City Council - Regular Meeting

I'm calling to order the meeting of the Boca Raton Community Redevelopment Agency. The date is June 9th, 2026. The time is 10 a.m. If everyone could please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Ms. Siddons, can you please call the roll?

Chair Thompson.

I am thankful to be here.

Vice Chair Drucker. Here. Commissioner Grau. Here. Commissioner Perlman.

Here.

Commissioner Sipple. Present. All present.

Thank you. Mr. Director, do we have any amendments to our agenda today?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are no amendments to this agenda.

Very good. Next up, we have our minutes. We have the set of minutes from the regular meeting on May 26, 2026. Are there any revisions or corrections to those minutes? If not, I'll entertain a motion and a second to approve those minutes as presented.

So moved. Second.

Very good. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Moving to presentations, we have none. Same with quasi-judicial and related public hearings. We have none there, so it's time for public requests. So if you'd like to step forward and be heard for three minutes relating to the Community Redevelopment Agency, or CRA, please do so now. Oh, I do have a card. Yes, that's true. Mr. Neil Schiller.

Can I just pass these out before we get started?

I thought that was a pizza box at first. By all means, pass that out.

Thank you so much. If I could just wait till they're all passed out. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, Count CRA Board slash City Council. My name is Neil Schiller. I'm with the Law Firm of Government Law Group at 137 Northwest First Avenue. I'm here today to ask for Council direction for a valet permit. We are asking you to please direct staff to prepare and bring back to Council for approval A revocable license agreement to allow the applicant to use up to four existing on street parking spaces along Northeast First Avenue for a valet service for its sales gallery located at 101. Slide three is just an aerial with that aqua box being the space that they've leased out at 101. uh the next slide shows the four the area of the four metered parking spaces that we're asking to uh rent uh slide five shows you the actual spaces from five one one four all the way to five one one seven this shows you what the valet stand would look like um it really shows you everything there Slide six is our site circulation plan that has been reviewed and approved by your transportation department. You can basically show we're really, we don't expect a lot of turnover here. It's really maybe one car per hour at most. And then the last slide, slide seven, or second to last slide shows you other valet permits that were approved in the area, in the vicinity for other ones. slide eight and i'm going fast because i only have three minutes so if you want to ask me questions feel free but there these would be the terms of the revocable license obviously we'll play market rate for each space we're looking to use them from monday through sunday 9 a.m to 6 with limited evening valet for special events one valet stand with one attendant one year with an option to renew would not be transferable And so our ask is to please direct staff to bring back a revocable license. We've applied for this valet permit through the zoning department and have received approvals. As I told you, zoning and transportation have both reviewed and approved our valet permit. very unique situation apparently there was a council direction many years ago to not proceed or process these valet permit applications however this valet permit application is still up and on your website and it's not just a simple fill it out and you get approved we had comments we went back and forth with your departments uh for several months and so all we're asking for you today is to direct staff appropriately and then you will see this again when the revocable license comes on to the agenda thank you thank you mr schiller any questions for mr schiller members of the board

Could somebody from staff just give us a little background on how we It came to be that we're in a position now where like a CRA meeting an applicant is coming forward and asking us about this I just don't remember that happening in the past

I'll do the best that I can because I don't remember all the details either. But given some concern over the use of on-street parking spaces, there was some concern about valet and private use of some of those spaces. dictated or specified use of on-street spaces by private entities so staff has since not processed any other similar applications pending any further direction from the council any questions for staff on that good mr thank you i guess it presents a bigger question because there is another there's another

potential is another project that has another ask as well when it comes to parking. I think it goes back to our conversation about parking in the downtown and the uses of the parking in the downtown because usually these spots are open during the day. So I'm not like I have to see the staff's comments and et cetera, et cetera. But I think from what I can remember, Mayor Thompson is that we weren't doing it because we want more people to use these spots. And if you have four spots for one private entity from nine to six, it doesn't allow other people to park. I think it just notwithstanding this project aside from this project it brings up a bigger conversation on our parking audit in the downtown because we know there are other areas that we could direct people to park whether it's parking garages that are nearby etc etc so um just curious to see what staff recommendation is going to be or are we going to have a discussion for more of a policy so not with this particular request. I do have a question for Mr. Schiller. Mr. Schiller, you need all four spots. How did you come up with the number four?

Well, there are four spots there, but we could get away with using two spots if that was acceptable.

So let's look at both options just because, again, the goal of the downtown is to have a vibrancy for people to come and go and be able to pay for parking and find parking. So that's kind of my feedback and my questions to staff. Thank you, Mayor Thompson.

Thank you, Ms. Trucker. I had a question myself. So it sounds like the request is to have the revocable license agreement come back to the council. Is this something that would require council approval, Mr. Kalin?

Yeah, the underlying agreement would be by resolution. It would be by council approval. Again, as discussed, city manager and the staff have been operating under a directive not to shrink the available parking uh inventory in the downtown and so that's been a policy and administrative choice and so staff respecting that policy choice by the council has operated within that that limitation and so that's why you have an individual here asking you to direct staff to process it to bring it back to you. And you all can have that discussion. It is not limited, not about this in any way. It's about the broader policy direction.

Sure. From my perspective, I think it makes sense to have an applicant like this at least have an opportunity to be heard as to whether their specific revocable license agreement should be approved or not. So it would be my preference that we allow this to come back at a hearing that gets notice and an opportunity for the public to have a say on it. And if we'll get ultimately a vote yes or no on this specific agreement. But I think at that time we can have like a larger policy discussion as to whether it makes sense in other places. Ms. Drucker.

Before it comes back to the council, I would just like some staff input on other areas that we've approved LA, because I know we have approved LA. You just mentioned those areas. And there's other entities in the downtown that we've approved certain slots in certain adjacent parking lots that are public spaces. So I need the data before this comes back to council. So whether we could get that data for our July meeting, and then this could come back to us in August. That's... Better way of making this decision that impacts that whole area on parking Mr.

So any do you have what you need there?

Yeah, absolutely. We'll come back With the kind of the history of the background of the recent policy change and a recommendation from staff to after after we do the analysis Okay, very good.

Thank you so much. Mr. Perlman.

Go ahead

I'd just like to make a note when that information is presented about prior approvals for this type of valet parking, we'd like to know and I'd like to be interested to know what type of businesses they are that have been allowed in the past because the ones referenced here are only restaurants whereas um the gentleman today is speaking about a uh a sales office for uh condominiums also i'd like to make note um this property Given this current request for parking, and we know that there's an application also pending on this property to make modifications where possibly even more parking would be needed to facilitate that use. Clearly, parking is an issue for this property. So that's something to make note of. Thank you.

So noted. Anyone else?

i was going to ask what the status is of the application for this particular property that we heard previously regarding the restaurant and the four residential units upstairs i don't think that's a question for mr schiller i'm not sure he knows the answer one way or the other but that is a question for staff where does that stand so that uh the applicant has uh requested to delay that and i don't have an estimation of when they're going to bring back to council but probably august

okay thank you very good thank you thank you mr schiller anyone else for public requests related to the cra go ahead i wanted to talk about uh i'm sorry mike liebelson 398 northeast third court i wanted to talk about the property tax revenue bill coming from the state In 2022, our property tax revenue in the city of Boca was $85 million. Today it's $145 million. So we've had a 71% increase in property tax increase, $60 million per year over the last five years or four and a half years. Our population only increased by 2.9%. We are now concerned about making cuts or raising revenue to cover the proposed homestead exemption, which is only eight to $16 million per year. I think we first have to find out where did this $60 million per year increase in property tax revenue go to when we only had a 2.8% increase in population. Here, we are giving money back to the people. $2,136 per year going back to the people. And we're concerned about raising millage rates on all other properties. We're concerned about making drastic cuts. But we didn't talk about making drastic cuts or increasing millage rates when we were going to fund $200 million for the Terra Frisbee deal. In addition, there was no discussion about cuts and revenue increases when we were funding $22 million for the softball complex at Sugar Sand. There also was no discussion about cuts and revenue increases to fund the $190 million police station. So what I'm saying here is we should very easily be able to find reductions in costs in the city's operating fund of eight to $16 million per year. It's very small and it goes back to the people. We should not be talking about millage rate increases or drastic cuts to police or fire or public services. This is very important. Give the money back to the people. We've already taken $60 million per year over the last four years from the people in increased property tax revenues with only a 2.9% increase in population. Where did this money go? I think it behooves this council to go back and say, where did the money go? provided to help new development, or was it there to help the people? This is a really important issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Liebelson. This is a very important issue, but one, it's a complex answer, but I think one answer is that the cost of services has gone up pretty significantly in the five years since COVID, you know, with things like inflation, supply chain issues, et cetera, et cetera. So it wasn't simply the fact that we were just hoarding extra money. The cost of services have gone up tremendously over the last few years. Who's next? Ms. Hagquist.

good morning brianna hanquist 5710a coach house circle and like always thaddeus and ted my spokes tortoises for parks green space and wildlife i have more of a question than a comment and i think it would be for the city attorney the beach and parks district officially repealed resolution 98 2025 at their last meeting this was the resolution to make softball fields in Sugar Sand Park in the forest. I just wondered if the City Council also needs to repeal this resolution so it's completely done and over with in history. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Hagquist. Anyone else for public requests related to the CRA?

Step on up.

Excuse me, can you pull up my slides, Martin Bell? Full screen, please. And before the clock starts rolling, I'm here to talk about public safety, mobility, connectivity, and speed, so something different than you've heard me talk about before, and I'll get to my greatest hits later this morning. Oh, thank you. So from I-95... Name and address, please, if you don't mind. Pardon me?

Name and address, please.

Oh, Martin Bell, 761 Southwest 3rd Street. I live in Boca Raton. I mean, I'm sorry. I live in Royal Oak Hills, by the way. Established 1960. Um, So from I-95 to the South Beach Pavilion, it's about 2.9 miles along Palmetto Park Road. There's a 0.8 mile stretch of road that is unprotected from a pedestrian standpoint. There's no traffic crossings and there's no proper pedestrian crossings. There we go, so this is the one, the crossing at Royal Oak Hills and St. Paul Lutheran School and Church. And you can see we have a tiny little sign there, state sign there in the very middle of the median strip. It shouldn't be an adventure to get across that road, but it is. That's the highest level of traffic volume and the highest speed rates along Palmetto Park Road and the least amount of protection for pedestrians. That's a view looking northeast. If you look northeast, you'll see Palmetto Dunes Park. a nice pocket park. So the people who live in Royal Oak Hills really are disincentivized to visit that park. It's a dog-friendly park. And everyone's just resolved to the fact that we're pinned in. We can't get out. We can't connect with the other neighborhoods. Northwest 4th Avenue, you see Boca Christian and Boca Community Church. Look at that safe passage, a two-lane road, less traveled, less volume, less speed, but very well protected. And that brings us to the Chardonnay Suppers in downtown and the visitors. Look at all that bling, lights along the road. You get those granite bumper posts. Look at all the signage. You have the push button technology and the same thing you see along A1A. So let's respect the OG Royal Oak Hills. We were here first and this is what the city is built on, old neighborhoods like that where people invest. Give a safe passage. Please consider that. Let's use the vendors that you used for the Chardonnay sippers. Let's invest in Royal Oak Hills. We've been promised enhanced tax revenues over the last 10-15 years to pay for stuff. Invest in Royal Oak Hills. Invest in public safety. Please. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Anyone else for public requests? Ms. Knuckles.

good morning good morning chair thompson and the rest of the board um fran knackless 2427 northwest 49th lane here in boca raton florida i only wanted to bring up since you're going to be looking at parking in the downtown again and everything mr schiller brought up as well almost a couple years ago there was a pilot study started for 29 minute free parking to help some of the businesses that don't have parking to help with customer turnover and make it not so difficult with the metered spaces

so when they come back when staff comes back with data for the parking i'd like to see if we can get an update on that as well thank you okay thank you any other public requests related to the community redevelopment agency last call right then we'll close the time for public request i believe we have some uh items that we can take a look at there mr suhaney i know you were taking notes thank you for that um i think we can move on to our next item on our agenda it's not resolutions and regular public hearings none of those no other businesses or settlements so we can move on to the director's report mr suhaney thank you mr chair i have no report mr kaler attorney's report

No report. I can speak to the softball if you want me to. I can speak to it at the next meeting. Go for it. So the ILA that the city entered into contains a provision that allows either party to terminate the agreement without cause. The Beach and Park District has exercised that contractual right. And so the effect of that notice by the district is that that agreement for softball at Sugar Sand terminates in accordance with its own terms. So legally no no additional action is required to make that termination effective um because the agreement terminated the resolution was just the mechanism that authorized the agreement the council could adopt rezzo would be largely symbolic okay thank you mr kaler we can move on to commissioner's reports i'll start on my right miss drucker uh no report thank you thank you miss grow no report thank you miss simple

No report.

Mr. Perlman.

No report and one question for Mr. Kaler. So when does the contract become ineffective or is it ineffective? Is it no longer effective as of today?

So I'll defer to staff as to the date, but the provision says that it is. upon 30 days written notice to the other party, and it would be effective upon that notice in that time period. I would defer to staff, in other words, communications and writing between Breanna and Harms, executive director and staff, providing notice. And I heard the member of the public mention action earlier this week. I think it was yesterday or last week, potentially, but I defer to staff as to that timing. But those actions have been taken.

Okay. Can you please notify the council members when receipt of the termination letter has been received by the city? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Perlman. I have no report. So that will conclude our meeting of the Community Development Agency. The time is 1025. We will adjourn briefly and restart in just a moment at for our workshop meeting of the City Council could give us just one minute.

Thank you.

We're about ready if you could take your seats please. We will call to order a workshop meeting of the Boca Raton City Council, date June 9, 2026, time 1028. First on our agenda is we have some board interviews. First up is the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. We have one applicant, Mr. Mitchell, and he advises that he cannot be here to interview at this time. what we're going to do is we'll do we'll do interviews now if you're here and we'll vote on it during our regular meeting if you're not here for the first set of interview times you can of course interview during the regular meeting but it'd be nice we can knock them all out now i don't see any anybody else wishing to apply to the affordable housing advisory committee i didn't think so we can move then to the citizens pedestrian and bikeway advisory board we have no applicants there we do have an applicant for the executive employees retirement plan mr barrington are you here No. Well, don't worry. You'll have another opportunity in a little while. Next up is the Historic Preservation Board. We have four vacancies and we have five applicants. Do we have any applicants here? I believe I see at least two, three, four. All right. So first one gets to the podium gets to interview first. Name and address and you'll have three minutes.

I'll make this short. My name is Julie Botello Tallarico. I live at 765 Alamanda Street in Boca Raton. I'm here to request a reappointment to the Historic Preservation Board. I've served on the board over five years now. I'm a resident of Boca Raton for 40 years and a resident of Old Floresta for 25 years. I'm also a licensed Florida building contractor with the state of Florida. I have to mention my license number, CBC 058106. I want to continue on the board because I wish to maintain and improve the historical integrity of our city. I hope to continue serving for the community, and I am hoping that you will reappoint me to the board. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Tallarico. Who's up next?

well hello there my name is frank boros i live in the paradise palms neighborhood 1964 south conference drive and um i'd like to be appointed to the historical preservation board and all that sort of thing I've been on BOCA boards before, one in particular, the Community Relations Board, a long time ago for a couple of terms. I'm a member of the Pioneer Club, and as old as I am, I find I'm one of the younger members, my wife and I, which is kind of scary because one of these days those people are going to be gone. I've lived in town for actually over half of BOCA's existence. Not going back to the early 1900s, of course, but from 1925-ish or whenever the heck it came to be. I'm not going to do the math right now, but I think I've been here about 52 years. And I think I could bring... Maybe that's sort of a little type of different perspective to the historical board and that sort of thing by virtue of actually having been here and seeing things and seeing the changes that have happened over time. Gosh, I'm not an architect or an engineer or anything like that. I do work at FAU though. I've been there for about 25 years in public affairs, now called the University of Communications. And well, let's see, I went to UF. I was in the Army prior to that as an air traffic controller. And with the exception of being away for those, for that period of time, those periods of times, I've been in Boca the whole time. And I've been in Paradise Palms. I actually grew up in Paradise Palms. I used to live on the east side back when Paradise Palms was considered west. Now people say I live close to the beach, which is kind of interesting. And I'm not making that up either. So I guess that's it. I don't know if you have any questions or if I've given you enough information. I don't know what more information to give you. So that's pretty much it. Thank you, Mr. Boros. Any questions for Mr. Boros? No?

We appreciate your application and appreciate your sense of style, because that is the city of Boca Raton's shirt, is it not? Thank you very much.

It was a Christmas present for my wife. I really like it. It's comfortable if you don't have one.

Well done, sir. That's it. Thank you. Yes.

Who do we have next?

Good morning, Benjamin Schrier, 2600 South Ocean Boulevard. I'm requesting reappointment to the Historic Preservation Board. I'm a registered architect. I'm one of the partners at Affinity Architects here in Boca Raton, where we employ about 25 people. More importantly, in terms of the Historic Preservation Board, I bring expertise in planning, architecture to it, quick assessment of drawings, have had a real pleasure working with my fellow board members during the past year. And I believe my professional perspective and an objective, rational approach to matters regarding both the two historically designated districts, Old Floresta and Pearl City, as well as the individual buildings. The few individual buildings are historically designated in the town. I look forward to helping Boca Raton improve in that matter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Schreier. Any questions for Mr. Schreier? No? Okay, Ms. Zoom Tobel, I believe you're up.

