Commission - Regular Meeting

Our assistant city manager, um, Adam Temple is here. We have, um, a bunch of police, uh, department staff and our fire chief is here. Um, also our director of public safety, uh, John Bonafair, you'll be hearing from him later as well. Um, and he'll be giving, uh, he agreed to do a tour of the real-time crime center, which is, uh, a super impressive, uh, tool that we've been able to use, uh, to really change, uh, technology in our, um, in our police department. So, um, again, I just thank staff for being here. Um, we do have some good news to share on the, uh, efforts of beautification in District 4 and in the city. Um, we are officially getting our sign. Andrew Mack has told me we're weeks away from getting our digital signs, so we're super excited about that. I think we're in some final design phases, uh, and so that will really, um, you know, really connect, uh, our residents to the news and what's going on in the city. So, we're excited about that. Um, another thing, after about about a year ago, uh, city staff, um, in particular Kevin Ramsey from public works, uh, did a tour of the city and all of our streets and all of our sidewalks and sent about a 3-in binder to the county and to Fdot complaining about all of our roadways and our sidewalks that needed to be repaired and needed to be repainted. And so, we are so pleased with the progress that the county and Fdot is making on, uh, you know, changing out our sidewalks. Lawrence Road is currently all torn up and getting some new, um, patchwork, so we're excited about that. Um, also our beautification team about probably about 2 years ago, we, uh, as a commission, we, uh, started a beautification team to really focus, uh, on

cleaning up the city and making sure that what we know our city is, it's reflected in how it looks. And so, the beautification team, uh, they work closely with the county and Fdot on cleaning up, on trash pickup, on sidewalks, on lighting repairs, um, improving and enhancing landscape, installing roadway signage, uh, inspecting and reporting streetlights. That's a big thing. Um, FPL will come out. They just need to know about it. Um, so they've been they've been making those connections and making those reports and it's really changed, uh, how we are viewing our city and it's become a much more hands-on, um, approach to to making our not just blaming it on somebody else, but really taking ownership for our city and making sure that what we see and how we feel our city is, it looks that way. Uh, repairing sidewalks and just working on overall enhancing the the look of our city. Um, but we also depend on on the residents to do that. We have, uh, about 900 employees, but they can only see so much and so we really do depend on residents to go on My Boynton app and make a, uh, I don't want to say a a complaint, but an issue that we can then address, um, or text me or email me. Um, any of our staff is also very accessible and we are happy to make sure that we can get things done in this city. Um, in a few minutes I'm going to ask Andrew Mack, uh, to speak about, um, some updates, um, with the Miner Road extension as well as our Lawrence Road median, um, upgrades. Um, but before I do that, one of the things and and we did talk about it very briefly, I wanted to change up the format of my town hall, um, because there's only there's a lot to talk about citywide, but sometimes

District 4 doesn't have all that much to talk about in our in our district. So, I wanted to to change the format and highlight some of our new businesses or or some of our old businesses in our community that we may just not know about. Um, so I invited several of them to come tonight, introduce themselves, make themselves available to you so that you know that they're here. Several of them have just opened, um, within the last couple weeks and so we're really excited that they joined us tonight and that they also chose Boynton Beach as their home. So, um, and in a few minutes I'm going to have them come up, but it, um, we also have with us Rick Maharaj who started and founded our Palm Beach Chamber, our Boynton Beach Chamber of Industry and Commerce. We have Taylor from Tack Tech. We have Chef Thomas from Field of Greens. We have, uh, Jennifer, um, from Pure Green. That that just opened. I went to their ribbon cutting this past weekend. Um, Bella from Antonucci, um, Pizza Cafe. Uh, Joyce from Signarama. Um, Gabby Clark Painting with a Twist couldn't make it tonight, but they sent us coupons, I believe they're somewhere in the back. So, um, you know, grab a coupon and go have a a painting night. Um, Fernando from Florida Digital Center. And then also, I saw the girls, the, um, owners from one of our jujitsu places, um, that opened up in our industrial area and so they're here as well. Um, so I just want to welcome them. Um, but now I'm going to I invite Rick Maharaj from the Boynton Beach, uh, Chamber of Industry and Commerce to come up. And also the businesses that are here, if you'll come up as well and I'll have Rick introduce himself, tell you a little bit about the chamber and then and then the businesses can introduce themselves, um, and just kind of tell you guys a little bit about what they do, where they're located. Um, so, um, if you would just, uh, Rick, if you would, uh, come up, please. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. I am Rick Maharaj, founder and president CEO of your official chamber, the Boynton Beach Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and we are growing. I want to first start off by saying I love the fact that this room is packed today. It's about engagement, it's about participating, not pointing the finger, but lending a hand. Boynton, uh, District 4, I've been in District 4 for about 20-something years now, believe it or not, and, uh, we don't usually come out. We got to wake it up, wake up District 4, come out, get out, you know, from behind those closed gates and participate. So, thank you all for coming out. Uh, I want to thank the staff with the city, our city manager and assistant city manager, our men in blue and women. Thank you all for coming out. We certainly appreciate you. Uh, can can I have the, uh, chamber ambassadors come up, please? Christine. We'll we'll go really quick and just a quick quick introduction. So, we'll start off again. I'm Rick Maharaj. Not only am the founder, I also I I'm the chairman and president of RML Technologies here in the city. Uh, we're a global technology distribution company for about 22 years. Uh, this is our executive vice president, Christine Roberts. Good evening, everyone. My name is Christine Roberts. I am the EVP for the chamber, the Boynton Beach Chamber, best chamber. Um, and I have a business here in Boynton Beach. I raised my children here. I have a home here. My company is Intention Enterprises and we work with small businesses on their accounting and bookkeeping. Hi, my name is Raquel. I am the operations coordinator with the chamber and I have a organizing and decluttering business. So, if you guys need some help with that, let me know.

[laughter]

Hello, everyone. My name is Carol Petrovsky. I'm actually in District 4 here as well and I have a business right down the street, which is Nexus Workspaces. We supply, um, executive spaces as well as conference room hour time. So, thank you. Good evening, everybody. I am Tammy Sermons, chief caregiving officer of Graceville at Home Caregiving. We are an home service that provides services to all our aging adults in Boynton Beach so that they can age gracefully in the place that they love. Hi, everyone. I'm Patty Lena Show. I've been in the city for about 32 years. My business has been here for 26 years. I'm in the Nexus. I'm on the chamber and we are just everywhere. We love this city. So, thanks for coming out and saying hi to us and look forward to meeting you. Good evening. I'm Dr. D. I work in the field of hypnotherapy and regenerative medicine helping our our public servants in terms of pain management, anxiety and stress, gut diseases and more. Um, I'm a long-term, uh, resident of the Boynton Beach area. My son, uh, went to elementary school on Seacrest as well as Boynton High. And so, this is really home for me. And if there's anything that we can do to enhance your ability in this community, please reach out to the chamber. I happen to be the chief strategy officer. I'm always looking for someone to buy me a cup of coffee and give me an idea or two. So, thank you very much. Hi, my name's Jennifer, owner of Pure Green. I am next door to Sprouts. Um, thank you for welcoming me to Boynton Beach. Um, we decided to open up Pure Green because we wanted to bring superfood smoothies, acai bowls, toast, um,

you know, cold-pressed juices to Boynton Beach so we can have a healthier community. So, I am a first-gen business owner. So, um, thank you guys for welcoming me. Good evening. My name is Joyce Petrie. I'm with Signarama Boynton Beach. Uh, I've been with Signarama Boynton Beach for about a year now, but I've been with Signarama for about 15 years on a franchise level. So, it's been really great being a part of the community here and starting to drive around town and go, "Hey, I did that. We did that." And so, um one of our projects that you'll start to see is we're actually wrapping all of the electrical boxes around Boynton Beach. So, once you start to see those graphics like the peacock on the corner on Gateway, that was us. Uh so, we do all types of wraps, graphics, routed letters, channel letters, any type of sign that you can think of, branding, marketing, we can do that for you. We also work with a lot of HOAs, right? To beautify [clears throat] the community within the HOA community. Um so, pretty much any project that you have that you think Signarama can handle, we probably can. So, give me a call. My name is Joyce Petry and I'm with Signarama Boynton Beach. How you doing? Thanks for coming. Fernando Vargas with Florida Sensor. I'm here on behalf of the chamber, part of the strategic planning. And again, we're back there in the corner if you need help with your organic branding, organic businesses, move your business one click at a time. Talk to you soon. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Taylor. I'm the owner of Tact Tech Security Solutions. We're a private security firm right on High Ridge, right across the street. We have about 300 security guards all over the entire state of Florida. We service anywhere in the state of Florida. Our headquarter office is right in the same zip code that I was born and raised in. So, I'd love to be here. Wonderful seeing a few people, a few familiar faces. We had our 8th year uh ribbon cutting a few weeks ago and it was absolutely amazing and just want to say thank you. And if you guys need any security services, commercial, residential, please reach out. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, chamber, for being here tonight. Thank you.

