[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you right there all right good evening everyone thank you for coming regular Commission meeting meeting date Monday February 5th 2024 at 6 p.m. commission Chambers 500 Southwest 109 Avenue we're going to get the roll call as soon as Madam clerk is Back Sir sure roll call M clerk cler note all members present thank you madam CL let's let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing for invocation Al to the United States of America and to the for it stands Nation indivisible liy and justice for all thank you way Lord we pray that you bless us today would give us wisdom to conduct this meeting properly and to make the right decisions for our residents for our beautiful City bless the city bless our Police Department all the First Responders bless our entire County State and Country and continue to bless us all in Jesus name I pray amen amen amen amen okay we're going to moving along to special presentations uh presentation of Christmas House program Awards 2023 is been presented by salaz commissioner SZ sir thank you sa okay welcome everybody this is the uh 28 annual Christmas house decoration program we'll be doing it for 28 years and uh every year we do it and today we're going to get the awards without that um I want to thank the sponsors without the sponsors we can't do this sponsors is uh doy M uh citris and Walker naris Inc Garcia Espinosa mes Rodriguez Tua and Co CPA and Pa and H and R Paving without this sponsors we couldn't do these events thank you thank you mayor thank you for your uh leadership and thank you for your support for that day I want to thank my commissioner all the Commissioners were present at the time and thank you Commissioners and I also want to thank uh Carmen for the great job that you did thank you kman thank you appreciate that I also want to thank the uh judges there were six of them Alex Adam Anna frometa Solina marono Nancy galves Janet Santiago and Marcos fanua Jr thank you Marcos thank you um all right so this year we didn't have that many houses we only have eight eight houses for some reason and we did it as a um we did Apartments duplex house and tan house we have two houses for apartments two for duplex one house and three tan houses so what we're going to do is we're going to call the names first place and then we're all going to take a picture afterwards with all the Commissioners if you guys can uh gather up so we're going to start with Apartments Apartments we had two first place was malali Leon 1081 malali it's been one of our good one thank you malali for support second place in apartments is Abel Rees 10800 Southwest 7 7 Street Apartment One all right going along we're going to go to duplex we have two first place is going to be uh Iana agilar AG 364 Southwest 110 Avenue I she's here we're going to give him a call okay in second place is sael cardas cardas sa you here all right so that's okay we're going to give it back to her so the other one was the house we only have one H meline the V she's out here and they got first place okay tan house there was three first place was Ugo aryo 1431 thank first snowing man no you can we're going to we got two more second place in tan house it's going to be Maria Silva 11653 Southwest thank you for we're going to take a picture now okay and the third place is going to be Juan C Sanchez 110 Southwest 109 ju right thank you very much you guys want to come over pleaseure r thank you commission oh you're welcome still going to say okay moving to special presentation B project named Tech Tower location 10911 Southwest 7th Street the city of Sweetwater Land Development code requires under this University District section 2.5.6 all development applications submitted for administrative site plan approval be presented to the city commission for informational purposes Mr Aries our Tech gu there if you need some help no he's coming he's coming right now there it is stand by we're getting there there we go we've come a long way in a little bit of time here wow that's a nice building evening mayor council members Alejandro Aras offices at 701 brickl Avenue I'm grateful for the opportunity to be before you tonight clearly we worked hand inand with your staff to get to this point I'm joined this evening by my colleague Erica Adams project principal Brian per Global City development and our architectural team from arit on as such we're happy to introduce what is the first mixed use Workforce Development within the new University District Tech Tower as you may call pursuant to the recent District updates all aspr proposals within the University District are required to be presented before this Council for informational purposes we're currently in the process of the aspr so we wanted to share with you exactly what it is that's going before the city the subject property is approximately 1.15 acres of land situated on the west side of Southwest 109th Avenue between Southwest 6th Street and Southwest 7th Street just north of the one at University City and Lis also directly south of this building the tech Tower will Encompass 678 beds 170 dwelling units a minimum of which 20% will be Workforce rates with a building height of 23 Stories the project will also Encompass 4,22 Square ft of ground floor retail fronting on Southwest 7th Street the project also includes 692 parking spaces and 60 bicycle parking spaces now if you recall per the code the residents will have their gated access to their respective parking spaces while we have 15% of that parking as the designated universary parking pool which is open and made accessible to the public or any any other um residents or tenants in other buildings that wish to access here that may have an issue report the project will clearly incorporate elegant and refined architecture led by one of the Premier architectural firms in the world and will exhibit design excellence and functionality as was called for in the new University District code the project will also Encompass the first class ameni synonymous with global City development we're also the developers of the wet University City and Lis it will include workspaces a business Lounge Fitness room event space and two pools one on the eighth floor amenity level as well as an activated rooftop pool with Clubhouse and Terrace on the 23rd floor ultimately these proposals will serve to further Revitalize and grow the University District with a Workforce product as well as all the student housing product that's been developed there ensuring its future functional and economic Prosperity as such we thank you very much for your support and your time and we're here to answer any questions you may have thank you three chair go ahead um is this going to be a pet friendly it may how we've opened it up to Workforce um it really will depend on property management and their view towards pets but the student housing projects do have some pets I believe so property management will likely do the same thing and another thing is the uh well you already answered the the question on the parking now they're going to be renting I heard you say renting parking spaces if is available no so this each tenant will have their allocated parking space but per the code and I think it was a strategy to prevent the city from having to build parking garages is within each of these new pockets and each of these new buildings if you don't have a parking issue you can allocate 15% of the parking towards the general pool at the city so if someone is going to the nushi Saki and they can't find parking they can park within this building or if another building that has parking issues they can at least face from this building you said that they're going to have retail office on the on the first floor that'll be about 4,000 ft those those office spaces they're going to have office or retail are they going to have their own parking space that has its own parking already built into first floor or that we first floor and it's already calculated into the parking now based on what I see here the um the entrance for this building it's in the Fifth Street or sixth street it's on the 7th Street you have a a designated Drive-In drop off and then you also have a pedestrian street on the seven that will be on the seven will be the uh the loading dock if you want to call it you have loading dock but you also have a pedestrian access right into the lobby as well okay what about the green area and that's and that is that is that they're going to have like a green area for them you have all of the allocated open space that's required for your code as well as then the amenity decks have yoga lounges and you have an activated rooftop as well that has some space so that question is this is going to be all only for students and no this is this is opened up as a Workforce product so if a student wants to live here they can live here but this is not student housing right exclusive so anybody can rent anyone can rent okay I go ahead so you said that 20% is going to be allocated for Workforce housing at least 20% correct and the workforce housing in Miami County is now at 59 under 59,000 a year well here's it's between 80 to 140 of the Ami so that could put you at that range for household um and commissioner sal sal is btom a point based on parking I was very interested so you guys are are allocating specific spaces of parking for other residents or visitors my first question is are you guys going to be charging for parking spaces to nonbuilding residents yes we do need to offset the cost of building the actual garage so those will be you know as you see in downtown D or any of the other places U metered parking get those spaces got it how many beds are going to be in this building have 678 beds so 678 beds 692 parking spaces I think this is going to be the first building that actually has a good parking to bed ratio so congratulations to you Mr Mayor thank you for negotiating that finally we obviously have a parking issue I do have to correct something that you said to offset the city having a parking garage the city may have a parking garage soon it's definitely on my agenda um you don't know what the costs are going to be for let say parking overnight you guys haven't figured that out yet not yet that's okay and do you know what the avator impact is going to be uh to the city every year on that building I have not calculated it lately but I can definitely say that it will be in the millions between impact fees and your average ad of on taxes it will be in can you repeat that again sign fees and your ad Borum taxes yearly it will be an impact in the millions oh okay so uh just looking at market value and looking at the size of this building is it safe to say that just in permitting we're looking at potentially 10 million I have not calculated the impact but I can say it's in the million the last bilding was 7 million it say say this was getting more expensive would you agree I could say it's going to be in the middle got it all right thank you Alex and with that a you through the chair go ahead Alex just help me understand you said 15% is additional parking is allocated parking so the way that the university parking Pool Works is you have a one per bed ratio which is than any ratio in the United States um if you feel that the building does not have any parking issue as you go through it you can open it up 15% of that parking pool to the general Community to other buildings that have parking issues or the general public that are consumers and local restaurants Etc so it's not that you have an additional 100 parking spaces is that if there's not if it's not being used exactly you can open it up exactly okay I was just a little confused about that okay thank you all right Mr Mayor Alex I want to congratulate you um and your team in global for doing an incredible building as you can see it's going to be a little taller than the rest uh because they have a little bit less square footage on the bottom but they have put every amenity that uh we has asked for uh and making sure the parking thank you m uh this is something uh you this is something that is very important to us in the community we have a lot of issues based on the parking and we're working for other buildings that are coming into play but I got to thank you um go stepped up to the point uh and they immediately addressed it which is one parking space per bed uh and that is what we wanted we wanted to stop the problems that have been plaguing the city now for many years so we look forward uh to continue to work with the other entities coming forth but I wanted to be very clear and say thank you in public uh for everything I'm sure the Commissioners are also happy um and we want to make sure when the groundbreaking takes place so please uh put an invitation for all of us and we could be there present um there is once again two pools rooftop Flor floor amenity deck and on the 23rd floor okay and the air conditioning and duck work will come from the top or where do you have it top roof that was a question that I had asked uh before but you guys were still working okay all right chair I got one quick question will it include um electric vehicle charging stations in there I believe all new buildings require the EV Readiness okay cool cool just to make sure do the chair go ahead Mr one last thing I just have a request could you please convey a humble request that all city employees all police officers all city employees can use the gym for free I will definitely that way they don't have to pay their 24-hour fitness and fitness and really appreciate that so relay that thank you all thank you Alex thank you thank you mayor counsel and your staff for having a vision thank you Alex thank you thank you you're my favorite attorney Alex item five presentation of employer of the month award having don't tiet personal it's all good you're my favorite City attorney RNE no you're my favorite City attorney what number are you on five presentation of employ of the mon award that's me you guys might as well calm down you know there's a lot of great employees in the city of Street water and I'm looking at a lot of them here but some of them haven't really been