Hello, Mayor, members of Council. Yvonne Zumtobel, 840 Oleander Street, Boca Raton, Florida. I've lived here since 1978. I've lived in Old Foresta and in Original Meisner since 2003. I've served on the board for nine years. And... I would like to be reappointed to the board because I believe that after nine years, I bring a lot of expertise in terms of specifically the changes that are going on in our two historic districts, Old Floresta and Pearl City. There's been a lot of construction going on. There's been a lot of changes. And while change is good, I would like the board to continue on the path of while we work with new construction, keeping and preserving the charm that these neighborhoods have, because they're the only two historic neighborhoods left in the city, and I would like to continue to serve to preserve them and help in every way I can. So, any questions?

not seeing any thank you thank you the fifth applicant Mr. Liguori is unable to interview at this time so we will make the appointments in a little while you can stay but feel free to but you're not obligated to that'll be I don't know in an hour or two from now when we get to our regular meeting so we can move then to the parks and recreation board we have two applicants who would like to interview first I see them both here

good morning again brianna hanquist 5710a coach house circle and still with me thaddeus and ted they're not applying they just came along i'm applying for this position because i am known as the outspoken advocate for our parks green space and wildlife It's been a lifelong love of wildlife and nature, started out with growing up in summers in Grandma and Grandpa's very, very rural cabin in northwestern Wisconsin. I'm most proud of my most recent accomplishment of stopping the destruction of our enchanted urban forest at Sugar Sand Park. It wasn't easy. It wasn't always fun. It was worth every minute of the hard work. Nothing that comes easy is really worth it. Hard work takes a lot of work, and the benefits really pay off. Along the way, I met very many people with diverse ideas of recreation. I don't think I met any person that was against saving sugar sand. Some of the things that I did find out, all the different ideas that people have with recreation. I met avid bird watchers who enjoy just going out and sitting in the woods and watching for various species. Some who even follow the migration all the way from up north all the way down here. People who like to play individual sports, people who like team sports, people who just like to go have a picnic or a cookout or just sit and enjoy nature. um i think if i'm appointed i'd like to visit all of our parks and see what kind of facilities we have are the facilities up to par do things need to be worked on do we need any improvements um What do the residents want? I'd also like to find out what the employees want. I found out in my career working, best way to find out what's happening is to talk to people who do the job. I also think we need to look at the fee schedules, see if those are in line, and possibly explore what might happen if all of these homestead tax things would go in. what what would happen and how we could maintain facilities to you best we possibly could and especially i want to preserve our wildlife these little guys live here they've lived here longer than most of us they don't have a voice they don't vote they don't have attorneys and they don't make political contributions we have to watch out for them thank you thank you miss hagquist mr gomez

good morning mayor members of council mickey gomez 2356 northwest 38th street here in boca raton and if chosen today i will resign from the civil service board a few things that weren't in my application I've been a parks rat for 70 something years, always in the parks. I'd wake up, my parents would tell me when I was three years old, I'd wake up every morning. Can I go to the park? Can I go to the park? I spent all my time in parks and playgrounds. My 33 years as parks and rec director with the city of Boca Raton, very involved in the professional associations. the Florida Recreation and Park Association, where I served on many boards and commissions, and also the National Recreation and Park Association, which I was president of the American Park and Recreation Society and served as a board of trustees with the National Recreation and Park Association. I've worked with the Beach and Park District for many, many years, know all the commissioners, and feel maybe the Parks and Rec Board and the Beach and Park District could have some joint meetings at times to make some good recommendations based upon what the public's needs are. And that's kind of it. Been involved in Parks and Recreation all my life. Thank you, Mr. Gomez. Any questions? I'm not seeing any. Thank you, sir. And I'd like to take time and let you know to take time to recreate because the benefits are endless.

True enough. That concludes our interviews for the Parks and Recreation Board. We have no applicants for our opening on the Marine Advisory Board, so we can close the time for the board interviews. We will make those appointments in a little while when we get to our... Mayor Thompson. Oh, yes, Ms. Drucker.

Yeah, so it's not a board through the city, but it's come to my attention. So on the MPO, we have a Citizens Advisory Committee. The CAC has a vacancy, so we have two appointments on that board. One is already filled. If you're interested, please reach out to... Just reach out to me directly because appointments come directly from the city through myself. So if you're interested, you can look it up on the MPO site. That's for Palm Beach County Citizens Advisory Committee, the CAC. Thanks.

Yes, ma'am. Are you hoping to apply for something?

Yes.

Can I still apply and fill out the application or is it too late for Parks and Recreation?

I'm happy to have you come and interview. You have to fill out the application at some point. I think if you do that today, I think that counts. So step on up.

Okay, yes. I will fill it out today. My name is Judy Morrow, 1305 Northeast Fifth Avenue. And just as the gentleman before me, I love recreation. I grew up in Miami. Miami-Dade County had beautiful recreational facilities. I was so happy with the recreation facilities, I thought all cities had those kind of recreation facilities. After I got married and we moved to Miramar, which is West Hollywood, I lived in a city that had terrible recreation. So I learned from the good to the very lacking. And then also, I went back to college to get my degree because I did not want to be a hypocrite to my children, my young children, and I wanted them to go to college and to finish. So when I went back to college, I worked for the Parks and Recreation Department for the city of Fort Lauderdale. I was... hired my second time as a lifeguard and i worked first as a lifeguard for the summer and then they kept me on because i was very good they said and so then i worked for three and a half years while i went back to college with the parks and recreation department with the senior citizens and the handicapped and unfortunately in my life I was in a very bad car accident and I was hit in the rear and then hit the car in front of me which hit the car in front of it but I was the first one hit so I have neck back and I had to have knee surgery and I understand what you know like just like Lake Wyman Park has handicapped they making it handicapped appliance and so also now I am a senior citizen so plus I have three children and I'm one of the few moms that used to go out and practice with my son at Lake Wyman and other parks you know, softball and football, and other fathers and young children would join us. And all three of my children have been in lots of sports. Lots of sports. My children have also been on the swim team. They did not play water polo like I did. And I played water polo for many, many years, and i was all-american five years in a row and i know a lot about pools being a lifeguard i know a lot about senior citizens i know a lot about handicap miss morrow so could you please conclude yes okay and so um i would very much and also i want to make it very clear to everybody on the board that i like almost all sports and last night my grandson and i we tried padel the second time so i'm really into sports thank you thank you

That concludes our board interviews for the moment. We will get back to it in a little while during our regular agenda. We can turn to our presentations today, and we have one, a discussion regarding property tax reform. Mr. Sohaney, who will be making the presentation on that matter?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our Deputy City Manager and CFO, Mr. Zervas, will make the presentation.

good morning and thank you mayor and members of the city council before i get started there were a couple property tax numbers that were discussed during public presentations in the cra meeting and i'd just like to to correct those or clarify those go for it um so the the 2022 and i'm going to give you the operating millage rate only so we're excluding the voter approved debt service millage which is fairly minor but just for clarification on what's included Property tax operating millage for 2022 is $93.4 million. And then this year, 2026, we're anticipating about $140 million. So that's the four-year change. So differs slightly from the previous numbers. The 144 may be what we're anticipating next year, but we're still working on those estimates and projections. So I'm using the information we know for this year in those calculations. And we'll have some more information on that historical property tax and the city's historical budget expenditures at the upcoming June 18th budget workshop. So I'm not going to get into that today, but you'll have an opportunity to review that and discuss that in detail at that June 18th meeting. Okay, so good morning. We're gonna speak, I'm gonna share with you a little bit about the city's current property tax makeup. The bill that was approved through the legislature, HJR, House Joint Resolution 1F, which we'll talk about kind of what it does with respect to property tax reform and what those impacts look for the city and some options that the council will want to consider as we look at how that if it's approved by voters in November kind of how that's going to impact the city and what options we have in order to adjust for that so for for historical purposes or to give you some background really The property tax environment today, so these are our 2026 estimates. So this is actually what we're projecting for next year. You can see our homestead and non-homestead numbers. So 2026, just to clarify, that's a January 1st valuation date of 2026. So that impacts, these are the numbers that would drive our budget for fiscal year 2627, or the upcoming fiscal year. So this is the most current valuation numbers that we've got from the County Assessor's Office. And I've highlighted in yellow or orange the homestead component here. So our homestead is about $29.4 billion in market value of $59.5 billion. And that is about 49.37% of market value. So the appraiser gives us, or the assessor gives us really three different values. They give us a market value. They give us an assessed value. So what are they assessing on that? Then they have exemptions. And if you remove exemptions from assessed value, you get taxable value. And so there's a couple of different steps there. So what's the difference between market and assessed value? Well, first of all, market value typically is lower than what you see in the actual market. The assessor tends to be a little conservative there. I looked at a handful of properties you'll see in the presentation later. If you compare those to like what you see on Zillow, it's about 85% of the value of what Zillow would tell you versus what the appraiser would tell you or the assessor. And so that's the difference in the market value assessed value. When you start talking about these these caps, right caps on increase of assessed valuation. And we'll talk a little bit about that. In fact, it's on the bottom of this slide. that current value cap of 3% for homesteaded properties and 10% for non-homesteaded properties, meaning that the assessed valuation of an individual parcel can't increase more than that in any given year, and it's limited to the lesser of a change in CPI or those factors. So that's why the assessed value is less than the market value. Exemptions, we're going to primarily talk about the homestead exemption today, but there are a number of exemptions in the Florida Code. Even government property is a good exemption, right? So when you look at the non-homestead exemptions there, that large $1.669 billion number, it's a pretty big number. There's no homestead exemptions included in that category. So that's really talking about nonprofits. It's talking about governmental properties, FAU, city facilities, all our churches, things like that. But there are a number of different exemption categories. So again, 49.37% of our market value is homesteaded. About 40.29% of the tax value is homesteaded. And at the end of the day, it's the tax value that the millage rate applies to, and that's what actually generates property tax revenue for the city. Just looking at a calculation of that tax value divided by market value, so how much of that actual market value is getting taxed? You can see in the non-homesteaded category, it's about 82.43% of the value is getting taxed, whereas on the homestead, because of the exemption, the homestead exemptions currently, as well as the 3% cap on growth, it's only about 57.04% of the value of a home is actually getting taxed. So that's how it works now. We currently have two pieces to the homestead exemption. The first $25,000 of value on your primary residential property, if you've applied for and received homestead status, that first $25,000 is exempted from all property taxes. schools, cities, counties, special districts, everything. The next element, the next 25,000, which happens to be not the next 25,000, but actually the value between 50,000 and $75,000 of value. I have no idea why it was set up that way, but that's how it was structured. That is excluded from only non-school homesteaded taxes. So schools, you still pay school taxes on that second $25,000. That second $25,000 exemption was actually changed a couple years ago to inflate grow by CPI. So that adjusts upward each year. So again, our current property tax makeup, just looking at the categories to give you an idea here of the 41.6 billion in taxable value, 32.4 billion or 78% of that is residential. So it's almost, it's a little more than three-fourths of our value is in residential. That includes both homestead and non-homestead. That's just total residential. But it gives you an idea of how it compares to commercial and industrial. at 18 and then 3%. And then the middle table shows that value of homesteaded, the taxable value of homesteaded versus non-homesteaded, again, about 40.29% of our total value is homesteaded. Total value in the county, or the city. So when we look at increase in our homestead exemption, what happens if all homesteaded properties were exempted, which is not the current proposal? That's really the value that we're talking about. then the bottom category the bottom table i added because i thought it was interesting if you wanted to see what a single family residential home on average the value the market value of that single family residential home on average is about 1.4 million in the city for a non-homesteaded single-family residential it's just under 1.3 million and you can see the average taxable values at 773 000 or 1.18 million So for those single family residential homes that are not homesteaded, they're getting taxed on a value of roughly 91.65% of the value of that property, whereas our homesteaded folks are on average about 55.19%. So there's already a lot of protection built in to or, you know, the exemptions and the caps have been effective in reducing the taxable value of a homesteaded property compared to our non homesteaded single family residentials.

So in total, you get a big property tax bill every year.

