Village Council - Regular Meeting

went last year for rookie camp for two weeks now she's there for a month so kimmy and i Yes, everyone. Everyone. That's not what I heard, but we can talk about that. I have to start the meeting? Yeah. If everyone can please find their seats at 6.30. I'd like to call the meeting to order.

If everyone can please find their seats. It's going to take a lot more than a jacket. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Please don't approach the days we're about to start the meeting. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Mr. Clerk, call to order, please.

Yes, roll call. Mayor Silver.

Here.

Vice Mayor Wolf. Here. Councilman Fremark is not here. Councilman Levy.

Councilman Levy. Here.

Councilman Sklar. Here. And we have quorum.

Thank you. Any... Oh, there's no... Pledge of Allegiance.

Request for additions, withdrawals, and deferrals. Yes, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to move C7A off the consent agenda and move it to the end of the meeting, please. Okay. So it will be heard. I will be leaving for that.

Recuse yourself. Recuse myself. Okay. So it will be heard after public comment.

And I would like to add a public comment. Do I need to say that?

No. You'll be able to do that when we open it up. Okay, so I start this meeting with some sad news. In late May, we lost our former mayor, Jeannie Rosenfield. She was not only a respected teacher, leader, she was also my neighbor, and I had many interactions with her. So I wanted to take a moment to recognize her. And, you know, this was a... Bell Harbor was... was a second home for her. She was the mayor for two terms. She served on the council and she was a very respected member of the community and I'm going to read a little bit about her in this proclamation that is going to be signed by the entire council. Proclamation honoring the life and legacy of Regina Jean Rosenfield. Whereas Jean Rosenfield, a beloved resident and former mayor of Bell Harbor Village, devoted her life to education, public service, civic leadership, and the betterment of the community. And whereas Jean served for 52 years in the Miami-Dade County school system, leaving an enduring impact on generations of students, families, and colleagues, and whereas she later brought her experience, discipline, and sense of purpose to Bal Harbor Village, serving from 2005 until 2014 as councilwoman, assistant mayor, and two terms as mayor, and whereas she was a leader who regarded taxpayer dollars as a public trust, favored thoughtful criteria over emotion, encouraged residents to work together, and understood Bal Harbor's natural and civic assets and responsibilities to be protected, for the community and whereas Jean emphasized transparency, resident participation, public safety, environmental stewardship, and the preservation of the village's unique character and quality of life. And whereas as mayor, she led the village through important discussions concerning public access to government information, advisory board participation, tourism governance, public safety modernization, budgetary discipline, and long-term planning, and whereas Jean Rosenfield will be remembered by all who knew her with deep respect and affection for her principles, devotion, intellectual rigor, compassion, and commitment to the village she served. Now, therefore, the Village Council of Bow Harbor Village, Florida does hereby honor and recognize the life, service, and legacy of former Mayor Jean Rosenfield. and extends its deepest condolences to her family, friends, former students, colleagues, and all those whose lives were enriched by her example. Bal Harbor Village expresses its lasting gratitude for Jean Rosenfield's lifelong devotion to education and her enduring contribution to the civic life of the village. In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and cause the official seal of Bal Harbor Village to be affixed the 16th day of June, 2026. I'd like to ask my colleagues who join me here to take a picture.

with the proclamation, which will be shared with your family.

Okay, on the count of three, one, two, three.

We're going to make a terrible basketball team, aren't we?

Brian, thank you.

Okay. On a happier note, Earlier this month, I had the privilege to attend the Ruth K. Broad commencement ceremony, which took place at Miami Beach High. And every city, Surfside, Bal Harbor, and Bay Harbor, gets to recognize the top graduate from that municipality. And I'm honored to welcome to our meeting tonight Nassim Isaac Burstein-Hafetz, who is, I'm just going to read here, in special recognition of your receipt of this year's commendable student award and your exceptional accomplishments and unwavering dedication to academic excellence and extracurricular activities, your remarkable achievements and outstanding character have made a significant impact on the Ruth K. Broad Bay Harbor K-8 community and serve as an inspiration. So come up and receive this award.

One, two, three. Perfect. Get the parents.

Get the parents. Yeah. Yep. This one. Got it? One, two, three.

Okay. Perfect. Thank you. I spoke to Geller, of course.

Okay, so we wish you well in your high school career. Maybe you'll be back here in four years, valedictorian of Beach High. Okay, the next presentation's gonna be given by our wonderful Bell Harbor Police Department.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council, Romero, Assistant Village Manager, and all of our residents and guests that are here tonight. I know we're going to honor our Officer of the Year and Civilian of the Year, but I want to take this opportunity to introduce two new members of our police department. You know, we take recruiting and we take hiring, the process of hiring, we're very selective. And the D.C. and I came up with, you know, like a football terminology that we only pick first-round draft picks here in Bell Harbor. And so we have two first-round draft picks that we were able to hire, recently hire, and I want to call them up and introduce them to our community and to introduce them to you all. So the first person that we have is Officer Oscar Mejia. Oscar, where are you? Come on up. And I'll read a brief bio about Oscar. Oscar Mejia joined our agency from the Hialeah Police Department, bringing with him 11 years of law enforcement experience, including seven years assigned to the undercover narcotics unit. Prior to becoming a police officer, Oscar served with the Florida Department of Corrections, where he rose through the ranks, attaining the rank of sergeant. This experience provided him with a strong leadership foundation and extensive knowledge of the criminal justice system. Throughout his career, Oscar has distinguished himself through exceptional performance, professionalism, and dedication to public service. During his time in narcotics, he earned numerous commendations and awards in recognition of his investigative accomplishments, commitment to combating illegal drug activity, and outstanding service to his community. Officer Mejia brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and leadership to our department. He is a trusted resource for his fellow officers, a respected member of his squad, and an invaluable asset to our agency. One other tab that I wanted to add to this, and I hope Oscar doesn't get a little embarrassed about it, but in 2011, 2011, I was his training advisor. Training advisor is the person that's in charge of the police academy and run them and get them in shape. And I was in better shape back then, by the way. We were in better shape, dude. You're right. And it's good to have him back. You know, he came over to Hialeah when I was a major in Hialeah, and now it's good to have him over here in Bell Harbor. He's an excellent guy. He has a great attitude, great spirit, and he's assimilating. Both of them are assimilating well in our police department. So I present to you Officer Mahir. Thank you. All right, next up is Officer Max Jean Charles. Come on up, Max. Officer Charles joined our department with more than 11 years of law enforcement experience. He began his career with Biscayne Park Police Department, where he proudly served for seven years as a reserve officer. He then continued his service with the Miami Garden Police Department, where we rescued him from, where he served three and a half years protecting residents and visitors in one of South Florida's most busiest cities. Prior to leaving Miami Gardens, Officer Gene Charles was assigned to the Aggressive Driver Unit, where he focused on combating serious traffic violation and enhancing roadway safety through proactive enforcement. His experience in traffic enforcement, patrol operations, and community policing has provided him with a well-rounded law enforcement background and a strong commitment to public safety. Ladies and gentlemen, Officer Matt Gene Charles. All right, you guys want to say anything real quick? No? No? All right, go ahead. You want to say something, Max?

Good evening, everybody. I want to thank you guys for welcoming me. I want to thank the chief, D.C., and also training staff for putting together a very well put together training. I'm very happy to be here. I feel at home. And I'm ready to serve you guys in my best capability. Thank you.

All right, as we celebrate the new additions to our department, I also feel it's important to recognize those who exemplify extremely good public service. Each year, we honor individuals whose dedication, professionalism, and commitment have made a meaningful impact to our community and, of course, our department. These awards that we're going to present tonight represents the higher standards and recognize those who go consistently above and beyond what is expected. Tonight, I have the privilege of presenting the Civilian of the Year and the Officer of the Year Award. So I'm going to start with the Civilian of the Year, and I'm going to call up Janai Coughlin. Now what's unique about Janai, Janai started a couple years ago as a summer intern here in the police department and she worked two years in a row as a summer intern while she was attending Georgia Southern University. Janai obtained her bachelor's degree and also her master's degree in criminal justice and she's finishing up a crime analyst certificate. So we had an opportunity to bring Janai on as a code enforcement officer. She's one of our newest code enforcement officers. And she started in May of last year, May 2025. And to this date, and that's only been, you know, a few months, she's handled over 4,376 total calls for service, averaging about over 500 calls per month. Janai continually strives for professional excellence. She went and she received a Florida Association of Code Enforcement certification. She's very proactive. And what's unique about her is, and you guys may have seen her when we had the traffic congestion. Thank God that's over. We had the traffic congestion. Janai was one of those people to put on her traffic vest. And she'll go out there and she'll be in the middle of the intersection directing traffic. She has assimilated well with her peers and also the officers. There's not one officer in here who could say anything bad about Jani. So we welcome Jani, and that's the reason why she is our civilian of the year.

So I read this real quick.

Bell Harbor Police Department Civilian of the Year, presented to J'Nai Cochran, recognition as the most outstanding among peers and performers in duty throughout the year 2025. Your dedication and commitment to the Bell Harbor Village exemplifies the highest standards of professional public service. And then, she's got this really bad, good-looking trophy. So congratulations, Mary Kelsey, you got it. Come on, come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on.

Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come One, two, three. All right, one, two, three.

Oh, make sure we're counting. What's up?

One more time?

One, two, three. I'm going to take the cleats. Okay.

Family.

Other family.

I just want to say thank you to everyone. This place is a wonderful place to work for. And then thank you guys for all trusting in me and being a part of that. Thank you.

So next is Officer of the Year. And when I read this nomination letter, and he was actually awarded, he was the recipient of the Miami-Dade County Association of Chiefs of Police prestigious Officer of the Month Award for this very same incident. So when I read this, you're going to realize that You know, the work that Officer Duarte did on that evening was above and beyond. He risked his own life to save someone else's life. So I'll read it. On December 27, 2025, Officer Duarte responded to a call at 9801 Collins Avenue involving a male in crisis threatening to jump from a balcony. Upon arrival, he learned that the individual was experiencing a severe mental health episode and had also made threats towards medical personnel who were on scene. Without hesitation, Officer Duarte took immediate action. He observed the individual climb out of the window, move along an exterior ledge, and enter a neighboring balcony, continuing to express a desire to end his life. Understanding that every second mattered, Officer Duarte gained access to the adjacent unit and attempted to de-escalate the situation. In a sudden and critical moment, the individual began climbing over the balcony railing. At that very instant, Officer Duarte acted. Just regarding his own safety, he grabbed and restrained the individual, preventing what would have been a tragic and fatal fall. It was later confirmed that a firearm was present inside the residence, underscoring the extreme danger Officer Duarte faced. Because of his courage, his composure, and his willingness to act without hesitation, a life was saved. And that's why he's the Bell Harbor Police Department 2025 Officer of the Year. So I think this is, what, your second time, Officer Lee, or third time, Officer Lee? Of course. What? Excuse me. But who's counting? So here's this high school trophy. We got high school trophies now. And here's the trophy. Got it?