[applause]

And Joy Joyce, I'm so glad that you brought up the um the wraps on the electrical box. That was something that Amanda and I um talked about, gosh, has it been 2 years? Where we I said, "Is there something we can do with those ugly electrical boxes?" And she said, "We have been talking with the art team about doing about wrapping them." And we have started on Gateway Boulevard. If you've been Gateway Boulevard, you've seen them. Unfortunately, we have to get permission from the county and Fdot to put them anywhere else. But we have 25 artists that we featured um on these electrical boxes. And so, it really is a a great way for us to to just cheer up Boynton Beach and and make it um you know, just so much more um artful and pretty and we're excited about that project as well. Thank you, Amanda, for working on that. Uh so, now I'm going to um ask Deputy City Manager um Andrew Mack to come up and provide some updates. I know there's Are you who you're looking Oh. Um Oh, yeah, if there are business other businesses that wanted to introduce themselves, um you can come on up as well. I thought they all came up when uh I know there are some other Sorry about that, guys. Hello, I'm Chef Thomas from Field of Greens. Um we are so excited to be part of the Boynton Beach community. We just opened about 2 months ago. Um One of the things that we like to say is that we're uh food for fuel. Uh you want to come in and have a great fresh lunch, uh we have all kinds of different uh options to choose from, uh wraps, acai bowls, smoothies, protein shakes, um all kinds of great stuff. Uh we're super excited to be a part of Boynton. Um you know, when I first moved down to Florida about 15 years ago, it seemed like Boynton was just on my way to Delray Beach. And over the past, I don't

know how many years, but it seems like there's been a slow, methodical growth that's been really well thought out. That's where Field of Greens and Boynton kind of align is that we're growing and expanding all through Palm Beach County and we're super excited and super happy to be part of such a great community. Um we've already had a ton of success in our commissary kitchen on Gateway. Our great general manager uh Damian is here. Please come in and see him. We have a couple menus that we'll hand out later today. And again, just so happy to be part of the community. Thank you. Let's see. Good evening, everyone. First, thank you so much for the opportunity of being here today. My name is Ana Carolina Vieira. This is my partner, Luana Zugui. We've been in business in Boynton Beach for over 6 years now. Our school is V Jiu-Jitsu. We're both multiple times black belt world champion. Luana is in the Hall of Fame in Jiu-Jitsu. And our mission with our academy is to serve our community. We teach daily high-level Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, self-defense. We also offer uh community events, free self-defense for women, kids. Uh our school programs are anti-bullying, Jiu-Jitsu for beginners, advanced. So, if you guys ever want to come try a Jiu-Jitsu class or self-defense, you're more than welcome. Thank you.

[clears throat]

Good evening, everybody. Um my name is Giuseppe Antonacci and this is my brother, Pietro Antonacci. Um We um we opened an Italian uh pizzeria, Artisan Pizza. Uh we offer 20 regions of Italy and each one has its own specific pie. The main thing that the dough is sourdough. So, uh wood fire. Uh we offer pizza, um pasta, um appetizers appetizers, desserts, salads, Italian beer and wine. So, uh we want to give you an an actual experience of having Italian dinner. Regional pies, yeah. All right.

on North Congress and Hypoluxo on the corner by Publix. We're next door to Publix. We've been open for 5 months now. So, come on by. Thank you. Come on by. Good evening, everyone. My name is Louis. Um I'm from Ramen Lab Eatery. We're located on Congress and Gateway, right by Bonefish Grill. Um where the old Lemongrass used to be. We're a family-owned and operated business. We're part of the Lemongrass family. Um at Ramen Lab, we make our own noodles in-house at that location in Boynton Beach. We've been there for about a year and a half. So, thank you for welcoming us in to the community. Uh we hand-make all our ramen noodles. We import Japanese flour from Japan and alkalized water for the ramens. And we have a team of seniors, grandmas in the morning, that hand-wrap all the dumplings. They make about uh over a million dumplings a year. So, definitely please stop by. Uh we have lunch specials Monday through Friday and happy hour running every single day, 3:00 to 7:00 on food and drinks. We have a full bar uh specializing in Japanese whiskey, liquor, beer, wine, whatever you're looking for, we have it. All right? So, we hope to see you soon at Ramen Lab Eatery, Congress and Gateway over here. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you. Yeah, um the Ramen Lab and Lemongrass, you know, Lemongrass came uh has been in the city for a long time. At least 10 years, I would say. But they were they were where Ramen Lab was and they expanded uh and took over a bigger part of that um plaza and they expanded and then Ramen Lab moved in and they're actually opening another takeout location um on the southeast end of the city. So, we're super excited to have um businesses like that in the community that not only choose to start their business in Boynton, but then they stay and they grow. Um and so, that's always uh it's always a privilege to see that happen.

So, uh I think that is all the business. Thank you, Allison. Allison is my uh my right hand. She makes sure that everyone um she helped me put all this together. So, I'm super um happy to have her on my team. Um and so, now I will turn over to Andrew Mack. We do have a couple of updates, nothing uh super uh exciting, but at least um we do have some updates. So, thank you, Andrew. Good evening. Um my name's Andrew [clears throat] Mack. I'm the Deputy City Manager for the city of Boynton Beach. Um in the back, I do have a a little handout that you can take with you. It has a kind of a status update of the Minor Road Project. Um Jae Yoon Kim, who's here, is going to do an update on Lawrence Road next uh after me. So, I I guess I wanted to make sure everyone's familiar with the Minor Road Project. Um Palm Beach County is looking to extend Minor Road from Military to Lawrence Road. Um this is a project that your commissioner is opposed to um for many reasons and and I'll go into it um real briefly uh just to give you an update of where they are. They are 60 They have the plans are 65% designed. Um they're underway with the permitting process on that project. But the next phase they're getting into, which is going to be the phase that will probably either kill or kill this project or make it go is the acquisition phase. One of the things that they're lacking is they need right-of-way here. So, they are currently the next phase of this project will be the right-of-way acquisition. That's the part where this could come off the rails and and and slow down this project. Uh we do it I do anticipate that happening. That going through that eminent domain process is going to take them some time and it's going to be very costly. Um right now, their plan is to uh finish their acquisition by early 2028 and then construction funding would be uh is proposed in fiscal year 2029. Um one other project that I did want to note that while I was here is um Minor

Road and Congress, the intersection. Those improvements haven't started um at that intersection. They are realigning the road to allow for right turn lanes going east and westbound um and and as well as aligning the road so they're better aligned and they will be doing traffic signal upgrades at that intersection as well. Um on the bottom of this takeaway that you have is just some of the things that in my conversations with Commissioner Kelly and our our board our commission the concerns that they have is you know why is the county extending this road this short short point six mile of a road when there's other roads that we felt like were more important in the city that could be widened or better use of the funds. So some of the concerns that were brought up and they're detailed here for you to take away and and we're just asking to make sure you have everyone vigilant and watching and paying attention to this project because it definitely could negatively impact some of your neighborhoods. Obviously some of the concerns we have are traffic volumes and and then those traffic volumes on minor road then bleed into the adjacent neighborhoods pedestrian and cycle safety bicycle safety is another you know you're going from a three lane road we're adding additional volume of traffic without other improvements for that type of work pedestrian and cycle. So that's definitely a concern and then the final the final topic on that is the right away acquisition. Again you know they budgeted a million dollars in their budget for the right away acquisition. Um we you know as you can hear that is pretty laughable because we do think that's a pretty low number which is why we do think that the acquisition phase of this project will either stall it or kill it. So that's currently where the project is right now. There's not much more updates to that but all this information is available on the county's website. On this flyer I did give a link to the county's website as well and in the back we have more copies in the back and I can take any questions I don't have a ton information but I'll try and answer much as I can. Yes sir. Minor road is over by House 3

isn't Where at? House 3 Yes. And you want to put Not me county does. Yes we are opposed to it. For the same reason that you're about to say because I can tell you one of my biggest concerns is that traffic there's already problems at Military and where the school is. I mean I've been out there myself in the mornings and saw it. I drive through this area myself personally. I live in Wellington I commute in through this way I drive Lawrence I Hypoluxo to Lawrence to Minor so I I'm in this traffic every single day. So I I do I do have a first hand knowledge of some of the pain that we have that if this road goes through would definitely impact our neighborhoods. So if we're not paying attention and at least at minimum working to make sure we're getting improvements if they're going to continue and go down this route that we make sure that it's safe for our community. And I'm the private property owner and the only one that they want to take a third of my property and take down a structure. Yes. About a thousand square feet that's going to cost a tremendous sum to rebuild and all that process and obviously I completely do not want it. So you know I will be that person who's making you good and domain so I'm Yes. And you have a commissioner that's deeply involved she's she we always get updates we've been to the county we spoke to the county engineer several times so she's fully involved and we'll keep you updated. I would mention that Commissioner Kelly do have does now have a new newsletter on your webpage. That's a great place to actually keep up with information from her. She's able to post stuff there on her on the webpage that she has dedicated on the city's website. So I think Yeah there's a QR code right there. Yes ma'am. So that you know obviously engineers I'm an engineer the traffic engineers they look at they think they're trying to help by diverting traffic from out west and trying other ways for people to get through but they're not thinking through the impacts of the neighborhoods. So The

last meeting the two guys never even Randy I said he was never even there the other guy said well I drove by. They have how is that What they're destroying. Yes. Because we're going to get a multitude of traffic and it's going to be absolutely ridiculous and accidents and we're talking about personal property being taken away. What about the kids? Yes. You've got the school right there. Yes. That's what we want to know. Who wants this roadway? Yeah this is the county's pushing this. I don't know specifically the name of the person in the county obviously but I mean at this point the the county engineer is the person that we need to talk to. David Ricks he's the one that that that is in charge of the engineering staff at the county. So and if you if you want I can get you his contact information I'll give you one of my cards after the meeting. Yeah and that too. Yes ma'am. Just real quickly why is the extension part three lanes but minor road everywhere where else is two? That's a good question. They I don't think they have fully developed all their their drawings yet so I'm I'm not sure if they're going to be expanding that section west as well. So we don't have a fully developed set of construction drawings yet. Because the thing is the only properties that are joining Minor Road between Lawrence and Military Trail and Minor which is almost half and Noble Road which that 100 feet area