recognized to the point that they need to recognize recognize because they put in the time their heart everything into what they do because they're proud to be a sweet water and po so when I see one that has taken us to a level and he's probably hiding Qui because I can't see we're going to bring him out real fast where are you I think they hear me back there got you all right [Applause] you know I started here May 9th even though I've known him for many years before he has been a blessing to the administration he doesn't say oh maybe or he says you need this this and this I don't even have to ask and I know that the Commissioners love you for a reason because you're there for them to and that's what teamwork is all about and that's what Sweet Water is all about so on behalf of all of us in the city of sweet water thank you for everything you do for all of [Applause] [Applause] us [Applause] yeah back all right next is going to be presentation of Officer of the month award good evening everyone I'm here to present officer of the month for December of 20223 uh two of the officers were able to be here today the other to had some family uh things that they had to take care of so they weren't able to make it but it's Sergeant Christopher Hopwood officer Lewis Peralta officer evangelo Rodriguez and officer Brian Arius on December 31st 2023 at approximately 10:22 p.m. officer Brian Arius officer evangela Rodriguez and officer Lewis Peralta responded to the seven West Condominiums at 11311 Northwest 7 Street reference an unconscious juvenile mail while they were in route to the location they were advised by Dispatch that the patient's family had begun CPR compressions on the juvenile upon arrival officer evangela Rodriguez and officer Lewis BR took over CPR and deployed their agency issued aeds connecting it to the it connecting it to the patient shortly after officer Brian Arius arrived and relieved the other officers by assisting with CPR compressions officer evangelo Rodriguez observed that there was a single use nasel Naran spray in the room and they ad administered that Naran to the P to the patient a second dosage of Naran was administered to the patient from their Department issued first aid bag all three officers took turns administering CPR until Miami day fire rescue arrived and assumed control of emergency life saving measures Miami day fire rescue Personnel advised that the actions that these officers took brought the patient back from near certain death Sergeant C Hopwood provided uh invaluable supervision which which assisted in bringing this uh situation to a positive outcome the quick thinking effective communication and teamwork displayed by Officer Arius officer Rodriguez and officer peralto most certainly saved the life of a juvenile on this uh in this situation they should be commended for their actions and their commitment to protecting and saving lives congratulations you should put picture pict the middle people up front good evening everyone uh Noel Gil from the police department uh I am here today to honor our civilian of the year uh this man this uh young man is outstanding helps us greatly so it is with great pleasure that today uh we honor and recognize Jonathan figurar as our civilian of the year his exception his exceptional organ organizational skills and unwavering dedication show each and every day on everything that he does he is our property and evidence specialist and as such he maintains our evidence room Proper Storage documentation and purging of all property and evidence ensuring it adheres to all necessary procedures and laws as mandated by the state of Florida and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as you all know during our 2023 the city of Sweetwater Police Department underwent its reaccreditation as such property in evidence is always one of the largest hurdles that any Police Department uh can overcome during these accreditations his attention to detail and organizational skills played a crucial role in ensuring that the property and evidence Bureau passed flawlessly he is also the backup to the Quarter Master and the fleet manager and as such always gives uh all the assistance that he can not only to the Quarter Master and the fleet manager but also each and every employee Beyond his technical expertise his positive attitude and collaborative approach has made a longlasting impact to the department and all its employees Mr Figaroa always goes above and beyond to help each and everyone and for that reason we'd like to recognize it as the employee of the [Music] year I just want to say they really I appreciate that yeah it's a team obviously without everybody else I wouldn't be able to do it so thanks guys [Applause] app Chief where are [Applause] you you're still going the prestigious Award of officer of the year is presented to officer Angel Arondo in recognition of his outstanding dedication exemplary service and unwavering commitment to upholding the highest stand the law enforcement officer Arondo exceptional performance and exceptional contributions to the community have set a benchmark for excellence within our department throughout the year officer Arondo has demonstrated unparalleled professionalism leadership and a steadfast commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of our community members his tireless efforts in crime prevention community engag engagement and proactive policing have not only enhanced public trust but have also significantly contributed to the overall Improvement of our neighborhoods officer aro's remarkable ability to connect with the community build meaningful relationships and address the unique needs of our diverse population has had a profound impact on community policing efforts his dedication to fostering positive interactions and creating a safer environment for all exemplifies the values that this award seeks to honor in addition to his outstanding on duty performance perance officer aronda has gone above and beyond by actively participating in community outreach programs trainings and collaborating with local organizations to address issues his commitment to making a positive impact extends Beyond law enforcement duties refle reflecting a true dedication to the well-being of our community officer the Year award is a well-deserved recognition for officer Andre Rondo's exceptional service leadership and contributions to the betterment of this community his actions embody the values of Integrity courage selfishness that define an exemplary law enforcement officer we extend our deepest gratitude for his outstanding contributions and are proud to honor him with this award this okay those items now going to item item seven reports of officers board and committees none thank you any additions and dels to the agenda no thank you okay petitions Communications and remonstrances I believe we have two residents that would like to speak Madam clerk please um note that they have three minutes per if you could please take account of that sure will my but it doesn't work and our first person we have coming up is going to be Mr Richard kintana Mr Richard k please come forward V K if you could uh please take your name and uh address for the record please my name is Richard Gana I live at 245 Southwest 102nd Place thank you very much commission for giving me the opportunity to speak today mayor Diaz as well thank you um I came to speak to the commissioner and the mayor about two pertinent issues affecting the city uh the first issue is um recently Miami day County received a discount of 35% on flood insurance rates this was given to them by a FEMA discount through the construction of a pump station that was built in Miami D um over 100,000 Miami D residents will start receiving the discount on April 1st and the county discount is the county is basically one of one of 19 communities in theit un states that are receiving this designation um this discount is only being given currently to Miami day County um residents and homeowners um for a city like Sweetwater to be able to gain that designation they have to contact the County to be able to receive that designation so my question is where number one is the city going to be in receiving this designation currently myself for example in 2021 I paid $572 in flo Insurance within 3 years now my flood insurance is at $93 so it's almost doubled in that time period so I would love personally and I'm sure many of the Sweetwater residents themselves would love to receive this discount I know for a fact that residents whether they are required to have a flood insurance or whether they decide voluntarily to have it they can receive the discount at the county level I know that cities like dado and other cities are having to apply for this so I wanted to see where Sweet Water is or not that's the first issue the second issue is is something that I came to talk to the commission several months back regarding Solid Waste Disposal we had a private company that provided solid Solid Waste Disposal they were deemed ineffective because they had trouble picking up the solid waste and there was of course illegal dumping happening within the city this the the city of Sweetwater decided to switch over and have the county now pick up the solid waste so we went from 52 pickups per year to now going on the county plan which was two pickups per year plus residents here able to dump their Solid Waste at the the county site now commissioner Ry had had made a proposal during the previous mayor Administration as to being able to have a city plan where resources that the city had would be able to be used for a once a month pickup from what I understand that proposal sat on the previous mayoral desk and never got passed so I wanted to find out regarding the current solid ways to spos the situation I know we're currently on the county plan but will the current Administration go forward and Carry Out commissioner race plan that was proposed previously or is the issue dead in the water that's what I'm wanting to find out so if that can be addressed those two issues regarding the flood insurance discount mayor Diaz and regarding the solid waste plan that commissioner Ray had in mind I will follow up with you uh personally and uh give you your name and address and everything for the record and I will follow up on both issues but just let me State now that you mentioned the first FEMA dressed in discount was done by me when I was a county commissioner when I went to FEMA and met with the chief of staff of the Secretary of FEMA that was moving sweet water into into or out if I try to remember X is good or X is bad but one of the two it was uh moved into the lower rate because of the pump systems and everything that sweet water was put at the time the county did not follow up on the issue but now that uh the county has now done it because they started putting pump stations also we will follow up and see about a further discount um that is something that we will continue to look at it's just that we're we're just breaking the eighth month of the administration we've had a lot of issues to deal with but that doesn't mean we can't look at these issues as far as Ray's um proposal I will look into to see how we could improve one of the key things that the citizens as weet waterer wanted was to be a able to dump at the trash uh dump not too far away from here now they have it I use it myself all the time but to get uh a certain pickup that is uh something I will work uh with the president of the commission uh to figure out something if we could be done we'll see how it could be done okay always on the positive thank you very much thank you sir thank you than you sir Mr can you leave your information with the city cler thank you commissioner thank you you sir right next is coming um David bores can you please step up you have three we have three minutes from man we like they can read my speech they can read it get I want any miss you David can can you say the name and address for the record please uh David bores 11439 Southwest F3 I've been living in the in the city for 40 years thank you my name is David bores and I have been residing at 10439 Southwest Fish Tree since 1981 that is over four decades I am a very long time resident of Sweetwater I have no political motives or financial interests in what I'm about to say here today I am here only to advocate for my city and the resident's quality of life as a retired resident I usually walk several miles a day 3 days a week I walk between Flagler and 8th Street and 107 Avenue West of the turnpike so I'm very familiar with the day-to-day of this area that I call home with that said I wish to address address a matter of concern regarding the Department of Public Works and several exemplifying instances where regulatory enforcement appears lacking this deficiency is particularly noticeable in the activities of companies involved in installing communication cables gas infrastructure and student building contractors there is a not noticeable lack of organization and the maintenance of streets including closures and pavement and drainage structures a specific document ation case involves a 3-e gap in addressing a situation related to the ATT communication facility on South 7 Terrace and 110th Avenue that I brought to the attention of the city I have communicated this matter through a message to C assistant city manager prior to you couldn't give me a good nice fluffy thing you got to give me a a hard one okay to his reassignment I sent an email to Eric Gomez the city engineer that is a consultant hired by the city this despite my personal visit to the Northwest 17 Street office to meet with Mr Gomez there was no response to my message I escalated the issue by visiting City Hall And discussing it with Stephanie Gonzalez with with the aim of arranging a meeting with the mayor and harata this is just one example and I have additional concerns and complaints that warant attention the city has a long history of being non-responsive to its residents it is time that the city gets a handle on its communication with residents and business own owners we need the city its departments and its staff to their to do their jobs we