We put this information out annually to all of our all of our residents. There are a number of different taxing agencies that that levy the property tax bill. We are one of many. We are not the largest. We are actually the third largest. Only 21.55% of a dollar of tax rate or of all the tax bill goes to the city. So the largest, it's 78.45% of that tax bill goes to other taxing agencies. So when you think about, hey, I pay my property tax and the city doesn't get all of that, we get less than a quarter of that property tax bill. In fact, the largest share of the bill actually goes to the schools at 37.17%. And remember the schools are exempted really from this property tax reform that we're gonna be talking about in a minute. So it really impacts everyone else on this list other than schools. So if you think about it like that, it impacts about two thirds of your overall tax bill. A third of it effectively is carved out because it's schools. In fact, the county actually levies at a higher rate than the city does. And the city uses this funding to provide all of the local services. So when you talk about police, fire, EMS, parks and recreation, you know, all of the things, beautification, all of the services that we enjoy here within our community, really the local services outside of schools. I mean, it really does come from less than a quarter of your overall tax bill. AS FAR AS THE CITY'S BUDGET IS CONCERNED, THIS NEXT YEAR, SO THIS MIGHT BE WHERE THE $144 MILLION NUMBER CAME FROM, THIS IS OUR ESTIMATE, OUR PROJECTION FOR NEXT YEAR. WE'RE PROJECTING ABOUT 144.6 MILLION IN PROPERTY TAX REVENUE OFF THE CURRENT VALUATIONS AND THAT IS ABOUT 52.77% OF OUR TOTAL GENERAL FUND BUDGET. SO WE'RE GOING TO LOOK AT THAT TOTAL GENERAL FUND BUDGET BY DEPARTMENT IN A FEW MINUTES. and i'll kind of point back to these numbers but i want you to give you an understanding of okay what does property tax mean to the city and our ability to deliver services to the community it's it's a little over half of all the resources that the city has in the general fund to to do perform those functions So House Joint Resolution 1F, the Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Tax bill. So this has been something we talked about in December. There were a number of different proposals on the table in the House. Nothing made it through the Senate. And then in special session pretty recently on June 2nd, the legislature adopted what became HJR 1F, It was really initiated by the governor's office. He's been talking about it for well over a year. This is the language that's actually gonna move forward to a November ballot, where it will be voted on by all of the voting constituents in the state of Florida. It does require a 60% vote of the people in order to pass. and if it's approved it would become effective january 1st of 27. so january 1st to 27 there are some operative elements of that legislation regarding how funding can be spent that go into effect at that point really doesn't start to impact the city's budget until the following fiscal year that would be the 2728 fiscal year So what does it do? It really changes the homestead exemption. The focus is on providing a higher benefit or higher homestead exemption to our homesteaded residents here. So it replaces that existing $50,000 structure that I spoke about earlier, replaces it in two steps. So the first step would be moving that up to $150,000 effective January 1st of 27. And then a year later, it would increase another $100,000 to $250,000. So that's the steps that it would take. Again, those don't impact the school levy. These apply only to non-school property taxes. um there is some language in the bill that talks about this through general law that there would be a full elimination of homestead property tax that's all it says it doesn't give any indication of how over what time or or legally how that would actually be imposed so it is not a full exemption of homesteaded properties it is an increasing of the homestead exemption at this point from 150 to 250. There is also a five-year waiting period. So for folks that would be new moving to Florida, you couldn't just get your homestead and get the full $250,000 exemption. There's a five-year waiting period. So until then, you get the old $50,000 exemption. It's adjusted for a CPI index. And after five years, then you move straight to the $250,000 exemption. So again, these exemptions apply to all non-school taxes, so cities, counties, and special districts. They also don't impact non-ad valorem assessments. So if you look at your tax bill on the bottom, there's some fixed amounts. They're not based on value. And we talk about ad valorem assessments. It literally means a tax on the value of the property per value. We levy per $1,000. A non ad valorem assessment is just a fixed rate assessment. So we have one of those in the city for fire services. So we levy a non ad valorem fire services assessment. But there are others on your tax bill also. I think there's three that are typical in our city. So those are unaffected by the exemptions because they're not based on value And then changes to non homesteaded taxes that 10% cap on the increase of valuations is reduced to 5% So that doesn't take away funding from the city immediately, but it does slow down the growth the potential growth in additional property tax growth on non homesteaded properties into the future and The 1F also does another element of it is implementing some sections as far as what property taxes can be used for. This actually developed pretty quickly during the special session and it made it a little muddier I think than the initial intent was. Initially it just had about six categories that was very clear that you could spend property tax money on, the first one being public safety, law enforcement, fire services, EMS, education, schools, infrastructure, bridges, road construction, maintenance and stormwater, and financing or refinancing of natural resource projects, flood control measures. So they're giving us an exhaustive list here. It goes on to say issue bonds for uses that are consistent with this paragraph or to make debt services for those obligations. So you can borrow money in order to do those things. If we're going to construct a large road project or construct a public safety project that that would be allowable, meet obligations of retirement benefits for local government employees. So retirement benefits are allowable pension benefits in our case. primarily. But then this last bullet was added, and it was kind of added in two steps. So the initial change that was passed through the legislature extended to county officers and commissioners, and the concern was county constitutional officers needed to be able to run their offices with property tax money because that's how they're funded. That wasn't allowed in the original legislation. So the legislation was was modified to allow for that with this bullet point. But then they went on to add municipal governing bodies in into this section. And so on its face value, I mean, it reads to fund the operations of administration of county officers and municipalities. So so this is a catch all a larger category that would appear to allow for really anything that's approved by your council that's not prohibited under general law. So it's a little unclear in the law as to exactly what this would prohibit, since that appears to be a pretty wide category of operations and administration. The companion bill, so in addition to H.J.R. 1F, there was a Senate bill 4F, and this is really an implementing bill, so it's largely administrative. How do you actually implement this in the existing tax structure and the tax law? All of its administration except for one real operative change. And this modifies the maximum millage rate calculation. So we go through a very regimented process to approve a millage rate every year that your council votes on and that is implemented. And it goes back to a maximum millage rate. Historically, the maximum millage rate was the rollback rate, which is the amount, the rate that you would need to collect the exact same amount of money last year as you would this year. So if your values are increasing, the rollback rate would actually be decreasing, assuming you're increasing in total value. adjusted for a per capita personal income growth factor. That's the old maximum millage rate calculation. So it was the inflationary factor. It's saying, what would your millage rate need to be to have the rollback rate plus cover inflation? They took out the per capita personal income growth factor. So effectively, the maximum millage rate going forward is simply the rollback rate. Operatively, it doesn't really change much. Either way, we would still need a three-fifths vote to approve the levy. So it doesn't change much, but it is an operative change in the bill. So post-HJR1F, what does this do? So the city's estimated tax values, if we factor in that reduction, I've added the blue column on the top chart on the far right that says post-HJR1F taxable values. So we see a reduction from $16.7 billion to $12.1 billion. overall going down from 41.6 in taxable value to 37 billion. So you can see a reduction of about 11%, a little over 11% of our tax base is eliminated. It also shifts the tax base. So now our tax base is heavier on non-homesteaded property. So where we had 40.29% of our total value was homesteaded, that now is reduced to 32.9%. So it's about a 7.39% shift in tax from homesteaded values to non-homesteaded values. And that would include commercial, industrial, like snowbirds, rental units are non-homestead so they can still be people that live here full-time and work here full-time in a rental unit that that are not considered homesteaded properties and then down below i i did take a look at okay this this this average market value and taxable value for a single family residential if we make that simp that same adjustment you can see it reduces that average taxable value to 573 000 down from 773 000 or you know down that that carves out about another 14.27 percent of value that is no longer taxable on the average single family residential home in boca I was curious, and so I actually looked at a couple examples. These are real properties in Boca. These are in the same neighborhood. They're a couple houses apart. The first property, property one, is a homesteaded property that was purchased in 1992. The second property is a homesteaded property purchased in 2023. You can see the market value, according to the assessors, very similar, both about $1.1 million. On Zillow, they're both about $1.25, $1.3 million. Very similar financially. The assessed value, however, you can see the first property, because they were homesteaded so long ago, they've benefited from the 3% cap. So their assessed value is only $314,000, and they bought in at a lower price point. And then versus the 2023 example at $787,000, you can see the new homestead exemptions. Well, you can see both the current and the new and the resulting taxable value. So whereas the first property today, this is a real example, has $263,000 taxable value. goes down to $63,000. Property 2, $736,000 goes down to $536,000. I calculated the actual property tax bill, that $5,000 property tax bill today on Property 1 would go down to $2,914, about a 42.3% reduction, saving them $2,100, $2,137. You can see Property 2 has the same dollar benefit. twenty one thirty seven. But because they're getting a discount on a higher property tax bill, it's a lower percentage. So they save about 16.3% on their total tax bill. You can see I did break out the ad valorem use schools. The largest component doesn't change. really it is the city and then in other would be all your special districts primarily the county is the largest one in the other category but you can see the reduction in funding so the city we're on that first property the city gets today nine hundred and sixty six dollars to provide services for the year that number goes down to two hundred and thirty two dollars seventy six percent reduction on that first property So I grabbed two other properties in the same neighborhood. So these are all neighbors in East Boca. So property one and two we talked about. Property three is a non homesteaded property. So this is your snowbird in the same neighborhood they bought in 2022. They have a value of 1.04 million. And then property four is actually fully exempted. So they have another exemption under the code that provides for them a full property tax exemption. Everything except the non ad valorem assessments. Those are typically for permanently and disabled veterans or permanently disabled first responders. So it's there are a couple of categories in the code that allow for that. This just happened upon this one in the neighborhood as I was looking for some different examples to show you. So you can see in the bar graph here that that property one gets read. So they're paying $2,900 per year after this legislation. If it passes property to the later, you know, the 2023 homestead just under 11,000 that snowbirds paying $18,121 today and they will continue to pay that. And then the exempted obviously is just down at $408. So, you know, when you think about And this is kind of beyond our scope, but you think about tax policy. All these properties receive the same level of service. They have access to the same parks. They have the same public safety coverage. One doesn't get more for paying more or less. When we go to the grocery store, we all pay 6.5% on taxable property, taxable goods that we buy. When we go pay income taxes, there is a constant rate that we all pay. Property tax, there's a big discrepancy in how properties, both pre and post this legislation, there's a big discrepancy in how properties are taxed. This property tax reform doesn't change that. You can see what it does do is it provides lower tax values for homesteaded properties particularly benefiting those that have been here longer so what does this mean for the city we talked about it being about 52 percent of our total general fund budget in these two steps the first step we lose about 8.14 million in property tax revenue in total it's about 16.73 million We don't have a calculation really on that homesteaded cap decrease from 10% to 5%. That's just something we'll have to factor in going forward. But it's not money that's coming out of our pockets. The $16.73 million will be an actual revenue loss. It's about 11.56% of our total property tax revenues, and it's about 6.1% of our general fund expenditures. So those are important numbers when you think about the overall impact on the city's general fund operations. So we have some policy decisions that are gonna be needed. We're gonna need some input here as we balance cutting services, reducing our budget, raising fees for things that we either don't charge for or don't charge full cost recovery for, increasing millage rates on properties on the remaining tax base, generating new revenues. We're gonna have some policy direction that's needed from this council on how we address this. The good news is it doesn't impact us this year, and we'll talk a little bit about the timing, so we have some time to think about how to do this well and to achieve your council's desired outcome in dealing with the loss of revenue. When we talk about the city's general fund budget, when we talk about cutting budgets, cutting services, what does this look like? This is just a graphical representation of our general fund. We'll look at some dollars in a minute, but what I wanted to show you is that today, 62% of our general fund budget is public safety. So that's the blue and the green. That's public safety. It's two-thirds of our budget, effectively. Everything else we do, parks, recreation, beautification, all the other administrative functions of the city, it's about a third. Today, and really historically, if you go back, I've looked at really all of our budgets going back the last probably 20 years. Public safety has always been, the cost of public safety has always been greater than all of our property tax revenue. So if you wonder, you know, we looked at how you can spend property tax. We don't have an issue in those categories because we already spend more than we spent 190% or 109% of our total property tax revenue today on public safety. So if you wonder, you know, where does that 52% go? More than, you know, 62% of our budget's public safety. So if property taxes are 52%, that would make sense. But it does make it challenging when we talk about how to absorb a $16.7 million budget reduction. This chart shows you each department in the general fund. their proportionate share. And if you were simply doing across the board dollar for dollar budget cuts, everyone would have to shave about 6.53% off their budgets. But that's a significant reduction. It's $5.3 million in police. It's almost $5 million in fire rescue because they make up such a large portion of the general fund budget to begin with. That's not none of this is advisable. I wanted to give you some context. I think we need to be more strategic and about how we go about addressing any budget reductions. If you simply take out police and fire and said, well, police and fire shouldn't see any reduction. You know, they they're the first priority. They don't reduce them at all. Well, then everything else gets reduced by 16.96%. And these are pretty significant budget reductions and would have service level impacts for sure. So when we talk about budget reductions, and this really isn't, you know, we're not looking for a solution here today. I'm just trying to give you some things to think about as we come back in the coming months and we monitor this legislation. You have some things to think about how we go about addressing this fiscal challenge. So fortunately, we have some time to plan. It's not it's not this year. It's the next two fiscal years. As I think back about similar challenges, you know, I go back to 2009. I was doing the same type of work when the fiscal crisis happened. We didn't get two years to figure it out. You know, we had to figure out how to cut the budget and address this thing in in three months because the because of that fiscal crash. So fortunately, we have some time to plan and think through this. and do it well. Our preliminary analysis, we have done some preliminary budget work as part of our work for this upcoming fiscal year. We've had our departments model some different budget reduction scenarios, and what we're seeing in general is that once we get above 5% reductions in department, you do start to see a significant service level impact. and so it really there's kind of a breaking point there that that we've noticed in general i think different departments it'll be a little bit different i would say you know what we do as an organization we provide services with people like you know we don't sell widgets we we deliver services with people with police officers with you know maintenance people with recreation folks and and once you get to that five percent level is is when you start to see an impact on our workforce i think under that level it maybe impacts some of our part-time employees but but that really is the point you know where i think we start to see a shift Priority based budgeting. So this is really something that we'll want to think about and have discussions about as we prepare for this. How do we prioritize the services if we're going to address this through budget reductions? We need to first think about what are the priorities of this city and we budget according to those priorities. So we figure out what are the top priorities? What are the acceptable and the expected service levels? You know, does the grass get mowed every week or every month? what is the expected service level, and then we can work a budget that meets those service levels according to that priority. But realize we have $16.73 million less money to do that with, so those priorities have to reflect that budget reality. And I just gave some examples at the bottom of things that we would be considering about public safety response times and staffing levels, library hours, and services. How often is the library open? How long is it open? Landscaping and maintenance. You see our crews out in this community all the time. Mowing medians, fixing water lines, doing all of the things that make this a beautiful community to be in. Those are service level questions, and that's a prioritization discussion that we'll want to talk about. Park rangers, coverage levels at our different parks. street maintenance standards, infrastructure maintenance standards, recreational programming, how many, what type of recreation, how are those prioritized? Things like supporting our local nonprofits and affordable housing. These are all policy, these are all things that compete for the general fund dollar that we'll wanna talk with you more about. so beyond budget cuts another you know another tool that that the council has before it is the millage rate so what's remaining in our property tax values your council still has control over a millage rate to put some context to it you you could replace the 16 million dollar loss of revenue with an increase of the millage rate of about 12%. So increasing it from the 3.6649 mills to the 4.1078 mills. That would totally replace it. Where does that put us in relation to our neighboring cities today? This is a graph we put out every year that shows our millage rate at 3.66 compared to our neighbors. comparable agencies well it you know for an extra point four four mils we're four point one one we're still below all of those agencies so you have that's that's an option and it's an option to to consider so adjusting the millage rate There is a legal limit of 10 mils, so we're not anywhere close to, we're not even at half of that. But just so you're aware, that's where the maximum is. And there are communities in this state that are either at that maximum millage rate or they will be there, and they don't have that option. We have that option because the council has been diligent over the years in keeping that millage rate low. And so now you have some flexibility in how we approach this. Potential fee impacts. So here's some other ideas as I was brainstorming ideas. And none of this is exhaustive. This is just me putting some things onto the table that I see. We have a non-ad valorem fire fee. It is currently imposed at a very low rate compared to what we could justify mathematically and under the law. That could actually go up by $21 million, 150% increase. You could recover all of and more then. So that's an option. That is non-ad valorem, so that's not impacted by property tax reform. That is the fixed assessment. We can look at our other fees for service. So we have a lot of other areas where we either have fees that are intentionally set below below the cost to provide those services or we don't charge at all, like a library card. The thought was, well, those things are paid for with property taxes. Well, when you start to erode and lose property taxes, you have to think about, OK, how how do we want to recover the cost of providing these types of services? So we have recreation fees, library charges. gumbo limbo engineering reviews and inspections so people that come in and pull permits for residential property or commercial property but it could just be someone doing work on their home where those rates are currently subsidized frankly by the general fund they're not full cost recovery but they are really a discretionary action by the property owner, something they want to do to their property. So there's some policy decisions around how to set fees based on a desired level of cost recovery based on the type of fee it is. And then there's evaluate new fees and assessments. So, you know, in light of kind of full elimination of homesteaded property tax, we were looking at this. I'm not sure that this is this is a major shift. You start talking about, you know, the cost of going in and paving and putting streetlights in a residential neighborhood. today those properties are just put through our capital improvement program we pay for them with property taxes well if you don't have property taxes and in light of full elimination of homesteaded taxes i think this would be you know something to seriously consider a fixed assessment so you go into a neighborhood and you make those improvements and you assess the properties in that neighborhood for the cost of providing those improvements directly to those property owners so those are those are those are things to be discussed as potential options again benefiting property for both you know kind of ongoing landscaping and maintenance in a neighborhood but also you know larger paving and stormwater sidewalk projects well that's a major shift in kind of how we approach things now if you think about it in in relation to people that live in a gated community they pay for those costs directly to their HOA the HOA repaves the streets the HOA does that landscaping so you're really talking about is a similar type of assessment in those properties that are not gated where the city provides those services Again, just options to consider. So other things that came to my mind, the CRA generates a fairly significant amount of tax increment. We're looking to put hopefully a lot of that to work in Memorial Park and with our facilities here soon. But the CRA does have an option to rebate tax increment back to the underlying taxing agencies and that would be the beach and park district the city and the county for every dollar of tax increment that's rebated the city gets about 39.5 cents and the beach and park district gets about 11.7 cents and i say that because the beach and park district really works in conjunction with the city to deliver recreation to the community so we're really primarily serving the same constituents so a little over little over 51 percent of each dollar would come back to be able to provide those services. So it's another way to increase the city's general fund budget without increasing fees or millage rates. We can look to outsource city operations to private operators, look to find where we can be more efficient that way in utilizing private services. There are pros and cons to those things that we can explore, evaluate other opportunities. There are communities that have, they do naming rights. They put billboards that the city owns and gets advertising money. They have city-owned cell towers and advertising on city buses and vehicles. selling and leasing property, P3 ideas, like these are all, I'm not advocating any of them. I appreciate that I don't see big billboards and advertising in this community, something I think that makes this community special, but those are revenue generating items that communities have resorted to, to help kind of shore up their fiscal outlook. So again, not an exhaustive list, just things to kind of get the conversation going, get you thinking, so that when we come back in the future, we're able to explore these different options to solving the fiscal challenge, if this is approved by voters in November. So I do wanna bring your attention to this kind of later development. We were made aware recently that there's at least one potential legal challenge out there to the ballot language and title for the House Joint Resolution. And it's from Save Our Voters from Misleading Ballot Language, Inc., which is a political action committee. The city would not be a party to this type of action, but I do want to make you aware that it's out there. And really, it focuses in on some of the statements that are out in the wording, right? So even in the title, Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Tax, well, what are we saving it from? I mean, it... And what is excessive? What makes a property tax in a community excessive? Is it a millage rate? Is it a dollar amount? It's somewhat slanted language. The phrasing exempting homesteaded properties from taxation appears in the legislation. It's not really exempting because these properties still pay tax. And they certainly pay school tax because the school taxes are not even included in this reform. A couple other areas that they're focused on, this phrase, ensuring funding for core services, the ballot language doesn't really do that. It does say there are a list of things that we can spend money on, and we talked about that, but it doesn't ensure there's money to do those things. In some communities, they literally may not have money to do those things. So it's not really ensuring that those core services are funded. There's a phrase that says protecting small businesses within the ballot language. I haven't seen anything in this language that talks about small business at all. So it seems misplaced. especially the idea that it's protecting them and then five uh the phrase ensuring fairness for florida residents um you know fairness is kind of a political characterization not a legal effect so it's it's uh what makes something fair and why is it fair if i have a five-year phase in or if i'm the 1992 homesteaded homeowner and you're the 2023 homesteaded owner and we're paying significantly different amounts is that fairness so it doesn't It's arguable whether or not you could characterize that as ensuring fairness. So again, not our lawsuit, but just understand these things are going on with respect to discussion around property tax reform. From our standpoint, Next Steps, we have a budget workshop on June 18th. We're gearing up for, we're starting this process early this year. You haven't had one of these in June. Typically we do it in July. That's intentional. It's to give us a little more time to be able to come back to you in July if needed and work with you on that. And we're going to want to be thinking about, although this legislation isn't passed, we're aware of its impacts. And although the impacts don't hit 26-27, we certainly don't want to make things worse. We want to be conscious of that in what we do in 26-27 to set us up for whatever that's going to look like in 27-28. think about the policy direction on how we're going to address this lost revenue you know services millage rates fees these different ideas about how to kind of bridge that gap new revenue sources we want to get out and educate the community so depending on on kind of where you know the direction from the City Council we think education in the community about the potential impacts of this so that we have a well-educated community will be important so we want to do more of that If property tax, if it is approved in November, and my personal opinion is I think it's very likely to be approved. People like tax cuts, tax reductions, so I think that's likely. But if we'll be watching, assuming that happens, we'll definitely need policy direction on how we kind of bring these different ideas together to deal with the lost revenue issue. And then that'll flow right into our 2027, 28 budget as we work to implement that direction.

so with that that concludes my presentation i'd be happy to answer any questions thank you mr service that was a very comprehensive presentation i think we all appreciated that any questions for mr service or anybody with staff no okay miss trucker

Thank you, Mr. Service. Thank you, staff. So a lot to unpack here. So just give me a minute because I've been thinking of what I want to say. So here we go again where the governor had and the Florida legislature had an opportunity to focus on property insurance reform and they failed the public. And they went again to further erode local government, the entities that we sit here today, by going around property taxes. It's a real discussion and one that is very concerning. And I understand that there are cities that possibly have not been fiscally responsible, but that is not the case for the city of Boca Raton. We've always been fiscally responsible. We've always had a balanced budget, and we've always had the lowest millage rates, fire assessment rates, and that shows in the proof. That is a fact. There's nothing to agree with. That is a fact. You can go back and you can look at the numbers. So again, very disheartening. I went up to Tallahassee four times this year. Some of our former colleagues were up there. We advocated hours on end on how this would impact our cities, our local governments, our counties, and it went on deaf ears. It's very, very disheartening. Again, I've been speaking through some of the committees that I sit on. As you all know, I sit on a multitude of committees from just all different walks of things that we deal with cities. And a lot of cities are already preparing for the future. So I guess one of the questions, and I've already had this discussion with staff, is some of the cities throughout the state... that are not positioned like Boca. We're in a separate situation because we're just a different city because we have a lot more ad valorem taxes in some of our neighboring cities. But some of the cities are already starting to cut back on services and preparation for this passage, saying we need to reserve this money for the future, whether it's closing parks early, whether it's limiting library hours, whether it's one of the cities is considering selling off their police department. You could look it up on your own. It's a neighboring city in our county. So I just kind of wanted to start thinking that as we sit here, we get ready for June 18th budget discussion because We have to prepare now for the future. The area that I always want to protect, and we saw it in our slides, was public safety. And one of the examples that I use on public safety, I'll use with fire rescue. I had a discussion with one of our elderly residents. We have an incredible call time and response time in the city of Boca Raton. One minute could save a life. So if we reduce some of our fire services, you could make a 911 call, and the response time by one minute, you could have someone that survived or someone that died. And I know it sounds very drastic, but that's what happens when you cut services to essential everyday functions. We're also a full-service city, so we get to control. If someone calls and says, our garbage wasn't picked up, We look at the video, we're like, they missed a street, let's send someone out. So we have this advantage that some of the cities have already outsourced some of their private kind of functions out of the public sector. So as we have this discussion, it's really important to understand that. In addition, we're putting an incredible amount of pressure on our small business. When you tax local business and small business, they have to increase their prices to who? Us, the consumers. fees. When you increase the fees, again, it impacts the consumer. I talked about public safety. I also wanted to remind folks that during this legislative session, because they continue to erode home rule protection, there was a lot of different bills that were passed that impact our cities monetarily that we have to account for. And then of course, just a regular every day that Mayor Thompson alluded to earlier, which was inflation, we're in our collective bargaining agreements right now with three of our different departments as we proceed and we move forward through our budget season. So again, I couldn't sit up here and not say that as an advocate and as someone that goes up to Tallahassee and we advocate for our cities, it's very disappointing that this Florida legislature and the governor decided to look at property tax reform and not focus on the real issue that's facing citizens in Florida, which is property insurance. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Drucker. We can have as little discussion as we want on this, but I did want to note that we're going to have public comment on this presentation. So can we open up the time for that, unless anybody has anything else to say at the moment? No? All right. If you wish to be heard on the presentation on the subject of property tax relief, you'll have three minutes. Please step to the podium. State your name and address.