All right, one, two, three.

Another one, one, two, three.

One, two, three. Chief, does that complete your presentation?

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you. And thank you to all those honored tonight and all those here in attendance to be able to witness these wonderful members of our police department receive much, much deserved recognition. Next item, consent agenda with the excluding C7A. Do I have a motion for approval? I'll second. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. R5A.

Mr. Clark. Yes. R5A. An ordinance of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, amending Chapter 2, administration of the Code of Ordinances to modify procedures and regulations applicable to the Architectural Review Board, providing for severability, inclusion in the Code, conflicts, and for an effective date. This is the second reading ordinance.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Manager.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor and Council, as the clerk just read, this is the second reading of this ordinance, which was heard on first reading at the May 19th Council meeting. This ordinance revises the ARB provisions in Chapter 2 of the Village Code by creating new exemptions on the R1, R2, and PC districts within the Village. Basically, the changes would allow a building permit to be issued without an ARB certificate of appropriateness when the building official Adds less than 30% to the existing building square footage or does not meet the substantial definition in Chapter 8.5.

Is your mic on, Romeo?

Oh, okay. Thank you. Sorry. Okay, I thought it was on. The ordinance was amended on first reading to require that the square footage be measured as of July 1, 2026 with the allowable 30% increase in square footage calculated based on that measurement. Okay. That is the proposed ordinance, Mr. Mayor.

Okay. I guess I want to start because I wasn't here for first reading, and I do want to thank the Vice Mayor for taking on last month's meeting, which was also an LPA, and you did a great job. I was actually watching from the plane, but I wasn't allowed to participate in the Zoom. I wanted to hear what you were going to say when I wasn't here, you know. But this was something that originally came out of a discussion that we had at one of our council retreats. And it's something where the ARB, while I see a lot of value in it, there are times where it could seem like it's really a... a process, and I'm speaking from my own views right now, but I want to kind of hear from you, you know, my colleagues, that sometimes it seems like we're just pushing people through ARB that might not be necessary and that the outcome is not necessarily going to add value to the building receiving the, to the, I guess, property or entity receiving the certificate of appropriateness and to the residents. So I know that During first reading, we were only discussing R1, R2, and PC districts. I did ask our madam attorney. She did say that if we wanted to talk about making changes in the oceanfront, we would be able to add that to a second reading because the title was broad enough to support it. But I really, before we get to that, I would like to, I guess, I have some ideas about I would like to get your input on this. And this is going to be basically what R9A was going to be, my discussion item, but I'm going to bring it up now because it directly impacts ARB procedures. So basically... And we have our building official, we have our town planner, we have everyone here that can correct me if I'm wrong and will obviously come up if we have questions. But this all stems from the need for certificate appropriateness stems from the definition in our charter that says An external architectural feature, which is what requires a certificate of property, is the architectural style and general arrangements of such portion of a building or structures as is designated to be open to view from a public street, place, or way, including the kind, color, and texture of the building material of such portion and the type of windows, window doors, lights attached, or ground signs and other fixtures associated A pertinent to such portion. Okay. My experience with this was in my own condominium where we had a modification of our pool deck, which was voted on by a majority of the owners of our condominium. So 51% of our condominium voted in favor of a design. Okay. And this design was, was really just pool like you know we we were making changes to a many deck but nothing really nothing structural nothing that affected the actual building or structure we weren't moving any walls or anything like that we were just You know, basically adding a hot tub area, a basketball court, but there was nothing really being constructed that affected the neighbors. This was all just visual. And there was nothing that really could even be seen from Collins Avenue. That's my opinion. I think the building official might have a different opinion, but you couldn't see any of these changes from Collins Avenue. And sure enough, my building was brought to an ARB meeting because that's the way we interpret it. Here's a whole list of any sort of changes that have to go to ARB. And I'm not faulting the building official for doing his job. That's what he does. And we went to an ARB meeting. And the... certain members of the architectural review board, who, by the way, don't even live in Bal Harbor because only one member lives in Bal Harbor. The rest are just architects. We're starting to make opinions that were really just opinions. Like saying, oh, we feel like this wood might be too harsh. Like this color for your basketball court might, doesn't give a good vibe. And it was just like very, and you can, we can look up that meeting and people can listen to it if they want. But My ask of you is that is it our desire that something that was voted on by a majority of owners of a condominium They all agreed on that, which is hard to get 51% of anyone that lives in a condominium to agree on anything. They all agreed on this design, but then they're being told by this body of people that don't even live here that they can't have that design because they didn't like the color or they didn't like the appearance of certain things. This is nothing structural. Remember, I'm not talking about balconies. I'm not talking about anything that you can actually see from Collins Avenue. This is just an amenity deck. and changes to the pool and hot tubs and stuff like that. So I would like to possibly consider including some of this in this second reading. But I'm not going to force it upon the council. But it is something that we can do legally. And I think it's something that's long overdue. And frankly, had I been here at first reading, I would have brought it up then. But I was not here. So do you guys have any comments?

I just want to make sure that I'm understanding. I know, I know it's a lot. That was pretty verbose. You're saying that group all buildings, because it's not just east side, it'd be west side also. Okay. I mean, if you're going to put the east side, it would be the west side buildings also. So if 30 percent, if you're changing less than 30. No, no, no. I'm not. No, no. Because that's what this is.

No, well, that's one of the carve-outs. We can do an additional carve-out for oceanfront. That would specifically address my issue. Susan has the language. So you're saying that. No, that 30 percent won't work because you're never going to hit that threshold on a building.

Okay.

Even if you do the balconies, that's not possible.

Yeah, like at 102.75 right now, we're doing our pool deck. Our pool deck is less than 30% of our total building square footage. No, but so is a lot of other stuff. Right.

That you would want to come to ARB.

Right. Like what?

Like anything that you're changing in the facade of the building, like the balconies.

But that would be more than 30%. I don't think it would be. If you're changing the facade of your building. Maybe we should bring up Alley. It would be, 100%.

I don't, I don't know that. I'm not sure.

Mr. Mayor, would you like for me to read what, I tried to capture what you were asking for, just so they understand what it is you proposed.

Yeah, we can get to that, but let's, this is really more to have a, because this is instead of our discussion item, I, you know, I just feel like it would be appropriate to have it now since we are talking about this.

Good evening. Yeah. What was the question?

No, I was saying is it going to fall under the same 30% rule that we already have in the ordinance as it's written right now? And he said no, it would be different. Okay, so fine. So then Susan, go ahead.

Sorry. I thought you were saying the balconies would fall under the 30%.

No, no, because right now the way it reads, if I'm correct, if you're doing less than 30%, work on the total square footage of your home, it does not have to go to ARB.

So you are correctly talking about subsection C, which is being added to number three. Right. What Seth is talking about is slightly different. Okay. Subsection three exists, and it exists to have carve-outs from going to the ARB. So the first carve-out is there's no external architectural feature. The second carve-out we created some years ago. I don't forget how, I forget how long ago the the color palette if you meet the approved color palette you don't have to go to the ARB tonight at second reading we have the third carve out which is the R1 R2 PC districts the application involves an increase of less than 30 percent of the square footage of an existing building on the lot with square footage measured as of July 1st 2026 and the change does not meet the definition of substantial improvement for flood purposes that's the way this existed at first reading What Seth is introducing is a new concept.

An additional carve-out.

And that would be, if it were considered by the council this evening, it could be accomplished as a subsection D of three. So now there would be four carve-outs instead of three. Give me the language on what you mean. It's about what I'm going to give you right now. So for applications in the oceanfront OF district, the building official shall determine that the application only involves alterations to a pool or activity deck, regardless of whether all or a portion of the pool or activity deck and the inner surface of the surrounding walls meets the definition of an external architectural feature. In other words, the example he gave, and there are other examples where People might disagree about how visible it is from a public place. This would make it clear that if it's the pool or activity deck, the visibility, even a little bit of visibility, would not make it go to ARB. And then it continues saying alterations to cabanas and other buildings on such decks would still require review if they meet the definition of an external architectural feature. So that's just one example of text that would accomplish what the mayor was asking me about earlier.

Right, because ARB is basically just giving a visual perspective, basically from a design perspective. If someone's putting a hot tub, for instance, and there still needs to be structural underneath, that's still overridden by our building department. So, I mean, I think ARB... You're correct, it's appearance and not structural. Right, because ARB overreaches a lot in a lot of these situations where... They don't like the color of the wood. And now someone has to redo their house and redo their plans and pay for a new set of plans based on something that truly is an opinion. There's zero fact in basis behind any ARB decisions, which I'm in full agreement with Seth. I think we should look at ARB even under a closer microscope, in all honesty. If we go back into our charter, do we have to have an ARB?

You do not have to have an ARB, but I do think that that amount of change would be beyond the scope of the title.

No, no, no. I'm just asking a question.

Because it's modifying procedures and regulations applicable to ARB. It doesn't say getting rid of ARB. So you could do that, but I think it would have to be a different ordinance.

Right. And I'm not advocating it. I'm not advocating it. No, I was just asking a question. I'm just saying that I don't know why the ARB needs to opine on, you know, the color of the wood that clads the cabanas in, you know, or the basketball court, you know, things that have been voted on by a majority of the owners of a building shouldn't require, you know, shouldn't have to go through this process. And it's a process that requires you to get your, you know, architect to come in person, defend it, and that costs money, and just that whole process, and it also delays. Like, there's a building right now in this community that has been going on, it's under construction, I could say it, without morale. They are trying to fix their pool. They did the outside of the building that obviously would have to go to ARB. The balconies, that's significant. You can see that from Collins Avenue. But now they're trying to proceed. They have staging, everything done. And they're paying $20,000 a day to keep all this equipment on site. But they have to go to ARB. And there was no, I don't know what the circumstances were. They couldn't go to the June meeting. And now they're hoping to go in July, July 2nd, right before the holidays. So I don't know if that's going to happen. But either way, this is something that's supposed to add value. I do not see, and I'm going to open this up for public comment because I want to hear from all of you. I do not see what value we're adding by getting an opinion from people that don't even live in Bell Harbor on the materials being used on a pool deck. That can't be seen from Collins Avenue.

