3 o'cl you begin the workshop meeting Marlene yes mayor I'll do the roll call commissioner Joseph here vice mayor Lama he's unable to attend this afternoon commissioner stasan commissioner viscara here and mayor fetchen here we have a quum okay great thank you so uh our first item representative basabi is running a little bit late so if anyone uh if anyone doesn't have any objections we're going to move that until he gets here uh so we'll start with item 2B from uh commissioner St okay uh Toc um are here so that's good all right to sees a proclamation presented to faries for 100th aniversary Proclamation okay yes this is my item um good afternoon everyone so uh as everyone knows we just recently celebrated our anniversary which is uh not 100 years but we've had many um businesses around the area um that have affected our community have been partners with us uh well before we were called Sunny Isles Beach and we were known as North Miami Beach and before that just Sunny is um so I was contacted by them uh first as an invitation to um attend a anniversary party and then um for Proclamation so I'm really delighted to present this Proclamation which I'm going to read um and if you don't mind please uh paage bud and and Kevin if you can come up so then we can take a picture with you um whereas need glasses to not need the glasses fa whereas Fair's hardware company has reached a significant Milestone celebrating 100 Years of dedicated service to South Florida Community having been established in 1924 as a Cornerstone business that involved from a modest General Store to a leading provider in lighting both lighting bath kitchen and hardware and whereas the fairy family has demonstrated enduring leadership across four generations skillfully guiding the business through a century of profound change and remarkable growth while maintaining a strong family ethos and steadfast dedication to Community Values and whereas fairies has made substantial contributions to Local Economic Development and Community engagement notably participating in the crafting of building codes following the devastating hurricane of 1926 and continuing to play an active role in Community Affairs and whereas fairies has shown a steadfast commitment to Innovation and Excellence within the industry maintaining an extensive inventory and selection and earning the trust of local National and international trade professionals as a reliable source and whereas the city of Sunny Al's Beach recognizes the importance of such a historic institution and the positive impact is it has had in our local community and seeks to honor its Centennial Milestone by designating a specific day as Fair's day in sunny Al's Beach and whereas this special 100th anniversary celebration held at the North Miami showroom was a testament to Fair's esteemed position in the community attended by distinguished guests and celebrating a century of achievement now therefore do I Lissa vetchen as mayor and on behalf of the city of commiss the city Commission of Sunny Al Beach Florida hereby Proclaim June 20th 2024 as fairies day in the city of Sunny Al's Beach we'll come down and take a picture thank you so much may con okay so representative Babi is not here yet is commissioner Sevon are your people here you want to wait okay uh all right if there is no objection we'll move on to discussion items no OB ction okay good discussion item U number 3A uh discussion regarding temporary signs ordinance mayor um in absence of the city clerk I'm going to head off this discussion please um currently the city has chapter 227 in its code of ordinances that regulates uh temporary political signs unfortunately um that is is no longer enforcable or lawful because it differentiates and focuses on political science since the re decision in 2015 which was reaffirmed in 2022 in the Austin decision um the uh cities can no longer single out any topic or subject matter for different differential treatment and its sign regulations previously and very quickly um First Amendment law previously was especially with regards to signs dealt with the content of the sign so for example you could regulate political signs as long as you didn't attack or somehow regulate what the content of that sign was whatever the cause may be or whatever the candidate was in 2015 in the read decision it was a Monumental case that kind of turned the First Amendment on its head and they went too far in my opinion and said that it also regards subject matter matter and the result of that is you cannot regulate signs not only based on their content but on their subject matter so you can't have different regulations for Real Estate or sence or different regulation for political signs you have to treat them all in a classification that's neutral so for example you can regulate uh location of science size of science materials of science uh those types of neutral ass aspects without referring to their subject matter or obviously the content of the sign cities have been struggling with this since 2015 a lot of cities still have the old ones on the books that are simply unenforceable um what we propose and and the city clerk myself uh Planning and Zoning director code enforcement manager we've all been meeting on this to try to come up with a way to enforce temporary signs and that's typically how they're done now to comport with the law is to treat them all as temporary signs not just political signs but temporary signs which could affect signs that uh advertise u a business or advertise a sale or things of that sort so they're all Clump together so the first aspect of it would be to repeal 227 because that solely deals with political signs and then the best approach we found in our recommendation is to revise your land uh development regulations that already deal with some signage as you all know since some of those items come before you at times with particularly businesses and uh establishments and incorporate regulation of temporary signs within that code um and without going too much into the weeds uh we essentially um are recommending well let me back up uh the previous Focus this seemingly from what you have in your code was a regulation of the actual candidates for example and what they could or could not do with regards to the signs here because you can't differentiate between subject matters what you're relegated to doing is uh uh enforcing signs against the property owner so as consistent with what you already have there's no political signs or temporary signs allowed on your rights of waste on your medians or on public property so inevitably even now it has to be on public on private property so what we've come up with is a recommendation with regards to regulations by zoning districts and some of them are clumped together and I can go into a little bit more detail in that regard where for example you would have uh single family residents would be limited to two signs per yard and there's Dimensions that would be assigned to residential homes single family homes that would be different for example from your commercial properties which are in a different zoning district and although their limitation would also be two uh the size of the signs would be bigger so there's different ways you can play with it obviously it's going to be up to you to decide because that'll be via ordinance but we are addressing it um as Fair Fa l and neutrally as possible with regards to um temporary signs time limitations would also be consistent for All Temporary signs which we propose would be 90 days so that would be that would apply to uh sale or to a political sign or to a real estate sign or things of that sort or for it to be permissible under your code a temporary sign could not be up for more than 90 days um and I can go through a little specifically so I just let me stop you for a moment so when you say that um this is this is going to be broad now not just for political signs so that means that people can just now put whatever signs on a regular basis in front of the like you know garage sale or real estate or they're not precluded from doing that now um it's just you're going to be regulating them you don't you won't have a separate section or separate ordinance that's specifically regulating just political science that's going to be subsumed into your land use or Your Land Development regulations and it'll Clump them all together whether it's real estate signs uh particular banners uh political real estate science banners whatever type of sence advertisements is what this includes ad so those would all be treated the same and so what we would propose and we certainly want feedback from you with regards to your thoughts on that although candidly we're very limited as to what we can or cannot do under the law something that all cities are struggling with um especially when it comes to political signs because that tends to get a little bit more attention because it's a usually a concise period of time and especially when you're dealing with November elections you deal with a lot of Elections you have National you have state you have local you have referendums you have so I'm just envisioning if it would be someone that wants to have a sign so it's not two signs total it's two signs per subject two signs total so if you wanted to put up a sign for your garage sale and then a sign to support a candidate and then a sign to support another candidate you can't right you'd be limited to two two the same is for commercial right so but that wouldn't preclude you on one day if you have a garage sale that weekend Oh from changing and then changing your signs but at any given time obviously for aesthetic reasons and things of that sort if you do a two candidate uh you could have you know 100 signs in your yard well that's so it would be two um and again very briefly in your various zoning districts um the R1 rth zoning districts would essentially have the limitation of two like we I stated with what we propose would be a 4.5 square foot sign limitation uh which would be three F feet from grade we also have to consider that because you could have a small sign on a very very big pole so you have to you know we don't have to get into all the minutia but there would be some restriction but for the sign itself it'd be the maximum of 4.5 Square fet in the mub1 tcd business overlay rmf1 rmf2 uh those signs would be again two but 8 square ft Maximum 6 foot from grade so again you don't have to deal necessarily with all the minutia today but that's essentially sort of the general uh direction that we're taking to be able to regulate them fairly and neutrally throughout the zoning districts can you clarify can you explain what from grade means what from grade is basically from the street level from so and it would be to the uh to the top of the sign not the bottom of the sign so it would be so that way you don't get into again you're dealing with obstruction Aesthetics and things of that sort so was the typical metal stand for the bigger signs obviously you have some of the smaller signs and obviously you know we we can there's an enforcement uh component to that as well which is always challenging um we can write the ordinance as best we can but then obviously has to be backed up with with enforcement which you know we can do as much as possible but it's always impossible to be 100% per perfect um but certainly we encourage or want feedback from the commission with regards to and obviously you'll have an opportunity to see it in a lot more detail when we provide an ordinance to you for you to review and see exactly what those measurements are and what those limitations are but certainly any feedback that you can provide us now is very helpful in us formulating the uh the ordinance and the 90 days is that for the year 90 days uh at a time so basically you could have you go put a sign down uh assuming that again from an enforcement standpoint you have a time clock right that it's it's there you see the sign today 90 days from now it can no longer be there so I take it down for a week I can put it up again day six or day three okay all right wow and there's no way around that so we could technically have signs all year round you could but again I don't know that there's anything precluding that now okay because if you if I'm sorry if you if we were to say 90 days for the year you could but then but you're talking about a particular sign but then at that point you are talking about content because it's that sign you'd have right again we're not talking about political signs we're talking about I know but whatever let's go with the garage sale right no no you can't even do that so you'd have to say any temporary sign no more than 90 days once a year you could technically do that but then you would only have the ab so you'd have to consider the scenario of a garage sale that's a good example well putting elections aside let's say the garage sale where you have garage shell twice a year right so you're going to put it up for three days we're not going to keep a running tally of how many days each sign so let's say you decide to have a a garage sale six months from then let's say save the amities right I support the am manties save the manties I want to have that um it's my business I have Navaro I want to have saved am manties in front of Navaro MH right uh in the hypothetical that I own the business or whatever so what happens with the manatees I 90 days on day 91 it has to if we say 90 for the year on day 91 it's gone it's gone it has to be a temporary sign has so if but if I support the manatees all year round and we don't have that limitation for the year because the manatees are year round issue right I don't want them getting hit in December or in June if we don't have that limitation I can take it down on day 90 wait two days put it back up start the countdown again another 90 days and I can have my manity sign all year round theoretically if you don't put the limitation but on the flip side of that and this is where this gets so frustrating is so let's say you have yet you have that 90-day window for your saved am manity you put it up for two weeks right so technically you're you you've got more time that you could have it out there but you take it down so then do you forfeit the rest of that time for the rest of the year or do you have to run a tally and say well I was still entitled to I'm allow 90 days I got I got 70 more right right so that's where you get into the minutia of how we're going to deal with it if it's straight if if you want to put up your sign you have 90 days to put it and again it's all temporary signs um well the point is if you don't put the the annual limitation on it then a temporary sign can get around that temporary permanent sign you can I mean it is it is it becomes permanent if I if I want to really play it that way it it can I mean logistically if we're talking about electoral signs uh or campaign signs let's say a candidate has x amount of signs throughout the entire city um for them to on the 91st day take them all down and then put them back up again logistically would be kind of difficult but not saying it's impossible you can have an army and volunteers do that for you but theoretically your example is correct they could do that but unless you put that limitation per year what it almost seems like we're trying to solve a problem that we don't have uh besides uh elections we don't really have anyone else that wants to put up signs so putting at the limitation of 90 days seems to make sense total total for the year right I mean but you can't make it 90 days because what like I said what happens when you have a runoff different signs new 90 days no no no if I I was saying if I if we're do it if we have a uh 90day limitation for the year we need 30 the r yeah but that would be I mean that would be up to the I mean you could choose it doesn't have to be 90 days you can choose 100 days we do 120 days you can do how many days you want so then that provides for that that or you have leave it to the candidate or you leave it to the candidates to manage when they start versus when they end type situation so you don't have but that's up to you all if you want it to 100 days 120 days that that's all up that's going to be up to you um yes correct typically this only comes to light when you're dealing during an election that's typically when you get the temporary science and when they become more of a I don't want to say nuisance but when they become more of an aesthetic issue and more of a you know traffic sort of disruption issue uh cuz if you have the random bu this house type of sign randomly here and there it's usually not as disruptive but we know like I mean as a city we know if we're going to have a runoff or we're not going to have a runoff so like if we if we know we have a runoff and then we go and start citing we're the that enforcement piece is not going to happen if we know we're in the middle of a runoff right and then it come and again the enforcement aspect comes down to the property owner so if the property owner ows a candidate to have a sign longer than it's so in your scenario somebody's going to play cute let's say and just on the 91st day pull it out and then put it back in again that property owner is going to have to agree to that and if they get caught they theoretically we'll have a code enforcement case against them and then they have to go through that process so why are we doing this ites the whole yeah but let's just make it 120 days isn't enough anyway because you have the runoff the runoff election is when in January it depends 30 days 30 days usually so 120 days is more than enough so commissioner RAR may I ask a question um so real estate signs the supplies to so if I don't sell my home in 90 to 120 days I'd have to take the sign down yep yeah that makes no sense people sell their homes in Sun's Beach very quickly so I yeah not real all right so and I I and I have to say well I shouldn't say no please say it and my travels I find a lot of cities and governments there's little enforcement because it becomes so onerous I mean during an election time granted it's it's concentrated and so on and so forth but it's very difficult logistically you don't have the Manpower it's just and not just you most cities don't have the manow on double Park cars and other things granted correct and that's something that you all can take into consideration but right now you have a you have an ordinance on your books that's unconstitutional and unlawful so we have to get rid of that so if you don't want to regulate them you don't have to regulate them but we would recommend at least some sort of Regulation with temporary signs because you don't want as the mayor suggested someone to abuse that and you have no recourse towards that uh individual or that Corporation or that business and so on so so what is staff's recommendation that what I'm articulating okay I'm comfortable with whatever it is you guys and then again this will come to you in more detail as we have the ordinance drafted and provided to you and you can we can go line by line in more peace meal okay but right now we'll adjust it to 120 days if that's yes has staff fully thought it out we've been meeting for probably the last 3 months so I think we're all thought out but uh we we've been bouncing a lot of ideas off for about 3 months do we have the orance ready for today no not for tonight no no we wanted some of your feedback we obviously wanted to have this discussion and then at in July we'll bring uh an ordinance for you to consider so in the meantime now we know to think about it further sure yeah and again if if someone comes up with a phenomenal idea we're welome welcome to them but it's just again legally it's been very frustrating on all levels of government uh to deal with these new decisions because they they dealt with the issue at hand at the time but the the unintended ramifications and those decisions actually have transcended to homelessness to panhandling to it it completely turned the First Amendment on its head so as of today the ordinance that's on our books is unenforceable correct and I believe the last election I wasn't here but there was a Judicial candidate that uh objected to it and it wasn't enforced because of this very issue that's okay all right so we'll look to see what you have my art sign can go out today actually uh well I'm not going to answer that all right uh I see that representative basabi is here thank you sir welcome hello everyone Fabian basabi your state representative to all those watching um thanks