City Commission - workshop

I'm calling the meeting to order meeting number 2020Six-one22WS.

As we begin, we kindly ask that all mobile devices be silenced to ensure the best possible sound quality. Please speak clearly and directly into the microphone, and remember to mute your microphone when you are not speaking. Should anyone experience difficulty hearing at any time, please raise your hand and a hearing device will be provided to you. Thank you for your cooperation.

Thank you. Mr. Kavanaugh, would you please call the roll.

Commissioner Riedel. Here. Commissioner Welch.

Here.

Commissioner Brody? Here. Vice Mayor Wasserman? Here. Mayor Riley?

Here.

City Manager Rose? Here. City Attorney Piper?

Here. Would everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This meeting is being conducted live with a physical quorum present. The material for today's meeting is available online at www.coconutcreek.gov.

And the meeting is being broadcast live. Thank you. Okay. I am going to turn it over now to city manager.

Thank you, mayor and commission. This evening we're talking about alternative strategies potentially for nonprofit requests. Terrell has a question she needs to ask you for the record before we start the presentation. And then Scott Staummeyer is going to review just alternatives for consideration, and any alternative could be a hybrid of those that are presented. But it's for the purposes of getting the discussion going. Once we present the alternatives, then you can pick and choose.

Thank you. Good evening. I would like it if you could please state on the record, if you are a member of any five zero one(three) that is located in Coconut Creek that has received money from the city of Coconut Creek. Just for full transparency purposes, there is no conflict of interest. I just want to make sure we put it out there on the record so everybody is aware they're just to make sure that everything is above board and that we follow all rules and regulations and there's no question.

I'll go first. Commissioner Sandra Welch, and I've been a member of the five zero one(three). Actually, I helped get its five zero one(three) status back, and I've been a member since 1997.

And which organization was that? Sorry. Shall I repeat it? Yeah, I did. The Women's Club of Coconut Creek.

Thank you.

I sit on the board of Tomorrow's Rainbow as a volunteer.

Thank you.

I am no member of any. I didn't say that right, but I am not a member of any.

Thank you. And I, Jacqueline Raley, am a member of the Coconut Creek Women's Club.

Thank you. Thank you very much. And thank you.

If you'd like now, Scott will present just the alternatives for discussion. We're bringing this forward to you, you know, at your request. Thank you. Okay.

Good evening. I know we're short on time, so I'm going to try to move through this presentation as quickly as possible so that we can just get the discussion going. But, of course, evaluating these options becoming very important as we approach budget season. We did hear you. I know that one of the options that was specifically requested that we evaluate was the Coral Springs Community Chest.

So while we took the opportunity to learn about the community chest, we went ahead and evaluated a lot of different cities to see what other cities are doing, how they're doing it. So I have some of that information to share tonight. It hopefully will generate some conversation, and perhaps even end up in an option that you all can agree upon. So the first one, option one, very logical just to say, continue the existing budget allocation method. We could stay the course, continue what we're doing through the annual budget process.

I think last year we awarded 21 different grants, or funds, to 21 different entities. Option two would be to establish a community chest, a nonprofit similar to Coral Springs, or formalize a relationship with the Community Foundation of Broward. And that's just something that, through the research, we discovered that some cities are, through an endowment fund with the foundation, have started a charitable fund with them, where the community foundation would actually administer their funds. I'll get into a little more detail in a minute. Option three, consultant administered competitive grant process.

Again, through the research, there's at least two cities we know of, Pompano and Deerfield, that hire an outside consultant to handle their nonprofit grant program one time a year. I'll get into some more detail on that in a minute as well. Option four, suspend all or a portion of the nonprofit funding for the upcoming budget year, while maximizing charitable donations through CDBG funding. And perhaps something we've talked about internally with staff, perhaps increasing the funding for the Seminole Coconut Creek Education Foundation. And I will speak to that in just a minute.

So option one, again, maintaining the process that we are in now. The pros, obviously it's straightforward. We're doing it. We know what we're doing. The cons, unclear metrics. I mentioned unclear metrics in that the way we used to do it, where there was a staff committee, it was in the form of a reimbursement. The application process stated what the money was for. There was receipts that were required when it came back in. So there were metrics. You knew what the money was going towards.

