways point up as opposed to down so in in um response to the question Consulting has given me a broader vision of communities and their issues but a lot of times I found that there's commonality there's a lot of commonality between places the issues that they deal with are a people and person people and people and people um and resources and resources and resources so how to get the people and the resources to match one another is often times the problem that I've seen as a consultant and it's the same in um Del Beach where I live it's the same as opalak it's the same as was when I was in Connecticut is the same as it was when I was in Virginia people and resources that's what I've seen thank you thank you Mr Chapman I'd now like to introduce and reintroduce Miss Brown Mrs Kamar Brown has held the roles totaling about seven years government experience with the city of Miami she's held the roles of business analyst manager Chief of Staff strategic Enterprise program manager assistant director planning Enterprise program manager and with the city of North Miami Beach assistant city manager in addition approximately 20 years total as a real estate business owner and founder CEO of a consulting firm providing transformation and change Management Services her education includes the following master of international Administration University of Miami master of law in intellectual human rights law St Thomas University School of Law Bachelor of Arts in government and political science St Thomas University Mrs Kamar Mrs Brown your question is related to your extensive background in the area of planning and Strategic Management how can you be an asset for implementing and improving on current plans for City development with developers contractors and other stakeholders related to the city of opaka City development please come to the podium good afternoon mayor Commissioners uh residents City staff um happy International women's month and um I thank you first and foremost for spending some time in this decision um because I know it's Bingo night right um as it pertains to strategic uh planning um and Strategic Management specifically as it relates to the Redevelopment so with the city of Miami I was charged with looking at the entire Enterprise and essentially implementing uh process-driven changes that not only allowed the city to respond to the issues that faced today but more importantly for them to be prepared uh for the future um 2019 2020 we knew we know that covid um happened and no one planned for it well through the implementation that I did with the city of Miami the city was able to continue operations uh staff was able to um work remotely for a duration of 18 months um and ultimately we continue to deliver services to the residents and the businesses um as it pertains to Redevelopment within the community one of the things that I I I'm an advocate of and I think would be beneficial for the city of opaka as it looks at the trajectory of what the next 10 years looks like is having a balanced approach to Redevelopment there's a community that is already existing and we need to ensure that we preserve that Community we enhance that community and we also create space uh for and of course if that's the will of the commission create space for development to happen because once once development comes we know that there's going to H there going to be new businesses I think a resident or business owner talked about that and new Investments coming to the city working with land use attorneys contractors um residents is something that I'm very uh attuned to um in my past I've facilitated LED um numerous commission uh sitting in the commission's seat um and presenting uh Community meetings Town Hall sessions which are critical as uh decision making is made um ensuring that we're intentional in including the commiss the the community at different points in the process that when we're planning a city it is not simply done in uh extremes but rather rather we're looking at opportunities for inclusivity but also progress so I I thank you again for the opportunity I know that it is uh a serious and and important decision that you're making um and I look forward to serving the city of opaka if I'm the selected city manager thank you thank you Miss Brown at this time I will review a summary of the uh background check level one and level two with the commission this report of these reports are in a summary structure and one section is Criminal one is DMV because this job does require driving and the other is financial and I have an other I will begin first with Mrs Kamar Brown under criminal uh the level one and level two background check has no criminal or arrest records there were two lawsuits filed in federal court against a business Mrs br is a registered agent the cause for the case was equal pay and for the other one is fair uh standards act Fair labor standards act I'd like to for a moment go back and advise um the applicants as I am reading your report if you have any disputes please feel free to meet with me oneon-one I will provide you the actual records that I have access to and were given to validate the summary that I am presenting and you can communicate to that particular court of record for any disputes thank you to continue DMV license is not valid no not inv ballot nor is it suspended traffic citation in Miami day Broward and St Lucy counties safety belt texting stopping Red Light Speedy bankruptcy leans judgments because we wanted to uh move this session that we're having tonight on I received the authorization from the mayor and my suggestion to verbally ask the applicants two questions one were were there DMV records rather driver's license as of now not suspended not revoked and also do you have any leans or bankruptcies all of the applicants answered no leans or bankruptcy and no to the suspension or revoked licenses since then I do have a record to validate those verbal answers going on to the bankruptcy leans and judgments Miss Kamar Brown confirmed no bankruptcy bankruptcies leans or judgment records this was confirmed through a background check the next applicant Mr Louie Chapman criminal no criminal history level one level two in cotford Connecticut in 2016 there was a suit filed against the town which named him because at that time he was Town manager DMV record license is valid not suspended or revoked traffic violations red light illegal parking infractions bankruptcy lean's judgments verbally confirmed none the background check showed same there is an other Mr Chapman served as the city of Del re city manager when hiring him the status was put on