for letting me be here for those of you I don't know please reach out to me at 917 886 3790 I always answer my phone and I'm always up for open dialogue if I dial you now you call me now look right in my hand so just to give you um the legislative updates I know you all do very well with you're very informed you've all been up to Tallahasse we have a great relation relationship and we know that we got a lot accomplished so I'll go over some of the bullet points on some of the things that I think um were really important um but for the most part you all got me elected so that I can report to you my experience and I think it's been a very interesting couple of years for me for this district for this state and for this nation um but I remain inspired and that is something that I always tell people because there are so many distractions and so many people ready to look away from what really matters and focus on those distractions um where you think that maybe the bad is overtaking the good and that there aren't enough people with their heart in the right place trying to do the right thing and make a difference for the people who are waiting for results back home and it's gotten to the point where we just can't afford those distractions anymore and I am proud to be part of a legislature that works together makes every effort to do so I think one thing that continues to surprise me that a lot of people are not aware of is that 98% of legislation in this state passes with unanimous support that is very important we lead the way in this country and yes there are things that we need to improve on and I take full responsibility on the Republican side for some of the stupid stuff we've done and I definitely make every effort to call out some of the wrong things done on the opposition side because that's not what it's about it's not about how highlighting extremes and not finding a common Middle Ground where we can work together so that we can better the lives of the people that's what we're all elected to do um and I and I'm still enjoying it I don't have a voice anymore I I don't know how to get it back I tried honey I've tried everything it doesn't work so some of the lighter things that I think um are just great highlights are this a lot of tax relief people are definitely very concerned of the bottom line where their money is going of of their the inflation and that the the impacts of that from everything from shopping to grocery stores to just the cost of living all around just getting so out of hand so we have a lot of small business tax relief we have furthered that with incentives for small businesses to employ people with unique abilities we recognize there are many people that need opportunities and there's tax incentives for people to go out of their way and acknowledge that those abilities have tremendous potential and let's let's not ever let them be overlooked um also there's a lot of strong family tax credits which uh encourages businesses to donate to Charities that's something that's important because locally we have so many interesting and Innovative people with great ideas that put groups together to make lives better for people in areas that they might have more experience or want to focus their experience and we want to make sure that they get funding available to them so as a as just a blanket statement the St the state State Legislature has created opportunities for us to invest in each other uh there's a lot of property tax relief which is going to be ajust adjustments under the homestead we have property tax relief which gives a one-year relief of insurance coverage a premium tax um for everybody I know it's not major but it's something uh coupled with all the other Investments that are being made by the legislature which is a my florida.gov mysafe florida.gov which in invest in our communities because what we really need to do is Harden our infrastructure we need to be we need to be more proactive in making us an insurable Market again so we have the $10,000 up to $10,000 grants that are eligible for private homes we also have a pilot program that's making that available to our condos where the HOAs are going to be working with us and tapping into funding and and really restoring these buildings which have been for four decades just improperly managed um we have back to school holiday taxes which everyone's ready for the school season which is coming right around the corner I know we just started spring break but early ballots are going out next sorry it's for summer break and uh and and I just I can't believe how time flies so get ready for that but from so you have the dates ready it's July 29th to August 11th and that applies to clothing footwear backpacks school supplies tremendous tax savings there uh we also have a freedom month where uh the entire month of July we're encouraging people to to get back out there go to concerts go to cultural events uh go to go to state parks all of that will be taxfree we have a skilled worker tax week which is the first week of September anyone with a skill your tools will have tax-free uh opportunities so let's get people excited to you know get back to work um on the local level we've we you know we we all struggle with anyone who's renovated a home with a lot of the permitting process and we all try to do our best in making sure that you know we we consider each project for its uniqueness but there has been a lack of accountability and transparency in a lot of the process a lot of things get lost in bureaucracy it's no one person's fault it's just more of a comprehensive Vision that we need to kind of make things simpler and create a more free market approach to that so in the expedited approval for residential uh building permit you are now able to bring in private providers which have the same responsibilities but it does create a more competitive market for our all of our our agents to be doing what they're supposed to be doing and getting these permits out quickly um there's a lot of controversy around the live local and I know that I'm a co-sponsor of it it was something that was heavily lobbied by both parties it passed unanimously in the House and Senate there are issues that affect certain areas of the district but I recommend all of you to consider the setback and the um assessments to each project which will help you guide those to work best for our cities because we do need to understand that it's this is not a free a free-for-all where you could just continue to overdevelop we've got enough of that we've got to responsibly redevelop while we're taking advantage of all the other funding that we now have access to thanks to the partnership with the state and start fixing what we've got one of my favorite bills that I was that I worked on and uh I'm a CO sponsor of are the two that affect our homeless population we have the uh homeless encampment bill which is 1365 uh which designates areas for real opportunity for people that are unhoused to find the help that they need there will be resources food water each City can they can dedicate how they how they will I mean there's there are some protocols that they must follow there are some you know regulations and rules to everything but for the most part it lets you consider how you're going to manage your homeless population at the same time we're going to be reclaiming our public spaces um it is inhumane to let those those individuals live the way that they live now and we have tremendous resources in this state and the problem with that is that it's available to those who actually want the help and those who want help we know historically have been getting it because we have one of the lowest homeless populations in the nation I mean if you compare to California I think they have 79,000 I think we have like a thousand but that's too many and the people that are left on the streets right now they are suffling they're suffering from mental wellness and substance abuse issues and HB 7021 addresses that finally it is one of the most important most comprehensive plans to really address this issue the state is going to be investing 50 billion $50 million oh my God $50 million into this initiative um where we are now expanding under the the Baker Act and instead of a mandatory 72h hour hold which does nothing but really agitate people who have no idea where they are how they got there and when they're going to get out um it extends it up to six months which is real time to address the needs of each individual and get them the help that they need whether it's to get them clean and clear whether it's to find the right course of you know counseling or medication um but get them on a path to recovery so that they can understand what kind of Life they want to live and then get them into programs that help them lead that life and be you know responsible members of our community thank you I don't know if it helps but I'll try it Manuka honey I'm sorry Manuka honey I'm I'm gonna do it I'll send you a coupon so um also another bill that I wanted to address was the hp601 which is the one that is uh removing the civilian oversight that's how it's been marketed that is not what that bill does what this bill does is it allows what is it's it's in preparedness for what we are about to get in this election which is a sheriff that sheriff will be forming their own civilian oversight what it does is it takes away some of the local groups that sometimes we we love or forming all these organizations but then one tobbles the other everyone's trying to make everybody happy and it's a bit disruptive to the process and it's not really good and productive for the for the officers we have civilian oversight in everything that we do they're called elections and we need to take those more seriously I definitely want to address the HOA issues hp1021 is again another very large and comprehensive bill that was passed I think very all of you are pretty familiar with it uh one of my favorite things that this bill does is it funds the dbpr which is so important because everyone in the the past that I've met with and whenever they have an issue and remember they're dealing with private entities here so there's there's a very limited capacity for electeds and the state and local governments to to get involved with them these are private enter Enterprises that have been mismanaged for decades and not everybody's in a position to get an attorney and fight and they're being taken advantage of the dbpr is now fully funded and it went from an agency with like three people that can barely answer the phone to now having 65 additional personnel and a big bank account to go after Bad actors we are holding people accountable for their taking advantage of our communities for the longest time one of the things that breaks my heart the most is understanding how in the largest T donor tax District in the nation one of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the nation we have homeless seniors these are not people that have ever looked for a handout in their life they've worked their entire life they've paid their dues and they're expecting to live off of their pensions but with inflation and all the other cost of living increases they are now living on budgets that are just unmanageable and it's the saddest thing to see and we're taking aggressive measures to make life easier for them um I also wanted to just open up in case I missed anything because I can go on forever talking about the Tallahassee experience it does get it does get a little tedious um I just want you to know that I I do lead from the heart and I do try to educate myself very well on the issues that I face and on the needs of the community and sometimes sometimes I I may I don't know break a few eggs and maybe maybe I'm not you know I I think my goal in the in the in when I first got elected was to kind of just if I could make both sides just a little bit upset I'm doing my job I kind of wanted to poke a little bit and see where I fit because I got to introduce my district to legislators who pleasantly surprise again there's no Mal intent it's just there's a lot of a disconnect in people that just don't know our way of life they don't know our communities they don't understand our diversity fully um they don't speak our language it's a simplest way to say it and and and it's not that we have one but you know you know what I mean and I and I got to do that and and a lot of the work that we do as legislators is behind the scenes and I say that because I notice that down here there's so much attention brought to a single Vote or um the theater on the house floor and it's glorious I mean it's some of the best reality TV I've ever seen but that's not where the work is done the work is done humbly and respectfully respectful of your counterparts and respectful of the process and those are the private meetings that you have one-on-one or in small groups and you actually get the work done so when I see things being misrepresented here it's very frustrating because we are so close to getting it so much more right because we do a lot of very good things and I do want to comment a bit on um on campaigns and candidates something that people have to recognize is that if they're drawing your attention so much to controversy or if they want you to vote away from somebody else but they're not talking policy and you're not getting to know them for who they are as I idea and solution-based individuals that's not who you want to be paying attention to um we can have differences in in ideas and I I may agree more so than disagree with any one of you but if there's something that we disagree on that doesn't make you my enemy in fact it makes you someone I want to sit next to more because I'd like to learn from you and together we can figure out a way to get to a common sense Center solution there's no reason for us to to be pulled to either extreme and anybody pushing for that anybody advocating that anybody selling that is lying to us all um and I'd like to see us hold all candidates across the board accountable I want to hear I I want to see positivity coming from this District I can't tell you how many phone calls I get what's going on in this city what's going on in that City a lot of hate in your city and and that's just unacceptable we live in paradise and we have so much to be grateful for and I really would like to see us change the game a bit and I really want to encourage people to vote however you vote just if we can get record numbers of vot Voters out there these upcoming elections we will change the game and bring the power truly back to the people because you would be also surprised to know that less people vote in this nation that actually work for the federal government that was a shocking statistic for me to to know and um and it's just so wrong and and that's a controlled market right now and it's so easily fixable it's not about hiring bigger lobbyists it's not about the bigger lobbyists is as our neighbors so let's get people registered let's get people engaged let's you know respect each other and let's work together continually and uh keep making that difference and I appreciate each of you seriously I I'm so grateful for the time you've all spent with me and uh guiding me through this I didn't know so much of what I was doing when I got into this and we accomplished so much and you you have done a lot for this community and you've been always accessible I I think I speak for everyone you've met with everyone whenever and and as well as the constitu and we appreciate you you know coming here and with the lost voice and everything so yeah I was going to say imagine now that I know what I'm doing how much more we can accomplish together and again on the funding side we were able to get record funding again uh you have the 750,000 for the uh water project and then we have another 9.5 million available that we're going to get working on on how to implement that it's been such a pleasure to work with you all and get to know you all and I consider you all friends and let's keep going thank you [Applause] representative okay Marlene uh yes to be now yeah absolutely so Fabian don't go don't go yet okay so because you were there no no no sit down that just don't leave um so on May 29th we had the inter let her read the title first oh yes please do sorry certification certificate of appreciation presented to El ta El Tropico meatus mosart Cafe golden Chariot Indian restaurant and impact computers and Jare perfect and CH okay so uh on May 29 we had International Festival we have more than 400 people attending the event our representative Fabian basabi was there uh thank you for coming um it was beautiful it's the third year that I had the opportunity to host that event um and the slogan that I choose for it is a celebration of everyone because that's exactly what we did I want to read the comp the the countries that we had representation and it was Armenia bellarus Bolivia Brazil Colombia Cuba Ecuador El Salvador which by the way the Council of El Salvador came thank you for for making that connection that was the vice mayor but you're welcome yes okay um Georgia India Israel Italy Kazakhstan Pakistan Panama Peru Poland Russia turkey Ukraine United States and Venezuela and I already have many countries that they were not there and that they want to be there for next year so it is a festival that is just going to continue growing um we were able to do this without charging nobody no money um and it was just because of the volunteers but not only the volunteers also we have a sponsors and those sponsor are here today and I want to name them again we have El ta Peruvian vistro El Tropical restaurant which is a big partner of us in many other events megao Mo Cafe golden cherot Indian restaurant impact computers um and electronics they uh gave us different uh items for the raffle one of the item was a laptop and the boy that want that raffle for the laptop he actually needed it so just imagine the impact in the in the beauty of having the opportunity to get this from our partners from our community to serve them and also we had J car also with a with a lot of ruffle prices and um and amazing performances one of them was cholitas Bolivia mikon Peru Brazil so again everything is thanks to the volunteers that make it happen um thank we have an amazing uh Community um and it shows in this type of event so um we were in the first page of the community newspaper and also we're going to be in The Islander and the last phrase that I want to say is that uh we are a diverse and Vibrant Community like you said that nobody or not so many people understand uh but we are united by our uniqueness because we're unique and it CHS um and for that I thank you the sponsors and if anybody want to say any word uh but we have your certificates thank you okay if you can please come up we'll take pictures everyone here yeah yeah okay let's go almost everybody yes my third legis [Music] comp yeah right it was so cool Association you keep sending to the government unless they oh my gosh oh yeah thank okay thank you everyone just a reminder that we do have our 6:30 meeting uh uh later on today so next item going back to discuss questions okay marene uh I want to make sure that we have the presentation queued up do we Leah yes okay yes please okay go ahead yes okay 3B a proposed budget amendment ordinance with the donation of ambulance mayor okay great thank you so um actually exactly a year ago we had um presented a proclamation to uh United h um to hadah to make it the I think it was June 15th 2023 uh uh day for hadah in Sunny Al's beach in recognition of all the work that they have done uh for the community uh for South Florida but specifically for sunny Al's Beach uh we have an amazing partnership with them with the with the PD and in learning more about this organization and understanding the sort of things that they have um been able to do for for us and then you know for I would say that for me personally had I um he's going to come up yeah you can leave it there thank you um had I known about this organization myself uh years ago when my father got sick I would have absolutely called them instead of uh 911 because the idea of having an organization that is going to treat you the way that they treat you and take you most importantly to the hospital that you want to go to and to have and maintain your agency when you are in the most vulnerable position possible is really uh the biggest gift that you can possibly have and so I've invited um Andre to please come up and uh tell us more