City Commission - Regular Meeting

Good morning. Good morning. I couldn't make it. Who's here?

What is this grant? It was for youth resource.

You ready? Y, Mr. Mayor.

All right, let's get the meeting going. All right. Well, welcome uh welcome this morning. I apologize if my uh voice is a little horsearo. I'm a little bit under the weather. I'm getting over a cold. I'm much better now. I'm not contagious. That's the uh privilege of having a father who's a physician who can take care of you. Uh welcome to the January 27th, 2026 commission meeting. Uh today's truly a special commission meeting. We have a lot of great things on the agenda. Like I mentioned, at every commencement of the commission meeting, you have every opportunity um to have your voice heard, whether it's by email, whether it's in person, whether it's in Zoom, you even take care of your pigeon. As I've said before, uh what we appreciate is the ability to have you here in one form or another providing us guidance and guidance and insight uh in regards to what you think is important in the city of Pable. So, we're beyond grateful for that. Uh, with that being said, I'd like to I'd like to call the meeting to order and start our invocation with Reverend Hedi Culver, First United Methodist Church, Coral Gables. Reverend, God bless you. Thank you for being here with us. It's always an honor to have you. We send our best welcomes uh to your congregation and we're blessed to have you here today.

Thank you. Yes, I'm glad to be here. It's an honor to be a part of it. We are known as the church behind City Hall. So, yes, we're glad to be here. I had the shortest commute of all the pastors in the in the area. Which by the way, you have a beautiful, as I we say in Spanish, unasimto. Yes. And we copied your nasi momento this year. Uh thanks to the generous donations of, you know, the vice mayor Ronda Anderson and Commissioner Lada and also u multiple members of the community were here along with Willie Romeo also donated uh to that to that cause. So we're very grateful for that.

Thank you so much. Okay, let's begin with a word of prayer. Gracious God, in a world that often feels unsettled and divided, we pause to seek clarity beyond the noise and wisdom deeper than our own certainty, we give thanks for this city, its peoples, its neighborhoods, its history, and its hopes for the future. In these troubled times, grant Coral Gable's leaders clear minds to discern what truly matters, steady hearts to resist fear and reaction, and the patience to listen well to one another. Bless these leaders here today with integrity and judgment, courage in decision-making, and humility in service. May every conversation be shaped by respect, every disagreement guided by goodwill, and every choice measured by its impact on all those living and working in the city beautiful. We ask for safety for our residents, strength for those who serve our community, compassion for those who struggle, and a shared commitment to the common good. May the work done this day honor the trust placed in this commission and help bring light, stability, and hope to our community. Amen. And amen. God bless you and thank you.

Thank you, Reverend. We look forward to having you once again. Thank you very much. Uh may we have our DCM lead us in the pledge of allegiance today of the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. Now, one of my favorite moments of the day, Merrick moment. Please join us. Good morning. Good morning.

The Mer House Governing Board brings you the Merrick moment. Little tidbits that add up to a remarkable story. In 1926, George Merrick hired noted author and fellow Rollins College alum Rex Beach to extol the pleasures and benefits of taking up residence in his city. He paid him $25,000. That's just under $460,000 today to pen the miracle of Coral Gables. As I read this excerpt, bear in mind that travel by air was still a novel thing for the average citizen in 1926. What was this that Merrick talked about? A city beautiful, America's finest suburb, a place where castles in Spain are made real. Good advertising, but nobody took that stuff seriously. He'd better forget his utopian ideas, get his money out, and let nature take its course. Towns aren't made. they grow. Thus ran local comment. He had a harder task at first to sell his idea than to dispose of his plots, for it was too large to be readily grasped, and his city was too big to be seen. There were too many trees in the way. He met these initial difficulties by taking his customers out in airplanes. Now, anybody who was not too agitated to see at all can perhaps see a good deal from an airplane. I have my own theory about how he induced purchasers to buy and bankers to back him. I suspect he threatened to loop them if they refused, but I may be wrong. His enthusiasm may have turned the trick. On the other hand, experience convinces me that of all ways to sell land, the airplane method might be the

easiest. For the first time I went up, I would have gladly bought any part of the landscape beneath me at any price, provided the pilot had contracted to put me in immediate possession of my purchase. Thanks. Thank you very much. And we're blessed to have you back. Thank you. I'd like to put on the record that items A6 and F12 have been deferred. Does the commission or the city manager, city attorney, city clerk have any other items that require deferral? No, mayor.

Items A6 and F12. Now, moving on to presentations and protocol documents. Item A1. Uh, this is a special one that I want to thank Martha Pantin for working so diligently on uh and bringing it to fruition. This is a resolution of condolence, but these are moments that I look upon in some people may see it as as sadness. I look at as remembering a life that uh played not only a huge role in the city of Coral Gables, but truly played a huge role in everyone's life here in Miami County. Uh when I had the privilege of speaking with his lovely wife that you'll get to hear from in a few moments, um and his daughter, I was a little bit it was tough to truly encapsulate what this man meant to this community. So, I can only compare him to one person. That's my father. I think that's the highest honor that you can pay somebody if you compare them to your own father and what they've done for you. Uh this is a gentleman who was at the top of his game in regards to being a leader in business, but was a lot more than that. was a man of family, a compassionate man, a person who was very involved in philanthropy and who a gentleman who signed who who shined an incredibly positive light on South Florida. Uh not only on business but on what we could be and he played a huge role in mentorship. And I think mentorship, as I've said before, something that I'm very involved in, we've actually written legislation here in the city in regards to the page program is the key to ensuring that our community continues to grow in a positive way. and mentorship to me was probably one of the most important things that Peter Deloro remember for. So I'd ask before I read this resolution of condolence that we uh bring up his family uh so that I can read this and have them give a few words. We're also joined by many of his friends, his lovely wife. Please join us. His

daughter um please come to the podium. Good morning. So if you allow me to, let me read this into the record. A resolution of condolence on behalf of the city of Corables, extending its heartfelt sympathy to the bereieve family of the late Peter J. Delora. Whereas Peter J. Dellora was a visionary leader whose life reflected perseverance, humility, and an unwavering commitment to service, rising from humble beginnings to a distinguished career that embodied the promise of the American dream. And whereas after moving to South Florida, Peter De Jelora made Coral Gables his forever home and established American Airlines divisional offices within the city, further strengthening Coral Gable's role as a center for international business and global connectivity. And whereas through more than four decades of leadership with American Airlines, including his service as senior vice president for Miami, the Caribbean, and Latin America, Peter J. Delora played a pivotal role in transforming Miami International Airport into one of the world's premier airline hubs and the leading gateway to Latin America. And whereas his vision for Miami as an international city closely reflected the founding ideals of Coral Gables envisioned by George Merritt recognizing that economic vitality, tourism, and global engagement are inseparable from the strength and success of the community they serve. And whereas beyond his professional accomplishments, Peter was deeply respected as a humble mentor, dedicated community partner, and a compassionate leader whose influence extended far beyond the American industry, the airline industry, excuse me, into the lives of countless individuals he guided and inspired. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the commission of City Corable, Florida, that we extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues

of Peter J. Dora, honoring his lasting contributions to our city, our region, and the global community, and recognizing a legacy that will be remembered with gratitude, respect, and admiration. Thank you. Good morning. Please, a few words. Thank you very much. Peter was a proud citizen of the city of Coral Gables and definitely a proud member of the community and and he accomplished as much as he possibly could proudly and would be very happy to have received that that honor especially from you mayor lock. Thank you. Thank you.

Um you know one of the things that I remember most besides h having the ability to interact with him in a professional level uh he was always not only active in the city but he was always active in his neighborhood. Person who was always running you know getting out there. Um, and I I would be remiss if I didn't say this because I've known you my whole life. Uh, Peter, um, you're an incredibly accomplished attorney and you don't fall too far from what Peter has accomplished here. And so, if you don't know who this young lady is, get to know her because she's the top the top when it comes to her specialty uh, in the legal world. Uh, and also, you're joined by your entire family here. Would you like would you like to say a few words? Maybe any anecdotes, anything that

is our son George, my daughter Katrina, our daughter, a beautiful family,

if we could have a I'd like to if I could have these individuals just come up. Armando, Willie, please join us. Gentlemen, please join us. Willie, say something. You You never lack words.

Peter was an icon in this community. I don't think there was a life that he did not touch since he arrived in our shores just before hurricane. And not just what he did for American Airlines because he saw that others did not when others did not see the value of some of the groups of Eastern Airlines. He he saw the value in what he did for American and for Miami opening the gate to South America. It's something that was transformation to our community and he had a great heart because like some companies that come to our city and our community and simply grow and take back to their hometown or the headquarters. Uh Peter made sure that whether it was United Way or every single non for profit in this community was touched by his generosity. So we we miss him dearly. He made a tremendous impact in all of our lives. I'm very thankful that Martha took the initiative working with you to rec him and his legacy. Thank you, Willie. Julia, madam, vice mayor.

So, you go first,

commissioner. Good morning, Mayor Marilu and Pamilia. Um um JC Lasano, I have the privilege of following in Peter's footsteps and heading American Airlines today. But I think it's important to recognize a couple of things. Peter arrived in Miami with a vision and his vision has an economic impact to South Florida, 24 billion dollars. and he employs more than 15,000 people in Miami. And so I want you to for for a second understand the depth and breath of the work um that he brought, but but also how he has impacted the lives of many of our citizens in our in our community. And uh he didn't just believe in sort of that corporate side of of the of the house. He believed in what Mr. Willie just said, which was doubling down on our community, ensuring that our community partners were successful in that growth, and it's become a model for many other companies to follow here in South Florida. And so, I'm eternally grateful on behalf of our 15,000 employees here in Miami.

Thank you so much, Madam Vice Mayor. I was fortunate to work for 20 years with Peter. uh he was a mentor, he was a friend, but he really taught us what true leadership meant and that is something I will take for him forever. He might have taken his last flight, but his impact uh resonates with so many of us here.

If I could just make a point to Martha. So when Martha joined us a few years ago, I remember laughing. We're having a discussion about something and the issue, I don't know what came up. I don't know why, but this conversation came up but it was like Martha worked for Peter how many years you were 20 years in in and basically this is her career is coming to an end here in obviously city gables and I mentioned it very clearly I go she got trained by the best and what she did at American Airlines set her up to be here and this is easy for her in comparison to what she dealt with and remember I told you that so um we are feeding we're feeding the fruits and the efforts of Peter by individuals who are trained like Martha So, and there's a lot of people in this community like the gentleman who just spoke who's meeting uh now on the same footsteps as Peter is. We're blessed. And I think Willie mentioned something very interesting too that when we talk about charity as a board member of La Liga, uh you know, multiple different boards that I sit on, American Airlines played a huge role in making sure that we're viable, that we're viable and we could help uh those that were most need in this community. American not only was an icon and continues to be an icon in this community uh but was a safety net for a lot of charities in this community that that needed to make payroll that needed to you know that little bit of money just to make sure at the end of the year including the United Way. So those are things that uh sometimes we easily forget but need to be remembered vice mayor.

So I didn't have the opportunity to know Mr. or personally, but I did get to see the impact that he had upon um those employees who remained at Eastern Airlines. My father retired before the last days of Eastern, but the co-workers that stayed behind that were young, much younger than him, and and didn't have the opportunity to retire very much appreciated Mr. Balora did and picking up the pieces and and remaining not only just to give them the jobs, but also making Miami the hub that it is today. I mean, Eastern had a wide hub, but he was able to implement and broaden and keep this this South Florida area vibrant for the future. So, very much appreciate the impact that he had for our city.

May we take a photo? Be honored to we could like to share with you

Item A2 and F2 are related, so we'll address both of those. Madame Vice Mayor, want to read it in the record. I can read it. Sure. The resolution. I I can Well, I A2 is the proclamation and then I will read F2 into the record. It is a resolution of the city commission code designating Agustoa Street as Explorer's Way in honor and recognition of the centennial celebration of Pon Leon Middle School. And by the way, madam vice mayor, I apologize. There's also a video that staff has whenever you'd like to see that before your

So why don't we start with the um the video and then we can read the proclamation so we can appreciate what Pona Leon has to middle school has to offer. Both of my girls went there so I got to see it in person many many years ago. St is staff ready or My name is Angie Gonzalez, born and raised here in Miami Dade. I have been an educator with Miami Dade County Public Schools for 20 years and now have the privilege of serving as a principal of Pon DeLeon Middle School for the past couple of years. I arrived at Pon June of 2024. Pon is unique in the sense that we have been there for 100 years and it's such a great school with such a historical and strong foundation. So my role really last year was to see where are those pockets that we can improve on and one of the the priorities was really taking technology and the advancements of where we are at in a society today and coexisting that with the traditions of Ponell Middle School. The other area that we focused on was bringing up academics. So we came in as a C and quickly brought that up to a B and we are only 5 percentage points away from an A. So we are very proud of the work that has been done in the past year. Pona Leon Middle School today was actually Pon Leon High School back in 1926. So we initially started for the first 25 years as the high school of the city of Coral Gables and then transitioned into the dynamic IB program and middle school that we are today. In the 1950s, Coral Gables Senior High School then became

the high school of Coral Gables. We transitioned into Ponellon Junior High School where we service students from grades 5 through nine. And then years later, we transitioned once again into the middle school, which is what we are today, servicing students grades 6, 7, and 8. I've been very blessed with my staff and my students. I'm honored to work amongst individuals that have been there. Some of my staff members were actually students at Palm Stillion Middle School. Now, we hang on tight to traditions and that is what grounds us, right? the culture, the feel, but we also have to keep advancing when it comes to academics, when it comes to technology, when it comes to moving forward and creating programs that our current students are going to benefit from. In 2008, Pon Leon Middle School was the first in the city of Coral Gables to be established as an international balorate middle years program. So that is our focus within the magnet system of Miami date county public schools. We are excited to now combine what we've had in the past start from Ponleon Middle School and the city of Coral Gables to wherever walks life takes me through the education and the experiences that we've gotten and received from Ponleon Middle School. So I'll I'll start with the proclamation and we'll go into explorer's way afterwards and welcome you up here to to speak about the importance of it. Whereas Ponleó Middle School was founded alongside the city of Coral Gables in the 1920s known then as Ponely High School now stands as one of the oldest

educational institutions in the city of Coral Gables. And whereas for 100 years, Pon Leon Middle School has provided highquality education to generations of Coral Gable's youth and families, deeply shaping the civic, cultural, and academic life of the community. And whereas the school evolved into a fully fully magnet international bachelor uh program, an IB program, middle years program in 2008, offering a globally focused curriculum preparing students for success in a diverse and interconnected world. And whereas a world and whereas the school and IB magnet program has been recognized nationally as a certified national magnet school, national demonstration school, top magnet school of excellence by magnet schools of America organization, affirming its longstanding commitment to advanced academics and equity. And whereas the school has earned the gold STEM school designation for strong emphasis in production of award-winning student teams in science, technology, engineering, robotics, and mathematics. And whereas Ponleó Middle School continues to foster a culturally and linguistically diverse student body and staff, offering foreign languages such as Spanish, French, and Italian, and preparing students to be bilingual, biiterate, and culturally competent consistent with its mission to develop caring, open-minded global citizens. And whereas Ponto Leon continues to offer full complement of enrichment programs including fine arts, music, digital media, physical education, and community service contributing to the development of well-rounded students. Whereas the school's educators and administrators have demonstrated an unwavering dedication, innovation, and leadership in supporting academic achievement and

student wellness over the course of a century. Now therefore, I, Vince Slago, as mayor of the city of Coral Gables, on behalf of the city commission, do hereby proclaim 2026 school year as centennial year of Pon Leó Middle School. So with that, I'd invite you up to speak about it and we can also um talk about explorer's way um there which is item uh F2 on the agenda and so we can have discussion and hear public comment. I'll make a motion if someone will second it. We have a motion. Have a second. Good morning. Good morning.

Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor Anderson, Mayor Lago, members of the city commission. On behalf of our Pon Explore family, thank you. We gladly uh accept this proclamation and of course the co-naming of Explorers Way with great honor and gratitude. For a century, Pon has been a place where young people find their footing, discover their strengths, and begin to see themselves as part of a greater community. Today as an international balora middle years program we have improved our overall state grade to a B. We have been ranked nationally as a magnet school of excellence by magnet schools of America and we have been designated as a gold STEM school by Miami Date County Public Schools and we continue the mission of nurturing curious, compassionate and globally minded learners to be prepared and engaged thoughtfully with the world around them. We are excited to celebrate along a city that values education, legacy, and civic responsibility as deeply as we do. And as we honor the past, we also accept the responsibility of shaping the next hundred years, ensuring that Ponelon Middle School continues to be a place of opportunity, possibility, and purpose for generations to come. Thank you again for this honor and remember Pon Leon Middle School and Miami date county public schools has been is and will always be your best choice. Thank you.

Remind us when the date is for um you're going to unveil Explorer's Way and then you're going to also have an opening towards the end of February. Yes. What are those dates? February 12th will be our ceremonial centennial celebration and February 26 will be a celebration to invite alumni and community to walk the halls and enjoy our arts and pawns event. Okay, Mr. Manager, if uh if we may, can we put that in our newsletter to make sure that they receive the proper exposure of the celebration? Yes, sir. Thank you very much. We have a motion and a second. Mr. Clerk, do you have any public comment?

No, Mr. Mayor. I will close up on the comment. Um, do we have a vote? Sorry, Mr. Mayor. Yes, we do. Mr. Maria Cruz.

Good morning, Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road. I am extremely happy and proud to support F2 Because being the mother, my oldest daughter went to Pawns Middle and now is a school principal and my two granddaughters. One is a senior at Corgavos High and the other one is an eighth grader at Pon. So I endorse the naming of the street as Expressway 100 and if I could a thousand times. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes.

Commissioner Castro, I'm sorry. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Commissioner Lara, yes. Mayor Log, yes. Let's take a photo with our commission.

So before we move on, I was just speaking with the principal with the vice mayor and uh one of the things that we mentioned was obviously how great the opportunity is for us as we're selling the city of Corables to big businesses, Apple, Ryder, uh, FIFA. One of the things they always ask us is about education, education, education for their executives, for their employees. Where can they put their kids to school? So, as you continue to trend upward, it just makes our job even easier, number one. And something you said was, you know, we talked about this is a very critical age, and I said that I have a sixth grader. Um, but you said something that really resonated with me, and I want to put on the record, and that was this is the opportunity. This is the moment. Look it as an opportunity to really shape and mold. And something that I said to you that I make, I think it's important. You should take it as a compliment. Anybody who tells you that that a teacher doesn't spend more time with their kids is not saying the truth. You know, we're out there working every single day. When our kids are at school, they're spending eight, nine hours with teachers, with mentors, with their trainers. Um, you guys are spending the bulk of the day with our children. So, uh, what you're doing is God's work. And I just want to say on behalf of the commission, the city of Corables, thank you for protecting and taking care of our children, tomorrow's leaders. So, thank you for that. I really appreciate that. And I witness that now more than ever, obviously having two daughters. Uh I see I see the fragility. I see how sometimes I fail miserably. Uh but at the end of the day, the teachers are there uh to do the best they can. So, thank you for that. Thank you. It's a thankless job. Uh, item A3. I'd like to see if we can do a few of these before we go to our time start at 10 o'clock. Good morning. Good morning.

Good morning, mayor, vice mayor, commission. We are at Solange Lopez, business community manager with the economic development department. Matt Anderson, assistant director, mobility and sustainability.

And we are here to present the third winner of our 2025 commercial beautifification award. As we've done at the last two commission meetings, we're here to honor um a business that has gone above and beyond in maintaining and beautifying their storefront and surrounding area. And this time we are here to honor Misha's Cupcakes located at 1586 South Dixie Highway. And we have Misha herself here with us. You can come on up. And here are just some pictures of the beautiful storefront that she has created at this Dixie location. uh making it very inviting to those driving by and walking by and enjoying those delicious cupcakes of hers. So, we have a plaque and your window decal. And would you like to say a few words?

Good morning. Congratulations. Good morning. Thank you. Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for having me here. It's good to see you. Thank you, ladies. This is so awesome. Um, I was genuinely pleased and surprised when we received the um, email saying that we'd won this award. And I'm looking around this room and seeing wonderful faces that I recognized and that have been part of our journey since we started in 2005, but the first store was in 2008. So, I'm thrilled that our store has enhanced the beauty of Coral Gables. This is my hometown and I was born in Coconut Grove and raised here. So, I'm a big fan. So, thank you. Thanks for having me and I look forward to continuing this whole thing with um you know beautifying our storefronts. Thank you.

So congrat congratulations. I had the privilege of cutting the ribbon a few years ago. Wonderful. And what you've been able to do there is amazing and this location is is incredibly important to the city because for such a long time I remember going there with my grandparents so I was really excited when Misha obviously opened because it's in kind of the same line you know the sweets and it's you know it's all about celebration. We used to go to We used to go to Swenson's for birthdays. We used to go to Swenson's to celebrate. And when you when we order Misha's cupcakes, it's for an event. It's for a party. It's for a birthday. It's for what are we celebrating? So, I think it's uh we're really excited to see you being successful there. And um just thank you for going the extra mile because that's what the city's all about. Thank you.

Thank you, the mayor. So, I also want to echo his sentiment. So, it's glad to hear and know that you also grew up um like me in Coral Gables. I remember back in that day uh obviously everybody went to Swenson's and I also worked as a teen at Specs right you know right there if anybody remembers Specs it's aging you I think all you need to know about my age is looking right here um but but I wanted to say that um I love Misha's cupcakes I'm probably a quarter Misha's at this point um you even more

but like the mayor was saying um there's something so beautiful about the way that storefront um was decorated that makes it feel homey, family oriented, not that cold um generic sort of formulaic look that too many times corporate America likes to kind of push on you. So you're recognized, we we see it, we appreciate it, and you make the experience all around just really great for families. So thank you for what you've done. I appreciate your work very much. Thank you. I might have to bring cupcakes. M

I I think your cupcakes sell themselves. Um but as far as location, I know it's a very tough location because it's kind of hidden. It's tucked away. Um and there are a couple establishments that tried to be successful there, but what you have done makes it pop and it really attracts the eye. Uh yes. Well, just just the general design. Um, and I think it it's really changed the look of that neighborhood uh and of that block and I'm hoping it just continues to expand as it goes through that neighborhood. Tell all your people. I appreciate that very much. Yes. Yes. Thank you all. Let's take a photo.

Thank you. Item A4. Congratulations to the Coral Gables fire extrication team. Chief, good morning.

That screen doesn't exist. Good morning, Mayor. Hey, Chief. How are you, sir? Commission. Uh I'm proud to present our extrication team that competed in a national uh vehicle rescue association regional competition in Palm Beach in the fall. And uh to tell you about their accomplishments, I'd like to call up Special Operations Division Chief Louie Farardo, who heads up the program. Chief,

good morning, sir. Mayor, good morning. Um, it's my privilege to introduce the Corables extrication team. With over 35 years of service, the team has represented the city locally and international. They have built a strong reputation and excellence in the vehicle rescue training and instruction. Beyond the competition, the team helps develop important firefighter skills such as critical thinking, leadership, and teamwork. In fact, 45% of our officers have all been part of the team. The team is made up of an incident commander, five technicians, a paramedic. They train on realistic scenarios. Um, this recent p this past recent year, they they competed in the NAVRA 2025 invitational. Um, where they placed first place overall. The technicians also placed in third place, sorry, third place overall, first place technician. Um, I want to recognize the actual members of the team. First one being the technicians which is Nicholas Sierra he was he's not here with us today. Norman Angel, driver engineer Nico Fernandez, the firefighter paramedic Zachary Lynn, John Paul Ya Gomez and last but not least, incident commander um Alexandra Gonzalez. The reason I saved her for last is this this is a unique individual. She's been an officer for only I want to say three months. for her to accomplish what she accomplished at this competition is huge. It shows that the the value in the program and what the training gets you to. Um the big picture here is not really the these awards. It's more the reward that our citizens are going to receive. The experience they received from the hour the hundreds of hours and hundreds of cars they cut um and scenarios they did up to that competition is what really brings them to the next level. So I want to congrat congratulate them all and I'm very proud of them. Thank you guys.

Good morning. Congratulations. Good morning. Thank you so much. Thank you for having us here. Um, I would like to start by thanking our fire chief for making this possible for us. Um, and the administration as well. Without their neverending support, we would never be able to do what we do. Um, I'm so proud of these boys that they work so hard. They literally shed blood, sweat, and tears doing this. Um, and it's our honor to bring back the knowledge that we gained from this experience and share it with the rest of the department so that we can be better rescuers for the community. So, thank you. Thank you, Chief.