John Anderson, 290 West Palmetto. on the display it showed that parks and rec was 25% 2% went to developmental services and 11% went to the beach district right there that adds up I believe to the same amount as fire and police that's where the cutback should be I mean, you could see it for one example is like pickleball, pickleball mania. And if you look at also I've looked at the state counties and other cities, if you and HOAs, if you look at the budget, primarily the money is going to landscaping and plants and balls, golf ball, et cetera, pickleball, tennis, that that's what's really is the biggest driver. And I enjoyed this, I enjoyed listening to you and that other gentleman over there. You, yes, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Mr. Liebelson.

Mike Liebelson, 398 Northeast Third Court. Reducing property taxes is the biggest lever that the city of Boca Raton has to improve affordability and to help our young families get into homes. I want to tell you a story from a young family that talked to me during my recent mayoral campaign. a very successful, good job husband. They had three children. They lived in a small apartment and they said, hey, we can't get into a home. What can you do to reduce our monthly costs? We can't do anything about mortgage rates. We can work on insurance reform. The biggest thing we can do is reduce property taxes. This bill by the state reduces property taxes by $2,136 per year. That's a big number. That's going to help that young family get into a house. Plus, we're getting a bigger bang for our buck. It's only reducing city revenues by $1,113. So by taking the county portion, we get a two for one bang for the buck. We should be 100% in support of property tax reform and this particular bill that's coming from the state. Now again, we have had a 71% increase in property taxes in the last four to five years, $60 million per year. Where was the discussion to reduce millage rates? so that this $60 million per year money that came into the city was not that great. We had a 2.9% increase in population over that time period where we had a 70% increase in revenues. This is very simple. Of that $60 million per year that we're now taking in, we're talking about an $8 million per year reduction next year and $16 million reduction in two years. The city council job here is very simple. direct the city manager to find eight million dollars in savings next year and 16 million dollars the following year stop talking about tax increases stop talking about millage rate increases if you increase millage rates this young family that's in their apartment that it cannot be homesteaded is going to have their rents go up small business is going to have their rents go up Okay, I would like to see a resident presentation be invited by this council that was Equal time to what I saw here as a tax and spend presentation to protect city staff jobs and revenues. Okay, we need to give money back to the people. That's what this bill does. The reason we have this bill is because of the $60 million per year. Please conclude, sir. That this city has taken in over the last five years.

Thank you. Anyone else for public comment?

Pam Paschke, 341 Southwest 2nd Street. Mr. Zervas, that was a great presentation. It was very clear and very helpful. The presumption of the Florida legislature and governor in doing this was that cities are spending too much money, that they're wasting the taxpayers' money, which is not the case necessarily, as Ms. Drucker said. So what they decided was take the hammer approach. They don't have any, they're not saying to the cities, gee, if you are spending your money wisely, here's an alternative way to raise the money you're now going to lose from your property taxes. They didn't do that. They don't care. presumption is our taxpayer dollars are being wasted and for those communities not like Boca that are bedroom communities this is going to be devastating to their budgets and cause the significant loss of services because what are you doing you're going to have to tax the commercial properties more which includes the rental properties which makes rents go up which makes things less affordable to people who don't own homes And you're also then talking about increasing cost of services, which of course is more costly to the lower income people than it is to the wealthy people to pay for these services, the libraries, the parks. the la you know all these services that we rely on that are that our city looks nice and this is just a way of taking as mrs zucker said taking away control from the cities and giving it to the state and this is not what we want we want home rule we want to control our destiny and this is a very bad bill not for boca so much as the bedroom communities that are across our state and all the very low income communities that may lose a higher percentage of their property taxes when the houses are not worth as much as we benefit from here and i'm very disappointed that peggy gossett-seidman who preside who came here a month or so ago and said how she was really lobbying for the city of boca raton voted for this bill thank you thank you ms paskey anyone else public comment on this presentation mr bell

Martin Bell, 761 Southwest 3rd Street. Thank you Mr. Zervas for taking a first pass at this. But and I appreciate you using the words potential and preliminary, so hopefully this can be an ongoing discussion and analysis. You mentioned the 16.7 million, I think that can be shrunken, that can be reduced. But I wanted to point out before I go there that we just saved 22 million dollars by not going through with resolution 98-2025 and the destruction of Sugar Sand Park. So right away we picked up that 16.7 million and you should all be commended for doing a wonderful job with that. Another thing about the analysis that I think can be improved, not to criticize it, but improve it. If we project forward, we have a lot of beautiful projects in the pipeline, high end, that have nothing to do with homestead taxes. Big projects in the downtown, all the way to A1A, all the way out west or up by the lake, whatever. We have a lot of projects throughout the city. We need to project out incremental tax revenue that's going to come into the city in the next two, three years. That's going to offset that 16.7 million. The other thing to take into account these homesteads eventually with older people, they eventually get sold and you bump up that tax basis, the taxable, the taxable values bump up. So you get that jump too. So we can get those two factors. And I think we're going to see a shrinkage We can cut that in half easily, I think, and we also should have the reserves in place to do this very slowly and methodically and thoughtfully. Let's think about, let's identify a department that we think might be overstaffed, maybe implement hiring freezes or pauses so we don't have to do anything severe. And I recommend too that people look, there's a long form interview with the CFO of the state of Florida who just looked at simple parameters in order to support this bill. And he was talking about looking at inflation from 2019 to 2025, and population change. So for 2.9%, our revenue has gone up by 70%. Inflation has been about 29%. So maybe we should look, did we exceed inflation with our spending? So maybe we need to look at that. And I recommend anybody, I forgot to write down his name, but it's on YouTube, a long form interview. It goes for about 16, 17 minutes, not sound bites, but it's a good interview. And I recommend you take a look at that. And we should have known this was coming. We should have had a rainy day fund, and we do have a rainy day fund. And that was the rainy day of reckoning has arrived. But we should be prepared, and I think we are. And you've already taken steps to alleviate this. So let's not panic. Let's just do some smart moves, and we'll be fine.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Anyone else that's going to be heard? Mr. Ungin.

Jonathan and 6501 Congress Avenue. So it's a good presentation. The one thing I can urge you all is you can't raise taxes on commercial properties more. The reality is we're already taking the brunt of so many of the services that are feeding and fueling this city's residential community. For instance, my office building across the street. not the first time i maybe spoke up here i think mr thompson was here um i was arguing about the fourteen thousand five hundred dollars in taxes that we pay in the fire assessment i've never argued that again because i do respect the services of our police and fire But that onus is not necessarily put on the residential community that's paying only $185 or so. I just urge the city not to make the same mistake that Governor Lawton-Chiles, when I was a little kid, made here, which is why IBM and everybody else pulled out of this town. They took away tax incentives. So if you add taxes, that's a good way to stop the growth in this city, where commercial is fueling a lot of our tax base. for the amount of property that it it takes up so um that's that's the main point i i do agree with with mr liebelson and and i got to give it to mr sohaini in his in his first few weeks or months we had a bloated city i was sitting here saying why we went from one deputy city manager to four deputy city managers he cut two that's a couple that's five hundred thousand dollars i got to imagine in salaries or so so uh we've got we've added development services assistant directors and it doesn't seem like there's as much development services these days but maybe there's points to to cut in this city uh that that the jobs are unnecessary um that we can have a doge-like effect where we look inside the city and see where we can cut because we have added a lot to the tax base I paid about 50% more in taxes over that period of time for my office building. So it's not proportional to the residential. We get those 10% hikes every year. Every year they maximize that. So again, we need a vibrant city, one where people work. This city does have that. Unfortunately, West Boca doesn't, which is a lot of our tax problems as well. traffic problems, excuse me. They add a ton of communities out west, residential unit after residential unit, and no office, no place for them to work. Guess where they work? Here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Rungen. Anyone else?

Alexander Lambritas, 2190 Northwest Fourth Court. So during this cycle, during the polls, we saw a big movement prevail called Save Boca. And the idea of it was to preserve what Boca is meant to be and what it stands for, which is very good public resources. And throughout this bill and what we've seen, We will see these ultimately decline because of lower property taxes. We rely on the public resources, like parks, like libraries. And the idea that we want to propose monetizing names of public resources and closing libraries sooner, this isn't what BOCA is. We have renters that rely on public resources to live. We have people that go to the library every single day to rent books that they can't order on Amazon because It is too expensive for them. The idea that people that live in $7.5 million mansions in gated neighborhoods should have to pay less in taxes in order to kind of alleviate this is absurd. The real issue here, and this is what Ms. Strucker mentioned, is insurance rates. During the hurricanes, we saw 50% denial rates from private insurers. These are companies that should be held accountable at the end of the day. This is what's pricing people out of Boca Raton and out of their communities. This affects renters more disproportionately at the end of the day. So this is why I urge everyone in the audience and in city council to not vote to abolish property taxes or minimize them. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? no well then we'll close the time then for public comment on this presentation is there any further discussion here on the council relating to this item miss drucker

Thank you, Mayor Thompson. This question is for Mr. Service. Can you remind me and we could maybe, you know, I know we're going to have the next meeting. I know last year we cut out a substantial amount of jobs that were open for a certain period of time. I don't remember if it was $2.6 million or $3.6 million where we actually dozed ourselves in the city of Boca Raton because that's how fiscally responsible we are when it comes to to protecting our taxpayer base. Can you remind me what that number was and those jobs that were open that weren't filled? And I know we went through that exercise and that's why we didn't have to increase our fire assessment and we didn't have to increase, we decreased, if I recall, our military. And that'll be good information for the new members on the council.

yes thank you councilmember drucker the i believe the answer is about 2.1 million dollars but i'm looking at my omb team office and budget management which i should recognize them so chair mcguire our director and mike middleman our deputy director are here and correct me if I'm wrong team but I believe we cut about 2.1 million out of the operating budget and I don't recall exactly how many positions we eliminated but that was definitely part we went through and evaluate evaluated you know any vacant positions and saw where we could eliminate those positions as opposed to having them on the books or filling them

Just a follow up, Mayor Thompson.

Sure.

So again, I understand this is a very heated topic. But we as a city, as a council, as staff, we're always thinking ahead. And we knew that the property discussion conversation was coming because folks like myself uh spend time in Tallahassee we have our lobbyists we have federal lobbyists we have our state lobbyists and we hear things because we're we're we have our hands and our fingers in the pulse of what's happening So we already started as a city last year to start cutting for the rainy day. We started to look at areas where we could reduce. We started to combine things. We started to repurpose things. So it's really important as we continue from now to the next five months when this will be on the ballot that we continue to have the facts. the education and what we've done as as a city to protect ourselves against some of these reforms that once again i'll stand by further erode local government and no one knows their local government as a people that are in their local government what is good for city of boca raton is not the same and for palm beach county it's not the same for you know alachua county or monroe county we're just very different they're just different things and when you do this kind of one bill fits all it doesn't because we're all different in our own unique ways so i just wanted to clarify some of those points because some of the members brought up you know some of these comments about how the city's been preparing for it and we've definitely been preparing for that very good any other comments mr perlman yeah thank you mr thompson

As we look at this, I'm so thankful for the tens of thousands of Boca residents that stepped forward and came forward to shut down the Terra Frisbee project on March 10th because as part of that project, the council was planning to deplete upwards of $100 million, a $30 million subsidy to build parking within one of the high rises of Terra Frisbee and also to outlay around $80 million to subsidize this transit-oriented development of these high-rises from the CRA. When you factor in the fact that we still, that is off the table, we have this money that was planning to be spent. When you factor in the interest dividends that are still accruing from this money, that gives us time and that money, including interest dividends, could cover these expenses possibly over 10, maybe even 15 years down the road. I'm thankful that we still have that cash on hand and are in a strong financial position. And even thinking about this talk about the police station with this on the table, does BOCA want to be the poster child for spending when the governor has this campaign to cut property taxes? So we need to think about all these things. Thank you.

Any other comments? No? Yes. Sorry, Ms. Sipple, beg your pardon.

I actually went to the League of Cities this weekend with Councilman Grau. If this passes, we have a cushion because being able to buy a home here is not based on property taxes.

It's property values. Try to find a home for under $500,000. It's very difficult. And even then, you're only going to get a $50,000 exemption for five years. You're still going to have to come up with the property taxes. But you look at cities like South Bay, Pahokee, Clewiston, Immokalee, Milton, Sebring. They don't have the cushion. This is going to annihilate them. They have no revenue. so what's good for us or it's not really good for us but we can probably bounce back for them from this is going to cause other cities in florida to take some serious hits and it i wouldn't be surprised if our Cushion is made to share with other cities to help support them and keep them afloat so keep that in mind, we're not all in the same position and Voting for it will annihilate some of these smaller cities that can't Afford it because that is their revenue That's all I have to say Thank You miss simple miss ground share anything good I

Yes, I'll just say one thing. Your city council members, we are your neighbors, and we live here, we pay taxes here, and we answer directly to you. And Tallahassee will never be as close or as accountable to Bogartown residents as your local council will be. so if your residents you want to know where your tax dollars are going i strongly encourage you to attend the budget workshop on june 18th that is where local decisions will be discussed and i understand city staff is looking for direction on this but this discussion is not just about five people on city council i really urge you to i strongly believe in home rule local people making local choices so please if you can attend the budget workshop ask questions and be part of the process

okay thank you miss grow i believe that will conclude our item two on our workshop agenda we can now move into and if it's okay with the members here i think we can why don't we conclude work to conclude our workshop agenda and then we'll take a break and re have a small break for lunch and then we can come back and commence our regular agenda does that sound okay i'm seeing some head nods excellent All right. Well, I can open up the door then for public requests. I know you all had a chance to be heard on the property tax reform. If you have public requests relating to other items, please step forward, state your name and address, and you will have up to three minutes to speak. Dr. Blank.

Lorraine Blank, 545 Northwest 7th Street. Just two very brief requests. The RFQ that went out regarding the Civic Project, would like you to put that on the website somewhere. I can't find it, if it's there, so that we can all see it before you make decisions. And then just a point of information I'd like to know when you're going to start discussing the eight acres that aren't in that plan or what weren't in the RFQ and I've been talking about and asking about just wondering what the plan is to when you're going to start talking about that Thank you Thank You dr. Blank who's next Mr. Anderson

John Anderson to 90 West Palmetto for the bright line train. The Bloomberg is reporting that due to their junior debt, they decided to borrow money at a lofty 14.89%. Hoping by borrowing that money due to the lagging ridership would increase.

Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Who's next? Mr. Lee Wilson.

Mike Liebelson, 398 Northeast Third Court. Just there was a comment made that a new family buying a home would only get a $50,000 exemption. Now, I guess it's a question. I don't know the answer. But... this five-year residency requirement before you get the $250,000 full exemption, does that apply to a long-time Florida young family that's in a rental building that's been a Florida resident for 15 years? Did they only get $50,000 or did they get $250,000 because they've been a resident all the time? And with respect to what we can do, we can't do anything about property values. We can work on insurance reform, but the biggest lever we have to help young families is to reduce property taxes. This does that. It reduces it by $2,173 per year for young family and other people that are struggling. That's what we should be focused on. Okay, that's what it does. And this council should work on this and support that effort by the state government. Thank you.

Thank you. Who else is next for public request? Miss Paschke?

Pam Paschke, 341 Southwest 2nd Street. First, let me say that the impact of this bill, Mr. Liebeson was just talking about, will raise rents. So the small families that are trying to survive without owning a home, who can't afford a $500,000 home anyway, will be injured by this. But what I really wanted to talk about was I would like to see the city, back when we were talking about the whole terra frisbee thing, there were some proposals made about altering the open space, green space requirements for new development. i'm very confused when i see these projects that have been approved that they say they're 40 open green space and they don't look like they are at all so there's some weird calculation going in there and i think in one of the ones that was discussed a month or so ago they said well yeah road counts for open space so i would like to see the proposal that was the city was working on that was going to revise that a little bit to see maybe revisiting that portion that proposal for the green space I'd like to see more setbacks our streets are narrow a lot of them and putting very high buildings on narrow streets is is not good so maybe with a little more revision of some of the setback problems maybe we could revisit that too I'd like to see some of that going on thank you thank you miss Paschke anyone else for public requests

Mr. Bell.