hold due to his background regarding civil suits during his time as city manager however he was ultimately hired as city manager Del Ray Beach eventually he did resign after 15 months of that employment the next applicant Mr Darin Williams he was charged Grand Theft third degree of a vehicle which is a felony he was stopped by Miami Gardens Police Department in reference to a driving vehicle with an expired Tennessee tag the NCIS check showed the vehicle was reported stolen out of Tennessee Mr Darin was the driver and his driver's license showed suspended in NCC the disp the disposition of this matter was no action DMV driver's license is valid verbally not suspended or revoked the record shows same traffic violations primarily in my Miami date include speeding driving without license knowingly expired registration illegal parking and red light infractions bankruptcy lean's judgments verbally uh stated no bankruptcy or leans my question did not include judgments however the back since then the background CH check has shown a lean and that concludes the level one and level two of the three applicants that were shortlisted are there any questions before I submit the ballot for you all to present your choice of city manager any questions for the HR Director or the um candidates before we move forward with the voting process yes Mr Mayor commissioner Williams um I was hoping we would hear more than one question asked of each candidate um I just feel like it wasn't enough meat and potatoes just having one question um do you want me to present another question tonight did you you had a question specifically ask uh um I don't know I don't want to if the the rest of the commission doesn't no I don't have any questions but if you have questions go well if nobody else has a question and I won't ask my question I don't want to be labor um my next question is we talked you just mentioned the background checks does any of these based on what our qualifications um require check check off or doesn't check off that is an interesting question that has a very broad interpretation however if we narrow it down to the code of conduct keeping in mind no one is perfect then basically two of the three applicants will have failed the background check because the history is the history okay and the the ethics and the code of conduct in the job description and the resolution and the role of the city manager is to be above reproach um but everything you mentioned was all in the past correct the history is the history I do not know what their future will hold no I I know that what I'm saying everything you read off was in the past correct what do you mean please so you you said the history is the history I'm saying yes I don't know if I'm being clear C the background checks is all that happened in the past not the current like like over a year ago or two years ago this P so you want me to give you a a year parameter is that your question I'm saying it did happen in the last 30 days right is that what I'm that's what I it is possible the courts do not have a history within the last 30 days okay I absolutely cannot be assured of that okay however with the fingerprint uh scan it would have to have been after February 29th 2024 okay okay thank you all right you're other questions or to the aart commission B thank you I would like for those two applicants that you refer to to have a voice in um you know just saying what they think they would need to say so I excl that they would be excluded from what do you mean so I I would not recommend dis disputing a background check now but if you would like we can do that I would not recommend it but that's what you want them to do I just want you to know my recommendation beforehand not to dispute it just to not to just leave it blanket like that because commissioner Williams she asked I can give you more information if you would no I think what she's asking is an explanation from the applicants that's what you're saying I have explanation no no she wants it specifically from the applicants themselves I don't recommend that but we can certainly do that okay is that what you well let's see from the appli are you willing to or not so what part of the background check would you like for them to address that's up to them I'm just saying if they would like to I hear what you're saying but I'm I know I I'm trying to get an understand of what you want so much time on people's backgrounds well that's that's why I if they want to it's fine if not that's fine too that's a bit so whatever in their background that they want to ex I want to understand your request whatever in their background does it have to be specifically what I mentioned or anything in their background what you mention what I mentioned okay I will call I will address each candidate each applicant ask them that question if they would like to it's fine if not that's also fine understood Miss Adams one second yes sir um I Heard two voices KY go I'll defer I'll defer oh okay um I think I want to I do want to go back to the question so because this is more of a town hall setting yes um and more um this is for the people yes and I think if um our residents weren't provided the resumés they weren't given the opportunity to do the one-on ones so I would like each applicant to tell us why they would want to be the city manager okay and what they're going to deliver to the city of opalak okay so do you also want to talk about the background checks which do you want to do first um okay so commissioner one second commissioner Kelly did you want to wait in on that well I just want to weigh in if we're going to open up for the candidates to do the background or explain as commissioner bass's suggesting and I want to hear the other commentary from Miss Adams that she's not giving us reference the background check that she's only one that has all of the information so we're going to open it up we're GNA open it up we going to keep it closed we keep it closed that's the only thing I'm saying I don't draw my request thank you me personally I I understand background checks are important but it's also intrusive and I wouldn't want to embarrass any of our candidates so we we enough has already been said and I would like that's my opinion I I I did a summary for a reason I wanted to be respectful as I said none of us are perfect and my summary is just that it is a summary I would not get up here and do word for word everything that was within the background check as a respectful presenter of someone's background thank you all right so which is why if it's if they want to dispute it with me one on one I am available so