And I'll just remind you, Mr. Mayor, that our village planner is here. He doesn't generally get that involved in the ARB process, but he works a lot on your code of ordinances, which is the source of the appearance plan and ARB process. So if you want to hear from him, he's here as well.

Yeah, yeah.

Sorry, guys, but why do we have an ARB? What is the function of the ARB? What is the definition of the ARB? I mean, I know what it stands for, but what are they supposed to do? Michael, aesthetics.

At bottom, it's designed to make a pleasing appearance of the community and maintain property values. Most places look at it that way. There is a preemption in place now on creating new boards like this, so if you got rid of it, you could not bring it back.

Okay. Yeah, under today's.

Thank you.

You're grandfathered right now.

Right. Good evening, Mike Miller, consultant planner.

Can you hold the mic up?

Sure. I think Susan said that properly. A lot of, I'll call them nicer communities, have a group of professionals. Bigger cities have residents. You have a small population. That's why there's outsiders that have traditionally assisted the city in sitting on your architecture review board. I mean, I started my career almost 50 years ago, it's hard to say that, in Boca Ratones, and they had one of the premier architectural review boards, you know, for the Meisner style, so some cities get really into it. They're popularly called planning and zoning boards in some cities, a design review board, whatever. So the goal is to have somebody professional, you know, look over new development projects and give advice. And sometimes they go too far. There's no doubt about that. You know, individuals, you know, you could get into any color palette or any other things. worked in cities where there's been some pretty wild colors, you know, that people paint on their buildings. And, you know, does that proper for everybody else? So a lot of communities have adopted color palettes. But that's the purpose of an architecture review board, design review board, to help cities. Now, you can control them. Sometimes they get a little far. I know your neighbor, Bay Harbor, that I worked for for a number of years, we developed administratively a list of things that would not go to the Planning and Zoning Board, Design Review Board, that staff would do it. If you're just changing your windows in your house, putting a new door in, none of that stuff goes to the Architecture Review Board. If you're changing a tree out or something like that, something simple.

Thank you.

Councilman Sklar?

Here's where my overall problem is. If we're looking to outside architects for aesthetics, how do we know that these people have the taste level that we want here in Bell Harbor? I would rather see residents be more involved than necessarily architect. I mean, honestly, I'd rather have Patricia. I think she has a better taste level than probably any architect sitting on there. You know, so for me, just because you have an architectural degree.

We appoint those architects.

Well, honestly, I've never voted once on someone. They're always just giving names and they band up on the board. So I'm going to respectfully disagree with that. I think if we're talking taste level, just because you're an architect doesn't mean you have a great taste level. I agree. We've seen some really bad architecture out there. And, you know, I would really like to know, not tonight, but I think it's something, whether it's at the retreat or moving forward, I think it's something we really need to analyze in a very big way of who we would want to see if we are going to continue with an ARB on that board.

Vice Mayor. So it's an important point, and you bring up, I think, a valid point. I would just suggest that it would be my inclination that we pass this one as we pass, because I think there's other issues that haven't been addressed. We can't just address the ocean side. If we're going to do that, we have to address the west side as well.

And now we're only doing the residential sections.

I understand because that's where the majority of the ARB issues come from. And so I would suggest if we want, we need to look at more comprehensively how do we address the west and the east side and come back and make, we can add the addendum and another reading as well. We're just trying to squeeze this in after we've had, you know, a lot of conversation on this. So that would be my suggestion.

Will that make buildings suffer economical loss while we don't do something about it? That's my only concern. Can we do something?

There's not so many buildings that are changing all the time.

We can't make a decision just because of one building. No, no, 100%. But I'm just saying, like, is the Balmoral spending $20,000 a day? That's a shitload of money. Excuse my language.

I think we have half the buildings. on the east side under construction right now, in some way, shape, or form. Right, but they've already been past this. Whether it's a 40-year cert or a 60-year cert. Right, but they're already past this process. Right, but ARB has also gotten us in a little bit of trouble. Remember the whole RIVAGE problem with ARB? There's a lot to talk about. That's what I'm saying. There's a lot more than just this. Any public comment?

May I offer maybe a piece of advice? Yeah. So you heard what the code says. The idea, I think, when whoever wrote the code originally was that you're driving down the street or walking down the street and you see something significantly change from the street level. So it doesn't mention pool decks.

Right.

We have a zoning code that says this is what happens on the roof of the parking garages. It's recreation. It's pools and things like that. You could give direction to staff through the manager. Don't look at that. Don't send those things to ARB. You know, follow the code, you know, literally. So, I mean, just as an interim step, you know, maybe the code amendment is proper, but give direction, you know, so that we know, so the building official knows and we know. Because we get these things sometimes and, you know, we're like, should that go or not? How significant is that? It's kind of a gray area. Okay.

I appreciate that input. Okay. Go ahead.

I was always been opposed to IRB for many reasons. Number one, if the purpose was aesthetic. In the residential section, before we didn't have many mansions and all of these big buildings. or most of the houses were Spanish style or so forth. So they went change with these brick house, basically this box type of things. And once they made that decision, they opened up the gate to everything else. So therefore, they already nullify themselves that they're export aesthetic because they change aesthetic, they restrict. It's already changed. Now, if I'm paying $10 million or $8 million for a property that I'm gonna, you know what, I'm gonna build it the way that I wanna shape or form it, it's my property. um as far as the ocean for instance so forth i think the residents of that building will not allow something outrageous to go so you don't have to worry about those things and the swimming pool or other stuff as uh the stated you should direct um the village or whatever not everything go automatically to arb arb i'm sorry i've been to their meetings The attitude is like whatever we say goes. You know, we are architects. I don't care. You're an architect, but what the hell do you know about color? I can't put you... The problem is if you look at the architects, they don't even know how to dress. They don't match. The shoes don't match. The clothes don't match. You want to tell me you're going to tell about the building? So for me, the ARB... It's useless. It's gone. And I think the more you carve out the responsibility to ARB from the village point of view and less hassle, less time consumption, because nowadays when you want to do something, it costs a lot of money to just wait and wait the decision for ARB. So anything can be done as supported. Anything can be done to limit the influence of ARB. We can't do anything about it as support. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comments?

Patricia Cohen, 10275 Collins. I see the logic in what Rahim is saying. The whole feeling, the whole general aspect, appearance of our village is now, is completely schizophrenic now. So there is no consistency or anything. be that as it may, it's inevitable. I don't know exactly, you know, what the architects could have done from what I see going from Tallahassee. Susan, correct? There's not much we can do even to prevent people from building or not build what design they want. But I will just take this juncture to take advantage and say that the most important thing, really, of everything including architects or excluding architects, is the landscaping because that everybody sees. And I think that we should place more focus on what they're doing there. So I know this is not the venue right now at this point to introduce that, but I want us to include that in it. There should be an expert on landscaping. Like they just tore down an 80-year-old tree on the most beautiful, the largest tree that... Possibly the largest tree that we had in Baltimore, a gentleman on Ball Bay Drive, which is his fourth property. How did he get permission to do that? Again, does it come in front of the ARB? Do they go for a permit? Does the ARB... preclude or prevent people from just tearing down, because that is going to affect the neighborhood profoundly from far away and from close up. So I think that should be an integral part of what we're doing wherever we're going here with ARB responsibilities. Is there a landscape architect on the ARB right now? So I just, I urge you to keep that front and center going forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comment? Mika?

Nika Logan, 64 Camden Drive. I think Buzzy's right. This is a bigger discussion that really needs to be hashed out probably at one of your retreats because there's a lot of nuances to it. And the world is changing. The buildings are larger. The palette may not be appropriate for a house that's gigantic, much less, I mean, you can just look at the waterfront park. Look at the color of that versus every other building that's nearby. It doesn't meet any of the requirements of ARB or the palette of Bell Harbor. So, you know, the village has already thrown that to the wind. So I do agree with Buzzy that we really should, you know, hash this out and think out all the details and not do it here in a rush.

Okay. Any public comment? More public comment? Dwight, anything? Emails?

Mr. Mayor, may I? I know you and I had a chance to talk about this prior to the council meeting. My hesitancy with doing this amendment on second reading is that we've not really given the public much of a chance to really understand it or think through it. So I think I agree with the Vice Mayor that My recommendation would be let's pass the ordinance on second reading as was amended on first reading. And I understand your position. You and I have talked about it. We've talked about it with the building official. And I know you're passionate about it. So I would encourage us to continue to explore that, but to do that through a separate process to really go through the process as it should with a full first and second reading to give the public the ability to come and present whatever it is their opinions are.

I appreciate the input. I still want to make the motion because this is something that is costing buildings in Bell Harbor today thousands of dollars a day. So if it's something that we can help with and it's something that does not need to go to ARB. does not need to go to ARB. It's been voted on by a majority of the residents. So I don't think we're really harming anyone. I think we're only helping here. And if it's something, this is not precluding us from going down that process that has to be gone down anyway, which is frankly why, what I thought was the direction from our retreat, but I wasn't here in May and I apologize for that. So I'm going to make the motion that We amend the ordinance with the language that Susan read earlier. I don't know if we need to read it again.

I would recommend that you read it again, Susan.

I can do that. So if you're looking at your agenda, it's at page 53 of the packet, which is page 5 of this ordinance, and we're in subsection C3, and there's currently A, B, and C. This would become a new subsection D. Okay. And it reads as follows. For applications in the oceanfront OF district, the building official shall determine that the application only involves alterations to a pool or activity deck, regardless of whether all or a portion of the pool or activity deck and the inner surface of the surrounding walls meets the definition of an external architectural feature. Alterations to cabanas or other buildings on such decks still require review if they meet the definition of an external architectural feature. That's the end of the quote. And just to remind everybody in plain language, if it meets the definition of an external architectural feature, it means it's visible from a public place off of the property. Okay.

So is there a second?

Okay.

It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor of the amendment say aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. So two opposed. So that means it's not amended.

No.

Okay.

Okay. I did what I could do.

Honestly, Seth, thank you for bringing it up. In all honesty, I think it's something that we really have to dig into. And if you didn't bring it up, we would never be going down that road. So I appreciate that. You don't want to help this building any? There's a lot of buildings. If we can't help everybody at the same time, I'd rather it be done the right way. Okay.

