City Commission - workshop

All right, good evening. Oh, good evening, thank you. That's nice. Calling meeting to order, meeting number 2026-0611WS.

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All right, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. How about our city manager lead us?

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.

Please call the roll. Commissioner Rydell? Here. Commissioner Welch? Here. Commissioner O'Reilly?

Here.

Vice Mayor Brody? Here. Mayor Wasserman? Here. City Manager Rose?

Here.

City Attorney Piper?

Here.

All right. This meeting is being conducted live with a physical quorum present. The material for today's meeting is available online at www.coconincreek.gov. We're a .gov site now. And the meeting is being broadcast live. So we're going to begin tonight with the city manager's annual performance review, and our city manager is going to open it up.

Thank you, Mayor and Commission. I would just like to say it's been a delight to serve you this year. It brings me joy every day to come to work, and I am extremely blessed. with this group here and the 500 employees that are out there working every day. If it's your pleasure, I'd like to run through a very quick overview of what's accomplished this year. You'll see that we've been very, very busy. And it does make me a little nervous to brag, but really I'm just bragging about what all we've achieved and what all of our employees have achieved. So you all should take credit for it, too. So if it's your pleasure, I'll do that. Sure. OK.

It's our pleasure.

It's your pleasure. OK, so just starting back at my last evaluation, we talked about several strategic initiatives and really the focus of what I was going to work on this year. So I'm going to give you a little report on that. Community engagement, I'll give you an overview of community engagement, and then talk a little bit about looking forward. So that's sort of the organization of what I'm hoping to talk about tonight. You'll note that the pictures of the butterflies are actually butterflies in Coconut Creek. We're keeping our theme true. Just a year at a glance, we've been awarded several grants, external funding for the fiber optic loop. Main Street has continued to progress. We are seeing actual building pads coming out of the ground. Fire Station 113 is going even better than we expected. The CMAR process is just really the way to go with these types of big public projects. We have started the design of the police department. We're instigating artificial intelligence at every turn. It's interesting. It is interesting. We are finding that you have to check your work. But it is such a fabulous tool that we are integrating into our operations. I thought it was a great meeting we had last Monday night talking about regional leadership. And I appreciate you all's commitment to being part of that advocacy and growing that advocacy. And I think that's very important for our future. We've had lots of infrastructure investments, parks and mobility. Of course, our organization continues to be strengthened. And you see some great new additions to the staff here. And we always continue to be customer service focused, community engaged, and transparent. And that's sort of what we are trying to achieve. Some of the key priorities that were identified, these are exactly the key priorities that were identified last year. Get Main Street moving. Get Main Street moving. Get the fire station moving. Get the police department improvements designed and underway. And as you recall, we talked about phasing that and continuing to improve the organizational structure. As it relates to Main Street, I'd love to take credit for securing UHealth as the center point, but I will say that we set that up for success. The developers saw that opportunity, and I'm so happy that they seized it, because it does change the nature of what Main Street will be. I'm also pretty excited about Whole Foods. I saw a funny ad on TV the other day about looking for a home, and the realtor.com said, find me a house within walking distance of a Whole Foods. And we're now there. So I think that's very exciting. We're continuing on with the Village Green design, where we expect the design of that park. And that's actually construction drawings for the park to go out for an RFP at the end of the summer. And we do see the long-term Main Street as our key growth factor, regardless of what happens with property tax. There'll be a lot of new construction and a lot of new homes and a lot of new commercial development in that area. Fire Station 113, as I mentioned earlier, is just, and thanks to Harry, thank you, Harry, is just going beautifully. Our relationship with PURTL and the CMAR group, we're working together to make the best product possible. I know Mike Rodriguez is very excited about what's being included in that project, and so we'll see that really come to fruition over the next two years, coming out of the ground. This shows you a little rendering of the expectation for the police department. We've gotten through sort of the conceptual development to the point where we can draft a scope of services for the design for the building. The big ticket items are that the new building, and that's the purple one that you see, would be designed as a category five facility so that all the essential emergency services would be moved into that building. It would also allow us to phase the construction and the remodeling of the existing police department. So that's moving along as well. We are hoping. Oh, I'm sorry. You're OK. You're OK. Because I'm looking at it. OK. OK. Sort of as it relates to organizational structure, I hope you all are as thrilled as I am with the new leadership in both, I mean, all three, fire, IT, and Parks