She's very quiet and pleasant and then she's very loud and has incredible command presence when she's competing. But uh as the chief said before, I I congratulate them and the awards are nice and that's why we come up here in the commission. But the end product is what's really important. And when you consider that um threearters of this team has less than five years on the job. uh she as they just mentioned is a brand new officer and the coordination that happens there is what translates to the street. These scenarios are great but as a fire chief I worry a lot because they're real cars and they're real tools and it takes a lot of coordination to make sure that not only that to accomplish what they need to accomplish but do it in a safe and effective manner where they don't get themselves hurt. So congratulations to the team and we thank all of you for the support and enabling us to participate in these programs. Thank you.

Let's take a photo.

Sure. I was Look over here. Item A5.

So A5, we present our excuse me, firefighter of the month for January. Uh, Lieutenant Bernstein heads up our peer support and critical incident stress management team. uh we recognize him or his peers recognize him because he's silently takes care or facilitates care uh for a lot of our members. In addition to that, he is part of a state team where he gets deployed to provide the same services for firefighters that are either responded or have been impacted by disasters throughout the state. So for his dedication to the health and wellness of our members and that of those throughout the state, he is nominated as our firefighter of the month. So Lieutenant Bernstein,

congratulations so much. Thank you. Good morning. I just want to say thank you to my wife for supporting me and giving me the time to be able to do this to support the team, the state and the at the national level. I want to thank the city and I want to thank the department for the opportunity. This isn't just an award that's going to me. This is a reflection of a city and a department that cares about its peers and its community enough to take care of us, to take care of them. Peer support isn't about just being one strong individual. It's about having the strength to look forward and take care of each other at the base level. With that being said, I'm proud to work here in the city and this department that gives us an opportunity to have leadership, exemplary service, and customer service at all levels, including to our firefighters. Thank you so much.

Let's do the other. We have another one, right? No, that's it.

That's it. All right, let's take a photo. Oh, we got one more. Just open Item A6.

Chief, good morning. A7. Oh, A6. I apologize. Is deferred. Correct. A7. Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor. I am awake. I missed that one. Thank you, Chief. Good morning.

Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Madame Vice Mayor, commissioners. Uh this morning we're here to recognize our officer of the month for December 2025. On December 26th at approximately about 1:00 in the afternoon, a Coral Gables resident observed on his Ring camera somebody go and steal his package off of the front porch in the 600 block of Alhamra Circle. Once the individual wisely called us, gave us a description of the individual that stole the package, excuse me, and left on what appeared to be an electric bike with a subject, another subject driving westbound from the residence. Our officer dispatched the call quickly responded to the area, canvas the neighborhood, and as she searched at approximately 10 minutes after 1, she located both individuals going eastbound on the 1400 block of Abyspo Avenue. The subject and offender while riding the bike was on the back. She stopped the individuals along with other units in the 1300 block of Abyspo. Once she ordered them to stop, they did stop and was the offender was taken into custody without incident. After further investigation, the invest the incident was a burglary of a curtilage since they entered onto the property and stole the packages which made it a thirdderee felony. Uh the individual was then placed in custody as well as the driver taken back to the station. It was later identified through backgrounds in the CD units that the offender had a long lengthy history of criminal violence as well as other offenses. Due to officer Richardson's persistence, she was able to locate the offender quickly and recover the stolen property that she found from not just that location, but other locations throughout the city. Because of her actions, she was nominated and awarded December 2025 officer of the month.

Thank you so much, guys. This is an honor. Thank you. I feel like you've been here a few times already. No, I have not. No, that's her husband. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh, I would like to thank the commission, uh, my command staff, uh, my supervisor, Sergeant Dickinson for nominating me for this award. Uh, I'm truly grateful, uh, for my colleagues as well, for everybody that surrounded uh, themselves around me, my family, my support team, and, uh, most of all, God, because without him, I would not be here right now. Um, so, thank you so much. This is an honor.

Mayor, if I can, and I know you've all heard me say this about a family. Well, this is the quintessential first family of the police department because not only does her husband work alongside of her, but her father is also Sergeant Garcia, and I think the kids are now going to be in the Explorer program in about in about two weeks. So, uh it it is definitely um the future. Uh Gabby was the last of the Garcia clan to come through the department and she has made great strides through our training process and we're very proud of her as well as all of the Richardson and Garcia family. Let's take a photo. Thank you so much.

There you go. Do we want to hold it? I can't get through. Thank you for being here. Amen.

Vice Mayor. Yes. Are we voting on the issue of ebikes? Is the issue of ebikes a vote? Okay. So, we have to hear public. We have to hear public comment first. That's what I was just notified. No, because I want to take advantage of the fact that we have the chief here and we can tackle a few things. For example, 911 consolidation, which is something that again the chief has been working on with the manager. So, if you just let me get through public comment and then we'll tackle the first thing. Uh B1, approve of minutes. I'll move it. I uh public comments.

Apologize. First speaker is Mrs. Maria Cruz. Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road. And for those of you that would like to call me, the number is 3053232154. Um, this is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. I'm going to have to talk fast. I had something that I wanted to discuss and then I realized that I was not going to be able to talk on the consent agenda. So, I had to pull something in very fast. Um, last commission meeting, our steam mayor took the time during D5 to state and I quote, never taking a trip on the city dime. That's D5 on last on that video that we all should watch. And today the travel expense budget is being amended to increase his um travel expenses, the mayor's expenses from $1,800 to 4500. That means $2700. If my math is still good, that's about 150% increase. No argument. I just remember hearing that he's never taken a trip on the on the city's dime. And today we're asking to add um $2,700 to the mayor's travel expenses. This is what I really wanted to talk about today. All right.

Um I've been talking about scandals and how we cover scand scandals in the city for some time. financial scandals, uh, behavior scandals, but then last commission meeting was a perfect example of what we do to cover what we don't want the people to know. And at first I didn't believe it, but then I sat down and I watched the video since I have been here and I had taken notes. I realized that the way we're going to cover this one was by editing the video. And of course, I'm sure that we're going to say that it was done because it didn't look good for the city. But my question is, was it not good for the city or was it not good for the mayor? Because obviously his behavior was not acceptable. Now we talk about transparency and truth. Actions speak louder than words. Uh um what we witness, what the people witness, what made the news, what everybody's talking about now

is WW. Miss Cruz, would you be Excuse me. I need to finish the sentence like to allow other people. All you have to do is go to Mam News New Times and read what happened and how it happened and how uh Carl Gables first is not going to report on it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Jackson Holmes report. Well, we'll deal with it at the end. One more. This is the last public comment. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Perfect. Go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Um, so I'm on the same subject matter. Um, as many of you may know, there was a article published uh in the Miami New Times uh implying that um uh this same video there it's on the slide here now um was uh tampered with. And so what I proposed to you all, I don't know if you remember a few months ago, it July 5th, uh the city commission voted to start a criminal investigation of another city official uh over alleged um tampering with public records. Uh so I think that uh this allegation is at least as serious uh and so therefore what I propose is an alternative uh action um either because there's there's supposed to be equal protection under the laws under the US Constitution. So, my proposal is that the city commission either resend uh its vote to start a criminal investigation of the prior allegation of tampering with public records or that it now order a criminal investigation of this subject matter of uh tampering with the city commission video in favor of uh the mayor. equal protection on criminal investigations. Thank you.

Thank you. We're done. Yes, sir. We're done.

Okay. First and foremost, before we tackle the New Times issue, because I I was hoping that someone would bring it up. Uh Mr. Manager, will you discuss the issue of travel and I want to correct the record for Miss Cruz. Um I've never taken a trip on the city dime. The only trips that I've ever taken, I've never gone to Israel. I've never gone to Taiwan. I've never taken a free trip. The only trips that I've ever taken were to Tallahassee to bring back millions and millions and millions of dollars on behalf of Tallahassee. Thank you to our state legislators, our senators, and our governor for having faith and trust that we do things the right way except for that one year where we received zero. And they were very clear on that. They gave us zero. Madam vice mayor, please correct me if I'm wrong. They stated on the record because of Commissioner Fernandez, Melissa Castro, and Kirk Menendez raising their salaries by 101% and the way that they conducted themselves for that one year where it was basically a circus here in the city. So my statement is very clear. The only time I've ever spent any city money u and it's public record. You can look it up is in an effort to bring back money and appropriations and pass legislation in Tallahassee. So that's number one. Obviously they'll cut and paste it. They'll put it on uh the coffee website and they'll put it on uh the New Times and they'll put it on the gazette, the AI gazette. Uh but at the end of the day um it is what it is. Mr. Manager, will you address the issue of of the of the additional re of the additional cost for travel, please?

Thank you. Uh yes, mayor. Thank you. Uh the some of the commissioners uh were low in in the travel expense. We we had $1,200. We decided to multiply that by 2.5 for everyone, and that's how we came up uh with that amount. Uh and those are general those are trips uh to Tallahassee uh in uh for the mayor you in particular have not used any of that money yet and but we we went uh with 2.5 times the the amount for for for every commissioner and for the mayor that that allows two trips to Tallahassee and uh and so that's why we did that. It has nothing to do with with any any other issue or any other travel.

And also in an effort which I know this will not make the blogs but I'm going to put this on the record. I wish I wish my colleagues to the left and to the right, they spent the time to do the effort that they're putting in to smear me, but they spent the time to actually benefit the city. We had the delegation from uh from abroad here uh who were here with us last week and we were able to ratify our existing uh commitment uh with the mayor. Uh we went out to dinner one night and it was a beautiful dinner at Bugatti. Uh the cost was almost $1,000 and I insisted that I pay for it personally out of my own pocket. The food and the wine uh not put it on the city's tap. Uh you can ask staff. The manager was there. I pay for everyone's bill like I always do. I wish that my colleagues would do the same, but for some reason there's two colleagues that won't do that. They won't pay for the nativity scene. They won't pay for the minora. They won't donate to causes that I think are important. For example, like the leaf event. It is what it is. but they just spend their time smearing and smearing and spearing and making up insane stories like this one. You just heard it from the manager. It will not get any air time obviously, but we'll be publishing some insane story on some social media website. Now, let's talk about the issue which I'm really excited about. I'm grateful that Miss Cruz brought it up uh so that we can really hammer this issue home. Uh Mr. Clerk, would you like to address it and tell them exactly what I said after the meeting was adjourned? By the way, go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, I appreciate the reset, excuse me, when the meeting.

I appreciate the opportunity to clarify the record. Uh, I wanted to say that I personally have handled every single city commission meeting video since 2011. And every single video with the exception of none, I have edited the video and I have cut out recesses and when the commission has stepped out. Additionally, whenever the commission takes a recess, I have instructed cable TV to cut off the microphones in the chamber. because we might be talking about each other's family. I might ask you about what you did the over the weekend or something to that effect and it's not part of the v of the video. It's not part of the meeting. There's times when the we come back to the meeting, the mayor asked, "Mr. Clerk, are we ready?" I know in multiple locations you've heard the video say, "Recording in progress now because that's when I start recording again." What was different about the last commission meeting was that I requested cable TV to remove the YouTube link, the live link from YouTube, not coralgables.com. Every single video on coralgables.com has been edited by me since 2011. The YouTube link was replaced because the microphones remained active while the commission was on recess. That's the only reason why the YouTube video and only the YouTube video was changed. Aside from that, we have received multiple public records requests for the entire meeting video from different camera angles and everything has been responded up until yesterday. So, the reason the Miami New Times got the entire video with the different camera angles because my office gave it to them immediately. So, if the commission wants me to change the practice of removing the breaks or removing lunch or anything like that from the videos that I post on the web, I'll be happy to do it.

Let's talk about a few issues. First and foremost, what was what was the discussion that was had? Number one, Commissioner Caster, as you can see, is not here today. Um, was making statements as she does on multiple occasions in regards to my family. That's unacceptable. Unacceptable. When I walked out, I said, "Unacceptable. I will not talk about people's families. Unacceptable. Off limits." I asked, and I correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Manager, Madam City Attorney, Mr. Clerk. I said, "Mr. Manager, Mr. City Attorney, Madam City Clerk, I'd like to see you in my office." And I walked out of the chambers. That's a standard protocol. Commissioner Fernandez for the last two years public record has fought me to stop to have recesses to not have a recess as on multiple occasions says we won't have we won't recess when they had the control of the commission under him ro I call the recess to have order in the chambers we will have order in the chambers we will have respect you're not going to talk over the mayor you're going to talk through the mayor and we're going to have order simple the same thing that happens in Miami date county this does not happen in the Miami date county commission to the extent that I went to speak at the city of Miami commission in regards to Ralph Rosado, Commissioner Rosado inviting me to speak about um the the link I forgot, excuse me, the not the underline, but I forgot what it's called in this moment. The loop, thank you very much. And the chairman cut me off in two minutes. You're cut off. Done. Literally cut me off in two minutes. Doesn't matter if it's an elected official, doesn't matter who it is. And I was about to praise the commission for doing something good. So at the end of the day, at the end of the day, there's rules. And it seems to me that it's certain people, for example, don't want to follow them. They want to get away with certain things. They want to push the envelope. They want to make me look bad. But now, since we brought up the New Test, let's have a good discussion on that. Here we go. Do you know why the New Test published that article? Because it was fed to them by a

member of this commission. I didn't feed it to them. No, I didn't. Was it allowed? Did you feed it to them? Okay. So, it was fed to them. And how do I know that? Because I know somebody who told me that's involved with the New Test. And let's talk about that. Why do the New Test publish that? Because they're pay just like the AI Gazette and just like the coffee website. They're all you pay them and they'll write whatever they want. They'll smear anybody. It doesn't matter. Now, what is the real reason why the New Times has a bone to pick? I'm going to show you. Mr. Clerk, will you run Will you run it, please?

Cable TV. This is years of holding them accountable for not standing up to the standards here in the city. They do not follow ADA requirements. They do not follow beautifification. And by the way, Mr. Manager, how many years have we been trying to work with them? We've forced them. They're unhappy about the fact that we forced them to repaint um these newspaper stands. As you can tell, there's no newspapers there. Um do you have any more? Look at this. This is the way it looks in our city. Uh, and they're upset because for years I've been holding them accountable. Madam city attorney, how many how many times do you think we've met over this issue over the last few years to make sure that we enforce and we hold them accountable?

We've had various internal city meetings, mayor, and we've notified them many times. Right. I believe code enforcement has been in contact with a representative. But we're not talking about this is this is the last month. This is years in the making. Correct. I know this has been a big concern of yours, mayor, for many years. Yes. Okay. So, it's not a concern about me. It's about beautifification of the city. So, what do they do now? They're trying to intimidate me. Well, let's talk about it. Do you have any more photos that you like to show? Um, Mr. Clerk, I think I sent you some more that are there. No, sir.

Okay. I sent a few more, but let's talk about it. So, this is the New Times that you have here. It's 10 pages. Look, these are some more. Some more that I personally took photos of that I sent. And it takes months, if not years, to correct this. If our city, if you want our city to look like this, then it's okay. Then we'll leave it the way it is. But I'm not going to be intimidated by the New Times, by an article saying that I stood up from the DAS and I left because one of my commissioners was talking about my family. I'm going to call a recess. This is another example. I have dozens of these. Dozens of these. So this is the typical intimidation by a liberal blog, liberal media who is trying to destroy everything that has to do with who I am, my family, my business. So let's talk about this. This is This is what we're talking about. This is it. This is what we're having. I don't I don't read the article. I just picked this up for the first time. This is 10 pages. This used to be this thick when I was young. Now it's down to 10 pages. Nobody reads this. Nobody. Nobody cares. So, I will not stop making sure that they're in compliance with the city, that they're following the rules and that we're doing things the right way because we have standards here in the city pro game. So, uh, Mr. Clerk, you were the one that was next to me. Did I say anything outside of what we spoke about? No. Go ahead, please. I want to put on the record.

No, sir. Okay. So, with that being said, we can do this back and forth and they can write all the articles they want, but at the end of the day, I'm going to continue doing what I think is in the best interest of the city and I will have the quorum here on the commission floor. I think it's critically important. Um, Mr. Cler, do you have any other do we have any other public comment on that matter? We don't. Yes, sir.

So, I do have I do have a followup on that. And to me, it really doesn't matter who wrote the article, who didn't write the article. There were several articles that were written. Um my concern is and I mentioned it in my email to the city clerk, city uh manager and the city attorney was regarding the second break where there was no recess called. Uh and if you watch the video, you will see there was no recess called. The rest of us remained up here and we were getting instruction from the city attorney during that time on whether we were in recess, whether the motion to adjurnn did have marriage to move forward. That should have been part of the record because we were having a conversation up here. Now, from the information I have gathered from a Robert Truel expert, if the word recess is not mentioned, we are not in recess. And if you go back and watch the video, the mayor said another hour and hit down the gavl. Never was there a call for recess. At that point, I made a motion to adjourn so that we could come back with cooler heads at the next commission meeting, which would have been today, which was seconded by Commissioner Castro. That is my larger concern. There was a discussion up here about procedure, which should have been on the record, whether the the the procedure that the clerk's office follows of when we're up here. I've always seen video of the commission when they're up here. audio is sporadic because the microphones don't pick everything up when we're sitting up here prior to the start of the meeting. And like the mayor said, there is the the uh the audio that says recording in progress because that is when the recording begins for the commission meeting. I don't question

that. What I do question is the fact that there was a discussion on procedure which should have been part of the official record. Whether there's another video that is saved somewhere that is accessible if you request it or not, the official video of this commission meeting should have kept that procedural discussion up until where the city attorney says we are now in recess because that was what the mo the uh the mayor's intent was until that point. That should have been part of the record and it was not. That was cut out of the video. Uh, I watched the video several times just to see if maybe I missed it. It It's not missed. It's not there. The minute that it is gave that that the mayor hits the gavl, even though the word recess was not said, and we remained up here having a conversation about whether that was and getting instruction from the city attorney, um, that is not part of the video that's available on YouTube, uh, or the video that's available on the city's website. So that that was my concern about the uh uh the video. Whether in the past there have been edits of the the time that that there's a break. I understand that because we do take a lunch break. We do take breaks. And if a resident is trying to watch a video at home afterward, they shouldn't be worried about a 1-hour break in between trying to figure out when it starts. I understand that. But if there are members of the commission that are sitting up here and having a conversation about the city or process, that should be part of the record.

Commissioner, let me respond to you very quickly. Madam City attorney, we were on recess, correct? I hit the gavo. We're on recess. So, so I have not gone back to watch the video, mayor, but my recollection is that there was I don't know what words he used, but I think there was an understanding that that we were taking a recess or a break. Um, and then there was some question about a you did make a motion or attempted to make a motion and there was an attempted second and there was a question asked of me is can we vote and I said if we are in recess we cannot take a vote and you all stood up or or there was an acknowledgement of that and that is my recollection without having gone back to watch the video.

Well, we're not here we're not here to discuss whether we're in recess or not. We're just here to do everything in our power which is to try to make me look bad. That's what we're trying to do. It's the effort. But I want to I want to go into something. Let's do something simple. Let's do something simple. Mr. Clerk, there is a there is a there is a video out there. Maybe maybe you cut it because I think we did go into a break where Commissioner Fernandez leaves the dice and is screaming as he's running out of here insulting me, saying that I should quit, that I should do all kinds of ridiculous things. It was probably about a year and a half ago saying I should quit and all kinds. Was that cut also or was that or was that he left running? I was still on the dis. Did I call for a recess or is that still available? The difference is very simple is that I don't take that video and then leak it to blogs. I don't need to I don't need to do that. And it doesn't matter because the new time is not going to move a dial here. It's not moving a dial. The residents here know the truth. And you can sell them that I got up and I left and it doesn't matter. At the end of day, we called recess. I was not going to allow the discourse to evolve into something ridiculous and disrespectful. You don't talk about people's family. You don't you didn't I I gave you every opportunity to take a stand and you took a weak weak stand because you didn't want to hurt your colleague who is you know you guys are working together. I would never allow for anybody to talk about anybody's family up here and it's not the first it's not the second or the third time that happens and it continues to happen. You I gave you every opportunity every opportunity to address it uh and you didn't address it because at the end of the day it's not convenient for you. So, I've never run out of here screaming, "You should quit. You should do all kind." It's on the record. You did that. Do I go and leak that to to to media or anything? No, I don't. It's just the same thing you've done for years. You've done for years. You've taken advantage of the COA. You've turned people into the Commission on Ethics, FDLE. You've been doing it for years and everybody

knows. Everybody knows. So, at the end of the day, it's okay. We put up with it for two years. I didn't I didn't use your name. We put up with it for two years. We put up with two years. Now, I know that you're grasping at straws in an effort to continue to have a circus up here. I'm not going to allow it. We're going to continue. We have a lot of business at hand. We have exceptional elected officials here that we got to get the work at hand. And I'm not going to go back and forth and tip for task. It can be used on some blog post. That's exactly what you want, madam vice mayor. And then the commissioner lot. So during the recess, which was clearly a recess, I was sitting as chair and in my capacity as chair, I said that there was a recess called. Now whether we want to split hairs on whether you understood that it related back to the prior recess or whether the word was actually uttered into the microphone of recess, it was abundantly clear we were in recess and that the motion to adjourn the meeting was the most nonproductive thing that we could do. We needed to get the business of the city done. Nothing more. I have nothing more to say on this topic.

And it's very simple. It's very simple. The Miami New Times does not want to be held accountable. They do not want to maintain their boxes. They're not ADA compliant. They're rusted. They're not they're not being kept up. They're full of stickers and graffiti. I just gave you some examples. The DCM can tell you, I've sent them to him for for the last two years over and over and over again. We get compliance, then we don't get compliance. We're requesting code enforcement is spending hours writing them up, sending them letters, legal gets involved. This is time that belongs to the residents. If you're going to be fortunate enough to have a new stand in the city of Coral Gables, half dozen or a dozen of them, you should be held to the same standard that everyone else is. For example, our garbage cans are cleaned every week on Miracle Mile. You understand? We make sure that we clean the sculptures. We make sure that we uphold the floors. The floors have to be perfectly clean. We do what we can, take the gum off. Why do they get special treatment? Why? Because they're a media outlet and they can write a bad article about you. I'm not going to bend to them and they're not going to intimidate me. So, Commissioner Lada. Yes. So, yeah, we got to move on. By the way, this is like and that and to that point, right? So, um, just to respond to you, Commissioner Fernandez, I think it was crystal clear that when the mayor as the chair of this commission meeting, uh, smacked the gavl and said another hour. I I don't even know how that can be possibly debated, another hour when we had just had a motion to recess for, well, how long? An hour. So when he says another hour, common sense dictates he's speaking in the same tone and in the same context of calling for another recess. At least there was no concern or question on my mind. Once that occurred, we could have been up here talking about whether what just happened was or wasn't a recess, but it was a recess. We could have been here for a week talking about it, and I don't think that would have put been a part of the official record because once a recess was called, everything afterwards is not a part of the official record. even if a motion was attempted

during the recess. So, mayor, I would urge us to move along to the next agenda item. We've got a lot of work to do. So, I think we should I think we need to move to the mayor. Commissioner, let's move on.

I just I just want to clear up one point that that the commissioner made uh regarding the recess. Again, my concern is not regarding whether we were in recess or not. The city attorney made that judgment call when she said or or gave us that clarification when we had the discussion. My belief that discussion should be part of the official record. That is the argument that I'm making. It's not about whether we were in recess or not. That's based on interpretation. That's fine. That's why we have the parliamentarian here who makes those clarifications if we have a doubt. The moment that she said, we all got up and left. That was the end of the discussion. But we did have a conversation on whether we were there. That should be part of the record. That's it. That's my only two cents. We could we could go, like you said, we can go at this all day about what has or has not happened. Defamatory comments made in my direction are totally uncalled for, but I will address those in a different venue.

Let me respond. All right. So, when we're in recess and we go for another hour and I stand up, Mr. Clerk, it's over. You can have all the conversation you like, but it's not part of the record. Yes or no, Mr. Clerk? That's the way we're operating on the show. We turn off the microphone so that happens.