I appreciate that. Okay, so we've heard public comment. All those in favor of passing? Is there a motion to approve R5A as published in the agenda? I'll make a motion. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Roll call, please.

Mr. O'Call, Mayor Selver. Yes. Councilman Levy.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Wolf.

Yes.

Councilman Sklar. Yes. The ordinance passes on second reading 4-0. Okay. R5B. R5B, an ordinance of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, amending Chapter 21 zoning of the Code of Ordinances to remove garage entry requirements to amend requirements for parking and impervious surface in the single-family residential district, providing for severability, inclusion in the code, conflicts, and for an effective date.

Okay, Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is also a second reading of this ordinance, which was heard on first reading at the May 19th council meeting. Basically, the ordinance removes the longstanding prohibition on street-facing garage entries for new and fully constructed homes in the R1 and R2 single-family districts to now allow for front-facing garages, subject to all other zoning, landscaping, and architectural review requirements. We did make an amendment at first reading, which was to remove the requirements pertaining to the minimum of the two enclosed garage spaces being required, so no longer would be required, and also removing the provision for the maximum of the three garage parking spaces at the finished floor elevation.

Okay. Any discussion from council? Any public comment? Go ahead.

Since we already just talked, if the deputy mayor, I mean deputy assistant manager read it, there is a language in there if it's approved by ARB. We just gave ARB and this thing power to determine whether the static of the garage is okay. And I think that's a problem. I have no problem with having the garages in the front, but the static shouldn't be the part of this must be approved by AARB. Because if it's done, it must be by the building department, everything else is, but I don't think what garage static has to do with the AARB. So that's the language you just discussed, trying to discuss that carving it out and putting that in there. You basically, maybe some architect says, you know what, I don't like the color of the garage. You just painted it. I don't approve the front of the garage. So that's what I... object to it, at least correct it. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other public comment? I'm sorry to clarify. That's not what I said. I said that it was subject to all other zoning, landscaping, and architectural review requirements. Okay.

Okay.

Any other public comment? Just to add to that, this ordinance doesn't change anything about the scope of the ARB review.

Okay. Appreciate that. Clarification. Any other public comment? Okay, is there a motion? I'll make a motion.

Is there a second?

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Roll call, please.

Let's roll call. Councilman Levy? Yes. Vice Mayor Wolf? Yes. Councilman Sklar? Yes. And Mayor Selver? Yes. The ordinance passes on second reading, 4-0.

Okay.

R5C. R5C, an ordinance of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, amending Chapter 21, zoning of the Code of Ordinances to revise standards for hedges, walls, fences, and projections into setbacks, and to increase the maximum height and revise the measurement of height of walls and fences in the single-family multiple family residential and private club districts providing for severability, inclusion in the code, conflicts, and for an effective date. This is also a second reading ordinance.

Thank you, Mr. Assistant Manager.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So this ordinance modernizes several residential design standards in Chapter 21 of our code, primarily in the following four areas. Number one, raising the maximum wall fence height in the R, RM, and PC districts from five to six feet. and rebases the measurement to the highest adjustment grade of the lot rather than the adjoining street center line. Number two adds flexibility for cantilevered architectural projections. Three creates recreational court fencing standards, and the final one strengthens the vacant lot hedge screening on current vacant lots. During the first reading of the proposed ordinance, there was a clarification regarding the cantilever projection allowance that it applies to the rear waterfront setbacks and that the definition of vacant lots would include lots under unity of titles.

Okay. Any questions from council? Any questions from the public comment? Seeing none. Okay. Is there a motion?

I'll make a motion.

Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Roll call, please.

Let's roll call. Vice Mayor Wolf?

Yes.

Councilman Levy? Yes. Mayor Salver? Yes. Councilman Sklar? Yes. The ordinance passes on second reading 4-0. Okay. R7A? R7A, a resolution of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, relating to the provision of security and landscape services, facilities, and programs in the gated residential section of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, describing the method of assessing security and landscape costs against assessed property located within the gated residential section of Bell Harbor, Florida. Determining the cost of security and landscape services, facilities and programs and the initial security and landscape assessments. Providing for a maximum rate. Directing the preparation of an assessment role. Authorizing a public hearing and directing the provision of notice thereof and providing for an effective date.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Assistant Manager.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So as you all know, the village is required to annually set this assessment, which basically provides for five areas within the gated community. The maintenance and security, I'm sorry, the maintenance of the security wall, the maintenance and operation of the security gate, security personnel for the gate, landscaping services, and most recently the paving and repaving of the roads in the gate. The Civic Association has requested that the assessment rates for next fiscal year be set at an initial assessment of a maximum of $8,500 per single-family homes and a maximum of $4,250 for unimproved properties. um the representatives from the gated community are here if they'd like to speak to the council this is basically an initial setting the council will have an opportunity of course during the budget process to set the assessment the civic association is still currently working through their budget so this is just a projection and they project it on the high end so it may not be this it may be lower it won't be higher but it may be lower but And I believe you're here. I saw you earlier. If you'd like to make a comment, you're more than welcome to. Unless you think I captured it accurately for you. Okay.

And this is what will be published on the trim notice, is that correct?

The trim notice will publish, yes, correct. This amount, it may be lower, right?

Well, no, I mean, if we set it today, this is what will be on the trim notice.

The cost will be, right, if you set it at this amount.

But just to clarify from speaking earlier about this, all we're doing now is setting a maximum amount that the assessment will be. It does not mean this is what the assessment will be. And speaking with the president of the BHCA as well, their goal is for it to be less than this. Their expectation is somewhere around $1,000 less than this. But if they don't put a maximum, then they can never change it to be any higher than they want it to be. So they are in the budget process that's still happening so that they're not actually setting the rate. Now I think we set that rate at the next meeting.

In September?

September budget.

This is what will be sent out to every single resident in the gated community. This is the amount that they're going to see and this is the amount they're going to frankly remember because people always see the trim more so than they see the actual bill at the end. Yeah, because a lot of them don't even pay it. It's paid by escrows and stuff like that. I'm unclear on what the trim is. That's what you get in September. It's the notice.

It's the August mailed notice that goes to everybody about your taxes for the year. The property appraisal. The TRIM.

Oh, it's an estimated amount.

It gets mailed to everyone in August.

It says where the dates for all the meetings that each item is going to be voted on. Yeah.

Those are, Mr. Mayor, those are the proposed rates, right, that are, even for all the school, everything is proposed on there. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay.

Other comment? Rohab 128 Balfour Drive, what you're doing is improper. I'm opposed to this completely. A civic association, you're doing a private company, you're making an assessment, they make you a bill, they can collect it themselves and you're collecting for them by putting it on people's taxes. No association, no homeowners association in the country gets a help from municipality to put it on people's property taxes. The bylaws of the civic association states, for the majority of you who don't know, I'm sure Mr. Wolf knows since he was there, you don't have to be, you are not a member if you live there. You don't have to be a member in there. For years, the association supposedly says that we're eventually going to collect it voluntarily and have the people to pay for whatever it is. But they have not been able to. Why? It's been years and years and they keep... moving it and keep putting it up in new agreement with the village and make the village collect for them. They cannot collect from themselves. It is improper for the village to collect money in behalf of a civic association or any private company. And it keeps going up. We used to pay $495 a year, now it's $8,500. For what? You're putting every freaking thing on it and you expect me to put it on my taxes to pay it. I've opposed to this before. This is going to come back. And I'm telling you, the village will be held liable for this. Don't continue to do this. You made a deal with the association, let them collect it. Have you ever thought about why the people don't pay? Why people don't voluntarily pay? Because they think it's excessive. They have no say in it. You have a bunch of people sitting there. They created this fantasy that they basically represent the people. There's over 300 residents in there, and the association claims they represent all. They don't represent me. They don't represent the majority. If you go to the election, they don't even meet the quorum. And yet you have been collecting over the years, continuing to help in it, to collect in behalf of themselves.

Why didn't they just do it? Sorry, time's up, but appreciate it.

I need three minutes to start. Okay.

Okay. Okay.

If we go back, you were, yeah, you got it. Okay. Any other comment? Okay. Okay.

Patricia Cohen, 10275 Collins. without taking any position here, I'm just curious, does everybody, every home pay the same amount? Even the 3,000 square foot compared to the 20,000 square feet? Is that going, is there maybe time to revise that, to review that? I don't see the logic in that. I don't live in there and I don't have any dogs in the fight, but if they're going to review the policy, maybe it's the time to do that.

Any other public comment? Oh, okay, Nika. Are you speaking on behalf of the Civic Association?

Nika Logan, 64 Camden Drive. I was the previous president of the Civic Association and we did look at changing the methodology and it was not approved to change the methodology. We had the experts and we did look at changing it.

Okay. OK. Anna, do you want to address? OK. Come on up.

Ana Chaveria, the property manager working with the Ball Harbor Civic Association. I'm going to let the board address the legality of what is allowed or not. But just in terms of this assessment, they did set it at 8,500 just because they were still working through the budget with the intention to lower that. They'll land somewhere in the middle of that. One of the biggest initiatives of this year is the streetlights. A lot of them are very deteriorated. They want to replace all of the streetlights within the community. We've gotten a lot of feedback from the residents in terms of darkness, functionality, even the wiring. We did put out an RFP and received results which are being reviewed. We have already had to remove three streetlights that were basically crumbling and a liability. So it is a very important project initiative and probably one of the bigger ones and why the assessment is a bit higher this year.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Is there any further public comment? Okay, seeing none, I'm going to close public comment. Is there any discussion from counsel? Is there a motion?

Oh, sorry. Is there any legal reasons why we shouldn't be collecting the assessment? Or is there a legal reason we should be collecting the assessment?

The special assessment is legal and has been collected by the village since the early 1980s. It's been questioned as recently as the last five years we went and met with the county. They agreed that it was proper.

Okay, thank you. We do have a milestone agreement in place.

Separately, we also have the milestone agreement, but this is really about the assessment.

Okay. So is there a motion?

I'll make a motion.

Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Voice vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? None. Passes 4-0. Solid waste assessment R7B.

Yes, R7B. A resolution of Bell Harbor Village, Florida relating to the collection and disposal of solid waste and recyclable waste. recyclable materials in Bell Harbor Village, Florida, describing the method of assessing solid waste costs against assessed property located within the Bell Harbor Village, Florida, determining the solid waste costs and the initial solid waste service assessments, providing for a maximum assessment rate, directing the preparation of an assessment role, authorizing a public hearing, and directing the provision of notice thereof, and providing for an effective date.