Yes. Noble was not allowed to develop back in around 2012. So what they own is about five acres minus 1.67 acres Mhm. I stated the million dollars is laughable Yes. Yes. to take that much land. But Noble Road does not have a gate or an access point that would go onto that road. Clearly as a private property owner my access is the canal area to my property. There's no point of destination there is absolutely nothing on 6/10 of a mile to become basically a speed zone police way. And for the school traffic that comes into Franklin Academy. When you're coming in on Minor Road that's at Military it's a short block they have to go north over the canal so when you've got an intersection point a block east of Military Trail you're going to have such a bottle neck of traffic between those coming in east and west and when you've got a school trying to drop off students Yes. and then the normal traffic during the day that is going to be a very dangerous intersection because of four way stop sign okay people are going to blow through the darn thing. You're I'm see I doubt they'll put another stop light a block away from one that's existing so then you're going to funnel people into our community Exactly. which has lanes of road that are literally only one lane wide Yeah. and they've been that way since it was and Noble Orange Road So it's definitely something they're really not looking at the ramifications of what they would like to do and the impact it's going to have clearly on me but everybody else who lives within our community. You know and obviously the other people on Lawrence Road that you're going to have coming through but the two mile of savings of driving where they're going really doesn't make any sense because if you're going east and west bound on Hypoluxo or Gateway you're going to east and west

bound on those roads the same distance on Minor Road but then you have to follow north or south you need to go Hypoluxo or Lawrence or Gateway to continue to east and west. So it's basically a cut through. Yeah. And that's all it is. The budget for their bill has not changed. I looked at the five year plan a couple days ago. They still show the bill will cost 2.2 million you can build a nice house for that now. Yeah. So if you're talking basically 2800 linear feet of road that's going through my property most of that that they want is water pond heavy duty deep snow Australian pines to get the land prepped on just my area let alone Noble Road you're going to blow well past 2.2 million dollars just on the prep work. Mhm. layer of bedrock to start rebuilding to put the road in place. So they've basically been working on this since 2019 19 I believe so for seven years. So what have they actually spent to date? No one has stated that. The real cost of this road is far beyond what they initially budgeted what they think it's going to cost. You've exceeded that in spades already because last year in June when we had that meeting Michelle Basham who's sitting right back there found that the county had started putting this road out to bid at that point it was supposed to be 0.8 1.6 million dollars more than the website still currently shows. A half mile of road they're doing 6/10. Realistic costs are 10 to 15 million dollars by the time you get this thing built. So they're not doing full transparent disclosure on the cost of this and yes there are definitely places within this county within this city that that money could be spent much wiser in an era when there should be greater fiscal responsibility with the taxpayers dollars. You know because we all work hard for

what we earn and then the city the county should be spending it in the most wise fashion possible. So one of the things I have done is I've reached out to David Ricks the county engineer to ask for another meeting so I can get updated information and maybe a current set of the drawings as well. So what I would do is I'll I'll work with Commissioner Kelly maybe we can set up a Minor Road only meeting so we get a little bit into the details but I know this is a very sticking point for everybody so we're definitely committed to doing that. We are definitely here to support the residents. I think Commissioner Kelly would tell you from day one she's been against this so we're we're fully committed to helping make sure that we take care of the residents. The city and county residents Yes yes correct you are county residents. And and I I kind of want to we have a short window so we'll do one more and then Jay if you can come up to do the next I wanted to I want to make sure we talk about some of the positive stuff that's coming which is the landscaping on Lawrence which again Commissioner Kelly has been fully pushed for that. All right. One more question. Yes, sir. Yeah. are typically substantial. How many millions of dollars are you planning on wasting on this just over half a mile?

It makes no sense. Yeah, absolutely. And at the end, when you get to the end of Military Trail, to try to connect Miner to Military, it doesn't straight. There's a building there. That's correct. And what do you do with that building? Not only the building, there's a ridge where it's 4 ft Yes. Otherwise, you have to go around or around by the school. It's going to be a big headache.

Yes. So, we definitely going to we'll set that meeting up and I definitely make sure that we get your information. If you have not, please make sure you get with Allison so that we can stay in contact with you and make sure that we're keeping you updated. And then, obviously, the next time there's a commission meet a county commission meeting, we would love to have you guys in attend and maybe Commissioner Kelly can go and help us support that. I'm going to go ahead and Yes. Absolutely. Whoever put that Whoever put that speed bump on Sandalwood, thank you. Thank you. Because I picture that we're going to have a thousand cars come speeding around the corner with nobody is going to want to drive down to Congress. That's going to be a nightmare. The people who live off of Sandalwood are not going to be able to get out of the neighborhood. We will not be able to get out on Congress and we will not be able to make a right or a left on Miner. And I'll be out there standing in the street if I have to to stop the cars so people can get out of the neighborhood. It's horrible. I also want to ask, whose responsibility is it that the noise on Miner that is created by traffic exceeds noise noise ordinances? 86 decibels will cause permanent hearing damage in people. 86 decibels. I can guarantee you it's higher than that now. I would like to see some kind of monitoring. Feel free to use my backyard. I will let you you can swim in

my pool Yes, sir. while you have your I'll serve you drinks. The other problem problem is about two years ago, or maybe it was longer, they put lights up and down Miner. Now, I'm not Look, lights are great. They're a safety factor. I was robbed because Miner Road was dark. So, they put the lights up. I think the county put them up. My backyard looks like Yankee Stadium. It is so light that I I don't know what I'm going to have to do. I I can't The whole side of my house is so bright coming in through my windows. And that is unacceptable. It turns out that somebody from Boynton Beach came out and looked at the lights and said, "Well, they did not install the proper lights. It called for a certain type of light, but they installed something else. It can't be changed. Lights are shining in my yard. I put up a privacy fence. I put in clusia. It's now about 12 ft high. It's still not high enough to block the light. So, no skinny dipping guys in my backyard. Well, I I just One thing I would say, I just, you know, it it does warm my heart to see the community rather gather around each other to, you know, protect each other. I think it's very admirable and and you have a commissioner that's definitely has your back. So, we'll definitely set up that meeting. We'll be in touch to make sure that everyone's informed, okay? do that because we have an HOA site that I can post things onto. So, all the people in in our little community can see it. And I'm putting these things out there so the residents can see it. And uh

Thank you. Jay is going to go over Lawrence Road the the end I think this stuff in the back is handouts for you. Yes, so Allison actually giving away. I didn't expect that this will be the crowd. Um I only made it a 20 copies, but definitely I can give them my Allison can provide my contact information so you can reach out to me or you can reach out to city engineer William Lady. But I let me let me go over a little bit of this Lawrence Road. So, the the consultant had a very conceptual design and we had a first review of comments. We provided comments at the end of the February and now about five months we are expecting really um drawings that that is a close to the finalize. Once we have drawings that is a close to completion, we're going to have another public meetings. We're going to get in more information from you and your feedbacks and then they will be reflected before the the final drawings. So, the one of the biggest the comments that we provided to consultants, when we designed the landscaping along the medians, this one of a mistakes the consultant makes it not calculating the space of the medians. Based on the existing median size they're about 8 to 9. You remove the 1 ft both side for the maintenance because the the maintenance technician has to walk along the medians and trimming hedges. So, you need to give about a 1 ft space. That leaves only 6 ft wide, which is very narrow space for the plants and trees can survive in the conditions. And also another mistakes that often times the consultant cuz the road medians are not typical parks or your backyard. These are the you can think the desert in the Dubai. The wind, the heat, the exhaust, air pollution and limited water amounts they

received naturally. So, it is very restricted or harsh space and that's the medians are typically. So, selection of a plant materials, we don't want to plant something that it only lasts six months or year that we have to replace back, which cost a lot of money. So, the selection of a plant materials are extremely also important. And that's what we are going to we've been providing really um the workable feedback to these consultants and they're going to bring back better designs. As well as we provided a couple other the locations that works great. Some locations in the Wellington, some location in Palm Garden and some are even us. So, we provided those locations. You know, go visit, take a look at it how these are doing well and what kind of plant materials has been used. So, we can have the medians that is not just a very pretty, but it's healthy and a manageable. So, once we have a more drawings, we will definitely have a more public meeting and feel free to, you know, provide us all the feedbacks that you like to have it. That's it and um We we are expecting the next drawings about in a five months. So, we provided a comment at the end of February. So, this is already May. We are projecting we get the new set of drawings at sometime in April or hopefully even earlier than that. That one I don't think we haven't discussed it yet, but we are waiting for the the final drawings and then we will go more into the details. Any questions and concerns? I'm not sure. Any question? Yes.

It is next to impossible. From 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. you can't get out of it out of that road. Um in the morning, it's very very tough to get out of there. Landscaping is a great idea. I'd much rather see traffic lights or something that would help me get out, but when you're doing landscaping, if you could keep them a little on the shorter side because I know I'm only 5 ft 5, so a lot of times I can't see across. I'm having enough trouble getting out of my street to make that turn. So, please just keep them a little bit lower. Absolutely. That's a it's one of the standards that that hedges typically cannot be taller than two or two typically 30 in from the curve. So, it absolutely we will make sure the pilot plant selections are tolerating those trimming down to make sure the heights keep keep up with the heights. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I never thought that it would be so complicated to make Armenians so pretty. Um so I thank you Jae-Eun for the update. Um I when I brought that up, I really just thought we could just plant some plants and and take out all the weeds, but it's very complicated and there's lots of uh requirements. So Um so I now I'm going to turn it over to our city manager Dan Dugger who's going to just briefly um introduce some of the other departments if they have any updates or if you have any um questions um and then and then we'll have um the presentation by the police department that's going to go over um some of our district four um crime stats, what's going on, um what are some of the new things that we're doing in the city, um and then also our real real-time crime center. So thank you uh Dan Dugger. Thanks, Amy.

[laughter]

Don't mention it. Uh Thanks everyone for uh being here. I do uh I'm going to bring up some of the staff, but I also want to recognize some of my staff because I'm a little biased. I think they're second to none. Um especially our first responders. This is uh where I cut my teeth. This is my pedigree, where I came from is the police department. I was uh with the department when we were over east of 95 in uh the old city hall, over to the transition that we uh we went to for a couple of years, especially during COVID, and now we're in this beautiful building, which still needs some upgrades. Um I uh I want to take time to uh recognize our fire chief um Chief Hugh Bruder. He's got probably about 60 or 80 years experience.