Now, I believe it's pretty much we're just writing checks to the 21 entities that received funding over the last two years. But, again, estimated cost, it's there's no startup cost. It's what we're doing now. It's just the cost is what we would allocate on an annual basis. Difficult to read, I apologize, but that was the worksheet that we presented at the budget workshop last year, and that does represent the $124,410 allocation that was approved in last year's budget.

Option two, the community chess concept. The pros, community engagement, diversified funding. You know, we talked with several people over at Coral Springs, and you know, the foundation or the community chest does community events, community outreach, fundraising events. And so they're allowed to do fundraising outside of the city. The city of Coral Springs simply approves an allocation in their budget process.

The last two years, I believe, that's been a $60,000 direct donation to the community chest, and they stay out of it. The cons with the idea, the research that we did, you know, it's a huge lift. It's just a start up. The Coral Springs Community Chest has been in effect since 1989, over thirty years, over thirty five years. And it, you know, I believe, after talking with the deputy city manager over there that, you know, city staff had to do quite a bit of work to get that off the ground.

And it's, you know, they slowly weaned off of the city assistance, And they now have a board of trustees of eight with diversified backgrounds. And they are go getters, they are hard workers, and they donate a lot of time to get that community chest moving annually. There would be some cost involved. Again, it's a nonprofit separate and apart from the city. Coral Springs Community Chest is a nonprofit that is separate and apart from the city.

They operate independent of the city. So there would be some volunteers that would be needed. I'm certain that staff would have to be involved again to get that off the ground. But I've kind of viewed this one as a heavy lift to get going. I think it would take quite some time for it to sustain itself and allow us to fund nonprofits through it.

Again, not the exact same option, but again, we just learned in our research over the last several months was, and I think the most recent city to do this was Tamarac, where they entered into a contract with the Community Foundation of Broward. They did a $50,000 endowment. It gets invested. And every year, 5% of that original investment can be used for grants, for nonprofit grants within that particular city. I think Tamarac does it, I think Lauderhill does it, I think Oakland Park does it.

This is more of a long term partnership type approach, but it is out there. It is something. And in speaking with the community foundation, more than willing to come to the city and make a presentation, and share the process, and how it works, and what types of activities they do for their respective cities currently. So I felt it was worth mentioning. I know that it's a little bit different and it's not exactly what we do, but it is something that's out there.

The third option, consultant administered grants. The pros are obviously, it's very independent, it's very transparent, very fair. The cons, it's a higher cost. You know, like I said, the two cities that we've seen doing this, Pompano and Deerfield Beach, they use the same consultant. We've looked at the contracts.

You know, the consultant agreements exceed $50,000 You know, for us, that cost benefit is just not there. Paying consultant to if you base it on last year or this current year's allocation, pay consultant $50,000 to administer $124,000 of funds just doesn't make sense. So it is something we looked at. It would be great. It kind of reminds me, city staff sort of played a role several years ago in that capacity where they evaluated applications, took in applications.

This is doing the same thing. It's just handing it off to a consultant rather than have city staff do it. Option four, suspend or reduce funding. Suspend all or a portion of nonprofit funding for the upcoming budget year, while maximizing charitable donations through CDBG funding. And again, one of the things that we've talked about internally, maybe increasing the allocation to the Seminole Coconut Creek Education Fund. CDBG, let me talk about that first. The CDBG, we get an annual allocation from the federal government for CDBG funds. It's in the neighborhood of $350,000 to $400,000 every year. So, it's 15% of that is eligible for nonprofit awards. However, it is tricky.

It's federal dollars. It has to be, you know, an eligible applicant. There's lots of I's that need to be dotted, T's that need to be crossed in terms of monitoring how that money gets spent. But if right now Broward County manages or administers our CDBG program, if we ask Broward County to do it, it would probably be limited to something like Meals on Wheels, or Women in Distress, or something like that, you know, nonprofits that are probably accustomed to working under the guidelines of the federal government. We could ask for the county to give us that 15% hold back that 15% allocation, and the city could administer it themselves.

But we then would be burdened with the same type of monitoring that would be required. We have done this in the past when the county was not administering our CDBG program. Years ago, we did a scholarship program for the summer camp. It was worthwhile, but it was a lot of work. It was a lot of work.

The scholarships were based on income eligibility, so there was income verification process that had to be required. So, it was time consuming, but again, worthwhile. It's just something that's out there. We have been using our CDBG dollars very strategically over the years for eligible public improvement projects, whether it's at the rec center, the community center, one of our parks. But we do have the ability to use up to 15% for nonprofit activities.