Mr. Assistant Manager.

Thank you, Ms. Mayor. So it's recommended that the council approve this initial solid waste assessment for the next fiscal year. The rate would be slightly adjusted, very modestly, basically an assessment equal to $344.89 for multifamily units and $737.13 for each single-family home. Again, this modest increase from the current fiscal year represents approximately a $16.42 increase for single-family homes and about a $35 increase for multifamily. I'm sorry, I said the other way around, for single-family homes. This item was discussed at our Budget Advisory Committee, meaning we've got actually two members I see in the audience, perhaps more. But Raj Singh and Neeta Logan are here from our Budget Advisory Committee, and this was part of their recommendation. Also, as you know, it's in line with our current agreement with our vendor, which calls for a CPI index every year capped at 5%. So this is within that provision.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any questions from counsel?

So this is a 5% increase. So basically we gave them the entire increase and couldn't negotiate it down at all?

Yeah, I think, Claudia, correct me if I'm wrong, it represents a full 5%. I did the math. Yeah, it's the 5%, yeah. Which is, if you look at CPI, CPI is, you know, in excess of 4%, hovering closer to 5%. Okay. CPI is 4.1.

I remember there was a conversation, I think in one of the retreats, we talked about this particular company wanted to stop doing some work on public holidays. What happened with that? Because that was one of the comments that George made, that they wanted to stop work on, for example, January 1st and some other public holidays.

Yeah, Julio, I know you had the conversations with the vendor earlier,

Yes, Julio Macri. So the only holiday right now that they're not working is Christmas Day. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Any public comment? Seeing none, is there a motion? I'll make a motion. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? None. Passes 4-0. Okay. New business and council discussion. R9A, I guess since I didn't really get, I don't know if we gave direction. I think we know how I feel. We know how some other folks feel. But I guess what would be the appropriate next step then to explore this further? That's my question.

I definitely think there's a review of ARB in totality. Okay. So, and not only of what ARB's rules and regs are, I think Patricia brought up a very good point of the people that are actually sitting on the ARB, I think is very important. Making sure that it's a more widespread You know, whether it's a landscape architect and a couple of people from the community and, you know, I think it has to do with taste level.

Right. I mean, I guess their terms are up in November, so this would be a timely discussion to have now. if we did want to make changes to the composition of the ARB and also, I guess, what would fall under their portfolio. So is this something that, you know, I open this to Ramir, you know, is this something we should have a workshop on?

Is this something? Retreat's a couple months away.

No, but retreat would be after the new ARB.

No, no, we do mini retreat. Oh, the mini retreat.

Mini retreat. Right, which we haven't set a date yet.

But again, I think that's a perfect, I think it's a perfect time to discuss it. Okay.

And Mr. Murray, let me ask. Yeah. Susan or Ellie or Mike, you may be able to help. So remind me, the composition of the ARB currently is set by code?

Yes, it's four architects and one resident who can be an architect but is not required to be an architect. There's not currently a requirement for a landscape architect, but I know the village always ensures that there is one. So we do have one landscape architect member currently.

So by code, it says architect. Yes. So we could revise that code.

Of course.

Okay, great.

You've created that board. You can revise how it works. Great, thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

So, Mr. Mayor, if I heard correctly, then the consensus was let's place this as a discussion item for a mini-retreat. Okay.

Are you okay with that, David? Mr. Mayor, I think it works well because then we could always, if we wanted to change the code, we have September and October meetings to do that prior to November change.

Okay.

It works out perfectly.

Okay. All's well that ends well. Just so you know, we're going to bring this up at the mini-retreat this summer. Okay, R9B. Councilman Ali.

Thank you, Mayor. So talking to a few residents, I'm becoming more active with our fitness room, which is great, and I invite everybody to come over and see it, especially now that so many buildings, you know, some of their facilities are closed. It was brought to my attention that perhaps we should look at increasing the operating hours for the fitness facility. I had a chat with Sylvia the other day, and she mentioned that perhaps what we can do is to send a survey to see what time will be good for our residents to come to the gym. So I would like us to explore increasing the operating hours for our fitness facility.

I mean, I also got some feedback with folks that say, wait, people normally work out before work, and they can't right now. So, I mean, I'd like to hear from Sylvia, I guess, what are the logistics behind making something like this work? Right. Sylvia's got that, so she can share that with you.

Yes.

Yeah, so logistically I would recommend not opening the building without it being manned, having somebody there. So currently our opening shift for the building is 9 a.m. They come in at 845, they check everything, get settled in so that the computer and the gate, everything's ready to go for 9. This would essentially entail those additional hours depending on how early we want to start. The exterior, the park opens at 7. My opening guy comes in at 6.30 because he spends half an hour inspecting to make sure that the grounds are safe. That's the biggest thing. So whatever time we want to open, I need a small window that the staff can check the facility, make sure that everything's safe for everybody to come in. But I did like a rough budget to open at 645 would be somewhere in the $50,000 range because it's seven days a week.

How many people are part of the opening staff?

I have just one person, one maintenance person, and one customer service front desk person.

So if we're adding three hours times 300-something days a year, that's going to cost us $50,000 more?

It's in that mark. I put it at the one-and-a-half times rate of that salary just because that morning shift, I wanted to have some buffer in case it's difficult to get someone to come in that early. I mean, sometimes that's a little bit of a struggle. My intention, if we want to move forward with this, I have two full-time shifts that overlap. I'd have that full-timer come in earlier, his shift would end earlier, and then I would need part-time hours in the afternoon. So that would be a worst-case scenario. I don't think it would need to be that high, but I want to make sure. And obviously there's a percentage of electricity now, water in the building, bathroom usage, consumables, toilet paper, paper towels. So there's a small percentage in there for that as well.

What do other communities that have these sort of facilities do? Do we know?

I don't have that. I mean, a lot of them, it depends on the community center. Some of them are eight. Some of them are seven.

Miami Beach has in Flamingo Park its own gym. So they don't have to open an entire facility just to open their gym. No, it's indoors. It's sort of separate from the rest of the facility. So they could just have one person just open.

And then the person that comes in and opens the park at 7 can't open? You're saying where are they?

So they have maintenance tasks on the exterior as well. You know, they're walking around, they're either blowing or they're, you know, pick-sticking or they're dealing with if there's an issue outside on the playground, different things like that. So I wouldn't want someone going into the building without there being someone at the desk. Because I need to make sure, plus they're monitoring the video cameras to make sure, God forbid, something happens inside the fitness center when somebody's working out.

What are we paying the hourlies that would be opening?

It's like 22, 23 right now an hour.

So what happens to this park opener that comes at 6.30? What do they do at 9?

I mean, they have all of their tasks throughout the day. So if there's people coming in, they have questions about registration. If they're pulling lists for trips, if they're doing cards.

So I just did back of the napkin math quick. If they're coming in two extra hours times $46 a day more times 300 days is only $13,800. How is that close to $50,000?

Well, like I said, so I didn't catch the numbers that you said.

I did two extra hours at $23 an hour, $46 more a day. Times 300 days is only $13,800. But it's $365, right?

Well, I think, Councilman Squire, so you...

But again, we'll close.

If you're talking about seven days, you needed to talk about more than one person, right? And you need...

No, no. We're just increasing that one person coming in two hours earlier.

Yeah, but that's seven days a week. You can't have the same person work seven days a week.

But it doesn't matter. It's still a body that we're paying two... It doesn't matter who the person is. Are they hourly? It doesn't matter who the person is. They're hourly. I mean... It's still...

At the end of the day, if you want me to get the numbers down, I can bring it down. But yes, I put a buffer because I want you to understand that there's going to be costs associated. I put three hours. Right now, they come in at 8.45. That's my earliest shift. This person would need to come in at 6.30. That's two hours and 15 minutes. I rounded it to three hours because also in the afternoon, now this person is leaving earlier, my second shift needs coverage for lunch. The desk becomes busier from three to six because that's when a lot of the after-school programs happen. So there's parents coming in and checking in and asking questions and needing information. Okay, I appreciate that.

It's still double. Even using your numbers, it's only 25.

So it's not like we're writing a check for $50,000. I think if the direction is, you know, we know it's an amount not to exceed $50,000, it could obviously be a lot lower than that.

I think it is.

I guess, is there a desire for this to just, I mean, what would be, this is worded as a pilot program, so that makes me think it would happen before our budget cycle. Logistically, Sylvia, if it was the desire of the council to proceed with this as soon as possible, how soon can you spin it up?

I need to hire another part-time person. So we're in the process right now of interviewing. Hopefully, if that goes well, I would say August. August.

I appreciate what you're saying. To me, testing it with an upside of $25,000 is a lot different than testing it with an upside of $50,000.

I don't even know how we quantify the cost.

Well, you quantify the cost by what your labor cost is.

I don't know. We have that for the community center.

I don't think we have that for this additional – Well, we just – if you're adding three hours times $23 times 365 days a year, it's $16,000 or $24,000, whatever.

I guess, Claudia, would you like to come up? Yeah, Mr. – Because we're getting into the numbers, but – A couple things, I think.

I think it would require a budget amendment, right, because we're talking about at least an additional position. We have to, right, because – We don't have enough hours to cover from that early all the way until we close. It is for her to staff, it's seven days a week if that's what's being proposed, unless it's Monday through Friday. Because if it's seven days a week, you're going to need, it's going to be two people, right? Because that one person is not going to be able to provide the coverage seven days a week. It's going to exceed the 40 hours.

But you're missing the point. It's seven days a week. It's the body for those hours. It doesn't matter if it's one person or two persons. Yeah.

It's still those hours that have to be covered. It's when you still need the bodies to cover all the hours. By adding three hours a day, that's 21 hours a day. So you still need a body to... Two hours a day.

Okay, I think... Before we get into the... Okay. I think... It's not like we're... I think we're getting a little bit into the weeds. Yeah.

Mr. Mayor, one more thing. I think, Councilman Levy, if I'm not mistaken, you were interested in perhaps doing a survey to see if this is even something that, you know, we should do. I think that was part of the conversations you had that you mentioned at the beginning of this discussion item.