you're withdrawing your request all right so we're going to go back to commissioner Williams because I thought it was a very good question so we're GNA ask every candidate to answer commissioner Williams's question commissioner Williams can you restate it and we can go um is there an order that we're doing it or we could just call them up Miss Adams uh I will just call them to the podium okay so please re rephrase the question okay um why would you want to be or why would you want to be hired as the city manager or the city of opaka and what will you bring to the table what will you bring as the manager thank you commissioner Williams applicant Williams please come to the podium we will put another three minutes on the timer thank you sir and before you go ahead um um Mr city manager soon as Mr Darin Williams is done Kamar you can go ahead and then Mr Chapman so we can move it along before you start are there any other questions that you all have that you would like okay all right this the hour is far spent and our employees have been here since 7 o'clock this morning I want to allow them to go and spend time with their families but also don't want to rush the process but also we want to make sure that our residents yeah and our employees get to their families commission commissioner Williams I'm sorry um city manager Williams I'm sorry go ahead thank you Mr Mayor uh and thank you all uh for this opportunity again and thank you for this great question um I am prepared to answer this question uh because of the slogan that says I am opaka uh in 1971 a 16-year-old black girl by the name of Patricia Williams got pregnant by uh a married man she was kicked out of her home and was homeless for several months until she birthed me her son her only child Darin Williams uh when I say I identify with the residents of gloriaa gardens I do uh when I say I feel them when I say I want to fight for them when I say I am opaka I mean it I come from a place not much different than opaka and I through the luck of God and his guidance have been able to arise from that I joined the military in 2019 I received a top secret security clearance from the United States Army Department of Defense I served in one of the most elite forces the 82nd Airborne Division as a 313th military intelligence Battalion linguist I learned several languages served our country jumped out of airplanes and fought for our freedoms here during that time I put myself through undergrad received a bachelor's degree in Psychology I graduated ated and began working in substance abuse and treatment I work with people with subance abuse issues alcoholism and also abuse and corob illness and mental illness from there I put myself into law school and did a dual degree uh in both the law school and one of the top law schools in the country the 14th rank law school George Washington University received a doctorate in law and simultaneously attended the medical school where I received a masters in public health and health policy from there I moved to uh Florida and received a a Masters in Business Administration from the number one uh ranked business school in Florida uh University of Miami and for me it's about applying these skills back to our community how many of us some of some of you on the de have a similar story and are in our community still fighting for our community fighting for our children fighting for our residents that is what opalak is about that is where I see I am Opel that's why I identify with this city so well I would love the opportunity to continue to serve these residents to conserve to serve you to serve our children to continue to take your vision and put it forward to take the laws and the regulations and the ordinances and the resolutions that you pass and make them come to fruition it has been a pleasure to serve uh this community I'm excited about what we've done and hope to continue this path thank you thank you Mr Williams Miss Brown thank you again for the question so let's start with yop Paka in 1999 2000 um my family relocated from let's call it the best Caribbean island whoever whatever island you choose that's that's the one and we relocated we didn't know we didn't know anyone um we landed in Florida right so uh we settled in Miami Gardens and again it there was no family here in Miami Gardens uh but this is where we decided to settle a year in my my parents purchased a home and I went to Miami nor Orleans Miami nor Orleans Senior High and for three nine weeks I went to uh Miami new Orland middle and you matriculate through high school and at the commencement uh cermony I meet um Dr Ingram um at the time I think he was the superintendent and at that time there were two things he said to the to the graduating class keep your mind on your mission and your mission on your mind and the second thing was uh activity does not denote productivity for those two for that from that time to quite frankly where I am today I have lived my life in a way that I'm intentional in in the things that I I do and I'm intentional in being an example um opalo is important to me because again you as you can tell I grew up here I grew up in the area but beyond that um I've lived what decades right but in every capacity there has always been uh the underdog right I've always been put in a position where I need I'm I'm the underdog in a situation and I've always had to rise to the occasion and as I listened to the residents tonight you know talking about we have been forgotten uh we're finally coming out I I would like for you to imagine for a moment the world where we are Beyond a financial emergency right because I tell you that that will happen under my Administration the city will remove be removed and specifically it's called being released from Financial oversight um and then from there we need to really start thinking about and and I can't look behind me and look in front of me but staff needs to look and consider we need to implement processes and procedures that allows us to raise the bar and ensure that the residents are they can rely they can trust because through all the words that we've heard tonight it really comes down to trust and US needing to uh reestablish that trust as an as an Administration right so we need to be able to be predictable we need to ensure that uh staff has the resources that they need to do their day-to-day job but also um making sure that they we we invest in them um and their career path uh professional development is extremely important to me mentorship is important to me uh working across departments is something that I bring to any organization that I'm within so opaka