and Recreation. And they're all here tonight. And I could not be more pleased that through succession planning, we've really got some great leaders. And they're really just kicking it every day. Sometimes I've got to slow Janet down a little bit. A little bit. But she came out of the door just ready as a change agent. So really thrilled to see that. I don't know if you've ever had a chance to stop in at one of our general assemblies. But thanks to Bernadette, it's a great team building experience where we have two series of those so that we get the entire staff together. This year, it was clearly all soccer themed. But we had soccer balls bouncing around. But it's an opportunity for... me and some of the other directors to share what's going on in the city. But also, it's a team building opportunity. So wonderful in that area. Police bargaining is complete. Fire union bargaining is underway. And thank you to Pam. I know she's doing, like, Thank you. I saw that memo earlier today on the progress, so hopefully we'll see more work in that area. We do have a wellness initiative program where we have a representative from each department that works on wellness initiatives. Right now we're doing a walking challenge, so... Some of us go home at night at 930 and walk up and down the street so that we get to our 10,000 steps. But it's great to see the participation around City Hall. And it just adds to the engagement. Our employee benefits were also enhanced this year, just giving people more flexibility, particularly with their $457. So I think that's just continuing to try to make it a great place to work. Additional sort of organizational accomplishments. This year was difficult from dealing with the legislature. We've worked to advance our legislative priorities. The property tax has been, you know, we're trying not to let it be all-consuming, but clearly there were weeks where it was all-consuming. We're maximizing our grant funding. Dan Nelson, who is the leader of our grants team, has really done phenomenal at being that lead, pulling together all the grants, being the coordinator, and moving our grant-seeking efforts forward. We continue to focus on solid waste, as do all of you. Our partnerships with the regional and state agencies are so important. And it's, you know, when you look at, like, next week we're going to have the groundbreaking for the lighting project for Lyons Road. been a long time coming together to get Lyons Road to be something more than it was. I mean, I hate to admit, I am getting a little long in the tooth. But if you think about, we got Broward Beautiful to pay for the pavers that are the creek. We got FDOT to design the bike lanes and do the construction administration of that piece. We got the MPO to apply for the congressional appropriation. So all those pieces are based on our relationships with other agencies, and that's It takes a long time, but this last, I guess it's $3.9 million worth of pedestrian lighting is because of those relationships. So got to keep at that. And of course, we need to continue our infrastructure and particularly the transportation funding seeking that, because that's where there is a lot of money. And I know Sandy. Thank you, Sandy. Sandy was successful today at the MPO related to the turnpikes. That being there when they open the door for grants is something that we do every day. Talking about funding, very exciting. We got the fiber optic ring funding, the drone funding, the speed prevention, and the child passenger safety grant funding. We also have under consideration $8.2 million, hoping. Every year we put in more than we get, but we are really working to make sure we are in the front of the line for some of this grant funding. Public safety and emergency preparedness, we're doing a great deal of work with Fire Station 113, but also the fire rescue accreditation. It's a big lift to get that accreditation, and the fire rescue department is perfectly well committed to doing it. Every day, they wake up with a mission to follow, a strategic plan to make sure that they become an accredited department, not only with the ambulance service, but an overall accredited agency. The community paramedic program is going beautifully. Red speed, a little slow to roll out, a little slow to roll out. But I will admit, I got a warning the other day driving through Coconut Creek. You saw that, didn't you? So it's working. It was a little slow to roll out. Did you get one, too? Oh, I was going 27 miles an hour in a 25 zone, yeah. I guess I, I know, I know, now I know. We're also doing the traffic preemption devices so that our emergency vehicles can get through the signals faster. And then, you know, we're ongoing work with the police department improvements. That's what's happening in public safety. And I know you all would think I would normally want to show you a picture of a tree. But this year, we really have been focused on building resiliency. And that is not just in our natural environment. It is, right now, a very important Well, our canal banks are very important, but our disaster preparedness, our work with artificial intelligence is so important. And having a strong IT department is what helps us keep these things going. And if we were to have a storm or if we were to have a security breach, We're in such a better place than we were a year ago. And that's thanks to Danny. I think Danny's here as well. So just amazing, the progress that we've made. I know the passwords are irritating, but cybersecurity is so critical. And he's done just an amazing, amazing job in that area. Parks and recreation improvements. I know some of us were out at Sunshine Drive the other day, and I had not had a chance to see how adorable that park was, but also how great the little sidewalk extension was