Just very quickly, you know, the other out of the box type idea we had talked about was perhaps increasing the funding for the Seminole Education Fund. You know, it's an existing nonprofit. It's kind of straightforward. There's not a whole lot of startup. The con to that would be that right now that is a program that's limited to scholarships and other educational programs.

It wouldn't really expand beyond that. But it is something that we talked about as being perhaps something you might want to consider. And I think that's where I left off. Obviously, we need to have a discussion on these options. It could be all of them, none of them, a combination of them.

I do want to just sort of put the cloud over this, and that would be the impact of the property tax reform on all of this, which I think is a very realistic issue that has to be part of the conversation. So with that, I'm going to shut up and

All right. Thank you. Who wants to start off? Vice Mayor Wasserman.

Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate all the work you did to put all the options and everything you've put together to come here today and give us some education on the different things we could do. Where is the legislation that's pending that would stop cities or municipalities from giving to nonprofits? Where is that in the legislative process? Is there an update on that?

I don't have an update on that. I know there is a House bill. There is not, as far as I know, a Companion Senate bill.

Okay. All right. So it's just the House bill. This is, you know, it kinda jumps into yesterday a little bit. With the uncertainty, for me, personally, and, you know, the rest of the day as we'll speak, but with the uncertainty of property taxes, and especially a new bill that I think like an hour, an hour and a half ago, that just moved through the House, through ways and means, that would slowly trickle out.

You know, property taxes, and I didn't read the whole thing, but that's just the headline that I was catching before we came up. It's hard for me to give money to these nonprofits when we don't know what's going to happen. And, there's a lot of uncertainty. I'm for the option four, suspending for fiscal year twenty seven, at least, so we can have a better understanding of what's going on for our city services, for the things we do for our city, for the things we even do for those nonprofits. I just think we're in such an interesting time, and especially with the legislation that was introduced.

It's just fishy waters right now. And, I'd prefer if we maybe take a step back for a year, we could revisit it. You know, my opinion would be revisit it, depending on if the amendment passes in November, if it gets on the ballot, you know, I don't know. That's my take on it. I'll leave it at that. I have some other notes and things, but I just want, I don't want to ramble on it. I know we have our meeting at seven. So, that's my stance, would be suspend for '27, and then revisit at a later time, depending on the climate. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, Commissioner Brody.

Thank you, Mayor. I think none of these have the pros that we want, right? So you look at two, three, and four, and they're more complicated, they're going to cost money, and then a four doesn't help anybody. It doesn't help anybody. And as a city, that's our job is to help our residents and our small businesses, including the five zero one's.

And the five zero one's perform an act that we don't do. This is the whole reason they exist. They're doing stuff that we don't do. And we see that we have a few here that are going to, you know, hopefully can take two minutes of our time to explain their impact in our city, because I think we'll be a little bit more surprised at what their impact is than what the money is costing us. But correct me if I'm wrong, we used to have two separate ways of doing this. We had a grant system, and we had a donation system, correct? Where staff would come up There you go, special grants, right? There was two ways of asking for funds.

I think that was the only way we did it when we had the special events grant process.

So my first year here, we got the donation across our table, and then we had the grants. It was a totally separate thing that we didn't deal with because the grants went through a staff, right? And so we collapsed the grant, got rid of it. But we never increased the donation. So that donation's been the same for at least since I've been here, since 2022. It's the same amount. It hasn't gone up. It's been the same thing over and over. And to be honest with you, it's not so much the dollar amount because it's shekels, man. It's nothing compared to our budget. It's really a small line item. But what it does for the nonprofits is tremendous. It helps them help people in our community. So we never we took away one thing. So we already really technically cut that budget from the grant system.

We took all that money out, which do we know how much money that was yearly done with those grant with that grant system?

So that grant program was

Peter Gay Lake, finance director. It was $25,000 a year, and what we did, we combined it with the cash donation budget. So, didn't go away. We actually added it back to

the So, we were originally at $100,000 for donation, and we rolled the grants into that, so we made it 125?

Yes.