taxpayers pay for this and they are responsible to the constituents of sweet water thank you very much Mr borers Boris Mr borers this Administration is moving forward and trying to deal with all the issues that you have mentioned uh we are working and making things happen it's not just the areas where the construction is taking place we are trying to address uh illegal dumping all kinds of issues I'm not going to turn this into a debate I'm just telling you what we're going to do we are moving forward to make sure that everything that is out there is addressed including speeding within the areas and putting speed bumps in the areas where it's constantly people cutting through the city to try to get to a separate destination we have looked at every single aspect that we could possibly do maintenance has been doing an incredible job in keeping up with things we have to do a lot more work on our streets we have to do a lot more work on our sidewalks we're looking at many different ways of trying to catch up and do the best that we can uh recently I found out that you're trying to get an appointment I was out of town uh for a week so I we're catching up with that but I would love to sit with you if you have any issues we'll discuss okay okay uh um okay I'm not going to turn this in back and forth but please I back and forth okay go ahead it's very simple you have a department of public work every time that you request uh uh for some type of construction inside the rway we're not talking about bending in the property line okay we are talking inside the rway you the the contractor have to pull a permit to to the PO work department okay for example very simple for you can you can drive the 7even and you can see that all the signs of the the the building they they they finished about 6 months ago and uh I've been sending a lot of message to okay you can address me you can address me I'm the head Administration okay but without mentioning names just keep addressing me sir no no what I'm saying is it's very simple whatever it is any type of construction inside the right way you have to pull a permit we understand the only thing that has to do the the the that for pulling that the permit they only have they have to close that that permit very simple why those sign have to be six month there when the constructions already finished they are not given the the okay thank you okay thank you so much thank you David all right so moving on to consent agenda item 10 you have a motion for consenting agenda of second been move to second we call Madam clerk commissioner yaniel yes commissioner greens yes commissioner Diaz yes commissioner yes commissioner Martin yes commissioner V yes president Reay yes pass thank you moving to item 11 staff items item a an ordinance of the city of Sweetwater Florida amending section 2- 356 of the city code of ordinance by modifying procedures for Mitigation Of code enforcement leans providing for Authority providing for cability providing for judicial review providing for codification Prov for an effective second reading and public hearing mayor di uh this item has been uh already been brought before and this is the second reading the mitigation of C- compliance as we know on this uh through the city Administration is there any issues that you may have I don't see any issues I'm going to go ahead and move this item we need to open the meeting so I'm going to open open to public hearing so no one's coming closing public hearing marus on the floor uh Mr Mayor what is changing on this ordinance who's the one then Marcos maros maros um bring me up Maddie good afternoon Commissioners uh salad building director the changes are um on the mitigation is that there are certain hardship guidelines that were added to this uh the appet of the ad Administration after the mitigation is done is to the Circuit Court so we're eliminating the appeal to the commission we're limit no we're actually taking it out the when you guys did this before there was issues apparently with the administrations and certain things did not were not addressed therefore you came up with an ordinance to take it away from the administration and put it before you for appeals now it's always been the job of the administration and I think that's something we discussed before and the issue is to bring it back to the way it was if there's anything that needs to be done we will address it as we specified I think to every one of you uh and that's what we're doing now they'll have the thing that it is totally administratively and when they don't like it they could go before the court and the court is the same way that with within the county and for the record excuse me for the record this is the way that it was previously done before that the administration was the one that mitigated and then you went to the C court for appeal three chair wait I'm sorry I'm aware I was here I appreciate it I with that I yeld man is this uh this is for right this is going to be for residential and Commercial this is for all mitigation all the mitigation is going to be done through the administration and staff and then any appeals are to the Circuit Court gotcha I think anyone else has any input into this item uh so I had went had to move by myself second second second by Ru roll call Madam clerk commissioner FR yes mam commissioner Diaz yes commissioner V yes commissioner Martin yes commissioner V I don't want to vote Yes on this item you've been nothing but a gentleman since you got here and maybe it's only because it's you that's mayor right now that I'm going to vote Yes I just want to make it abundantly clear I don't like taking any power away from the commission it's because of the work ethic that you have and the work that you've done the respect that you've given us but I do not want to take power away from the commission so I'm voting yes because it's you I don't like the legislation I'm voting yes because it's you I want to make that abundant clear so yes okay appr commissioner yanel yes president Reay yes he passes Item B on ordinance of the city of Sweetwater resoning certain certain property identified under folio numbers 25-30 31- 06- 003 and 25-30 31-17 d001 0 from special commercial District C2 to Dolphin Comm Community urban center DCU C providing for findings providing for coach ification providing for an effective date second reading and public hearing mayor Diaz opening to public hearing public comments go ahead Mr Mayor di this is an item that you heard uh before this is an item that basically is to in the commercial to Dolphin Community urban center area is to do the two buildings with offices and mixed with warehouses space and that is what in the empty lot that is going to be that is there uh which most of you know it for Peru University and so on and that is something that we looked at uh ver was the one that drafted it to be able to to do the need in that particular area so this is why it's before you does anyone have uh any no we have a move by commissioner yanu do we have a second second second by my team roll call Mam clerk commissioner Diaz yes commissioner Vio yes commissioner Martin yes commissioner via yes commissioner Yano yes commissioner re yes president Ray yes he passes thank you item C an ordinance of the city of Sweetwater amending city code of ordinances to provide for titling of certain seized or found property providing for authority to order destruction of certain seized or found property with little or no value providing for Authority providing for stability providing for codification providing for an effective date second reading in public hearing opening public hearing so no was coming forward closing public hearing mayor this is going to uh the trailer that was given that had no Basic Value to us but we could not dispose of it uh which was uh something that the police took over and forfeiture and due to that we you know had to wait to bring it before you but this is something administratively is is something that you know there is no reason for to get to your level second by call Mad cler commissioner V yes commissioner Martin yes commissioner via yes commissioner Yano yes commissioner ree yes commissioner Diaz yes president Reay yes it passes thank you madam clerk item D an ordinance of the city of Sweetwater Florida amending ordinance 48 6 codified as statute 2-1 120 city code of ordinance by changing the number of tests required by employees exposed to covid-19 prior to returning to work providing for reimbursement of certain medical deductibles removing retroactivity of ordinance providing for reability providing for codification providing for an effective day commissioner V thank you Mr President this ordinance is in response to obviously uh the covid-19 uh ordinance that was created in 2021 where employees of the city of swe water B civilian and law enforcement uh required two negative test results before coming back to work uh and the employees were uh going to their doctor's offices they were being charged a deductible it's silly now an employee can simply go to Walgreens CVS your Market your Pharmacy get a negative test result uh show it to the administration uh if there's any deductible required the city will re reimburse them this is basically us uh cutting the red tape and supporting our employees so they can get back to work and by the way we appreciate all our police officers and our civilian employees that work diligently through covid uh you guys never took a day off nobody ever thanked you so for that I thank you uh Mr President I ask for unanimous consent on this item with that a i thinkk you so we have do we have a motion or do we have anyone that wants to speak on this item Mr President I uh support the item I think it's something that's important that if we could ever get back to the employees uh even though it might not seem like a lot but you know some employees don't make uh that much so way to help them a little bit more and it's also a way that one test provides and I'll be since Mr commissioner R brought this up I also going to bring something up that was used in the county uh because once the test gets positive there's x amount of days and then after that they don't need to test it then and they could come back to work because they should not be contagious at that point so that's just something to bring up later thank you Mr Mayor so thank you for your support uh moved by commissioner second by V call Madam clerk commissioner Martin yes commissioner Yan yes commissioner yanel yes commissioner re yes commissioner Diaz yes commissioner Rio yes yes president Ray yes thank you m clerk item e an ordance of the city of Sweetwater Florida adopting Florida retirement system for General employees providing for exceptions providing for Authority providing for cability providing for codification providing for an effective date first reading mayor Diaz item me the retirement system I think all of you have been briefed um that we are trying to find a way to help um improve everything we can for our our employees this is a way that the FR system is the largest uh retirement system and one of the strongest in the nation um it is something that not only is good for the employees and I think um one of our commissioners actually benefit from the from the F FRS system the and I I would tell you that this system if it could be offered to our employees to improve them and give them a better solution and moving forward uh they have a choice and that choice if I Scott what don't you come up and just go over it so the Commissioners have a clear understanding we take Finance Director City of Sweetwater right the mayor is Right each employee will be given the choice to keep what they have whether they are vested in the iupat plan or they're a 401 uh plan member here in the city and they're vested or not each employee will get the chance to keep what they have uh to stop what they have in iupat and keep that that vested benefit and go to either uh the 401 in the state or the states to find benefit plan the good thing is that every employee has a choice nobody has to have anything changed the one thing to remember is this will affect your new employees this is an irrevocable decision once the city moves forward its new employees will be members of the Florida retirement system with the exception of the police who stay in their own plan it's a very good system it's a very beneficial system I think it's a good thing for the city um and it will provide provide your opportunity your employees uh an opportunity to be in a like the mayor said a very strong retirement system that is used not only you know in the cities but is also used by every County all the state and uh the Florida International University and the State University system so it will give us access to those employees if they want to come work for the city of Sweetwater midcareer at the end of their their career and it'll also give the opportunity for your employees to stay here for 25 to 30 years and have a solid retirement and also again and Mr President as we discussed today it is an incredible tool to bring in employees to the city and uh employees that might be part of f FRS in a different place or or want to stay with f FRS and they come with a lot of experience so that's somebody that we could look at in the future as we continue to grow and improve the the needs of our city so this is why I'm so supportive of this and I think it will work out very good for our employees I am move through the chair goad Mr V hold that on please so Scott how you doing uh Mr Mayor thank you for getting rid of the crap retirement that we've been giving our resident our our employees for the last four decades is it wasn't even crap it was lower than crap it sucked um so thank you Scott what's going to happen to the existing funds in the retirement fund right now no well we have a uh two-fold plan we have a 401 plan and that money is funded by the city 10% of the salary for anybody over $70,000 $324 for everybody under that per hour worked um those people who are invested in the iupat uh defined benefit plan will probably stay there they have no choice no they do have a choice they can leave but as you said the