So, yes, that was a conversation with Silvia to see what time, what is the area we should be opening. I think that we should do a pilot program. to see if there is participation. I know at least one member of the council who will come. Maybe if I can force David to come, he will come too. On a serious note, why don't we do a pilot program? Let's do it for August. And then we do it on one of the busiest months, you know, at the season start, which I'm sure is going to get busier now that, you know, for example, buses building, you know, it's not going to have a gym or the one next door doesn't have a gym. There's going to be more people coming.

You have a great job.

Can I just make one comment? The issue, my concern with a pilot program, I have to hire staff to do this. I need to hire part-timers. So if we're testing this for like a month, I'm hiring somebody and then it doesn't work and I'm saying, sorry, I don't have hours for you anymore. So it's challenging in that way. I just want you to understand that I have to bring on at least, right now I was hiring one part-timer. To do this, I need to hire a second so that I have four. so I can cover all of the hours for the week.

But is there a need to do it on weekends as well? Because I feel like we do early because people go to work, but I mean, I don't, you know, maybe if we say it's a pilot, maybe just do Monday through Friday. And that might be easier to get those hours covered. Sylvia, crazy question.

People asking you to open early?

I've had a few. I mean, I could count them on one hand.

This might be a moot point in general.

People did reach out to me. Yeah.

Mr. Ray, I do like the idea of a Monday through Friday better than a weekend, and I think probably the usage will be higher during the week for the purposes that we've stated. So I know we're down one. We had a very recent resignation as a part-timer, so that's the position that you're actively recruiting for. That's the one I'm interviewing for now.

Okay. Right. Okay. So what are you, I mean, so is there a consensus to try to make this happen Monday through Friday? No. Would we say 7 a.m., 6 a.m.? I don't know.

Do you want me to do the survey to find out what time people want first?

I think at that point, that takes time, right? And it's also a lot of people are on holidays. You know, people are away. I don't know how many.

Yeah, I would tell you August is probably not the best month to start because, you know, schools don't begin until the middle of the month. So a lot of families are traveling for the first part of the month. So it's probably not the best month to start.

I feel like every time that we're trying to do something, you know, we always try to be late as much as we can.

Nobody needs time to hire up.

I understand. But we say August is not the right month. No, not to point what you say. Okay, so let's do it in September. Let's do it in November. So let's do it next year when the new building is open.

Well, I would tell you if you're going to try pilot, I would recommend September is probably a better month than August just because I think August, there's a lot of traveling going on, and it does give us a little bit more time to make sure that we're staffed appropriately to try it.

And I think if we do it now and we get no people coming, we're going to say let's just cancel it versus if we do it when there's more people in town. Right.

All right. So why don't we let's – Councilman Levy, I know this is important to you. Even the key. Why don't we, we'll take a look at it. She's in the process of, we are down one position anyway that we're actively recruiting for. And let's put the pieces in place so that we can try a pilot program. It'll give you time to do that survey around the time anyway, Sylvia.

Okay.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

And I'm assuming the population that's, Sylvia, you're going to send that survey out to everyone that has, like, registered for Park Access?

Yeah. So I can find out, are you using the gym? Would you use it if it was open earlier? What hour? And just get, like, a straight, you know, three to four questions.

And that will be sent out as soon as possible, right?

I'll work on it to get it out this week.

Excellent. Okay. Thank you. I-9C, Councilman Levy.

So, as we're approaching the summer months, or we are already in the summer months, one of the things that I believe is very important for the community to know how to do CPR, hemorrhage, maneuver, and be able to provide help when needed. I can tell you that the other day I was at the park and one of the mums asked me as a Hatzala member, who can give us a course on CPR for our nannies and for herself? And I said, listen, I'm happy to help. I'm happy to give one. But if we can provide something for the broader community, we have new moms, we have new nannies, and I think it's an important skill to have. And I know, and I've seen it, and one of our police members experienced it firsthand too. And I'm busy. How important is CPR for our community? So I would like to propose having a conversation with Silvia as well about it. Perhaps two courses where we can provide what is called friends and family so people know how to use the maneuvers and know how to do CPR. without necessarily having a card to say that you are certified and also having the certification that some people want to take. I learned that the park staff have to do a certification, which I think is amazing. Two of our policemen are certified officers. One of your council members is a certified officer. So, you know, why don't we do this?

So you're saying one would be just like to, like just purely just to learn, and then the other one you would actually, people, participants would leave with a certification?

We can do it at the same time. Honestly, it takes, you know, for friends and family, it takes maybe two hours as a course. You know, if someone wanted to more specialize and have a car from the HAA, American Heart Association, you know, that's a four-hour course and it's a commitment. And the course is valid for two years. And I know there are members in the community that will take it. I mean, Had Salad does it regularly, and it's one of our most demanded requests to give CPR courses to the community.

Councilman Levy, if I may, thank you, because it is a great idea. And you also, a while back, suggested the blood-moved meal drive. We appreciate your focus on that. Sylvia, I know you did some research and you've got some numbers, so this could be a relatively easier one than the last discussion item we had. And like you said, we've got a couple of resources, both in the police department and partners that can help. So I'll let Sylvia share with you the details.

So there's a couple of options. I had hoped, you know, previously like American Heart and American Red Cross would come and do these kind of trainings, and I had done that previously in Sunny Isles Beach. We reached out. They no longer do that. So you have to go to their training centers now. We have a couple of options. One, we have certified instructors on staff in PD. We currently have two, and a third one is getting certified. They certify – My staff, for example, all of my staff is CPR AED certified. So Hector certifies our staff and also Giselle is certified. So that's an option. But if we do do that, you know, we have to consider the budget for that, right? That person, that police officer, it should be an overtime shift because obviously we can't be pulling them off the road to do that. So calculated the hours for that with supplies to do two classes a year. with eight participants per class because it needs to be small to make sure that they're, you know, really getting that hands-on with the instructor. It's about $3,000. The other option is MDFR does offer, and they offer it for free. However, it's not a certification. Like, you don't walk out with a certification. It's more of like a... You know, skills, friends, and family, yes. Like they're giving you some of the information, but it's not enough and it's not in-depth enough for you to actually walk out with a certification. So those would be the two options.

Okay.

I mean, I don't think that...

It's well worth it. Right. It saves one life. Yeah. $30,000. Yeah.

Yeah. So we'll, thank you, Sylvia, because I know you did some work on that. So we'll look into it. And Councilman Levy, we'll work with you since you're a subject matter expert, of course, in the area. So we'll coordinate with you as well. And that's one that we hope to do as soon as possible, right? So as quickly as possible that we can coordinate and get the word out, right? Because you've got to give enough time to get the word out so that people who are interested are able to participate.

I was thinking if our police can do it, why not?

Right? Sure. Right. Okay. Are you good with that direction? Yeah, absolutely. Thank you.

So R19, Councilman Squire. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know, just to give a little background on this, we have a lot of buildings under construction. We have a building right next door to the Harbor House, the Ravage, that has been under construction, and they've been in violation quite a few times of code. I know we're limited of what we could charge as fines statutory by the state. If I'm building a 27-story building and I need to pour concrete and it's after hours, I'm going to take a 200-hour fine every day of the week, a little slap on the wrist, a 200-hour fine when I'm selling apartments for $10 million plus. So from a code enforcement perspective, there's really not much we could do for consistent violators. Again, it almost becomes a cost of doing business for some of these buildings, and the cost is so minimal. that it's laughable when you're putting up such a high-level project. What's a few hundred dollars here and a few hundred dollars there? Oscar actually responded to a call. They were out there at 9.30 at night still pulling concrete on the fourth floor pretty much by flashlight. It was kind of crazy. Him and the team went out there, did a great job, got it stopped. Their excuse was, well, the trucks got here late. You know, unfortunately, we can't just keep kowtowing to developers like this. There has to be something that we have to be able to do as a municipality that's a little bit more stringent, whether it's from a permitting perspective, a building department perspective, something over and above, just a code slap on the wrist fine to show these developers that they just can't do what they want when they want. And it's getting pretty serious. I mean, whether it's them trying to get special permission to do pours on Saturdays. I mean, those of you that live in single-family homes, you don't want people coming in and doing construction next to you on a Saturday. There's no special dispositions for that. Why should developers get special dispositions for these types of things? And I think from a billing perspective, we have to not allow this anymore. And from a fine slash what we could do about it perspective, that's really what I think we need to work on as a village. And just like to get the temperature of the rest of the council of what we could do. I mean, I don't think it's us to decide what we could do, but should it be something we pursue?

I don't know if anyone from the police wants to come up.

Mr. Mayor, if I may. Councilman Sklar, thank you. And I know you've had some discussions with the deputy chief over code. And I know he's worked very closely with our building officials. So, Deputy Chief Iscara, if you'd like to come up and just share with the rest of the council some of the challenges that you, from a code perspective, and our building department faces.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, and Councilman Sklar. We have had several discussions. So just to clarify, there have been some instances where they have poured past the hours that we had allowed. But the challenge we've had comes basically a lot from not being able to pour on Saturdays like we used to. So there's a certain amount of, in these concrete structural pours, and if you need more expertise on this, Ellie can tell you, there's only a certain amount that they can reduce the pours to in order for it to be structurally safe. Now, after the incident we had when I was out of town, I met with the Rivage, and we gave them a go-no-go time because what happened is there's weather, there's all sorts of stuff. They decided to start pouring at 11. That wasn't a good decision. The weather was bad, and concrete didn't cure. So part of the discussion we've had with them is, We're going to let you pour and let things cure because you can't control that. But if you say you're going to start pouring at 8.30 and by 9.30 you can't start that pour, then it's a no-go. Right. Right. You need to cancel the poor because it's not fair to. But we also have to let them be able to build the building because there's a lot of factors with rain, humidity, structural integrity, obviously, is the main priority. So, you know, I'm meeting with. I'm meeting with Wyden Turner once a week. I'm meeting with the Ritz every two weeks. I'm meeting with the Revage probably every three or four weeks, and there's challenges, and there's times when things haven't gone as you said, and I understand the frustrations, right? But part of that also comes from the fact that As these sites start to shrink, they need to shrink in order to grow. So part of the challenge we have now in the Ravage is, as they went excavating, the room to move trucks in there became very small. But you know what?

In all due respect, that's not our problem. That's their problem for shrinking their footprint to a point where it becomes hard to work.