Martin Bell 761 Southwest 3rd Street. I'm not going to. OK, right. Anyway, I'm just wondering about the public perception about the downtown redevelopment because I look at the headline from Tappan to Boca and I read the article and it just seems like we're still talking about City Hall. The City Hall ship has sailed. 6551 building effectively is gonna take care of that. It's not 17 million, but it's 30 million as we've learned. And it's really about, taking care of a park that we haven't taken care of for years for whatever reason, because it was it was a pawn in a development scheme or whatever. We're past that. So really, we need to shape the narrative. We can't overanalyze this too. I think hiring consultants and deferring to experts, etc, etc. That's a public company trick where they hire high price consultants and say the consultant decided to do that. That was their idea. Anyway, no, we have to have foundational items that we want to pursue foundational beliefs, foundational pieces that we want to work with. We don't want to have. Chef Gordon Ramsay is in our kitchen. We want to know what we want before we invite people in to give us advice. I know there's going to be a meeting in October about this, and I know there's going to be task force committee or whatever outreach. But in October I think it might be helpful to restore the public's trust if we did a notice of public hearing. And I think it's time to kind of, whoever designed that, whoever helped us to implement that, we need to unleash them and let them just take care of Memorial Park. It's enough pussyfooting around, okay? So certain things I think we wanna keep, keep the ball fields, the north section of the city hall, build around that. The rest of it is really excess civic assets. We were told we have no new meeting facilities, but we have all these new meeting facilities that were put into place since 1964, and you can read them for yourselves. Beautiful meeting facilities, so I don't think we need a lot. And anyway. wanted to go back anyway with police stations. I think that we can justify having two police stations in downtown and a Western police station. I skipped past that slide, but we look like it sounds like Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth smaller in terms of geographic geographic coverage and population, but they have two police stations. The North section of the police station can be used as a post office or a downtown. downtown city hall branch. Memorial Garden, I think we should just, we don't need that building. Grab it. We want to grab that green piece of land. And I don't think anybody's going to regret grabbing too much green space looking back. I was in Maryland last month. This inspired me. It's called Cabin John Regional Park. Bethesda has 65,000 residents. It's a 500-acre park. And they had the foresight to... actually we can do the same at sugar sand park uh let's uh let's lean into the green we won't regret it thank you mr bill anyone else for public requests mr engine's back jonathan unji in the 6501 congress avenue this will be my last one for the day i gotta go get a little work done

But we should we should be running. We should be running the city lean regardless of what this this state does and I appreciate council councilmember simple's Points about other cities. There's they're so relevant And I appreciate councilmember Krause Sentiments as well. People should be coming to the budget and We should be. We should be cutting our budget. We should be running lean regardless of what the state does, period. But if the city through its Florida League of Cities wants to make some recommendations, here's one for you from me. about a vat a small like maybe one percent tax that our resi our our uh you know we we pay nothing uh the the the tourists pay nothing in the city towards our services you know and the reality is how much of the services do they use so um you know if you did do a small uh that whether at a county level or whatever to fuel that surplus or decline, I should say. Lastly, when are we going to have a strategic planning session? They were typically in May. I would love to have that because I'd love to know when we can start talking about business of the city and what its goals are beyond just Memorial Park. Beyond just that one 17 acres or 30 acres, we've got how many acres in the city? So I think we need to bring everybody together, refocus, and say, what are this city's goals? We're not doing that. We're not conducting business of the city. We keep talking about, you know, I hate the kind of anti-police rhetoric. I was at the Boca Federation meeting where Councilmember Perlman stated that you know because because the signs were very vague and they said vote no kind of you know for for save boca and he had stated you know he was for the police and and for a new police station but now we're hearing that we need to run lean you know we're hearing seeing emails coming out from john at save boca i can i can tell you i know of two johns that spell their name j-o-n one me and one a council member up there i didn't send those emails So it would be good to know who John at Save Boca was because he told me it was me. It was on his candidate affidavit as his email address and now he's using that to send emails to try and manipulate two council people to do something it's really wrong it's really wrong what's happening in this city it's time to go from being an activist to actually a a legislator to do things that are good for this city and we need a new police station because what they have to do for every hurricane is a joke taking every bullet out of that place to relocate it we need a cat 5 rated police station and thank you mr rungin that's it thank you anyone else for public requests

Last call.

Mayor. All right. Oh, is that Mr. Zervas? Yeah. I'd like to answer Mr. Liebelson's question with respect to the renter who buys a property under the proposed legislation. As long as they're a resident prior to December 31st, 2026, they would qualify. So even if they don't own a home yet, but they're a full-time resident of Florida and then they buy after January 1st, they would still qualify for the expanded exemption.

IF THEY'RE NOT A RESIDENT PRIOR TO DECEMBER 31ST THEN YOU ENTER THE FIVE-YEAR WAITING PERIOD THAT'S MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE LEGISLATION AND ON THAT FRONT THERE WERE A COUPLE OF REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION MR SOHANI I KNOW DR BLANK HAD ONE MS PASCHKE AS WELL I WILL FOLLOW UP WITH YOU ALL FOR THAT ON THOSE ITEMS Next up is future agenda matters. Do we have any questions relating to what's going to be on our regular agenda in a half an hour? Anybody? Not seeing any. Good. We can move then to city manager report. Mr. Sohaney, what do you got? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. No report. City attorney report. Mr. Kaler.

No report. Thank you.

And we'll go around the horn for council member reports. Again, to my right, Ms. Drucker, any report?

Just a quick comment. I'll do it right now. I just wanted to thank the Boca Richland Housing Authority and Ms. Ashley Whidbey. Some of us went out there, I think it was this week or maybe last week, sorry, my days always get jumbled up, to see the residence at Martin Manor. If everyone knows those are the properties off of Glades, which are being redeveloped, affordable housing and also HUD. And we've had a lot of discussions. There's a four year in the making process and the facilities look incredible. From what people were living in and what they're going to live in Just a really good a good feel moment for the city of Boca Raton and for the members that are going to get to take advantage of that property and just really excited for it to open later in the fall and if you haven't seen them there right off of Glades and they're kind of under construction but just a beautiful job that they've done and that's a perfect example how we came together as a community and even though we we appoint to the Housing Authority but we didn't have a say on the actual you know some of the things that were happening within the Housing Authority we all came together and we're producing an incredible project for affordable housing so thank you Deputy Mayor Grau for being there thank you for Councilmember Sibyl for being there And I wish that some of the people that sit on our affordable housing were there to see this. But the member that sits on our affordable housing was not there to see this incredible project that we have here in our city. So thank you.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Grau.

Nothing to report.

Okay. Councilwoman Sippel, any report?

Nothing to report.

Councilmember Perlman, any report?

Thank you Mr. Thompson. I do sit on the affordable housing committee and we're still doing investigation on the project that the councilwoman referenced because actually the current residents there who have been living there for many decades likely won't be able to afford to still live there once this project is completed because and again I've done a lot of due diligence on it and the city manager is sending me more information which I'm continuing to investigate but what happened in that project was that The residences, the homes that are there were transitioned from public housing to affordable housing. And that's a big difference because public housing, an individual pays the rent based on how much they make. Whereas affordable housing, rents are calculated based on AMI, which as we know in Boca Raton is very high. there there was a reason why um I didn't want to be there for a photo op on that day because I I think that this project and what happened there needs to be further investigated and I'm doing that work thank you does that conclude your report please does that conclude your report uh do I have a question Ms simple no okay

Mayor Thompson? Yes, Ms. Drucker. I just have to clarify some misinformation. So just for the record for everyone, everyone that lived in those properties were given vouchers. They were moved to different areas. They paid for their moving cost. And everyone that was already living at Dixie Manor is going to be given the opportunity to come back to the manor. Some folks are going to want to come back. Some folks are not going to want to come back. But we are not... No one is being pushed out because this project was done. I've been on this project for, like I said, it's close to four years in the making. The conditions at the manor, there was rat... the kitchen of some of the residents that lived in some of these apartments. There was water intrusion. And it was really poor living conditions that I actually visited a lot of this. And I brought it back to one of the meetings. You could go back and you could discuss it. And I had the opportunity to run the meeting that we voted on because Mayor Singer was out of town. So this is one of those projects that I've been really, really on my radar, how we change the composition of the housing authority, how we add in members so that there was more equal representation. So I won't sit here and have a council member further misinform the public. The facts are that there's different options for this property and no one is going to be displaced and we're going to have a beautiful facility that is proper for living conditions for

single people families children etc etc so just going to continue to set the record straight okay well i think it's turned from my report i have none apart from saying i am saddened to close our business here on the workshop of our city council of the city of boca raton but we'll be back i'll say i want to say 12 45 we'll commence our regular meeting of the boca raton city council thank you everyone see you back at 12 45.

Thank you. Thank you. you you you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Your book or its own city council is back in business now. It's our regular meeting. The date is still June 9th, 2026. The time is now 1255 in the PM. First order of business is our invocation and I'll ask Deputy Mayor Michelle Grau to deliver it.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of community and for the opportunity to gather and service to our city. Grant us the wisdom as we conduct the people's business. Help us listen with patience, speak with respect, and remember that every decision we make affects real people and families. Guide us to serve with humility, integrity, gratitude, and sincere commitment to the common good. Amen.

Amen. And now, because we love America, the Pledge of Allegiance once again. I pledge allegiance to the flag, and to the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Ms. Sitton's the roll, if you please.

Mayor Thompson.

I am thankful to be here.

Deputy Mayor Grau. Here. Councilmember Drucker. Here. Councilmember Perlman.

Here.

Councilmember Sippel. Present. All present.

Thank you, Ms. Siddons. Are there any amendments to the agenda for our regular meeting today?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. We have an amendment to the agenda under 9, Section 9, resolutions and other business. Item D, resolution number 66-2026. That's resolution number 66-2026.

Okay, I'll move that we amend the agenda to include resolution number 66-2026. Do I hear a second?

Second.

Okay. All those in favor of amending the agenda, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. All right. Any other amendments? I don't believe so.

No other amendments, thank you.

All right, very good. With the minutes we have set from the workshop meeting on May 26th and the regular meeting on May 26th, are there any corrections or revisions to those sets of minutes? If not, I'll entertain a motion and a second to approve those minutes as presented. What say you?

So moved.

Thank you.

Second.

Very good. Any further discussion? No. If not, all in favor of approval of the minutes as presented, please say aye. Aye. Very good. Proclamations, presentations, we have none, so we'll move on to our board appointments. I believe everybody who intended to interview did. so we can dispense with the interviews and go straight to the appointments themselves. The first board up is the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. We had two vacancies and one applicant. Members, what's your pleasure? I will go ahead and move that we appoint Greg Mitchell to serve on the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee.

Second.

no I think that's right seeing no other applications and thus recommendations to appoint all those in favor of appointing Greg Mitchell please say aye aye any opposed no Citizens pedestrian and bikeway advisory board. We have no applicants. We'll hold that over until next time Next up is the executive employees retirement plan. We have one vacancy and one applicant Justin Barrington. What's your pleasure?

members I Move to approve Justin Barrington to the committee.

I

Move to a point. Is that what I heard? A point, yes. Very good. I'll second that. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Very good. Next up is the Historic Preservation Board. We have four vacancies and five applicants. Members, what's your pleasure here? Ms. Drucker?

I move to appoint Julie Telerico, to reappoint Julia Telerico, to appoint Frank Burrows, Benjamin Schreier, and Yvonne Sumtoble.

Okay, any other, it's not an appointment at this point, nomination, I suppose.

Any other nominations? I move to nominate.

I'd like to nominate Gerard Liguori.

Very good. So we have five nominations and four vacancies. So I think the way to do it will be we'll go around the horn and everybody will say four names. Ms. Siddons, if you could, please.

Council Member Sippel.

Okay. Gerard Liguori. Benjamin Schrier. Julie Tallarico, and Yvonne Zumtobel. Thank you, Council Member Perlman.

Gerard Liguori, Julie Tallarico, Yvonne Zumtobel, Frank Boros.

Thank you, Mayor Thompson.

Liguori, Schreyer, Tallarico, Zumtobel.

Thank you, Council Member Drucker. Schreyer, Tallarico, Zumtobel, and Boros.

Deputy Mayor Grau.

Liguori, Schreier, Tallarico, Zumtobel.

Thank you. In the voting, Gerard Liguori received four votes, Benjamin Schreier received four votes, Julie Tallarico received five, Ms. Zumtobel received five, and Frank Bros received two. Therefore, Gerard Liguori, Benjamin Schreier, Julie Tallarico, and Yvonne Zumtobel are all reappointed to the Historic Preservation Board.

OK, very good. Congratulations on to Mr. Boros. We appreciate your desire to serve. Come see us again. I'm sure we'll find a spot for you on our board. We do appreciate your interest. Next, we have the Parks and Recreation Board. We had two or three, I suppose, two and a half applicants and one vacancy. Did we get a completed application from Miss Morrow? not yes mayor thompson not yet okay so then i suppose we have two vacancies and one uh sorry one vacancy two applicants uh members what's your pleasure here mayor thompson i would like to nominate mickey gomez i would second that any other nominations

I'd like to nominate Brianna Hanquist. All right.

I think that covers everybody who's submitted applications, so same thing. This time, when the clerk reads your name, you're gonna give us one name. Go ahead, Ms. Siddons.

Councilmember Perlman.

Hanquist.

Mayor Thompson.

Gomez.

Councilmember Drucker. Gomez. Deputy Mayor, sorry, Deputy Mayor Grau.

Gomez.

Council Member Sippel. Gomez. In the voting, Mickey Gomez received four votes. Mr. Hagquist received one. Therefore, Mr. Gomez is appointed to the Parks and Recreation Board.

Congratulations, Mr. Gomez. Our last board, we have no applicants, so we will hold that over. That is the Marine Advisory Board, and that concludes our board appointments for this afternoon. Next up is our consent agenda. Does any member wish to remove any items from the consent agenda? Seeing none, this is an opportunity for members of the public to have the opportunity to comment on any item on the consent agenda. So now would be the time, if you're interested in commenting on any part of the consent agenda, please state your name and address and you'll have three minutes. Anyone? All right, very good. In that case, since there's none, I will ask for a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda.

I move that we approve the consent agenda.

Thank you, Ms. Drucker. Do I hear a second?

Second.

I hear two of them. That's excellent. I think then it's time for a roll call, Ms. Sins. I think it was Ms. Grau, if that was the... the voting growl yes drucker yes perlman yes simple yes thompson yes motion passes five votes to zero very good that means we move on to item nine resolutions and other business first up is resolution 56-2026 mrs could you please read the title

Resolution 56-2026, a resolution of the City of Boca Raton amending the name of two streets within the approximately 110-acre property known as the Boca Raton Resort, generally located north of East Camino Real, west of the Intracoastal Waterway, and east of South Federal Highway and Southeast Meisner Boulevard, providing for conditions, providing for a peeler, providing an effective date.

Oh, sorry. Thank you, Ms. Siddons. Mr. Sohaney, who will be making the presentation on this matter?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our Development Services Deputy Director, Ms. Sita, will make the presentation. Welcome, Ms. Sita.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. As stated, the item is a street name change for the Boca Raton Resort. Boca Raton or Boca owner LLC is requesting to change the name of two private streets on their property from Meisner Village Drive and Southeast 4th to Banyan Tree Lane. This is approximately 110 acre property. And again, it's generally located at 501 East Camino Real. So, um, as you may be aware, the Boca Raton is going under substantial renovation and, um, they would, they're proposing this name change because they feel that it better, um, identifies their branding that they wish to project, uh, project in within the residential and hospitality market. Um, excuse me, the, um, here you can see here are the existing street names. It's a miser village drive and Southeast fourth street. Again, they're moving, gonna change those to Banyan Tree Lane. There's no residents that derived their address from this portions. The property owner's responsible for all costs. This was reviewed and approved by the Boca Raton Fire Rescue and Police Services, as well as the USPS, and that they've determined that there's no adverse effects from this particular request. And that concludes my presentation.

Very good. Thank you, Ms. Sita. Any questions for our staff on this matter? Members? Mr. Perlman.

Thanks for the presentation. I was at the site yesterday and there are two significant banyan trees that are on this street that they proposed to call banyan tree lanes. And adjacent is also a very substantial tree. I believe it must be a ficus, but it's all of them are very likely over 100 years old. Are these trees currently on the property, are they historically designated in any way?

I don't believe they are, but I can't say for certain, but I'm 99% sure that they are not.

Okay. The reason I'm mentioning this is because they're proposing to make the name Banyan Tree Lane. These, as we saw what happened earlier this year with the destruction of the Banyans at the Madera development, which was a tragic scene. I was actually there as they were tearing down the three very large banyans on that property and it was very tragic. I was thinking that in conjunction with the name change of the street, we could propose and see if the Boca Resort would be amenable to designating those three substantial trees on the site so that we can be sure that those will be preserved in conjunction with Banyan Tree Lane.

So we certainly can ask that of them, but we really can't apply that as a condition of approval of this particular request. In land development or other regulatory approvals, we have to have what's called a rational nexus between the request and the condition as well as that has to be proportional to what the request is. So by changing the name, there's no change. They're not proposing to demolish Banyan's. They're not proposing any site changes. So it would be difficult to add that condition.

But given that the street is being named Banyan Tree Lane, I think that if it was another name, I would agree with you. But given that this is specifically a street named after Banyans, maybe we could table this and put this on the next meeting and ask the resort if they would be willing to do that in conjunction with naming the street after the Banyans.

uh i appreciate the thought i'm not inclined to make them wait on that basis given the fact that as was stated by staff doesn't appear to be a logical nexus between the two miss drucker did you have something to say

Thank you, Mayor Thompson. So when we approved this project a few months ago, we had a lot of input from the community on the banyan trees. That's why the banyan trees remained. We were going to do no damage to the banyan trees. So I know and I believe that that's what the hotel is going to do. And if you've been on the property, I was there last week. They're working right around all the banyan trees. It's a private property, so I'm not inclined to make a requirement. And besides, we camp legally. And I know they're going to protect the banyan trees because they already listened to the community and the community outreach when we approved this project in the latter part of March. So I'm inclined to not further delay this because I see a lot of improvement in the area. And I know they want to try to open the course later in November. Thank you.

And let me note, too, I believe the applicant is here and can speak to this if they have the ability. So is there any other questions of staff at the moment before we hear from the public and the applicant?

No?

All right. Well, this is a public hearing, so why don't we open that up and we'll let the applicant go first. You have, I suppose, at least some amount of time to speak. I don't think it's 20 minutes, is it, in a situation like this? But take as much time as you need. I don't think you're going to need it all. But go ahead and name an address. Yes.