benefit is not has not been that good primarily because the I said it was crap and that's true but that that benefit is based on the contribution made on their behalf by the city a long time ago that contribution has changed dramatically over the last few years so when the average employee and I've shown some of you the benefit statements look at their statement uh we looked at one a person had been employed for 11 years and their benefit was like2 200 thou $200 a month over those 11 years but all of a sudden in the 12th year they earned $75 per month because now the city is putting in three times as much instead of a dollar an hour $324 and over the we have a a tentative agreement with the IUPAC to increase those contributions for those members who want to stay in their plan and that will give them a better I won't say as good as the Florida retirement system but it'll give them a much better retirement Outlook than they would have had otherwise um but some people will decide they want to leave the iupat because they're not vested and they can join the Florida retirement system and get a one-year vest for the 401 or an 8-year vest for the defined benefit part of the thing we also want to do is change the city's 401 back to where it used to be instead of a three-year vest a one-year vest like the Florida retirement system thank you um can you explain may I Mr R explain why you want to change it to one base to because it's a 401 yeah I mean it's a 401 there's you get what you get you get what you earn there's no no additional liability for the city to have that it's not a defined benefit plan you can't take out any more than is actually put in plus the earnings so there's no risk to the city and you have people that will come here and you know want to stay for 3 years but if they don't know they're going to stay for those three years well then they you know they have a problem so the 401 in the state is only one year I think that's a decent deal um and I think that's what the city should go to not only for the regular employees but for the elected officials thank you uh in the county you're given two options you can either go f FRS or you can go investment have you given they're both F FRS one is the investment plan let finish my question Scott let me let me let me talk here so we can communicate okay um are we giving our employees the investment are employees who are part of the upat who can't go f FRS are we giving them an opportunity like for example our city clerk has been here 27 years she can't go with f FRS uh but based on the lumpsum that she has can we give her an investment option yes as the F FRS plan has two options one is the defined benefit the the contribution by the city is the same no matter what plan you join but if an employee joins the FRS investment plan their money anything that they would contribute would be theirs anyway but the city's money after one year is theirs there's a one-year vest it's 8 years on the defined benefit plan so that's where you have the long-term employees that are going to be say I want to work for Sweet Water for the rest of my life I want to be here for 25 to 35 years and walk out with a nice Flo to retirement system pension anybody can join the Florida retirement system who has not currently a defined a a current pensioner benefit and that's me Mr Yano uh somebody out there George Vera and one other employee um they can be in the city's 401 as they are or as we will allow uh elected officials to do but there's no one else who's prevented from joining the Florida retirement system because it's only those people who are have currently drawn a benefit I just don't think a lot of them who are invested in iupat or have been here for a long time are going to say yes I want to drop what I have and go there us but it's their choice yeah thank you um yeah hopefully uh we can go ahead and give a a higher contribution to the employees benefits as opposed to $324 based on this system an F FRS if we raise our our that dollar amount 324 I'm sure the administration can do numbers um that would change uh that would change the money at the end correct we've already done uh we have a tenative agreement with iupat on their pension contributions and they negotiated something last time that was bad it was 10% of the negotiated wage adjustment over the life of the contract well negotiated wage adjustment over the life of the contract was 3 3 3 and A2 9.2% 10% of that is 0.95% so they got $325 24 went up 1% 3 cents to $327 and they never asked for it because the contract said they're supposed to do the calculation and send it to us last year they never did we're going to give it to them with the math done correctly and then we're going to go up their contribution for 24 25 and 26 and I think that will make the average employee very happy when they see what their benefit is is now that the city will be putting in more money you can't create a good benefit when you only put in a dollar an hour but over the last three or four years I don't know exactly when it was the city started putting in more money and you can see that onee benefit being you know 30% of what somebody got over 11 years thank you Scott you U Mr we have negotiated our team our attorney Scott and myself we have given a great negotiations uh we're going to wait for the vote that they take we can't go too far into it until the vote is taken but let's just say we've been very positive in helping uh proceed forth as Scott as mentioned to help our employees that won't be the end of it so we'll look into plans in the future and everywhere that we could continue to improve again like we said before we want them to be proud to be a Sweetwater employee as our res will be too thank that's if I may Mr President go ahead um yeah just two two things just one will be a point of order but just uh riffing off what the mayor said fairly much I think every increase and advantage that is an additional benefit to the employees in this contract or S be contract came from the administration I don't think the union actually requested anything I mean this was essentially all Administration driven and these are good benefits but going to the issue at hand just to make sure we understand what we're dealing with here uh there have been two um Essen two substitutions yes so we are substituting B andf uh e simply exchanges words elected officials for General employees uh that was a type of graphical error and then F simply deletes the very last paragraph which was not necessary other than are exactly the same there does not need to be a motion on this because the matter was a changed by the administration on its own uh prior to it being considered by the commission so this is simply a swap of the items uh but you are voting on these two items rather than what came in the agenda understood okay so does anyone have I there was a motion by commissioner Yani I'll second this call M clerk commissioner V yes commissioner yes I want say thank you very much mayor for bringing FS you have no idea to me it's one of the best retirement system that we have in the state yes commissioner Ruiz he say yes for me m commissioner Diaz yes commissioner V yes commissioner Martin yes president Ray yes he passes on first reading thank you madam clerk okay so we just confir all right item F on ordinance of the city of Sweetwater Florida terminating the elected official officers retirement trust transitioning elected officials to the floor retirement system providing for exceptions providing for Authority providing for cability providing for codification providing for effective date first reading mayor D I think this falls on in the same capacity as with the employees but now with the elected officials we we've had some very big payouts that have been done and we're probably might be dealing in litigation uh with one Cy I really want to appreciate the work that has been done by the board analist but especially um commissioner miti uh for looking into this trying to find the solvent situation and try to work with the numbers with Scott but the idea here is to give a benefit to all because it's changed throughout the years and when you look at it you have been shortened which I want to look into that in the future because I think it's the right of every citizen to be able to vote for the people for as long as they want them to be in office not have the term limits so therefore that's something that might be changing in the future hopefully we'll see how we could play that out we'll see how we play it but you know what I think that at the same time people have a right to choose who they want especially people once they have exper experience to move forward but in so the pensions could get out of line and in today's world things could happen so choices have to be done so those that are serving the public and putting up for their time also get a benefit and this is where F FRS comes into play also and Scott did and I want to I really want to thank you Scott for the amount of work that you put into this it's not been easy trying to figure out with the state going back and forth on a constant basis trying to get this to the point that it is which I consider a state of art the way you've done it and it only benefits the citizens of sweet waterer the employees and of course the elected officials and it helps all of us go into a more professional status a more secure status on the monies that are put away and that's the way I see it I'm very proud of what's been done uh this is the second step um to providing some Financial so predictability and stability uh to the elected officer retirement plan um the plan that we have right now with its almost 6% per year for for 9 years at 54% is twice as much as a high-risk plan so that's why the GRS uh comes back and says you got to put in 180% of your $500,000 payroll for $700,000 a year um we can do the Florida retirement system regular class for all the elected officials and the mayor for less than $30,000 a year we can then provide a 401 in cash the limit is up in the $60,000 plus doll range from the IRS for a lot less than the $755,000 and we'll figure out exactly what that number is and we can do that without having to bankrupt the city and pay out the millions of dollars that we are on the hook for and try to put in $755,000 every single year it is a it will be a good benefit it will be a sustainable benefit and I think it will be something that uh will attract people to want to be Commissioners for city of Sweetwater it's not going to be something that is oh my God there's no money there uh we can do in the 401 just like the city that's like the county does they only pay their County Commissioners $6,000 a year but they put $60,000 a year into the 401 and when you leave plus the earnings that's your money so that's the way we would do it if I if the floor retirement system had an elected office officers option that worked I would recommend it and up until the other day I thought it would but then I saw the 58% contribution from the city 44% of it's going to go into the pension fund for the unfunded liability I said that's no good we'll stay in the elect we'll stay in the regular class we'll put the money in a 401 and all of that money will go to the Commissioners not uh you know two-thirds of it going to the state to fund their unfunded liability it's just I I don't understand why they do do that um I might be able to ask somebody Thursday when I'm in Tallahasse but it's not going to get changed uh for this group so I think that's a very wise way to move forward and gives a a stability and predictability to the city's pension fund scottt I got to thank you for everything you do every day and you know on Friday when I sat down with you I there was nothing you didn't answer it was just answer after answer after answer after answer and I was just lost and you actually drove me to and showed me each and every number how it's worked every pension and you know I know that along with you commissioner Mi has been working on this and you know it's been you showed me where the saving is and that 755,000 that you showed me compared to what the city will be paying and that you know that cost savings it's it's just a I I didn't couldn't believe it I I just couldn't believe it I didn't know if it was true or not I thought you were joking with me or something I was like the where's the real number but you know and then to being today on the board on the meeting we had and you know you know kind of solidified what you said I thought I didn't believe you I don't go I don't bet with you I'll lose but you know this is something that you know for my colleagues that that you know that aren't on the board you know this is outrageous the these numbers it's crazy I mean my D thank you for you know leading us and it's a it's a it's a board that we never had in place that you know money we didn't know where it was once we get into this we won't have to do those forms we told about you know we will have eliminated that pension Bo it fill out those financial disclosure forms I got to thank you know commissioner M and and commissioner y for being on the board and I was put on and you know commissioner Diaz as well and you know this open eyes and you know stuff that we could going to see I think it's a great deal and I don't think this would it's going to pass 100% so and I'm going to go ahead a motion to the I'd like to get a sorry go ahead U um first and foremost Scott thank you for you know for your guidance and your obviously your amazing Finance thr right there you know thank you for bringing him I thought I knew a good guy and then you had to pull the card but thank you um this afternoon at 4:30 we had a uh an elected officials pension board meeting and unanimously we voted to terminate the plan because it was just way outrageous so uh as part of the plan those that are in the plan have to be bought out there's a number GRS that's provided an Actuarial number uh it's well within it's actually under what we would have had to do to contribute you know on a yearly basis so there is significant savings to the community while while still leaving a benefit that's attractive to to those that are in office