[laughter] Uh our finance director Alan Lawson. God bless him. He hears from me enough. Uh also uh Kevin Ramsey, our public works director, also uh Dr. Poonam Calcutta. She runs our uh utility department. Uh Fabian Derulo. No uh no association with the singer. Uh Amanda Radigan, who's our development services director. All the development business, everything in the uh city flows through Amanda's department, which is very very intense. So she definitely uh has her hands full. And and now she's going to have her hands in the CRA, so

[laughter] Um Adam Temple. He's uh him and Andrew Mack. I can't say enough about it. They uh they they definitely have a full-time job making me look good. So um they're both my right and left hand. So Adam Temple is the uh small gentleman in the back. He's only like 6'6. And uh Andrew Mack, you guys all heard from him. We're a very complimentary staff. Uh like I said, I came from the public set public safety sector. Andrew is an engineer with a personality, very rare. And Adam comes from uh comes from the Navy, or as I like to call it the Marines' Uber. Whoa, whoa, whoa. [laughter]

I'm an Army guy, so I can say that. Boo, and he's a Miami Hurricanes fan, so we have Assistant Chief John Couts, my old uh partner on night shift. So we had some a lot of good times. Uh public safety director John Bonafeur. He's had about like Chief Bruder, about 50 years experience. Uh John Vargas, who is one of our uh K9 sergeants now, John? Is that right? I'm disconnected. My apologies. Captain uh Picciano. So And I want to say did I for did I forget anyone? I didn't Uh Josh McDerman, our deputy uh utility director. He's incognito. And I can't say enough about these two uh both Angel and Allison. They came on uh last year and I think we're moving towards a more professional organization and what a city manager does, you're just a CEO over the city and you essentially are in charge of the organization preparation of an annualized budget that gets presented to um Commissioner Kelly and the rest of the board. And then they make your life uh hell by cutting it. And uh you you you got to find savings, but they do it for the right reasons to try to um put money back in your guys' pocket as much as possible while still funding those services. Um I don't want to go too too in-depth about piggybacking off what um Andrew Mack had said, but if you guys have issues with what the county's doing, the county has county commission meetings the first and third Tuesdays of every single month, and you guys have county representation. I want to say it's uh Commissioner Marci Woodward and Commissioner Greg Weiss. Correct. But someone I want to say it's Erica Whitfield is running for She looks like she's going to be the frontrunner. So if she's trying to get elected, it probably would behoove you guys to maybe put a little bit of a bug in her ear,

and she'll she'll definitely I I always find that when politicians are campaigning, they definitely work a lot harder. [laughter]

Um Uh like I said, my name is Dan Dugger. I've been with the city. I'm in my 22nd year. So uh a lot of a lot of good times. Uh a lot of zigzags. Life definitely does not go in a straight line. But without further ado, what I do want to bring up is both Adam and Amanda Radigan. Adam, I'm going to bring you up, too. You uh I'm I'm sure you'll have some stuff to uh add. So any of our development projects, um obviously you guys see, especially if uh this group lives on the west side, there's Sprouts now, which uh is fairly uh popular um popular spot. Um any questions about any of the new development? I know Ford's Garage is coming, so these guys are going to be able to answer those questions and especially any new development out west. So Amanda Radigan. I was hoping to give my boss a little bit of a break today, but he got dragged up here anyway. Uh My name is Amanda Radigan. I am the development director here with the city. I've been with the city for 12 years strong now. Um my background is in architecture and urban planning, so I started in that group. Um right now development is everything from the buildings you see around you to economic development um to public art. Some of the things we actually touched on today came through my department. It's really I'm glad to see so much engagement here. I think that this is kind of a new turn in the city and we are seeing not only a lot of residents, but a lot of small businesses being over economic development, that's really really great to see that the businesses are starting to get more and more engaged. Um so there is a lot happening in the city right now as I'm sure a lot of you know. Um there is about 670 units that are currently under construction within the downtown between two or three projects. We have another 3,000 projects, I'm sorry, 3,000 units throughout the city that are in the pipeline. Um again, it's not just units and dwelling units, there's also about half a million square feet of commercial space that's coming to the city within the mixed-use and stand-alone and

including some industrial. So there is a lot of exciting things happening here. Um you guys touched on a little bit the art boxes, so we do public art. Shout out to Signarama for being here cuz we do contract with Signarama to um to start wrapping all of our traffic control boxes that we see around the city. I believe they installed five so far along Gateway. We have 11 more coming in the pipeline for this fiscal year, and the remainder of them will be done next year. So we're really excited. It was a really um nice collaborative project between engineering uh because these are traffic control boxes, the county, um as well as our art programs. All of these are artists that we went out to call for these um for these submissions. So it was it was a great project, and I think it's already making a a really significant difference. Um the mall. I feel like everyone that's one of the things people want to talk about a lot. Um We don't have any significant updates on the redevelopment of the mall, but we are in constant communications with ownership. Um as the mall goes for sale and then not for sale and then for sale again, but we are keeping in close contact with them, and as information progresses, we'll make sure information gets out to the community. Um On the business side, I you know, I hate to like end with like a little bit of a teaser, but there is some very very very well-known exciting business grocer coming to Congress that we have been working in economic development really hard to get. Um but it's coming to Congress. We'll be able to announce it soon. I can't say.

[laughter] I know I I hate to do that. Oh gosh, that was [laughter] All right, he did it. I didn't do it. But if you can get that, then you'll know who it is. We're we're excited to bring them here. We're continuing um a lot of conversations with I wasn't going to repeat that. Oh. Um I um [snorts]

I have I lost I lost my train of thought now. Uh so there's a lot of big businesses that we are starting to attract into the city, which we are really excited about, and this is, you know, really evident through long-term planning, uh community building, the the businesses that are here today. Um again, my name is Amanda. If you guys have any questions, I'm happy to take them. I do want to reference you to a couple of documents because there is so much going on, I can only touch on a small fraction. We do a couple of um annual um publications that'll be really helpful for you all to stay in touch. This is our development portfolio. It is exactly what it sounds like. It is a portfolio of all the development that is approved within the city. We are updating this currently, so there'll be a new version of this out soon. And more current is our development annual report that it comes out every year. This is kind of fresh off the press. Both of these are located on the back on the right side on that blue table. Has a lot more data on what's going on within the departments. I'm happy to take any questions, pass out cards if you guys have anything for me. Yes. Will all the housing you're putting in Yes. That's really great. Is it going to be affordable housing for seniors? Is there going to be affordable housing for the people that have to work here? That is such a great question. Thank you for bringing that up. Affordable housing is a really it has been a policy within the city for a very long time. We work in partnership with the CRA to attract affordable housing. Currently of the 300 units, we have about 550 of them that will be workforce housing and more coming down the pipeline. So the you know, in my opinion, my humble opinion, what makes a sustainable community is a mix of income housing. So we are trying to make sure that we are building not only high-end market, but also moderate and lower income. So yes, we are attempting to work with developers and incentivize them whenever we can. What about senior housing? That's actually a newer a newer conversation that's been coming to the forefront. There are a couple of

proposals in the pipeline for senior senior affordable housing as well. Yes. We are. So the the city plans for growth like this over several years. This doesn't just happen overnight. The comprehensive plan and approvals for development all go in tandem. So not only has the city and the infrastructure for the city been planning for this type of growth, but as these projects come in, it is our job to review for infrastructure improvements. And if it is not there, then the developer's responsible for either putting them there or paying us so we can put them there. Yes. But that is not something and and this is actually it's a really great conversation for a town hall cuz we do everything we can to make sure that what should be the developer's job to pay for doesn't fall on the residents to pay for later. We do that through something called impact fees. They have to pay for their impact to the city and the city's infrastructure. Yes. As much housing as you are putting forth and you're speaking of you are addressing the infrastructure to maintain and and to support the the housing load and the business load that's being put on the city right now our roads are sidewalk to sidewalk without any room for expansion. And so what are your plans to make the roads I live on Gateway right now. Okay, that's that is so busy like Lawrence, you can't get out of the you can't get out of the developments. So what is the and we've asked for a light, not going to go there. Um but Yeah, we have. Um so what are your plans to make the roadways bigger to support because it takes an over 30 minutes to go down from West

Boynton Beach to Congress. It's it's ridiculous. I won't say Miner Road. [laughter]

That's a sore subject. I I understand. Yeah, I I understand and traffic I think throughout South Florida, especially when we're in season is a growing concern. What I will say is that although we are looking at adding a lot of units and people and businesses, it's not necessarily even dispersed throughout the city. The city the planning department has done a really good job at concentrating some of the development in what would be a downtown. Alongside those plans, engineering and we've been working with the the CIP group and we have been working on creating funding structures for them. We developed what is called the the complete streets and mobility plan. In areas that we cannot make the streets wider cuz those do exist. We are a built-out city and we're working within a confined space already. Um the idea within the downtown areas is to create additional modes of mobility. So fixing sidewalks, getting the sidewalk shaded, adding bike lanes, adding things like Uber, adding shared use paths, adding the ability for golf carts to be used all within the areas where are going to be most I'll use the word congested or most dense with the additional units. In this district, I I mean I don't think we have any units within this district. I think the closest will be what's going on down at Shalimar on Boynton Beach Boulevard. Um but there What about the one on Ocean? Ocean, yeah. So that's that's So the one on Ocean is within the downtown. So the downtown right now where where a lot of the density is centered is around the town the city hall area. So we have I would say at least 2,000 of the units are centered right within that area. So that is going to be the most dense area. It is planned to be a downtown. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you traffic won't get a little bit worse. There will be more people. There will be more businesses, but the point of this is to create additional modes of transportation and what we are planning

for in that area is what is called a park once place. So places where we can create public parking, you can park there and then you use other modes of transportation to move around those city blocks. That's a downtown. I I No, your planning is a 15-minute city and you're expecting the American people to park their car and use your mode of transportation. That's not going to happen. Any mode or walking. Yeah, okay. So What I'm saying is that's a 15-minute city. It's a park once environment and what it's done any downtown environment relies on other modes of transportation. You can't go to any downtown and just drive into a parking lot and park. What what is designed is that to be in a very limited area. So yes, it would be that you park in a parking structure or as close as to where you want to go and then you walk or you take another mode of transportation to get around there. We are still quite a ways away from that, but in its complete if everything was built, um that would be this the situation in the downtown area. One more quick question.