Go ahead. Christina Balenki, for the record. My address is 5550 Glades Road here on behalf of the resort. And yes, Council Member Perlman, to your point, the resort sees these trees just as significant as you do. That is exactly why we are proposing to name the street after these two banyan trees there's actually two pockets one kind of where the streets intersect that was shown on the graphic another further up as you kind of carry on to where the new residential building is proposed and the whole residential building was designed in a manner to protect those trees to stay away from them. And so we want to pay tribute to those trees by the renaming. We certainly have no plans to take them down. We're going to ensure that they are all protected during the construction And I can speak to my client about a potential designation, but we do not want to delay this at all. We do have permits that are pending and the address change is necessary to move forward with those permit applications. So any delay would impact the processing of those permits in our timeline. So we respectfully request that you approve this this afternoon, but certainly hear you loud and clear and we'll go back to my client with that.

Does that conclude your presentation? It does. Thank you. All right. Very good. Any questions for the applicant? No? Seeing no. Thank you. Thank you. This is a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, please stand. Name and address. You get three minutes.

Pam Paschke 341 Southwest 2nd Street. I just have one question. Did she fully comply with the new ordinance that said that she had to state that she was a lobbyist and the name of the actual company that she's representing? That's it.

I don't have an answer to that. I assume the answer is yes. And for at least for our purposes, we knew that she was here on behalf of the applicant POCA owner LLC. Does staff anything else to add there?

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll just defer to our Deputy Director of Development Services, Mesita. Is there any, is the applicant in compliance with the latest ordinance?

Um, I believe so. Um, I think that I know that you're a registered lobbyist. Um, I think that maybe if you, for next time, maybe you just stayed it for the record. I know there is a grace period for, to move that forward in for, so for applicants or applications that were received prior to a date, certain then that, that, uh, those rules don't apply. Um, I don't have that date off the top of my head, but I know that we received this application prior to that date. And for all of our applications going forward beyond that, we have instituted a new form and we're training all of our boards in the specific requirement.

Very good. Thank you, Ms. Sita. Anyone else to be heard on this matter? This is a public hearing. You have three minutes. Give us your name and address. No? Last call. In that case, we will close the public hearing. And we will entertain a motion and a second to adopt resolution number 56-2026. Do I hear such a motion?

I move to adopt resolution number 56-2026.

Very good. I will second. Is there any discussion on this matter?

Mr. Thompson, one question. Mr. Kaler, on the recent ordinance that was passed having to do with lobbyists, my understanding was that when a lobbyist speaks at a public meeting as part of this ordinance, they are required to disclose that in a statement prior to speaking and identify who they represent. Is that correct?

Yeah, the ordinance you're referring to, Council Member Perlman, was adopted at the last meeting. Our office has been working with staff to update the forms and processes, but that is a correct statement. If this is considered a development application under Chapter 28, which I'm not sure if it is or not. So that would be a threshold question. But if it was considered a development application under Chapter 28, the zoning code, then there's a requirement to disclose lobbying status.

okay so let's let's assume this is an app it is an ordinance it could be a gray area whether this is a development application but let's let's say right now for the sake that it is because they are seeking to modify certain elements on site if this is considered to be a development application would the person speaking just now prior to her comments be required to state that she is a lobbyist and also disclose who she represents. Yes or no?

Yes, the ordinance that was adopted by the council requires before a public hearing for an applicant council to state their lobbying status and disclose that relationship, correct?

Okay, so I think going forward that we need should enforce that given that it's now law.

Thank you We have a motion a second on the floor any other discussion If not miss Siddons if you please Drucker Yes, Perlman.

Yes simple. Yes, Thompson. Yes growl Yes motion passes five votes to zero

OK, very good. We can then move on to item 9B, which is resolution number 60-2026. Ms. Siddons, could you please read the title?

resolution 60 2026 a resolution of the city of boca raton providing for submission to the electors of proposed charter amendments relating to initiative referendum and charter amendment petition procedures revising election timing and ballot placement procedures revising petition signature threshold calculations creating a status quo preservation mechanism applicable to certified initiative and charter amendment petitions pending electoral determination providing for a special election to be held at the next available election as determined and made available by the palm beach county supervisor of elections but no later than the march 2027 uniform municipal election providing for severability providing for a peeler providing an effective date thank you miss citizens mr suhey who will be making the presentation here thank you mr mayor the city attorney mr kahler will make the presentation

Good afternoon, council members, members of the public. This matter was placed on the agenda at the request of Deputy Mayor Grau. And it is not the correct presentation. Okay. At least you noticed it right away. That is good. And that may be my fault, but I'm pretty sure I sent the crew a presentation. And double check the email from earlier today would be great. And then I'll try to just go on without it. But I think we have a competent team.

If you need to take a five minute break, it's no problem. So that we're, oh, there we go.

Excellent, thank you. Okay, we're talking about item 9B, which is resolution 602026. And this is a series of charter amendments that relate to the initiative referendum and charter amendment citizen petition procedures. So they are charter amendments relating to charter amendments, but to the process by which citizens bring these matters to a vote or not. There are three proposed changes in this resolution. The way it works, as we know with the SAVE VOCA petitions, you have a resolution that sets a ballot question and puts a matter to a vote, and then it attaches an ordinance which is only can be adopted by the people of the city. And so those items are here to get today as one package. The first proposed change has to do with election scheduling and timing. Second has to do with the petition signature threshold calculations. And the third is a new provision proposed, which is referred to as the status quo preservation provision, so pending voter determination. And we'll talk about that later, but that's between when a petition is certified and when an election is actually held. With regard to the election scheduling and timing, the current charter language has a very, very specific window of no sooner than 30 days, but no later than 60 days, no sooner than 60 days, no later than 90 days, depending on whether it's an amendment to an ordinance or a charter. that was done at a different time in the city's history. The current reality, unlike when the city had much more control over its own elections, is that municipal elections are administered by the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. This council's heard me present before on all the various state laws that have to be complied with in terms of election security and transparency and integrity. And so the city does not independently control election scheduling. So the proposed charter amendment would revise that provision of the charter. So instead of being in that fixed window, it would be the next available election made available by the supervisor of elections. I think it's a little more artfully written in the charter, but it's the next available election as determined by the supervisor of elections. Again, the purpose here is to line up the city's charter procedures with the current election administrative practices while still preserving those core rights of the citizens to initiate ordinances, charter amendments, and seek referendum on council actions. So that right is not being touched, and this would address something that really came out within the last year as a deficiency in the existing charter. The petition signature calculations has to go with how many signatures you need to make it on to a ballot to be certified. The current standard petition requires signatures based upon 15% of the total number of votes cast. In this presentation, I'll talk a lot about votes cast versus ballots cast. To give some historical context, Prior to 2004, the city had what was called at-large city council elections. So you effectively had one citywide election rather than separate seat-specific contests. You had this election system change in a charter amendment in 2004 where city elections were changed to seat-specific contests. So as a result, now have multiple election contests with a single ballot. And there then becomes a distinction between total votes cast, which is the current charter language, versus how a number of jurisdictions operate, which is total ballots cast. Total votes cast is going to count the aggregate votes in every council seat contest. If you had four council seats At the last election, you would total up all votes for each one of those seats. If you had two, you would total it up for two seats. If you had one, you'd total up for one. And so it would vary significantly. The phrase total ballots cast is more closely linked to the number of voters participating in the election. If you cast a ballot, if you cast it for A, B, C, and D, that's one ballot. Again, I'm just pointing out this historic observation of the way in which city elections were held before, and I think that's important for the council's consideration and the public's consideration. This amendment would replace total votes cast with the phrase total ballots cast. The purpose is a few reasons. One, tying the petition thresholds to actual voter participation. So you wouldn't have this wide variation between four, three, two, one different contests. It would be based on ballots cast. You would have more consistent calculations across elections. and also reduce likelihood of dispute. I was asked to look at this issue within the last year and it took me days to try to figure out what it meant. And there really wasn't a lot of clear guidance out there. And the last thing that the city should want is to have a dispute when it comes to these types of issues. They should be clear cut so that everybody knows what the rules are and everybody can apply the rules equally is the arguable purpose behind it. And then lastly, is what's called the status quo preservation proposal. This is a new concept. So the existing charter for referendum, and to remind the public, a referendum is when a council has taken an action and the public is asking to reconsider that or repeal it. versus an initiative petition is where the public is the initiator of that measure. Again, the Save Boca Charter amendments being examples. Those originated from the citizens versus a referendum would be council took an action and the public wants the council to reconsider it or they want the voters to repeal it. So right now there is an existing provision where referendum petitions will sort of suspend some governmental actions. There is no similar mechanism for initiatives and charter amendments. So the request was for me to draft a proposed charter amendment for your consideration and for the public's consideration that would, again, after you have a certification by clerk, so this would still require committee to go through the process of obtaining signatures, submitting them, and then actually having them certified as meeting the threshold standard. But once that has occurred, the proposed amendment would Provide that in that window between when that occurs a certification and when the election is actually held and as we just discussed with the supervisor of elections that Depends on the supervisors schedule not the city's control that this would Make it such that the city couldn't irrevocably Commit to actions that would ultimately be in conflict with the petition if it succeeded now, of course if the action doesn't get the approval of the voters then it is no longer the it's not this rule would only would not apply so it's only to cover that window of course if the voters approve the petition or the charter amendment well then you have to comply with it so that's why it's really framed as a status quo uh preservation provision i i think that to describe the purpose would be to preserve the existing conditions pending that vote and defer potentially conflicting governmental actions until voters have an opportunity to vote. So the language, the ballot question, you have, I apologize for jumping around, you have a ballot question. Again, as this council knows, the public may be aware, you're limited to 15 words in the title and then 75 words in the summary. We're certainly able to make, as a city, the full text and information available to the voters so they can make a fully informed decision. But as proposed, it reads amending the city charter and then it lays out a description of the timing, election timing and scheduling provision. Next, it lays out the signature calculation thresholds, the votes cast versus ballots cast versus votes cast. And you can see there's no science on how you describe these. They're intended to be written in a way that is clear and understandable to the voters. And that's, again, for this council to make that decision and to preserve the status quo. So those are the three provisions. Madam Clerk, there was a requested clarification to one portion if you wouldn't mind handing that out. Councilmember Perlman asked that this council consider a minor revision. I've looked at it. I wanted the council to have the benefit of it. It would not change the meaning. I defer to Councilman Perlman, but the reading was that as currently written, if the proposed initiative ordinance were thereafter approved by the electorate, that might be a little over-lawyered or a little verbose. Would it be clearer to just say that the requirement is if it's precluded by the proposed initiative ordinance? My opinion is that, you know, I think it's a good change. It makes it clearer and it would not adversely affect the rule at all because the next provision three does talk about when the temporary limitation on governmental action is affected. Again, either one, if the petition were to be withdrawn, then it would no longer be in effect if a court or judge were to declare that the petition were unlawful or invalid that would also then limit or if it was adopted by the voters will then that then becomes the law and if it's not adopted by the voters then you're back to where you were in the in the temporary limitation lifts, for lack of a better term. So those are the requested amendments, and that's my presentation.

Thank you, Mr. Kaler. Any questions for staff on this matter?

No questions?

Great. This is a public hearing, so anybody wishing to be heard on this matter can rise, give name, address. You get three minutes. Ms. Paschke.

Pam Paschke 341 Southwest 2nd Street. I wasn't here for the last meeting, you know, so I was on vacation. I think this is great. I'm so glad that this is being addressed. As you know, I've talked about this numerous times and I think what what is you've come up with is excellent and I greatly appreciate the city addressing this issue.

Very good. Anyone else? Last call for public comment on this matter. Seeing none, we will then close the public comment for this matter and entertain a motion in a second to adopt resolution number. Whatever it is. 60 dash 2026, that's the one. Is that is it? I hear a motion, Miss Drucker.

This ground anyone I'll make Ella Miss Grouse as she introduced this item, make the motion and I'll second.

I move to adopt resolution number 60-2026. Second.

And let me pause there to say as amended.

As amended.

We're good? Okay, very good. And the second applies to that amendment?

And the second applies to that amendment.

Excellent. Any further discussion? No? Well, in that case, let's vote. Ms. Hiddens.

Perlman?

Yes.

Sippel? Yes. Thompson?

Yes.

Grau? Yes. Drucker? Yes. Motion passes. Five votes to zero.

Very good. The last of our resolutions and other business is what we added as part of our amendment. That's resolution number 66-2026. Ms. Siddons, if you're able, could you, did I, did I skip something? Not on my instructional agenda. But yes, of course, 65-2026 is of course our next item. Ms. Siddons, could you please read the title?

Yes, sir. Resolution 65-2026, a resolution of the city of Boca Raton authorizing the city manager to execute a state-funded grant agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation for the construction of Spanish River Boulevard grade separation of El Rio Trail project, authorizing the acceptance of state financial assistance in an amount not to exceed $1 million, acknowledging that the agreement identifies an estimated total construction cost of $5 million, consisting of $1 million in state funds and $4 million in city funds, authorizing and directing the city manager to execute related documents and take such actions as are necessary to administer and comply with the agreement, providing for severability, providing for appeal, or providing an effective date.

Thank you, Ms. Sittons. Mr. Suhaney, who will be making the presentation on this matter? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our Director of Public Works and Engineering, Mr. Peer, will make the presentation.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. Zach Beard, Public Works and Engineering Director. These funds are provided as an appropriation from the state. With that, the State Department does a significant agreement with any one of their funds that they provide. This is not a grant, it is an appropriation. With that, they had conditions identifying that the city would provide the $4 million that's estimated in the budget. So right now, the city in our capital improvement program, project number 19, the project number is 1440122. It's listed under El Rio Trail Enhancements, and it has that line item of the underpass at Spanish River Boulevard. We're going to progress to that project. Right now, we're anticipating the 90% plans in the next week or two. And then we'll be moving through the construction phase and we're estimating construction start in the first or second quarter of 2027. So it's going to align with this will be if this proceeds, we'll be receiving those funds and that'll help support the completion of that project. And I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Beer. Members, do we have any such questions? Not at the moment it appears, so we will open the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter, that is resolution number 65-2026, please stand and give your name and address and you'll have up to three minutes. Last call, public comment, public hearing on this matter. Seeing none, we will close the public hearing and I'll entertain a motion and a second to adopt resolution number 65-2026.

I move that we adopt resolution number 65 dash 2026.

Thank you. Mister second second. Thank you miss simple any further discussion. Yes.

Just before we move forward, thank you Mr. Beer and thank you to staff and thank you to the FDOT for this project was vetoed a couple years ago by the governor and then we really helped facilitate and lobby for this to get it back and this is just basically a crossing of the bikes by El Rio Trail where we took out the crosswalk and this is going to be a pathway to safety and we've had accidents there. We've had people get hurt there and I'm just really happy that we finally got this in and that it's going to start projected to start in the first quarter of 2027 and that with this project we are going to continue our public safety efforts to save lives and to hopefully attain vision zero and zero fatalities. So thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Drucker. Any further discussion? If not, Ms. Sittons, if you please. simple yes thompson yes grau yes drucker yes perlman yes motion passes five votes to zero very good now is the time we've all been waiting for that is to add the resolution that was added as part of our amendments this is resolution number 66-2026 miss siddons if you could

Resolution 66-2026, a resolution of the city of Boca Raton authorizing a waiver of procurement code procedures, authorizing the city manager to approve and execute an agreement with Collier's International Florida LLC for the provision of real estate brokerage services associated with potential real property acquisition opportunities that advance important city objectives and serve the present and future needs of its residents, providing for severability, providing for repealer, providing an effective date.

Thank you, Mr. Suhaney. Who will be making the presentation here? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Deputy City Manager, Mr. Lukasik, will make the presentation.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Andy Lukasik, your Deputy City Manager. So in front of you today is a resolution that authorizes the waiver procurement, our procurement policy, as well as authorization of the City Manager to execute an agreement with Colliers for brokerage services. so the reason that this was blocked on at such a late moment even though we talked about this during our agenda reviews is that there are some time sensitive property acquisition opportunities that city staff has identified and we have talked to you about some of those potential opportunities But we've identified those as chances for the community to kind of manage growth and the character of growth as we're moving forward. Those opportunities are time sensitive as there are activities on some of those properties currently. So we wanted to make sure that we can get in front of you and talk to you about the opportunity to get a broker in place to help us with the negotiation, the exploration of the acquisition of those properties, and then brokerage services to help negotiate any potential acquisition that we might want to move forward with. So the waiver of the procurement code is important because we're bypassing that competitive selection process that normally we would go through if we were hiring a broker to perform these types of functions. But we have put some parameters on this agreement to help narrow the scope so that we're doing our best to adhere to the spirit of procurement code as it's been written. um the other thing that we're doing obviously is moving forward with an agreement with colliers colliers has a pretty substantial footprint in south florida in terms of its ability to represent both private and public sector on property matters they have a public institution team that works specifically with governmental entities so their experience with procurement and other matters that relate to governmental entities The broker that we will be working with is a Booker Tone resident, knows the market here really well, and I think his knowledge base will really be of great assistance to us as we're starting to explore a couple of these strategic opportunities and try to negotiate some purchase agreements going forward. What I wanted to talk to you about a little bit in detail is the terms of the agreement with Collier's. And I apologize that you received the language in the agreement at such a late date or a late time. But a couple of things to bear in mind. As I mentioned earlier, even though we're bypassing or asking you to waive the procurement uh procurement procedures we are trying to narrowly define what activities colliers can take under this agreement so there is a a designated acquisition list that will develop only those properties that the city identifies on this designated list are those properties that colliers would assist us with going forward. So they'd have exclusive rights to represent the city on those particular properties that we've identified as being highly strategic and things that properties that we need to pursue today. The other piece of that, the other component of that is that there's this 90-day window that we have established in the agreement. We can identify properties within that 90-day window, and those are the properties that colliers will pursue. It's limited in time, it's limited in those properties that we identify as being a strategic that they can pursue and have exclusivity over in terms of representing the interests of the city going forward. Um, there, there is no obligation of the city to, um, purchase any, any properties under the terms of the agreement. So in terms of exclusivity, I'm going to just use an example. Um, the colliers is representing us on property a, um, we start going through a process of trying to negotiate a, an agreement with the property owner. Um, it is not working out to our benefit. we terminate any further conversation with that particular property owner, that exclusivity on that property is then null and void. So that exclusivity ends at the time that the city identifies that it's no longer going through the negotiation process. Same thing happens, obviously, if we're able to acquire a piece of property. If we close on a property, then that starts terminating that designated property as well. In terms of the compensation structure, and the one thing I do want to mention is that you received a red line version that talks about the compensation structure. It's on page two of the red line version that you have. And it talks about the fact that both parties anticipate that the sellers were going to be responsible for the payment of commission going forward. If for some reason the seller doesn't pay that compensation or that commission, and it doesn't meet the market rate or at maximum 3% of the gross purchase price, that the city would help pay that portion. So let's say, for instance, in a case where the total commission is 5%, the broker for the seller and colliers would split that commission, so each get 2.5%. Under the terms of this agreement, the city is saying, yeah, well, we understand that a 3% commission is there. We'll make up that half percentage difference to get you to 3%. Don't know if that'll happen. We still anticipate that the seller will pay the commissions, but that provision is in there and I wanted to make sure that I pointed it out just so you were aware. And we do have termination flexibility. So at any time with 30 day notice, we could terminate the agreement. So if we're not making progress the way that we want, we can go ahead and terminate that agreement. No harm, no foul. Again, apologize for walking this on so late, but really defined in terms of the scope of work that colliers will be doing. Colliers, again, does have a good footprint in our area. Broker knows our market really, really well. This is time sensitive. The only reason that we're bringing it to you now in the fashion that we are is because we don't want to miss those opportunities. We don't know if anything will come of them, but we want to make sure that we can pursue them if they're available. So with that, I'll answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you, Mr. Lukasik. Members, any questions? Mr. Perlman.