to the swing down the street. Some of our park improvements really are making a difference in neighborhoods. To me, that's a... That's a gem in that neighborhood. So I think that's really exciting. The Lakeside Park enhancements are underway. And then, of course, you recall just recently awarding the Oak Trails Park. So we are really moving in that area. Mobility improvements. And we did talk a little bit about Lyons Road, which I think is very exciting. I do like that. But I also think also exciting are some of the pedestrian improvements. Think about Hillsborough Boulevard. If you haven't seen the sidewalk on the north side with the trees in between it, It changes the nature of the area. I hope you will start to see people using that as a bikeway, a walkway. But just the wider sidewalk with that landscaping in between is just beautiful and a great amenity. And so Sample Road will be the next one. And I hope you'll feel the same way about that one. So very exciting. The Utilities Department, I think Osama is actually out of town. Osama is not here. The water distribution improvements, I hope in Windmoor, it seems to be almost seamless, all of the work that they've been doing. And that's because they try so hard. They're there, public outreach, they're easy to talk to. They've done a great deal of work in Windmoor with the entire utility system. So great progress there. And innovation is where we're focused. AI is, you know, I think we're all using a little bit, but some of us are using a little bit more. We are bringing in, we've gotten the LaserFish implementation, and Joe's working on that to make sure our records are seamless. It's exciting. We have brought in a... a consultant contract with Nova to do an evaluation of any of our processes to see where we can more effectively use AI. The easy ones to think about are building plan review. There's so many opportunities for us to leverage AI. And we are working on that. And you'll see more of that in the coming year. And then I put this at the bottom for Terrell. We're going to be ADA compliant. Sorry, Terrell. We are going to be ADA compliant. We're required to be ADA compliant with all of our documents. So we're working on that. Community engagement, this is just a small list. It's not a small list. It's a huge list. We continue to try to do community engagement events everywhere we can. If anyone has any other community engagement events, please don't hesitate to ask. Our staff is always willing to go and to be the face of the city. but also to represent you and to answer questions about what might be going on in a neighborhood or some of the safety series. We've got this week fire prevention. So those are all wonderful opportunities to get to know our neighbors, our residents, and also to provide that sort of direct communication on issues that we think are important. And of course, some of the social media campaigns have been a lot of fun. Creek Eats, Creek Vets, Creek Cares. Those have been very engaging, and I think sort of showcasing what's really nice about our small town. So looking ahead, this is kind of where we have to talk about what I think, from my perspective, is my opportunity to outline what the priorities are. And it's also your opportunity, please don't hesitate to steer me in another direction, because I know I'm talking very quickly. But if you have thoughts and you want to share different perspectives on what our priorities should be, please don't hesitate to slow me down. So clearly, the property tax reform is an issue. We're focused on it. But from my perspective, it's very clear that it's not an emergency. It's a planning exercise. It's making sure we're making the right decisions. And if anything, we're looking at a three-year rollout. We'll be making smart decisions, and I'll be coming to you for prioritization of various programs if and when we need to do that kind of thing. So we'll be focused on innovation with AI wherever we can, efficiency, and prioritization if we need to. So we'll always remain fiscally sustainable. It is kind of exciting that we are expected to see an expansion of the casino, which is a little more... Well, more money, so it's always a good thing. So that's kind of exciting. So clearly, Main Street's still the priority. We need to get that done. Fire Station 113 with the administration component, still a priority. The police department will shift into being much higher There will be a lot more activity associated with that design project. And we continue to move forward with improving the organizational culture and making sure our employees are well-educated and as efficient as they can be. The meeting that we had Monday night, I felt like it was very productive. I thought we had a very productive conversation about some of the regional issues. And I appreciate you all's commitment to advocating on these issues. This is really where the rubber hits the road, where there are issues that might bring funding or might bring issues to us, that it's very important that you all understand those issues or that you're at the table when we might need you to advocate for things. So I did just send around a memo outlining who the leads were. So please stop in. Talk about them. We'll all talk about any of the issues and try to bring you up to speed, but also try to get you in front of the boards where that might be relevant. So that was the overview in 23 minutes. So I can answer any questions you might have. I did try to go very, very quickly. But I very much appreciate the opportunity. I couldn't be prouder of this group. Bernadette's amazing. Everyone in this group, Scott's my right arm. We're just so lucky to have such committed employees, committed staff that live and breathe this stuff every day. Thank you. So that's all I have to say.