about the organization allow us here to ask questions but the discussion that I am proposing is an actual donation of a purchase of an ambulance that would be then uh parked in uh Sunny Al Beach so sir please hi hi first of all thank you so much for having me here today and uh yes I was looking through my pictures and I saw Google showed me that a year ago we were here presenting hatala as we had a proclamation done by you by your team um thanking atalah for the services in reality um i' would like to remind everyone what atalah is about and what we do and um why we here so atalah is is a Hebrew word for rescue that's basically what Al stands for we're here to provide a better patient outcome whenever there's emergency medical emergency for anyone in the community our dispatching Center is 247 including the Shabbat which the Jewish Orthodox Community do not use phones or cars um hatala Works under an umbrella um atsala is a Orthodox Jewish organization but we serve as the entire Community regardless of race and religion so anyone that would call hatala provided that we have a volunteer available you receive full services from the organization um it's interesting to mention that and I'll go through the details a little bit and I'll answer any questions you might have you have the clicker too you know I do have yeah yeah for the presentation now that I know how it works oh I don't know how it works um hatala um received a approval from the state that we are able to have ambulances atol exists already in South Florida since 2010 but was only in 2021 that the legislators in talahasse approved a bill that allows for hatala to have to become a real transport agency and have ambulances since January 2022 when we started transporting the first time in January 16 2022 we went from having zero ambulances to having 15 ambulances all over South Florida from Miami Beach all the way to boaron so we cover right now the Tri Counties my midday Broward and Palm Beach the most um active neighborhoods currently is in Aventura Sunny Isles Golden Beach Williams Island area Highland Lakes that entire region is the most active of all we had close to 6,000 calls in 2023 and um from those 6,000 over a th000 was just in this area in Sunny Isles alone we had over 240 calls since we initiated transport um in South Florida so see for the past um year and a half really was the most active period so I would would safe to say that we have um almost every other day a call here in in this area and at the interesting part is that the way we function is that we have ambulances parked in the center locations of the city so we don't have a a station with all the ambulances every City currently has that we cover have two ambulances so Aventura has two ambulances in North Maya Beach have two ambulances and Sur side we have two ambulances and they are parked in different parts of the city in order to provide proper coverage so the way we think about 911 we think about emergency we think about ambulance and in reality the ambulance is not necessarily the most important vital part of the EMS services for the first initial minutes let's say in a case God forbid of cardic arrest the ambulance would only be utilized at least 15 to 20 minutes after they arrived on scene because you need to stabilize the patient you need to provide CPR you need to put um the EKG the cardiac monitor need to put provide medications to the patient there's so many things that has to be done with with the patient before you can actually put a patient on the stretcher and bring it to the ambulance but we're used to the fact that all the ambulances and the paramedics are all centralized in a station so when there is a call for emergency the ambulance has to arrive and the way hat solo functions is that we have full equipment in every volunteers private Vehicles paramedics and EMTs have full equipment in their cars so imagine when you call hatala which is a 305 number which everybody should have it 911 305 919 4900 you call hatala if somebody is an EMT or paramedic part of the of the team in your building you will get full service full medical service with equipment in the in the first 2 three minutes so the idea is to get volunteers responders EMTs and paramedics to the patient in the first five minutes which is so vital so it's like the Uber of the EMS so if you have people driving around in the city and some there's a call I stop what I'm doing and I go to the call I'll be the first on scene I'm two minutes away I'm going to be the first on scene immediately our dispatcher is going to activate another member to back me up another paramedic if there's a need and another EMT or a driver to go pick up the ambulance and the ambulance comes on scene we're already St stabilizing the patient the patient might be ready to go by the time the ambulance comes so you don't have to wait for the ambulance to start the treatment all you got to wait is for the professional the medical professionals to be on scene in order to establish treat treatment so the way we operate is you call the 305 number for hatala our dispatcher we'll send two or three or four volunteers everyone carries a radio we have really topof the line technology with the radio we're integrated with the counties we integrated with the hospitals and when the radio goes off if I'm in the bank I'm a banker that's what I do for a living I do Investments if I'm sitting in the in my office and there is a call I'm going to leave everything I'm doing I'll take my car and I go to that patient and I'll do everything possible to stab as the patient there's another person like me will come within the next few minutes and then the ambulance will arrive afterwards having the ambulance in each City basically allows you allows us to provide better care for the patient so we have two ambulances in Aventura the 240 calls that we had in Sunny Isles not all of them were transported but most of them were transported we basically rely currently on ambulances from Aventura from North Maya Beach and and from Surf Side that's how we operate in Sunny 100% of the funds that we receive are from donations because we don't charge the patients when we go on a call we're non-for-profit volunteers none of our responders receive a penny to be part of the organization and to respond to calls we're 100% volunteers so I'm a banker that's what I make my money hopefully and I want to give back to the community so I trained myself to become an EMT I got my license and since 2012 I've been responding to calls in this area I live in Aventura I've come I come to Sun very often all the time because I work in in Aventura Mall by the Chase building that's where my office is so I'm really close by to Sunny AIS um if the ambulance of the city that happens in every city is tied up the 911 ambulance is tied up then they will have to activate the closest surrounding ambulance hatala will have whatever volunteers are spread out within the community to try to respond and be there as early as possible so there's a beauty in being a volunteer there's a beauty in being part of the community and there's a beauty in being able to be there when the patient really really needs which is the first few minutes of the emergency which will really determine the chance of cability of the patient or not so that's the concept of Holo we received an invitation to come here today to present and to possibly even consider um having an ambulance donated to the organization that alone regardless of the outcome it's unbelievable because every ambulance we received from the 15 ambulances we have now they were all donated by private individuals wealthy individuals that decided to give a donation to the organization and buy the ambulance those individuals the first person that donated to us the ambulance was a family in Surfside and he donated in memory of the victims of the Surfside collapse of the building the collapse he was a Visionary he was a first nobody at the time understood how South Florida is going to have hatala functioning he took the initiative and he did what he had to do and that two years later we have 15 ambulances 14 more ambulances on top of that where different people had the vision and to do it and sunny a having the vision to even invite us to even consider proposing and giving the the this gift to the community because it's really not to hsala it's really the gift is to the community it's something amazing and something that um really appreciate the opportunity to at least present I have a in the presentation um I'm not going to take a lot of time but just so you understand every member has EMT certification possibly paramedic and evok certification which is the emergency driving um every we have close to 300 members every member must be evok certified because we drive lights and Sirens with our private Vehicles so we have to have the emergency train regardless if I'm driving the ambulance or my private vehicle these are our our vehicles we have the ambulance we have the erus which is the emergency response units and the Motorcycle I'll be honest I'm not a big fan of the motorcycle because in South Florida unfortunately is very very dangerous so every time I hear on on my radio that a one of our responders are going a motorcycle my heart is now all of a sudden accelerating my blood pressure goes up I have to call it Sol myself now in reality we have three motorcycles that we utilize mostly in the month of December when they have the boat show in Mii Beach that nobody can get there we use the motorcycle this week we received two new pickup donations to hatala there are very high pickups because what happened was last week um I think he everybody experienced a little bit of flood I got my my own house flooded as well there was a moment that you would call 911 and and they would say we cannot respond we had a lady here in Golden Beach half a block from Sunny Isles she was 9 months pregnant she called 911 they said we cannot respond we came in with our truck we actually called the city they came with a tractor literally pick her up in the cabin brought her to our ambulance cuz we couldn't reach out to her house cuz it was the the flood was too high we put her in our ambulance we took her to Memorial hospital and she delivered a baby 15 minutes after we arrived in the hospital she was waiting for 4 hours from the first time she called and onone so now we have the capabilities with the two high trucks to be able to respond on any situation so hatsa will because we're volunteers because we're not tied to a lot of bureaucracy we will try to respond when situations arise that other wouldn't be able to every volunteer has IDs we have QR codes to be able to recognize them we work with the police department so they can recognize who ATA is so we don't have any problems and those are basically all the ambulances that we currently have in our system per City and those are all the cities that we cover and the types of the types of um calls that we receive um this is just so you have an idea the growth that Florida that South Florida had for the past 2 years you can see this is the past two years the volume of call volume the number of vehicles the number of Supervisors that we have in the organization the organization exploded I'm the treasur of the organization for eight years now I took the job to manage a $70,000 budget now we're we're running a $3 million operation I did not sign up for that but I can I don't have the the ability to say to wash my hands and say I'm not going to do it so we take the time that it takes in order to make make sure that hatala is a viable solution for the local community um that is very very telling so anyone that can come forth to donate an ambulance to the organization or any other kind of equipment is just basically giving it to the local community that's uh pretty much my presentation everyone can take the number and we'll hopefully be able to be there by the way I would like to like get to know we have a lot of resources but in case we our resources are are limited if our volunteers are not available we have the relationship with the fire department we're not instead of the fire department ever we are in addition to the fire department so if somebody calls atala and we don't have the tools we don't have what it takes we don't have the volunteers available we have the backhand number we don't have to call 911 we call directly the disp disaters of each City in ventur they have their own dispatcher sometimes they have to call the county but we call them directly and they get us the resource we need in a timely manner so there is no delay in patient care in case atsala is not available to help when they call hatala so that's basically I'm available for any questions that you might have thank you Andre I just for for clarification um you do not charge anything so if someone calls and they don't have insurance you are going to show up and they're not going to be getting a bill correct correct we we we don't even have a billing department I know that I'm just wanted for clarification okay perfect thank you and and you will see anyone you don't have to be Jewish correct so our dispatchers will be asking a few questions what is your religion is not one of them okay thank you all right so I I open it up for discussion to see how uh my colleagues feel about adding this please go ahead is your item you want to go first uh yeah well why don't that's basically what I've already done so the idea here is for us to donate um an entire ambulance which would be parked in Sunny ales beach in a central place if I'm not mistaken it would say Sunny Al's Beach on the ambulance um and this would allow for first of all for our residents to see the ambulance and to understand that they have access to it because right now I think one of the biggest challenges that people don't realize that they have this resource no matter what and that it does not cost them anything uh it's especially for the most vulnerable people who who would be potentially not willing to call 911 because they're afraid of the the bill that they're going to get from from the ambulance um that's one but more importantly the fact that this organization exists I think is so consistent with with the values of of our city and you know the idea that they're all volunteers uh professional people you know that Andre is a banker and that will literally leave a meeting to go help help someone that's in distress um is just incredible it really is and I think that given that we as a city can definitely afford to fund something like this um to give this gift to our residents is probably one of the single most important things that we can do uh so if you can clarify the the cost for me so that we have it on the record yes um to fully um outfit an ambulance today with the current models that we purchase MH we're running around $500,000 okay with everything in it thank you MH all right okay so yes please all right so let me ask you um you have statistics on um calls that you've had in the sun El's area we have I have the basic number of calls that we had which about 242 calls that we had okay so how many were non emergency do you know so our average is about 70% % of our calls are real emergencies that are transported from the 30% remaining a very small part of it are calls there are emergencies that we recommend them to be transferred transported and they refuse we have the our our average of refusal is much smaller than the average because our members of volunteers they come on scene and they really go the extra mile to try to convince patients to go to the hospital so um about I would say about 25% are not real emergencies right so like in any other City you get calls for that someone needs a ride all right yes yeah okay so um how often is it that you don't have a volunteer available I will tell you that during the three days actually happened to be was a Jewish holiday the two the exactly the day that had we had the flood um it was a Jewish holiday and um we got about 80 calls throughout South Florida okay and I have report of one call that we not able to respond due to unavailability we responded to every call throughout the 48 Hours um through throughout the flood we never stopped taking calls okay and another uh question I have is um do volunteers take the ambulance home I mean the ambulance stays parked in a basic loc in a base location in the center of the city because it has to be attached to electricity so we have to put electricity so it has to be running air conditioning especially in South Florida we have an additional air conditioning unit for the ambulance so usually the ambulance stays in that base we call um to take home it would be something outside of the ordinary but I'm not sure well question people have chargers at their houses I mean and of all of the ambulances you have does do you have any volunteers that take ambulances home no no okay so they're all set in central areas correct okay so where in Sunny Isles would you have a hookup uh you'd have to plan with the city yeah the truth is we usually we plan with the local synagogues okay they're very supportive and familiar with the services right and they always provide us with a parking space and synagogues by definition have to be Center center located in the community so usually we use synagogues in Aventura we have two synagogues in the two extreme sides of Aventura in North May beach the same thing in Surf Side is same thing everywhere most of our ambulances um except for Hollandale currently because it's they're still installing in the synagogue every ambulance is parked in a synagogue parking at this point okay so right now you have your volunteers if there is an emergency call your volunteers go out and then I guess the Miami dat ambulance would show up not necessarily so what what ambulance would show up another hotala ambulance the hotala ambulance will show up MH unless we don't have this resources if there's an MVA for example is a motor a motor vehicle accident in the streets usually you're going to get both because you have people calling 9 on1 people calling hatala you get both right so the law states that if hatsa is there first hatsa has priority for transport if 9 on1 is there first 9 on1 will have priority for transport unless the patient is requesting otherwise so in end of the day is the patient's decision whoever who he wants to take him to the hospital I see okay that's um all the questions I have for now okay thank you thank you for the questions commissioner Mard do you have questions I I did I I think I think Jerry's covered a lot of it um I guess my my main question was with regards to like that overlap with with 911 uh if but I I think you just answered that like how that how that works like so if somebody if somebody's not aware of your service like I until last year I was not aware of your service right so then we would just call 911 and oh here this was the things so you guys don't charge there's no fee associated with the transport with the transportation are there any other cost okay I mean costs yes would that would be that would be passed on to the patient okay and and I I'm asking this generally because I out of ignorance because I don't know so but if if 911 is called are there costs that are passed on to the person yes and what are those to the best of your knowledge um depend it's around between $700 and $1,000 750 $750 to $1,000 on transport okay yeah I don't know if it depends on the on the distance but that's more or less what average what the the cost goes if people have insurance insurance will cover it okay but if they don't have insurance they'll get a bill okay so but but I will tell you that the the the biggest advantage of calling atsala is not the fact that it's a free service is the caring is having somebody that's close by to you somebody that will really look out to be your neighbor is somebody that you might see him jogging in the street so the I think the real advantage of atsala is not just because free service although it is but um our interaction with fire department I would like to just um um go a little bit further into this um nothing in life is 100% perfect but I will tell you that the relationship with the local fire departments in every county is spectacular we have M us already signed with many of the fire departments and we're working on many more our idea is to to be able to have mutual Aid with every County with Broward Broward with the Broward County we're already part of the mutual Aid um emergency um um system we had trainings in the international airport when they