but um again just thank you and and thank you for for allowing you know your top dog here in finance to to help me get to you know this look a little bit we're not done yet I know I know we're not done yet every day I got learn something new I'm like oh like this no every day you and I are scratching our head there like what the heck just happen here so with that I all right so help me help me wrap my head around this because I did not get an opportunity to sit down with you um when this came out I was in disposed and I barely made today's meeting so give me a run on how this works okay that way we don't have to have a private meeting we can have this in person everybody watching you I got one Scott if you want to use mine yeah yeah I got [Applause] [Music] one next page down next couple Pages all right Scott this is first reading yes okay so so what you ra hold on a second rather than put this uh if it's first read it's got to go to Second reading I'll set up a meeting with you next week okay all right and listen at this point first reading is is arbitrary we can go ahead and vote Yes on first reading and then second reading is to be potatoes so I'll uh I'll sit down with you if I have an issue with it uh I'll let you know everybody sounds sounds it's great I have no idea what it looks like with that you so I motion this to move and I'll second it second by commissioner M who call Madam clerk commissioner yes commissioner GRE yes commissioner Diaz yes commissioner V yes commissioner Martin yes yes commissioner yes for now president rign yes pass on first reading thank you madam clerk thank you Scott item G consideration of appeal by tones of mitigation decision by mayor regarding case numbers 2020-1 004 and 2020 00 00625 for fader to obtain a permit for the installation of a fence on properties located at 10855 Northwest 22nd Street and 10860 Northwest 22nd Street in Sweetwater in Sweetwater C requir statute 2 d356 all right do have a mayor or actually why don't we address is at 4909 Southwest 74th court on behalf of the Comm I'm sorry I didn't get your name Bert Umberto hernandz got it doing Umberto doing well welcome to S thank you thank you for the opportunity all right uh go ahead you know the process obviously is for us to be here to appeal the decision of the administration and the mayor uh to the commission and uh really the appeal is uh appealing to the mayor and the commissioner of a decision to show some empathy to a couple that is retired they're on a set income uh gone through a bankruptcy since uh reorganization in 2013 and we're dealing with a magnitude of a violation of failure to obtain a permit to build a fence around two empty lots when you look at the big picture the mayor has done more than a reasonable uh made of reasonable decision from $500,000 to $10,000 it's a huge discount and we appreciate it there's no question about that the problem I have with these runaway fines is that it gets to a point that it makes it extremely difficult on the administration and the mayor when you have a $500,000 find when the lot is not even worth $500,000 that where do you reduce this figure to um I believe my opinion that $10,000 per violation is two different Lots um is a little bit excessive and let's and everything's relevant obviously 500,000 to 10,000 is a huge discount again but we have to I think focus on two things the statute calls for compliance the client has complied we move on to the fine we believe whatever the administrative cost would be inspection cost of the administration um can be a little bit lower than 10,000 and we are definitely not alleging that this is an arbitrary amount that the the mayor or the administration made a decision on we just think that with a little empathy we could do a little better and justify the fine uh with something that would be more uh realistic as to the true administrative cost of the inspections and the administration of these two violations just trying to find it here the chair Mr the do you want to address it first go ahead no I was just going to bring you know Mr her said for a very very long time and I appreciate your statement and and understandably I just want to uh be clear and I'll hear from my commissioners before I'll I'll discuss it but Manny go ahead and stand there and if you could discuss real fast what we're actually doing and why and then I'll have uh whatever you got and then I'll go ahead and good evening Sal building official and building director so yes um as for the Florida building Toad and our ordinances uh permits are required for uh many works and uh property improvements so these two properties are commercial properties which are being used as storage and uh they elected to put a metal fence across the front of both of them they were warned as our policy is they were given a warning and there's always a warning first before uh you get to any any kind of findes or anything like that so the warning was issued in April of 2020 and um they had non compliance after that several attempts were made uh we mailed uh notices to the property and the running find started in 827 of 2020 so there were four months uh there that they had plenty of time uh to comply it's a permit it's basically um a survey and a fence detail which they provided three years later uh so there was really no no reason for this to go this is what the what it is by the time that it gets to a running fine it just accumulates the accumulation of the fine doesn't uh have any bearing on the value of the property or anything like that it's basically there there's a price to pay and after when you've uh neglected to do so that's all that we have to do I think that the mayor uh was very generous in that um in other cities I know that have uh similar ordinances right now for the length of time that this has gone on they would be paying uh 75% which is still way above what the mayor has mitigated thank you and stand by in case any of the uh Commissioners have any questions I believe have uh commissioner V wanted to speak first thank you Mr President uh Manny do you have the file in front of you I don't have the whole file I have here um the dates and the fines I mean the file was pretty fixed so we didn't bring the file um but I could probably answer whatever that you need to know great you know that I come from an enfor enforcement background I too know Berke for many years but a my job is to the city of Sweetwater not my friendship to him I want to make that abundantly clear although I am sympathetic and empathetic I want to make sure because in there have been plenty of times where certain things or irregularities have occurred that I've caught up here and I have recommended to my co to my colleagues to wipe out the entire fine but I just want to make sure we did the right thing so first things first this Pro the first property is at 10860 Northwest 22nd Street where did we mail the violation to we mail the um what the address that's on the property of CER I'm looking at it right now yes I don't have that in front of me but that's that's where they're mailed to and we do have in our file if you care to see it um they do have that we send it return receipt and it was signed for and it was received so they were aware that the that the property was being warned yes okay that's a problem and then the property's warned and then we go ahead and we issue a violation and they never answer the violation that's correct we always issue a warning the warning has uh on its face 30 days they can request an extension and get an additional 30 days during that time if they apply for a permit and there's there's already just you don't even have to have the permit issued but if you have a permit number assigned which means you're in the process everything stops at that one and if it takes you know 6 months it takes 6 months but you're not being F the running find only comes after uh a length of time of non-compliance and then when we have no other choice um we send out a notice it goes to the hearing officer and I'm noticing here that we have a fine for two locations I have 10860 Northwest 22nd Street and this is the one we talking about they put up a fence without a perit they're both both of them both it's it's both the same there are properties that are across from each other in the street they're both commercial lots that they're using uh commercially they have rented Vehicles there Etc so so they put a fence in both properties without a permit and then the earning fine was for 993 days on one and 999 days on the other correct so we're looking at a $500,000 fine on one and a $495,000 fine on the other and the May mitigated from half a million from basically a million to 20,000 correct okay I don't have any more questions for you um Mr hernand I don't think I've ever called you Mr Hernandez in my life Mr Hernandez sir so tell me why this commission should consider I mean I look at the mayor's even with your own words the mayor lowers it from a million dollars to 20,000 what is the issue well you have uh as I was saying at the at the beginning two retired individuals they have economic hardship they have uh health issues that's why they're not here today um they hired an individual that built the the fence as as U the building official mentioned the front of the uh of the uh actual lot without a permit unbeknown to the owner the owner finds out once he receives this notice of violation uh by the building official but again the situation is one where the violation the amount of the fine the cost to the cities I believe do not amount to $220,000 and that's why we're here appealing to the mayor and to the commission so what do you think is a reasonable fine for property listen I I I truly don't know I could give you an example of what uh the administrative costs are in the city of Miami which are $3,750 uh that's a nuisance value administrative value I do not know what it is here in your city uh but we're willing we're offering again if you can entertain it uh $10,000 in total or $55,000 basically cutting eight and half cutting the offer is 20 the decision of the mayor is 20 and I'm asking for 10 and you're saying that they can't pay the $20,000 they will not qualify for anity L they don't have the cash is what you're saying they do not have well they don't have no they don't not have the cash they don't have $20,000 and they cannot apply they would not qualify for an equ one chair that a you chair thank you sir did they comply already yes sir all this um they complied right they complied that's why we're here you have did they did this I I have to interrupt Manny please come up does these property have anything still open um that's an additional thing so we have basically here uh a pattern of non-compliance so these are are the two that they have complied with which is why they were mitigated you can't mitigate a lean until you compli on the same two properties they've been fined for lack of BTR and lack of certificate of use uh for several years on both properties those have running fines right now as well they have not complied we have warned we have sent notices so there's a pattern here of non-compliance they also had an expired permit for an approach from Public Works that was done they were notified as well they haven't final that permit they haven't uh fixed it and that is aing so they have 1 2 3 4 they have five open cases on these lots and each one of them there is half a million it's it's a pattern that you have 1,79 1,79 days 1,49 1,49 125 it's it's a pattern that they are not you know we we can do everything in the City and and those of you that know my department we go out of our way to help and that's what we do we can only go so far we can only ask you for compliance we can point you in the right direction for compliance we could do everything except comply for you and if you're not willing to do that then mayor um Manny does they have any other property here uh the owner has four properties four commercial properties in the area oh they do yes and they're are they compant on that do they have any two properties don't have any issues okay all right I was going to ask you about how much that's okay I'm going to go ahead and leave it may I'd like to through the chair go ahead you done I you know I I think that this board has traditionally repeatedly bent over backwards to eliminate fines but we honestly this is horrible for me that you've come here to ask for forgiveness when is non-compliance over and over and over again I feel is insulting to us and not only to us but to the professionals that represent us that are out there working with you know businesses to do the right thing I'm going to tell you right now Mr Hernandez I I think we should probably not 10 20 per location is how I feel and I feel that you know maybe you should step away as my opinion and just let us try to figure this out because for for me personally this is horrible Mr Mayor if and correct me if I'm wrong the building official as well the reason they haven't complied with the rest of the violations is because they need to pay whatever the outcome is today before they can go and take compliance on the rest they're not allowed to comply until they pay they Mr director because what I've looked at and I try to be as compartive comprehensive as possible to maintain a system that maybe in the past it was maintain for some reason and the commission had to step in and try to work as best as they could and I respect that but I cannot continue to leave something moving forward that will give the wrong message to people the city of Sweetwater has in the last recent months have done a lot of work and we worked together very hard to try to improve our image and to try to improve everything within this city we have helped people that have had serious problems but have complied totally death of relatives uh you know major illnesses uh and this commission along with my myself in the last several months has found a way to help those people but yet this is not something that is of that nature this is something that went Way Beyond a long time that could have been dealt with early on I thought that by doing it the way they wish I went against my opinion of my