Yes, sir. Is police and fire included on that? Absolutely. They review every single development that comes through the city hall. And you're planning on expanding or expanding those forces? Absolutely. That's That's what impact fees are for. The developments also pay their share of those impact fees. Yes, ma'am. I have a question basically three questions. There are two facilities that I know I believe are being planned, but I don't know when they're supposed to roll out. One is parking down by city hall. I understand there's a parking structure that's supposed to be When is that supposed to be done? Okay. So there is there's not a parking structure a stand-alone parking structure. What what the situation with town hall is there's two other phases of development within the city hall area and both of those phases have public parking integrated into that project. The first project is scheduled to break break ground October of this year. The second phase will probably follow two or three years after that. Okay, I ask that only because when I attend commissioner meetings Mhm. Mhm. I'm frightened to walk all the way down to that the parking on Boynton. Okay. Okay. That's something that we can work on internally, making sure that everything stays lit. Escort you? And we'll take a look at lighting in the area, make sure everything's working and if it's not, we'll we'll address it. And the other thing I want to ask you about is the senior citizen facility. The one that's there now is being used to the max. Yes. Is there something that's supposed to be built and what is the building time on that? Yeah, that's a that's a really good question. It is a need that has

been identified. It's almost early to say this, but we are in talks for a redevelopment project that would completely rebuild and integrate a senior facility within it. Um I don't have a I'd be unfair for me to give you a timeline because it's still in its conceptual phases. It still needs to go through planning, permitting and construction. So I would say we're a couple of years out still, but it is it it is active. We are currently working with it. Absolutely. That is a great example of what is embedded in our mobility plan. So improvements to the sidewalks, to the location of the sidewalks, to the infrastructure for crossing these streets. All of those types of specifically safety issues are part of the things that we are looking at and funding through the mobility fee to to enhance as we as we develop. Yes. Yeah. way. I'd be happy to do that. I don't know how long you want this to continue going for. Okay, one more question. Yes. The phased in projects that you referred to that are coming online in October and 27, do they involve the piece of property to the south of City Hall? Yes. And what is going on with the piece of property where the old PD and

City Hall used to be? Those are the phase two and phase three. So, phase one of the um we call it Town Square. The Town Square project was the new City Hall and the park facilities around City Hall, Centennial Park, the amphitheater. The next phase will be the um the project that is just to the south. Um that is phase two. Um there it is a mixed-use development. There will be um residential units, uh commercial space, and public parking integrated into that. And then once that is done, the north parcel uh that's on the other side along uh Boynton Beach Boulevard is phase three. So, that will be the next development that comes up in the Town Square. Are those funded projects or are those They are, actually. The we are about to break ground on the on the southern one shortly. So, they are they are funded and moving forward. I have one quick question. The property immediately west of the mall, is that uh preserved now? Is that saved to be a preserve or not?

West of the mall is not within the city limits. Um the mall No, so the mall uh is actually the boundary for the city. I know the city has some ownership within some of the um some of those parcels, but they are not within the jurisdiction of the city. So, we wouldn't be able to do any kind of conservation overlay over them. I do believe there is some county conservation on some of those properties. Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah. So, again, so that is not in the city. So, to So, that is it is not Yes. So, that is not in the city, but we but we are the owners of some of that property and when those properties were about to be sold, um the City Commission responded with putting a deed restriction on it that can that doesn't allow it to be constructed on. I'm not I wouldn't call it a conservation easement, but it doesn't allow uh building on it. Thank you. Uh I'm happy I'll be here until the end. So, if anyone has any questions, I'll be around and I I'll put my card out for any if anyone needs me for anything. Thank you all very much. Thanks, Amanda. Yeah, guys, um let's limit it going forward to five to maybe six or seven questions cuz afterwards you guys will have some one-on-one time. So, whatever director uh that I introduce whether or not with the police department, the fire department, Alan with finance. If there's some If you guys actually want to uh speak to someone one-on-one, they'll they'll make themselves available. Uh so, uh next up is going to be Fabian DeRulo. He's with our Parks and Recreation. Actually, he's assistant director of uh leisure services. So, here you go. Fabian's from uh Philly. Who we got? Short stay. Short stay. Hello, everybody. Pleasure to meet you all. Thank you all for coming out. My name is Fabian DeRulo, as he mentioned, assistant director of recreation and cultural services. Happy to be here with you all.

Um our motto is we make life fun. I think we do a pretty good job at that and I'm going to tell you guys a little bit more about what we do. Um so, first off, those that don't know too much about our department, uh we have four divisions. Uh we have recreation and parks, we have special events, we have libraries, and we also have golf. Uh so, we have a golf course out on Jog, uh the Links of Boynton Beach. Excellent facility. If you guys haven't been out there, I highly recommend going there. Uh but I personally oversee recreation and parks and special events. I'm going to tell you guys a little bit about those divisions as well as some of the stuff that we have coming up. Uh so, first Rec and Parks, we are a large division in a quite a small city. Uh we have 31 parks around the city here, five uh different facilities, rec centers, pools, senior center, as well as a tennis center that we have out west on Congress. Um we are a CAPRA accredited agency, which means that we operate at the highest standard of parks and recreation agencies. We are one of two in the entire county and one of 300 in the entire nation. Uh so, we're very proud of that um and we continue to renew that every couple years. Uh CAPRA comes in, make sure everything is in order uh to make sure that we're staying on brand. Um so, some things that we have coming up in the Recreation and Parks division, uh we have a Mother's Day luncheon this weekend, uh May the 2nd, uh from 11:00 to 1:00. That's going to be at the Intercoastal Clubhouse. Uh we invite all of you guys to come with your little ones. The theme this year uh is twinning. Uh so, come matching with your little one if you can. Uh we also have a PAL boxing event, the Police Athletic League, we partner with quite regularly. Um that's going to be at the Ezell Hester Jr. Center, uh May the 2nd as well at 1:00 p.m. You can come and see some of the best local boxing talent from the area. Uh come and take part in this showcase. Um Tiny Mites flag football, uh a very popular program, probably our most popular during this time of year, uh for 3 to 5-year-olds teaching them kind of the basic techniques of football. Also takes place

over at Ezell Hester Community Center, um kicking off on May the 5th. Uh we have a free adult game night that takes place at the Carolyn Sims Center monthly. Uh the next one coming up will be Thursday, May 21st. Uh and that's 5:00 to 8:00 at Carolyn Sims, as I mentioned before. Really fun uh place to meet people, network, and just enjoy yourself after the work and to kind of top off the week. Uh we have Memorial Day coming up, of course. Starts with the flag planting, Friday, May 22nd, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. over at uh Boynton Beach Memorial Park. Uh flags will be placed at the headstones of veterans and volunteers are are welcome to join in on this. And then we have the overall Memorial Day ceremony, Sunday, May 24th from 2:00 to 3:00 at Memorial Park as well, too. Memorial Park is at 1611 South Seacrest Boulevard. Seacrest Boulevard? Mhm. Yep, right on the corner there. Uh so, we have summer camp, of course, starting. Uh we have the most budget-friendly uh summer camp in the entire county, probably in the entire South Florida, but we've only checked the county so far. Um we have two 4-week sessions or you can sign up for the entire 8 weeks. Uh that runs from June the 8th uh to July 31st. Uh we have an extension camp on the back end, too, in case anybody is not taking any trips or anything like that or wants your kids to continue to take part in the camp, uh we continue on for 2 weeks at the end of it called Fab uh Fab Five Camp. So, you have that option as well. Uh June 10th coming in the summertime also, June the 20th, 2:00 to 7:00 at Sara Sims Park in the amphitheater. Uh and last but not least for Recreation and Parks, we also have the July 4th celebration, which I'm sure many of you guys have taken part in. Uh that will be at Intercoastal Park uh again this year. Um so, many other things going on, athletics. We have volunteer programs. We had somebody mention the senior center. That place is literally booming at the seams. Uh programming all day, every day taking

place there uh for folks 55 and older in our community. We have a very, very cost-efficient um membership that you could take part there and it gives you access to essentially everything that we have at that facility, including the fitness center. Um quickly to touch base on special events. Uh so, we have First Fridays, the first Friday of every month. Again, I'm sure many of you guys have taken part in that. We take uh we do that right at Town Center, Town Square, um at Centennial Park in the amphitheater there. Uh kicks off at 5:00. The next one will be this Friday, and then we have another one on June the 5th. Um so, very excited about that. Of course, that has food truck invasion. Uh No Big Deal is the name of the band that's playing this week. Uh there's going to be a silent disco at this one, also. Uh so, very excited about that. That's going to be the second time ever we've done that, and it was a huge hit the first time. A silent disco. That is a great question. Great question. I'm happy I said Sure, sure, sure. So, a silent disco, a lot of times usually have multiple DJs playing, two or three. Um we give folks headphones, and depending on the station that you're on is what DJ you're listening to. So, it's essentially three different parties going on at the same time. Uh but there's no music playing out loud. The music is in your headphones. So, it's pretty cool. When you take it off, you get to see people kind of dancing. It is really neat. It is really neat. For the for the bare minimum, the people watching is fantastic. But we advise you guys to take part in the actual party itself, too. It is a lot of fun. Um so, we're looking forward to that. And again, that'll take part this Friday um right there um at Centennial Park, right next to City Hall. Uh 4th of July celebration, um this is a big one this year, 250th year anniversary of this nation. Um as mentioned before, it'll be at Intercoastal Park from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. We'll uh we'll start the day uh giving thanks to our veterans and first responders. Uh we'll have the honor guard there doing a bit of a show uh for everyone. Uh there will be choir performances. We'll have a kids zone. Uh

there's going to be food trucks out there as well, too. Uh street performers, jet ski stunt show. Uh Six After Midnight band will be performing. Southern Blood is performing. A Walk Down Memory Lane taking us through the entire history of the City of Boynton Beach with images working with our archivist and folks from the community. Uh there will be something going out soon where we'll be collecting pictures, artifacts, anything that you guys may have uh that can be considered antique and related to the city here. So, we're very excited for that display. Um and of course, uh we'll end the day with a fireworks display. Um I'm sure there will be some surprises along the way, too. So, we don't want to put everything out there, but it's going to be a good event. Um and then of course, we'll finish it off with two First Fridays to wrap up our fiscal year um in August as well as in September. Of course, same place, same time at Centennial Park. Um and that pretty much sums it up. I also wanted to mention to you all too, we release three times a year. We release a magazine called the Boynton Connect. This has everything fun essentially going on in the city. Uh we have all of the divisions in here. We actually capture some of the stuff that PD is doing as well too. Fire, if they're doing any types of special events. So this is kind of your one-stop shop and it also has good information on if you're looking to rent a room or what amenities that we have at which park or where is every park. We have the map in here as well too. Um this is pretty much our digest if you will of everything fun that's going on in the city. Currently we have the spring edition. Um a lot of summer camp information in here as well too and then the summer one will be coming out soon. Uh so please grab one of these if you can. We have them over there on the table and then of course we have it digitally online on the website. Does anybody have any questions? This? Okay, so we we drop it at various locations around the city. A lot of the businesses. We also have a mailing list. So if you send us an email at rec department d e p t at bbfl.us, we can add you to the mailing list and send it directly to your house. We're trying to

go as green as possible. So we're asking folks to try to um log on and actually look at the digital version. The beauty of that as well too is that will be the most up-to-date, right? So if something gets canceled or there's an adjustment with one of our programs, we can update the digital one. But of course if you have the hard copy, it's a kind of stuck the way that it is. Yes, but again, if you guys ever want a physical copy, just email us and we'll send it to you. Hi. The senior schedule is not online. It should be. Okay. It's not online. Absolutely. We'll get that updated. This is May. Yes.