The next thing that we're trying to get to is... making them remove those offices once they get to the point that the structural slab is poured, to address your concerns that you can't have cars go in certain ways, now you have the room. You don't have the room now because you have the offices, and as the building went being excavated, the footprint became smaller and smaller, right? So there are challenges and there are instances that, and Ellie can speak to this too, but once you start pouring, to stop the pour is not really feasible in a lot of cases because it could create structural issues in the background because that all has to be torn out and all that stuff. But I think creating more stringent regulations between us and the contractors is probably going to alleviate some of your concerns.

I appreciate it, and I know you've been working really hard with them, but at the end of the day, they have to run the business. We have to run a quiet, safe community. That's our job. I appreciate that. If they want to put two offices there and they have to put trucks in and out the wrong ways, not our problem. Their problem. They could remove those offices, to your point. If all of a sudden they want to start pouring at noon, knowing that pour is going to go to 9.30 at night, Again, not our problem, their problem. With the go or no go, that's what they're going to have to do. And they just can't keep violating for slap on the wrist fines because really that's what it is.

And there are statutorily, and Susan can relate to this, statutorily we are limited how far we can go. And the only reason you can make the fine a bigger fine, one goes by the population of the village, which we don't comply with. You need to be over a certain population. Number two, it needs to be irreparable, irrevocable damage, and this probably would not qualify. But I think, you know, I'll let Susan speak to the code enforcement statute, how far fines can go, but that's my understanding.

It's $250 for the first, $500 for repeat, up to $5,000 if irreparable or reversible in nature. So basically what you said.

I have some questions for the deputy and possibly for Susan or maybe Ellie. There's no provision where it's like we can red-tag them for habitual violations?

So red tagging usually is involving a violation of the building code, and that's something Ellie should speak to because he's in control of that process. That may be different from the hours or some of the other things that are part of our local code. That's perfect.

Basically, to be able to red tag it is to declare it unsafe, and to be able to declare it unsafe, the building has to be structurally incompetent to be able to resist its loads and to be able to withstand it. In the case that they're going through now, in the method that they're doing it, they're splitting the slab, the main floor slab, in two portions. They could have done it in one portion. It would have been a longer pour. They've decided and they've gotten extra engineering to be able to design it in a way that they could pour it in two pours. That means those slabs are post-tension cables. Once you start pouring, you can't stop. Because at the moment you stop, you've got to rip the whole entire slab out again. You can't pour only up to the design. Of the point of what the tension slab could be tensioned, you cannot pour it at the middle because then you have the disaster and what happened in FIU that the slab fell. The bridge. That the bridge fell. That was the problem of the post-tension slab. You got to... pour it up to that point of where you could tension it, and you only could tension it once. So you can't tension it in two different occasions. So that's the condition that they're in right now. What we spoke about last time, the go or no go, they have made a commitment that basically they make that decision approximately anywhere from 9 to 10 o'clock in the morning. If they can't make that determination at that time and their inspection is not approved because the inspection is not done only by us, it's done also by what is called a threshold engineer, that it's there on staff all day for the structural component until the building is finished. So they're the ones that make that call, depending on the ability and the capability of the concrete plant for them to supply the concrete. Unfortunately, there's days where the weather is bad, it's hot, and it doesn't dry up, and it's a very high-strength concrete structure that they're pulling, that it takes a long time to cure. It's not a regular concrete slab that you put on grade that is 3,000, 4,000 PSI. It's 6,000 to 9,000 PSI concrete that is very condensed and it takes a long time to consolidate.

Right. And then, Deputy Chief, when you go on site for one of these violations, I mean, are there any decibel readings that are taken? Like, is it in fact, I understand that having people working next to you and you can see it might bother some, but is it actually loud and causing disturbance in the community?

Houses in the gated community encounter this issue when they're making pours for the houses and there's certain pours that go past the working hours and the main part of it is the communication that we're going to need to go over, you guys are going to need to monitor. In this last instance, what happened is we've allowed for two or three finishers to stay on site and be able to do things with hand tools so that there is no noise. So it may be a visual, hey, they're working, they're making noise, but in this case, It was a miscommunication and somebody up on the sixth floor decided to get the power trial and start traveling and it made noise. And in that case, it was outside of the scope of what we had allowed and we issued a violation. So there are parameters. There is unfortunately. In a lot of these instances, there's no ways to do some of these pours within those working hours, but we work to keep everything. Now, we'll continue, and I'm committed to you, and I commit to the rest of the council. I'll continue to be meeting with everybody on a routine basis and bringing all these concerns and addressing them as they happen, not waiting a week or two when I meet with them. But there has been... good communication with us and in some, a few instances there was communication that broke down and we've addressed those and I'll continue to monitor and make sure that we continue to address these issues.

It seems like what you're asking us to do we can't do. Again, not from a code, but what i'm asking is what can we do i don't know i'm not okay you know and then i don't know if it's something from a legal perspective it was always my understanding it can't be a code violation because that's capped that's statutory from the state is there anything we can do it was always my understanding that like a project that like i know i think in bay harbor if they there's like if you're building a house and your workers keep coming too early they red tag you so i don't know if that's

They call it red tag. It's not a red tag. It's a violation. It's a citation.

No, but like they, like I know for a fact there was a project they were building. Oh, Michael, do you want to speak on it? I'm exactly right, right? They had workers on site too early, and they got one warning, two warnings, a third time, they lost their ability to continue building. Unfortunately, if they contest that in court, they'll lose it.

Okay. Susan, can you look into it a bit? I don't need an answer today, but if you could really look into it and see if we have any leg to stand on outside of just to slap on the wrist $500 fine.

So you're not alone in being frustrated by the limits of the system, and you've adequately described them, so I won't point to them. The other category of action that we haven't talked about yet is we can go to court for injunctive relief and get an order, but you need something that you can truly convince a court is reasonable to order them to do. If we're trying to order them to do something impossible, if we have made the rules so restrictive that the safe – and permitted construction methods pursuant to the Florida Building Code are impossible, we're not going to get that injunction. So I'm not sure what the fact pattern is here that would be the basis. Like the classic one is maybe it's like a loud nightclub over and over and over again or something that you could say stop doing that. That's not something that you're going to compromise the integrity of a high-rise with a poor. Right.

It depends on the facts. If they don't have an okay to pour at 9 o'clock in the morning, they can't start pouring. That seems very feasible. So that's the new parameter. The day right after that incident happened, Amado came at 8 o'clock in the morning. He was in my office. We need to talk. We called the developer and the general contractor, the superintendent. They sat in our office. We need to have that plan. We came to that solution of having a deadline. At 10 o'clock, you can't call in the concrete, and you can't get it within an hour. Cancel it.

So their go or no-go time is 10 o'clock every day?

That's what we spoke about now. There's one or two more pours that they said that they needed for that basement to finish that. They needed more time for that. Beyond that, the rest of the slabs, they could do that.

So, again, so we're giving them a go or no-go time of 10 o'clock.

If they're going to ask for one or two more for extra permission for that main slab. Not on weekends, though. Not on the weekend. I don't believe that he mentioned nothing about the weekends. But that was to be able to close the lid of the basement. Those are the big pores that are basically on the ground level. The other ones, they said that they will be able to commit to that point.

And then, Mo, I know you've been working hard on it. When are they going to get the proper traffic flow that was originally approved that they basically have never...

With that lid being closed, they already submitted the set of plans, and we have it in our office and also submitted to FIRE and DERM that they are proposing to moving to the first floor of a building, and they're going to remove those trailers, and they're going to put temporarily into that space. So they're going to have that flow clean in the original flow. Great. Thank you.

And then just one last thing I'll add. The reason we... been kind of getting them these pours is because with hurricane season, we've asked them to tie in the cranes into the building as soon as possible. They need to reach a certain level of, which I believe is another floor or two. Within the next week or two, they should have both cranes tied into the building for extra safety for the neighboring properties.

That's their rush to it? Because hurricane season... It's on us, and we're in it. So they're scared that it's not secure for the rest of the community. So they needed to pour to that point where they could have the tiebacks, is what they called for those cranes and for that equipment.

I really appreciate that. I know, Mo, you've been on top of it, and thank you so much for just really making sure that it's done as well as it can be done within the constraints that we have and they have.

There's a provision for special approval and unique circumstances LA can provide.

Only through a special condition and a special power that they have to coordinate at least two weeks ahead with police and with all that to be able to do it. But that's their main complaint that when they planned and originally sought out this property, they had that opportunity to work on Saturdays, and all of a sudden, before they pulled the permit, the ordinance was changed, and that's their biggest issue, that they can't meet their deadline of what they had promised of delivery of that building.

Okay. Thank you for that, and I think you got what you wanted on that one. More or less.

R90. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, I just wanted to get an update now that the cooling off period is over on the electric bikes on the beach path. I just want to see how we're doing in the way of warnings and... You know, tickets, and I know the new signage is coming in soon.

It's probably a week, less than two weeks away, so it should be in place very soon. And the chief is here. He's got some information that he'd be happy to share with you.

Well, like Councilman Sklar said, the cooling off period is over. There was a 60-day cooling off period and educational campaign that we went through, the police department went through, we passed out the literature to all the e-bikers or micro-mobility bikers on the path. For the most part, we got a lot of compliance. Year to date, we've done over 1,000 checks on the path, and we issued over 50 verbal warnings. We will continue our aggressive approach. You'll have the D-Safety Officer Code goes out several times a day to do random checks. We also mentioned it on our condo calls to the condo managers. They are well aware of it. We sent them the literature about the e-bike ordinance and we're going to continue to do that so no no citations were written just warnings just warnings what we do is with the warnings um they go in our cat system and if it's a redependent repeat offender then we'll um either issue another warning or citation

Thanks, Chief. I appreciate it and looking forward to getting the signage up there. Make your guys' lives a lot easier. Yes, thank you.

Mr. Mayor, if I may? Yes. I was just looking, and it turns out that the new micromobility bill was signed and presented to the governor yesterday. So it hasn't become law yet, but it's on its way. That statute that we talked about earlier this spring, says that if you're on a shared pathway like the beach path, you have to yield to pedestrians and give an audible signal. And then if it's on a sidewalk or other designated pedestrian area, they have a 10 mile per hour speed limit if they're within 50 feet of pedestrians. So that will follow once this actually becomes law.

You know what they did in Bay Harbor, which I thought was really good? Anyone under 16 that is on one must wear a helmet.

I think they ended up outlying it altogether. You need to have a learner's license, so you have to be 15 or older to ride it.

There was an original proposal, but they ended up going much stricter. Will the signage on the streets still say anyone under 16? They just passed this last week.