Commissioner Fernandez is wrong. Even though he thinks he's right, he's wrong. And everyone agrees with me. You are wrong. Now, let me explain to you again. Why don't we do something? I'm going to give you another bite of the apple. Okay? Why don't we do something? Just I gave you an opportunity to send a message to Commissioner Castro that speaking about somebody's family is unacceptable. Why don't we make Why don't you make a motion and help me like I've asked you help me hold the Miami New Times, which you were part of leaking the story. Why don't you help me? Why don't you help me hold them accountable so we don't diminish our standards here in the city? Beautiful. So, why don't you make a motion and say the Miami New Times has 30 days to correct the graffiti, the stickers, and bring bring their news stands up to a standard that's appropriate. If not, we will request for these new stands to be removed. I if you if you motion, if you make that motion, I've been fighting this for years. And the DCM will tell you, Mr. DCM, can you stand up here one second, please? I you get my text message, you get my photos. The photos are up there. Will you Will you do me a favor? Will you do me a favor? Will you explain just before Commissioner Fernandez figures a way to wiggle wiggle his way out of this, will you will you do me a favor and explain the efforts that we've made to try to bring the standards up in regards to the Miami Times? And this is why this article is written.

Thank you, Mayor Jill Gomez, Deputy City Manager. Um, we've uh our team, our code enforcement team has had numerous conversations. We've reached out to the New Times uh to the uh contractor that uh that provides the the vending the the machines for for the newspapers. Uh we've uh brought it to their attention the deplorable condition of many of these uh uh u stands. Um and um to date we still have u many of the stands that are in very bad condition. Um, so we're moving forward with additional code enforcement action, including uh bringing them to the code enforcement board.

Thank you, Mr. DM. So, just to be clear, this is staff telling you, the city attorneys has told you, the DCM has told you, I sent them pictures, residents send me pictures, business owners send me picture, they all say the same thing. You have laws that require me to pressure clean my front of my of my of my business, but why are you not holding the Miami Times? So, again, I'm not going to be intimidated. You can make an article that is absolutely bogus. H it's it's actually shameful. This is the standards that we have here in the city. And again, at the end of the day, the residents know that we're fighting we're fighting to beautify the city and continue to elevate the standards here in the quality of life. So I think on your point, well, but you're asking you're asking me to make a motion. But I'm but you know what? I scratched that. I think

No, you're asking me to make a motion. And actually, if we go on the record, every single time this item has come up, I have stood lock step with you. In fact, if you go back on this issue, at one point I asked to find a way where we can confiscate these if they're abandoned for an extended period of time and you were going to bring back legislation on that. That hasn't happened. But I will be supportive and I've brought this up before last meeting when this came up. I mentioned that I was supportive of ensuring that this is cleaned up because this is unacceptable.

Okay. So, enough grandstanding. Commission. Uh, madam city attorney, will you will you will you explain to the commissioner what we've done so far, please? So, thank you, mayor, and and and commissioner. So, our city code does already provide a process when the news racks are abandoned that they can be removed, but my understanding and of course code enforcement staff are they're the ones who would inspect the news racks and there has to be a period of time, I believe it's 48 hours after um or or a certain period of time that they have to be empty um without the a new issue after their publication date. And I believe that those factors I again I have to defer to code enforcement stuff. I don't think those have been triggered because I think that they do publish on on whatever basis they usually publish and they're there now. They they go quickly but that is that is not deemed as of now unless we have additional facts to have been abandoned.

So this as of this morning they're empty. Okay. Because I went by there. So right. So but let me let me respond. So I don't need to write more legislation redundant legislation that where it already exists.

So these are things that have been working. Now, we're trying to make sure that code enforcement addresses the issue and that they're held to the same standard. Please don't bring up writing legislation. My my resume speaks for itself. I'm still waiting after three years and three years of salaries for you to write one piece of legislation that leaves an indelible mark on this community. Okay? So, please do not talk to me about legislation or writing legislation because if anybody's written legislation in this community in the last 15, 20 years, it's been me. Uh, Madam Vice May Speaker, let's get let's get going because I don't want to I think it's so so so I'll cut to the chase. I'll make a motion to require new times to restore the to have these cleaned up within 30 days. Mayor, can I be recognized, please?

Yes. So, vice mayor, we are already pursuing the code enforcement process, which is the process in the code, and they would go before the code enforcement board. that would be the process to address violations um with respect to the news racks and I believe that is in process um that code has issued the notices of violations and begun that process.

By the way, the big issue here is also ADA. It's a big ADA ADA concern. Sharp objects, they're rusted. You know, people are walking by, children are playing with it, and again, they're the ones that are getting injured. Mr. Ramirez, how are you, sir? Good morning, Dr. Ramir's acting development service director. I just wanted to reiterate what uh DCM Gomez stated earlier. We have cited the new times and we have given them a timeline. Uh I don't have the timeline with me right now but it was very short 7 days 14 days something very short for them to uh get these put together correctly. We were working with them for months. uh we did not site them until relatively recently when we saw that there wasn't sufficient progress being made.

Why why are we escalating? Does it have who who's the one pushing this on this commission? Well, Mr. Mayor, you were the one that sent us the photos. Okay.

And who's the one that got the article written about them in the New Times? The mayor, right? because I supposedly left and I didn't recess properly and I have Commissioner Fernandez educating me now on on parliamentarian rules and Robert's rules and stuff like that. It's all about making me look bad. It's all about making me look bad in an effort and it's not going to work. It's not going to work. People are not dumb. People want elected officials that work, that do office hours, that write legislation. People want people who stick up for this city, who fight for the city, not put the city in jeopardy. So, I want to say thank you uh to you and to your staff for working so hard. Code enforcement, you don't get enough praise. You guys are working very hard out there. And I know that it's difficult to deal with deal with an entity that doesn't comply. At the end of the day, they don't care about our standards. They just care about selling ads. And as you can tell by the thickness of this paper, I mean, pretty sure you wouldn't even be able to use it for for the Canaries, you know, at the end of the day because it's so thin, you know. There's there's nothing in here. Literally, it's ads, notice of actions, and some classifies in the back. There isn't anything of real substance here to to really read except for unless you pay for a hit piece to be written against an elected official. And then they publish it. So, at the end of the day, I'm not afraid. I'm not. Trust me, I've dealt with it all. I've dealt with everybody and I'll keep keep pushing forward to put this city first. And I know that I'm going to get more New Times articles published against me, but it's okay. It's fine. Thank you, sir. All right, we're moving on. We spent we've wasted enough time uh on this matter and now we have something that's a lot more important than this. I would like uh to welcome our District 6 county commissioner and our tax collector. Please join us. Uh we're going to have a time certain item that I embarrassed to say F3. I'm the sponsor of it was at 10:00 a.m. And I'd like to welcome um these two these two esteemed individuals to please join us. And now I'm going to have our city attorney read it into the record.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you. So F3 is a resolution of the city commission supporting enhanced enforcement of federal sanctions related to Cuba, supporting state legislation requiring proof of authorization from the Office of Foreign Assets Control for businesses subject to federal sanctions programs, supporting the Miami Day County Board of County Commissioners and the Miami Day County Tax Collectors efforts to address businesses engaging in unlawful commerce with Cuba, supporting state efforts in Senate Bill 1176 and House Bill 1397, and directing that these efforts be included in the city's 2026 legislative priorities. Thank you very much. I'm beyond grateful the fact that you're here and I want you to talk a little bit about what you've already done in your communities, what you're fighting for, and then I'm going to, you know, put a little bit of uh context and color into it. Madam Commissioner, ladies first.

Thank you, mayor. Good morning. Uh Natalie Milan Orbis. I'm honored to serve as your county commissioner and represent the city beautiful um in Miami date county. I I'm here to support Mayor Lago's item F3. Thank you, mayor, for bringing this resolution and for your leadership in the city on this front. Um, it is an issue that directly affects our community and what Coral Gables is doing today matters and it sends a clear signal that this city stands with the Cuban people and not with the dictatorship. At its core, it is about stopping the communist regime from using American authorizations to move vehicles, machineries, and other goods while it jails dissident and denies basic freedoms. No American license should be enriching a communist dictatorship 90 miles away from our shores. Sanctions have to mean something and they have to be enforced. This resolution is also in line with Senate Bill 1176 and House Bill 1931 1397 which require proof of authorization from OFAC before any sanctioned activities take place and that is basic accountability and basic national security. I brought forward similar legislation at the Miami Day County Commission and it was approved unanimously last week. Um so Miami Day County and Coral Gables are sending the same message that sanctions sanctions must be informed and loopholes must be closed and our community stands firmly on the side of freedom. So thank you mayor for your leadership on this and I urge you all to um approve item F3.

Madam commissioner, thank you. You've been a steadfast supporter of uh this effort. uh you haven't missed a beat. You've been in Hyia, city of Miami, Miami Day County, and now here in the city beautiful and we're honored honored to have you representing the city beautiful. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. And this is the time for us to stick together. And I hope that all cities will follow suit and follow the leadership of yours and others that have been taking this stand. I also want to take a moment to thank you all for allowing me to represent our community and uh attend our mobile office hours here in the city hall. That was last week, right? Yeah, it was uh this week. Monday. I saw I saw I saw the banner. I saw your team here. It was amazing. every fourth Monday we're here at city hall. So, thank you so much. It is our pleasure and our honor to be here. And by the way, our residents

and I apologize. There's so many things going on here at city hall. Yesterday when I was here, one of your team members was in my office and uh meeting with constituents and addressing issues here in city hall and that's another benefit of uh having you so close. So, we're grateful. Thank you for spending the time here. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Mr. Tax Collector. Welcome back. Welcome back.

Morning. Good morning. So first uh I wanted to say thank you to all of you you know for the opportunity to work together. At this point we already take care we already make like a 20,000 transactions in the new office of the tax collector here in Kora Gable. So I want to say thank you to all of you for the opportunity to work together. Uh as I mentioned we are here always to continue to putting people first and bring the service to our community. Good morning mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, city manager and resident of Kora Gabos. My name is Daniel Fernandez, Miami Day County Tax Collector and here in support of Idon F3 sponsored by Mayor Lago. This resolution improve coordination and sanction related to the Cuban communist and socialist dictatorship and reinforce the requirements that any businesses operating under federal sanctions programs must have proper authorization and proof of compliance. For 65 years, the Cuban communist dictatorship has controlled the people of Cuba, has spread the fear across the region and has stayed alive only because of the money and support from other countries. No community understand that reality better than ours and it is why sanction forcement and accountability matter. This is not just talk. Yesterday I sent a letter to President Trump informing him that two business with commerce department license has those licenses take away. This shows the risk is real. The federal government is watching and we all need to work together. It is show this is a national security issue for the United States of America. Item F3 also align with pending state legislative that I am supporting including Senate Bill 1176 and House Bill 1397 which require businesses suggest to federal sanction to show proof of proper authorization. The item also recognize a going force by my office to ensure that businesses are

complying with the law. I want to u thank my Lago and commissioner for considering this item. My office is ready to help make sure every follow the law and to keep serving the public with professionalism. Thank you for the opportunity to speak and thank you for your consideration. God bless the city of Corable. God bless Miami Day County and God bless the United States of America voice on many different fronts, accountability, transparency, but this issue of Cuba hits home. Let me tell you why it hits home. It hits home because while I was born in this great country uh to immigrants who came Peter Pan, Pedro Pan, um our blood our blood is Cuban. My heart is American. I love this country more than I love anything else. This country has given us the opportunity to live an exceptional life, one that we would never have anywhere else. So we have to make a decision. We know people who are dealing in commerce in Cuba, people who are making money. It's not a it's not an easy task to do what we're doing today. This is not going to be ceremonial. We will continue to put pressure. Like I mentioned before, I am a member of a diretorial, two two entities here that are fighting for a free Cuba, for a democratic Cuba, human rights. And we need to come together. And the message sent by the tax collector, the county commission, Mayor Calvo, Commissioner Rosalo from the city of Miami is a strong coalition, one that will pay real dividends in regards to our secretary of state, which

we have immense pride for, Marco Rubio, and President Trump. The changes in Venezuela, over 20 years in the making, are a godset. Like I said before, when Maduro was removed from power, over 30 of the of the individuals that were in that were providing protection and intelligence were Cuban regime members. That is a clear indication that Cuba is not only the largest destabilizing force in this hemisphere, it is playing a major role across all sectors. China, Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba. Cuba needs to be free. 65 years. I have never gone back to Cuba. I've never believed in dialogue with Cuba. I'm a staunch hardliner on this issue. And I mentioned it before. I will not change my ideology on that front. So the idea and the time and the commitment that commissioner from district 6 and that you have spent along with Calvo Rosal is to be commended because not many people are willing to get make this commitment and this commitment is not for our cities. This commitment is for my grandparents. That is why this commitment exists. My grandfather was a doctor in Cuba, a proud founding member of theos uh was a congressman in Cuba and came to this country nothing and became a doctor in this great country. Imagine that coming here starting from the bottom up again in this country allowing you the privilege and honor to become a physician. They lived on Minorca two blocks away right over there. And that's where I grew up. That's where I learned about Cuba. That's where I learned about my heritage. That's where I learned about Tada, about Lavana, about the pride that it is to be an American. My grandparents were the first to tell me the honor and the privilege that is to live in this great country and we

should never take it for granted. And that's conversations that I've had with you along with Commissioner Orvis. So, um, I wanted to bring this up and I I want to talk to the city attorney because this is something where I'm going to need a lot of help. We have to coordinate on multiple different fronts and I'm going to use the city of Halyia as an example. They've created a preliminary list of businesses based on BTL and will send them a questionnaire requesting information on services provided to determine if a follow-up is required. Madam city attorney, that is one of the things that I want to really understand because my team Laura and Nicole were trying to figure out ways to find entities that are doing business in our city with Cuba. uh we reached out to OFAC and I think that what we have to do from my understanding is provide is get that list directly from OFAC and that's what you're working on also correct Mr. T can you give us a little background about what you're doing and would you mind along with with commissioner or working hand inand with my city attorney and my city manager to be able to find this list and get the information. So um what we already accomplished in the last uh two or three months when we started is a coordination between the department of commerce of department of state state level and countywide. We are the entity in Miami day county that issue the local business tax. We cannot close a business. We start the process to see if the business is in compliance with the local business tax. After that we communicate directly with uh department of of commerce and they make the decision. That is why in the last couple week we received this letter revocation some of this business license. That is the the things that we already accomplished. Also we communicate with different municipality. If that business is in your municipality you need to move forward with the other requirements that they need to provide to you.

Okay. So, what I would like, madam city attorney, through the manager and my colleagues agree, I'd like to start working on this. Um, and I also want to have our our vice mayor who has an extensive legal background and actually played a major role in a posa case, which is legendary case here. Uh, she was the lead on that on that case and it was an amazing opportunity and it's history here in South Florida. Uh, I'd like to see how we can work on this together. District 6, Hay Aliyah, city of Miami, the tax collector and, you know, really move forward. I don't want this to be just ceremonial and symbolic. That's not my intent. I want to send a message to these businesses that, you know, that type of behavior is not acceptable.

You know, how can you be living in this country and doing business with a socialist country that is at the end of the day extinguishing democracy, mistreating individuals, putting them in prison. To me, you know, that's that's a counter narrative to what we believe in this country and certain things that we take for granted every single day. So, I would like for our city attorney to please work hand in hand to figure out how we can get the same list that Haley has gone, the tax collectors gone.

So, mayor, I've had conversations with the manager and the finance director on this issue and um we think that it would be helpful to have um ongoing or recurring meetings or or communication with the tax collector's office. So the information that he obtains and and the list of businesses that he identifies, the city can then review its records and and take appropriate action as necessary. Madam Vice Mayor,

so um I absolutely support this item and I will make a a motion um for this to be pushed forward. But before I do that, being a child of the 60s and having lived through the Kiban missile crisis and having seen and having participated and defended Pada in El Paso, learning a lot more detail about his role in Venezuela, in Nicaragua to stop the spread of communism throughout those areas, the risk is real. People now don't realize just how close we were to being struck in the United States 90 miles away from us and having collected a judgment having to get that list from OFAC in order to be able to collect the judgment. I know how difficult it is. I know how detail oriented it is. But doing the research in to each one of those entities is eye opening. just eye opening things that you didn't think were related in funding the government of Cuba absolutely were funding the government of Cuba and the torture. We had a witness come and testify in court in El Paso who had been tortured, absolutely tortured by another witness who's now sitting as a current president of the government of Cuba. It's real, folks. So, I'm very proud that you have brought this uh and I'm proud to u to make the motion to support it. I'll second.

Mr. Manager, uh Mayor, I we we've already taken action on this. We will be working with and I and I completely appreciate the commission's support on this item. We will we already taken action those BTRs and those CUS that are for businesses that are working with um the communist uh country that's hurt so many people including my family and our families. Uh we we take that very seriously and we already working on that and I I truly appreciate the commission's support on this argument.

You know something that something that I want to mention and I'm I'm taking this from a tax collector. You said this the other day. I go, you know, some people think about it's a democracy, human rights, democracy is incredibly fragile. When you think about what is the intent, the intent is to protect our hemisphere at all costs. Look what's happening on multiple different fronts in regards to China, in regards to Russia. They're in our backyard. They're in our backyard on multiple different fronts. So to me, to me it's not only about our grandparents and at the end of day I say that all the time and to me I I I miss them dearly dearly but for the first time in 65 years I feel that we're so close and I talked to Venezuelans who live in our city and they're over the over the stars uh in regards to this moment in history and they all say the same thing. You know, Cuba has played a major role in the suppression of democracy in Venezuela through intelligence, through a line of other things. And now it's time now it's time for us to do our small part. This is a small gesture, but it combined sends a strong message to the federal government that it's time. It's time to protect our hemisphere, to protect our democracy, to do what we can. I'd also um I was speaking to our legislative director uh in regards to this issue. I'd like to add this if possible. She recommended that we add it to to our priorities, our legislation priorities, which again sends a message to our state leaders. You know, this is important, you know, and consider everybody who's in favor of democracy should want to protect our interests. You know, one of the most important part is that I wanted to leave this uh very clear from the beginning of my when we took office uh 365 days ago, we say that we are here to protect the constitution of the United States of America. We are

here to protect this beautiful country that give us everything for me in my case. Um this is a national security of the United States of of America issue. This is not just about parathon sins, you know. This is about saving the United States of America. I came from Cuba because I wanted to make free. I wanted to to live the American dream. The American dream is not just to buy a a car, buy a house. Is the freedom that we have in this country. And this that that is the freedom that we need to fight for for every single day of our life. The mayor. Yes.

So, um I applaud all of you for working on this. Mr. Mayor, thank you for bringing this up here in our city commission. Cuba is struggling. The Cuban government is in a position right now that Russia no longer has the ability to support them because they're fighting in Ukraine and they haven't been able to get themselves back to the footing they were in. China has internal struggles right now. They're purging their entire military because of corrupt, internal corruption that they believe to be happening or who knows what the real reason is behind it. Um, Venezuela is no longer going to be aiding Cuba. Now, who does Cuba rely on? Unfortunately, Cuba has been relying on these companies that have been here in the United States helping them fund their operations there. So, there's nothing more timely. And Mr. tax collector, I must applaud you for bringing this up because this is one of the keys to the demise of the Cuban regime. And when Cuba is free, they'll owe it to you because your work has been integral in ensuring that the Castro government isn't able to continue. The DiCanel government isn't able to continue and our Cuban families can finally live in freedom. And this is extremely important legislation. We need to start cracking down on all the companies that are aiding that government and keeping it afloat because this is their only lifeline right now. And we're seeing it. You know, Cuba, if you look at the videos from Cuba the last few days, they've had 40 hours without power because they no longer have the oil that's coming from Venezuela.

That's just the first step of what's happening. People are on the streets calling for freedom just like they are in Iran, just like they are around the world. And you know, we hear a lot on the on the media in the media about process, how we've gotten here. The Trump administration and our secretary of state, as the mayor stated, have been integral in ensuring that freedom is finally starting to reach many of the countries that regardless of what political party, every president has promised that they're going to help freedom. They're going to bring freedom. But today we can finally say there's a president in the Oval Office who's working to bring freedom around the world and key leaders like yourselves, like the members of this commission who are ready to fight that fight and stand up for freedom. We stand next to you and we commend you for the step that you're taking and I'm happy to to second this motion from the vice mayor.

Thank you. Thank you. Um mayor, if I may, mayor, of course

I wanted to expand that. So, the policy the the uh the urging that I did last week urges President Trump to suspend any licenses for businesses that are doing uh business with Cuba. However, it's not just an urging. It directs our administration, our county administration to work with the tax collector because the tax collector does the local business uh taxes to um the local business licenses to to give us a report as to the findings if they do find businesses that are working with Cuba. So along those lines, I do urge you to write to President Trump on this and continue, you know, the steam that we have behind this right now. Write to our our other elected officials that can support this mission. And I'm happy to share that information once I receive it back from our administration.

So I'd like I know we have a motion, a second. I'd like to add a friendly amendment to my legislation to include both those points like you said before uh working with tax collector which is it's already in there but I want to tweak it to make sure it's very clear because again I think he holds the keys a lot of the keys to really uh being able to drill down on this information and find out the right information from

amendment briefly. So very proud of all the comments made by the fellow members of the commission, but especially to you um Commissioner uh Orbus and to to you uh tax collector uh Darl Fernandez, you know, and I know all of us here like so many of the residents of the city, beautiful have been personally affected um by this illicit regime going back some 50 years. Um I I'm sure I'm not speaking out of turn, tax collector, that when you were living in Cuba, you went hungry. Yes.

Due to the repressive government relentlessly attacking and harming its own citizens to line their own pockets and push their own interests.

Yeah. So I applaud you for coming to this country and stepping up and making a change, a meaningful change along with county commissioner um to better um this country because myself as the son of Cuban exiles who came to this country with nothing to escape a totalitarian regime. I know firsthand why these federal uh sanctions exist, right? That they're not abstract. they they they exist to um deny resources to um a government that represses its people. So I think that um I join uh with my fellow colleagues here on urging the passing of F3 because um we we cannot tolerate and we will not tolerate businesses in our community that are funding um these illicit illicit government and it exists to protect our moral and national security interests. So, I also echo the commissioner's um request that we reach out to our president and to our fellow members of Congress as well to continue the momentum that has already begun. Uh first with the uh ousting of the criminal that was uh illegally uh serving and acting as a dictator of Venezuela. And with that momentum, I hope that it extends further uh to topple the government that right now is at its weakest in Cuba in 50 years. I think that the resolution is clear. It's responsible and it's long overdue. So I would ur urge a yes vote.

You know, I just wanted to to end with this. I wanted to say thank you to the commissioner. Um it's important what you say. If you read some of these uh general license or this license from the department of commerce, it's crazy. um who have money in Cuba to buy a Yuki, who have money in Cuba to buy a Mercedes-Benz, who have money in Cuba to buy just a Toyota. So this is not humanitarian. This is you know I think it is the time to tell to the federal government they need to end this and that is why we we are putting this over there because we first we need to put the people of the United States first. This is a you know national security issue. Sometime the money that these people generate from the United States after a couple months they go back to the United States to create issues uh you know uh found the different other organization against to the United States of America. That is why we are here and we're going to continue our best.

Okay. Uh Mr. Clerk, do we have any uh public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. All right. Uh we have a motion a second. Commissioner Fernandez, just a quick question. the the two friendly amendments uh were accepted, right? But did we include adding it to our legislative priorities? Okay, perfect. So just so if we can clarify that that was already part of the resolution. So we're adding what part are we adding uh to contact uh the president and obviously to work with a tax collector uh was the second point that was proposed by uh commissioner district

6 and that that was already part of it but certainly contacting the president. I want to highlight that because again like I said before we need to show that we're we are standing strong as a community on this front and again it's not just about Cuba, Venezuela, Iran. It's about democracy in the hemisphere. It's about protecting our interests, our interests, our constitution. What has made this country the country to be emulated? Yes. Thank you. All right. So we have a motion and a second and some friendly amendments. Commissioner Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes. Mayor Log. Yes. Once again, thank you to all of you and I appreciate you spending time. God bless. Have a great moving on to item 2-1 time certain 10:30.

Sir, mayor, vice chair, commissioners.

Um, thank you for your time on this. So, this is a an item that came forward from the disability affairs board. This is an item that they're really they're advocating for. So, today I have most of the members for the disability affairs board present. um so they'd like to share their thought on it. This was a motion that was made um that resulted in that resolution to push this item forward. So I'd like to call up the actual board members so they can give you some context on the item, some background, and why they feel it's important to push forward. Okay. Welcome back.

Thank you. It's always great to have you all of you. Thank you so much. Our friends from Crystal who are here. Yes. Yes. Thank you so much. It's not a day in Coral Gables where Crystal's not involved, which is a great thing. How are you? Good. Good morning.