Other than the 6551 building, what other recent acquisitions has the city made in the way of property? Do we have any- That was the last property acquisition the city pursued. Yeah, other than that, have there been any other acquisitions like in the last five to ten years?

Maybe we can do some research, if not- I'm sorry, there was the donation of the golf course. Okay. Would be the one that comes to mind as far as a real estate transaction. Okay. Any other questions?

Any other questions for staff, period? No?

Well, this is a public hearing, so anyone wishing to speak on this matter, if you give us your name and address, you get three minutes. Anybody interested? Last call for the public hearing on this matter. If not, I will close the time for the public hearing, and we will entertain a motion and a second on resolution number 66-2026.

So moved.

Motion by Drucker. Is there a second? Second. Second by Sipple. Any further discussion on the matter? No? Ms. Siddons, please.

Thompson?

Yes.

Grau? Yes. Drucker? Yes. Perlman?

Yes.

Sipple? Yes. Motion passes, five votes to zero.

That concludes our resolutions and other business. We can move on now to quasi-judicial and related public hearings, for which we have none, thereby getting us to regular public hearings. Item 11. First one up is ordinance number 5786. Ms. Siddons, could you please read the title?

Ordinance number 5786, an ordinance of the city of Boca Raton authorizing pursuant to chapter 13, article three, code of ordinances, an amendment to an existing lease of approximately 5.12 acres of city-owned land, generally located at 1531 West Palmetto Park Road, to extend the expiration date of the lease from June 12th, 2034 to June 12th, 2044, to allow for the continued operation of a hospice facility and to update other lease terms, including a required capital improvement investment by the lessee, providing for severability, providing for a peeler, providing an effective date.

Thank you, Ms. Siddons. Mr. Sohaney, who will be making the presentation here? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Development Services Deputy Director, Ms. Sita, will make the presentation.

Thank you, everyone. So as as previously stated, this is an amendment to an existing lease that we have with Trust Bridge INC, and they are, in fact, the successor to Hospice by the Sea, which you may be more familiar with that name. So this is an amendment to the current lease agreement for the approximately five acre piece of city-owned property located at 1531 West Palmetto Park Road. This will extend the initial term of the lease to 2044 and provide up to four additional 10-year renewal periods and require a $1 million investment requirement. So the property was originally deeded to the city back in 1984 with the requirement that it should be used for other hospice parks and recreation or some type of other related purpose. In 1984, a 50-year lease was approved by city council to Hospice by the Sea. Trust Bridge, as previously stated, is the successor to Hospice by the Sea. And Trust Bridge has requested that the lease be extended beyond the current expiration period, which currently expires on June 12, 2034. And they'd like to realize the benefit of either prior investments and then proposed future investments as well. So Trust Bridge has already invested approximately $13 million in the facility, including a kitchen renovation, new carpeting, AC upgrade, exterior painting, new entrance sign, and new awnings. The ordinance authorizes the city manager to execute this amendment to extend the lease in the initial term through June 12th, 2044. It requires TrustBridge to provide reasonable documentation that they have spent $1 million in capital improvements to the property between June 12th, 2024 and June 11th, 2044. before the city may approve an additional extension. And I just want to note that in the existing lease, there is a provision that allows the city at its discretion to basically not renew within the renewal periods one year prior. That is not was not carried forward in this lease. What proposed lease? What is instead was put in its place was a $1 million capital improvement requirement instead. So again, it will renew up to an additional four 10-year periods. And essentially, if it's not adopted, the lease will expire in 2034. And that if the lessee fails to comply with the $1 million investment, the lease will expire in 2044. And... This comes to you as a sale of city-owned property because under our ordinance, any leasehold interest greater than five years qualifies and has to follow the requirements of a sale of city-owned property, which requires review and recommendation by the Planning and Zoning Board and final approval by the City Council. And again, TrustBridge is a not-for-profit. The lease is also excluded from additional requirements that require the sale or lease or conveyance of publicly owned property at a fair market value. And so this lease has currently for $1 per year, and so that original term will extend. the applicant has complied with all the requirements it got a recommendation of approval by the planning and zoning board and that concludes our presentation we have oh I just want to also note because I know we're implementing ordinance 5785 and that's a new ordinance but that's specifically to josh's point that is related to development applications this is not governed it's not considered development applications on other sales so that particular ordinance would not apply in this case But I just want to also let you know that Mr. Matheson, who is the attorney representing TrustBridge, also has a presentation.

Okay. Thank you, Ms. Sita. Any questions for staff members? If not, we can start. Mr. Perlman, do you have a question? Yes, there is, by the applicant. Yes. All right. The applicant is welcome up to the podium. You'll have 20 minutes. Please give us your name and address.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. I won't be anywhere near that long. For the record, my name is Steve Matheson. Our law firm, Matheson Whittles, which is in Palm Beach Gardens, has represented hospice for more than 25 years with respect to their facilities. I am not here, and I'm not registered as a lobbyist. So having said that, we've really appreciated the way that your staff has worked with us. Matt Shallow, who is in charge of facilities for the organization, is here to answer any questions on the facilities. But I think you're all pretty much familiar with the hospice facility and what it does. We are a not-for-profit. And for the past 40 years, hospice has been providing palliative care and grief counseling services to this community. I would think that virtually everyone in this room has been impacted in some way during their life by hospice. I'm blessed in that in addition to real estate, I practice estate planning, and very often my clients do name hospice as a beneficiary under their estate plans. It's a very special culture, and there are very, very special people who provide these services as an act of charity. I would like to invite each and every one of you at your convenience to visit our campus on Palmetto Park and experience the peaceful, calming, and supportive environment we provide for our patients and their families in this end-of-life and in growing importance bereavement process. We are seeing a significant increase in people coming to us who don't necessarily have to have parents or children or loved ones from hospice, but they're welcome to come to us for grief counseling as well at no charge. We're here today because of the term of the lease, and we are here today really as a matter of responsibility and duty to our donors, who, as I said, many of whom have named hospice as a beneficiary under their state documents. We want to make sure that this facility, which has been here for a very long time, will be here for a very long time to come, And we would greatly appreciate your support in approving this change to the lease, which we think is responsible on all parties' part. And we look forward to continuing to contribute to this community. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Members, do we have any questions for the applicant? Mr. Perlman?

um not for the applicant but maybe sure i'd like to ask miss missita a couple questions by the way thank you for the presentation i'm holding here the original lease from 1984. it says that the lease shall be automatically extended for additional periods of five years from the expiration date of the initial term so So if it's automatically renewing, why do we need to take any action today?

So it was limited to the how many times it could renew in the original lease. And so those extension time periods are coming to an end. And so they would like to renew it and then to, again, just have that certainty so they can continue making investments in the property and the building and continuing to serve the community in this way.

The other thing is this lease, there's no limitation on extensions to it. It says, this lease shall be automatically extended for additional periods of five years from the expiration date of the initial term of the lease, provided that the lessee is not in default under the term. so also there's a provision so that's first of all that this this lease automatically renews we don't need to we don't need to take any action today and it will automatically renew and continue to renew in five-year increments there is a very major change to the lease um in in the version uh that originated from mr matheson's office um in 2024 shortly before a very substantial merger of trust bridge and empath And the significant change is that in the original lease, the city has the ability to cancel the lease if notice is provided in one year from the expiration of the lease. In the lease that originated from Mr. Matheson's office and that was submitted to the city for approval and which still contains this extraordinary change is that the city no longer has the ability to terminate the lease anymore at any juncture. So even though in this summary of the ordinance, it states that this is an expiration from 2034 to 2044, which suggests that this is an extension of 10 years. It's actually an extension. It's a lease extension of an additional 50 years provided that the lessee is in compliant with the lease and the city no longer no longer retains the ability to terminate the lease if it wanted. And this is actually a very valuable property. The appraised value is seven and a half million in 2025. Ms. Sita, what is the annual lease payments that TrustBridge makes to the city for this seven and a half million dollar property?

It's $1 per year.

Okay, so they pay $1 per year. I've done some research on this company, and the executive officers of this company have benefited from extraordinary pay hikes in recent years. A Palm Beach Post article exposed that the CEO, David Fielding, received in recent years over $950,000 in annual salary. And many other executives at TrustBridge are... In the $400,000 plus range. So these executives are profiting immensely and making a great deal of money from this company. Meanwhile, a $7.5 million property. We just had this lengthy presentation on the tax cuts that are coming on account of the proposed bill from the state. And they're paying $1 per year. Meanwhile, these executives are raking it in. And it's actually provoked fury from frontline workers in the organization who exposed issues having to do with lack of supplies, the need for more staffing for bedside care, including nurse aides, and additional complaints that the fact that workers hadn't gotten raises for years while these executives are cashing huge paychecks. In 2024, around the time that Mr. Matheson submitted this revised lease with no ability of the city to terminate it, removing that substantial clause, there was a major merger in which Trustbridge merged with MPath.

Mr. Perlman, could I pause you here? We're still in the middle of the public hearing. Okay. Like people have the opportunity to be heard on this.

This sounds like a discussion item. I would love to be able to respond to it.

You can conclude at the end once everyone else has had a chance. Yes, sir. This is like, it sounds like you're making points, which is fair, but that's a discussion. This is a discussion that I'm presenting. Yeah, that takes place after the public hearing is closed. Okay. And we haven't gotten there yet. So if you don't mind, let's continue with the public hearing. Okay, I can finish this. And then you can make your points. After that, yeah.

Thank you.

Anyone else wishing to be heard on... resolution number no ordinance number 5786 Miss Paschke of course please

Pampaschke 341 Southwest 2nd Street. I just had one question. So you're saying that they have to spend a million dollars over the period of 20 years with inflation, cost increases and everything that's that's pretty generous I think to say it's a million dollars today and they could wait and spend it when it's the you know it would be a fraction of you know what I'm saying with inflation a million dollars today is not the same as spending a million dollars in 15 years when a million dollars would buy much less stuff so that's my concern that you've put in a solid number that's good for a 20-year period with no present value considerations thank you miss paschke mr anderson anderson 290 west palmetto i was curious about when i heard the dollar part myself and the second thing is who built the building

If I believe we own the land from the DOT, who built the building? If it's their money, they're just investing it into the building they built. That's one of my curiosities and then what John was leading into. I wonder if this is like the federal government Native Americans or the federal government just magically takes over their reservation. Similar maybe to the case which was a bad judge. We lost that Meisner Park that used to be the Boca Mall by the way.

True enough. Any other public comment? Miss Hagquist.

brianna hadquist 5710a coach house circle mr perlman brings up an excellent point about this being a one dollar it's almost like a land giveaway i think if we're talking about problems of looking for money with property taxes being cut we should look at possibly charging this very valuable piece of property a little bit more than a dollar a year thank you

Anyone else for the public hearing on ordinance number 5786? Ms. Morrow.

what concerns me is address please Judy Morrow 1305 Northeast Fifth Avenue what concerns me the most is that the ratings of the one in Boca on Palmetto Park Road is not as high as it should be and I do have personal experience with hospice, and most of the hospice have very good ratings, and I personally have been to them, and it's also, when I worked with the handicap, which you now call special needs, What do you call it? I used to volunteer, and I used to collect a lot of money for charities. I was very proud of myself for doing that, and a lot of them were 20-mile walks, you know, different kind of things and all. When I needed help for my handicap, now special needs, I called one of the charities that I raised a lot of money for. And guess what? They were very, very rude to me. They said, we're not in the business of giving out money. We're in the business of collecting money. And this was a woman that lived in a group home that did not have a wheelchair, that needed a wheelchair. So we had to personally, you know, and get her a wheelchair. And after that, I would not work for that charity again. And so hospice has a wonderful reputation, but I'm not so happy with their reviews and what people say about this one. So that's very important when it comes to public land. That's all I wanted to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else for the public hearing as part of this item? If not, we can hear again from the applicant to conclude. You have plenty of time remaining.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And Mr. Perlman, I very much respect your desire to research thoroughly and to try to understand this matter. And it's something that I think is important and it deserves respect. However, it's very important to have facts in order and the truth prevail. Here, we have a property that was deeded by FDOT for this specific purpose many, many, many years ago, and it can only be used for this purpose or for parks or similar purpose. We have for more than 40 years now provided a beautiful and supportive environment for people who are at their end of life and for counseling They're family members and loved ones at no charge. So it's not easy to operate a quote unquote business like that, Councilman Perlman. And yes, some changes had to be made. This lease was not entered into on my watch because I would never have allowed it on my watch. We have a responsibility to our donors to make sure that this facility will be there for the long term. And we have, as staff has outlined, invested many millions of dollars to make it a beautiful, supportive, loving environment. And we will continue to do so throughout the term of the lease. But the property is truly... public serving at this time. You mentioned the salaries. It's a reality that the quote-unquote business of providing this free, not-for-profit service is more and more challenging. I know. I've been the attorney for the organization for a quarter century now. And yes, it was necessary to do some house cleaning at the right time. Mr. Fielding is no longer with the organization. so these types of um long-term benefits and the the bumps in the road that occur are just a part of truly being a community serving organization and i challenge anyone to tell me that there would be a better use for this property particularly after they've had a loved one or know someone who's been through the end-of-life experience, either whether they passed or whether their family member passed. Just this weekend, Mr. Pearlman, I'll have you know, I had someone in my office whose father passed at our facility this last week. She said there were angels, the volunteers, the nurses, the palliative care physicians that give of themselves. And they may not be paid quite as much as they would be paid at whatever the local hospital is, but I assure you they do what they do out of the love for what they do. And I would greatly urge you all to support this and to move this forward so we can continue our service to this community. Thank you.

OK, that concludes our public hearing and now we will have. Let's entertain a motion in a second and then we can continue with our discussion. Do I hear a motion in a second to adopt number ordinance number 5786 so moved? 5786 I believe this is the yeah 57. You're just you're just seeing the future 5786 at the moment we have a motion to adopt 5786. Thank you miss simple. Is there a second?

Second.

Great. Now we can have discussion. Mr. Perlman, it sounded like you had more to say.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Mathis describes this as free service, and he used that phrase, and also at no charge. But the services are paid for, and in most cases, they're paid by tax-funded agencies, such as Medicare and Medicaid. And actually, TrustBridge has handed over more than $1 million in repayments and fines to resolve government allegations of excessive billing. And these were cases that involved what government officials said were charges that were inappropriately billed to the taxpayer-funded agencies, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Mr. Mathis also said that the CEO, David Fielding, who at one point was receiving over $950,000 per year, he said that he's not with the organization anymore. However, on the last filing, David Fielding was still listed as a, quote, current officer of the company who receives compensation. After the merger of Empath and TrustBridge, Having to do with the inner workings, it might have been an intentional tactic. I don't know. We need to look into it further. But the payments to the CEOs and the executives of TrustBridge, which again, at one point had generated huge publicity having to do with these excessive billings. After this merger, they no longer list these compensation numbers publicly. So it's very concerning. When you compare, at one point when the Palm Beach Post did the story covering CEO David Fielding's nearly $1 million of annual pay, they compared it to, for example, the Palm Beach County school superintendent. And it was triple the pay of that official, even though they were monitoring 27,000 workers and Trustbridge had 1,400, a small fraction. As we examine, this is a valuable property. The CEOs, this is big business for these CEOs. They're raking in huge amounts of money. The taxpayers are not getting anything for this property. It's $1 a year. They're proposing, one of the speakers just now, $1 million over the course of 18 years, taking into account inflation. Thank you, Ms. Paschke, for mentioning that. That's not a lot of money for this mega business of TrustBridge. That's very insignificant. That's nearly what David Fielding was compensated in one year's time. um also miss morrow thank you for shedding light on the reviews um of of the which are aren't if you start reading about this facility they're far from stellar so in my opinion given that this lease is automatically renewing in five years. Once it renews, and it will continue to renew, the city still retains the ability to cancel the lease if they want. In this new version, originating from Mr. Mathis's office, that clause is removed. Hence, this is a lease at the discretion of Trustbridge for up to 50 years. And it doesn't come to the table until 2034. There's no action pending. And it doesn't need to be as, as we examine this, this property has the ability from, from the statement of when it was granted that it could also be used for parks and recreation for the city. It's a valuable property. And I believe that no action needs to be taken at this time, especially given what's happening currently out of Tallahassee. We need to be advocates for the taxpayers at this time. Thank you.