department head and many others because it could set of presidents but I know how my Commissioners are and they're very compassionate and we were trying to find a a neutral ground that without setting a presidence that's where we're at I looked at the other finds and I saw a pattern and these are commercial properties and I hate to bear with you but they're not that cheap anything in that area is extremely very expensive to purchase so I got a on this particular item is before the commission they understand where I'm at uh because I have no room on this but I would like that question answered Mr director sir for Mr Hernandez um going forward on this um I also wanted to add for your comment that when notification we met with them on 37 oh you met in person yes so um the question Mr herand has had a question that he could not move forward on the rest of the properties based on that they had to settle these two before so I wanted to make sure and clear yes as to the intent and where we were the license and BTR uh for the several years that are missing on both properties you have to apply and then get that granted and issued first before um these lines can stop the expired permit for the approach on the driveway uh you will need to apply in public works to I'm sorry I'm aware of that the question was we could not comply with the open cases until we correct made up the fines today no no no no that's incorrect the fines that are the fines that are before you today are cases that are uh permit wise and from my department are settled they are compliance and then the fine stopped the five additional cases are ongoing because they're not in compliance they are separate issues that don't have uh pertinent anything to do with these two cases other than it shows a pattern of non-compliance is the only thing but they're separate and stand alone they have nothing to do with the two cases that are before you these once they come into compliance with these then there'll be the process again they will come to the mayor for mitigation on these and then the mayor will will take the appropriate action at that time through the chair go ahead goad go ahead um Mr Hernandez so we have a lack of BTR a lack of certificate of use and expired permits for several years I understand there are some elderly individuals that get mail and they don't pay attention but now that the building official has reiterated they had meetings in person comes to a certain point where it's almost disrespectful I am personal friends with you you and I talk on the phone about our families and I and you and I spoke on the phone over this and this is not a business for you this is something that you are doing pro bono you and I spoke about that now my my only question is you're saying that these uh this couple elderly couple has a financial hardship I'm I'm not only looking at this $20,000 fine I'm now looking at additional fines and potentially you know surpassing this 20,000 how are they going to pay for this you're talking about the future open violations this and the future ones I don't have an answer for you for the future um not aware of those open cases and they're going to have to comply immediately obviously I understand I have to take that back to them uh the 10,000 I I assume that they're going to pull their I know they have a son and family but uh that's what I know they were willing to pay and could pay immediately to the city okay um I'm going to give a recommendation I don't I don't think it's going to work um Mr Mayor is this something that you want Mr Mayor is this something that you want this commission to to table giving you an opportunity uh to talk with this family because I can already see where this is going and just based on my experience Mr Billy official is there is there ever a moment where this family could potentially lose these properties based on running fines and failure to comply um the city does have the option to foreclose on the properties and to right that's why I'm saying it you know I I knew were going to get there so I could have foreclosed where and I came this close to flor crosing on these properties as soon as I got the rest of the information and I'm still contemplating it in my mind because as commissioner Mar and yourself said it is offensive we've had people that have suffered through a lot of loss and and I stated it here but they have performed they have worked they have begged they have tried to make things happen even not having the money and they have worked together with them but these are simple violations that could have been handled very very easily in the beginning not let me just off the top the two violations are before you right now are 993 days one and 999 999 days the other the rest of the violations that we'll be working with are 1,79 days 1,79 Days the other 1,249 days the other 1,249 days the other one and the last one with 1,200 in 5 days so the the the ones that haven't been dealt with have been going longer than the ones that were dealt with so this is a a quadry that we're in and I tried to do it in a way based on the information that I got and I think every one of you have received and Manny has briefed you and will brief you on anything but I don't see myself going down actually I was going the other direction because I would have sat and talked to the the family because again all you know that we were lobbying in Washington by the time I got back they appealed to you so therefore there was no discussion with me so and in your same statement I I would also take it but it is a dear friend for many years but this is my job to protect the city of Sweetwater and I will do that over any friendship or anything and I think that's what's expected of all of us so I'm in a very bad situation because I don't want to set a presidence for the future of anybody else because there is a lot of people that are not not complying and we have to make sure they do because it's law and I think each one of you have gone a long way to help a lot of people here but this is where we're at I'm going to make this very easy on all of us uh Mr Hernandez I'm going to give you a recommendation to uh relay this information to the family tell them to pay the $20,000 immediately and hurry up and make sure they become current on the rest of these violations because just looking at the temperature they're about to lose their properties um Bert I love you to death man you and I you you're my friend and it hurts me but I cannot support this appeal personally uh I think the city done a did a a great job I'm surprised that the mayor lowered it that much again he'll tell you I don't like giving kudos to the mayor I don't like it I don't like it but your freaking doing a good job look at I got your cup and everything am I talking hey maybe we can listen here's my recommendation I know you got a hardship haven't pay the $20,000 I will personally sit down with you and the family and building and Zoning we'll try and figure out but they they have an uphill battle they most certainly have an uphill battle if they don't take care of this they're going to lose those properties they're going to turn into the city parks I can already see it so with that I you thr the chair really quick go ahead uh Mr uh M uh Mr Salasar s at this empty lucks no well there they don't have uh construction on it they're being used uh for uh commercial vehicles Lots rental rental ples rental yes I would I would imagine that the people who are storing the vehicles they pay rent yes cool Mr Hernandez no they're their own Vehicles they're doing that for free they used to no they own the vehicles I I don't want to I don't want to sound sarcastic I'm just asking you a they own Vehicles they were in the uh pool they own they own also commercial vehicles yes all right thank you without a three chair how old how old is these homeowners excuse me how old they are 78 both both and it's two husband wife all right so we have no one else to intervene on this so we have the moot uh you can make uh at this point part of the commission is this is an appeal denovo meaning you can consider it brand new as if it was as if it had come to you originally and you have the power to mitigate any finer lean or to eliminate them as you see fit you do not have the power to increase a finer Le what that means is the fines here are in the neighborhood of $250,000 a piece you can't increase that but you can mitigate the fine down to zero or you can mitigate the fine by $10 or not vate the fine or accept the mayor's fine and leave it at that however you want to do I make the motion to accept the mayor's fin second which is 10,000 10,000 per 10,000 per per appeal 20,000 so 20,000 so that's correct commissioner this for this okay all right so we have for uh motion by commissioner MTI to withhold the uh mayor's accept to accept the mayor's uh mitigation fines of 10,000 in each property and it's been seconded by commissioner Ruiz we call Madam clerk pardon me commissioner um there's one thing uh I need to bring uh to light because the ordinance doesn't uh address it is the time table for payment um the ordinance going forward does address that that's one of the Chang changes that was done in the new one there is on this ordinance no timetable so uh I think it's prudent or or maybe ask the City attorney what kind of timetable if any that wants to be addressed for the of the penalty again this is denovo the commission can impose whatever date they want however in the absence of any date from the commission the uh uh we are free to foreclose tomorrow if that's what you want to do through the chair goad Mr uh Mr Mayor are you uh willing to accept the payment plan the issue is once again seeing continuing FS that still and I think Mr Hernandez already stated that they're going to look into try to get something going immediately to present to me and moving forward in the future uh I think this is something that they have commercial vehicles they have four Lots they're all commercial lots and you guys know the area very well and you understand the value of those lots I don't know the increases of those lots as to how much money is old and how much money is in the Lots but I would tell you that the amount of money that we did I think through your questioning you came up with the same result uh these fines should be paid as soon as possible and maybe uh we will look at the other fines if they've been uh ratified already so we'll take it from there understood thank you all right so we need to come up with the uh a day or we're doing immediately I'd like to modify my motion to make it in 90 have payment in 90 days that's reasonable I'll second problem we're going to go ahead and that one to make a arrange payments within 90 days I'll second his motion that that way you can make it official Okay so roll call Madam clerk commissioner Ru yes ma'am commissioner Diaz yes commissioner commission commissioner Martin yes commissioner V yes as amended commissioner Yan yes as amend president R yes okay thank you mam clerk thank you very much thank you B all right moving over to item eight a resolution of the and the city Commission of the city of Sweetwater granting a petition to close Northwest 16th Street between Northwest 12 128th Avenue and 129th Avenue Road closing petition number 2023-the the mayor city clerk City attorney to take all actions necessary for implementation and providing for an effective date mayor Diaz move second roll call Madam clerk who made the mo the second motion I made the second motion great presentation yeah commission you got paid the big bucks tonight you can go home now bye thank you commissioner Diaz yes commissioner V yes commissioner Martin yes commissioner V yes commissioner Yan yes commissioner re yes president Ray yes passes all right item I a resolution of the city of Sweetwater commission authorized Ing and directing the city mayor to accept the right of way the dedication of Northwest 18th 18 Street as described in exhibit a for Highway purposes approving and authorizing the recordation of said deed in the public records of Miami day County Florida further directing the city clerk to keep copies and said Deeds mayor Diaz move moved by by commissioner second by yaniel commissioner yanel roll call Madam clerk commissioner V yes commissioner Martin yes commissioner via yes commissioner Yano yes commissioner ree yes commissioner Diaz yes president Reay yes thank you madam clerk item J resolution of the city Commission of the city of Sweetwater approving pricing amendment number one amending contract with interactive data LLC authorizing for authority and providing for an effective date mayor Diaz move second move by commission R second by R roll call Madam clerk job yes commission V yes commissioner Yano yes commissioner re yes commissioner Diaz yes commissioner V yes president Ray yes pass thank you madam clerk item k a resolution of the city Commission of the city of Sweetwater finding need for third party inspection services for the building department approving contracts for third party Inspection Services providing for an authorization providing for an effective date mayor Das move second hang on hang on CH hang on I would like I got I got it go ahead I'm sorry with uh Manny Manny Manny come up real quick um I was GNA tell you or you want to give me the lowdown why we yeah this is simple look it it's getting very difficult to find a lot of the inspectors out there there's a lot of competition uh a lot of people are getting purchased out uh to do their duties so uh even though we have some very good inspectors uh man it came to me to make sure that we have our ability in case of need we could draw from two sources of the top two uh entities out there that do private inspections so this is why we don't not want to slow down especially with the buildings that are coming through excuse me and all the different things that our residents are bringing to us for permits here we are people that don't uh do permits or so on because try to get away with it but a lot of the the grand majority do come and pull permits and stuff so he puts a big bind on on the service that he's trying to give he's trying to give the best service