have like we participate in mutual my mid dat we have limited um exposure with them but every time we come on call the people are very cordial so we always offer the 901 if they want to take the patient the patient doesn't really care if he doesn't even know what what AAL is we always um offer 91 to take if they want to take sometimes no you guys take there's like it's it's really cordial I'm not saying it's 100% of the time like that you always have personalities on both sides but 99% of the of the cases we have very very good the feedback from that so somebody decides to call both both will show up most likely fire rescue will come in say ATO you guys have it you got it okay no problem we'll they'll leave if at solo comes in and say you guys you need help no you like that's basically the the relationship that we have with the fire department in every single City okay no that's all my questions thanks thank you okay so first thank you thank you for your service thank you for what you guys do you do save life I know people that has Salah has saved their life that people that I know by name so what you guys do is amazing there is no doubt and we need more people and more volunteers like you so and having said that I am I want to know a little bit about the timeline this is like a question for the staff and also your recommendation okay so because if we move forward with this um if I understand correctly um the ordinance for first reading will be in July second reading will be in August we are right now working already the next fiscal year uh budget which is going to start in effect October 1st so what will be the recommendation um from the staff and how to uh move forward with this uh with the amount um I do believe because of the size of the investment this should be part of the budget uh of of our budget um discussions which they're happening right now because like I said that we have to approve the budget by September so what will be the recommendation of the staff we don't have a recommendation we serve at the direction of the commission so these funds were not budgeted so either for this fiscal year or next These funds would come from fun fund balance right the the idea here was to be able to get this into this fiscal year okay um but like I said it if we approve it right it will be the fastest at the end of August one month a before the new fiscal uh uh year right so so it would be for this fiscal year so we would need a budget amendment for this year not right yeah which is my point why don't we make this part of our conversation for the next budget that is going to start in effect in October 1st we will not need any Amendment or anything like that and and we could have more time with had sell out uh maybe to get even funding from other sources Etc like for example do you guys have uh right now any ambulance in Golden Beach no what about B Harbor yes we have two ambulances there in B Harbor so our ambulances we we see that a one area cide Bay Harbor and Bal Harbor is all one area oh okay so for the three municipalities you have two amb correct so so there station between I will say um Bell Harbor and Bay Harbor service and S side that is kind of in the middle yeah one is actually parked in the synagogue in the big synagogue there in the 96 and cins yeah we see that one one of them one is side correct yeah um so that'll be my um my recommendation um but I totally support what you guys do I think it's amazing um and U thank you for the clarification and for the presentation um and yes let's see what what will be the recommendation um Mr city manager if given the the the feedback I guess you're getting right now does it make sense what um what commissioner serson is recommending um does it make it easier or more challenging well we can really we can do it either way whatever the consensus is so right now we are preparing our budget we're in the middle of budget discussions for the upcoming year so we can include it as part of that if it's your direction if you would like for us to consider it now as you stated it would take two readings we would have to do an ordinance and a budget amendment okay so it sounds like it might be easier I would support waiting because this is not a $500 conversation this is half a million dollar conversation uh we you know we basically eliminated we eliminated donations from the budget entirely and we eliminated flexibility to make these to have these conversations when we lowered the millage right this was this is this was the bargain that we made so I I don't think that we're that it's it's it's financially responsible for us to be entertaining this kind of big ask while you know dipping into our our our piggy bank I I think it's we would need more data and we would need more um um we would need to like a bigger picture approach I I don't think I wouldn't support um a budget amendment okay you don't support a budget amendment I have you uh made a presentation ever to Golden Beach no no okay well I have we have relation with the police department there yes but I've never been to the city there okay so maybe in the next month or so you could make a presentation over there and maybe we could do a dual City uh contribution does any municipality has ever donated uh uh from the municipality from government yeah there there is a predent not in this County okay but there is a predent for in the north of Florida Bradford County okay okay they donated a fire truck to a volunteer fire department so there is precedent but not to you guys not to solo no no not to solo that's why I mentioned in the presentation that this city would be part of those Visionaries because the same way we had the first uh donors giving an ambulance you will be the first city stepping up to the plate in that regards right basically by by this action it would I would hope would Inspire others to do the same that would be very good yeah um okay so I I think I'm here ing to put it into the the discussion for for next year budget correct absolutely yes yes yes okay so you have the Direction all right thank you Andre very much Andre thank you so much but with the idea to make a presentation to Golden Beach and many other municipalities well well he has to be invited he can't just yeah no but I'm just saying just because sorry because you were saying where you have ambul ambulances now and basically Sunny Isles Golden Beach would be a perfect location for one ambulance correct eventually two also or two yeah depends on the call volume as increases um I didn't think we're going to have 15 ambulances in two years mhm we have two more already um on demand one is arrived one one is arriving the summer and um it's a matter of if we have more resources we can service more the community correct um again I'm not rushing to get more ambulances but the more ambulances we get the more equipment we get the more volunteers we get the more people we can help absolutely well it's not like we have miles between Golden Beach and Sunny Isles so Andre it's I have another question how long does it take once that you get the funding to get the actual ambulance that's a very very good question it it really depends okay um a year ago there was talking about long time we were able to to find ulis where every partner 911 were telling me that we would not be able to get ambulances so it's it's it's an open question it could take two three years oh Lord we've been able to Source ambuses within six months eight months it's amazing amazing I mean I think we can do quicker than than than most EMS systems because we're very flexible so we're able to find ambulances the the difference is I think and and and certainly the First Responders are probably the most amazing people in the world but when you have first First Responders are also volunteers and doing it literally because they love this so much and they want to help people you know you can move mountains so thank you Andre I actually had one of the one of the EM companies the Osage is in Canada they actually put our order in front of three other agencies because we needed the ambulance with the permission of the three other agencies that's so we I mean people see what we're doing nobody's here doing for self-gratification and if no except for the fact that we we have I'm it's very I feel fulfilled when I'm dealing with money the whole day and I stop and I'm able to save somebody and help somebody really like with it saving a life and go back to my office after that that is fulfilling but it's quite commendable there there is no there's nothing more than that so when people hear our story and they see what we're doing in the cities I haven't seen anyone that didn't jump to help especially the legislators we had we mentioned about in the Senate was unanimous vote um in favor of data and um now we actually we're going back to tahan in the end of the year because we can only operate in four counties and Orlando has around Orlando is four counties Tampa is and other two counties so there's a lot of other counties asking us to expend the services so we're going back to talahasse just to ask them to expend services and the legislators you see me on the streets like Andre when are you coming back to tasi because the the idea is very Noble idea it's not my idea by the way I did not not not start idea ATA started 50 years ago in New York when somebody collapsed in a synagogue and everybody was looking and nobody knew what to do I remember that's how atala started so it's a Noel thing to do anyone everyone is invited to become a volunteer by the way we do need more volunteers I'm pretty sure you're going to be successful in tahi I'm pretty sure everywhere else so yeah again you do save life and and we appreciate you so much and what you guys do I don't know if it's appropriate uh I have challenge coins they don't have real value but they are they have an ambulance in the coin can I give to the Commissioners absolutely you can yes thank you thank you appreciate thank you for your service thank you listen to here why don't we get a picture okay let's do that since all right good am okay all right we are running a little late if there's no objection we'll keep going um Jerry um there's no objection I we we keep going all right where's uh Marlene oh okay all right because our next item is uh 3C 3C let's see is that the interesting if you'd like I can read it into the record 3C is a reassignment of funds entrepreneurship program to community conversation series oh that's great okay thank you commission okay this is very fast so we we have the funds we are not GNA be using it for the business purpose so I wanted just to move the money for the uh Community conversations uh we were going to have the first one during the flooding so we we had to postpone it the idea is to have different topics every other month or every month whatever is available have different speakers the first one's going to be the Family Edition but we're going to have a business Edition we're going to have a safety Edition where we're going to have people coming from like I said different type of speakers I already for example I spoke with the FBI so we're going to have an agent coming to speak about safe online surfing specifically for the teenagers but for everybody in the community so that's it um that's amazing and it's going to be they're going to be paid speakers or free speak no no free speakers yeah I love I love it good I love the idea anyone else no no no okay is that enough is that enough Direction yes that gives me some direction we will bring to you a a budget amendment okay wonderful thank you okay next item 3D policy UNC commmission representation at events yes amen okay so mayor uh vice mayor members of the commission this issue came up in that we have according to our rules and regulations representation at events for the mayor and if the mayor in the mayor's absence the vice mayor issue that's not clear is who the next representative would be if there's a situation that comes up so we have discussed this previously and we were not given clear Direction on who that third fourth or fifth person would be in the event that the mayor or vice vice mayor was not able to attend or speak on behalf of the city so even though we have where you would designate for a specific person uh let's say organization like the Miami day League of cities we do not have Clarity on who would speak in case another situation arose so what we're looking for today is Clarity on who the third fourth and fifth person would be okay and if I may just add also under your code under 74- 23 you do have a process in place there just seems to be a gap when you all are not able to meet um so the during if you are meeting so for example if you had an event and the mayor and vice mayor are unavailable you as a commission or actually the mayor would designate someone and then the commission would by majority agree to that design destion or disagree to that designation that's in your code what's not contemplated in your code is if you're not at a meeting and some event pops up unexpectedly between meetings and you're unable to meet it doesn't justify an emergency for an emergency meeting um who where that selection would be so or how that selection would take place so that's something that we need to hear from you as to what you want and my recommendation would be that that be included in your ordinance it be an ordinance change so that it does take care of that Gap when there is no meeting and what is your recommendation like the most senior person well in my discussions that I've had with the staff with the city clerk City attorney we need clarification on our thinking was May perhaps the most senior person but we leave that subject to whatever you all decide is fine with us I'm fine with that well we had this discussion previously and it it wasn't voted on but it was left at mayor vice mayor former vice mayor and I believe uh commissioner vascara is the one that brought that up yeah I mean it's it's a recommendation right I I don't um you I'm not an expert in in these things it was just a recommendation um but if we go the seniority route how then do you distinguish between um people who were sworn in on the same day like who's the senior person like in this case Jerry and Fabiola are the same in terms of seniority so then if we're going to go one two 3 four five how do you determine but right this is beyond this commission right like people who are sworn in on the same day who is more senior and that's it would be so for instance if we had this right now it would be it would be you because if right but let's say right I I can't do it so then you can't do it either so you're out of town Alex is on vacation so who was sworn in first right yeah that's not I I don't think it needs to be where is there a precedent though I think it's possible because there's no precedent for the we're going to do why don't you make it the youngest person I mean it just makes no sense this whole thing it's it's always here that how does it work in in uh federal government uh well federal government doesn't come into play but other what I've seen others and I think I've stated before is typically um and typically there's some sort of collective calendar for the commission where all events are sort of published where these things are decided at meetings in advance in advance um of course if you hear of things you know in between that always has to occur that's mostly on the people that are putting the events and maybe forgot to invite you or something or rather uh but typically um uh I've seen joint calendars where these things are decided um at and usually it only impacts if there's a speaking engagement so if there's an event where because any of you can go to any event you want so it's really when you're asked to speak and be the formal representative of the city but if there's an event and the mayor's not available the vice mayor is not available and commissioner viscara is not available you you can go whether they're available or not so you can be there it's just when you're going to be engaged as the representative but that's question that's the question so that's my question I uh Lissa's out of town Alex is out of town I'm sick it's a somebody was supposed to speak somewhere unless number four who's number five honestly again I've seen it not be so formal where the city matter could you know you know if there's an event where let's say one of you want to go check with the city manager there's nothing wrong with that person going if nobody else is available um it it's if we know about the event no but we've had if you know of the event but that's why the joint calendar typically helps in that regard because then you're all aware of what's coming up and then the only time I foresee this being a problem would be is if you have two Commissioners and there's a speaking engagement and both of them want to speak so that would be the the the ultimate where something there's got to be a referee that decides otherwise I don't see that being an is if we're yeah but it's not just about us I'm just saying if we're going to do this I think we should just figure out one through five yeah and recently we've had two occasions if we hadn't have had uh you know floods there would have been a Canada Day occasion where they were asking for someone to speak right and the mayor was out and the vice mayor was out right and we the city would have been in an embarrassing situation again I don't know what well again you're all welcome to go to that event but they wanted someone to speak forood and and that's kind of the scenario we're trying to address and that's what you all have to come up with as to how you want to deal with that situation when that occurs where you get let's say the day before Oh by the way we're having this event tomorrow and we'd like for you to attend which I think was similar to yeah I don't think that somebody giving a a 24 hours notice should have any expectation of people showing I do have a question so specific to this issue okay so for example for the eighth grade graduation um Were you invited to the graduation uh for the eighth grade graduation uh yes to give my award yeah and what award is that it's a creativity award but it's from the city no it is personal yes okay because we had it and it says Community creative award Mr Mark Chang on behalf of m v and mayor of Sony Bach right correct so here is as as the mayor we going to be given it or okay so that's a different question so you can be giving something as commissioner suon you're not giving it on behalf of the city of sun Al's Beach there's it's a difference I do understand that but the thing is that I think it was very offensive that for the first time as far as I know ever since the creation of the school not even former May moror Norman S erop that has the name of the school nobody from the city were invited to the graduation this has nothing to do with what is that have to do well right now um the mayor was invited nobody was from the commission was invited even the former mayor that the name of the school is his was not invited so um okay but commissioner ston that's something you can take up with the school that's not part of what we're talking about right now we're not going to just include ourselves in into events or or GR ation that we're not invited to that's not that's not relevant to this conversation at all if you have an issue with the principal speak to the principal about no no I don't have an issue with the principal as far as I know so um but the thing is that it's it's not consistent um for the city not being part of the when when the major was invited just I didn't know that you were invited until like I saw the the uh the program so that's I think it's is relevant with the conversation because in in that regard um maybe somebody else could have gone and like the vice major to give the award that okay so we're not stop this is not what we're talking about we're not talking about people or entities or schools organizations that have an event that we are now deciding we're going to send someone there if they did not invite us to be there this is about events that we were invited to speak on behalf of Sunny Al's Beach and if the mayor or the vice mayor is not available in advance to know about it that somebody from the commission would speak on behalf of Sunny Al Beach a graduation where the rest of the commission was not uh invited to where it's is really not relevant at all first of all why would we even consider that part of this conversation that's like saying why weren't we