Any other discussion? Mr. Brown.

recently have been to the hospice I'm at a friend whose father was there a few weeks ago there was a lot of water damage on the ceilings and some stains yeah so I also agree with the 1 million dollars I don't think is a enough of an investment I think we need a little bit more sorry sir mr. Mathis we can't have back and forth continuous ground okay any other discussion

Ms. Drucker.

So my, yeah, I think the number was that there's been a certain amount of investments. I haven't been to the property in a bit, but I think the matter coming for the council has, and I understand Mr. Perlman's bringing up all these things about salaries and other things that we, we're not, we don't have jurisdiction over that as a council. That is not our, that is not our our role as a body right now today, the role of this body is to either approve or not approve the renewal of the lease. And because of the way it's deeded by FDOT for what is used for today, and without having enough data that, you know, I don't feel comfortable saying, well, we're just going to take this hospice and turn it into some public land without the effect that it would have on our community for those individuals that use this property, that would be really poor governance on our part, especially on my part. So the question arises is, do we want more information to come before this council before we make this decision? We've also had a long-term stand where we charge a dollar a year for other leases in the nonprofit sector. So we have to be, in my opinion, at least I will be fair to other entities. It can't be this for this property, this for that property. So that's where that number comes from. So before us today is really do we want to approve this and put in conditions whether we want to discuss the million dollars or more? Do we want to discuss maybe I'm not sure in this process if we could have the applicant come up and say what future improvements need to be made or do we have to defer the vote? for more data collection. But that is what's here. Whether the CEO got paid a certain amount, whether something else happened, that is not this body's position to have any really input in that. Our sole purpose today is to approve the lease where we could have input is on those matters that I listed earlier.

Very good. I don't think it was directed at you. Let someone else have a chance to opine if they'd like to. Ms. Sibyl, anything? I have a few thoughts of my own. On one hand, Hospice of the Sea, going back years, and now Trespass, has performed a very important service in our community. you know, at times where some of our family members are at their worst or, you know, near the end of life and not easy for any family to be going through that. So I recognize, of course, the value that this use of this property has provided the community over time. I do have questions about the the million dollar figure in terms of the improvements over the course of what is a long extension for a long lease. and particularly in light of miss grouse comments regarding the current uh condition of the building you asked miss drucker whether we can have mr mathis come back up that the public hearing is closed so not necessarily but let me offer this suggestion um What if we were to defer the vote because it doesn't seem like you know that as it stands now it expires many years from now so I don't think there's any any any super urgency on this matter, but I think maybe we defer it to the next time and see if we can have we can open back up the public hearing then and hear from the applicant as to what kinds if any but what kinds of commitments can be made to either to describe or increase ideally the investment in the property or address the condition of the building as it exists now is that something that the body is willing to to undertake we defer it for a little while we come back and we can hear again on that and we can have a further discussion in a vote is that acceptable I'm seeing some heads nodding, okay. So I appreciate the discussion we had. I think that all the points that were made have validity and I'm glad we were able to air them the way that they were aired. So why don't we do this? I will make a motion to table this matter. The table's not really the right motion, is it Mr. Kaler? Is it motion to postpone this to the next city council meeting, which will be a few weeks from now.

Well, I believe the next council meeting is. End of July. End of July. You could do a motion to postpone to a date, continue to a date certain. That'd be fine. If the council needs more time beyond the end of July, then you could select August or you could have a motion to postpone indefinitely and allow the city manager to just re-notice the matter and bring it back whenever staff is ready. It's really in the discretion of the body.

mean maybe that's the better course is to have give time to staff to be able to re-engage with the applicant on this determine if there's any changes that can be made to the proposed terms that might satisfy some of the concerns that were raised here today as well as the condition of the building and then when that has happened and the applicant is at a spot where they think that this is it then it can be renoticed and we can come back and we can re-notice the hearing for that and reopen the public hearing. Does that work? Ms. Drucker?

Do we have to amend the initial motion or with your motion that this would supersede it?

Supersede? Yeah.

Yeah, that works.

Okay, so I will move that we postpone this matter until the city manager and his delegate, the staff, determine that it is ready to be placed back on a meeting schedule and an agenda and we can take it up back then. Do I hear a second?

Second.

OK. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? All right, sounds like the ayes have it. May I make one comment? Sure.

Yeah. As staff works on this, for the benefit of the taxpayers as the owner of this property, I would like to propose that we reinsert the clause of the ability of the city to have the ability to terminate the lease on the lease renewals. And I'm wondering if I have support from the council on that.

I don't know yet. Just my take. I can decide that. We'll decide that next time. We can be added. So long as the applicant is willing to agree to that, it can be added then. There's no need to do it now. That's my view.

I'd like to thank you all for your time today, and we will work diligently to answer any legitimate factual questions so you're satisfied.

All right. Mr. Mathis, thank you. For the moment, anyway, that concludes our business on Ordinance Number 5786 to come back again soon. Next up is Ordinance Number 5787. Ms. Siddons, could you please read the title?

Ordinance 5787, an ordinance of the city of Boca Raton authorizing the city manager and city clerk to execute a non-exclusive construction and demolition, debris collection, and disposal services franchise agreement with Classic Recycling Inc. pursuant to section 14-21 code of ordinances, providing for severability, providing for repealer, providing an effective date.

Thank you, Ms. Sittons. Mr. Suhaney. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our Director of Public Works and Engineering, Mr. Beer, will make the presentation.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. Classic Recycling submitted an application to the Public Works and Engineering Department pursuant to Section 14-21 of the City Code of Ordinances. The proposed ordinance authorizes the City Manager and City Clerk to execute the non-exclusive franchise agreement with Classic Recycling, Inc. Currently, there are 12 C&D franchises with active franchise agreements operating within the City. This will be the 13th. The total revenue for franchise operators for C&D with estimated for fiscal year 2026 is approximately $909,000. The application met the minimum requirements set forth in Section 14 dash 21 and therefore staff recommends adoption of this ordinance. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Beer. Any questions for staff? If not, we can open up the public hearing. Anyone wishing to be heard on ordinance number 5787? Now's your chance. Last call. We will then close the public hearing on ordinance number 5787, entertain a motion and a second to adopt ordinance number 5787. I move for adoption of ordinance number 5787. Is there a second?

Second.

Second. Thank you, Ms. Drucker. Any further discussion? No? Ms. Sittons, please.

Drucker, yes. Pearlman, yes. Sipple, yes. Thompson, yes. Grau, yes. Motion passes, five votes to zero.

Great, onward we go to ordinance number 5788. Ms. Siddons, when you have a second and you're ready, could you please read the title?

Ordinance number 5788, an ordinance of the city of Boca Raton amending chapter 12, pensions and retirement, article three, general employees' pensions, section 12-81, definitions, code of ordinances, to provide a definition for actuarial equivalent, amending section 12-85, optional forms of retirement benefits, code of ordinances, to authorize limited post-retirement changes of joint pensioner or beneficiary.

providing for peeler providing for codification providing an effective date thank you miss sins mr sahaney thank you mr mayor deputy city manager and cfo mr zervas will make the presentation

yes mayor and council members um we spoke about this at the the last meeting this is really a um just a correction in the code to provide well correction and update to provide a definition for actuarial equivalence within the executive employee pension plan that that definition doesn't currently exist and so that's being amended to include that change

Thank you, Mr. Zervas. Any questions for Mr. Zervas or staff on this matter? If not, it's public hearing time. Anybody wishing to speak on ordinance number 5788, please step forward, state your name, and you'll have three minutes. Last call on the public hearing. I will then close the time for the public hearing and ask for a motion and a second to adopt ordinance number 5788.

So move number ordinance number 5788 second.

Excellent, very good. Any further discussion? Miss Hiddens.

Pearlman yes simple yes Thompson yes growl yes trucker yes motion passes 5 votes to 0.

Alright, the last ordinance we have on our agenda tonight today still today. Ordinance number 5789 Miss Hiddens please.

Ordinance number 5789, an ordinance of the City of Boca Raton amending Chapter 12, Pensions and Retirement, Article 5, Executive Employees Retirement Plan, Section 12-160, Code of Ordinances, relating to the definition and calculation of average final compensation to clarify and align with longstanding plan administration, providing for severability, providing for repealer, providing for codification, providing an effective date.

Thank you, Mr. Zerber. So I'll make the presentation.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the Council. I apologize. I think I misspoke on the last item. The last one was not the Executive Employees Pension Plan. It was the General Employees Pension Plan and the same update to actuarially equivalent definition in section 1285 on the last one, as well as the ability to change joint annuitants post retirement so apologize for that this this item is is pertaining to the executive employee pension plan and this is amending though the language in the plan regarding average final compensation to update it from a hundred and thirty pay periods to five years and that's the way the plan has been administered and from inception and valued from inception. So this is a discrepancy between the code and the administration that we're simply cleaning up. In both this and the prior ordinance, you have actuarial statements from the actuary saying that there's no financial impact to the plan or to the city. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Great. Thank you, Mr. Zervas. Any questions?

Seeing none, we'll open up the public hearing. Name, address, three minutes. Ms. Paschke.

Pam Paschke, 341 Southwest 2nd Street. So does five years mean five years of continuous employment? Is that the way it's worded? So that's my question. I want clarification. Since it used to be by pay periods, then you'd know if someone was on leave or something, unpaid leave. But if you just say five years, that's my question.

Thank you, Ms. Paschke. We'll get the questions answered once we close the public hearing. Anyone else? For ordinance number 57, 88, 89. Doesn't look like it. So we'll close the public hearing. Mr. Zervas, could you please address that?

Yes, the code as it's written today is the highest 130 pay periods out of the last 260 pay periods. So the problem, Ms. Patchkey, is that 130 pay periods does not equal five years. It's off by a little over six days. And so it causes a discrepancy in the math, which we're trying to fix. So the new code is written to say the highest five years within the last 10. All right, very good.

I think I close the public hearing, and if not, I will now. And I'll entertain a motion and a second to adopt ordinance number 5789. I will move adoption of ordinance number 5789. Do I hear a second?

Second.

Very good. Ms. Sippel, any further discussion? If not, Ms. Sittins.

Sippel? Yes. Thompson?

Yes.

Grau? Yes. Drucker? Yes. Perlman?

Yes.

Motion passes, five votes to zero.

Very good. That concludes our regular public hearings. We now move on to public requests. Speakers, if you'd like to have any, if you have anything to say to the city council, you have, if you give us your name and address, you get three minutes. So whoever would like to go first by all means.

pampaski 341 southwest second street so first i wanted to say i was on vacation for the last meeting and i was very excited to see that you passed the lobbying ordinance requiring lobbyist registration verification and identification when they speak it's my understanding that when they come up they should not only say their name and address but also the company they work for which this lady today did not say who she worked for and who their client is. So I hope that as we started today that you will begin to enforce that going forward. The other thing I wanted to talk about, I got this thing in the mail, which I'm sure everybody got, about the Aletto. And I was not that familiar with this project before, but I noticed in looking through this that this is the same company that built the 155 tower, if I understand this ad correctly. So I'm concerned if the city has revisited the problems with the 155 and the if it was inspection problems or just design problems from the contractor and that these will not be happening for this new development for the aletto that's a concern of mine because we keep hearing about all the problems with the 155 building the other thing that i just wanted to um bring up is I would really like us to revisit appearance standards. We used to have rules like the buildings had to match with the Meisner way and everything and then this police station that was proposed was hideously ugly. It would look like a Manhattan office building. I'd like to see at least city developments be considered the visual appearance of the building as we used to have standards for that where you know things kind of matched around and i understand you know this this isn't hideous but it's not glorious looking but for the rest of the city you know the parts where people live and where the buildings are are not downtown like around where city hall currently is um would be really nice if we revisited that that's it thank you

Thank you, Ms. Paschke. Ms. Morrow.

My tennis racket, sorry. Judy Morrow, 1305 Northeast Fifth Avenue. First of all, I'd like to say thank you so much to each and every council member and the mayor because I feel now I am so happy coming to the meetings because I feel you listen to the people and i can see i can see the results my neighbors can see the results and that is that it's so nice to see the police out enforcing the speeding tickets because my neighbors call palmetto park road and fifth northeast fifth avenue they call it palmetto speedway you know it um so i'm very very happy that you listen to the people i'm glad that you're doing your homework and I'm really, really looking forward to the public meetings to see what the people want on our war memorial and our 31 acres, which includes the 7.7 acres. And I remember that the company, we saved a lot of money. We saved a lot of money by not allowing those 740 feet you know buildings on our public land so I'd like to really really commend you all for doing that and for saving it and for listening and I'm just very very happy coming to the meetings and I look forward to you know nice new improvements and i like that the city manager is so doing a great job going to the tennis courts and different things and you all are very doing your homework and i want to appreciate each and every one of you because people give me more positive things thank you thank you miss morrow anyone else

If not, we will close the time for public requests. Ordinance introductions, we have none. Move on to city manager reports.

What do you have, Mr. Svaney? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a few things. Public safety, police chief recruitment, and I'm really pleased to report that we selected Jared Phelps. He's currently the chief of police, Jacksonville, North Carolina, and he's going to be our next chief of police. We've promoted a conditional offer to him yesterday, and then once... We get that response from him. We'll have a little bit more on when he's going to start. But we had over 100 applicants. He's got 30 years of law enforcement experience, and we're really excited to have him. And I just wanted to also say thanks to Acting Chief of Police Seth. Dubinsky he's done a phenomenal job here and continues to do great work along with assistant chiefs Fred Laurie Andrew Kosova just great performance by these individuals keeping the department moving forward human resources as well and really our entire police services department has done an incredible amount of work here in the last couple months as you can imagine and to to some of the public comments there we had over the last two weeks a thousand stops that resulted in 425 speeding tickets so again if you're in boca raton slow down is the message and my hat's off to public safety efforts regarding traffic enforcement for sure The other thing I wanted to talk about, major criminal investigations, the downtown shooting investigation involving the Standard, that's been cleared with an arrest. The Camino Real homicide investigation has been cleared as well. That suspect is currently in custody. And I want to thank really our detectives, our officers, and the support personnel for really the outstanding work on both of those investigations. And I can tell you, you know, I was updated daily on these investigations. They were very complex, a lot of moving parts to both of these things. And that work is not easy, but we have an incredible detective bureau here. So, again, great work there keeping that going. city safe uh homelessness and quality of life i i sent a memo uh to the council and uh we've got our administrative implementation of the city's trespass warning ordinance that continues i also want to my hats off to officer gabriel cox he recently received the community policing award from the first responders appreciation foundation in recognition of his efforts connecting individuals experiencing homelessness with available services and resources again that's gabriel cox and then staff we're planning on a comprehensive homeless and quality of life discussion at our next council workshop on july 27th that's the plan there we're also for fifa if you like football soccer the city is pleased to welcome a team from curacao We're gonna welcome them this evening here and then police fire rescue and city staff working We continue to coordinate all the security and operational concerns related to that Those activities so that's going well our police services complex. We're working with the community advisory panel as Council directed us. We're gonna meet next week and discuss some some regarding the project scope and some locations and community priority priorities that we talked about last week and and then we continue to do our public engagement effort we're going to start that independent polling with a firm and we're really just looking at this and making sure that we're looking at these alternatives that are consistent with the council's direction that we received a couple weeks ago I did want to update council on the Memorial Park the civic area that we were working on right now we're in that RFQ process and that process the submittal for that process was due on Friday so we're gonna there's a little bit I'm going to delay that now to a new timeline to June 26 due to a little bit of lack of activity in our online purchasing software and then we had a request from a couple of the firms to push that deadline so with that delay and because that the City Council doesn't meet until July 28th as the next council meeting. We're gonna adjust the overall schedule by extending the RFQ process by one month. That'll give us time to get these firms to take a look at what they're gonna submit here, give us a little bit of time to get that to the council on July 28th so they can consider the highest ranked firms, and then we can move forward with that on our August 25th meeting. that's an update there fire station uh eight uh and ems coverage uh big picture there we the staff continues it's fire station eight and ems analysis uh coverage and and really what that preliminary analysis is showing us is that our zone coverage uh in the downtown east area particularly fire station eight uh we need to take a look at at resourcing that uh with our fire rescue And we'll present this to council as we move forward. And obviously in the budgeting process, they'll get a look at those recommendations as well. But I just want you to know we're looking at that very hard. And the EMS capability, our advanced EMS capability in the city, we're looking at making sure that we've got full coverage there. So that's something that we'll have complete in the next couple, two, three weeks. And we'll roll that into the budgeting process with council. The other thing is, you know, we've mentioned our whole blood program, so we have that now, and we just implemented that. That's underway, so that's a good thing for us. A couple things on organizational workforce and updates. Collective bargaining, we're in the process with all three of our departments, as Councilmember Drucker mentioned, our police fire, as well as SEIU, and we'll try to get that closed out on time at the end of this fiscal year. Also, council may recall that earlier this year I announced a series of organizational realignment initiatives that were designed to better align functions with department missions. So I'm pleased to report that all of that remains on schedule. Emergency management has transitioned to fire rescue. The park ranger and ocean rescue, that transition is on time and that's going to be complete by July 1st. Our communications division transition is on track. That'll be done by August 1st. And then our beautification division has been moved from recreation services to public works, and that's on track for October 1st. So a lot going on, a lot of budget preparation going on with the staff, as Mr. Zervas mentioned. A couple community announcements. Hurricane season's underway. So again, be prepared. Alert Boca. you're encouraged to register for alert Boca again to enroll text alert Boca three eight two seven six and mr. mayor that's all I have Thank You mr. so any mr. Kaler city attorney report I have no report thank you mayor all right great this councilmember report started getting on my right miss trucker no report thank you let's grab no report

Ms. Sibyl?

No report.

Mr. Perlman? No report. Very good. I also have no report. I appreciate the robust report that the city manager just provided. I want to second what he had to say, particularly as it relates to our police services department and doing the job that they've been doing the last few months in a very, very good way, particularly as it relates to closing those two, well, we think, finding the... the perpetrators in those two crimes that you mentioned. I think that was really good work by our detective bureau. And if there's no other business to come before the city council, we will conclude our meeting today at 2.40 p.m. Thank you, everybody.