possible therefore these two entities have come forth that we could draw from either one as needed whatever type of inspectors we have is this um through the chair are these parttime people in um these are as needed um I have a full staff I even have Reserve staff uh people that we use frequently however as the mayor mentioned um the market right now for inspectors is at a premium and there are not very many out there so in a bind where today I I've had to be in field today uh because we were short so in order for me not to have to do that on a on a short notice or anything and one of my people is out then I can draw from either one of these two companies and bring in whatever plan review whatever inspector that I need so that I don't have to physically go out to the field and and the pricing is you find that to be competitive the pricing is competitive um we are using the uh a piggyback uh from another city that they had the RFQ and their prices are in line their prices are competitive they're they may be off I know on structural one of them I think is 185 and the other one is 190 but I mean it's very it's similar okay all right go ahead PNY is this going to be a contract this is going to be a contract um um that is coming before you for as me services so once we have this contract signed if I'm short a reviewer uh an inspector what have you I can call either one of these two companies and they'll Supply me with the inspector that I need how long the contract is going to be is it going to be one of those that automatically well the no these this is we can cancel at any time I think there I think uh I don't know if the City attorney looked I think I about 60 days within 60 days we can cancel but if we don't if we don't we're not under any obligation to use them so if I don't need them I don't call them corre and by the way M yeah but I would like the extension to be able to use as needed because we don't know with all these buildings going up and what's going to happen we promised when we took over in the administration that we would try to solve the problem and that was one thing this commission asked for that we move and make sure that the building building permits and all and also open to the public so they could come in and do the permits there in case they didn't know how to do it on the internet all those things take time so this is why we're doing this and and again this is no different from the county no different than other cities that they actually do the same thing in fact the county has probably more pools and that's why they call them pools of where they could draw um service from so they won't fall short and this is why we brought this before you but I would I did not know the term that is very short time uh we might need to expand the term based on need yes and I don't know if the commission will be willing to do that through the I'm fine with it the reason why I move this item is because cap government has been around for many years cap government does business with the 34 municipalities in Miami day County as a matter of fact cap government actually acts as a building and zoning department from some smaller municipalities the inspe the inspectors that we have we don't have enough inspectors on site and with the buildings that we have sprouting up we're wearing them thin we're actually it's actually actually cheaper to do business with cap government than it is to have an inspector which is why I move this item I still move it and I second this thank you Mr because I like to educate thank you for your information Mr of time that's fine I we good I'm I'm okay with leaving it as is Mr Mayor if you have a problem with it I'm sure you'll bring it to us if there's if there not doing a good job I'm no no no it's not about the both both entities are totally stealth they're good it's just a time of the contract's use how much is it for again 30 it is it's essentially cancelable on 30 days notice and again as the Director said if you don't want them you just don't have to use them no no I get that I just don't want to have a the question was asked how long is a contract period for and that's the part that I want to be very clear that you know we do this six months later the contract's over I got to bring a new contract up before them you know these are the two entities I can't go outside those two entities and I feel very good with the two entities as have been stated I just want to have the flexibility that we're in the middle of a of in fact we might have a couple more buildings coming over us for what I understood last that's year we got five we have might have a couple more com besides that so the contract is open-ended it is ter it is open-ended it's terminable on 90 days notice okay thank you because when they said it was I just want to make sure commissioner yes commissioner yes commissioner re yes commissioner Diaz yes commission R yes commissioner Martin yes president re yes all right uh before I go to the nominations uh Mr attorney I would like to ask you for some direction yes um I I do have it's it's not here cuz it's full right now but but I have a replacement for my Planning and Zoning okay um it's not listed on here can I still make the the nomination first I need to remove mine that I have now which is Jose oo and I'm going to be be replacing it with uh Andre corales yes you can do that you can well this would have to be added mm so where are we here let me we're at letter right now we're at L we are our l so that's going to have to it's not right so you would need to add this as as um as a staff item uh and this would be uh P item P it'll be item P right so you would need to make a motion to to add this to the agenda tonight move move to add uh nomination consideration to the Planning and Zoning Board second all in favor all in favor all in favor thank you very much all right so we'll go to L now it's a nomination consideration appointment of members to the police pension Board of Trustees Court requirement do we have someone someone two of us I think they be either re ratified or two new numbers we have three Commissioners that are on the pension board it's myself commissioner Mi and commissioner Yano okay um I don't see how we have to change what's working right now right so just so everybody's aware I'm looking at the ordinance right now there are the ordinance tracks the language of uh statute 185 06 and essentially the commission appoints two elected officials to serve as ex official members of the board the two elected officials and the two police officers who comprise the board appoint the fifth person so tonight which it can be elected official yes exactly but for tonight you have two seats that are open so those are the yes so the seats that were the original seats were me and commissioner miti and then the pension board appointed commissioner yanu so you're saying is the the two original seats myself and Mi are up is that what you're saying yes sir okay I I I recommend to the board I move my motion is to leave myself and commissioner might On The Board second it can be it can be like that or it has to be individual no no it can be like that all right great stay all right is that the last time no we got uh through dominations nomination consideration of oh to the chair can I have a quick question about the pension board for the police department didn't we lose one seat we we did I I already spoke to Lori at benefits USA and I'm going to work with her and the chief tomorrow morning I'll I'll come over at some point and we'll work with them to get an election put in place okay so so they can elect the officer that represents them okay yep that's it all right M nomination consideration appointment of members to the youth Advisory Board we have anyone no none let start deleting that and nomination consideration appointment of members to the business development Advisory Board let me say something on that so to you individuals that don't have somebody appointed I um I either appoint somebody to that board or let me know that you want to eliminate this board these are business professionals who come who can help us none of us are developers none of us are construction managers I don't know anything about buildings all I know is the six years that I've been here so you guys are wasting an opportunity to allow somebody to give you proper counsel and guidance somebody who can come to us and say listen this is a good idea this is a bad idea now if you're not interested let us know we'll Lim me this damn thing all right so oh oh oh nomination consideration and appointment of members to the neighborhood Improvement Advisory Board it's other one that's on the table P nomination consideration and appointment of members to the Planning and Zoning Board Advisory board so I'm going to be removing my my current nominee which is joseo and I'm going to be replacing with Andres corales I'll give you V information after or tomorrow reach out to him going over to reports police report I think we have an attached Parks and Recreations report we good on that yeah what is the park going to be done yeah mayor can you about that I think we're on record time right now and um as you saw the T lot Wednesday Wednesday 5m we're going to inaugurate the TLA we're going to have to close off the rest of the park uh you know the police I want to congratulate them and thank them actually uh for helping um m in the Parks uh also Park director maintenance everybody's working together building everybody's trying to move these things as fast as possible we've had a couple of issues with a couple of the contractors as everybody else does uh but we're working them out the the the courts are are being uh done finalized uh the moving forward of it uh that should be pretty much uh moving by next week and maybe this week we'll start getting it going the polls for lighting is coming up uh the lighting polls have you must have seen them in Carlo Park uh they're already there they're going to start dredging they're going to start moving uh Eric uh did an incredible job and continues to do an incredible job making sure he's keeping their feet to the fire and I'm coming in and batting second so the issue is that we're moving the parks we're moving as fast as possible possible we on ronelli Park uh we should have something by the end of this week that means that once we get that the test and so on we could proceed on starting with the lighting proceed the dredging and start getting that ground over you know uh worked on so breaking ground that is something that I very proud of and with the support you have given me to make sure we can move forward on the parks now um we have some other things are good you know that we went um my chief of staff and I went to Washington to be able to find financing uh in other words grants the Nero funds uh that's important for us to receive we've met with several people um the two senators uh and and people that Chief of Staff of Senator Scott and then the senator Mar uh R directly and along with uh our two Congress people actually and some other Congress people too we are working together with the department they have put together some of the things that the monies will be available for because you can't go and ask the government uh this case the federal government for funds that are not going to be available and and grants are not going to be available so we went in basically asked first what kind of funds and grants are available most of it is law enforcement and some things for structure and building so we are putting we put together packages and they have been sent to the Congress people and they will be reviewing it and working very closely with us we've also done the same with the state uh and working with our two Lo lobbying groups and making sure that we could get also a um some of the things that we need for the police department too why do I keep saying Police Department is because that's where the money is available uh and that's why we're trying to M you know get the most that we can the you know the definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing and expect expect a different result unfortunately Robert could tell you that we've gone after year toe money not myself actually here but in the past the city has gone and it's gone through the whole process to be vetle at the end so that's not what we're looking for so that's something that we're moving forth with and trying to get as much as possible uh done with us the the issues that we're having and trying to get a lot of this stuff fast is the amount of work that's out there and the amount of people to do the work um we're trying to get it done before as we know the grants asire December of this year December 31st so we're moving forth to get what we can we're all working together uh all hands on deck to try to get us different projects together I'm going to mention one that I am doing and I think you guys will enjoy we are through GR have worked and through leadership of bua and the grants team have worked uh to get us the right uh piggyback that we can do to another city uh for street signs to replace all the corner signs with the same type of sign that you see in other cities like Coral Gables or you see it in Durell or you see it in some other cities that will give like we said we will want to improve the look of Sweet Water and that is one thing that I think will do it very fast so that's part of the the grant monies that we're moving forward but things like that we're also looking at cat systems and the police department we're looking at different types of system command vehicle or something we ask a state for money for and and to be able to do so but if anything we'll deal with the grants that we have before us to use so we will justify to try to use all the grants to not give back a penny as I promised you and that we'll continue to work hard to to make sure there's an issue that and I appreciate you coming um to the uh League of cities uh dinner there was something that was discussed but we could not discuss it among ourselves because it could create a sunshine issue so this is a place to discuss it and that was uh application number six yes form six