for me I decided to throw my hat in the ring as a thank you to uh Dr Ingram um and my intention is really not thinking about uh path only financial oversight it really looks at how do we build a inclusive Progressive and forward-thinking uh community that really lives up to the place of bride opportunity so thank you thank you m brown Mr Chapman thank you thank you again um I would say I'd like to be your city manager because I spent my entire career getting ready to be your city manager um some of you I told this I don't know if I told all of you this I grew up in northw Virginia I grew up in in at a time when it was one of the worst cities in on the east coast and people like Hut people said your city doesn't do your people don't need to be here so although I have a nice suit these days um when I was growing up we were one step ahead of the wrecking ball always and I always said to people I want to be one of the people in the room one of the people who makes make the decision and so one of the things that I've been acutely aware of in my career is making sure that you have the right people in the room and and if I were your city manager I would make sure I always had the right people in the room to make the decision um and and I also say that uh I'm a bit of a pitbull and so I would take the the financial oversight as a personal FR front I wouldn't I don't like that I don't like people to tell me what what I should do with my city and I and I would work with the the commission to get an affirmative process by which we would get out in a set time period no questions asked so those are the things that I would bring to you as a city manager thank you thank you Mr chman Miss Adams thank you to all of the applicants commissioner Williams may we go forward any other questions thank you anything else commission no I will pass out your ballots as we did with the first round of resumés your ballot is in two pods part one is to check a box next to the applicant that you want to receive a written job offer this evening and if we have a tie we'll go to box to but leave that section blank for now please thank you Mr Mayor may we move on to the resolution so that we can conclude this yes okay I'm sorry go ahead I'll read it into the record a resolution of the city Commission of the city of opaka Florida selecting blank as the city manager and approving an employment agreement in the form attached heret as exhibit a between the city of opaka and blank providing for Corporation of recitals providing for an effective date this is sponsored by the city commission um can I get a motion move by commissioner bz second second by Vice May so we're already in discussion so you can get the ballots that are ready commission has chosen Mr Darin Williams as the next city manager the ballots were 32 so so Madam attorney um we would need to insert the names yes we insert Darwin's name into the resolution and then vote and then vote got it all right you want to read it in for the record a resolution of the city Commission of the city of opaka Florida selecting Darin E Williams as a city manager and approving an employment agreement in the form attached here to as exhibit a between the city of opaka and Darin E Williams providing for incorporation of recitals providing for an effective date this is sponsored by the city commission all right um the only thing that I have before you do that before we call for the question is in the employment agreement I think the salary was wrong based on what we voted on so what would we need to do negotiate and then renegotiate and then bring it back for ratification um yeah because they weren't noticed with the amount of what the salary was okay all right um so what you can do is you can have it so that the mayor negotiates the salary you approve the you approve the item with the mayor in the future negotiating the contract so do you all have the amount already that you voted on is that what you're saying yeah we have an amount based on the job application oh okay so I saw this so I just want to make sure that we're then this would just be a scrier error all right so what is the amount because we would have to make between one and it's between two different amounts okay um commissioner those of you Mr Mayor commissioner bar I think we would have to rely on our attorney's advice tonight on how to go forth with that um pay rate pay um for the city manager because there is or from here to here we don't we would would have to have a conversation okay cuz I don't recall what was the minimum and the max the range is one 180 to two one 180 to 200 to um just a moment I have it written down okay it's 175 to 200,000 annually that is the budgeted amount for the [Music] role for the job description and posting if you all had a number tonight you would be able to insert that if you would like do you have a number in mind again the salary range is 175 to 200 doesn't mean you have to use that number but that's the question that was asked Mr Mayor I would propose 190 commission bass is proposing 190 190,000 is that okay with everybody I'll take it all right we can call the question we're voting we need to we need to what are we voting on you need to vote on the the salary first the salary okay so I have a motion by commissioner baz for a second 190 from 190 okay and I need a second can we get a second okay commissioner Kelly no commissioner Williams yes commissioner bass yes vice mayor Irvin yes mayor Taylor no motion passes 32 all right and then we can actually vote on the actual question vice mayor vice mayor Irvin yes commissioner Kelly no commissioner Williams yes commissioner bass yes mayor Taylor no motion passes 32 all right thank you all um thank you and number nine we have discussions and next steps does anybody have anything that they need to add to anything or want to we just we're done Mr Mayor commissioner Kelly I don't have any next steps I want to um commend and thank Miss Adams for her professionalism throughout this whole process to get us to where we are I think you did a tremendous job in um articulating and laying out meeting with each of us to get us to this point so I want to commend you for your uh your work in this process which has taken a long time look forward to your experience in the HR department going forward thank you Mr Mayor okay all right hearing go ahead commission back thank you I just wanted to say thank you to Miss Brown and Mr chaplain for um your interest and wanting to be a part of our city thank you so much ver you have something thank you to everybody for everything thank you all right thank you all um this meeting is a jour