Okay. So, if we're looking at this, and we're trying to be conservative as a way of how we're going to spend this money, the 25,000 off the top go back to the donation system, I think, is if we want to say that we did something about this, I feel that would be more of a comfortable move as far as looking at that. But certainly, the way we've been doing it, although difficult and complicated and people don't like to have the difficult conversations, it's part of what we do is what we're elected to do. I think it's an obligation for us to make sure that our small 501Cs are taken care of. I don't like the fact that we give money to places that are getting money from all over the counties, such as what was the number one hitter got $40 at one point?

Do you remember that was, number one on that list? I can't read this thing. Yeah. Dollars 40,000 is ridiculous. They're getting money from everybody. All right? So if we're going to do this, and I really feel that if we're going to focus this back, I think it needs to be focused on the address of where that 501 is, and that needs to be in our city because it's our taxpayers' monies that are going to the 501Cs in our neighborhoods, that are in our city. I think that's the way we need to look at this. I think counseling the whole thing is a shame on us for that. No offense, Jeff.

I value your opinion. But we do have different opinions on this. And I think our responsibility as a city is to govern this. As difficult as it may seem and complicated as it may feel, I think it's the right thing to do to take care of our nonprofits. And if we want to scale back some dollar amount, I think I can swallow that for a year. But to just eliminate it all and to say, you guys are on your own, that's a disservice to the nonprofits that are helping our community and stuff that we just don't do.

Thank you. Commissioner Reidel.

So philosophically, I kind of disagree with both my predecessors. And I say philosophically because there's county wide organizations, take Women in Distress, for example, that we give money to that provides a county wide need that if every municipality says we're not giving to it, we screw we we traumatize the organization. I gotta watch my language from last night. We traumatize an organization. I know I know you're you're delicate ears, commissioner Welsh, you're delicate ears.

Yeah. I know, man.

You traumatize the organization. Vice versa, there's local Coconut Creek, you know, Sunbiz address locations. See what I did last night, Sunbiz address? Neither here nor there. Sunbiz address locations that are in Coconut Creek that are helping Coconut Creek people.

I did a lot of reflecting on this today, and I think I will not give consensus to anything today. And I don't think there should be consensus on anything today because we're putting the cart before the horse before there's any issue. So the answer is if there's budget cuts I mean, listen, I was a little more verbose yesterday than belt's getting tightened across the board for the city, not diminishing the work any staff member does or any programming or any events. It's good people that are gonna feel the bird. Okay.

That's the truth, you know, so I could speak a little more eloquently today. This would go by the wayside if if we're cutting programming and resources for residents and we're cutting all this. So, that's when I could agree with Jeff. That being said, John is absolutely correct that we have nonprofits in the city for a reason that that give back tremendously to residents every day and needs that the city can't meet, which is why this has been historically here. And I will just say, and Peter Gait, you can confirm with me on this, in the I've been I haven't been here the longest, but I've been here pretty long. This budget used to be close to $200,000. I remember a year it was, like, $1.87.

Yeah. In previous years and when during COVID periods, it was a little bit higher.

Yeah. I just remember through the history, it was almost double at one point. So I think, you know, while we have to be aware as a city government that we don't know what's gonna happen, which is valid because I'm up here yelling about it, This super sensitive, I don't believe we should address today. I think this should be tabled for consensus and I think this should be brought up at the end of legislative session. That's what I believe.

Because I I there's valid arguments to be made across the board and then we're all gonna be like, you know, oh, he wants to get rid of the nonprofits. Oh, he wants to give more money to the nonprofits. I listen, I any charity on this list, I've personally donated to every single local, almost every single one of these that has a presence. I've I've I'm a I'm a donor. I donate. People love me. I write checks. Right? So personally, I'm invested. So you put your money where your mouth is. I think this is, especially on the heels of last night's discussion, this is fracturing. This is fracturing a little bit and I'll say why. Because we're fracturing. We have people in this room tonight that are invested in this community that could be assets to get the message out of why we don't need certain aspects of property tax reform. The enemy is not the city of Coconut Creek.

So I think we're mixing our message a little bit, and maybe I misspoke last night a little bit with our Parks and Rec team. It's our our enemy is not Parks and Rec. They're the best employees we have. Just to be clear, I wasn't waiting to hear that. My my criticism last night, we're not directed to anything because I think everyone does a great job criticizing a system that is forcing us to be reactive and harmful to not only our employees, but our community. And that message needs if I learned a lesson last night, that message needs to be delivered eloquently and effectively. And this this is fracturing. I don't think we can give consensus on this. I don't think it's appropriate.