No problem. I'm going to ask Commissioner Welch if she'd like to go first on this, or would she like to go first on commission comments in the second meeting?

I'm fine with Commissioner Rydell heading it out.

You got it.

We pair our pennants, don't we?

I am a man of my word. That wasn't me.

thank you very much city manager rose i guess i'll i'll start my comments like this i think we are we got to remember our roles right uh i recently went through a staffing shift in my own law firm lost an office manager that's been with me for 10 years and you always have this this thought do i want to train somebody do i want to pay somebody more money that makes my life seamless you know these are always the things that you look at uh when you're hiring firing evaluating i think that's something really crucial um i was going through a staffing change and a very dear friend and leader says to me two really interesting questions is your life easier with this person and does this person make you money Right? It's crazy to think about those things in business. But if you look at principled approach, does this person make your life easier? And does this person make you money? So when we evaluate on a very, thank you. I was going to say that I was like, I'm spotting, but I didn't want to, you know, when you look at those two things, and I don't say that in a, in a, in a simple way, I say in a really high level technical way, we are the board of directors and you are the CEO of this city.

That's how you have to look at it.

And you got to look at it at a higher level. Are there good things, bad? Of course there is. But if I answer those edict questions as a professional running a very large multi-million dollar organization, is my life easier? And do you make the city money? Those are both resounding yeses. Yes, you at least, I think I can speak for the entire commission, You make all of our lives easier in your responsiveness and your willingness to engage candidly to the detriment of response times, really Yvonne, sometimes too, where it segues in, to how we've chosen to re-engage in the social media, good, bad, or indifferent, that there's an engagement there that didn't exist before, how you've chosen to engage with... Resident complaints, resident comments, resident concerns. So that response times makes our job easier. Because at the end of the day, we represent the residents. We don't represent the city. That's the truth. We're resident-based people, not city-based people. We've got to speak for the residents. So I think you make, at least for me, all of our jobs easy. And I think that presentation showed something as well. Hard to say in government because you're not really making money, but you make the city money in terms of projects that are not paid for by resident tax dollars, by focusing a staff attention to grant funding, to focusing on infrastructure, innovation, efficiency, that I don't want to say makes money, but saves money, saves taxpayer money. So that's what I look at. So you meet those criterias very easily. And then you look at the other, the non-verbal component of this. And the non-verbal component is culture, is leadership, is we've got a great room of people. And you're very complimentary to the leaders that you have. But are the people under those people in the gallery right now happy? And I think you've made a very big shift, a hard shift, over the past year of changing a culture, changing leadership, which is hard in government, and making people happy, bringing back certain components of what you laugh about it as a soccer team. These are things that bring people wanting to come to work. as opposed to walking down a hallway and being maybe nervous or not wanting to engage with their supervisor or not. and having an open door policy and actually, candidly, knowing your employees, engaging your employees. That's a leadership issue to me. And that is what can't be defined as whether you're fiscally sound or whether you're responsive. That's a cultural shift. And that, I think, has been a very big excel point over the past year. Hard. hard hard decisions when you're dealing with people that you've known for 20 30 years in leadership positions making things that may not be the popular decision but have turned out to be the right decision for this city so i commend you on that uh and i think the harder part that you have to navigate to just say that i think that there's another the other side is just dealing with communication in a changing world And I don't think any of us can say, that's easy or that's hard, or you should be doing better or worse than that. I just think that's a growing pain of how we all interact now with social media, with emails, with resident complaints. We're in a world of immediacy. And the problem is government doesn't act immediately. So is there room to improve? I think there's always going to be room to improve in that capacity. But I think you've shown a commitment to always improve in that capacity so those are my comments um it's going to be maybe not popular with residents because I listen the elephant in the room is we're here to make a decision I do believe you should get a salary raise um I don't I don't know if we want to I'll maybe let everyone go first and then we can circle back on that mayor if you want to do that but I just wanted to give comments first then I'm happy to talk about the second portion uh later I do believe you're in you you should get that because I think And this is something we talk about independently. We don't have the ability. You have all these leaders in this room. You have the ability of making financial decisions for all of them come budget time. That's your decision. We have no say over that. So I think that it would be a little hard. I don't want to use the term difficult or offensive. It's hard for you to say, I have such a great team, and for you not to be rewarded as the leader of that team as well. So I do support that. This evening, I'm happy to circle back on that. Those are my comments. Thank you, Mayor.