invited to any other thing you can speak to the principal about that this conversation is about what happens when someone invites the city to speak on behalf of the city of s's Beach so I feel that we can leave it up to the manager um because like to a commissioner escar's point the the commission changes and so we're never going to really know who's going to be senior who's going to be younger who's going to be older that's why it should be former vice mayor that doesn't change I honestly don't care so and and I just would you know obviously the the manager works for you he he can't really tell you what to do so if he were to select uh Comm commissioner R era you know it puts the manager sort of in a tough position to dictate to you where you can or cannot speak um so that would make it a little difficult uh even if you designate him give him that Authority um then former vice mayor I'm okay with that are you okay with that doesn't resolve that doesn't resolve four and five okay what's your well it does it does I mean the former you were the former vice mayor before I oliz for my ignorance but who is the vice mayor prior to that commissioner vcar so then it would come to you then who was the prior vice mayor to that then that would be that person and then if no one's available then whoever is left that's probably the most yes right and that's it okay everyone's comfortable with that and then you have a secure hierarchy all right so we can we can proceed that way should that occur in the recent future and then my recommendation would be to bring forth an ordinance change so that way it's written then you don't have get it documented and it's finished thank you all right that's enough Direction all right I think that's it so meeting adjourn hopefully we'll see everyone that's here thank you again for coming uh at 6:30 perfect --------- okay good afternoon mayor okay I'm going to call this meeting to order and take a roll call please uh commissioner Joseph here vice mayor Lama here commissioner stasa here commissioner vcera here and mayor fet here have aorn great wonderful if we could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance um um Toby would you lead us please in the Pledge of Allegiance allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation un indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you we have an invocation from Rabbi Amar good evening like to start with the act of Charity and give this charity box to the city this this becomes a place of not only prayer action and Good Deeds as the world is sinking into darkness and we're trying to fight in order to bring some light I would like to bless the mayor the vice mayor the Commissioners and everyone present in this government body that God Almighty should give you the right inspiration to guide to better this city and to make it a city that is an example to the World on what it means to to stand for truth to stand for the right thing and may God give you the strength and the inspiration to be an inspiration for all the different governments to follow and be do the same and I want to thank you for everything that you're doing and the way that you're really making this city some a city which is exceptional in every regard not only in its beauty but in everything that you offer the city I just want to mention something I mentioned last time and uh I've been getting from the mayor a few messages on how you do get involved in education and I was very very excited to see how the city is involved in trying to do things for our for our children and the Next Generation so thank you very much God bless you thank you uh the opening good evening ladies and gentlemen we appreciate your attendance and thank you for joining us tonight before we begin there are a few important reminders regarding conduct during our commission meetings please ensure all electronic devices are turned off or set to silent mode to maintain the Integrity of our proceedings mutual respect is a foundation of productive discussions we ask that everyone remains silent and attentive when someone is addressing the commission clapping applauding heckling or any verbal Outburst either in support or opposition of the speaker are strictly prohibited any individual wishing to address the commission must fill out a public speaker card and submit it to the city clerk before the an item is announced each speaker is granted a maximum of 3 minutes should you exceed this time the chair will notify you to conclude your remarks speak directly to the agenda's points remain concise and avoid redundancy should an individual speak without the chair's permission or continue speaking after a warning they may be escorted out of the chambers it is essential to avoid making impertinent slanderous remarks or becoming boisterous while addressing the commission such Behavior may lead to being barred from future commission appearances unless the majority of the commission members present vote otherwise the presiding officer May disallow signs or placards in the commission chamber please exit the chamber quietly and without disruption the goal of our meetings is to facilitate public input and participation however disruptive or disorderly conduct hinders our Collective objective individuals who want to speak on an item on the agenda are asked to fill out a public speaker's card and give it to the city clerk before the item is called speakers are asked to speak to the issues make comments concise and to the point and refrain from making duplicate comments All speakers will be limited to one three minute comment per item if you exceed the three-minute allotment the chair will advise you to finish your comment if you speak out of turn without permission from the chair and or you do not see speaking after one warning you will be escorted out of Chambers in order to maintain orderly conduct and or proper deorum at these meetings anyone who interferes with the orderly process of the meetings after a warning may be removed from the meeting and may be barred from further appearance before the city commission as permitted in s286 0114 fs and SS 745 and 74-2 of the city's code of ordinances any necessary removal will be made at the direction of the mayor and will be carried out by law enforcement or designated Sergeant at- arms it is essential that attendees adhere to these rules of procedure to ensure productive meetings that serve both the public and the city commission thank you for your cooperation and understanding great thank you Marlene um so I just want to reiterate what everyone just saw please remember that um we have theorum in in these Chambers please be respectful you have 3 minutes to speak if you fill out a speaker card uh if you are not certain if you're going to speak I encourage you to please fill out the card anyways and then you could just decide uh that you're not going to speak our uh clerk is under the weather so we have our uh assistant clerk here so please um be kind uh and and follow the rules goes for everyone here on the day as well um H and and welcome thank you for for being here okay so first order is approval of the minutes I need a motion motion second all in favor right right so before we begin um as as many of you know um I just got back from Israel uh on a trip that I went with the Mayors from around the country invited by the combat anti-Semitism movement um and uh Lisa Catz was here was uh with the Chief government Affairs officer invited me thank you uh I also want to acknowledge uh Annabelle liab vice mayor of Hollandale that's here thank you for being here um and so I wanted to make sure that even though it was not an official City trip it I I did go as the mayor and it was very impactful and I and I did get to visit our sister city natana um and I wanted to make sure that I gave you all a short report of how that went so to give you a sense of what's going on over there and you know I think that we call all agree that it impacts us um so I want to thank uh Iran for for his help in in creating this video thank you very much um so Leah if you can just play it it's very short [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] are taking over the place and seconds after Shah was got shot Tri warning of course if you might feel uncomfortable disturbing War it's disturbing [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so what what we weren't able to hear um which in a lot of ways thank God was uh the audio of a voice mail um from the um nurse from the clinic that she was leaving um when when she was basically dying um and and so you know we have some item we have an item on the agenda that sort of relates to this and I just want to make sure that because we as a city have made a and as a commission have been very clear as to our support of Israel and uh condemning terrorism Hezbollah Hamas anyone else that they throw at us um I want to make sure that we know what's happening there firsthand I would have loved for all of us to come and go there and and hopefully we we can um and then additionally um regrettably our uh sister city mayor Miriam Feinberg is not doing well she's got cancer so I wanted to make sure that you know we keep her in our prayers so thank you for giving me the opportunity to say those few words okay with that uh order business is next um I want I I normally don't do this but I wanted to add um an item uh to the agenda if there isn't any objection to the um motions portion and basically the motion portion it would be to d uh the item would be and U Mr City uh attorney please stop me if it's not enough information or you need clarification to direct review of uh the scholarship award compliance with past resolutions and City values to direct the manager is that enough I mean it's enough for me but I don't know no no to to add to the agenda I'm saying is it clear enough yes okay do I have any objection I I have question is this going forward no no no no it's to discuss in during our Mo in our motions okay so it's not a resolution it's not an ordinance the motion I believe it's to add an item to your agenda right okay s right under your code you each have the ability to add an item with the consent and of the majority of the commission so I believe that's what the mayor's intent is yes yes that's a discussion item yes okay okay perfect thank you Madame mayor we also have a deferment okay of a change of the agenda for item 6A def is deferred okay but we still have to vote to defer that correct correct okay all right um all right so I need a motion for those changes a second but it has to be for date specific that I believe right it's not just def first mayor yeah if I may yes this is at the request of the applicant discussed with them today they would like to defer the item until August 15 2024 okay which is our August commission meeting okay all right so um commissioner ston do you want to make the motion for that okay all second all right all in favor I I perfect okay and I would just uh mayor if I could when we get to the item if we could repeat the fact that it's been deferred so that if anyone shows up late for that item there bu of the date and and also we received many emails and I believe that there was a statement I don't know if we have to mention that but there is a statement that was being made part of the record actually that'll be part of the record not for the deferment but that'll be part of the what's being made part of the record is the request for the deferment okay but anything else related to the substance of the items will be part of your CI judicial hearing which will be in August so that'll be included in that record okay I just want to be clear just because it's it's um what residents like I know that one resident in particular submitted something to be part of the record so if it's not being part of the record I just want to make that clear it can be in the future sure so any request for deferment we should we can certainly include in the record since it's been deferred anything dealing with the substance of the item itself will be presented as part of the record when the item is presented in your quasi judicial perfect thank you all right so with with that if anyone is here to speak on item 6A um just so you know you don't have to fill out public speaker card because we're going to be deferring it um and and then just in furtherance of that when you do come up to the podium know that um you are to uh wait to be recognized and you need to address all your comments to me not to any individuals and and we don't call anyone out by name either okay okay U Marlene so we have ordinance in the second reading M it's an ordinance of the city of commission amending section 25-14 purpose 25 26-6 definitions 26-9 issuance and renewal of permits SL decals application 25 I'm sorry 256-1050 authority of city manager in 26-16 term of permits decals transfer of chapter 256 Article 2 of the code of ordinances of the city of sunal Beach reping section 26-12 hours permits are valid of the code of the ordinances of the city of sunal beach entitled parking authority great mayor vice mayor members of the commission this is the second reading of our ordinance repealing our existing parking fees and permits decals Etc Great thank you do we have any public speakers got that okay do we have any questions from the commission I need a motion please no motion second second this is an ordinance so who yes commissioner jeon yes vice mayor Lama yes commissioner stasa yes commissioner viscara yes and vice may fetan you just demoted me pass the yes yes yes orat passes PR next item so now we're going to resolutions 10A it's a resolution establishing Citywide parking rates city manager mayor vice mayor members of the commission this is uh somewhat of a companion resolution to our ordinance we repealed our parking rates this is now establishing our parking rates we're adjusting our parking rates for our interior parking garages and Beachside parking comparable to other rates and our resident rate will stay the same for those that have a valid resident ID these parking rates will go into effect August 1st 2024 and for clarification in order to get a resident parking decal you need to have a resident ID correct yes okay so you you don't need to do anything extra at this point if you're ready okay do you have any public speakers no public speakers any questions from the commission I need a motion please motion I need a second second all in favor I I next item please Marlene 10 B 10 b a resolution approving the expenditure of budgeted funds with B and H Photo Electronics Corporation doing business as B and H Photo Video for the purch of upgrades to the audio and visual equipment located in the commission Chambers s Andre mayor vice mayor members of the commission this item is to approve uh expenditure budgeted funds to upgrade our AV Equipment located in the chambers in an amount not to exceed 65,0 626.9 okay any public speakers M no public speakers any questions or comments from the commission y I'll take a motion please motion second second all in favor I I right 10 C please 10 C a resolution authorizing the expenditure of budgeted funds with PC Solutions and integration Inc for renewal of subscription for hardware and software maintenance and multiple technology products TR city manager mayor vice mayor members of the commission these are are stand standard renewals for services for hardware and software subscription maintenance for IT solutions throughout the city great any public speakers no public speaker all right any questions from the commission I'll take a motion please motion I need a second second all in favor I I I next item please tendi TD a resolution authorizing the city manager to accept enter into and execute Grant agreements awarded by the state of Florida or any of its agencies related to information technology and cyber security city manager mayor vice mayor members of the commission this allows the manager to enter into grant agreements that are related to the cyber security going great and I don't believe we take any public speakers for this anyways soly don't have any right all right I take a motion motion need a second second all in favor I hi okay next item please 10 a a resolution declaring zoning and progress relating to development and Redevelopment in the mixed use Resort M Town Center tcd neighborhood business B-1 and business overlay b o zoning districts s manager uh I'll go ahead and handle this one uh as you all aware uh staff and our consultants in the city are undergoing an evaluation of your zoning code and uh potential changes to the comprehensive plan previously you've declared a zoning in progress uh under your code under Section 265-1 16h uh those have a duration of three months so we're just uh again uh since the the process has not finished yet we're just issuing another zoning progress until such time as uh we're able to complete the process great thank you do we have public speakers no public speakers when any comments or questions from the commission take a motion motion second all in favor I okay great I just want to recognize uh mayor Brent Lam from North Village that just came in thank you mayor uh and if you would like to fill out a public speaker card please do so to the clerk all right uh next item please 10 f a resolution in approving an information exchange agreement with the city of Miami Beach Police Department to share information from the Vigilant License Plate Reader system so city manager mayor vice mayor members of the commission we've had great success with our License Plate Reader Program this allows joint sharing of information with the city of Miami Beach great do we have any public speakers no public speakers ma'am okay I just uh want to take this opportunity that what are what are police is doing it is really incredible that we don't even necessarily hear about um specifically an instance that happened the other day in Golden Shores that they did a phenomenal job on so just thanks guys uh any comments from the commission I'll take a motion Mo okay everyone all in favor I I okay next item 10 G Madam mayor 10 G and H can be combined great okay so 10g is a resolution um to expend forfeiture funds from the Department of Justice doj Federal forfeiture account to perform upgrades to the CCTV system at Margolis Park Town Center Park and walking bridge in 10h is a resolution ratifying an agreement with Millennium Products Inc to upgrade the CCTV system at margolus Park Town Center Park and the walking bridge thank you Mr Senor manager mayor vice mayor members of the commission this item uh companion item G and H allows for the expenditure of forfeiture funds in the amount of $275,500 34 this goes to your point mayor of our police department is on The Cutting Edge of Technology this is the beginning of some really incredible technology that we're going to work on installing all of our Parks throughout the city and it includes gun detection and facial recognition amazing thank you any public speakers no public speakers any questions or comments from yeah I have a question uh when is the timeline uh for the for the product to be um installed we're working with the company now we expect it to be installed within the next two months sorry project for this project before you yes for for w Mar goes as well right yes correct I know I've been giving you guys a very hard time with this uh and I apologize but it's very important because you know um we just need the technology we need the cameras and I really appreciate you guys listening to us and and I apologize for that hard time give it your stand look and Eddie that he's not here but I thank you so much for this we have a few events in the last few months uh so this technology is imperative to have it right now okay so I appreciate it you guys thank you and I'd like to reiterate as well especially regarding the walking bridge we have uh so many comments every week regarding uh people around golden around um Winston towers and they just don't feel safe there thank you uh I'll take we don't have any uh public speakers I um motion please motion second second all in favor I okay next item 10 I 10 I approving a First Amendment to the agreement with Waterfield Florida Staffing LLC doing business as Staffing connection to provide school crossing guard Services thank you Mr city manager mayor vice mayor members of the commission this is our company that we use for crossing guard services this is our first renewal with the company in an amount not to exceed 219 18, 32280 great any public speakers no public speakers ma'am okay any questions from