Okay. Um, so we're here today to uh discuss the audible crosswalks and it's been an issue that our board has been in conversation about um for some time now and um as you know I'm new to the board and um I I did some research on it and I found out that the crosswalks were approved over a decade ago and um there's a lot of concern about uh why they haven't been implemented and um we are honored today to have members of our board here. Mi who has been on the board and now is a citizen advisor and also we have some very special guests to discuss the audible crosswalks. So I just wanted to give a little history and I was hoping that maybe Willie could um give his input because he has personal experience with this. Um so really

thank you. Thank you Mr. Mayor and distinguished commissions. Uh I wanted to bring to your attention that uh we do not have audible in the beautiful city of Coral Gables. Uh I suffer for retinitis pigmentotosis. So I'm looking at you, Commissioner, but I can't see the mayor and I can't see Richard. Uh I have what they call tunnel vision. So what that means is that it's very difficult for me to cross the street. Uh even with those little new devices wandering around the neighborhood. Uh, I I urge you to to listen to our plea and approve this and move forward because it will also include the city in all the disabilities that are available to everyone in this beautiful city.

Well, thank you. Um, I served in the disability board for six years and for the past 10 years we have been discussing the audible crossings and uh it's not only for the low vision, it's also for seniors, for children, um, for guests that visit our city. So really the ask is to really prioritize uh at least starting with Miracle Mile those audible crossings and that they actually do take place and actually be implemented. And thank you step up here and say thank you to everybody for taking to listening to us on this issue. I find it very important as you know I've been on the board since 2019 and my job is to advocate for those who cannot speak on the on their behalf and um this is an item that really truly is something of really a lot of importance simply because of the amount of visitors we have on top of the constituents. Um I know that this was something that was brought up by one of our constituents. It's in our I guess in the paperwork since 2013 that Virginia Jacko has brought this up. She is the CEO for the Lighthouse for the Blind. So it is an important aspect that not only for those that are visually impaired but also for those with intellectual developmental delays um across many spans. This would help many individuals and so I really do appreciate you taking the time to listen to us and yes

we're so honored that we have Miss Virginia Jacko here with us and also Miss Carol Brady Simmons who can sort of give some context on the history of the discussion and um Do you have any questions about uh the audible crosswalks and they can really speak? They're the experts on the on the issue. Good morning. Good morning. It's great to have you with us once again.

Mr. Mayor,

commissioners, thank you for the opportunity. I ask you, when you've got a state highway, a county road, and they intersect, some people think, well, that's going to be difficult. Think about in Little Havana where you've got 8th Avenue, 8th Street, 7th Street. Some years ago, I was told it's impossible Virginia because the county doesn't have control over the entire intersection. And with the help of our chief program officer, an internationally recognized orientation mobility specialist, we made it happen. We were asked more than 10 years ago to provide a recommendation for Coral Gables. Every week I go to a vanguard on Miracle Mile. Depending upon how I am getting there, where I'm dropped off, I say to myself, "If only there were accessible pedestrian signals." When I go to the palace and I visit people there that are low vision and I say, "Do you get out? Do you walk down Miracle Mile?" And do you know what one of the excuses are? Oh, no. I'd probably be killed as I try to cross the street. It is not costly to retect an intersection.

It provides equal access. And while we're no longer talking about DEI and some of that stuff that was pure BS, this is not BS. This is giving everybody the right to access your intersections. and Miami Lighthouse under the leadership of Carol Brady Simmons volunteers again to help Coral Gables begin again the process of implementing at key intersections accessible pedestrian signals. Carol Brady Simmons take over.

Hi, thank you. One of the things I want to do is invite you all to come to Miami Lighthouse for the blind and have the opportunity to go under the blindfold and use oluders and maybe some different eye diseases like retnitis pigmentotosa and have the experience of walking with someone guide and also without maybe with a cane. also going out to the intersections and just standing there closing your eyes and listening to traffic patterns. Traffic appears much closer auditorially than it actually is. It's very frightening when you're out there on the street and you hear a lot of cars going on and then you have people walking around on top of that to really make the designation of when to cross. And then on top of it, we have incredible cars that are very silent now. and you can't hear them. So, it's really really important and for the safety of Coral Gables to have these pedestrian um street crossings so that your residents and visitors will be safe. And so, I highly encourage you to take the opportunity. You can call us anytime. I will even come out here and bring some blindfolds and different type of simulation goggles and give you the experience and just walking around the neighborhood sited guide. You don't have to use a cane, but just so that you can have the experience of what your um consumers and your residents are experiencing and how important it would be to have pedestrian cross signals.

A great immediate event, Mr. Mayor. I promise you,

I am beyond grateful for you being here. Trust me. Um I I want to let the vice mayor who has a really the real the leader here in regards to ADA issues here in the city and we just follow her and we do as we're told in regards to that very thoughtful but before I hear from her I I want to ask the manager a very simple question is this a funding issue do we have funding what what are we facing here because I I I want to be honest her cander to me is amazing and I wish more more people were like that you know people try to beat her on the bush and they have their own agenda I mean, her cander was straight to the point. This is BS. This is what it is. You know, this is what you need to do. Um, I need I I appreciate that. There's value in that. There's value in that. So, I want to understand what is it that's holding us back from being able to deliver this service. So needed.

Yes, Mayor. Uh, traffic control, including civilization, is part of the what they what the county provides to us. As you know, there's a large percentage of our tax uh base that tax that goes to to date county. I think it's 30 30 32% 32% of every dollar

32%. Uh so we we will be working with big county and we currently are have worked with the state to to do this on various intersections in Ljun Road and the and the state has been very cooperative and we will work with the county to see if they if we can if we can work through the more important intersections uh for for this. But uh but uh traffic control and signalization is is is a is for us a day county function.

So before we hear from the vice mayor, I just like to see may we can include if the commission is in favor of included this in our legislative priorities. So Mr. Manager, you can speak with Chelsea and have this has an issue that should be in our legislative priorities to see if we can get some funding funding on the matter. Last night I had a long conversation with with with state representative Demi Busada Cabrera on multiple different projects and she was asking me what are what are the priorities on behalf of the commission. So, Madam Vice Mayor, take it away.

So, I'm gonna I'm gonna start by giving you two types of a little bit of a history. Um, one, I have a sister that had a stroke at a young age and has peripheral loss of peripheral vision. So, crossing a street, you're not going to see cars coming. Hearing is also affected. My father also had macular degeneration. So some people wonder why I have the glasses that automatically change like that to dark glasses. That's why is genetically you know it runs in my family. It was about two and a half years ago, our staff had a meeting with FDOT and sent a comprehensive letter asking for audible crosswalks at key intersections along Lune Road and along other major intersections including Southwest 8th Street. Every FDOT street was addressed. They're doing a road safety audit. the the report as best as I can can recall right now was due to us in December but the key intersections you're discussing were addressed Ljun Road Corway Pants and Corway every location you have public transportation was a priority in addition when we have projects coming through such as the public's site it's asked for again for those audible crosswalks to be installed at Valencia and Antalusia so people can get to the store. It does cost money. So it's not something that you know is going to come up from a developer usually wanting to do it. It has to be something we initiate.

At least that's my experience. But along US1, we have the same problem. All the way along the underline, we have the same problem. Pedestrians are at peril, cited and unsighted for traffic all the time. Uh I asked our traffic engineer who's in the back of the room to follow up with FDOT. Um I don't think she's had an opportunity yet to speak with them because they keep playing. You know, it's not plate. I didn't mean to use the word plate. there's there's unavailability. I hope to have the response uh through her to these requests that were made back in 2023 2024 so that we have a real time schedule now because the deadline for the road safety audit has come and passed and we don't we're not there yet. So I am fully supportive but I think we do have to prioritize the key intersections first. Every location where you have public transportation has to have an audible crosswalk so people with disabilities can get across. Whether you're cighted or unsighted, the time to cross is inadequate. If you don't press that button, it's not going to even put up a walk signal. It doesn't. I I experienced it here. We have an audible crosswalk at Hernando and Builtmore Way. Um, but if you don't press that button, there is no time to cross. We're very dependent upon the drivers seeing us. And that doesn't always happen, especially if we're talking about the experience that my sister had when she walked in front of a truck and she was shorter than the hood. Didn't go well. So, I'm we'll move this for the prioritization of intersections where we have public transportation key intersections like we're covered in the

letter to the FDOT. Um, and I'm fully supportive of of the goal to have more of these crosswalks available throughout our city. I'll second. Okay. Okay. Um,

yeah. Um, first off, I appreciate the board's uh interaction with this issue. Um, that's the re this is the reason we have advisory boards because a lot of things we think they're being done. We think they're they're already moving forward and they've hit a snag in the road and you hold us accountable and you bring this to our attention. Uh, Virginia, I've known you for 25 years since my days at Congresswoman Ross Leighton's office. This is Cong Commissioner Fernandez. Um, and you've always been the same. You've always been a steadfast advocate, and you have never had any issue with telling truth to power. Uh, and I commend you for the work that you have done throughout your career, throughout your life. Um, for people of all walks of life who have had a need uh because you have never said no. And I definitely uh recommend that my colleagues do uh the walk uh that has been recommended. Um, it really gives you a perspective that you generally don't get because even if you're standing at an intersection with your eyes closed, you know, it's not the same thing. It really isn't. And you you mentioned a point about our vehicles today and they don't sound the same way. Um, I know that federally they've added uh either music sounds or or some sort of noise to ensure, but if the car is just above the uh the mileage, which I think is 20 miles per hour, sometimes you just can't hear it. Uh, and and just us walking, we can't hear it. And and the vice mayor brought up a very valid point as well about the timing to cross because that is important. Uh I've noticed that in some intersections where I have pressed the button and I have barely had enough time to get across at regular speed. We we definitely need to ensure that uh we have enough time to get across. So a

friendly amendment if we can also review the timing of our uh crosswalks at the intersections to ensure that is there's enough time um for folks who need additional time to get across. That's in the letter to the FDOT. It's a pedestrian lead signal. Okay. So, that that has already been covered. Perfect. Okay. So, we have a motion. Oh, Commissioner, go ahead. Very very briefly, um I'm completely in support of the vice mayor's resolution and I echo the sentiments of our u fellow commissioners here. Um, just this suggestion of doing a walk, I'm going to reluctantly do it

because just your suggestion of it kind of made me think about it in a different way. Um, and um, and and you know, I guess through through empathy, you can open the path to activism and get something done. And I want to just take a point of personal uh, privilege to thank each and every one of you for being here. By the way, this is Commissioner Lada. Um, thank each of you uh for being here because um in in one way or another, you all are all dealing with one challenge physical and um are trying to make a difference and coming here as the mayor noted to educate us uh firsthand is invaluable. And um Willie Hargi um you you are a force and uh you are my appointee to the disability advisory board. And you know, mayor, he asked me, "Do you want me to kind of sit back or or you want me to be at the front line?" I said, "Willie, I want you to be you." And Willie, by the way, is uh uh proud and we are proud of him, veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

Thank you for your service. Absolutely. Thank you. And he was a star baseball player on top of all that. So to to be um dealing with uh retinosa pigmentotosa I think ret is um particularly diff difficult for a man retinitis pigmentotosa for for someone who has had RP for someone who's had superhuman vision at one time to accomplish the things you've done both on the baseball diamond as well as on the battle field. So, thank you very much for what you do and all of you for being here today.

Well said, Commissioner. Uh, thank you for your service. Thank you so much. And we're gonna we're going to make this happen. Um, Comm um Mr. Kirk, do you have any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. All right, we'll close. We have a motion a second.

Mr. Mayor, can we just um restate the motion so that we're we're clear for the record. So, it's a motion. As I understood it, it was a a motion to prioritize the key intersections as identified in the letter to FDOT. No, not only letter to Atop but communications with the county because there some of these are county intersections as well. Every every place where we have um transportation hubs, bus stops, trolley stops. If we have a signalized intersection, we ask the county to because uh Douglas Road is is a county intersection. So, uh each one of those need to be prioritized. And I also want to add this as a legislative priority and I would also like to through the guidance and I'd like to have the vice mayor run point on this u is I want to understand what is the cost associated with delivering this as per the the letter that the vice mayor is talking about. So what are we looking at across the board so we can really attack this at the state and at the local level uh to make sure we can get get as much money to really make an impact. So, we have a motion, a second.

Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Mayor Log, yes. Can I have a motion for consent agenda? I missed that one. Move it. Second. Before the vote adopting the consensus agenda is taken, is there anyone who wishes additional discussion or review of any item on the consent agenda? All in favor? I. Thank you. Moving on to time certain item H5. Mr. Manager, what is the time that you think you need for this presentation? Mr. Manager, item H5 certain, how much how much time do you think you need for that? Um, five minutes.

I think it's we're discussing the actual final floor plans, mayor. So, probably 15 minutes. Okay, perfect. Mr. Heisen Bottle, it's always an honor to have you. Thank you.

Thank you very much for being here with us. Good morning. Good morning everyone. Uh pleasure to be here and uh pleasure to talk about our favorite project, all of our favorite project here. Uh what we wanted to present to you today is actually the floor plans because we when we went through last time, we didn't quite have all of that nailed down and and finished. Uh we've talked about the um there we go. We talked about the outdoor courtyard and the changes we were making there. But we want to just give you an idea of where the different departments shake out and and who's actually in in this space. The city manager is his area is coded in in red over here and his office is in the same place it is it is in today. Wherever possible, we have tried to maintain consistency with what was historically there um with with just a handful of adjustments uh throughout. On the on the left hand side in in green is Billy's office, our city clerk uh which which you can see falls out uh very nice, very similar to the way the city manager's office is. I think they're going to be delighted with with both of their spaces. Uh there's also restrooms on each floor now, so we won't have to go downstairs to find a restroom. Um so that that that's good. We've got break rooms on each floor also on the left hand side of the drawing over here and some flexible spaces as well. So we we've got a nice uh layout we think here for um for the the ground floor with with a gallery space, a large uh conference room uh on the ground uh on the ground floor as as well right in the middle. Um, moving to the second floor and the most important floor, your floor, the elected floor. Um, you I think we we talked enough last time and we'll go over briefly again the

commission chamber changes that you'll you'll see the renderings one one more time. Um, but what I would would like to point out here is the the locations of everyone's uh office and how we've organized this. It's got a had a lot of discussion. All of Um the the mayor's administrative area is right on the center line of the building lining up with the mayor's balcony uh which I think um Mayor Lagoa will get to use again in the new scheme of things. Um if I may interject because I know that it'll make the blog tomorrow. Uh I with the timeline for construction, I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to use that office. I'll never be able to use it. But I do want but I do but I do want to mention something here that uh that uh since you're the architects and I want to put it on the record. I think it's funny. It's funny.

Can we talk a little bit about the reception area now where my old office used to be and what's going there now? You see the hallway says the corridor. What is separating the corridor uh to the right? You see the corridor? See how you have you see you have your corridor right and you have your staircase. How about that? You see how you have your your corridor right in the middle and then you have your staircases. Yes.

And then you have the mayor's office to the left and to the right. What do you see there? To the left and to the right. You're seeing you're seeing you have um your chief. No, no, no, no, no, no. Talking about there's a there's there's a there's two lines. A partition. There's two partitions. What are those? have to explain this to me. Rick, go ahead. I think I think you're referring to the ribs in the in the ceiling. Nothing on the floor. Those I mean, if unfortunately I'm not sure how to actually use this as a pointer. Is this It's all good. That's all good. What is this? This and

Yeah, that's what we were talking about. That is the reflected archway that is in the ceiling. when you go out and later on take a look up at the ceiling and you're going to say, "Oh, yes, there's an arch going across the plaster seal." Let me tell you what I think to go there. I think it's critically important. You need to have a control. You need to have a control. I remember when the manager and I talked about this because one day I walked into my office and there was somebody using my bathroom.

That's a problem. And I remember I remember that through multiple public records through multiple public records requests and through lots of heartache and damage. I got a lot of heartache from certain people about putting a control to make sure that we kept our office safe and secure. If you had a planning and zoning board meeting, as you're aware, because you've been involved in many planning and zoning board meetings, people you would take phone calls literally adjacent to my office because it was a little nook where you could hide and get away from the chambers. So, I really think that you should consider for the safety of the commissioners and for staff uh that there has to be some sort of partition wall. There has to be something there which breaks the corridor both on the left and the right side. I think there has to be something there because I think it provides the necessary security and the break where you don't have people congregating in those hallways.

The mayor, but you from what I can see it's kind of small but like Mr. Heisenberg where where would the mayor's office be? It's right in dead center, right? Yeah. So then but you wouldn't have a control. Yes. That is the mayor's. Yes, you do have a control. You know your control. Pause for a sec. Let me explain this a little bit better. And I'm sorry I don't know how to operate the pointer over here, but um but we can operate a pointer. By the way, you do have a control of the mayor's. Your control, your control would be the two doors that are there. That obviously wouldn't be touching storage, right?

Two doors. You close them. You close them. You don't open them. And you use the you use the you use the the door to the right where the right office is mayor's office. Right. Mayor that's you would have the main entry point. Main entry point to your office is the double tip doors with your administrative assistant right in front by the administrative assistant.

You have your chief engagement officer on the left hand side of the private office. What is the right hand side of the left hand side of this and then your office has the the entrance that comes from the admin your administrative assistant office or directly from the outside. So I believe I believe that what would be done with a future mayor is going to because there there needs to be some sort of control. You have the mayor's the mayor's administration office. those doors would be closed. You know, you would use that as a main entrance and then you would have the mayor's office which has a door. That door would never be used. It would just be locked

because you'd want people to come in through the may the administration office and then be walked into the mayor's office. That's the same thing I'm saying for the commissioners. We have each each one of your offices has a has a locking device and uh and you're only going to be able to get in if you're authorized. We have a reception desk that that we very much put in over here on the right hand side to the um and again I wish I could point that um I see it to the right you have the um the lines

along with along with your commission liaison and your your senior liaison office on the right hand side that those offices are for serve every one of you. Um but the receptionist there is the one that should be allowing folks to go into to the offices, unlocking the door, pressing a button from from, you know, his or her desk and or or escorting a guest directly to the commissioner's office. I I believe and I think it will serve not me. This is for future elected officials. I won't be here when this is being completed. Um I'm going to cut the ribbon if they invite me, which would be very nice because as was told on the record here, remember this is on your watch. You got to get this done, Mayor. Remember that, Commissioner Fernandez? We got it done. It's on my watch. So, um, I really believe that where it says reception, you got to have a control wall there. And my colleagues want it. I think similar to what I have there in my office now, it has bowed, you know, good dividends because it protects the area and it does not allow people to walk in and out of that hallway congregating in that hallway. Uh, especially when you're doing, for example, especially when, for example, you're doing office hours. I do office hours every Friday. I hope that um the next mayor will continue to do that. Uh sometimes I have 20 30 40 people in that hallway and I don't want it to be madness. I make sure that I can corral different different uh groups and we meet with staff and we have different ways to do it. I just think that it becomes a little bit unmanageable if if that corridor is open

that that Carter is in fact a waiting room for for everyone on the floor whenever whenever they have office hours. I do want to point out some other things that um there's no other place large enough for them to wait for. How do you where do you place uh the kind of you know waiting that would would be necessary if multiple commissioners were having office hours at the same time? Let me give you an example, okay? With all due respect, if you're an elected official and you're having a private meeting with someone and you have people outside your door making noise, at the end of the day, it affects the ability to conduct business. But you need to have a break, a break so that people are not being able to walk down that hallway. I'm I'm a testament to it. Trust me, there's people in this room that use that wall to the to to to to bang me up as much as they possibly can in an effort to cause as much havoc, that it was a vanity issue, that it was an effort for me just to have a vanity wall. That's what they said. I think that's what they use in the blogs. But now it makes complete sense because if you look at it, not only did we go through historic, not only did we go through staff, not connected to anything to make sure that we didn't damage the historic integrity of the building. I'm just you that if you're going to do this, that's the only item that I wanted to bring up. Everything else is beautiful. You hit a 99.9% Mr. Heisen. Okay.

I'm disappointed. I know. I can tell by the way how much you're pushing back on me. I can tell. Um, so my point is that uh the issue is that you're having a meeting in a commission within a commission office with someone and you have people, for example, in a planning and zoning board meeting or in a historic preservation board meeting and they're all coming out congregating in that area. Case in point, you have a commission meeting and someone is having a meeting there, there has to be a break so the noise and there's no spillover on front of the office. That's what I'm saying. So, so maybe I can I didn't believe that. I can't believe we spent this much time talking about this.

Somebody add just a tiny bit of context. Okay. I asked for solid wood doors to be put between my office and Commissioner Fernandez's office because, you know, you have a little louder voice than I do and when you were having meetings, um, I might as well just be in the room with you because there was a glass piece of glass in between. So, solid wood, it helps deal with the noise. The other problem that we have is because people don't know which door to enter. They just come in and you're in the middle of another meeting. So, it's disruptive and especially for the person who's going to get the most visits, which is the mayor, whoever is the mayor. Everybody wants to see the mayor. So, you're going to have people just walking in to the meeting. So, think about this. Might have a buzzer system. Looks like you have an open window there for the receptionist.

We have It's a It's a major reception desk. You're expected to walk up to that desk to get into any one of those offices. It's an open window. Okay. Take these comments, go talk to the city manager, and see if we can solve this problem. We We certainly will. Um I think there's a couple other things that we can do to reduce noise. Uh we can sound isolate every one of those walls so that so that they're sound insulated with an SDC rating of over 50. Um we can that we'll be doing. Yes. Amen.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Those glass the glass enclosures. I don't know if they're historic or not, but the glass practical good whatsoever. The glass is so hard the sound is bouncing off of it. Um, we'll use acoustical plaster on the ceilings of those rooms all over as as this room once had as it will have again as as as we go forward.

through through the mayor, excuse me, through the mayor. Uh, mayor, we we understand the the acoustics issue there and that's something that we need to take care of so that when when you all are meeting in your offices, those should be private areas and we will be taking care of that. That's part of the design. So, I just want to I want to I want to for the record again, okay, I'm not going to be here when this is done. I'm just telling this because I think it's I think it's beneficial moving forward. I think it's beneficial moving forward because of what I've seen what I've seen happen uh uh here. So, it's not like a it's not a vanity project. I'm just trying to make it use a little common sense and I have a little bit of construction knowledge. Not a lot, but a little bit. And uh I I I've actually been in that office for five years. So, I I want the next person who has the privilege to hold that seat to be able to have a conversation at their desk and not have to have it inside the bathroom privately because you don't want anybody to hear you. That's how that's how paper thin the walls are and there's nothing more interesting than when you're outside of a historic uh preservation meeting or and somebody's standing at your door and you have to walk outside, open the door and said, "Can you do me a favor, sir? With all due respect, can you go sit uh go sit by the corridor or go sit by the because we're trying to have a meeting here with an with a resident or with an employee just trying to have a little bit of privacy

through to the mayor briefly. So for me, um I echo the sentiments, but for me there's another issue, and I guess it's a good time to talk about it, um is safety, right? And I know that we're talking about uh all of these concerns, you know, privacy and being able to get the work of the of the of the business of the day done, but currently, I know we're going to be solving for it, right? One big issue right now for me is that currently a member of the public could come through um the main doors on the first floor up the stairs, come in through the double door where me my liaison our liaison are working and then they have no idea who's coming through what the purpose of them coming through is. And many times, not I wouldn't say many times, but it is not inconceivable that you can have somebody come in and they maybe I rateate about something and then the front line is one of my my liaison and they don't have adequate confidence or safety in discharging their job. So, can you just talk to me a little bit about how this proposed plan addresses that for them

through the mayor? Yes, sir. The mayor, we should mention

if you if we can we can look at the first floor. Thank you. Uh we are using we're using the courtyard entrance as the main entrance. And there there's there is a a screen at that at that first at that first floor. The two other doors are just used for fire. So those will be locked. You can get out but you can't come in on the two side doors. So the door at the at the at the lobby area which is directly in the middle that will have security on your right and you will go through a mag magnetometer to make sure that that that there weapons etc or whatever uh at that point and if you can see uh the the green at the very bottom next to the red that's the security area everybody will come that will be the entry of the building

we also have added in that same room uh closed circuit television monitors so that the officer that is on duty there has a view of absolutely every area that you we could ask for on every floor because I'm concerned about everyone's floor. The attorney also could have, you know, high rates through through the mayor. So then if that's wonderful and so but if one of the um um folks manning the reception area on the second floor, the lison or whoever's at the reception would need assistance. Is there some sort of like a button or a communication device to get to security? The mayor. Yes, sir.

We have that now. We we have a safety and security consultant, Randy Atlas, PhD, who is actually going to meet with us next week, I believe, Rick, um to to go back over his earlier recommendations that he made in the schematic design phase to meet with staff and go over each location, uh meet with the chief of police, Peter, we've got scheduled also. I'm I'm going to make this really easy. We're all over the security issue. I'm going to make this really easy. Really easy. I I I don't I don't think I don't even think we have to have this conversation.