Thank you. Commissioner Welch. Thank

you. And we don't get paid the big bucks, Commissioner Brody, but we do get to weigh in on the policies and the decisions. I think the conversation here tonight is about the process, and the process that we experienced prior to in coming up with the list that's currently being sponsored for this year, the process was not good. It was very clear that we need to come out of the decision making on the process. But we need to establish tonight, I think, a process for if we're going to continue it, and under whose guise, or if we are pausing it tonight, and then making the decision on the next budget year as to but we certainly need to deal with the process, whether we're pausing it or whether we're continuing it.

We must come to some conclusion tonight. We're about to come up into our strategic meetings, budget meetings, in a couple of months, right? Is it the February, or is it March? Because I know it was dialed around. It's March.

Okay, so, you know, we promised staff and ourselves that we would come up with a different process. And you've given us alternatives, albeit some maybe are palatable, some are not, and maybe like last night, it's more of a hybrid approach. I know a few meetings ago we had the conversation about the upcoming legislation. And we know something's going to go through. Something is going it's very clear how the governor and the speakers have indicated that something is going to be going through as far as property tax.

And the unreliability of the revenue, the taxpayer revenue, that we are going to be receiving. And decisions have already been made about a contract for less than 149,000, the RMA, that we suspended. We ceased that contract for improving our dilapidated shopping centers and helping our businesses. We made that decision, gave that decision, or consensus, already. Those things have already taken place.

So actually, this is kind of in line with that. We can't we're not going to have the dollars that we've had historically. Peter Gay talked about the increase in dollars. That was during COVID. We were getting funds that we're not getting now.

So that explains the big increase in before to what it is now. And there just is no guarantee. And we have to look at the discretionary dollars that we're not going to be getting. We don't know what that dollar amount is, but I just feel like tonight we need to come up with the process that we can agree on and how we're going to go forward with it, one way or the other, whether it's next year or this year. But we have to come up with some kind of process.

We promised ourselves, and we promised staff. I don't want them to have to go through that again. I don't think we do either. But all of these other alternatives in establishing those that would administer it come at a cost. They come at a cost in addition to the dollars that we're going to be dispensing to nonprofits.

So, I mean, we'd be paying somebody to give somebody money. I mean, something just maybe my mind is dialing it down too much, but it seems like that doesn't make sense. So we I think we need to come to a decision about how we're going to proceed with the process. And then talk about whether it's pausing or however. Okay?

Thank you.

And, I'm ready to weigh in on some of those, too, once we get some consensus about a process.

Okay. Commissioner Riedel.

I appreciate it. I just, I kind of need to respond because like I was I was trying to be Switzerland, and now you're pushing me to the one side. So if you wanna talk about the RMA contract, let's keep facts facts. RMA would have been paid out Peter Gay, let's let's do a little examination here. Under the RMA contract, RMA would have been paid out in this fiscal year. This year, they we're sitting in this year, 2026. Is that fair?

Yes.

All the money for the nonprofits that we approved last year are being paid out in 2026, correct?

Yes.

So we can't do anything. Every single person that's a nonprofit is getting their money in 2026, correct? We're talking about giving donations in 2027, correct? This decision does not need to be made now based on unknown in Tallahassee for the purpose of distributing money in the 2027 fiscal year, correct? No dollar that we decide on a policy tonight. If we do, no dollar is being given to anybody, assuming we give dollars, until 2027. Correct?

Yes.

So, with all due respect, totally different than RMA because RMA, and I don't want to talk about that, is money that was we were given now in this fiscal year. There and then it goes back to bolster my point, actually, of why 2027. We don't need to say this now. We're gonna have budget workshops after the legislative cycle. This could be just piggyback on a budget workshop. So understand policy, appreciate policy. I was a big fan of the community chest. Scott and Sheila kind of talked me against it based on our our business funding and things like that. I I don't even wanna belabor the discussion because I I think it's apples and oranges. So, I'm going go back to Switzerland. I don't think this is the right time to deal with it.

Thank you. So, that leaves me. This is a very painful discussion. Very painful. Because we all know how important our nonprofits are in this city. And we appreciate everything that you do for us. And our residents appreciate it. And look forward to your service. So this is very painful for us. I would not object to taking it out of our hands.