I take it back, Mayor. I would like to go first.

I got rid of the ear horn. I didn't bring it. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. Andy appreciates it too. He wasn't sure what it was. But, you know, I mean, you didn't really have to have a presentation. You gave us pages and pages and pages of accomplishments for not just yourself, But all of the directors and all the departments that are in this great city that we call coconut Creek that we love and I can't really expand or expand on too much more than what Commissioner Rydell said except I think the the C's have it the commitment the culture and Continuing Because you, as I've known you through the years, even before I was on commission, even before on a board, you have a commitment to serve. And that's very notable. And that doesn't come as a result of whatever salary you have or don't have. I see faces here in the room that have that same commitment. And I really appreciate it because in making policy decisions that are going to affect them and the rest of our residents, it makes it much easier because to deal with facts, not fiction, that's what we need. And so just continue to communicate, cultivate the culture, And I don't even know how we do that, but somehow or other it happens. I don't think it's on any of our applications in any of the departments. But it really, because it matters. And I know this has been repeated throughout the years, but it's still true even more so today. You don't need a sign to say when you have entered or when you have left Coconut Creek. It just is. So I thank you for being an integral part of that the last years that you've been at the helm. And so I look forward to next year. Thank you.

Ditto. Of course, everything that was said prior to my comments, but what's outstanding, and I mean outstanding and extraordinary, is the feel of the workplace. you walk through these offices, you walk through anywhere, anytime you see anyone, and I hate calling them, I want to say Coconut Creek family staff, because you guys are a family. It's just amazing how close everyone feels. And that is because of the leadership. And you go to extraordinary lengths to bring your employees together so that everyone interacts with each other. And that's amazing. And I don't think I've experienced that feeling anywhere in my many years around. So I just want to congratulate you on that. But also, the knowledge that you bring to the position Again, extraordinary, because you define extraordinary. And just by our reputation, anywhere, even outside of Coconut Creek, our reputation is exemplary. And, oh, your city manager, Sheila Rose, she's wonderful. Your city attorney, your staff, they all have wonderful things to say. And that... And that's a great attribute to have, especially when, like you say, when we're trying to interact and move forward with other municipalities. But I just want to say thank you. You guys are the best. Sheila, it's been a wonderful year. Truly mean that. Look forward to the future, because it is going to be off the charts. Thank you.

That's a dramatic pause.