I'll look for June. Yes. Thank you. And I'm glad you have this. You as you guys can see the amount of programming we have at the senior center is pretty insane. Uh we have a lot going on all day every day. Thank you for sharing that and I appreciate that feedback. We'll get it updated. Absolutely. Yes, sir. Yes. Of course. Of course. Yes, yes, yes. So as you guys know, Intercoastal doesn't have much parking. Uh we probably won't have parking on site at all potentially this year. Yeah, not at all pretty much. So we will be shuttling. Um we're still working out contracts for what locations we'll be shuttling from, which parking lots we reserved. But absolutely that will be the case. Um and we're looking to get at least six shuttles. So that that kind of rotation of getting you in and out of there will be as quick as possible. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Wonderful. Wonderful. Um oh yes, yes. A couple updates too. Thank you for mentioning that. Project updates. So a lot of you guys may know the beach was just recently under construction. Uh it was a dredge project in conjunction with the county as well as the Army Corps of Engineers. They have just wrapped up our section of it. It's still somewhat a construction zone because they haven't demobilized all the equipment off of the beach, but the beach itself is back open. So all three entrances are accessible. If you haven't been and seen what it looks like now, it is awesome. It's probably quadruple the size that it was before the project. Um and they did some grading and things like that too. So we're very excited. Also at the beach we have a new concessionaire coming too. So there will be food and beverage service coming out there in addition to the the furniture service that we have on the beach. So very excited about that. Um Galaxy, we just added some new pickleball courts too for any of our pickleballers out there. Um that's starting to gain some steam now, but they're fantastic as well a new baseball field over there and we have a turf not turf. We have new sod going in at

Pennsfield as well as Wilson Field. So we have some pretty cool projects going on right now and in these next couple years not to let too much out, but we're going to have some really, really great things coming to the city as it relates to parks. So we're very excited. All right. Thank you guys. Sorry, let me grab my 30 papers. All right. So uh we're running a little short on time. I wanted to get you guys out by 8:00. So we probably have about 42 minutes. So with the directors that I'm going to bring up, just keep the time constraint in mind. Um we'll still allow maybe one or two questions, but again, if there's going to be time for one-on-ones afterwards. So want to bring up Chief Hugh Bruder now. Do not go through your resume. I I said time constraints. I won't go through my resume, but what I will tell you is I'm an Air Force veteran. So any of you that were other branches of service, remember we're the ones that get you where you need to go. Uh so I I want to I want to thank Commissioner Kelly because she's been a staunch supporter of public safety and she's helped both the police and the fire department get to where we need to be so we can serve our community. Uh Boynton Beach Fire Rescue is a full service fire rescue agency. So what does that mean? That means that we have paramedics and firefighters that are responding from five stations well placed geographically throughout the city. Uh we have a fire prevention division which has fire inspectors, fire investigators and plans review for any of those that are in business. Uh you see my men and women coming out to inspect your businesses and that's not to give you a hard time, but that's to make sure that when your citizens come out to your restaurant or your place of work that they are safe and that you are safe. So we do follow those fire codes. Uh we have a special operations division. Within that special operations division, we handle technical rescue. So if you get stuck in your car, we're going to come and cut you out of the car. Uh we have a very robust dive

rescue program and we just acquired uh a fire boat that is going to be used here for any of you that are boaters. We do have a lot of calls on the waterways and on the Intercoastal and in the inlet. So this gives us a very safe platform for the men and women who serve this community uh to be able to do their job and save lives and keep them safe as well. Uh we we also are actually one firefighter away from being a complete paramedic department. That's actually extremely rare in South Florida. So we're very proud of the service we provide. We like to say we're a world-class fire rescue agency and uh you know, we're here. We're very proud we serve and our response times are phenomenal and the men and women who serve really care about this community. So if any of you have any questions for me, if you don't mind since we're short on time, I'll I'll take questions after after we're done. But thank you for the opportunity to speak and if you haven't noticed, the city really does fire on all cylinders. It's just an amazing staff and I'm honored to be here. So thank you so much.

[applause]

Dr. Calcutt, you're up. So I'm going to invite her up. She's our director of utilities um to give us a little utilities update. I know we have a couple neighborhoods that are that are on the pipeline. So thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Kelly. Good evening, everybody. My name is Poonam Calcutt. I am the utilities director here. And uh we I was just noticing and I don't want to bring it up, but I want to bring it up. Uh when people talk about infrastructure, they only think about streets, but we are a big part of infrastructure. So water and sewer, but we like to stay out of sight, out of mind. That's how we love to do it. So hopefully we'll continue doing it that way. But uh if you have any questions on water, sewer, storm water, that's what we do. Our department does that. Um couple of big things that are coming to the city. We have uh two water treatment plants that are getting old. And uh so we're going to be doing really big upgrade projects to bring efficiencies, bring bring like modernization, automation, treatment uh that is up-to-date and actually going into the future. So you'll hear more about that. Really want to thank the commission uh for approving uh budgets and money for that and uh we'll probably be going out for a bond uh to do that. So just wanted you all to be aware that that's coming on. As we get to the hurricane season, talk just a little bit about uh storm water and drainage. We have some brochures in the uh back for flood protection or flood hazard, flooding hazards and so and so forth. So if you have questions, we can answer those. We work closely with the our public works department too. But if you see things that are kind of debris on your uh storm grates or anything, please let us know or remove them. You A lot of times the citizens are our first eyes and ears. If something's happening, you see water on the ground, you smell sewer, you see drainage issues, you bring it to our attention because we definitely have

people all around the city pretty much all day long, but we can't be everywhere and we can't see everything. So a lot of times uh things will come up to us from you all. So we appreciate that. We want you to continue doing it that way. We also I heard a couple of new businesses and some of those were food service establishments. So just want to point out that we do permit what's called fats, oil and grease program. So if you do run a restaurant, they will come in and do permitting checks on that and look at interceptors. And the reason to do that is that so that our sewer uh collection system can run without having anything clog up uh and just a kind of plug in about that. That don't dispose anything except bathroom tissues in your toilets. Anything that says flushable wipes or anything, um it clogs our um collection systems up. And we get so many things quite kind of like we call them rags, uh but it's all Think about it. If you've got grease and stuff and you've got some of these rags kind of things, they all kind of get together and they block up the pipes and then things break. So just wanted to uh have a plug in about that. We are also uh we have some brochures in the back about backflow prevention. So just understand some of those. If you get any of those and that information, that's just to make sure that our uh distribution system is protected. Um we have careers in water, um flood hazards, backflow prevention brochures, like I said, in the back. And any if you want us to provide any information on any projects, anything about water, sewer, stormwater that you think we should be doing better information-wise, engaging you all in it, please let us know what's the best way. Is it the website? Is it social media? Is it uh on your utility

bills, uh some kind of information? What kind of things can we do to keep you all engaged and informed? Uh we have some projects uh in your area. Um Sea Meadows is one of those, and uh we've got the design done. It is an expensive project, that's why you see me hesitating a little bit. We're trying to figure out, even though it's budgeted, we're trying to figure out how best to maximize those dollars. Um so we are looking for grants. We look for grants all the time to make our dollars go as far as possible. So we're always looking for grants, but that's one of the major projects in your area. Uh right now it's the South Sea Meadows, and then it'll be the North, but we are strapped for dollars, so we're always looking to figure out how best to make our projects go further, so if you have things in your neighborhood that you want us to look at, if you're not aware of it, uh please bring it to our attention. If you're aware of it, we'll let you know where they are in the pipeline. So I can answer any questions, anything that you want to share with me, what works. All right. I'll assume that's great.

[laughter]

Most educated lady in the city, Dr. Calcutta. Kevin. Listen, we're on time we're on time constraints, okay? You can't go through every single one of your grandchildren. How many of those do you have? How many grandchildren? 17. It was 14 the last time I spoke to him. Damn kids, you know what I mean? All right, I am Kevin Ramsey. Okay, I am Kevin Ramsey, um the Public Works Director for the City of Boynton Beach. I've had the pleasure of serving the citizens of the city for 18 and 1/2 years. My first project, I come from a highly commercial construction background. That building across the parking lot is the first thing I did here in the city 18 and 1/2 years ago. I was there. It's right there. It's been up so long I forgot where it was. All right.