Of course, to pay a consultant is ludicrous. To use money that we could give out is insane. I think, but to form some sort of trustee committee, some kind of independent committee, unbiased, and let them make the decisions. I'm just throwing things against the wall, see if they stick. We're talking about process.

So, I mean, staff was doing it. We could have a representative from staff. We could have a representative from the seminal. We could have a representative from, even a representative from the commission. But having just an administration, and just have take it out of our hands.

Because let's face it, we're very passionate about our city. We have our favorites. We have our causes. So this is I feel that for 2027, I kind of agree with Commissioner Rydell that let's wait and see what happens. If we're willing to spend 35,000 to $50,000 on a consultant, We couldn't if that was one of the options, no. That was one of the options that you weren't recommending. Understand that. It could go towards the nonprofits. I would just wait, as well.

In that light, I would really like the option two of the community foundation that is already in place, and a dollar amount invested, and a percentage of whatever the dollars ended up being after the strategic sessions, I think would be fair and would take all of us and staff out of the it would make it much more objective and more fair, honestly, for nonprofits. And then it is apples and apples, not apples and oranges.

Vice Mayor Wasserman. Thank you, Mayor. I respect the idea of pushing it. It kind of ties into what I was saying. I was quick to jump and just say, hey, let's just do it now, but I respect that legislation is pending, we don't know what's gonna be on the ballot. I'm okay with, and I know '27 is a really long ways away, so I respect that viewpoint of Commissioner Eidell. The community chest option, to me, it's a little strange to me. The reason why I say it is because it's just, it could become a political arm. It could become a favor to favor. To me, it I don't I think it muddies the waters.

I understand what Commissioner Welch was saying with an organization that's already done, and it's already out of, like, it's in Broward. Is that Can we get a little more education on the Community Foundation of Broward?

This evening, or would you like me to arrange for the Community Foundation of Broward to come make a presentation? Which they've offered to do. No.

Well, I take it we're going to have to listen to them unless you have any bullet points to educate me to educate us with. I mean, I You would prefer to have them do it.

Can tell you that that be an optional meeting? Can that be an optional meeting?

You know, here's what the research that we've done has indicated. You know, the foundation has been around for a long, long time. It's a well established organization. They have had the endowment fund program for quite some time. But, more recently, cities have taken advantage of the program and entered into contracts for the endowment fund.

So, they would have a specific amount of money that would be earmarked for Coconut Creek 501 C Threes, or could they use the money that we contribute to give to Lauderhill? Is that how it works? I didn't No. So,

it is exclusively for the city of Coconut Creek.

Okay.

It So, for instance, in looking at what Tamarac did. Tamarac did a $50,000 contract for a Tamarac charitable endowment fund with the community foundation. That $50,000 gets invested. And each year, again, 5% of the balance can be used for a grant program. It's not going to be that big. Depending on what you initially put in, it's not going to be necessarily that big the first year. Know, you're talking, you know, dollars 2,500 in the first year. But it is an investment. They do manage the funds. They range

They manage the applications. They do it all.

JOSEPH More importantly, they manage the investment fund. And, you know, it's generating 7%, 9% return. So, it's making money. And, again, it's a long term investment. It's a long term relationship with the Community Foundation of Broward, which wouldn't be a bad thing. It's just, you've got to understand that it's not going to be generating grant funds year one, year two, year three, that are going to be significant. It's just not.

Okay. I would certainly need more, another lesson on that. But I'll kick the commissioner here. Mayor.

May I? Mr. Browdie. I think there's just so many questions to try to make a decision right now in this quick meeting. I think we need to table this and circle back and get them to come out and explain what they do. I think we need to come up with a better plan than what just sitting here kind of throwing ideas and seeing what sticks to a wall. I think we need to vet this a little bit better. So I'm going to recommend tonight that we table this until we can have a further discussion with some of these options to really yeah, can I get consensus on that, please?

Can we get a date certain on that? Can we would

have to yeah, when they can

Commissioner Brody, prior to making a motion, could you mayor, the public, prior to a motion?

That Sure.

Before you make a motion to table, I was inquiring because then it's done. Could we hear from the public?

Yeah, I would love to Yeah, hear if okay.

Is there anyone, Mr. Kavanaugh, that has signed up to speak from the public?

Yes. Abby Mosher signed up to speak from the public.