So I guess everybody knows how I felt three years ago, four years ago. And I'm going to be honest with you. We're in a completely different place now. And it is absolutely 100% the leadership that you brought to this. Because I'm going to tell you right now, Businesses you know and you have to make those tough decisions whether it's hiring and firing vendors or hiring firing staff And it's never easy to be in that position Because it's not just you know making a decision of for the the business in per se but it's also understanding that when you make those decisions on personnel you're Impacting that family and emotionally you take that home with you and it's tough it's tough to sit and make a decision on making changes in leadership and But I'm going to tell you, you have the courage to do it. And it's not easy. And I know probably there was a lot of wine drinking after that decision was made. But certainly, there's nobody in this room who can say that those decisions weren't the right ones. I think when you do a survey and you drop 10 points when you're already good and now you're great, and you have somebody who looked at that survey and said, I've never seen that before, that directly reflects on what you did and the changes in the city. And certainly, when I got here, I was the most critical in leadership because, well, we're not going to get into reasons. But there needed to be a change. And you stepped up. And you made those decisions. And we look at the things that we're doing and where we're at. And the biggest thing is that leader, not only do you have to lead, but you have to listen. and i know dealing with the five of us is like wrangling cats all right we're all different personalities we're all different kinds of crazy uh it's not easy i get it i know i've been married 35 years i hear it every day my wife tells me you're a crazy dude so i get it i get it's not easy dealing with me i can imagine everybody else is going on and be able to keep your composure and and keep focused on what's driving the bigger picture and and so i appreciate what you've done And certainly, you know, you look in the audience here, your staff supports you. I have not heard, and this is like the big drop, right? I have not heard one single complaint. And that says a lot compared to what I was getting when I first stepped into this role. My phone literally was blowing up pretty much consistently. Now nobody talks to me. And that's good and bad, I guess. A little lonely, so if you guys get bored. But the honest truth there is because things are going good, people don't complain. And that says a lot for how you handle people, how you speak to them, how you engage with them. When we go to other cities, the very first thing is, oh, your city manager is Sheila. So not only is your impact felt here in our city, but the impact is felt when we go and deal with other cities. And that says a lot for what is said, because that's a little bit of a whisper campaign. That's people saying, oh, that's a good city manager over there in Coconut Creek. And that feedback is the feedback we like to hear because you make us look good. And that's, you know, that's kind of a nice thing. In fact, everybody in this room, I can honestly say, makes the five of us up here look like superstars. And it's all because of the hard work that you guys do out there and the things that you say and do and perform and the staff that's underneath you. It is amazing when I go places and they go, oh, yeah, I heard about Coconut Creek. It's a good place. Or people wanting to move here. You know, that leadership, when we talk about canopies and we talk about projects and the cleanliness of our city and, you know, when people are engaging with our staff on the streets, that's from the top down. If you're a jerk at the top, you're going to be all the way down to the bottom is going to be a jerk. But that's not what we have here. What we have is a leader that has compassion, composure, and intelligence to be able to make the right decisions. And right now, it's not a good time. Right now, we're... You know, home rules are a little bit shaky right now because of what the state's doing. By the way, I don't agree with what the state did. But it's a tough decision because now you have to make decisions of how you're doing this. And I will never fault you for pulling the trigger on what you felt was the right thing to do because that's what leaders do. And it's not always easy. And what you did last year with the budget, with the staff, was amazing, okay? Because that prepped us for what's coming. And I think you put the entire city in the right mindset. And that's what leaders do. So I'm going to say just keep doing what you're doing. Obviously, your staff loves you. They talk really highly about you. And I told you this yesterday in our meeting. When I don't hear anything, that's the greatest compliment. Because that means you're doing your thing and people just are letting you do your thing. So you guys are doing a great thing by listening to a great leader. You're a great leader. You keep doing what you're doing and keep making the city a wonderful place to live.

All right. Listen, I think your heart is in it. I think it's a good way to put it. You really care. It's clear that you love what you do. And when you talk about sidewalks and pedestrian paths, you get so giddy and pumped up. I hope people use it. I hope people take advantage of those things. Because you really are, as you do it, you really want to... you know, make a difference. And it's really cool. You keep it all together. You keep us all together, which isn't easy. I think Vice Mayor Brody put it, you know, wrangling cats. We are all different. um we are i've talked to you about this we're a different kind of commission than i think in the 90s and early 2000s um you know we are constantly um you know we're we're involved with the residents i think more than in the past because there's many different mediums to get in touch with us and um you know i bring up the the gym of course we've talked about the gym numerous times and making that a part of you know like like i think when things really affect our residents directly like that i'd like for the commission to be utilized a little bit more in that conversation um you know the different things you work on with the the wiring and all the cool things you were talking about and all the great stuff that's working here in the operations um but if things like that are going to affect our residents and we're going to be having to do some uh troubleshooting or some problem solving on our end to talk to these residents, it'd be nice to kind of be a part of that a little bit more and have more of an open dialogue before those decisions are made. Even if you're at the conclusion of that decision internally, because that is your call, it'd be nice to actually feel like we're a part of those types of decisions. And I know we've talked about it. but i just wanted the commission to hear my view on that um you have you have taken me under i feel a kinship with you i really do um you're you're just awesome and um i know you got my message i'll leave it at that i'll kick it over to uh to commissioner rydell um if you'd like to start that conversation um he's the only one who brought it up so i'll let him lead uh the raise conversation