the commission can I just like to say that they do a great job around school and maybe we can expand their services to some of our uh most dangerous uh Crossings in the city that would certainly be an advantage okay I'll take a motion so motion all in favor okay next item 10 J is a resolution approving a Second Amendment to the agreement with Universal Protection Services LLC doing business as Allied Universal Security Services for unarmed security guard services at the government center city manager mayor vice mayor members of the commission this is a contract with Waterford Florida Staffing that is going to provide our security guard for the government center Lobby 20 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year amazing any public speakers no public speakers right I need a motion motion second second all in favor hi I 10K please the K is are a resolution approving change order number two with Team Contracting Inc to repair shade structure in restroom facility roof located at Samson Ocean Front Park do he mayor vice mayor members of the commission this is a small change to include some additional permitting fees for the repair of the shade structure and restroom facility at Samson Ocean Front Park the amount of $1,885 36 any public speakers no public speakers ma'am all right if there's no comments or questions motion thank you second all in favor I I right next item please okay 10 L is a resolution approving a Fifth Amendment to the agreement with Craig a Smith and Associates consultants for Civil Engineering Services for the excuse me for the central island area Pub station and drainage Improvement projects just C manager mayor vice mayor members of the commission this is something we've been talking about a while we put out to bit our central island drainage uh Pump Station it came in substantially over budget we are going back and Reen engineering the project and we expect a substantial savings with an alternate plan for central island drainage great any public speakers no public speakers Willam all right any questions or comments from the commission I'll take just um just like to say that the public should know that we're saving several million dollars and uh they should be happy to know that all right you want to make a motion motion yes second second all in favor I all right next item please 10 m a resolution approving a project agreement with Calvin gono and Associates Inc to provide revisions permitting and post Design Services for the Golden Shores Pump Station Rehabilitation project city mayor vice mayor members of the commission this is some additional uh work regarding the pump station in Golden Shores the recent flooding that we had we will or current in the process of signing a contract to place two new pumps in the pump station and remodel the existing Pump Station as well do we have any public speaking anyone of the commission have a question or comment no I just like to say that um during our uh agenda review it was discussed that the current pumps where they were going to be scrapped they're now going to be uh uh uh sold for Salvage and that will at least um get the get the city uh some additional funding where it wouldn't have originally okay um I'll take a motion so move need a second second all in favor I next item 10 n a resolution waving the bidding requirements set forth in chapter 62 of the city code approving an agreement with Nunes constru ruction for the installation of emergency generator and building Restorations at Gateway Community Center mayor VI mayor members of the commission this is a project that will install emergency generator and some building Restorations at Gateway Center originally the design was for the generator to be on the bottom floor and was re-engineered to be at the top of Gateway Center so if we have any type of events like what we had recently we would at least be able to power Gateway Center right thank you do we have public speakers no public speakers ma'am are there any questions or comments well i' just like to say that uh Gateway Center itself is a faed structure um I know uh during its usage we need to put in an emergency generator but uh we've already put in $44 million to this building and it seems like a lot for something that only has a ballroom and one exercise room thank you all right I'll take a motion please Mo move second second okay all in favor next item please 10 o 10 a resolution approving a Fourth Amendment to the agreement with lighter up LLC to install holiday lights and decorations at various locations throughout the city and are we going to have it up on the screen or no no I think that was just um extra oh I see okay behind it go ahead so mayor vice mayor members of the commission at our agenda review that we had you had all directed me to go back do some negotiation with the company for some additional holiday lights we've gone back to them we've added in your suggestions and the contract has been revised so now we're seeking approval for a total contract amount of $169,800 yes and what does that get us the addition the additional stuff gets us some we're going to put some additional dral dral along Collins and we're also going to provide some holiday lighting at the entrances to each of the monuments for the different neighborhoods okay thank you um do we have any public speakers public speakers okay um I I'm hopeful that we can maybe put this online so people can see it if that's possible we can we just received that contract earlier that's the reason for the late addition but it has the we were going back and forth in terms of our rates but yes we can add what we handed out to you we can put it up yeah I think that this is probably the single biggest question that we get is about holiday lights so this is really important it sounds funny but it is very important for for a lot of people and so thank you for going back and renegotiating that does anyone on the commission have a question yes I just like to add that uh we've been told the city is uh looking to purchase additional dral and the contract will include installation of those drel at no additional cost it will be negotiated that have that happen thank you okay I'll take a motion some second second all in favor hi okay perfect egg 10 p a resolution prohibiting the establishment of sister city relationships with any cities located within countries that support or sponsor terrorism or that officially recognize and thereby legit leg imize terrorist States or territories controlled by terrorist organizations okay great thank you okay so this is uh my item I'm going to read just a small blur and then I'll say a few words as well so um sister cities International based in Washington DC formerly recognizes sister city relationships worldwide to Foster Global cooperation cultural understanding and economic development at the municipal level on May 28th 2024 Spain Norway and Ireland official recognized a Palestinian State an action condemned by the israeli's foreign minister is Israel cats as inciting genocide and war crimes the United States United Kingdom France Italy Japan Canada and the European Union have not granted unilateral recognition to a Palestinian State citing that Palestine does not meet the traditional International standards for Statehood which include a permanent population defined territory government and the ability to engage in international relations Hamas designated as a terrorist organization by the United States United Kingdom Canada and the European Union holds significant power within the Palestinian government and controls the Gaza Strip by way of this resolution the city commission states its refusal to enter into sister sister city relationships with cities in countries like Spain Norway and Ireland which recognize and legitimize terrorist organizations um so you know there's a little bit of a theme here um we have a sister city program that we suspended um this past fiscal year uh in in hopes of uh of of having some savings but really because we haven't really engaged with them in a long time and like I said earlier um you know going to Israel recently and uh visiting natana and again I wish all of us were able to go uh it it reminded me why we have sister city relationships and that we do exchange information and we do exchange best practices and uh while they're very very similar to us they have gorgeous Beach they're really beautiful city they also have very thing uh things that are very different they they have a planet um a a large stadium with 20,000 Square uh 20,000 seats um they have a planetarium they have a lot of things and so it it reminded me that uh it's important for us to engage with sister cities that hold uh our values and it's important to uh tell whomever it is that supports terrorism in any way that the city of sun Al's Beach who is a very desire aable sister city because we get asked often uh will not partner with you um so I hope to have my uh uh commission support of this um do we have any public speakers oh that's right sorry gave me okay um vice mayor Annabel to please come up good evening yes thank you mayor uh say Administration all you um I am here in favor I am I like to let you know that have first count State um where mayly for going to Israel um my colleague B might Happ March new bre that's current time after me going toward and so it's just the right thing to do but during eled offici not to go with this particular I to show we of than no it's okay I really hope that every single one of you will have an opportunity to travel to Israel as well and bear witness uh as well as to the atrocities there um I do want to just take a quick moment uh since October 7th we've had uh incredible amount of anti-Semitism and uh other dangerous threats you all have the most sell Police Department we have it in Brower County city of Helendale Beach I'm very proud of them but in date County please know the city of Sunny Isles Beach Police Department are seller the best of the best um I really hope that you all pass this resolution unanimously I actually have the my City attorney and city clerk uh on standby and I hope that we will be able to adopt the same resolution in uh Hallendale Beach with one addition to it the first line will read that this uh resolution was brought forward by the city of Sunny ises Beach and passed on June 20th um I want to read one sentence here whereas the official recognition of a Palestinian state by Spain Norway Ireland or others uh is akin to recognizing the legitimization of a terrorist organization at much which threatens Global Peace and security those countries now are uh in lock step with Cuba Venezuela Iran North Korea CCP and Vladimir Putin in the news recently we just had a uh a Russian warship uh in Cuba whether it was posturing or not um is a topic for another time but the idea here is that these countries uh are now lock step with these uh countries that I just named so um I really really hope that you will unanimously uh pass this tonight um like the mayor stated United States United Kingdom France Italy Japan Canada and the European Union have refused to Grant unilateral recognition to a Palestinian state where might I add 80% of people in Gaza not only support Hamas but but of proof of of the atrocities we've seen uh October 7th so with that being said you all have uh the opportunity tonight to not only be on the right side of history but tonight you have the opportunity to be the ones making history thank you very much for your time thank you thank you um I want I want to recognize uh Council general for Israel mayor thank you for being here if you wanted to speak you don't have to F outed speaker card so uh next uh speaker um Lisa cats Squire can just say your name and address for the record please sure hi hi can you hear me yes yes I'm Lisa Katz I live in in chapaqua New York and thank you for flying down for this by the way thank you um I did come all the way down to speak today um good evening mayor fetchen and all the City commissioners so again I'm Lisa Katz the chief combat the chief government Affairs officer of the combat anti-Semitism movement and I'm here tonight uh to support the adoption of this resolution that would forbid the city of Sunny Isles Beach from establishing a sister city relationship with cities located in countries that have spoken out in support of terrorism um and their controlled land so countries like Ireland Norway and Spain have spoken out against Israel and for a Palestinian State and in favor of Hamas the state of Israel the world's only Jewish state stands as a beacon of democracy and human rights in a region fraught with turmoil and conflict it is a country that despite facing Relentless threats and violence continues to uphold the principles of Freedom equality and justice for all of its CI citizens when countries and entities expressed support for Hamas a designated terrorist group who committed unfathomable atrocities against innocent civilians in Israel on October 7th and continue to do so now they are not just opposing these principles that Israel stands for but they are endorsing violence and hatred Hamas has a clear and unambiguous goal the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people and the perpetration of Terror against innocent civilians I was honored to be in Israel earlier this month along with mayor fetchin and mayor leam behind me and a dozen other Mayors from across the country and we saw fir hand the atrocities committed by Hamas on Peaceful Israelis whose only crime was being Jewish we saw the bullet ridden homes burned with people people hiding inside we saw videos of families on their way to prayer gunned down in the streets and we spoke with families of young hostages being held by Hamas simply because they were attending a peaceful music festival Hamas and other terrorist uh organizations and their actions and ideologies are antithetical to the values that we hold dear values that form the foundation of your City our nation and our commitment to human dignity by adopting this resolution tonight you are taking a stand against anti-Semitism and terrorism you are declaring that you will not engage in Partnerships or cultural exchanges with entities that support those who seek to terrorize innocent people and undermine Global Peace and security the fight against anti-Semitism is not just a fight for the Jewish Community as we've seen on our college campuses hatred and intolerance left unchecked corrode the very fabric of our society by rejecting alliances with those who support Terror and violence you are protecting your Jewish community and ensuring that Sunny Isles Beach remains a place where all individuals regardless of their background can feel safe valued and respected so I urge you all all to support this resolution and to be Trail bra Blazers in our country and to affirm our Collective commitment to combating anti-Semitism in all its forms thank you thank you uh next speaker mayor Brent Lam good evening mayor good to see you again Commissioners uh vice mayor administrators it's a pleasure to be here with you uh I have to compliment you on the uh Pace at which your meetings moved uh certainly we have some things to learn where that's concerned in North Bay Village although we do always try to finish before midnight for what that's wor um I was privileged Brent leam uh mayor of North Bay Village 1666 Kennedy Causeway uh North Bay Village Florida the heart of the bay um you know I'm here in support of of your mayor who I travel to Israel along with and several other Mayors from across the United States uh for the combat anti-Semitism movement um and it was an incredible trip you know I think it was for each of us a different experience certainly for me as a a a non-jewish mayor and because it's relevant also someone who's farther to left on the political Spectrum I'm a Democrat um and I do think that's relevant to this discussion um you know and I I learned and saw a lot uh and I'm I'm grateful for the opportunity to have done that I would encourage anyone that has the opportunity to do so um you know why is that I think that we have a as with so many fraud and difficult situations and topics we have a lot to learn about the situation um in Israel at least generally in in the United States and I would say that that's true of many Western societies and civilizations some of which are mentioned in the resolution that your mayor is profing um it's very important as you know as selected officials to get full information when you're making DEC itions and I think a lot of people don't have full information on the situation that Israelis are facing in the the in today's world um and Jews and general I mean we do have the opportunity to interact with our Jewish constituents we're lucky in South Florida you know and this is something that I pointed out on multiplications to some of our fellow Mayors who are from other parts of the country some of them do have larger Jewish constituencies and others don't um we're lucky to to be surrounded by Jewish populations and I think have a better opportunity to interact and understand them uh and yet the United States in general I think we have a lot of work to do in our contemporary Society to be able to understand and sympathize with the plate of the Jewish people in our society and things are not going particularly well um so we as leaders have work to do um and I I do believe that at the very least this sort of um this sort of motion this sort of um resolution the mayor is profing opens up an important discussion you know for our constituents about what what is it that we're doing what are the decisions that we're taking and what are our beliefs Visa Visa again a complicated situation about which we have a lot to learn um before we make important decisions and start to decide what's what so I'm very supportive of the mayor in general I think that this is an excellent course of action for your city I congratulate you uh and I'd be really interested in speaking with anyone one-on-one in terms of experiences and learnings uh that we were able to to take away from Israel and again I encourage you to learn more and be a part of of this very important discussion thanks for your time thank you thank [Applause] you did you want to say a few words thank you mayor Commissioners administrators thank you very much for having me just for the record I just came back from Tampa so it's probably took me longer than Lisa that came from New York but I did come come with a car so but it was extremely important for me to be here uh tonight and I just want to of course uh ER build on on on on the words uh that were that were said just said over here by my very good friend H Annabelle from from H haland Beach and and and Lisa and of course Mar laam this is for me and I I I don't know I'm VI so I'm representing the state of Israel and thank you for everything that we have done so for even before October 7 but certainly post October 7 but for me it's very very simple at this this time of the of of our life of History if Hamas supports you you're doing something wrong if some Hamas applauds you you are doing something wrong as an individual as an organization as a state and as a country and and we see exactly H how International organizations are are working at the moment and we see that when Kamas applauds a un Security Council resolution or a UN General Assembly resolution or a any other organization un woman resolution when it applauds it or when it accepts it then you're doing something wrong and when and and and when you don't realize that um which is good and which is bad which is evil and and and really which is good you are part of the problem and and I'm I'm really sorry I'm really happy to see you mayor and of course I hope the the entire commission identifying how you can be of help and and hitting the nail on the head because when we're talking about sister city agreement it's really is people to people and in the end of the day we're talking about what are the values of the people of sel's beach who are they identified with who are this wonderful people of this community over here which I've had the pleasure almost to call home for the past for the past 3 years what would they identify with with with with countries or with people who who resent the state of Israel who go against the Jewish people our aspiration to really to live to live happily with PE in peace and security or are going going uh forward against everything that we the values that we leave H live up for um I have a lot of I've had a lot of admiration to some of the countries who have clearly after