I'm going I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna make a motion. I'm going to make a motion. I can't believe we're talking about this. I'm going to make a motion to do exactly what I have there now for the future commissioners and to be able to have security in regards to a wall with a door that the receptionist will see that person there will let them in and they can come in and deal with the commissioners. That's my motion. If I could take it further actually because I think you do technically have that door but your aid should not be responsible for security for or the mayor's aid should not be responsible for security. And that was one of the things that we had discussed in the past. There needs to be some sort of protection also for whoever the mayor is at the time. And I don't think that that I'm seeing that. I know that we're very limited in the ability because the staircase is right there. But I've had people in my bathroom as well and I've shown up to my office and there's somebody in the bathroom in my office. I've and the noise issue has been a major issue. But my concern has always been the security component because like the mayor says, you're having a conversation with somebody and somebody's standing right outside your door listening or people just walk in. They think that it's the reception desk because I'm right at the top of the stairs.

I'm going to I'm going to reiterate this again and I I want to see if this makes sense. Okay. where it says reception, you have you have obviously two lines. It's the archway up above that you're looking at. Yes,

there should be some sort of wall paneling system kind of like what we have there now, which we installed, which if you need a little information, I think we can send you the blog post. I think I I think we can send you the blog post, which was obviously leaked by people in this room uh to make an issue about it being a vanity project for myself, which it was not. And let me tell you why. that was installed and I will tell you why it's installed. The manager knows very well because he helped me with it. We went through all the boards. It was approved by historic. It was approved by the city and we didn't touch the floor or the walls to make sure we protected the building. We installed that because my staff members at that point encountered an individual who had an incision from his forehead all the way to his back and came in there into the office and was very aggressive with my female staff. Okay. And it was a very uncomfortable situation as a manager will tell you and we had to take action. Okay. But that didn't make the blogs. What made the blogs was that the mayor's putting together a vanity project which is absolute insanity. Again, I'm not going to be here. Not going to be here. Okay. So, my point is that where you have the archway on top, you should have right there. And let me tell you why it makes sense. Because you have one, two, three commissioners and the vice mayor. The receptionist will let people in. the person will be waiting there like you do in the city of Miami when you go to the when you go to the fourth floor and you try to meet with a when you try to meet with a director you're sitting in a in a in a containment area you meet the reception hi I'm here to meet with the public works director hi I'm meeting here to meet with the building director yes please sit down they call you in you have a door just like I have right now and it resolves the issue in regards to the mayor the mayor's office the door to the mayor's office should be remain closed constantly locked the The only way to get into the mayor's office is to go through obviously the administration. The administration we have no other option because we can't

there's one one other option which I was just looking at where you have the commission aids that large suite right there. Yes. What if we move the mayor there? So the mayor has that large office space right ne right where right where you have the reception that area there and then the mayor's within the protected zone.

I'll tell you why. because I don't have a problem with that either. I'm not going to be here. It's okay. I don't have a problem. But my point is because that's not the original mayor's office. The original mayor's office is where the mayor's going back to now because I'm not in the mayor's office right now. The mayor's office right now is Commissioner Lada and Commissioner Castro. Let me let me make one other suggestion here to the putting the door there and and having someone buzz at the door of where you're suggesting it is certainly one possibility. I think that the person at the end of the day we need a security officer there in that reception desk who is truly a security officer. Security officer who can control all that happens out here uh on a daily basis whenever we have guests. Um just having the receptionist there is is going to do no more than than it did before. She's going to be scared if we have a a strange person or a deranged person who comes into the space and and that door isn't going to solve that problem. Yes, we can. We're your Each of these doors will be lockable. Each of them will only be openable if that person at that desk um pushes the button and unlocks. I can I can make a personal but I can make a personal case for that for this and that's the fact that Congresswoman Ross Leightton's office we had a lady show up with a knife.

We did not have a separated reception area. We had something similar. It was just an open hallway. Anybody could walk in and everybody was at risk because we didn't have a protected zone for our internal offices. Following that incident, we moved to an office where we had a separated reception area for the people who were waiting because you just don't know that. That's the reality that we're living in today. You know, people are trying to make a statement. They're going to show up and make a statement however they think fit. This lady in this case had seen the um the suicide of a member of the of the county commission and she believed if she saw it on TV, she had to relive it. Thankfully, she did not own a gun, so she just had a knife. It took two tasers to bring the lady down because she wasn't on her medication. So, I have lived it. I have seen it. I can tell you there should be a level of protection.

The protection is is right at your front door. Okay. I guess that's why we should be blocking guns, blocking knives, blocking anything that someone that you know that that's where we should have. Okay. But Okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna second the motion. This is I thought I Anyway, I'm sorry. I thought we were here to like to talk about the layout and things that we wanted to see changed. I'm trying to bring one item and I can't I'm getting like rebuttled rebuttled over and over again. I'm not even going to be here. I'm just trying to help. I'm just trying to help, you know, with to help the future. We can put that door in. There's no Okay. But but hold on one second. Madam Vice Mayor, made a motion. I want to memorialize this. I made a motion to put that door right where that archway is.

Can I have a second? I I second it. Okay. Hold on, Mr. clerk, can we have a can we have a can we have a vote? So, mayor, sorry, just to remind you, since you made the motion, the vice mayor is is now Yes. Sorry about that. I apologize. Excuse me. I always forget. May we may we have a vote? Vice Mayor through the mayor through the chair. One quick question. Do we have to ask for a public comment or no? We we should ask Mr. Clerk, do we have any public comment? Oh, we do not. Okay. For the sake of Thank you, Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes. Commissioner Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Mayor Log. Yes. That's the rest. Wow. Okay. Commissioners in the future will be grateful for that. Future.

In the future. Future. Future. I'm chair again. Okay. I never dealt with this for 10 years with the previous mayors or commissioners. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life. Um it's it's this is so simple. We just battle for 30 minutes over a door. Maybe we need a sunshine meeting for the commission and and and our and our and our incredibly esteemed architects to go over this. What do you think? Because we have a long agenda. If we're if we're through one door, we're through one door. What do you think, Mr. Man? And the vice mayor wanted to talk, so I apologize. To the mayor, I I think we that door will make sure that that control is there. No issues.

Oh, we just voted on it. So yes, we were going to make Well, we were I was going to do it anyway because I think I think it was the will of the commission. It was obvious. Uh so uh if we can if we can move on because this is important to get CDs going. Okay. I do have one question. All right. Madam Vice Mayor, what's our security control downstairs? Do we have a similar door to control traffic flow?

Your your control is the security desk and the officer at that security desk going through the magnetometer and and the same time having around those officer or officers um the the CCTV system for security that is set up to literally view every area of the building. We've already laid the cameras out. Um it's it's a big step forward. Well, let's talk to the police chief and see if a door is is recommended as well. Mayor, yes.

Yes. U mayor uh can you please go back to the first floor and we are working vice mayor we're working with the police chief on this and and a security consultant to make sure the building is as secure as possible there's a buzzer a buzzer system to open the doors a typical mechanism that you use to stop and

control at every door and and and those issues are being taken care of if you look at the lobby area downstairs uh that area to the right uh the the entry will be limited to the to the lobby area that you see in the middle of the of the building in the lower part of the actual drawing. The doors on either side will just be able to go out. They're just fire doors. You cannot come in. So from a fire pit,

they they're fine. And then and then that whole right area there will be security. So we'll have multiple security people there with a magnetometer to to go in and there will be also security cameras available there for the entire building. We are working uh with a security consultant um and the police chief to to get to we're looking at cameras, views, and all issues like that right now. Uh and and go to item go to the uh the second floor and right where the reception is mayor, we'll put the the control door right there for the reception area.

Perfect. Is but I wanted to just if the layout was was was uh okay for the I don't have any issues with it. Commissioner France wanted to make a statement. I don't have any issues with the layout. I just wanted to my

my the level of safety and the level of heat that I got and the way that this was weaponized weaponized to go after me over a wall receipts and the persons in the room here today who went after me on public records request. They're here back in the back and and at the end of the day it's all about safety. It's all about public. It's all about safety for the employees. So, you know, when you think about it, it it's it boggles the mind that we went through all that and all the and all the ridiculousness that was made and now we're basically doing the same thing. Fernand. So, on can we go back to the first floor? Sure.

Because this has been a concern of mine since the beginning. That conference room that we have next to the lobby is outside the protected zone. Yet that conference room is used substantially. Is there a way to restructure that area where we can have the entrance beyond that door and maybe have the magnetometer in the area where we have the conference room? No. So we have a protected zone within the building. I mean, I think hardening the building is a concern that all of us have and I don't think I don't think we're there. I I just don't and I know we're dealing with historic we're dealing with a lot of walls that cannot be moved. I just don't think that we've hardened the building enough in in these plans for the mayor.

Yes.

Yes. Uh anybody going into that lobby will be will have control by has to go to to a magnetometer and be escorted back back into the lobby. Nobody nobody will be in the building that doesn't that doesn't go through the control center initially. So we we've worked on this a lot and and Commissioner Fernandez, there's a lot of issues with the historical site that that that we don't that that we have to work with. So So from a security perspective, there'll be cameras all through that area. The the control will be on that right hand side and everyone will have to go through there to access any part of the building. So if you were to go into the conference room on the left hand side, you'd have to go to the guard, check in, go through, and then come back and then come back and then come back in and be escorted by someone. That that that conference room is not going to be an open conference room and every door that we have in the building will be a security door.

Okay. All right. Um, anything else?

Sir, I I wanted to just conclude by showing you where the commission conference room is on the on the left hand upper leftand corner of this drawing. So it'll be right outside that door. That's your day-to-day uh commissioner conference room and it will also be used by staff during commission meetings where they can wait to uh to before they have to come into the chamber uh when they're going to be called. Um going up to the the mezzanine floor, we have it primarily on the mezzanine floor and some floating conference rooms and a mail room. nothing terribly special there. But one of the very bright things that I think we did is we've hidden all the air conditioning units uh in the ceiling above above this floor. So there's a mezzanine floor above the commission hallway that hides every air conditioning unit that you now see all across your property. Um so that'll that that makes it uh extremely efficient and uh and and not a visible uh nightmare that it that it is today. We have the law department on the third floor. The whole lower side of the third floor uh is in fact the city the city attorney's office and then we have a little area for uh CIP and and our state representatives office on the upper leftand corner. So, um that is generally the the layout and uh I thank you for your input and and we've taken due note of all the security concerns and uh and audio uh concern. So, we'll work very hard hard on getting the uh the sound attenuation between offices correct. Perfect. So, I just wanted to say thank you and I noticed where you have the ADA accessible ramp for the commission diets. So,

thank you very much. I'll move it. No, I thought we had a motion in a second. We motion and the second was just a safety. It's just just a presentation. We don't need just an update. Can I have a motion? I don't think that we need you want to know. You said you wanted to start moving forward with CDs. We're already so Give me one second. Yes, the mayor. We just wanted to show the actual floor plan the final. I just want to make sure you were fine with everything. So, we just wanted to move on if the the commissioner if the commissioner is is good, we really like to move with the construction documents and we will provide that that secondary wall and uh and we will have a a very robust security system. Okay.

And so, if it's if uh we would but we would like the the okay from the commission uh to move on CDs. It doesn't have to be a vote, mayor, but just want to make sure Everybody was satisfied with the work so far. Okay, perfect. All right, thank you very much. Thank you. All right, moving forward. I have one item that I want to I want to hit before because I know that these young ladies have to go. Uh, ladies, come up, please. So, I had the pleasure of meeting with these amazing young ladies. Uh, I think it was an office hour, right? Yeah.

Very courageous, you know, very outspoken. They came to meet with me. uh at office hours. I've never met you. And they have some great ideas. And I told him, you know what? If you want to do something, we're going to make it tough on you. We're going to bring you before the commission and you got to sell the commission on what you want. So, I was very impressed by them and I want you to start off by saying a little bit about who you are, what you do, and why you're here. All right. Take it away. Hi, good morning. So, we're Project Pound, um, a student-led nonprofit organization based right here in Coral Gables.

And we started our service project last year in 2025 with our main goal being to help service to help um, dogs get adopted. So, my name's Anna Sosa and I live here in Coral Gables on Anderson Road.

And I'm Presley BL and I live in Coral Gables at um, 1900 Country Football Park. And our mission is to spread awareness on shelter animals here in Miami, Florida. We love to meet the dogs and highlight their personalities and post them on our Instagram page to help them get a better chance of being adopted. And our main goal is to find a loving home for every shelter dog here. So, our impact so far, we last year we had 18 animals that we got adopted and we raised over $1,000 at different events and donated to local animal shelters and we created an Instagram page that generated thousands of views for um ant shelter dog awareness. So, we understand that there is a new um dog park opening here in Coral Gables on Saturday, January 31st, and we would love to partner with you and Miami Dade Animal Services to like organize an adoption event there. So, we have already contacted Miami Dade and confirmed um that they can bring their adoption truck on site um to transport their resident dogs over to the event. And we had an idea that to motivate Coral Gables residents to adopt shelter dogs that we would cover the the adoption fees for the first five Coral Gables residents to come and adopt the dog at the Hope at the Hope Express truck. And we'd also like a booth to talk to people's residents and other visitors at the event to about how they can adopt dogs and to raise awareness for them. Thank you.

Right. Well, I wanted you to to bear witness. We were talking about, you know, the new layout, the new layout for city hall a little while ago. Um, these are the ladies that are going to be using those commission and mayor's offices very, very soon. Uh, they came to my office, they were prepared. I was incredibly impressed uh by their commitment uh by the fact that when I told them you're going to come and speak before the commission for five minutes, they didn't even flinch. Uh I want to thank Laura from my office and Nicole who did an amazing job working with them. I know that they've been working with the county uh to now bring uh the vehicle uh so once we do open this brand new dog park in the city of Cole Gables, which is something that I'm very proud of with the underlying uh and I've been working on that for 10 years and it's finally coming to fruition. I wrote that legislation. So, I'm very, very proud of it. Um, but to have you make that event even stronger and in my opinion more emblematic of what we stand for and the idea that you had that you're going to cover cover the cost of the first five adoptions goes to really show your commitment. But my goal was also to get people out there. I'm asking the manager and my colleagues to please support that we we have a flyer. We have a flyer that we're going to send out so we get people to come hopefully adopt dogs, but we also want them to donate to your organization because the end goal here is again get as many of these dogs out of the shelters and get them into good home and Coral Gables is the great place for dogs. Uh through the leadership of the vice mayor, um we we've now are going to have I think it's like four or five dog parks uh in the city. We have a few that already come online and we're working on a few more and this is just another opportunity. So I wanted to bring them forward so you can meet them start working with them and I hope this is something that we can support uh today through through the commission vice mayor. Yes, I am thrilled that you've come, you know, because it

highlights the importance of having uh areas uh not only for dogs to exercise because they need exercise just like we do where they'll have muscle atrophy uh but also for helping support bringing the dogs out. I did speak to the uh shelter crew and I suggested them bring a variety of sizes of dogs because they all brought, you know, some the larger ones that just didn't work at the last event I was at. uh didn't work for everybody. So, they need to bring some little ones, some middlesized ones, and some some of the bigger ones. But what you're doing as far as trying to get awareness out there on the personalities of the dogs is extremely helpful for people because you don't know how they're going to behave once they get home. And I'm one of those folks that look up dogs from people that foster them and have some personality uh traits on the dog. So, it's not like you're going in blindfolded adopting the animal. So, um kudos to to what you're doing. Um, and I would suggest too that you know, you're saying the first five, but you also give the pe people the option to donate as opposed to going free because uh getting a free dog says a lot of the people in this community would love to donate and allow the uh adoption fee to go towards helping support somebody that may be a little more income limited uh on adoption. So, thank you again for what you're doing. And highlight the fact that if you're um adopting an animal from Miami Dade County, it's already spayed or neutered. It's already got its vaccination shots and you're going to be walking out the door with a dog that you're not going to have to do as much work on. Okay. So, thank you. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Yes, sir. So, I wanted to say briefly, um Anna and Presley, thank you very much for impressing the heck out of us here and the commission. uh the the the mayor did put you um up to the challenge and you you you met it and you overcame. So very proud of the way you presented yourselves and I'm very very very proud of the project that you started. Uh I'd like to help in any way I can. So as the mayor said, there's a flyer that we're going to try and push out. I'm good with the electronics. So if there's a way for us to get that kind of thing for our various social media platforms, Instagram and whatnot, so we can put it out. And then you got the uh January 30 uh or January 31st. 31st. January 31st.

10 a.m. at 10:00 a.m. Uh we'll be there. Right. I I wish I could take one of those dogs. I I I I have three. And I think I'll move out before we have another one come in. I don't even know if I'm breaking a code violation if I say I have three. Oh well. Um but they are wonderful. And you'll see me walking down or being being pulled by my dogs down the street. Um, thank you very much for all that you do. So, um, thank you again. Want to say something?

Yeah. Yeah. Just, uh, just wanted to commend both Anna and Presley for the incredible work that you're doing. Um, getting 18 dogs adopted is not an easy feat. Uh, and I'm sure you have a full-time job studying, right? So, you have plenty on your plate as it is. Uh, but thank you for your dedication to this mission and the work that you're doing. uh you're role models for other children in our community who are involved, young people who really are trying to get involved in our community. You're one of the role models to follow. So, I appreciate the work you're doing and I look forward to supporting you. Thank you.

So, two big things. You'll you'll send us obviously when we have the u the flyer, we'll circulate it, put it on my social media, we'll make everyone a collaborator. Uh you'll send it out to my colleagues so they can post it all. We'll see each other this weekend. We're looking forward to helping out. Any ideas? raise as much money as we possibly can. But like the vice mayor said, you know, where individuals who potentially don't have the wherewithal or the financial means to be to to adopt the dog, but would be amazing parents to a dog, you know, that's what we want. We want to help those individuals. We want to get as many of these dogs adopted. So, I want to congratulate you for being here. Um, can we do can we do a a resolution in support of this amazing amazing event?

Can someone can someone I'll move it. I'll second. All in favor? I I. Thank you. Mission accomplished. Great job, ladies. Thank you so much. It wasn't that bad. You did an amazing job. Congratulations. Uh now we move on to item E3. E3 is an ordinance of the city commission granting to Florida Power and Light Company its successors and assigns an electric franchise imposing provisions and conditions relating there to providing for monthly payments to the city of Pro Gables and providing for an effective date. Can I can I have a motion? I'll move it. Move it. We have a second.

Mr. Manager, do you have a presentation? Uh, mayor, this is a this is a for this is the for light contract. Uh, it uh it's a franchise agreement and we have a favorite nation status as far as uh we're currently getting 6% if there's any uh any other changes in that uh going up. We do have it and and we also have an amendment that keeps other agreements in place and so we believe it's the the contract is fine and and uh Francis agreement should be can be approved. I want to thank Addis Carrill for obviously always being present uh one phone call away or an email. Um thank you for all your hard work. We have a great partnership with FPNL. I think we're in the best position we've been in a very very long time. It's a part of that's incredibly important unless you can find us another energy provider. I don't think there one exists. Uh but I'm excited about u our partnership especially the most favorite nations clause which is important uh for us to do business. Um we have a motion a second. Do you have any public comment? We'll close with public comment. Would you like to say a few words?

Just want to say thank you. I really appreciate it and you guys are great to work with and we just love the partnership that we have with you. So, thank you very much. More importantly, thank you because I know that my my team and I drag you out to a lot of residents homes one for one issue or another. You always show up. It doesn't matter 7:30, 8:00, 9:00 at night in the morning, you're there uh to meet and to accommodate the residents. So, I want to thank you for that. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I know it's not easy. I know it's not easy sometimes because the asks are significant. Um, but at the end of the day, FBN always comes soon. So, thank you. Thank you for this. We have a motion, a second. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Mayor Log, yes. Uh, moving to item 2-2.

So, 2-2, mayor, is related to item F1. Would you like me to read F1 into the record? Yes. F1 is a resolution of the city commission approving a memorandum of understanding between the city of Corables and Clean Rivers Foundation and Applied Six Engineering and for the Oasis Waterway Decontamination Pilot Program.

So, I'm the sponsor of this item. I brought it before the commission one day for consideration. This is a pilot program. We're just trying to find again other ways to clean up our waterways and be good stewards. It's a pretty good opportunity to test something brand new. And God willing uh we continue to evolve in our efforts to keep our waterways as clean as possible. Remember my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong Mr. Manager that over 20% of our tax base 20 something I think it's like 27% or 26% I forgot the number um of comes from the waterways. So if our waterways are not clean, the values of the homes are going to fall. And I will entertain any serious obvious any serious technology um where we could potentially just continue to add better water quality here in South Florida.

I'll move it. It's great piece to the mayor. Yes, sir.

So I'm very excited about this. it was something that was um sounds and feels almost revolutionary or magical, you know, if it all ends up working out the way we're hoping it will. And you've gotten some interest in this initiative of yours from members of our u residents, right? So, I've been contacted by Dr. Lee Swinganger, who is an esteemed engineer with uh more degrees than I can recall, who's offered his services as an unpaid consultant uh to assist in this regard. He's very excited about it, too. So, perhaps you and I can speak about how that if there's a if there's a need that could be filled by um residents who want to help provide services on a on a on a volunteer basis given their expertise, let me know so I can re relay that to him as well and encourage other residents who want to participate in that way as well.

I love it. Thank you. Let's let's take advantage of a person with those credentials. Let's make sure we bring them on board. So, we have a motion, a second. You have any public comment? No. No, Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Mayor Lago, yes. Thank you. Looking forward to the results and hopefully we'll bring those results back to the commission. They'll be favorable and we can uh really push forward. Item E1.

E1 and E2 are related. Mayor, if it's okay, I'll read them both. Um, an ordinance of the city commission approving amendments to the text and maps of the city of Coral Gable's comprehensive plan pursuant to smallcale amendment procedures and zoning code article 14 process section 14-213 comprehensive plan text map amendments to modify the required mix of uses when developed within the University Station rapid transit district overlay to allow maximum floor area ratio of 3.5 to provide policies to implement the University Station rapid transit district overlay to amend the future land use map from commercial low-rise intensity to commercial high-rise intensity and to create the University Station rapid transit district Overlay on the mixeduse overlay district maps for blocks 155 and 156 Coral Gables Rivera section part 8 tracked a repat of Coral Gables Rivera section part 8 which are the properties bounded by the south Dixie Highway Cabayto Madruga and Turan Street providing for repeated provision providing for severability clause and providing for an effective date E2 is an orance to the city commission providing for map and text amendments to the city of Coral Gable's official zoning code pursuant to zoning code article 14 process section 14-212 zoning code text and map amendments by one amending article 2 zoning districts to create section 2-4 408 University Station Rapid Transit District Overlay for promoting the use of mass transit facilities and pedestrian activities along transit corridors and near multimmoal stations. Amending appendix A sight specific zoning regulations to remove inconsistent site specifics. Amending article 14 process section 14-204 transfer of development rights to expand transfer of development rights receiving sites to the University Station rapid transit district overlay and four making zoning district boundary changes from mixed use one to mixuse three three and creating the University Station rapid transit district overlay boundary for blocks 155 and 156 Coral Gables Rivera section part 8 and tracked A replat Coral Gables Riviera section part 8 which are the properties bounded by South Dixie Highway Cavo Boulevard Madruga and Turin Street and to create the University Station rapid transit district providing for repeated provision severability cost codification and providing for an effective date.

Thank you.