Right, Dave? I... Okay, we'll get to it in a second. Yeah, it was a first reading ordinance, but their desire is that they're going to outlaw it completely. Are they allowed to do that?

The age limit was added to the statute last year. Remember, the task force is also meeting now, and so they're going to report by October 1st, 2026, and they're contemplating additional statutes next session.

So can you maybe at retreat just give us a little what we can do, what we can't do based on the new... What just went to the governor today?

That doesn't change what we can and cannot do. We already have the ordinance that was designed to meet that. What this does is make a violation of state law for the things I gave you earlier, the 10 mile an hour speed limit on the sidewalk and so forth. How are they doing in age? Because that's a separate statute last year where it became possible to do an age limit. That was not something that was asked for here.

But that's what I'm saying. Oh, yeah, it is possible. The other things that we might be able to do to make it a little bit more stringent and safer would be greatly appreciated.

I believe, Councilman, I'm sorry. Okay. Councilman Sklar, I think Harbour Islands was following suit because at your mayor's meeting not too long ago, Mayor Salver, I know the mayor of Sunny Isles.

Sunny Isles also said that they had.

And I was just did that with the age, so no one under the age of 16? Correct. Yeah. And Gay Harbor Island is... Yeah, Key Biscayne got that passed.

Yes. Well, that's where the death was, so...

Okay. Before we get to public comment, Alejandro, did you want to... Yeah, so you would go now, and then I'd open it up to the general public.

Yes.

17 years old, adorable guy. He came and said, you know, like, I don't play basketball. I don't know anything about basketball, aside from the Knicks won the game, the MFA. Yeah. Anyhow, long story short, the guy mentioned, and I spoke to Silvia, thank you, about the quality of the surface. Apparently it's not very good, so I don't know anything about it, but I just wanted to voice what these young men mentioned and to acknowledge him and encourage every single person in that age group to come. It's actually great to see them. So that was one of my comments, so thank you, Simon. On the second scene, to Patricia's point early on, I don't need something that can be done or not, but I see buildings, particularly around my side of the street, that were cutting all the trees in the middle of the summer, and as a result, all the birds' nests ended on the floor. So I saw ospreys dead. And is anything that we can do as a council to perhaps ask them not to cut those trees, you know, when there is bird migration so, you know, so they don't die? So just a comment.

Okay.

I guess make a note of that.

Mr. Councilman Levy, I will follow up and we'll explore.

Okay, public comment.

Rahim. I have a couple of comments. One is about the World Cup. I've spoken with Sylvie. We're missing it. We're not doing anything in the park. There is no gathering. There is no celebration. Everybody in the county is doing it. From Hialeah to Hallandale to Miami Beach, they're spending and they're gathering. They're rooting for you as a team or whatever. We have a perfect park. We could put the night games on the thing. People sit on the grass, do something, and we're not doing it. Silver Things wants to do it maybe when we get to the final. I mean, a World Cup. It's a Super Bowl every week. And then until you get more excited when it gets to the knockout stage. And we're not kidding. We used to do this in this village. When it was, we had that little building on the corner where this park is. When the games were, where it was Germany or Mexico, they actually would have like a German food, a Mexican food, or whatever, and people would gather up. I want that community feelings and get the people involved and come and gather together, number one. People get to know each other soccer is a uniting thing. There is a lot of people and I have written to most of you and That everybody supports it. So I want the direction from the you that we should plan more Games to be viewed by the public through the park at night Especially on the grass or any afternoon and in the mornings if there is games in the big screen in the room so I want the park to be utilized better. We're not utilizing it enough. There is a lot of negativity that I have, but I don't want to talk about it right now, but there was a lot of improvement that could be made in the park, and we're not doing it. Second, according to Sylvie, I went to work, and as far as the time, if the park is open at 7 o'clock, I take my son to the gym, because right now, we could go into the park and play basketball at 8 o'clock in the morning until they open up 9, and then we go to the gym. so if it opens up early we definitely would like to go because it's cooler and then you could finish your exercise while you're still cool you could play basketball now we have to go basketball by the time you know so that's the way so it's a good thing if they could go to seven o'clock as far as that is concerned the other concern as we went to work uh to um play And we couldn't because somebody had basically cooking or whatever effort or rented the basketball court for cooking and food and stuff. I don't want the park to become a profit, a business that deprived the resident the use of the park. We have rooms to rent for whatever reason, but the basketball court should be off limits. And I want the council to put that direction to the thing that a basketball court deprives all the residents to basically is a taxpayer's money. This is the park for the public. We shouldn't be because somebody wants to have a party on the court to do that. So those are the things. Thank you.

Are there public comments?

Dave Sanchez, 1094th Street, Bay Harbor Islands. And just continuing on that conversation about the electric scooters, my opinion, I don't really like banning things exactly, but it's what the council wants. But to clarify on what Bay Harbor did, To my interpretation, of course, I would suggest all of you read the code and see the meeting minutes and such. But to my understanding, it's more like if you want to ride an electrical scooter, you must have an ID on you. Usually you can get just a simple ID when you're 15. I'm not exactly sure on... The age, you can go to the DMV or now the tax collector's office and get an ID, but the main point is just that a teen should have an ID if they want to use a scooter. Of course, there's the requirements of using a helmet and such. I would say in my opinion that... The reason of the ID is more like a police, the PD department asking that if we want to do citation, if we want to have a form of contact, the ID is necessary so that that can be completed. Because if not, you say you want to cite a teen using a scooter, and there's no matter of communicating with their parent, which is the main purpose of what the police department is trying to do, just trying to communicate with the parent. But I would say that it might be a bit difficult because, for example, I was a bit lazy. I got my ID when I was 19. So there's also that factor that should be looked into. And I will comment that in the Bay Harbor meeting when the second reading occurs. That is all. Thank you.

Thank you. Nika.

Nika Logan, 64 Camden Drive. Can we get an update on when Collins Avenue is going to get finished? Do we know yet? How much longer do we have to suffer? And then the second question is, I think the light is better over here on 96th Street, but there's not as many people here. So that might be the other half of it. And then the third thing is, I think what Patricia said is our tree cover. Recently, we've lost enormous trees. And I think if somebody's going to cut down a sea grape or an 80-, 100-year-old tree, there needs to be more scrutiny to what that is. it shouldn't just be because you want to put a giant house or something on the property. I mean, there's reasons that you need to remove trees. They might be ill or some other reason, but... And if you're trimming the trees, there is a limit to how much the tree can actually sustain at any one point in time that it is being trimmed. And if the arborist is a good arborist, they know how much they can take out of an oak or any other tree anytime they trim it. But, you know, if you're hat-racking everything, it's not good for anything.

Thank you. I just have a question about that.

All right. Let's just see. Let's just close public comment, and then the manager can address. He's been taking notes. Okay. We have more public comment?

Hello, everyone. Arielle Shimko, 10170 Collins Avenue. Thank you, Council and City. This week, my kids are in camp at the Bell Harbor Park, and it's been lovely to be there every morning. And I was noticing a large group of nannies every morning and a large group of parents... and we thought maybe it would be great to have croissants for sale for breakfast or something for the folks who are coming out of exercise classes to grab a little nosh afterwards, maybe a healthy vending machine or something. I think a lot of people spend a lot of time at the park, and after they work out or after they're playing with their kids, they're hungry, and I think it would be really nice to offer something like that, or even if folks walked out of an exercise class and wanted to hang around a little bit, We have the wonderful coffee machine that sometimes works. And I think if we offer some decaf maybe for our older folks or nursing moms or whatever it is, I think that it could be a really nice addition to the park. And there's so much we can do. But a little coffee clutch in the morning I think would be really, really fun. And people would enjoy it. Why not? Thank you.

Thanks. Any other public comment before we close public comment? Okay. Okay, so public comment is closed. Mr. Assistant Manager, did you want to address any comments before I call up the Deputy Chief?

Is there anyone that you would want me to address? You typically don't.

I just had a question. Oh, sorry. So I always thought when, and again, this would probably be an Elliot question more than anything, I always thought when you remove your tree, you had to replant it. It was always, you know, common. You have to replace it. You have to replace it. So if these people are cutting down these trees... You know, and again, you know, sure, they're cutting down, you know, these beautiful 100-year-old trees and replacing it with a twig. Is there anything within code that says you have to almost match apples to apples?

Unfortunately, we don't have an ordinance for trees through Miami-Dade County tree section. And they're the ones that they apply for their permit there, and they get it, and they get it. We don't issue a permit for tree removal or replacement. It's Miami-Dade County.

Am I wrong that when you remove a tree, generally they make you replace the same green space?

The canopy and the species trees, then they make you replace it or even replace it in the same municipality in another location. I've worked in municipalities that they have an ordinance and that's what they stipulate that you have to replace the canopy within a certain amount of time within this area where you remove the tree. When you hack-rack the tree and they give you a fine, then you have to plant a certain number of trees to be able to replace the canopy. But unfortunately, here we are.

That's county.

It has nothing to do with us. Through the county. Thank you for clarifying.

I appreciate it.

And, Elliot, to clarify, that's on private property, right? On private property. Property that was referred to. Right. Okay. Okay.

No, thank you.

It's all good. Yeah, so public comment is closed. Thank you. Village managers report. Oh, right, right, right, right. Okay, so Councilman Sklar is going to excuse himself, and we're going to do our, sorry, C7A. That's our agenda, yeah. C7A.

Everyone have a great Fourth of July. Thank you. Thank you.

We have to wait for him to exit the room before we can proceed.

I can read the title.

I can read the title.

Yeah. Oh, you can read the title? Oh, okay.

Okay, go for it. C7A, Resolution of Village Council of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, accepting the determination of the Village Building Official that CGBH LLC DBA China Grill Application to the State of Florida Department of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco for the Restaurants for COP license that is located in the Bell Harbor shops is compatible with the village zoning regulations providing for implementation, providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Assistant Manager?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's a consent item, but it's basically the approval of the application for the liquor license for China Grill, which the state has already issued the license. Clearly, China Grill opened last week. They are serving alcohol. I can attest to that. But the council has the responsibility to approve the application to the state. Okay.

Okay.

Ratify the approval.

Ratify. Thank you. Any public comment? Seeing that, is there a motion?

Yes, motion.

Is there a second? I second. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Passes 3-0. Village manager's report? No report, Mr. Mayor. Village clerk's report? In your package. Village attorney's report?

It's in the package. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. And I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July. If you see Bell Harbor, we have our 250th.