October 7th have have lifted their mask off H and and now they're not hiding behind any Noble ideas and I would add to these countries even what we see in Colombia that they've disconnected the relationship with Israel and and and the shameful disgraceful words that are coming from from the president of Brazil and we see also other countries and and of course turkey we see other countries in the world who are not shying away from from from showing their uh sometimes just pure anti-Semitism and any in rejection of anything that we uphold so so dear so not only do I encourage you to adopt this resolution and and deny any city of this country of your partnership and cooperation but also in a know mayor that you visited natania I also encourage you to uh to deepen your relationship with your existant C City in Israel and I'm of course completely committed to helping you doing so so thank you very much and good luck thank youge um we have an additional speaker Danielle um K carp sorry please I'm your name and address for the record please hi I'm Danielle karp and I appreciate your item and I totally support it uh me and my husband Martin karp also uh went to Israel in April for two weeks and I was there in February and last summer uh we're big supporters of Israel and I know my husband had a similar thing where there were boy companies were boycotting Israel and he made sure that he let people know and did not do business with them uh so thank you for your item thank you thank you very much okay no more speakers all right so uh public comment is closed uh I'm imagining that there's some comment or um commissioner Joseph did you want to start yes please so I would just like to say regarding um it's not only regarding countries that we we have to be careful of but it's also people right but this item is regarding countries it's just States but I'm we I'm just adding on to what uh Brent had mentioned regarding having to be careful and um in August of 2023 the mayor um elevated a young lady in our city um who she congratulated and she ended up getting a scholarship with our City Commissioner Joseph this is not what we're talking about so you can wait we can talk about that when we get to the Motions we were talking about with that there may be other cities and how countries were unmasked so we're talking now can you stick to the item please well I am you're not you're going off of the agenda that's not on the agenda we're talking about States not people well but it goes to the fact that you never know I mean you have you are absolutely right you have to leave this as it why don't we why don't you leave that and when we get to the Motions you'll be able to say that when we get to the Motions because that speaks directly to my motion okay do you have something to say about this item I don't have anything further uh M St do you have anything I for no vice mayor this item about TP yeah okay so I the way I see it perhaps I don't know I see it a little bit different I the way I see Spain Norway and Ireland I think what they're saying is that they're proposing or they're supporting a two-state solution which would it be something that would lead to peace so and I think that'll be for the benefit of of Israel and everybody in the region so that's that's how I see it I I don't necessarily see how it translates to those countries reporting genocide and war crimes um I think you know I've talked to constituents I talked to a lot of people about the issue and I think that everybody Longs for peace and I believe that a two-state solution perhaps is something that would lead to peace and the region which is something that is much needed I mean this is a conflict that's been going on for 70 plus years and um I think that you know we should be talking about peace and I think I don't think Spain Norway and Ireland they what they they they stated it leads to genocide and and and war crimes I think it leads to perhaps a peaceful resolution thank you commissioner Sion okay so from from the sister city um official website he says a sister city is a relationship is a long-term relationship and partnership between two communities in two countries a relationship is officially recognized after the highest elected or appointed official from both Community sign off on an agreement to become sister cities like we know that's a lengthy process it's not overnight it just doesn't take one meeting uh it takes several month if not years to to to make sure that we create that relationship um we here in the city of sun Beach we had take any step to make our community safe anything and everything uh we are 100% supporters of our Jewish Community uh we have the most um empathy and sympathy um in our Jewish Community they do feel safe here here you can walk uh anywhere in our city and you are being protected you feel safe we are not in the radar of the anti-israel protesters or nothing like that here and and and we have had a few um issues with anti-Semitism like locally um in the recent weeks even uh posting somebody's been posting some stickers through the neighborhood that the golden chores um anti-seismic why I don't understand tooo much this resolution because again to become um sister cities is a process so it's not just a wish it's something that it takes time um and and again I do have 100% 100% um sympathy as a mother I cannot just imagine what the families the that the hostages of the October 7 Massacre um are feeling uh I have boys and daughters um and and like I said I feel the empathy and I want to do the right thing um but at the same time it's not countries the one that are doing this it's people it's politicians that they are recognizing in what these terrorist organization so we are we we cannot call the country I have friends that move after covid to Spain uh for whatever reason uh and they're Jewish they didn't even know about this when I spoke to them about it um so what about our Jewish brothers and sisters in these places what about Jewish brothers and sisters in Spain in Ireland in Norway um are we breaking a relationship with them so that's not what we the C of sun else which is looking forward to do so um even though that I'm 100% supporter of the people of Israel um I I really don't understand what would be the impact of this resolution okay Comm Joseph want anything else to add no okay so I'll I'll respond to that because I feel very strongly about this normally I would sort of Let It Go so um regarding the the conflict and the two-state solution um I I urge you vice mayor to to take the time to to have a better understanding of the history on it because uh by accepting uh these Palestine as as a state you what you are in effect uh accepting is Hamas and they are not profer a two-state solution they are profer to uh get rid of the state of Israel and to get rid of all Jews um so let's start with that and I think that especially since the people that we had speaking I would say that uh every single one of them is an expert on this topic and so I certainly am not but uh the way that they spoke very eloquently um it it it saddens me that it didn't get through and so I know that it's my mission now to make it uh clearer because I'm I'm not I did not do a good job in making it very clear um and regarding you know uh commissioner cyon um breaking any ties with any countries this is not about breaking ties this is about sending a message and saying that uh we unequivocally unequivocally stand with the state of Israel with the Jewish people and any country or state or city or anyone that supports Hamas and by recognizing Palestine who is uh their government is Hamas you're basically accepting their ideology and yes of course people live in in Spain that are Jewish they did so during the Crusades as well uh this is not about the brothers and sisters in any of those countries this is about making a very very clear statement that this that the city of s Al does not tolerate even an inch of acceptance of of Hamas even a centimeter that's that's the I I agree with that I think we've been making clear that over the years like even right now what we just the people didn't have the opportunity to see the pictures but we during December or during the holidays we are going to have all our city white and and blue the colors of the Israel flag and this is beautiful I love it like you you guys are going to see and you're going to be very proud of this you know um we had done anything and everything to make sure that we support our community when every item that has always come to us as far as I can remember and since I'm been sitting down here it has gone through um so that's why I don't understand this specific like for example to enter into this sister city relationship you have to make um like a contract of understanding that you want to be part of it right now other than America there are 11 countries that want to be part of the sister city um program Spain isra I'm sorry Spain Norway um and Ireland are not part of it the ones that on that are looking for sister cities are Bolivia Cameroon Colombia Ghana Italy mosambik uh South Korea Togo Ukraine vanat and Zimbabwe so I did actually did my research I spoke to people I spoke to people from the Community um and what that's this is really not not not sending any message like we maybe we can't have any any other type of uh um resolution uh continue continue uh making clear the support that we have for the people of Israel but the sister cities I don't think is the one for the reason that I just pointed out this is a lengthy process you don't become sister cities in one meeting he has to have a contract of understanding so um by we doing this I just don't see the point and I do have another question um what is the staff recommendation what is our like our City attorney or because usually you guys recommend us to to support or to pass the the resolution so what would be the staff before I recognize the attorney I just want to say that this the the purpose of this is very similar to uh us having a writer to all of our contracts the anti-bds writer it's not necessarily saying that uh we are never going to do anything with any country it's if you support Hamas you you need to know that we will not partner with you it doesn't mean that all of a sudden makes it easier but I'll let Allan answer question but that's super clear like we should not even should just about this is not just about this commission this is about commissions going forward it's not super clear because if it was super clear then all of you would be in agreement it's not super clear can you answer the um please uh Mr City attorney typically on these types of resolutions we do the staff does not provide a recommendation this is purely within your realm from a legislative standpoint so we don't give recommendations on social issues okay thank you do we ever have a resolution similar to this one in the past that you can recollect you've passed several resolutions in support of Israel for example which staff hasn't provided recommendations on correct we have not provided recommendation this is consistent with all the resolutions that we pass that's may I add something wait let let uh commissioner Joseph go and then you and then you'll go our assist the city program is unfunded for this fiscal year yes for this fiscal year this is going for so okay so adopting this resolution doesn't automatically fund our sister city program correct no we have to we have to first approve our budget right exactly right so this is not connected to a budget item this is not connected to a budget item whatsoever right this cost us nothing right look vice mayor you had a question yeah I just wanted to to add something CL clarify something I I I just don't think that Spain Norway and Ireland intend with this what they proposed no recognizing or supporting two-state solution that they support Hamas I mean Spain itself has suffered from Islamic terrorism with their attacks on on their train system so I don't think that's their intent so I I just failed to see how that translates into that I think what they're trying to say is that they would like to see a two-state solution so there's peace and that's how I see it I appreciate that and with all due respect anybody here supp in the audience that are actual experts in in this and they see it differently well I I I could talk to them I mean love would love for you to talk to them I actually would love it so especially Lisa who flew in for for this all right so if there aren't any more questions or comments okay um sensing I'm not going to get a motion no no motion all right so the item fails all right uh now we're going to go to the Motions part of our agenda and um I just have a question Mr City attorney um there's no public speakers for motions correct if it's put on if if the commission agrees to place the item on the agenda well we did so does it does have a number though yes it so what we'll just call it 11 that would be up to the clerk whatever the sequence is um so we we had in addition to the um agenda for number 11 so if anybody wants to speak on the addition uh which is was made by me and it's a motion to direct the city manager to review the scholarship criteria um for awardees uh in compliance with past res Solutions and City values so there's anybody wants to sign up for that okay so um I'm going to speak to this item um and then I will let you go first okay no you speak and I'll go no I mean after I speak okay all right so uh I've I wasn't certain how to position this and so I have some very drafted language that I want to uh read to help uh explain what it is I'm looking to discuss uh whereas sel's beach has formally adopted the international Holocaust REM remembrance alliance definition of anti-semitism whereas sel's beach has passed resolutions condemning Hamas as a terrorist organization whereas s Al's beach has passed resolutions opposing the boycott divestment and sanctions movement whereas s Al's Beach upholds the values of integrity and inclusivity therefore be a resolved well this doesn't necessarily be the same language um the the the purpose of this would be to direct a manager to conduct a Thor review of our scholarship criteria and all current scholarship awardees to ensure they have not engaged in activities or behaviors that are in violation of the aformentioned resolutions and City values um specifically assessing if any scholarship awarde has engaged in activities or made statements that are inconsistent or in violation of the IRA definition of anti-semitism publicly supported or endorsed Hamas or any of its activities participated in or promoted the BDS movement okay so with that our are there any public speakers that wanted to sign up the what movement whats okay so is there I know that we're a little bit fragmented right now anyone wanted to sign up to speak on this going once going twice okay you want us um can you just well you can fill out a card afterwards just your name uh please again my name is Lisa cats I'm from chapaqua New York so as I understand it and I wasn't prepared to speak on this obviously um you are looking to set forth a resolution whereby people who do not agree with your values as set forth you know as a community value should not be entitled to receipt of scholarship funds essentially so I think that this city seems to be one where you value um inclusivity and you value human rights and I would say that this is a very good resolution and as we're seeing again on our college campuses there are kids who I think saying they're ignorant is kind um but there are certainly many of them who uh are speaking out in on matters that either they don't understand or with which they agree which is actually a larger issue um especially as a Rel to anti-Semitism so I would I would uh ask you to adopt this resolution um making sure that whatever this city hands out uh complies with your stated values thank you thank you okay yes please and if Lisa if you can just fill out a card before you leave thank you good evening vice mayor Annabell matab from Harlandale Beach wasn't prepared to speak about this item but I will do my best uh boycott investment and sanctions movement is uh extremely egregious and dangerous uh movement uh it is uh not only annihilates Jews but I want you to know as Christians that um they come for the Jews first they come after you next Hamas Charter not only speaks about Jews but it speaks about Christians Hamas Charter also speaks about uh the ma Freemasons it also speaks about the Rotary Club so if you've not read the Hamas Charter I've read it word by word um as elected officials whether you're local County stat uh I urge you to read the Hamas Charter and understand that the BDS movement is uh the the the parents of it the ones that formulated the BDS movement is the U Muslim brotherhoods which is funded by Hamas which is taken over college campuses um and um I think that this resolution moving forward is a a good remedy and a necessary one I thank you very much again mayor for being a Trailblazer and the last thing I'd like to say is put your politics aside because people's lives people's lives are at hand here people's lives matter and when you allow your politics to get before good governance you're failing at your job so um it is not just a Jewish problem it is a Christian problem and if you look at the news and you read what the BDS movement is and you read what Hamas said Hamas has come off come up time after time and said that they're coming for Christians they're coming for America they're coming for judeo-christian values so uh you know again I urge you to put your politics aside and pick good governance over um any political RS mayor thank you I appreciate everything you do thank you does not go unnotice thank you okay we don't have anybody else thank you all right so um please go ahead and if I can just please remind everyone please wait to be recognized and please do not use any names no thank you oh all right please go ahead 27 I had no intention to speaking on this but I would have never imagined this turned out the way it did um you're all entitled to your beliefs and I respect what you're saying about peace we all should have that but I want to say that you're not going to change the world here tonight this is more I believe a statement of support for Israel and to say we're in support of Israel and we're support of this resolution and to not even make a motion I think was atrocious it's an embarrassment to this commission to just sit there and not vote and maybe you just want to abstain by not actually staying yes or no which would have been maybe the right thing to do to show who you really are but to not support Israel and support and I'm stretching to support Hamas to support killing to not make a statement by voting yes it's an embarrassment thank you no no no we're not going to go back and forth please this is okay so no more public comment okay public comment is closed all right thank you go ahead okay so this resolution now that the mayor is proposing I believe it needs to go further because we had an incident where the mayor had uh propelled someone elevated someone who ended up getting a city scholarship who turned out to be a us supporter and um we have to do something uh add additional language to make sure that that doesn't happen again right thank you right uh commissioner sson I'm recognizing you okay okay thanks um I agree that what we have right now is a war problem 100% And what happening in the colleges and the universities is outrageous and like says to say that they're ignorant is an understatement it's terrible and I see I see what's going on one of the reason that I decide to make my daughter who is in college right now to go out of the stages in France um was because I didn't want her to experience the indoctrination that is going on right now in us in our college campuses um I don't understand what part is not understood by the public but we do support this state of Israel we do support our Jewish community and we're going to continue I'm sorry if I'm talking we as a commission as a city to make sure that everyone feels safe in our community um actually you guys were here earlier um but I spoke about our International Festival which which was a a success uh and we have so many countries being display including India and Pakistan in the same table together um just to give you an example example in the in the the name of the celebration it was a celebration of everyone and uh and and in the first page I wrote the article for the newspaper is our Jewish people okay they sing the national anthem