Afternoon Garcia Pian director. There's been some changes since first reading. This has been kind of piece meal together. So I have brief presentation to go through the refreshment from October as well as summarize some of these changes. If I can have the PowerPoint, please. Thank you. So, as you recall, um the um board of county commissioners did adopt on a first reading back of last May is what initiated the city's rapid transit um um overlay district. Um after discussion from from this commission um in May of of last year, uh Pines Board did recommend approval of comprehensive map changes as well as uh zoning code text and map amendments as well. Um this commission after the board of of county commissioners adopted on second reading um their subzone this commission did approve on first reading the conference map amendments as well as the zoning code map and text amendments. Um after that meeting at that meeting actually this commission did um delegate um the mayor as well as city manager to meet with the applicants of the mark and discuss with them potential changes to the text um at that meeting or meetings I should say. Um there has been some changes to the comprehensive plan text amendments that we did review two weeks ago as well as some text amendments to zoning code which I'll go through really quick right now. So the the boundary is still the same on US1 between Cavayto and Turan Street. Again, you're looking at two uh two um ordinances today. Comparative plan MAP map and text amendments as well as zoning code map amendments. The text movements is what are changed since your first reading in October. So the MAC the maximum F will be 3.5. The coral gamma training style will be required for any buildings within this district. The US1 uh step back would be 20 feet be measured from the curb. The upper story

setbacks would be provide based on the design and not the distance of from the street or or even a step back on the upper stories. Uh the rear setback would be 15 feet also measured from the curb. The minimum unit size would be 400 square feet. Um we did clarify that balconies could project into the setbackt. Um, two uses would be required on US1. There wouldn't be a requirement of a threshold. Um, let's see. The parking reduction would be within a quarter mile and then minor deviations from the zoning code could be approved administratively by the development review official in regards to transparency or width of driveway. Something that's very very minor to our zoning code. And we also clarified the formatting of the site specifics. This is a graphic that shows the existing conditions existing as far as land use and zoning goes. Again, commercial lowrise intensity and MX1 MX3 zoning. What's proposed today is commercial high-rise intensity and MX3 zoning. This um I think the mayor requested some comparisons. Um their current regulations are on the left side. The middle is the county's RTZ subzone regulations and on the right side is the city's proposed district which highlighted in green. Um the review for the county would require a special exception for the county board. Um what's proposed to you before it today is expedited review with city staff review as well as city commission. So bypassing board of architects and plan zoning for it. The height for RTZ is in a quarter mile which is 150 ft. There's already a building there in the district that measured that height. Um what the pro today is 120 feet with a maximum of 147 feet with um additional open space requirements. The density would remain

the same at 125 uh units an acre. The F is unlimited in RTZ, but we're proposing today is at moment of 3.5 F with the ability to have F uh increase with the TDRs for maximum of 4.375 F. The setbacks would be zero with RTZ. Uh the city's proposing 20 ft to be measured from the curb for the front step back on US1 and then 15 feet on the back also measured from the curb. The stepbacks um are not required for either the county RTZ or the city proposed uh district and the parking would require zero uh residential units for the county as well as some commercial and office requirements for the city's proposing 50% reduction for parking as well as 25% waiver with a parking plan and a remote parking um ability. Also here we're we're comparing the uses. So currently our zoning code only allows uses like restaurants, hotels, commercial retail offices in our MX3 zoning. It's approved by the city. The county would uh on the other hand um allows bars with restaurants uh parking lots and garages are permitted uses and all those similar uses would be approved by the county. Um the impact fees if if the project develops within the city um the police, fire, municipal as well as parks and mobility impact fees would stay with the city. Um with the county, they would pay those impact fees to the county. Um our places of course we require 1% of construction costs. Uh the county does not require that for private development. And the design is probably the most important key here. Um the county doesn't have aesthetics review board or athletics review in general by staff. Um what we're posting today is that the city architect review for the

preliminary review and as well as the Mediterranean style if required here in this district. So this is a comparison of current RTZ project in the near the DA station. I believe it's called a cascade development. You can see the difference between um how the county um does landscape and pedestrian access and street design compared to this count compared to Coral Gables which on the right side. You said a plaza with a landscape the street trees on street parking um arcades and streets and t windows and doors facing the street etc. just trying to explain the difference between the county's development perimeters and coral gables. So this went through a rigorous uh review of timeline and plan.

Can you go back? Can you go back for a second? Yes, of course.

This is important. Got to put this on the record. Okay. So uh the last time this came up on first reading, it was voted four to one. Correct. Okay. I think the clear examples here I think things are a lot of the wording things get lost but when you put it photos like this, it really uh provides and encompasses why we're having to do this. We're not doing this because we think it's a great idea. We're doing this because we have no other choice. A developer has two options. Go through the city process or go through the RTZ. We have now delivered a third option in an effort to try to find some middle ground. In that middle ground, you can see that middle ground is to your right. If not, they go to the RTZ, which is to your left. I want lushness. I want canopies. I want Mediterranean style. I want art and public places fees. I want uh fees that that deal with police, fire, impact fees coming to the city of P Gables, not to the county. I want setbacks to our standards. I want usages to our standards. I want signage to our standards. that is all being delivered in regards to the mark which I'm grateful that that developer has had multiple meetings with myself and the manager and yourself and your team to find common ground and move forward in the right direction. But if we do not negotiate, we end up with the left. If we negotiate, we end up with the right. So, I know that in politics there's a lot of grandstanding and there's a lot of opportunities. Uh, just just try to bash people and tear people down. Like I you I've mentioned a few times here, you know, you saw a clear point example with with the New Times. The New Times doesn't want to comply. They don't want to deal with beautifification. So, what do they do? They try to intimidate me by writing an article about me. So, when you vote against the city RTZ,

you're just hurting the city. That's what you're doing. You're hurting the city because we don't get those impact fees. We don't get art in public places. We don't get a tree canopy. We don't get a setback. We don't get a Mediterranean design. We don't get to control signages. We don't get to control usages. So, what you're seeing when the commissioner Castro voted against this, that is pure politics so that she can say later when she runs, hey, I didn't change the zoning code. Yeah. But if you don't do this, they're going to go to the RTZ, which is going to be a building that is gargantuan in height. You're only hurting the city. So, we have to be honest with ourselves and we have to find and be realistic that right now we are not in control. We're not in the best position. We have to compromise.

Do the merit. So question to you Jennifer to make it real simple voting against the um ordinance which was to amend to allow for what you and the city manager and the mayor have negotiated with the mark. If that had not carried, right? Unfortunately, I wanted to be 50. It was 4-1. But let's say it wasn't carried. Would you say that the resulting project of the mark under the RTZ would represent um uh the the absolute opposite of what you would say are coral gable standards for a development in terms of F in terms of height lacking impact fees setback signage in other words all the things that we have that make up Coral Gable's zoning and code requirements for develop velments wouldn't apply. Right.

Right. Exactly. What what it would do is it would have that control design in the county's hand. And you can see by the county what they're reviewing right now and approving a building is not up to our standard. Which is why this slide is very important because you can put all you want the zoning code. We need to have people actually reviewing for aesthetics and making sure there's importance on street trees and street design and doors and windows facing the street. You're putting all that control into their hands and not keeping here. And I would say that voting for what at least four of us at the commission did at that last meeting is to try and bring back that development under Coral Gable's standards. And that a vote of no could not stand for protecting out of control development. It couldn't stand for protecting Coral Gable's standard developments because without this compromise that we've got, this project was going to continue as it looks on that example, that exhibit up there where it says county RTZ. Am I right?

Right.

So, I think that's critically important to put on the record and I appreciate my colleagues putting on the record because this is a this will be a political item come next November. This is politics. This will used next November to say, you know, by the blogs and and other entities out there to say, "Oh, Mayor Lago voted in favor of reszoning and providing more benefits to the market. If you did not provide this expedited service, we would lose millions and millions and millions of dollars of impact fees, hard places, and we would lose control of setbacks, usages, heights. This is what's been done and this is why I thank God for truth and journalism where you have entities for example like the Coral Gables magazine which provide the facts not romanticize the lies that are used um by entities here in the city of Coral Gables in an effort to impact elections. But as you know, as was shown before, there was a title wave at the last election where people were crushed who sided with this type of behavior. We have to be honest with ourselves and be truthful to the residents and that's why we're putting this up there so they understand and can explain later. Mr. Manager, I would like to explain in a transparent way in our next newsletter where we explain the decisions that were done here, why they were done, and what would be the outcomes if we did not take this action as permission.

The mayor. Yes, sir.

Yes. Uh, mayor, I will I will certainly do that. One thing that we also have to have to look at the left to the right is that uses and signage would be through through the county. So this would essentially provide a county building inside Coral Gable. So not only are we getting the left, but we're also losing control of that of that particular building. So there there are many aspects. Not only are are we getting permit fees, impact fees, and so forth, but we're getting we're losing the control of that particular building. And mayor, I'll be happy to put that out because I think we need the things to be explained thoroughly so that people understand the the position that that the city's in is It's either take take a county building or go with with our overlay which is as we can see this picture is is fantastic because it shows what we can accomp what we've accomplished versus what could have happened

through through the mayor. Yes.

So I think a picture speaks a thousand words and this this photo is an excellent example. I mean we unfortunately cannot turn back time and we can't undo you know the damage that was done. um approximately a year ago where the developer was motivated to go through the county because of the treatment that occurred at the planning and zoning board level. So, we can't change that, but we can take control now. It's not it's not uh what I would have done had the events at the planning and zoning board uh meeting hadn't occurred, but uh with the options that we have right now, this is the best option we can do. and I uh applaud your efforts to bring back the mark. You know, it's brought back a lot of things for our city. We have the impact fees for our parks so we can have more parks in our city. We have also the impact fees uh for the police and the fire and so forth that we can do that. We have greater setbacks than what the county was going to provide. More walkability, more trees, more green. But uh thank you. And uh picture's worth a thousand words. use it.

Thank you. Yes, sir. So, just um I agree the picture definitely does um make this understandable. Um I'm I just had a question for the manager. I know we talked about um maybe a PSA on live local and the RTZ. Were we ever able to put that out there for residents to understand the impacts that both are having in our city? To the mayor. Yes. Uh yes, Commissioner. There is There's two short videos on on each one.

Okay. Thank you. Um and um I I think we've seen an openness from developers to really try to work with the city in the last few years. We have another developer in the room uh who worked with us on the Almria project uh which was also instrumental for members of the community to work with them on alleviating the impact it would have to their uh their neighborhood. It's a project that could have gone with live local, did not go with live local that decided to go with a project that fit into the neighborhood that neighbors were were able to stand behind and we had nobody come up to speak out against that project as well. I think this legislation uh really gives us an opportunity to bring this project back to the city and ensure that uh Coral Gables has a final say on on what this project looks like. Um we know the county is not very good at uh at approving projects. Um, we've seen the project type of projects that they approved. They would not be consistent with what our city is, with the vision that our residents have for this city. Uh, so I'm I'm happy to support this legislation.

We have a motion. Do you have a motion in a second? Can I have a motion? I'll move it. I'll second. So that would be on E1. Yes. Do you have any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. All right. We'll close public comment. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Commissioner Lada? Yes. Mayor LG. Yes. On item E2, may I have a motion? I'll move it. I'll second. Commissioner Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Mayor Log, you have no public comment on E2? No, sir.

Yes. Thank you very much. Well done. Uh time, sir. Item G1. G1 is a resolution of the city commission approving the concept, commissioning, and donation of a work of public art by Alitia Cavade in conjunction with the development project at 103 Sevilla at 1030 Almaria in fulfillment of the art and public places requirement for public art and private development. Um, that was it. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. Katherine Cathers, arts and culture coordinator for this city. So, we do have a presentation. The developers of 103 Sevilla and 13 Avenue are with us today with a petition waiver request for the art and public places fee requirement. So I would like to bring up Jose Antonio Viscarando and George Navaro who are representing the project and we'll discuss details about the proposal and then I'll come back up and talk about the city side.

Good morning commissioners. Uh Mr. Mayor George Zavaro with offices at 333 Southeast 2nd Avenue. I'm here this morning with my client Jose Antonio Viscarondo. We're back before you to present uh the public artwork that we've selected for the 130 Amira project. And as you may recall, uh, last year we worked closely with this commission to, um, create a 12,500 square foot public park in downtown that will be, uh, fully constructed um, at the owner's expense and dedicated to the city. This includes a new playground, new passive uh, landscape areas, hardscape uh, lighting. Uh, it's going to be a beautiful park and we're very excited. Um, and one of the things that we discussed at the time was the importance of pairing this park with a worldclass sculpture to create a centerpiece for this new public space. And I think as you will see today that that's exactly what we've been able to achieve. Uh so with that I'd like to introduce uh Jose who could um present the artwork from our artist Alicia Kuwait who's an internationally recognized contemporary artist who has exhibitions in all the major museums and public spaces around the world mayor vice mayor members of the commission thank you for having me once more again to discuss uh what's part of this project I appreciate you guys patience with all the time that we have taken from you guys on in reference to the project. So um the proposed artwork is name is okay so as Jorge mentioned is Alicia Kuade. She's a Polish artist represented by Pace Gallery. The the work is called Dioro Dum. It's part of a it's a unique

piece part of her totem series. the the artwork is explores the relationship between human existence and the universe. Uh she used reference to Pierro Maton's uh slo deont which is the base of the world which literally inverts the notion of what supports the world. So in a similar way this sculpture asks viewers to reconsider assumptions about power, scale and perspective. And the artist was able to descript it in her work by using items that are of human form and and using representations of the of of the of of worlds or planets. As Jorge mentioned, the artist the the the artist is a recognized contemporary artist. Uh her public works have been installed in in other in major cities. uh as mentioned the Venice Vanal in Bedomin Paris in New York has representations in Storm King Art Center and the Metropolitan as well as Hong Kong Bay as part of a public uh art pieces similar to what we are doing in in Coral Gables. The proposed materials of the work are bronze and and natural stone. Uh both of these materials have been used by c for centuries millennia and it's represented in civic artworks in in in major cities. And some examples of those we can put as the highlight as Michelangelo David and other ancient Roman bronzes. this the the location and sorry this got a little messed up on on the organization. So the the the the art piece is 23 feet tall and it's going to be set on a plint that's 5 ft. It's

going to be located as part of the park. So the park that we're donated is in the corner of Galliano and Sevilla. The art piece is being made a focal point of the open lawn that we're doing on the on the on the park. So what we're trying to bring in is have the piece be part of like the predominant highlight of the park. So the the goal of the artwork as it's aligning to the city of Coral Gables is we wanted to create a recognizable landscape, provoke thought through engagement and offer work that can resonate throughout generations. The familiarity of the form of the chair is going to makes the work accessible while the cosmic symbolism of the planets invite a deeper reflection into when gazing at the at the artist selection pro. process was done throughout the assistance of all the boards. We have the Marcus Art Foundation uh assist us in contacting the gallery. It was done through through Hayes Gallery. Pace is a leading international art gallery established in the 1960s and the notable art uh artists that it represents are Calder Dubet and between others. the scope of the work um our our donation is around uh as per as per the ordinances of the city is supposed to be around $390,000. What we're proposing this art piece the art piece exceeds a little bit on the on the cost of of of what the donation needs to be. So only the art piece is costing $450 plus the installation, the

shipping and the other accountable costs that we have on the on the on the on the project. So the total budget roughly is estimated to be around $470 $480,000. The schedule the this art hasn't been commissioned yet. Waiting for your approval. The approval will take um the commission should take around six months. As part of our previous resolution and agreement with the city and the donation of the park, the the the building will receive a TCO in in parallel with with the with the building. So the art piece will be staggered into the the final times of the construction when the the the excuse me the when the the park is completed. So we're roughly estimating a construction timing between 20 and 22 months. The the art will be installed towards the end to prevent any damage being done to the to the art piece. The plant maintenance as per the artist and some other um conservatory um guidance that we received is it's bronze and natural stones. So these are highly durable and exposed to to the elements. It requires periodic cleaning and some waxing being done on the on the bronze.

Thank you. Uh so as you see um we're very careful in selecting this artist. Um your code requires um for the artwork contribution to either be paid as a monetary payment into your public uh art fund or to be uh commissioned. And we've we've uh we've selected to move forward with commissioning the artwork. Uh in this case the artwork, as Jose mentioned, far exceeds the amount that's required. Uh, this is someone who truly cares about art and we saw this as an opportunity to really deliver something meaningful and lasting to the city and the city's done an amazing job over the years of securing major artwork for its public art collection. It's become a national leader in integrating highquality public art into public spaces and we want to continue this legacy. Uh one of the things we did is select an artist who really understands the exposure of artwork to the elements. So we expect maintenance to be minimal. Um one of the things that's standardly done when you are u commissioning artwork and dedicating it to the city in this case you know it will be part of the park which we'll be dedicating to the city that they'll be maintaining. uh the city uh typically requires a 10% maintenance fee to be provided. In this case, uh in light of the public park and because we are far exceeding that amount and want to truly do something extraordinary, we're asking for some flexibility to be able to deliver that, uh we would ask for the condition for the 10% maintenance fee to be uh waved in this case so we could uh go ahead and do something um um far more greater than would otherwise would be possible. So, uh, we hope you take our consideration of that request. Uh, this, I think, is a is something that will contribute significantly to the city's public art collection, and I think it'll be a centerpiece of this park that we all

worked uh, closely to deliver to the community. So, thank you.

We have a few more slides to complete the presentation, just give the details about the process, the review process. So um this is uh through section 9-103 waiver of the art and public places fee by donating and installing artwork to the city with an appraised value equal to or greater than the amount of the art and public places fees that would otherwise be required and providing for the perpetual maintenance of such artwork. So as part of the developers agreement and has stated the green space along Sevilla Avenue is being deed to the city as a public park where the sculptures proposed for installation and will be donated to the city. The arts advisory panel and the cultural development board voted unanimously to recommend the proposed artwork by Alicia Cuad at their respective meetings on January 7th and January 20th. And I would like to um take a special point to acknowledge Jose and his enthusiasm for this project um who has shown up to the meetings and presented on his own behalf um for the developer and and uh it was really great. So the art and public places fee as is mentioned is 1% of the project's total. It's an aggregate project total as estimated fee that we work off of. The cost of the proposed art piece um and the project is approximately $450,700 for the artwork plus additional fees for foundation other related expenses. Funds towards the artwork should not replace expenses towards lighting and other infrastructure or hardscaping that would otherwise be designed and part of the the project. The artwork and all related expenses would be the responsibility of the developer with any difference in cost which as you mentioned is not expected. Um but we do have to Note that if there would be then it would be paid into the art fund. Um and as mentioned developers required to provide for the perpetual maintenance of the artwork in

accordance with our guidelines which is realized typically as a onetime contribution of 10% of the value of the artwork that's placed into the public art maintenance fund with the city. Maintenance of the artwork hereafter will be the sole responsibility of the city. The cost of the annual maintenance in this case we will assess it and determine it upon completion. So we have not made a determination yet of whether it would be minimal or extraordinary but once it is installed then we will have that assessed by a conservator. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Um first to the applicant I want to congratulate you on your efforts. Uh you've done a lot of homework. I'm very familiar with this artist. I've seen this artist in multiple museum shows. I've seen this artist in our Basel represented by Pace probably one of the top three to four most important galleries in the world. Roco called Calder just to name a few Lewis Nevelson which is an artist who's being considered uh for purchase here in the city of Pro Gables. Beautiful, beautiful work. It's also inspires me to see another female artist joining the roster like we've done with Celia Sanchez, we've done with a line of artists, artists that have joined the roster here that have been focal points and it's good to see women and artists get their due. They're amazing and for a long time they were now recognized. So, um I think this is a great addition to the city, something different, beautiful. I think it'll be a talking point. Um and again, we're to elevate uh the quality like you said showcasing what the city of Coral Gable is all about. Um I also want to congratulate u your your business partner uh John Marquez from MAP. If you haven't had a chance I visited uh this collection multiple times. I wish I'm disappointed it's not in the city of Pro Gables. Um but it's in it's in South Florida so anybody can see it. It's called Map Marquez Art Projects. It's an exceptional uh private collection that is open to the community in line with the Marales collection in line with the Reubel collection. It is something amazing. He's one of your partners and he's been working alongside with you to ensure the your curation of this artwork is again something that he's proud to put his name on. So that's why I always knew that something amazing was going to be forthcoming. Uh in regards to your request, I'm in support and I'll tell

you why. Um, I want to I want to have individuals who are bringing forth projects make a very quick decision. Either use Troach to the art and public places fund, which I recommend that every developer do so that we can purchase works like Frank Stella, like Leis Ne, like Cydia Sanchez, amazing, amazing works, first class works. or if you want to go through the project like you know through the you know the gymnastics like you've done I feel like we're in good hands when a person of your caliber and your knowledge is just going to step up and do this because a sense of pride you're not going to build a beautiful building and then put a piece of artwork that you're not going to be satisfied with. Case in point I'm very proud of my no vote uh on the project on Pon which looks like you're in Disney World. Uh it's horrific the works when you get to near a street I think is an abomination. It should be removed and scrapped. It actually uh takes away it actually takes away at the collections alley and that was $500,000. I was very clear on that and I said don't vote for it. Well, my colleagues voted for it. What can you do for it? But this is a step in the right direction. So when you're telling me you want to save 10% on I think it's around $40,000 but you're willing to invest $100,000 for a better for a better work of art. As long as all the appraisal are in place and I know what the value of this work is, I don't have any issues with that. But I'm not changing the law. I want to do it a case by case by case. I want to leave the requirements in place and I want to make sure that if someone is coming to me and saying I'm willing to spend $500,000, $200,000, case in point, the bond span, I think we spend more money on that work. Um, you know, we'll consider we'll consider uh something that I'd be remiss if I didn't put it on on the record. Another thing that I'm very proud of was that you allowed to me to negotiate with

you so that we could build a park here in this location just like I did with Publix and just like I did with Manny Cadre and um and uh his partner these three parks are going to be anchors in the city of Coral Gables. They're going to transform our city. going to have world class art and it's going to be a true meeting place for people for community to be built. So I want I want to thank you uh for committing to give up a piece of property that's worth millions and millions of dollars in our downtown and uh you know that's not easy and I and I am grateful for the both of you for for negotiating for negotiating to give that property and to stepping up in regards to the art. So I'm in favor of your request and I'm in favor of the artwork. I think it's beautiful.

Yes, ma'am. So, um, and you you can correct me if I'm wrong. The if they someone pays the onetime fee into the art and public places fund, they don't pay for the maintenance of whatever

it goes into the art fund. So, there's a certain amount that may be used towards extraordinary maintenance in the future. So, the funds are allocated for different things. So, but there's no additional monies that they pay over and above the artwork the artwork money. So, I'm in favor for that um reason, you know, because more was spent here. Uh I do have a request to the city manager and that is just to look make sure that structurally, you know, we're not going to get strong enough to withstand the um hurricane force winds as much as as reasonable. Imagine there could be a piece of structure put through the center to provide that um support that's needed. That's my only request.

Um I think it's a great art piece. Um I was just speaking about you during the last item. Uh I don't think you guys were were listening when I was uh mentioning it, but it shows that your commitment is to this community and to improving Coral Gables. It's not just about, you know, creating a project and moving on. You have a commitment to this community, and we appreciate that. I agree with the mayor. I think you're elevating the artwork that you're bringing in. Uh so it's a no-brainer. Uh I do have a question for the mayor though. Um because Katherine, you Katherine said that um there isn't uh additional money requested for maintenance when the developer is just putting money uh aside. Are we factoring in that additional 10% when we're asking for the uh the contribution?

So let me tell you the way I see it here on this item. This is just a one one one time item, right? I'm looking at as a calculation. If it's 10% of the value of the art and this time it would be $40,000, right? He's willing to give me $100,000 additional. So, we can do it. We can do it. If I'm just saying if this commission wants the maintenance fee of $40,000,

perfect. That would reduce the size of the artwork. This is the way the artwork works. The smaller it gets, obviously, the cheaper it is. So, we're going to go from 23 feet to, let's say, I'm just making up a number. Okay? 15 ft for the artwork and then you know it'll it'll reduce it by $100,000. You have a smaller artwork and then they can just tag on the $40,000 for the maintenance. I personally would rather say let's put the bill for the maintenance ourselves when we have to do maintenance say in 10 years or 15 years um but get a work that's more monumental u because that's what we did with Frank Stella. Remember we started with Frank Stella at 1 point something million and we ended up at a work that's over $2 million. Uh so it's just just giving you an idea of the way that I my

but my thought is different actually. My thought is about the legislation that that you uh created. Does it factor in maintenance for the developers that are just putting money aside or are are we not factoring in an additional 10%. because then, if you think about it, they're getting off of easy because a developer who's actually putting forward the artwork and is putting in the additional 10% for maintenance, uh, is going above and beyond in comparison to the ones that are just putting money aside, if they're not putting aside an additional 10% that would be factored in for maintenance that we as a city would purchase. I never contemplated that, but I'd love to know what the director's position.