[clears throat]

So in this department I have six divisions, 138 employees. Um really good employees. Um from my background I try to run it efficiently as a business, not as a fat cat city like we hear there's waste. Um we have done lots of savings throughout the years. I'm just going to run down the the divisions real quick and get out of here before Dan fires me. Um beautification and streets, which you heard from Amy Kelley, and your speed hump on uh Sandalwood was because of Miss Commissioner Kelley. Oh, yeah. She communicates with me all week long sometimes, right? Um fleet department maintains all of our vehicles. Forestry and grounds cuts all of our parks, oversees some of the uh contracts for cutting or certain things, works with Fabian. Um construction services. That's the department that was developed 5 years ago. And it's paid dividends by we beat up contractors, consultants. We negotiate like it's a real world. We've done really well there. It's a great team. Um also sanitation, which on the sanitation next week is your amnesty for uh vegetation, May 5th through the 8th, so you can put out as much as you want on your schedule's pickup day, and we'll take it away for you. And facilities, which maintains all public buildings and parks. Any questions? I am done. You good? Yeah, well no time to waste. Any questions? Okay. All right. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Kevin. Yeah, he is uh he is my uh go-to for everything road, uh speed bumps, uh what's going on in the world, um beautification teams. So Kevin and I speak on a I feel like daily basis, but he is always on top of everything and very quick to respond. I know on Sandalwood we had a pothole, and they were out there within an hour or two to get it done. So uh we, like I said, our

staff uh loves this community, loves serving the community, and they jump um at at the at the ask. So um but I will I'm going to in uh introduce uh John Bonafair, he's our uh Director of Public Safety. He's coming up with Assistant Chief uh John Couts, um as well as Sergeant Vargas, I believe. Oh, and Captain Picciano, you got all of them uh to talk to you um about the police department, also our real-time crime center, and some of the some of the really cool innovative things that uh that they're using um in technology. Uh I actually got to witness them launching the drone um about 2 weeks ago from the Ale House parking lot, um and it was a it was a quite an experience to see that go up and do his job. I don't know what they were looking for, but um but it was really uh a cool experience. So I'm going to turn it over to John first. There's a lot of Johns here. Uh good evening, everyone. I'm [clears throat] John Bonafair, the Director of Public Safety. Uh I've worked here 27 years. Actually, I was looking at my phone, and it's I'm coming up on my 10,000th day working for the city. Um to put it in perspective. Um I'm I oversee police, fire, and code enforcement. My job is a really easy job because I have great city managers above me, and I have great um police chief and fire chief that work below me, so I get to take the credit, and they do all the hard work. I will tell you in the long period 27 years I've been here, uh the police department and the fire department have become um bar none probably the the best in the county, I'd put us up against anybody else, and they're working tires

tirelessly um to to become the most professional organizations they can be. Um I know we're short of time, so uh we wanted to talk about the real-time crime center. Instead of me just standing up here and babbling on about, which I could do for hours, um I thought what we would do is we uh take you guys up and tour the the thing real-time crime center, and uh so we'll probably have to do it in half half this side half that side, um just cuz it's uh it's big, but it's not that big. So I'm going to pass it off to John Vargas, who's going to say a few words, and then we'll do quick tour for you guys. Half of you stay down here, and you can listen to the crime stats and the other programs we have going on, and the other half can go up and uh take a quick tour of the police department, see the real-time crime center. Good evening. My name is John Vargas, and I'm the supervisor for the real-time crime center. So just to give you a little information on the real-time crime center, it's uh it's very technology forward, so a lot of police departments throughout the nation have seen the the benefit of having the real-time crime center. A lot of those uh agencies in to include ours, we have license plate readers, shot detection, video or cameras that are placed strategically around the city. So with that uh anytime there's a situation that takes place, uh the call that happens, we're able to launch the drone, look at the surveillance cameras, and manipulate and get that real-time information so that we can respond effectively, fast, and with the most information. So uh what we'll do is we'll go ahead, we'll uh whoever wants to go up there with me, we can go up there, and we'll have a little tour real quick, show you around the the real-time crime center, show you a couple videos of some drone uh videos that we've uh we've captured the

last couple months. Um and you get to see kind of what we do. So I'll be right over here if you want to see it, we can go upstairs. The fun the fun group over there. [laughter]

Okay, thank you. Yeah, there you go. Don't be shy, people. Come on. Good? Really quick, uh the real expert, cuz I'm going to be talking about uh cameras, is Officer Perez. So go ahead and come on up here. She's our the real subject matter expert in the cameras. Yes. Okay, really quick, I'm just going to go through some crime stats real quick and then we'll talk about the school zone safety program. Uh so real quick some things we're going to I want to highlight for the city. Um robberies are down 11% compared to 2025. Aggravated assault is 48% below the three-year average for the month of March. There is a 19% decrease overall in non-violent crime compared to last year. And burglaries has decreased 41% since last month. Retail theft is down 3% from last month and 40% below this time last year. Uh motor vehicle theft is 18% below the three-year average and there's a decrease of 27% compared

to last year and 11% compared to the last month. Now these numbers are great. Um this is considering we have 17 17, Pete? 17 officers still in training. So obviously once we get those those 17 officers back in patrol, boots on the ground, obviously those numbers will they will decrease. So we're doing good. Now really quick some updates on the uh school zone safety program. Uh You have seven schools in the city of Boynton Beach. Uh for those who don't know, Forest Park Rolling Green, Poinciana, Crosspointe, Citrus Cove Freedom Shores and Imagine Chancellor. Uh some background. Uh we started the school speed cameras August 11th, 2025. Uh the first 45 days was a grace period where we basically just provided warnings on the speed. Um and after that September 28th we started issuing notice of violations. Uh just a reminder just cuz this is important. The flashlights are are on, right? That means school is in session as far as dropping off or pick up. If they're flashing anything over 10 mph a notice of violation will be issued. If the lights are off and school is in session during school hours anything over 15 mph a notice of violation will be issued. Yes. Yes. And if you have I could go through cuz all the schools are different. If you want to get with me after, I could tell you which schools what the times are. Um but they're all different over here. So I don't want to go through each one. Um

Any questions on the uh the school speed cameras? None? So I have to mention this because or my PO will get upset if I don't bring this up. So we just launched our new website bbpd.org. Um great for it's oh I mean 10 times a better than what we had before. Streamline services, submitting a tip, requesting us extra patrols, obviously news, events, all the local stuff that's coming on and and past with photos, etc. Um all of our divisions and services are on that website. And she also wanted me to mention we have a hurricane preparedness event with WPBF meteorologist on Monday, May 18th at the City Hall Community Room at 6:00 p.m. if you're interested. Yes. So I just one thing John I would like for you to touch on and I think it connects also with the real-time crime center, too. Is we have um we have we can also utilize ring cameras and I the reason I bring this up is I was reading a report uh a murder that happened and because of those ring cameras that people allowed us to access, they were able to solve it really quickly. Um and so we do have a program where we do um ask if you if you want to just touch on

Yeah, so Ring has a program for law enforcement. Obviously you have to provide um give us the access, right? Obviously we're not looking at your Ring camera. Um believe me, we have better things to do. Um but though but we will have access to your camera upon anything that needs to be looked at criminal for our criminal investigations. And it's a great program um to be honest with you, I don't I'm surprised not all camera companies are not doing this. Um but then again, you know, some people want their privacy and feel like maybe, you know, Big Brother police maybe maybe watching them. But if you guys have Ring cameras uh go on, they have a law enforcement section and you could sign up and it it's a great program. And you can also you'll also see for those of you who go upstairs um that part of our Flock cameras and our real-time crime center, we're integrating cameras into our system to assist investigations, to watch certain neighborhoods. If you have you have somebody who's possibly breaking into a car or or there's a parking lot that's cars are broke being broken into and that business had given us that access we can go into real-time crime center as as you will see shortly upstairs and see that right away. And we could automatically launch the drone and provide that real intel for officers responding. It's amazing. You got to have one question for my expert on the cameras here, please. Just one. Yeah, go ahead, sir. I have a question of law. Yeah. E-bikes. Ooh.

[laughter]

Our patrol Hold on. Yeah. small detachment of e-bikes come through C-MAP. Mhm. Substantial amount of damage. We did catch one of the perpetrators. Called you guys. You showed up. Said there's nothing that could be done. At this point I I I feel your frustration. I can see it in your face. Yes. There is a city ordinance that's at city manager's office and legal of what we're trying to provide some ordinances regarding that. I know there have been the Chief Julio has been a ton of meetings with the with the county other chiefs in the county including the sheriff regarding this. It's a hot topic and they've they have something in the works, but it's just obviously it's going to take some time for for us to finally enforce it. And the end result on that was we had a a 55 and older individual actually get in his car Yeah.

trying to chase down these kids. Yeah. Un- unfortunately, it's not good. But Yeah. you try to tell somebody after they are I get chewed up and we get an answer. Yeah. Unfortunately, it's a problem everywhere. Yeah. It's a new problem. Yeah. a new problem. Yeah. Very much aware. And so that's why it's it's going to take Yeah, unfortunately, you know, the ordinances and the laws of the state and at the city level that we have in place to deal with bicycles and Yeah. you know, non-motorized except for motorcycles. And so now we're having to

Yeah. um to play a little bit of catch-up to Yeah. And it it And Captain Picciano was a former traffic guru. Um it's it's hard, right? Like I can't look at an e-bike and tell you what size motor. Uh yeah, it has a pedal, but it's still going it's still going 40 plus miles an hour. You know? Yeah. And and and it's tough. It really is.