in our that was the first thing that they sing so um I don't understand what is this misunderstood I want people to understand that we I'm going to talk now about me I do support the state of Israel I support our Jewish community and there's nothing more important for me specifically that everyone feels safe walking our streets and being here in Sun else that's what I have to say Okay M mayor no no commissioner I agree that looking at the um doing some background on our on our recipients is important um and and as we look at it more broadly you know let's look to inclusivity and our values and you know make making sure that whoever is receiving the scholarships is reflects what we as a city want to be uh portrayed as um I think that's it's a good thing to to consider you know vice mayor this is a resolution for moving forward correct no this is what this is a resolution to review our policy for um award uh for scholarship program which is very outdated um in fact it was brought to my attention that we don't even follow it but also to review the past awardees for our who have not yet received the actual monies for their scholarship to see if that they have broken an error not I wouldn't call it an error just to to correct anything that we can still correct given that if whatever policy we put in place since we don't it's not too late to effectuate that that's what this is so it's retroactive we're going to go back and look at all the uh recipients for this year for this year for this year and perhaps not award them if they have broken any of the criteria no they would not receive the money okay they have not received it yet why don't we make it moving forward because we had an issue let's let's let's one at a time so my my recommendation is that it would affect this year um and this is in direct response to requests from the community but also from what we have all collectively seen happening uh across not just college campuses now we see it in high school campuses and so if we can still effectuate that I think that it is irresponsible to give taxpayer dollars which have not yet been issued to anyone that is um goes against values of the city of sel's beach well I 100% support that uh if a motion is needed I will make the motion because I know firsthand how our people got offended uh during the speech at the high school by one of our recipients right uh so the in and I'm very surprised because the school body in the high school and the school body in the middle school they all knew how radical this individual is so it was not so surpris that she was going to get there and put the um the scarf that she put okay commissioner S I just I don't want to start going into detail I'm not putting names out there but it was not surprised that that's what going to happen that she put that scarf and she make a very divisive um radical statement that our people got very offended I received also many phone calls messages Etc about it so so um I do agree that we haven't dispers the money um to consider not giving the scholarship to those people that clearly don't represent the values of the city of son speach so I'm 100% an agreement and and I'd like to when we finish to make the motion then yes and I would like to say that the uh sister city um resolution I don't feel that it had anything to do with um support for Israel it was uh regarding sister city program and that is why I didn't make a motion okay another uh candidate who spoke all right uh we're not we're not attacking the public we're not no we're not we are not attacking any but people come up to the podium who are running for office it does not and and their comments should be taken as comments from academ commissioner Joseph it it is our job up here to to give the best example and to show a decorum and so please I'm asking you to control yourself thank you I appreciate that thank you all right with that um do I have a motion actually before you sorry well strong microphone uh before you vote on it as your attorney I am obligated to advise you although I will not get into detail from to day is that I do have legal concerns with this particular resolution and the action that's proposed to be taken uh I am once the motion's made going to I need a little bit more clarity but nevertheless I am obligated to tell you that I can speak to you individually and explain it but there are some First Amendment issues that we need to consider uh but I will not go into details because I do not want to Telegraph any sort of exposure the city may have uh for purposes of the public okay so I just need to tell you that thank you and I would just like to ask you Allan that if there's any way that this um resolution can be revised in order to make it less um as what you were talking about you will bring it to us yes well and that's one of the questions I have uh Beyond The Clarity is exactly what we're directing the city so I'm going to read it again and then uh commissioner Suson you can make that motion so let me read it and obviously please clean up the language I if you can Mr City attorney let me know if any of it is unclear I trust you to do that okay and amend it as necessary so m j thank you all right so this would be a motion to direct the city manager to review the scholarship um uh criteria and the awardees of two 2024 compliance with past resolutions and City values whereas s Al's beach has formally adopted the IRA definition of anti-semitism where s Al's beach has passed resolutions condemning Hamas as a terrorist organization where sen Al beach has passed resolutions opposing boycott divestment and sanctions mve movement whereas s Al's Beach upholds the values of integrity and inclusivity uh therefore be it resolved that s Al's Beach directs the manager to conduct a thorough review of all current scholarship awardees to ensure they have not engaged in activities or behaviors that are in violation of the aforementioned resolutions and City values be it further resolved that this review will specifically assess whether any scholarship awarde has engaged in activities or made statements that are inconsistent with or in violation of the IRA definition of anti-semitism publicly supported or endorsed Kamas or any of its activities participated in or promoted the BDS movement was that enough it is if you want the resolution to come back to you if you don't want the resolution to come back to you it's not self-executing so to the extent that there is a finding that an awarde did something and again that would be the issue that I have an issue with any revocation of a scholarship um who would make that determination if his commission makes that determination it would come back to you okay if it's but wait a second if if we're able to in this resolution give the manager the authority to make that recommendation based on this criteria the only issue with that in and the city manager can obviously speak for himself I don't want to put words in his mouth but he would be the determinant of what is anti-Semitic and what is not that puts him in a very difficult position the IRA definition makes it very clear what's anti-semitic but he has to apply the facts to the definition and make that determination on his own that would probably be more appropriate for the the governing body to do that all right I'm I'm fine with that I was hoping not to going with this but okay I would like it to come back I want to I want to see the page I want to be able to look at the language specifically and and like I said I'm I'd be inclined to looking at the not just a slice of things but if we're going to be looking at the values and the inclusivity and whatever let's look at it holistically sure okay all right um so I make the motion okay I need a second I'll second okay uh this is a resolution so it's the it's been proposed as there's a resolution all in favor I so so hold on I want to make it's a we we're it's a resolution proposed is going to come back to us yes the report and then we're going to vote on it I I be because okay because I would be in favor of this but moving forward I you know obviously there's First Amendment uh considerations we have to take into account and things so I would like to see the the whole thing no the the the motion is specific to this year's award is not just going forward so it's two parts one part is reviewing the entire process correct and the second part is reviewing the current awardees for 2024 and whether they broke any of these criteria so it's not going forward it does affect this year now you're not voting right now if anyone's scholarship is going to be taken away what you would be voting on is is allowing the manager to produce a report and a recommendation based on that criteria right is this isn't this a discussion item it it's no it's an actual motion so to the to the vice mayor's point if you would be voting essentially and I I can't make a motion but I I'll suggest the motion directing the city manager to report back to you and we can bring a resolution back to you with regards to those findings and then you can vote on that because if you vote on the res resolution now you're essentially already voting for it without the results so when at the beginning of the meeting when we asked I I asked is this a motion or discussion item I thought you said this was a discussion item but that was my understanding anyway I'm I'm okay I think this needs to be evaluated I don't want to vote on anything that I haven't seen on paper like it's hard you know just getting it read but I'm okay with giving direction it like treating like a discussion item because that's how I was Trea reading it you know in my head uh to to I'd like to see something on paper that then we can handle plus there's going to be a report done as well whatever I want I just no I let me let me clarify again this is not a discussion item this is added we have a section in our agenda is for motions which allows us to make motions that would become resolutions or ordinances so this was added as that and right now the resolution which I can read again it's pretty short um basically directs the manager to review the one scholarship criteria and two the recipients of the 2024 scholarship based on the three standards that I uh indicated and I can I can repeat them if that makes it easier it does not mean that we are giving him the authority to take away anybody's scholarship he's going to come back to us and say okay person a b and c did not D did or everybody's fine no one did anything wrong or everyone needs to take get their scholarship taken away so it's just him coming back to us with the report question is it him coming back to us with the report or with the resolution written resolution because I I don't have a resolution in front of me no report and resolution a report and resolution and then we would vote yes no or defir or whatever we want to do yes okay so we're not voting a resol we're just voting and directing the City attorney to come back to us with a report and a resolution the city manager not the City attorney the city manager sorry yes mhm yeah is that enough um yes if it's in the way of um you're still Desiring this to be a resolution directing the city manager to obviously revaluate the the scholarship program because it it is to your point it is outdated and then to also um review the uh the recipients of the uh scholarship um and provide a report based on the criteria I mentioned of those scholarship winners okay and then mve me have violated that criter please the only other question I have is to what extent are you directing the manager to look into it because I don't think the manager can undertake a full investigation of each individual awarde I mean it there's only so much that can be gleaned from what's in the public so let me let me simplify it then okay if we have any awardees that have been brought to our attention that have broken any of these rules or have gone against Any of of of our values or our resolutions we will start with those that's helpful okay okay M all right so I'll take a you have a motion I have a second yes all right all in favor I any opposed all right so thank you um I think we're done now we're up uh to public comment well first person George BM your name and address for the record please uh George B 18911 Collins Avenue on mayor switchin members of the commission I wish I had loftier things to talk about but I have an issue here in Sunny Isles uh if you look at the city website and part about the commission there is our mayor and hero there is our vice mayor and his bio there's commissioner Fabiola and her bio and there's commissioner viscara and her bio but when you click on the bio for commissioner Jerry there's no bi uh it's a blank page there's nothing there I'm sure you agree that this is anomalous because commissioner Jerry has been commissioner Jerry now for two and a half years and we still don't know anything about him he's a black box a plank page well uh as a curious individual I decided to check out his uh Facebook bios and his uh LinkedIn bio sir I'm just going to stop you for a moment if if you can just refrain from using names and then I'm just I'm sensing something right now no but we do not attack anyone on this commission everything is directed towards me absolutely thank you uh so I checked out those bios and discovered that a said individual uh graduated from Queen College in 1974 so okay it's something uh so I I'm sorry mayor how is this not talking about somebody how is it not talking about an individual I'm talking about we're not going to go back we're not going to be for appropriate list I'm talking about of traveling here in our city so we're not going for please continue but uh Marlene can you turn the timer on please oh I'm sorry I see okay thank you just let me know sorry go ahead so I went about and obtained a uh yearbook for 1974 for the seniors graduating that year and imagine my surprise when that individual was not there uh I thought it must be a mistake so what to do I called up the uh office of alumni Affairs there and I asked them and uh they said they have no record of them never heard of them uh I'm sure there's a legitimate explanation for all this I'm I can't imagine what it is I'm sure there is one I'd like to know I think the voters of son Isles would like to know um it's a little strange that after two and a half years we still don't know a thing about uh this person okay sir we're I'll make sure that the bio is updated okay please wrap it up so uh we just want to know I want to know who is the man with behind the mustache you know in inquiring minds want to know and hopefully we'll see a bio there on the website very soon thank you thank you thank you impressive um next speaker Alex Kushner please any please Alex your name and address for the record please and Marlene we your thank you my name is Alex K 21074 Street and I live in SEL since 2004 okay I came to talk about a couple different tiems but is you know I want to start okay thank you Isaac well I want to start to thank commissioner commissioner Jerry Joseph because I believe the guy deserve to be a commissioner because if you have any problem okay if you have big problem and you go to Jaren Joseph he will try to put his Hearts okay to to settle the problem I had a problem I spoke to Alex who's my neighbor all right I spoke to you who we just not we're not going to name anyone okay I'm not going to name I spoke to somebody else okay I spoke to Commissioners okay they promised to me to help in Russian you have you know you say aition three Gs dud okay you can wait for for three years you know for the solution but what I'm trying to say about this gentleman okay jar Joseph he he takes everything to his heart and he trying to help people this how I feel okay and I want to thank him before I talk about something else about something else about what you talked about the anti-Semitism why you not not making uh tax anti semitism taxk form txk force that will give a recommendation to the city manager because if he if he make if he makes a decision against somebody okay he need to make a decision that's for need need to give give him recommendation you know to do this this is my opinion but the I appreciate you guys going to the global problems when we have a lot of problems we are small City and we have a lot of big problems in a small City okay number one number one we have a lot of C bought FRS okay they don't have a tax for tax Sports in the city to go and check out okay about this for we don't have a tax sport to protect the senior citizens okay the abuse is going on daily basis nobody doing nothing nobody doing nothing and on a friendly not okay next time if somebody from the city you know officials going to Israel why we don't do a fundraiser okay I'm talking about it's a lot of people you know I check Alex wrap it up please huh wrap your time is up to finish up I check you know Channel 9 in Israel and you know they they they are really struggling and I believe a lot of people a lot of people will help you know in the what I'm telling when you go to guests you know it's nice to go with a present and I will be one who will contribute to this thank you okay thank you thank you very much thank you thank you do we have any more public speakers no okay with that uh how so all right let me just get clarification because it's too you can't go twice I'm sorry it does you can you only have the three minutes yeah you're going to have to wait thank you all right with that uh May before you adjourn when we finished the three the the 3M meeting at the very end I mentioned that what we had talked about was an error the thing about the order of of in which the remember the mayor like that order in which may I express what that issue is now so that we don't lose a month absolutely please go ahead so we landed on mayor vice mayor the person who used to be the vice mayor right and then you know well and I kept saying right that doesn't resol number four MH um and then I realized that only works if you have multiple people who have been Vice Mayors but in a situation where let's say maybe only like I was thinking about llor who was sitting in the audience he was vice mayor forever right and maybe you don't have other Vice Mayors in the commission and then what do you do and then you you come back to the same problem because you're not always going to have the same commission so um I I think we should find something that's more generic like mayor vice mayor and then you go by seat order or then the seniority is not even an issue then you can go see one 1 2 three four you know whatever what is what is your recommend what is that would be my recommendation so it be seed one two mayor vice mayor and then you go by seat number starting with one yeah but if one is already taken by mayor vice mayor then you go to two then you go to three all right so that would be I'm I'm mad something please because I wasn't present at the I know you were not so my thinking was that you go mayor vice mayor and then you go based on seniority right but you missed the conversation because I did that's why that's why I'm saying you can't go based on seniority if you have two people that were sworn in at the same time unless you go on the person that was sworn in first you could do it that way you can do it alphabetical too but I I think that the seat numbers takes care of it do yeah maybe a seat number I think the seat number is fine it makes it easier so you don't have to look back and and try to look at the video to see who was sworn in I'm I'm fine with that okay uh I'll be last it makes you first anyway there you go there you go want to ask a question what what happened during the um the school graduation that you you gave out well you on the agenda to give out an award for creativity for um and then the principal of the school gave it out so I was never called to give out City it wasn't a city award it was not a city award but if the mayor is not there isn't the vice mayor supposed to represent the city it's not a city award but I thought that okay so we'll need to visit that because I thought that if we can an award given personally by me it's not a city award but the prior year but wait we're getting agenda I'm just trying to understand the process yeah but that was the tie in what commissioner weren't here but she brought it up 3:00 but now we're completely off the agenda people don't know what we're talking about so I'm going toour this meeting and you can watch the video to I missed that part so what all right thank you everyone for attending right meeting adjourned good