So I'll be the lawyer for a second. So Section 4.2 of Sheila's contract does mandate on an annual review and or clause. So it's actually different than previous city manager contracts that probably me and Commissioner Welsh have seen in the past because others had mandates. This is more of a flexibility. So there's two prongs that the commission has to decide on this evening. There's a salary prong that's up to a 5% salary increase, and then there's an and or clause with an and or to up to a 5% bonus. This is a little unique because when we drafted Sheila's contract, she actually used the template from a couple years ago. Our previous city manager's contract did not have that language. It was a mandate as opposed to kind of a whatever you want approach. and there's no language in this specifically just to give all of you some clarity. I think Sandy will remember it. There was a negotiation tactic in previous city manager contracts that kind of had that mandate. She only did it just to refresh everyone's recollection. She didn't want that. She wanted it more, not a mandate open ended, which I think is speaks of her and her character so. my my suggestion this evening is we utilize one of those prongs and the prong we use is a salary increase and I would support a full salary increase of five percent uh I'm not I don't I'm not suggesting a bonus I'm suggesting a five percent salary increase on that with the understanding and I mean she can address this if she chooses to much like we will if there's cuts and I'm only saying this because I'm hopeful we don't get there if there's cuts across the board That affects everybody and whether or not Sheila chooses to want to speak on this now. I mean you can sure You can't this is something if there's cuts across the board. I think this commission takes cuts across the board if there's I'm just want to say that I know I just didn't that's my suggestion. I'll turn it. I'll turn it back to you mayor Commissioner Welch

Thank you. And at the conclusion of our meeting, when the city manager Rose and I met regarding her performance evaluation for the year, we did discuss that at the end. And actually it was city manager Rose who made that suggestion to lead by example and to not suggest the second prong of bonus. So I would definitely appreciate that i think that it would be my suggestion as well because we don't know what we're facing and um that's that so you're were you supporting of the five percent raise salary only okay not bonus and are you on a percentage or you were just following uh or you're just agreeing with the commissioner right oh okay

Thank you. OK. I also had the conversation with our city manager, Sheila Rose. And I have to say that was magnanimous of you to suggest that we leave out the 5% bonus, the second prong, because of the uncertainty of the future. I would also agree to an increase of salary. And I would advocate for a 5% in view of the accomplishments of this year and the work that you have put into it. Wasserman has stated, your heart and soul is in this job. And you do take great pride and joy in the accomplishments of your staff. Thank you.

So once again, we all had the same meeting with you where we talked about all this. And I'm in full support of the 5% raise. But I'm going to go against the grain here. I think what she has done in the city deserves the raise whether she wants it or not. I mean, I know it's not popular. We're talking about budget cuts. But she works her tail off. She goes to events that she doesn't have to go to. She sends emails and responds at times that she doesn't have to. Those are the things that our bonuses are based on, the things that are doing extra beyond the job description, beyond the job hours. And if it's 2% to 3%, to me, it's showing that we need to show gratitude. And this is my opinion, so we can all discuss this. But that bonus is a representation of the extra work that she has done. And so I'm going to go against the grain here and say that we need to do something, because I just don't feel it's fair for her to put in all the time that she did. and you know all the stuff that she has to deal with especially now we're going into this this may be this uncertainty uh which won't impact us this time they don't impact us next time so i'm okay with giving it this year but maybe circle back next year and maybe that's a real discussion but right now i i think she's been absolutely running circles around doing stuff. And I think that needs to be rewarded. And I know she doesn't want it. I know that was discussion. But I'm going to be honest with you. I think that she deserves it. I think that she earned it. And I think that that's something that we need to talk about. Because whatever happens with property tax will happen next year. And that contract, we can talk about that, our next evaluation. But my feeling is that I don't feel right in this discussion, not saying that she doesn't deserve it and earn it and something needs to be done. And I feel that way. Thank you.