Thank you for giving me this time. I would like to, before I start, just say that I am sure that we are funded by the Community Foundation of Broward as well, So I'm very familiar with it. I am going to assume that they don't do that for free, and there's administrative costs that should be considered, as well. Because I know the consultant fee was not something that you wanted to lean towards. So just want to put that out there.

But let me because the clock is running. Thank you, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, for allowing me the time to share just a little bit about my thoughts on this. On behalf of Tomorrow's Rainbow, I want to begin first by thanking you for your financial support, as well as your belief in our mission. Your investment is not just a line item in the budget. It's a meaningful commitment to the emotional well-being of children and families in our community during some of the most difficult moments in their lives.

In 2025 alone, Tomorrow's Rainbow supported 26 children who reside in Coconut Creek through our bereavement program, along with an additional three children in our family trauma program. Each of these numbers represents a child coping with profound loss. Among the children in our bereavement program, ten experienced the death of a mother or father, three had a sibling die, seven lost a grandparent that was helping to raise them, and two lost an uncle who played role in their lives. This is important. Seven of those 26 families served met the federal poverty guideline criteria in Coconut Creek.

For these families, access to mental health care without community based support would have been extremely limited or entirely unavailable. To provide context for the impact of your support, Tomorrow's Rainbow raises $1,500 per child to deliver our comprehensive bereavement services and $8,400 annually for children receiving individual equine assisted psychotherapy. Conservatively in twenty twenty five, the total cost associated with supporting the mental health of Coconut Creek children in the aftermath of grief and trauma exceeded $40,000 The City of Coconut Creek's $5,000 grant played a vital role in making the support possible. Those dollars were used intentionally and responsibly to ensure that Coconut Creek's children did not have to face grief and trauma alone. I should also note that the city of Boca Raton, Coral Springs Community Chest, and the city of Hollywood have also made investments to support their bereaved and traumatized children.

Your commitment sends a powerful message to the families in Coconut Creek that their children matter, their mental health matters, and that this community shows up when life is at its hardest. We're deeply grateful for your partnership and for the trust you place in tomorrow's rainbow. Thank you for standing with us and with the families we serve. We're truly honored to call Coconut Creek our home.

Thank you very much. Is there anyone else that would care to speak? Sorry?

For us.

No, but if you'd like to speak now, you're welcome to.

Hi, Laura McDermott Matherick. I'm the president of the Women's Club of Coconut Creek. I did not know that this was also discussed last night at last night's meeting. In fact, I got a number of phone calls from the community asking me to come in and to dispel any misconceptions that any of the commissioners have about our organization or any organizations that are involved in the city. So I'm here to kind of talk about what it is that we do as well.

We're very different than any other nonprofit. We only serve Coconut Creek residents. We have a budget of $25,000 Of that, our overhead cost is about $15,000 $10,000 this year, we've allocated to give to scholarships and grants. We have a new grant program that we're giving directly to teachers of Coconut Creek to improve the classrooms. Additional to that, we're also discussing tonight, we're supposed to have a board meeting.

There is a shortfall of students in this community who are unable to pay their school lunches. This is not something any other community member is stepping up to help pay their bill. We're looking to do that. So your support, the $7,000 that we received this year, which is a part of that $25,000 funds that we have, that is what we are looking to give back into our community. So when you think about how this should be allocated, who should be in charge, you're really comparing apples to oranges.

And those of you who are completely ignorant of how a nonprofit works, you really need to come talk to us. Come to our events, see what we do, and hear what it is that we're doing that impacts the community. And we're happy to dispel any questions that you have. That's why we came we have figures, we have numbers. We were asked to bring that today, to present whatever it is that you need to know.

To know how, not just our specifically what we have about what our nonprofit does, but we also partner with other nonprofits. And over the years, we thought that our partnership with the city was a true partnership. So to be given a phone call a couple hours before the meeting that took place last night to say, oh yeah, by the way, here's an additional bill that we need you to pay to house an event, that's hard on us on the things that we're doing. So we just really wish that we could be a part of the conversation, Help dispel these rumors and misconceptions. So we appreciate what you're doing. You're trying to create the transparency. But please, be transparent. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else? Yes. Yes, Craig.