Yes, just to clarify. So, if they're paying the fee, they're they're paying a fee, right? All that those funds go into our art fund. So out of those funds, we are paying for artwork, we're paying for maintenance, we're paying for a variety of expenses. So if the private developer is purchasing and installing artwork on their own property, they are responsible for the maintenance of it. So they are not being asked to, you know, do addition because they're already taking that on. So this is a donated artwork that otherwise we would not be maintaining,

right? So, I guess the answer to the question is no, because if they're required 390,000, they're technically required 429,000 whereas a developer who's just putting the money aside is just being required the 390,000 there. Maybe that's something that we can work on the legislation to strengthen that legislation to require it to be the 429 going forward to ensure that a developer who's going forward and buying the artwork isn't paying more than one who's just putting the money aside and allowing the city to to utilize just even playing field. Yeah, exactly. So, um and then we can we can update if that's the will of the commission, we can update the resolution for this particular piece too. I'll be happy to move that part

to the mayor. Yes, sir. But this is a counter view, right? A counter view. I also want to discuss

what's before us right now, this particular resolution, but as a counter view to you, your point, which is well taken, Commissioner Fernandez. I mean, if I understand this correctly, right, so the the developer who has the pride and has the interest in putting forth a beautiful development, ensure it's um rapid sale at market prices, right? I I can see the incentive in wanting to put a world-class piece of art there and um and the financial wherewithal and the generosity, take your pick of which term you want to use, will drive the decision as to what that project will look like. On the other hand, when you're putting in just um the funding just the cash portion in lie of putting in the artwork, it gives to the city the discretion on how to use that money.

So to the city there would be a a benefit. I don't know how and I'm not going to attempt to quant quantify it, right? But there is a benefit to be able to utilize this cash as it sees best in terms of how to choose art it wishes to uh purchase, right? Relinquished that from the developer who could have chosen it themselves. But even the developer who chooses it themselves is subject to the the commission or I should say the majority of the commission deciding it doesn't want that art. It didn't happen that case in the Lowe's example, right? But the developer really wanted that as you said the Disney World look would have been disappointed if it would have been today's commission. Right. So I think there's a give and take is what I'm trying to say. Um where there's some tweaking that you need to do. Um but you hear you heard it here first. Um right that like we got a commissioner here looking out for the interest of the developer. I like that. You know that's the there's a first for everything saying we want an even playing field for the developers. Um, so I I'm I don't know that we're ready necessarily right now to amend or or make changes to uh the current resolution. I'd like to say that on on that score. I think it's a beautiful piece of art. I really really love it. It looks great and I really like to see it as part of the finished development on that in the park that's being donated. I think it elevates in all respects u not only the project but all those who live work around it or travel through it as tourists. So yeah my my support for that as the res resolution is currently um comprised.

So u commissioner Fernandez um as far as uh what the sentiments are in Tallahassee we should not be increasing impact fees and cost for developers. So I would caution against bringing that suggestion at this time. So I think it would have more of a negative effect than a positive effect. Okay. So we have a motion. Second. I'll second. So Mayor, just to clarify, is the does the motion include the amendment to wave the 10%? Yes. Commissioner L. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. We have no public comment. We're good.

Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. Want to say a few words. I want to thank this commission and your staff. You guys have been wonderful to work with. This has not been an easy project. This project has evolved so many instances, but the project has evolved in something that has become more emotional for us. You know, we're first generation of Venezuelan immigrants into into this community. for us is allow us to really define the roots of what makes this community and has allowed our family. So this is a legacy for us having this park as part of our project. It cementss our legacy and our future generations in here. So for us it's something that has represented so much more. It started as a residential project and it's become something that has moved a lot of things. That's part of why we wanted the art piece too. It's another little niche of something that we believe in in contemporary art that mark making this mark and making this place a landmark for future generations to to to to enjoy in this community and it allows our families to throw full roots on this community. So we are, as one of the commissions mentioned, we are committed to to to improving this city where we are and seeing grow into the beautiful city it has been and we think it will continue to become and I want to thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate you. Thank you. Uh moving on to um item E5. E5 is an ordinance of the city commission amending chapter 2 administration article 7 finance division 1 generally to create section 2-353 of the city code to formally establish ongoing priority capital projects and capital matrices funding programs providing for severability clause repeal provision codification and providing for an effective date. This is an item that I brought in order to um memorialize what our staff has been doing for a very long time, the past five years to make sure that we properly fund capital projects going forward in the future. Um and not have uh fluctuations and available capital funds uh when we have periods of time that we have lower tax base uh available. I also think this is important to show Tallahassee that we are serious. This is the way budgeting should be done, not just here, but throughout the state where you have responsible budgeting and there's not a need then to raise taxes to take care of problems that have been neglected for years and years and years due to improper or I should say lack of capital funding matrices like we have here in this city. So that is the purpose of this legislation. Um, I'd like to move it.

I'm happy to second. So, I think Vice Mayor, you're actually the the chair right now since the mayor stepped up. That's true. Sorry. So, we can have someone else move it or someone will also have to move it. Well, you can still move it. She has to pass the Gen one. So, we'll just call for a vote. Okay. That or we could all take a quick bathroom break and wait for the mayor to We could do that, too. Five minute break. Five minute break. Five minutes. I mean really five minutes. Let's do it.

Recording stopped.

We got a commission. Commissioner Lada around. Okay, it's coming. Okay, Mr. Clerk, you ready? All right. All right. Uh going back to the item that we were uh previously discussing.

We had a motion to second. Yes. Now that you're here, I'll move it. All right. Second again. All right. Do we have any public comment, Mr. Clerk? No, Mr. Mayor.

All right. Let's wait for the commissioner. Committee should be coming in any minute. I don't want to take this vote without him. Here we go. We have a motion and a second. Mr.

Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Mayor Log, yes.

And thank you for waiting for me. Uh item E6, the last item before we go to lunch break. E6 is an orance of the city commission amending chapter 74 traffic and vehicles article one in general section 74-3 riding of bicycles upon pedestrian sidewalks generally and chapter 74 traffic and vehicles article 4 bicycle skateboard scooters shared mobility devices and other similar devices section 74-239 definitions to amend the city code to add definition of electric bicycles and prohibit the riding of bicycle of electric bicycles on city sidewalks providing for severability cause repealer provision codification and providing for an effective date.

Thank you, mayor. This item is sponsored by the vice mayor. As you all are um well aware, under state statutes, the city is allowed to regulate the use of bicycles and electric bicycles on our sidewalks. And those are our city sidewalks, not necessarily county or state sidewalks. What this ordinance does is it incorporates the current state definitions of electric bicycles into our code, which wasn't currently defined, and it prohibits electric bicycles on all city sidewalks within the city. So right now regular bicycles are permitted on sidewalks except for where posted as you all know we have those posted on Miracle Mile on certain blocks of ponds and on certain narrower sidewalks. This would have a blanket prohibition on electric bicycles on city sidewalks. I know um you all have been kept a breast by the chief and by uh Chelsea on movement at the state legislature regarding electric bicycles. There is some movement to cap the speed limit of bicycles, electric bicycles on sidewalks in the city that we're closely monitoring and um happy to answer any specific questions. I know we have the experts um um KP and Lynn over here too as well to answer any questions about the details of that, but that's what this ordinance does. It incorporates that definition and is a blanket prohibition on electric bicycles on city sidewalks. So, this is an item that we've had residents asking for some relief on for some time because the speed at which electric bicycles can go down city sidewalks is frankly dangerous. Um, and uh the only objection that I've received in writing was that well, we're lacking bicycle infrastructure. That's a separate problem that uh I intend to at the conclusion this make a separate motion on to get the I've been asking members of the tra transportation advisory board to move forward on um looking at our bicycle plan and revise it because areas need to be tweaked because buildings went up and now circumstances are different on Valencia than when it was originally uh planned.

But in as much the state is moving forward on legislation. Uh they've done that in the past. We I think taking action now will show Tallahassee that we're supportive of them taking u action to help protect protect the pedestrians in our city from electric bikes on on sidewalks. So with that, I'd like to move this forward. Move it. Second, Any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. All right, we have a motion in a second. Commissioner Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes. Mayor Law.

Yes. We're going to do the city manager items or four. We should just be able to go right through those. H1. So So before we do that, I'd like to move the the the next item to have the transportation advisory board delivered to us within the next two to three of of their meetings. Okay. to review and make recommendations on the bicycle uh plan for the future so that by the summer we have something in front of us. So just to understand to have the transportation advisory board um discuss with staff the bicycle master plan and their proposed edits to that. Correct. I'll second a motion a second. All in favor? I I Thank you very much.

Thank you. Moving on to item H1. H1 is a resolution of the city commission accepting the recommendation of the chief procurement officer to award the sanitary sewer rehabilitation contract to Envir Services Group, Inc. the most responsive and responsible bidder pursuant to bids 2025-29 section 2-763 of the procurement code entitled contract award. Okay, I have a motion. Move it. Second. Mr. Mr. Cler, do you have any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. Um, Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Mayor L.

Yes. Item H2. H2 is a resolution of the city commission accepting the recommendation of the chief procurement officer to authorize a cooperative contract with Genuine Parts Company doing business as Napa Auto Parts from the Hillsboro County Sheriff's Office contract number FSA HCB IBS 1.0 integrated business solutions to provide on-site vehicle and equipment parts and supply services pursuant to section 2-947 of the procurement code. I have a motion. I'll move it. I'll second. Public comment. No, Mr. Mayor. Have a vote. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes, Mayor L. Yes. Item H3

H3 is resolution of the city commission accepting the recommendation of the chief procurement officer to award RFP2025-44 gymnastics programming services to Sumblebees Gymnastics, the highest ranked, responsive, and responsible proposal pursuant to section 2-763 of the procurement code entitled contract award and request a proposal 2025-44. I have a motion. I'll move it. I'll second. Any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. Commission. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Commissioner LA? Yes, Mayor Log. Yes. Moving on to item H4. H4 is a resolution of the city.

H4 is a resolution of the city commission amending resolution number 2022-83 to replace the location for installation of the sculpture Mars by Julio Larz from Pitman Park to the city plaza at Aragon Avenue and Galiano Street. Perfect. May I have a motion? I'll move it. I'll second. Second. May any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor.

People are hungry. All right. I'm looking forward to this sculpture. I think it's the perfect location. I think again this public plaza is we haven't had any art in that area and I think again just continuing to expand. We just had a great presentation by another worldass artist. This is a world class artist I'm very proud as a Cuban American represented by Marble Gallery represented by some amazing galleries. uh probably not not because he's Cuban American, probably is just an amazing artist and when you go to all the major art fairs, you see his work and it's something that again it's just beautiful, tasteful and very whimsical and if you ever get to see his his paintings, his his oil paintings or you get to see his works on chalk or drawings, they're beautiful. Uh a lot of them have undertones that talk about democracy. They have he has he has a series about dictators where he's basically taking fun of the dictators and uh I highly recommend that you that you uh research ras because again by the way his studio is a stone throw away from Coral Gables. I've been to it. It's a great opportunity to uh again just enjoy a world-class artist who now we'll have in our backyard. Thank you and thank you to staff. I know it's been a heavy lift. There's been a lot of issues with this. Thank you to our staff uh for bringing it to fruition. I know we have some issues with the foundry and finally I'm excited to see it

public comment. No, Mr. Mayor, we have a motion to second. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Mayor Log, yes. Do you want to attack anything else before we go to lunch or are we good for lunch? Good. All right. So, we're going to go to a recess. We're going to recess. Okay. And we're going to have when we come back we're going to start with F4. All right. I will see you. It is uh 120 is uh 145 good time and 145 it is. Thank you.

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control too because um All right. How we doing, Mr. K? You ready? Yes, sir. We're ready. All right. Good stuff. We're going to start off with item F4. Correct? Miss Pantene available. Will you join us? F4.

F4 is a resolution of the city commission recognizing the holy month of Ramadan and supporting a community Ramadan observance in the city of Coral Gables. This was an item I brought and uh Miss Pantene, I understand you've been working with the individuals that want to hold this event. Could you fill us in where you are at?

So, we've been working uh with with the people from the community that that brought this up. We do have a tentative date. I know that they were very interested in having the vice mayor there. She is not available that date. Uh we need to do this because of breaking the fast. We need to do it before the time changes and the time changes on March 8th. So, we're just getting for a date. Uh, Michael, if you could show the the tentative invitation, which they are fine. It's going to be at city hall courtyard and we will have like a coffee cart or something similar like we had for the interfaith event.

Perfect. So, I will be flying back from Montana on the 19th. So, you can I'll make sure to be there. So, you can fill in my shoes and we do it vice versa. So, once I once I confirm with the the two ladies uh today, I will make sure to send this to everyone here and they are very uh grateful that the city is rec working with their community. So, through the mayor. Yeah.

Right. So, I uh I've also been speaking with the community um with the residents on this issue as well, and I'm very pleased that the vice mayor brought um the resolution. Should there be um some conflict again arising that time and assuming I'm not conflicted, I'd like to join the mayor also as well. Be happy to make some remarks as well. Perfect. Thank you all. Um I'm going to move it. Second. And if I may, um, I'm inclined if vice mayor will allow me to. I look what co is. Absolutely. I think the commission as a whole should co, but I'd like that as well. I agree. I think it's I know it's a vice mayor's items. I'd like to step on anybody's toes, but I think that I think it's a good thing.

No toes. We're going to hold hands today. All right. Commissioner Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes. Mayor Log. Yes. All right, moving on to F5. F5 is a res resolution of the city commission urging the Florida legislature to address certain considerations when proposing or reviewing legislation regarding property taxes and adding certain proposals to the city's 2026 legislative priorities.

Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. This item is sponsored by the vice mayor. Um, as you all know and have been kept aware, there are um, many proposals, almost a dozen bills and constitutional amendments pending at the state legislature right now regarding property taxes. This resolution urges the legislature when considering those proposals to um, take into mind um, four sort of larger points um, namely about the valuation of properties, including whether or not certain resiliency related improvements should be considered in the valuation of properties. Prohibit reassessment of original homesteaded square footage when you're adding only a certain amount of square footage in a small addition. Consider prohibiting um property appraisers from comparing um apples to oranges as it were to make sure that you're comparing like to like and to consider requiring counties to notify residential property owners of certain homestead exemption and save our homes portability filing requirements when they're considering um property tax legislation this session. I'm happy to answer any questions or turn it over to the sponsor. So, I'm going to give you a little background as to why, you know, I came up with this idea and I also did also share it with Senator Rodriguez. It's a little late in the session for it to be proposed, but uh these are statutory amendments. It won't require a vote of electors to help provide relief for um taxpayers. Um the property tax appeal that I was handling on behalf of uh someone outside the city uh brought to light the fact that you know the property appraisers statute that they have to follow uh allow them to add reassess your property or increase the value of your property based upon certain things. So if you do a small addition you know it's you add a garage they could reassess and bring up to current value your entire home. they can make that decision to do that. If you put on a new roof, the the new roof increases the value of the house, you know, but every time you put on a new

roof, you're getting a an increased value of your house every every single time. This discourages people from doing important improvements. So, I listed, you know, roof replacements, impact doors, you know, I know that impact windows already included, but impact doors aren't garage doors. rewiring of your home uh where it's deteriorated over 50 years. Reppplumbing um replacement of rotted wood and paneling and eaves and so forth. air conditioning systems um shouldn't result in increased value of our homes every single time we replace the HVAC unit for our home because this indeed discourages doing resiliency efforts that you need to have in the future if you have to think that you're going to be taxed forever more on that increased value of your home which then still gets added to 3% a year for uh save our homes provision. So, there were four talking points that are distilled into this particular resolution, and I'd like to be able to urge our state legislators to consider amending the statute uh to provide more immediate uh relief for taxpayers.

So, I'll move it. I'll second. Mr. Clerk, any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. Public comment. We have a motion. A second. Commissioner La. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Mayor L? Yes. Moving on to item F6 to the attorney. F6 is a resolution of the city commission calling for a special election on a proposed ballot question and city charter amendment to be held on April 21st, 2026, providing for submission to the electors for approval or disapproval of a ballot question asking whether the city charter should be amended to eliminate the runoff election in city commission and mayoral races. Providing for a mail ballot, providing for notice, providing for inclusion in the city charter, providing for related matters, providing for an effective date.

Good afternoon, mayor. This item is sponsored by the mayor. As you all may recall, at the last commission meeting, there was um a discussion from the charter review committee, and one of their suggestions was that this question, or a question similar to it, should be put to the voters in the April 21, 2026 special mail ballot. As you all may recall, in 2016, voters approved a charter amendment that added a runoff election to the city charter. and the clerk can correct me, but I believe that since since then we've had a runoff between two candidates um in at least one of one race in every election since then in the last five elections. Um, there is of course a cost to those runoff elections and this proposal would strike the runoff from the city charter and instead would return to what we had before 2016 which was that the candidate receiving um the plurality of votes even though it may not be the majority is the one who is elected um and there is no longer a runoff election. Happy to answer any specific questions but this resolution if adopted would add that to the April 21st, 2026 special mail ballot.

This is simple. I just wanted to be the will of the commission. Um we have multiple we have one individual on the commission that said that we need to do everything that the charter review said or mentioned. Uh this is an example of that. U again not that I'm saying I'm in favor or I'm against and I wanted to bring it forward. Uh I think it's an opportunity to have a conversation. Do we maybe have too many items uh currently for for discussion and for consideration by the residents in regards to referendums? you add this not add. So I wanted to kind of hear from my colleagues in the commission what their opinions vice mayor.

Well this was this was an item that I was uh considering adding because one I think it it makes sense because um very few people show up for a runoff election and we're spending a considerable amount of money on a runoff election. Um if the election is moved to um November, you're talking about a December election. Very hard time to get people back in. They're probably still out for Thanksgiving. Same thing happens in April. Uh major reason to move the elections to November is because people are on spring break. People are not available. It's an odd time to be um be voting on things when you want to take off with your kids and go to Disney World or wherever else you want to go. uh and it's low turnout and costs a lot of money. Um whether to have it this election or put it on a November ballot. Um we already have paper going out. One more item I don't think is going to make or break whether or not somebody uh makes a selection on this item, but I think an opportunity should be given to the voters to make a decision. Sure. Um I think if we are giving voters an opportunity to change election dates, this is the time to have this discussion as well. Uh I agree. I think one of the biggest concerns is if the election is moved in November, you're talking of um a runoff election that would land pretty much almost Christmas time or at least uh during Hanukkah. So it'll be a little more difficult to get folks to come out to vote. So um I think we should to voters and have them make that decision.

Right. So, picking up on Commissioner Castro's I mean Commissioner Fern's comments, you know, I I I am concerned as well when elections happen around holiday religious holidays, right? when people are are away on spring break and you know that's why I was a strong proponent and an advocate that we move from April to November from April odd year to November even year because we were constantly running into this issue of Easter and spring break as being arguably not a deterrent but certainly an obstacle that was unfair I think put on residents to vote. So, um, that being said, my piece of advocacy there, I'm in support of the ultimate, uh, you know, vote, uh, you know, uh, eliminating, uh, the runoff, but since the question and the issue that the mayor has brought up is, you know, should it even go on to the ballot? Yeah, I'm I'm I'm supportive of this going now onto the ballot.

Okay. May I have a motion? Move it. Second, Mr. Cler, public comment. Yes, Mr. Mayor, I do. Uh, Mr. Mayor, also just really quick before we move on to public comment, just wanted to stress there's a there's a a scenario where this item passes but elections do not get moved to November. Okay.

So, we would not have runoff elections on April 8th. So, that's something that I understand. Um, Miss Maria Cruz for public And it is Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road. I have absolutely no issue with eliminating the runoff, but I still feel that if in fact we want to know what people think, it should not be male only. That's it. M. Close. We have a motion. A second. Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes,

Commissioner Fernandez. Yes, Commissioner Lada. Yes, Mayor Log. Yes. Item F7.

M through the mayor.

Before we go to F7, I have a um a motion like to raise that I didn't have enough enough time to get it onto the the agenda, but it has to do with ballot questions that we were just talking right now about this one. So, Uh, I'm going to pass out a uh uh in a moment a um a a proposed change to what's going to go to the ballot and but I'm going to first start with a motion to reconsider our prior vote on F7 at the last meeting and that was the one that uh dealt with whether um it should go on to the ballot a uh a change an amendment to the charter requiring uh any uh impact to the reserve being as a result of the electorate. Uh F7 was uh well, if you want to read it for me. Uh

mayor, if it's okay, do you want me to just so we we all know we're

back up from F7? We'll take that next. Let's listen to the commissioner's item. So, as I understand it, commissioner, it's a motion to reconsider the January 13th um F7 item, which was a resolution of the city commission of Coral Gables, Florida, amending resolution 2025-161 to change the date of the special election and calling for a special election on the proposed ballot question and city charter amendment to be held on April 21st, 2026. providing for submission to the electors for approval or disapproval of a ballot question asking whether the city charter should incorporate the city's fund balance and reserve policy adopted in ordinance 2025-05 and be amended to require approval of the electors prior to amendment of that fund balance and reserve policy or the expenditure of funds from the general reserve except for those funds authorized to be spent pursuant to the emergency powers authorized by the charter city code declaration of emergency or other applicable law providing for mail ballot providing for notice providing for inclusion in the city charter providing for related matters providing for an effective So my my concern and the reason that I've moved for this reconsideration just to give you um my thoughts on that is um and also borrowing and and considering the comments made by the charter recommittee on this particular item. I'm all in favor of us maintaining a 25% reserve. I think that's paramount importance and I also think that we should have and continue to have a four-fifths uh supermajority on the commission to be able to uh tap into the re the reserves. But the ballot language that we approved last time would put it as an amendment to the charter so that being able to access the reserve funds would require a vote of the electorate. And I believe uh upon reconsideration that especially given the u anticipated changes uh to property tax uh expected from Tallahassee at some point in the near term um as well as the existing controls that I think are sufficient that four

fifths of the commission would need to be in alignment in order to even access the funds that um allowing this question to go as we previously voted onto the ballot may put it just a bridge too far and un and unreasonably perhaps tie this commission's hands if we need to get to that money. So, uh, I've spoken with, uh, the manager. I've spoken with, uh, the attorney, city attorney's office about this. And so, I would urge us to reconsider that vote. And I also have a companion, um, question that I'll pass out now so that we can perhaps replace it and still achieve what we're looking for, which is protection of the reserves at 25%. But leaving for the commission at a fourths vote, the the decision we're about to access if you have anything else you like to say. No, I it it they do seem to be dovetailing one with the other, but procedurally the first thing motion to reconsider. So that if that carries then we then I will be moving for this to be the language on the ballot. So um if anybody has any questions for me, I'd like to you know answer those. But the basic thrust of this is to ensure that we do not touch 25% as the established reserves. The city manager has already assured me that that's a reasonable, prudent, and fair number to maintain. And uh my view is that now that we're already at four fifths of the vote needed to be able to access that money, um the resolution I'm supporting here is

that that keeps for us the four-fifths ability to access it rather than putting it into the hands of the voters, which might be uh an unreasonable hindrance or obstacle. and in light of what we're waiting to hear and see what Tallahassee does with respect to its property tax reform. So, uh, first and foremost, as the author of this legislation, I don't have an issue with the reconsideration. Number one, number two, but I do have a question for our legal team. So, what if what if we in the future we approve it, correct? That we need a for tap into the reserve. Could there be could there be a piece of legislation that is proper that says we're lowering the reserve from 25 to 20%.

So then is not tapping into the I'm just trying to get cute here, very cute here, you know, with with different ways uh to end the round and figure out how to how to so get at the money without getting at the money as as requested by the commissioner. The and we'll again we have to do this in two steps, right? motion for consideration and then it would be the the second to take up the the his proposed revised question. It would be that the 25% is something the city has to maintain and that would be in the charter and would be only amended by referendum that aspect of it. Tapping in would then require the the as you said tapping in would require forfeits but the 25% would be the policy.

So let me tell you the policy already is 25%. We wrote that policy. I wrote that policy. Okay. When I got here it was $15 million and were over $60 million. Took a lot of belt timing. Uh two years ago on the commission, we started spending a lot of money. $20 million colas, raises, car allowances, all kinds of things that to me are fiscally unsound and not in character with the city of Coral Gables. They're just not. They're not. Um the vice mayor and I were very clear. We didn't we're not in favor of hiring I think how many people did we hire one year, Mr. Manager? Excluding police. Excluding police. like 17

17 I voted before anyone here got on the commission I was one of the votes to increase police and firefight so excluding we did 17 from my time when you've been here Mr. manager. What's the most we've ever hired in one year outside of police? Well, this year, mayor, because we use the uh outside of Oh, outside a fraction of that. Yeah. One, two people a year. Less than, you know, between between three and and six something.