laws that are in effect that that allow us to apprehend somebody and charge them with those those crimes because it's considered the motor vehicle at that point and then sometimes it's considered a bicycle at that point where that doesn't apply. Yeah. So the law is still trying to catch up. Yeah. Yeah. I think somebody had a question. Go ahead, sir. So two things. First I understand about the e-bikes you guys don't know how to classify and you don't know how to necessarily go after them. But what happens and I sent a picture to the commissioner when I had two patrol cars and a dirt bike on the road and the two patrol cars just drove right off. I had a picture of it, sent it to the commissioner. So there's that. Mhm. And I understand that you had a lawsuit, the city lost the lawsuit because of a dirt bike incident. Yeah. Um so I understand that we're not apt to want to go down that road again. Yeah. Well, if the if the dirt bike was was stopped right? And I and I I don't know the situation if the Yeah. But if if the dirt bike was stopped and the officers were there, obviously enforcement should have been taken. Right? Now where we get is that obviously I know you were talking about regarding the incident on Federal Highway we're not chasing dirt bikes. You know what I mean? Unless it's a forcible felony, we're not chasing it. We're not going to go down that road. Yeah. And it's it and it's a tough balance. So my second question is the Flock where are we with that? Because I understand that you guys were looking to expand it. Yes. Um I also know that there are many lawsuits. They already lost one out in the city already lost one out in Washington where it was deemed public information. So I That what I don't know I'm not familiar with that case in in Washington. Are you going to go upstairs for the Okay, yeah,

yeah. So, they'll cover all of that stuff for you, but it if we are we've already had it like and you're Yeah, we've had it. We're just trying to expand on what on what we have. And and Sergeant Vargas and John Bonafer will go through all that stuff for you. Yeah. Oh, go ahead, ma'am. So, currently we have two officers per shift. We have four shifts. We have two officers that are drone certified are they're certified drone pilots. They deploy those drones from the field. What we're trying to do is obtain a DFR, which is a drone first responder, which will be launched from the real-time crime center. And when you when you go upstairs, you'll realize like what we're they're going to give you an example and show you a video exactly what it does. Okay. Public works certified. Didn't I know Didn't I know that? Yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Do you guys have any questions on the school zone cameras? Yeah, I would like to know are they live so that you're keeping track of what's They Yes, they are live. So, they Yeah, they they became live September. So, we we started issuing tickets in August, but we had a 45-day period where it was just warnings. As of September 28th, it's been officially in play. And they're being monitored during school hours? That is correct. Yes. Are they Is it license plate readers?

Yes. Any other questions regarding No? You're welcome. Have we I I'll talk about speed zone cameras really quick our school zone cameras. Have we um As I know I'm um I mean, you can talk about this, too, but our our traffic units typically go, you know, rotate around our school zones before the cameras were in place. Um and now we have the cameras in place, but our traffic units still um go around the schools and because our the Florida statute deems what we can you know, what the fines are and how that works. Um but have we seen um decreases in cuz we've had some major traffic issues within our school zones. So, so can either of you speak on you know, kind of statistics-wise what how these cameras have improved our school zones. Oh, yeah. It has improved it. I can say that from A lot of numbers. Yeah. So, from September 28th to April 28th to today, um we've issued a total of 23,756 violations for speed throughout the school zones. And mind you, this is only during school hours. So, it's from the beginning of the school. It's usually 30 minutes before the school school time when kids begin coming to school and 30 minutes after they are released. So, we've issued 23,756. And they have to be going at least 11 mph over. So, in our school zones, that means these 23,000

people were going at least 11 mph over. And so, just the impact is so significant when you're talking about really keeping our kids safe and making you know, it really it's safe for the kids, but safe for everyone. You know, we're you know, Charlotte was talking about crossing you know, crossing Minor Road and Congress Avenue and all those roads. I see you know, kids crossing those same roads to get to their bus stops. And so, anything that we can do you know, at the state level and then bringing it down to the city level to increase that public safety. Um I I know I support it. Our commission supports it. I think it's it's you know, when you see these numbers and you see September. We're not even a year out and we have 23,000 tickets that have been issued for people going 11 over the posted speed limit. So, we have a speed issue in the city and so, these numbers you know, it talks.

Officer Officer Perez can correct me. I haven't really really looked at that thoroughly, but I believe Freedom Shores is probably the biggest one. Um it's it's a main thoroughfare of Hypoluxo and people are not thinking, well, okay, yeah, school's in session, right? I'm I'm just going to haul through there not thinking like, yeah, it's in session. Just because the lights are not flashing, it's still getting you. So. And that means they're going 56. I mean, that means they're going 56 mph on a You're going highway speeds on a regular roadway. roadway. Yeah. And so, you know, it's it's significant when you're thinking, you know, we're not this isn't for people who are going 3 miles over or 5 miles over. You know, they're going 56, you know, highway speeds on our roadways where our kids are walking to school and our parents are picking them up and and reading their eyes, you know. Right. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, cuz they're always on their phones. Yes. Yes. We have actually on in every camera, we have LPRs in them now. There's free standing. Cuz it's obviously the Yeah, each of them have two. Each of them have two, right? Well, you have Rolling Green Rolling Green. I'm saying for these other ones, too. So, we have about 18 LPRs. Yes. Yeah. Correct. School zone cameras. Yeah. I have one more question. City's growing tremendously quick rate. Boynton, Woolbright, uh Gateway, high speed high speed thoroughfares now at this point. Can we deploy LPRs

on those streetways because I know you're short. Mhm. Okay. But we're losing people and cars are crashing and I'm not a happy camper because I'm out there doing park and rescue. Yeah. So, one of the expansions and again, they're going to talk about that when you go upstairs. But one of the expansions of our flock system is we're going to have two mobile LPRs for exactly what you're talking about where we find um based on the numbers, we have a hot spot area of accidents and speeders and that we could put those mobile trailers out there with the have the LPRs. And we're going to have two of those with that the the two pack with the package if it gets approved. And one last question. Sorry. [laughter] This is important stuff to me. I responded to an MBA on Gateway. And I had two people down. All right. It was pretty bad. Um I saw House 3 on Lawrence. And they were stuck there. And I blamed myself for that because I should have told them respond from Military instead of coming up Gateway through Lawrence. It's getting tight in here. Yeah. Your response times are are you going to be hindered greatly and I was I was hesitant on what I should do. I'm a retired firefighter EMT. How far do I go? How far do I go before I'm in in that liability phase? I had one person bleeding. Yeah. Badly. I had Yeah, I had two people bleeding very badly. Um I I don't know if you're aware of the Gateway Boynton Woolbright situation. I'm sure you are. It's become a death trap in there. Yeah. We've got to do something. That light I don't know why we've got all this money to do all these studies and still we can't get that light turned on and my seniors are getting knocked off either getting car crashed or getting hit by car. Yeah. And I've been working on this until I'm blue in the face. It makes

absolutely no sense to say we can't turn a switch on. When you say Boynton, how far west on Boynton? It's night It's at Seeman Road. We're at the end of Okeechobee. Okay. Where I'm at. Yeah. Pocket where I called the police and they go, "So, what side of the line are Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that So, that issue there as you know, it's a pedestrian only cross light. And what we run into and we know this is that, you know, people are you know, driving and they're you know, just just driving. They're just driving and they don't notice that the light somebody hits the pedestrian light and is and is crossing the street. And unfortunately, that crash was was really significant.

I I think I was out there that one you're talking about.

was two pedestrians. And I I'm going to just pat myself on the back. I said, "No, no, no. This is Palm Beach County's problem, not ours." Yeah. Yeah, and we have we have been Yeah, we have put it in writing. We have I have ad nauseam. Um but like I said, I mean, I'm I am not giving up hope. We we are going to get quotes for a light. I'm going to the county to say you're going to pay for it because we do we know the significance. And and and their reason, of course, is well, traffic light is not going to make somebody stop more. But if if it becomes a regular stop light, though, that is cycling on a normal basis, then then people would know. Instead of it just cycling when somebody pushes the pedestrian crossing. So, I can talk at nauseam at that intersection.

been a blinking light ever since I got here. Us, too. We've been here for 15 years. Same thing. Yeah. So, it is a it is a problem. There's a few few fatalities up there. Yeah. Yeah, we were unfortunately we're at them. Mhm. Both of them. Yeah. No, and they're they're our residents. You know, it makes it even harder they're our residents. They live here and they, you know, so it makes it very difficult when there's nothing we can really do. Correct. But I give you guys great kudos. You do a lot with what you have. You do really good. So, they just went to go see if we're ready to make a switch. So, if there's any other questions or anything before uh they're on up here, otherwise we're going to I have a quick question. Um are there any ways to uh slide to do a U-turn in front of emergency vehicles at the intersections? So, people like the paramedics or ambulances or fire trucks or police when they go through the intersection, yeah, people are just trying to just cut through. Is there any way to catch those offenders or or whatnot?

It all depends on how that's set up, how we set that up. Are you talking about just us entering the intersection or actually stopping and having actually have it like a type of perimeter set up type of thing in the intersection. going on and trying to get to the intersection, people trying to beat you, trying to cut in front of you, they're not stopping. So, is there any way that you can catch them?

Well, that's Yeah, that's that's on a case-by-case basis, really. You know, it's like it's sometimes they don't see us, sometimes they're not paying attention, sometimes they're on their phone, you know, that type of thing. So, it kind of hinders our ability to do that. So, going through the intersection with lights and sirens on is a totally different ballgame because that's a lot of liability that we put on ourselves to do that. As much as I would love to stop those people, obviously we're going to that intersection for a reason. With with with with the live traffic control and with the cameras there, is there anything you think that, you know, to penalize them afterwards? That's it's a different because you have to the the driver has to be identified and all this kind of stuff, so it's hard to do that just based on camera type of thing. So, yeah. I think if you're meaning it similar to like how the red light cameras and the school zone cameras are set up, then no, because of what he said. So, with the red light cameras and the school zone cameras, it's pretty much the vehicle that's that's liable. And the registered owner becomes liable because of the registered owner of that vehicle, but we can't take a picture legally of the driver. Got you. Good question, though. Yeah. Yeah, they stop. Yeah. No, it's [laughter] just all the legalities that, you know, that that we can and cannot do and that's something that we can't do. Wish we could, but Sorry, isn't that problematic though about not knowing who the driver is? What if someone stole the car and then they were driving around or whatever? So, if you have a stolen vehicle, then you would do a police report have a stolen vehicle um affidavit in the the report, you provide that to us and then we'll get rid of the ticket of violation, but you would have to fill out an affidavit and and bring it to us and let us know. Same thing with like people who sell their cars and they forget. They like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, take my tag." And then and the guy says he's going to swap it out, whatever, and he forgets about it and then he has those violations, you know, so just just notify us. Johnny, you ready for the next group? I'm always ready. All right, so if you want to if you're in the second group to

go up to the real-time crime center, now is your chance. You're going to go with John here. Yeah. Yes. Yes, it is. Anybody that wants to come up? She she I don't even know what she's doing.