Craig Balbo, 5122 Northwest 74th Court, Coconut Creek. Appreciate all of you guys. I know none of you want to be considering this particular subject. I've spent a lot of years serving in nonprofit work, both faith based and nonfaith based. Huge heart for it. Commissioner Brody, you said it well. Nonprofits are generally doing things that either government can't do or won't do or won't do wouldn't do well. I would just ask you all to keep in mind a few things as you make a decision. I'm sure you're going make good decisions. One is information is critical to making decisions well.

We don't have a ton of information. You just don't know. Also consider what not funding the nonprofit looks like. Right? Because there's pros and cons, and not funding them maybe preserves a certain amount of money.

But funding them maybe creates some other, not funding them probably creates some other issues that may be unintended consequences. I would ask you to consider, first of all, community grants, community foundations. If this in if this, proposal goes through at the state level and property taxes are reformed in a significant way, there's gonna be pressure on every nonprofit, community foundations, businesses that invest in the community chest. There's gonna be pressure everywhere. So, it's not like we're not gonna have the money in our city, but these other organizations are gonna have a ton of money to contribute or help us with.

It's gonna be a significant issue everywhere. But information is key. We just don't have a ton of information right now. And I would ask that you consider the possibility of not just waiting, but what if we found in our budget the ability to fund these nonprofits for the following year, the year that's not currently budgeted for? By then, we would have all of the information needed.

We'd actually get to see this thing play out because nobody really knows what's coming down from Tallahassee. Could come down in some changed form. It could come down I've read that it could be a ten or twelve year phase in very gradually, and I hate to see us make significant and drastic decisions now with limited information, and then there not be a big boom next year or the next year. Maybe it's very small, but what if we were able to find the money to fund the nonprofits for next year and then let this thing cycle through, and we'll really see what the beast is that we're staring at. We'll have a good detail, good information.

We'll have all the information we need. Because I know if you guys have all the information you need, you're gonna make the right decision. So, I just ask you to consider that in your deliberations, maybe finding the funding for next year's next budget year's requirements, and by then we'll have all the information we need to make the right decisions. But thank you guys for all you're doing. I appreciate you, and thank you to all the nonprofits that are represented for what you guys do for our community. Thanks, guys.

Thank you, Craig. Yes, come forward, please.

Good

evening, mayor, commissioners, and city staff. My name is Valerie Rosenzweig, and I am a Coconut Creek resident and the director of philanthropy for the Women's Club of Coconut Creek. In listening to the meeting that occurred last night, I feel like there are some misconceptions about the Women's Club and what we do for Coconut Creek. In my role, I organize community events that serve our residents, support local vendors, and raise money for high school seniors and now teachers grants also. Those events include the Fall Vendor Fair, which is part of the city's Fall Harvest Festival, the Santa Carnival, Light Up Creek, the Hearts and Crafts Show, Book a Bunny yard visits at Easter, and our Mother's Day craft show.

All of these are produced entirely by volunteers. None of us are paid, and we rely heavily on the outstanding support in the way of grants from the city decided by our commissioners. Because we are a nonprofit volunteer organization, I wanna clarify what happens to the money that we raise. We do not keep profits for ourselves. We don't take a salary like some other nonprofits.

Some funds we need to cover necessary operating expenses, like our storage space, our web hosting, our marketing costs, our state registration. And the remainder is invested back into our programs for the residents, community events, teacher grants, and scholarships for Coconut Creek High School seniors. So I just would ask that you keep that in mind when you consider giving funding to nonprofits. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Thank you. Yes, please. So I'd like

to make a motion that we table this discussion until the first meeting in April, which is after the reassignment of positions. So that's why April, the first meeting. Makes sense.

Do we have consensus?

If I may, on Commissioner Brody's. Commissioner Brody, if you're amenable to it, just think it should be tabled to our first budget workshop in March. And then, we have I think that gives us a lot more clarity because

So, that's the week before that's an in between meeting.

Yeah, that's I'm literally texting as we speak with one of our state legislators asking if he thinks there's going to be significant clarity by the February.

Okay. I have

no problems

with that. We're putting it the budget meeting in March. So, let's table this till that budget meeting in March then.

Okay. We have sec and we'll continue I

to have the

for that. Yes.

Okay.

Move Okay. To adjourn.

Madam City Clerk.

Mayor, would we be able have, like, a five minute break?

We are gonna have a five minute break. Thank you. Meeting adjourned. Thank you. Thank you, mayor.