okay for elected officials form six for elected officials it used to be form one form one shows a lot of information and a lot of things that is practical for ethics to review and and be able to determine things but to put your account numbers amounts and all kinds of things that are very personal especially in today's world that we have to hire entities to protect our emails and and all everything that we do on the internet we're going to put this information out that will hurt the you know the elected official and for what reason I don't see the potential reason to give out so much information therefore there was a lawsuit that was preseted and the company was the WEA weissa presented the lawsuit and they've asked uh there if any City would love to to join they would take them I think they already had 19 cities as of that night in the State of Florida that are joining to say no this form only hurts us and moving forward I want uh the ability to be able to discuss with them what that means along with our attorney and make sure that if it can be done I think it's something uh that will protect all of us uh not just the Commissioners here and the elected offical but soon enough it'll go to department heads and all kinds of employees within the city uh as things progress and information is is put out there but I would like to hear from the Commissioners uh on that because I think it's something that we need to support but I again I value the opinion and moving forth and I think it's something that we should work with together chair goad yeah I'm I'm in agreement I'm not I don't really care much for we Sera but we're just going to piggyback on I'm I'm for it agree with that y agree 100% me too I agree all right don't encourage him don't encourage him nothing being said so we'll move on we'll move on so with that uhy yes um so there's quite a bit happening uh recently on the legal front uh first off the uh PBA Lieutenant's appeal the Third District is sent me an order asking for a brief I follow or the city brief PBA F their answer brief and then I F their response brief and that's generally it the Third District issued an order about 10 days ago requesting uh that I file a memo of law on one particular Point regarding standing so the interesting part is that standing was never raised in the uh PBA appeal as a defense so obviously they've read everything and they had a question and they want an answer so I'll be filing that probably sometime next week uh we have three forclosure cases that are still pending the one at 109 and three um we have attempted settlement with them we're still in negotiations It's relatively amicable uh but they have filed an answer today uh they had requested quite a bit of extensions we've given them this was the last extension we agreed to give them they filed their answer today I have not had an opportunity to look at it because it came in late in the day uh the other two properties the owners have been served and we're waiting for their replies at this point there is one owner who the daughter of the owner contacted me or the daughter of the person who we served contacted me and said that she's not the owner even though her address name birth date and everything appeared in her file so I'll be taking that to the court and letting the court make a determination as to what to do with that we have two old cases that are coming up for trial soon um the ruo case is coming up for trial which case ruo and then the Mario Miranda case is coming up for trial as well my deposition I I've already been deposed once in that case but theyve set my Depot again for last Friday on another matter it got canceled at the last minute but that case is coming up for trial again that's the Mario Miranda case and there's also the rido case for both coming up for trial in the next two months uh Mr Mayor just in case you hadn't heard on the 109 and3 since you were talking to to Robert uh that property they have filed an answer today the answer came in late in the afternoon so I've not had an opportunity to look at it but as soon as I look at it uh well I'll be here tomorrow for the PBA negotiation yes the the property so I'll go ahead and uh I'll be here tomorrow and I'll have a look at it we can discuss it at that point okay I followed the instructions given by the the commission not to back down on the 300 building and that is what I've done I followed the uh the instructions given by the commission on the 300 uh building I have not backed down the attorney has uh make sure that uh we are moving forward based on all the information of the hardships and the things that were done and the lack of professionalism everything that was based on that uh we're moving forth uh with the with foreclosure with the foreclosures but also the attorneys they hire a new set of attorneys yes and that is the information that we were waiting to hear because they wanted to expand for a lot more time and we said uh you know time's out so this is where we're at I wanted you guys to also be informed of that through the chair go ahead Ral let me make this abundantly clear I want to be at that courtroom and there's an opportunity for me to testify in court to tell a judge what pieces of crap those owners are and what they did to those residents I would love to do it that business is over I would love to do it so no move forward throw everything you got at them they can go themselves and on the Ami Manda case since you're I guess you're a w in that case you you're not the attorney on that of file for Sweetwater is that correct no that's being defended by uh by Insurance defense Council got it uh my deposition I was City Attorney at the time that the events occurred so my deposition was taken um a good portion of was simply attorney client privilege really couldn't testify about it right but now they want to take my deposition a second time as a city's corporate representative on City on the city Charter and the city code which is these are legal issues so anybody can read the charter and code it's online but they want to go ahead and do this anyway uh this case is 10 years old something like that yes and and you know my deposition was taken in 2015 the first time around and since then nothing has really happened and now they want to do it again so I I don't really understand the the rationale behind this lawyers actions but they are what what they are and we're represented by John Selmo in Fort Lauderdale excellent excellent firm I have a good excellent working relationship with uh with both Bruce Johnson the the principal and Melissa uh Johnson uh the uh the attorneys handled the case she's an excellent lawyer so I have every confidence that they will provide the the greatest representation possible and of course although I've not appeared as an attorney in the case um you know I have been monitoring the entire man since then and been providing molissa with my guidance thank you Ro okay to the share can I make comment to m u that building is right in the corner of my house okay I can tell you that every time time I passed by they have been at the alley it was drunk people peing in from everybody prostitution you name it it have been horrible for those in this city and I live there past I was passing by there every single day one day I stopped and the guy didn't stop being in front of some kids that were passing by from school so just to have an idea what we have been feeling good commissioner just so you are aware the mayor and I met with four of their lawyers about 2 months ago actually in January early January and this was all raised with them they they are aware of this they they weren't aware of it before at least they they claimed they weren't aware of it before but they've been made aware of the the temperature of the commission and the feelings about the uh the way that the property was um neglected and used for uh for illicit purposes and they're aware of this now um the the upshot at this point is that they have filed an answer as we told them they needed a file I'll have a look at the answer sometime tomorrow probably after the PBA uh negotiations I'll discuss it with the mayor at that point yeah let him know they number one and it's not with this finger understood that all right so I'm moving over to maintenance report I believe leave no maintenance report by the way I want to thank maintenance thank you for the are attached up there it looks great up there yeah we and we just covered two that are coming up by the way I may I Mr President go ahead I forgot something I know that um Ian had uh our commissioner had asked for and God we trust and today we met and he reminded me that the firmer Administration did not put it up um I will be looking for price and how we're going to do it but we will have that sign put up as fast as possible okay thank you you super all right all right so after after main this report we have City report and mayor report those two were covered vice versa I don't even know how it jumped over but I they got covered right yeah all good good good all right Commissioners report through the chair go ahead I'm going to keep this brief um I was made aware uh that the previous administration had purchased bulletproof vests for our Police Department obviously the previous administration left and it left for our current Administration to go ahead and issue the bulletproof vest that were purchased by the previous administration unb out to anyone here the bulletproof vest that were purchased were level two bulletproof vest level two bulletproof vest is not what we want a level buest does not stop every handgun round the standard that we expect for our police officers is level 3A level 3A stops every single handgun round and some rifle rounds our officers have enough to contend with this is unacceptable to me it's disgusting to find out I have um communicated with the police Administration they have communicated with the mayor's office and they've assured me that that they are going to write this wrong but I want to make sure to make you guys aware that if we need to allocate or reallocate Monies to purchase level 3A bulletproof V for our Police Department I know that every single one of you is going to give me a yes on that I just want to make you guys aware of what the previous administration did because I was told that they handed the previous police administration at Cadillac it wasn't a Cadillac it's more like a 1987 DeVille they're doing a great job I I concur totally that a 2 a vest does not stop the the rounds that would put our officers in Jeopardy and we will not accept that I will talk to the chief uh but I just did hear that that was a grant that was applied by the administration passed and it was the county paid for it for two-way vest uh that is something I I was not totally aware I know there was a grant for vest but I also thought it was 3 plus or 3A so I will look into it with the administration and it will be uh looked at uh s along with all the other equipment that we acquired by the prior Administration that we the the Chiefs the chief and the other Chiefs are looking at every single thing within the department and we're analyzing that that's why I told you about the cad system all the other camera systems around the city everything that we're chewing to make sure that the security not only of the citizens and you guys know that sweet water is about 150 to 200,000 people that come into sweet water every day okay to work in that whole commercial area which when I was mayor here the first time it was 90% residential and 10% commercial in business today um we are 90% commercial and business and 10% residential I know that amount will switch as buildings come in but we need to prepare for that influx of people within our city but our police department will be very well geared I give you my word and protected and making sure each man and women that works in the police department will get back safely the radios the new radios the Motorola highest end radios are should be within a week or two they're already here good okay so these are the radios that I got uh made sure that the city of Sweetwater was the first city that would get those radios at a forget $650 or something thousand I go pick up my radio later yeah so long story short for what they will have communic communication they will have an actual if a boto comes out there will be a picture of the subject in the for the officers uh it also does radio and it does cellular at the same time it is the top radio in the industry right now our men and women will have that along with hopefully a cad system soon and everything so when I say that we will make sure that we protect the men and women that protect us Trust trust me there is no variation on that that will never change and they will have the best equipment that they need to do their job so they could get home to their families as you saw a one of our greatest officers with his two kids standing his lovely wife that is what we're about also family and I'm very proud of the way we're looking at this and the way the administration is working and when I mean Administration that means everybody okay so wanted to clear that up the chair uh mayor since you mentioned uh bulletproof vest just wanted to point out that the US Department of Justice has a grant called the bulletproof vest program it's called the bvp and they give bulletproof vests out based on the number of newly hired officers so you guys might want to look into that and see if we can apply for it I thought so but I just wanted to look over but thank you commissioner it's by the way anything you here yeah uh we're good we're I'm very proud to back I'm applying for a lot of different grants out there so whatever I see out there I think we could use I will give you a call and let you know about it I appreciate that thank you thank you very much all right G elderly service program report of it's attached building and Zoning if it is attached code enforcement it is attached Finance report is attached city clerk's report it is attached attach thank you very much Human Resources support attach as well unfinished business new business C motions for adjournment move thank you ladies G