So it's an awkward conversation. And that just comes with the territory of this position. This is based on a year, right? We are talking about one years of work, right? Last year we talked about your previous year of work. This is about this year. So to me, i believe a bonus is important i believe a bonus is what i would approve because we're talking about this year when you give a raise it's a raise for next year the year after the year after the year after um so i i'm on board um with i mean we i think there's already consensus for a five percent raise but what i would suggest um is a five percent bonus with a 2% raise. You get a little bit of both, but I don't think in this climate that we should be giving a full 5% that's going to go towards our budget that we have uncertainty. That's my take. I'm just trying to be responsible. I adore you. You can't take this personal because we have a job to do and that's my view on it. I think this year you've done an incredible job so I think a bonus is appropriate. I really do. I'm basing it on the year. But as it goes towards the budget, I would support a 2.5% raise. And that's where I'm at. So if anybody wants to say anything else... Raise or bonus? I was saying a 5% bonus and a 2.5% raise. You get a little bit of both, but 5% of her salary is a big chunk. But I do believe I'm basing it on one year of work. because this is what this is about. It's an annual evaluation. So that's my take. I'm open for discussion, or if you guys want to roll with what you want, let's do it. Can we hear from our city manager? Of course.

Well, this year has been focused on talking with employees, meeting with the police department, meeting with the fire department, meeting with each individual department about the risks and the uncertainty associated with property tax. And that's why I proffered the idea of asking for a salary increase as opposed to the two-pronged approach. Last year, I was blessed with a salary increase and a bonus. I certainly want to be fiscally responsible, and I want to have the ability to lead by example. And I don't know that we're going to be there, but I think as we look at the full package of salaries across the city, it's possible that the upper tier folks may need to be looking at reductions. So that's why I was focused on the salary increase. I appreciate anything that you all do. You know, you're right. My heart's in it. I always, of course, I never want to turn down any money. I do work very, very hard. In my mind, I'm on 24-7. So I appreciate anything that you do.

All right.

Yeah, listen, I think our city manager has made at least her request and her desire clear to all of us, whether on the record or in private individual meetings. So I'm happy to put the vote on for a 5% salary increase with zero bonus.

Would, and so if let's say property tax goes through, right, it's approved, yes, in order to feel more comfortable, you know, I don't know if you address this, but would you, you know, commit verbally to decreasing your salary if we see that come down the pipeline in a sign of good faith?

It's a hard question to answer. I think there's some conflicting language in my contract. I believe as part of the entire package, if we have to look at salary reductions, I would take a lead.

Okay. That's good to hear.

Can we do these two separate votes, consensus on it, for the two prong? I think we needed to... You're asking the wrong guy that.

Yeah, you're asking the wrong guy that.

Sorry. Well, because he brought it up.

He threw it out there.

I'm just saying. I'll also say I'll commit to a salary decrease if that's happening across the board in the city.

Okay.

I give consensus for the salary increase.

Okay.

I as well for 5% increase.

Yeah, I'm good with the 5% increase on the salary. But consensus has already hit. But I think we need to discuss the bonus thing, because I think that we can't just disregard what she's done. And the property tax may or may not go through. And if that happens, that impacts next year, not this year.

I mean, listen, John, I appreciate your comments. I don't think any of this is about what you've done or what she's not done. I think it goes to the reason that I suggested a 5% salary increase. At this point, I'm suggesting zero bonus. That would be asking for consensus.

All right, so Commissioner Rydell is giving zero bonus.

And I would say that, John, I am very flattered. I really am. I'm very much appreciative. And I appreciate all the relationships. I just want to be very conscientious about it, and I would respectfully decline the bonus. Okay.

Well, that answers it. All right. Consensus for 5%. Do we need to take a vote, or we have consensus?

Jeff, we called it twice. So, I mean, I think there's consensus on the 5%. Did you give consensus to the 5%? Or you're not supporting that?

It's not what I wanted to do, but if it's 5%, if it's 3 out of 5, you need 3 for consensus, correct?

No, I understand that, but I'm curious if you're supporting that. We're not staying in a position where you can't abstain because you're the last one. I'm just curious.

I'm not supporting a full 5%. Okay.

Are you supporting a bonus? Because I'm going zero bonus, and we haven't heard from you. As I said...

I am supporting a 5% bonus and a 2.5% raise. That is what I said. Okay. So if we want to have consensus on that too, I have no problem with that, okay? But we already have consensus on a 5% raise, so we're moving along. Do we have to vote on this?

It appears that the 5% salary increase was supported by a four to one statement vote.

Got it.

I believe that's sufficient at this time.

Move to adjourn. Anybody?

Move to adjourn.