So, one year we bumped it up to 17 people. That is a massive increase of overhead. Okay. So, the reason why I profered this is because when you're sitting in a commission meeting and people are openly talking about it, Commissioner Fernandez talked about it and says, "Hey, let's tap it to the reserves for sidewalks for this project, for that project." Okay, it's a public record. We can look it up. You get scared after belt tightening for so many years and you see where the economy is headed and you see where things are things are, you know, kind of being forecast. So, you want to be as conservative as possible fiscally to not put the in a tough position before I got elected and when I got elected we were a double A rated city through our belt tightening and paying down of the pensions which hadn't been done before until Jim Case started that I was a rookie on the commission we had a double A rated city wrote a 25% piece of legislation requiring 25% reserves started paying down our we started paying down our overhead excuse me our unfunded liabilities and we were granted awarded one of three cities in the state of Florida a triple triple bond rate. I repeat that over and over and over and I will do it till the day my last day on this commission because people need to be reminded to get to where we are today was a herculean task in belt timing. It was a herculean task to be able to deliver on services and infrastructure upgrades like the public safety building like the litany of different projects that have been worked on here in the city while you're still putting money away. So when anybody mentions to me that uh let's just spend money from the reserves. I've never heard that before in 10 years of being in public office. That happened on this commission before you were elected. So to me that is that is that's why I profered piece of legislation because I knew, God willing, that if I was able to turn over the commission,

we would do something that would ensure the future viability of this commission because I don't want to be like any other city that has 5% of reserves, 10% of reserves. That's not who we are. So, I have no issues. If you feel comfortable, if you feel comfortable in removing that portion, I will go along with it as long as we keep the four fists. To me, the four fist was important. Remember, we already require a four fist for a cola. Okay? So, we're going to require that and we should require it into the reserves

through the mayor. I I I could not agree with you more since we're on the same page on this. Um, what I would like though, right, is like you want is to ensure that this remains long after we're gone or make it known to all, right, when you amend the charter as we're hoping if this ballot question gets put on the way I've got it here. 25% will be the general fund reserve. can't be changed unless you have another vote of the electorate and then but we keep for ourselves the commission the ability to access that through a supermajority vote which was which we have now but I would like that in the charter saying you need a four-fifths vote to access those funds I think this is the best of all worlds because it provides us with the requisite maneuverability if we should encounter some really bizarre moves coming out of Tallahassee but it's sufficient ly encased in in concrete so that it will not be willy-nilly or through a simple majority amended. That's what I'm trying to achieve.

Mr. Manager.

Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I just want to clarify something because I I think that many people think that 25% is is every year and it's part of 25% of the budget. This is a reserved fund where the the amount in the fund is 25% of the budget. We cannot put 25% of the budget every year into a fund. It's it does not work. So, this is a fund that, as you know, mayor, you've worked very hard at and it's been a long time in getting to this 25%. Which, by the way, I think it's an excellent number because it generally provides us with two small hurricanes or one large hurricane. And that's and that's one of our major issues. U so, so I when we when we spend money off of off of the reserve, this is something that we cannot put back. If we take $20 million off of the reserve, we can't put that the next year. this this was painstakingly brought to that level mayor over over many years and and so so I think there's there may be a disconnect and people think that's just 25% of the budget it's not it's taken a long time to get to this 25%. And in the pandemic we never touched it and that was an emergency. We never touched it because we all realize how difficult it is to and how long it took to get to that 25%. Now we work with hurricanes. Why? because there's a FEMA reimbursement. We got 95 plus percent of of of the hurricane. So, we know that there's a receivable coming back for that. So, this is this is this fund is a critical fund. It allowed us to work much better. It allowed us not to have to go to the bank. It allows to to to to gather contractors faster. So, so I I do think that what this does also, Mayor, is is is twofold. It was four fifths to change the policy and four fifths to access the money. So you have four fifths for both items. Two two quick points that I think I want to mention which I'm in favor of and I just to put it on the record again. Remember this is

not only a reserve. We also make money. Okay. 5% 6% interest. Do the numbers. Our finance director can tell us what we make. So that is additional gravy for us to spend on projects that the commission and our directors deem appropriate. And number and the last point and then the vice mayor. And the last point um and the manager or the finance director can tell us I think it took seven years to get reimbured from the last hurricane.

That's correct. And while other cities were scrambling for lines of credit which by the way if you would have got a line of credit from a bank four years ago at three and a quarter right three and a half now lines of credit are seven 8%. So imagine having a 10520 million cleanup bill. you have a floating line of credit like I have for my business and then all of a sudden that line of credit spikes to eight, okay, and you were at a two and a half, 3%. So these are these are decisions that you have to make and you learn in the business world and that's why I think it's so critically important. I've said it before that people need to need to understand that you're playing with other people's money. Once it's your money, you want to be as careful as possible. I treat this like as if it was my money. I'm not going to spend away and then hopefully one day somebody else will resolve it. He goes, "By the way, that's how we got into this trouble." We got into this trouble when I walked in and they told me that our our um unfunded liabilities were at 51%. I wish I would have walked in and said, "Hey, our unfunded liabilities are at zero and we have 100% or 95% funded." Because guess what? We wouldn't be spending 98 million a year in additional 13 check. We could have done a lot of great projects over the last 13 years. But we decided to belt tighten and pay down the unfunded liabilities because that is the right thing to do, not to dream and do pep projects, but to actually do projects that delivered. So, uh, madam vice mayor, go ahead. So, I'm gonna um add to the comments that back when like the majority of the commission tried to use the reserve account to deliver as it was couched what people wanted, the sidewalk improvements and things of that nature because we could go out and take a credit line um for these emergency situations. There was a presentation done I worked on with staff um that provided the real cost of those dollars

and we're talking millions upon millions of dollars in lost in lost revenue and uh interest cost you know and I as I recall the payback period was approximately five to seven years from FEMA but the cost of utilizing the reserve was multi-millions of dollars and lost revenue and interest costs that the city would have um encountered. You know, I have a very conservative view when it talks about uh when we talk about reserves. Um it's like my trust account. You touch it and it's a guillotine. Exactly. It's a guillotine. It's over.

It's over. Your license is gone. And that's the way we need to treat this reserve very carefully. This is just for these hurricane emergencies, unpredictable things that can happen. It's not for sidewalks. It's not for our ordinary capital improvement projects that we should be able to plan for and continue to use the capital improvement program that we have right now and put that money away. And if we have a a high year of taxes coming in, sock it into these one-time expenditures as opposed to hiring more people. Okay? It's very easy to say hiring more people. That's money is gone in an instant. You'll never get it back and you'll never get sidewalks out of it or or road improvements. So these onetime expenditures is how we should h handle the peaks through capital improvement programs as opposed to spending the money um because somebody just wants some more people in their department which is a tendency you know I I understand it but we have to do the belt tightening. So I am in favor of this. Thank you for for bringing it. Um I want to be cautious though. I know we don't know what's happening in Tallahassee and I would say that that's not necessarily the reason why this should be brought because that would say that well if Tallahassee changes the property tax policy we therefore spend the reserves and that's not what we should be doing here. We need to maintain the reserve because the hurricanes are going to come. It's it's not a matter. It's a matter of of not if but when they hit

well through through the mayor. Yes, sir.

I agree with you commission vice mayor 100%. And that's what the the leading um point of this ballot question is 25% will be uh where the general fund reserve will be set and kept unless put to a referendum assuming this carries right this April. It can't be changed. It can't even be changed by four-fifth vote of the commission. It can only be changed through a referendum. But it allows us though a super majority of of uh the commissioners under the right circumstances to access it. We always have it available to us when there's been a state of declared emergency. But like you said, an unforeseen calamity allows us at a four-fifths vote to be able to access it for emergency type situations. But the 25 remains sacraount, sacroan um if this carries. And by the way, you know, the mayor did make a great point during the last item to give uh deference uh due consideration to what the CRC the charter review committee uh had teed up in their in their commentary. What I'm discussing here isn't exactly what they recommended, but again, this commission is showing appropriate and due consideration to u opinions and advice given by the CRC as well. And uh and that's our part part of our deliberative process. So I don't know if anyone else had any comments, but at some point I guess we need to see if anyone is interested in um moving it or

Well, I guess you've made the motion. Well, I I'll move it. Second, but I I think Commissioner Fernz wants to Well, I think the right now we're you you made the motion to reconsider. Yes. And then we'll discuss the language, correct? Because I have a couple of questions about the language just to make sure it's clear and procedurally and sequentially. I'm I'm I'm willing to I'm ready to to vote on this one. Okay. So, we have a motion, a second for reconsideration. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Commissioner Lada? Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Mayor Logo? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez. Okay. So, on the on the language, there's one line that I think

mayor, sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt. My apologies. I think it'd be helpful if I read the language or or the commissioner wants to read the language because put it on the record so we know everybody in the public knows what we're talking about. Madam city attorney, why don't you read it?

So, it's fund reserve policy and expenditure of general fund reserves. Shall the city charter be amended to require that the city maintain a general fund reserve at 25% of the city's operating budget and that a four-fits vote of the city commission is required to amend the reser the fund reserve policy adopted in ordinance number 2025-05 excluding the general fund reserve requirement or to expend funds from the general fund reserve except in certain emergency situations. And just to clarify, my understanding, Commissioner Lara, is that you you would like it to be the the same resolution that was previously on last meeting, the one that that we reconsidered. So no actions been taken on that but with this updated language. Correct. Exactly right. Okay. Commissioner Fernandez.

Okay. So my question is regarding the line where it says excluding the general fund reserve requirement. Isn't that really implied when we are setting in the charter the 25%? Because I think that could confuse people because then any any amendment that throws in extra language that could confuse a voter might have a a voter just say I'm not sure and just not vote. So the intent is certainly that the the provision if if approved the charter would be amended to require a 25% um reserve fund. Um and that expenditures and changes other changes to the policy right because the policy is a is all set forth in that ordinance. Other changes to the policy that don't affect that 25% can be done by four fifths vote. Um and that certainly is the intent. And so we you know we we worked with this language with Commissioner Lara. There's also um that would be part of the resolution if this is adopted today, the proposed um amendment to the charter that we have. It it it continues on the sheet that was um distributed to you. Um and it would essentially say that the city shall maintain the classifications of fund balance adopted in ordinance number 2025-05 which codified the city's fund balance and reserve policy. The general fund reserve shall be maintained at 25% of the city's total operating expense and debt service budget. Any amendment to the fund balance and reserve policy excluding the general fund reserve 25% requirement and any expenditure of the general fund reserve other than those funds authorized to be spent pursuant to the emergency powers of the city as authorized in the charter or city code shall require supermajority forfeits vote of the city commission.

Okay. Um through the mayor. Yes, sir.

Commissioner Fernandez, I in addition to what she said, but just maybe try and put it a little simpler, right? I I agree with you that at first glance it can look like it's confusing, but it's because we're rel we're leaving for ourselves the four-fifths vote to amend the policy, right? To amend the general fund reserve policy as stated in the ordinance. We wouldn't want that to be misunderstood to mean you can change the number of 25%. That's the one thing in the ordinance that's going to be charter bound. But anything else in the ordinance having to do with the reserve policy, that's what's subject to four-fifths vote. So I I I I could live with what you're suggesting and take it out. But talking with the city attorney, you know how it is. You want to make sure there can be no argument that in giving ourselves a four-fifth majority to change the policy could possibly include changing to 25%.

Through the mayor, yes, maybe we can change that line. And I know that we're limited to 75 words, but while requiring a vote by the electorate to amend the general fund reserve through the mayor, but that's already implied when it's in the charter, you can't change it. I agree. That's why this line is is just I'm I'm concerned that we'll confuse voters and we will not get the the the participation on this question because they may be confused. So I don't know if there's a way to just reward it a little so that there is no confusion

as um as the individual introducing the revised legislation that I presented. How do you feel comfortable uh commissioner? What what do you what how do you want to move forward? I am I am comfortable with the way it currently reads because the thrust and the impart of this is for the electorate voting to understand that the charter is being requested to be amended to leave 25% as the floor for the reserve and so um I think that u leaving it this for absolutely absolute I believe it's the point is for absolute clarity if there's any going there it's going to be any attempted challenge um later assuming it's carried and I want to be able to refer to the charter as the shield against any u possible attack or uh claim that there's a uh loophole that will close the loop

okay uh appreciate your your suggestion I'm fine I'm I'm perfectly fine with the way it's written and presented I'm willing to move forward Unless my colleagues want to make any changes or any recommendations.

Mayor, if you don't mind, uh, Commissioner, the city and attorney and I were talking and we do have a a few words that we could tweak around and move. And I think that the suggestion that we've just discussed here is that we could add the word that other aspects of the fund reserve policy require a four-fifth vote.

So you extra clear that it's not the 25. think as the manager has pointed out this is a very uh complex thing that oftentimes there's a misunderstanding about the general fund reserve policy and as as you know and the mayor knows as the sponsor the fund reserve policy ordinance is um much more than just the general fund reserve section and so perhaps the addition of that language about other aspects of the policy may address may provide some clarity that we mean everything but that 25

another way of putting it too you can also say um and I'll just that the city maintain a general fund reserve at 25% of the city's operating budget and that a four-fifths vote of the city commission is required to otherwise amend the fund reserve policy to otherwise that is I think that would be sufficient I think that that's more than and then you would want to keep the excluding take out the excluding no you take out the excluding the general fund reserve requirement but leaving in or to expend funds yep I think that makes sense clear okay so we need a motion I'll move it I'll And mayor, if I may, for purposes of clarity, can I just then read the revised question? But but if I may, we have a motion a second. We don't need public comment, do we? We we should take public comment on this. We have public comment, Mr. Clerk. No, Mr. Mayor.

All right, perfect. Public comment is closed, please. Madam City attorney. So the the question that you all are considering now um shall the city charter be amended to require that the city maintain a general fund reserve at 25% of the city's operating budget and that a forfeits vote of the city commission is otherwise required to amend the fund reserve. Sorry, let me read that again. that the city that the city maintain a general fund reserve at 25% of the city's operating budget and that a forfeits vote of the city commission is required to otherwise amend the fund reserve policy adopted in ordinance number 2025-05 or to expend funds from the general fund reserve except in certain emergency situations. Perfect. All right, we have a motion, a second, Mr. Clerk.

Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Mayor Log, yes. Thank you, Commissioner Lotto. Thank you. And thank you everybody who helped me work on this for your diligence. We're going back to F7. Right. F7 is a resolution of the city commission directing the city manager to direct city staff to conduct a community meeting to obtain public input regarding the proposed dog park on the city owned property located at 520 University Drive, providing for a report back to the city commission. Reeling you back in. Reeling you back in. All right. Um switching department. Reeling you back in. Um Mr. Director, how are you, sir? Hi. How are you? Good. Good afternoon.

Good. So, it's pretty self-explanatory, correct? You want to give us a quick quick synopsis? Yep. We are uh we uh upon uh the passage of this resolution, we'll move forward and uh have a community input meeting similar to how we do our community input meetings for all parks. Um we're trying to get it done within a month. So, we're looking at near the end of February. Um, and we should have um information on it coming out in the next couple of days once we get an approval on a resolution here. Thank you. May I have a motion? I'll move it. May I have a second? Second. Mr. Cler, do you have any public comment? All right, let's hear it. Thank you, Mr. Director.

Mr. Mary Cruz, Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road. Um, at first I was not going to talk about this because um I thought it was um the people that live around there, the neighbors, the the people that are going to be affected should be the ones um giving their opinion. But then when I came to the previous meeting and I heard people from Kendall, from far away places expressing their opinion, I figure mine was as good as theirs or better because at least they live in the city of Carl Gables and fairly close to the place. So my issue is when you're talking about obtain public input regarding the proposed dog park, is there an option that says we don't want a dog park? Because that's what the neighbors were saying. They were not talking about how we're going to set up the dog park, you know, are we going to fence it or not fence it. They were talking about we do not want a dog park. And if that is not an option, then we're not what's the purpose of meeting to uh decide how we're going to set it up if we don't want it. That's that's my my concern. It was very clear to me and I've gotten a lot of phone calls about it that the people that would be most affected, the people that would not be bringing the dogs in a car because several of the people that spoke that day, they they were going to I remember when specifically he's going to get his big dog in the car so he can take him to

the dog park. what the the dog park is supposed to be for people that will not need parking because parking supposedly will be an issue. So, you know, you can't have it both ways. If you have as many dog parks as we already have, I mean, there's one coming under the underline and etc, etc. This park should be the concern of the people that are around there that will not be affected by people coming from other places to park like we did with sidewalks and such because it's becoming that our dog parks are not just for Kados residents. Anybody who can get a dog in a in a car will be coming from any other place because they don't have access to a dog park. So, they'll come here. So we'll end up being the dog park of the county and not Coral Gables.

Mr. Mr. Mayor, that's it. Okay, perfect. I'm sorry I apologize. Uh Lyn Ward.

Good afternoon. Um my name is Lin Gorge Partardo. I live at 421 Kadima Avenue. I'm here representing myself and my fellow neighbors in the University Green Neighbors Association that live near 520 University Drive. As you recall, a 100 immediate neighbors signed a petition opposing the proposed dog park. Since then, the number of petition signers have only grown in numbers. To be clear, we continue to object to the development of any dog park on 520 University Drive. And while the association and its members are not waving any of our objections related to notifications, process, land use, or possible design plans for the proposed off leash dog park. We are in favor of item four, uh, item F7, directing staff to conduct a community meeting to obtain public input regarding the proposed dog park at 520 University Drive and provide a report back to the city commission. We thank Mayor Lago for placing the item on the agenda for commission consideration. Should the item pass, it is our hope that the meeting take place at the Coral Gable's Youth Center and be convened in the early evening. That a meeting notice be posted in a timely manner at the proposed dog park location. That property owners within 1500 ft of 520 University Drive receive un uh notification inviting them to the community meeting. and that the findings be summarized and presented to the city commission at a scheduled city commission meeting. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this important item.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Um, excuse me. U, Mr. Director, may I ask a good question through the manager? Um, there was some requests that were made. I want to make sure that those requests not only are met, but I also want you to put on the record that's the standard protocol.

Yes. Uh we will um we are planning to have it at the youth center having to plan it in the evening. We usually do our community input meetings in the evenings. Um and then uh we will do um as we do with all of our park uh input processes meetings. We do door hangers um and we get it out to the community as as I told um the neighbors. Um you'll see my staff. They'll be the ones that'll be making sure that you get notified. I'd also like to make sure that we put an email uh an email out uh to the community to the city uh to ensure that everyone is aware. Some people may not get a door hanger. An email is just another opportunity to get even more input. Yes, sir.

Uh uh mayor, we will also notice within 1500 ft all around the park and uh our our parks director is very very good at handling these meetings. He's handled quite a number of them and and he's been very effective. By the way, I just want to put on the record, and Madame ACM can come up and talk if she deems it appropriate. Um, this is the standard protocol. They're not asking for anything that we don't do for anybody else. We've done this for everyone. I just don't want there to be, you know, this kind of ambiguity that, uh, you know, we're being extra transparent. No, no, this is what we offer everybody.

We offer this to everybody. So, if you, you know, again, we can't force you to come. We can't pay you to come to a meeting. So um the intent is to garner support and when I whatever I mean by support not in favor or against the dog park in support of what they would those individuals who come to the meeting who want to see on that piece of property what is the intent so God willing you know we have a we have a we have a community meeting that is like in the same vein as always the coral gables meetings are this is a community we're not here to fight and argue we're here to find the best opportunity for that piece of property which has been vacant for a long So, at the end of the day, I look forward to that meeting. Uh, we're going to sunshine that meeting, right? Well, mayor, do we need to sunshine?

No, I don't think we need to because I I think that the those meetings are normally done through the parks department. Uh, we we as I mentioned, we know it's within 1500 ft. That's our standard. And I'm going to tell you why. I'm going to tell you why. I don't want to politicize the meeting. I want it to be about staff. Okay? And then give a report back to the commission through the manager's office. Okay? Through the mayor. And that's what we normally do, man. That's what I forgot to say. We're doing the standard that we always do. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Director. Okay. So, uh, public comment is closed. We have a motion, a second. Yes, sir. We do. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Commissioner L.

Yeah. I just want to say that I'm I'm glad that we're doing exactly what we said we were going to do. Mayor, you you made it a point at the last meeting that you're looking for consensus. you're not looking to divide or pit resident against resident. And I added to that saying that don't underestimate the power of the uh residents to influence ultimately what it looks like. You may be surprised with what you're able to accomplish and we've seen that happen here with other projects as well. So with that being said and in the spirit and and uh and the hope of um positivity continuing through this entire process, my vote is yes. Mayor Lago.

Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you to staff. Uh item F8, Vice Mayor.

F8 is a resolution of the city commission directing city staff to promote internship placements within the historic resources and cultural arts department to students with a demonstrated interest in historic preservation. So, this this is an item that's a little bit different than the the PACE program and the other internship programs because it gives the city manager and the department director the opportunity to not only reach out to high school students but also college students that are interested in historic preservation and it uh it you get a hands-on approach and I think staff will appreciate the extra hands uh to assist with the big projects that we have um needing you know additional hours that these interns can help you out with. So, that's the spirit that this has brought with. Um, any of my colleagues have any comments on it?

Great. Right. I'd like to say something. We'll we'll work with the historical department. We'll work out kind of a scope of of what the internship will entail. We'll create some marketing material, send it out to our contacts at the schools, maybe make some classroom visits to really get the notification out there. Yeah. get it to the universities as well because that's where I think some people might uh be heading their careers in one direction or another and this internship may help uh entice them to get into historic preservation as well. So I'll move it and second any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. All right. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Mayor Lago?

Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Item F9. F9 is a resolution of the city commission urging the Florida legislature to establish due diligence and reporting requirements for organizations and entities leading municipal recall efforts pursuant to Florida statutes section 100.361. City attorney.

Good afternoon. This item is sponsored by the mayor. As you all know, Florida statutes governs municipal recall um petitions and the municipal recall process. This or this resolution, excuse me, would urge the legislature to enact additional legislation to establish due diligence and reporting requirements for organizations involved in recall efforts, including obligations to ensure that all personnel have proper work authorization, and also encourage the Florida legislature to enact legislation that would require members of recall committees, which are a term of art in that Florida statute, as well as employers of those employees or subcontractors engaged in the process of procuring signatures on behalf of the recall committee be held accountable for the illegal actions of those contract. contractors or employees engaged by the recall committee and this would add this to the legislative agenda and urge the legislature to enact such.

Thank you very much. Mr. Cruz, do you have any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor.

Wow, man. For the first time, Maria Cruz doesn't have a public comment. All right. Well, let's talk about this. And I'm going to put this on the record. So, there was a recall that was headed by Maria Cruz against me. And the very interesting thing about it is that over the last two years there's been a full onslaught investigation by FDLE and now there's been a criminal referral to the state attorney. the people who were in involved in that recall. One of them is going to go to prison soon as you probably read in the ASOPs article report and the other for a separate case that deals with fraud and the other recall members are being pursued but they're illegal immigrants so they fled. These are all the people that worked under the opice of Maria Cruz in this recall effort. The recall effort was funded, this is a proven fact, with a $100,000 contribution by Billy Mallister and the Miami Date County Fire Unit. How do I know this? Because Jeff Garcia told me and he ran the recall. I'm putting all the names out there hoping that somebody run writes a story. So, what we're requesting today, and I'll be speaking with Danny Perez and the Senate President and the Governor, and I've already spoken to Byron Donald's, and I'll be speaking to uh the lieutenant governor, that there be accountability all the way from the top, not just the people who were on the ground who they're searching for now. These signatures were fraudulently collected. They were falsified. people like Jim Kasein's signature were falsified and a litany of other individuals in this community under the opice of Maria Cruz. So while we sit here and we giggle, we laugh and we have a good time in the back room, there are consequences and people will pay the

consequences in regards to this illegal acts. These people are on the run now. One of them who was a gentleman who ran the signature effort if you read the ASOPs article is going to go to prison for a separate fraudulent activity. So my point is that this is a good piece of legislation to clean up to clean up the antics that you see happening here from for example the Miami Dade fire union who paid $100,000. Where did that money come from? Came from union dues. What pack did they use? How did you fund it? At least when you guys talk about Coral Gables first, at least you know my name's attached to it front and center. So while people sit in the back and laugh and giggle and try to destroy people, look where that recall ended up. Now you have people that are going to that are wanted. You have people that are going to go to prison and you have people whose reputations are tarnished. So I ask you to support this because recalls are important. They're important, but at the end of the day, it should be done rightfully so, legally, and all the process should be followed to a tea. Okay. So, at the end of the day, that's all I have to the mayor. I agree wholeheartedly.

The mayor. Yes, ma'am. I also agree wholeheartedly. And at the bottom line, we need to prevent election fraud and that's what's at the root of this. So, I'll move it. Second. A second. All right, we have a second. All right, Mr. Clerk, do you have no public comment, right? None. Like you said, that's closed. So, for once, Maria Cruz doesn't want to say something except for giggle like she always does in the back. Mhm. Yes, sir.

Okay. Um, I agree. I think that every process of signature collection should have accountability. Um, recalls are no no exception. And I know the the legislature has made a concerted effort to tighten the ship when it comes to recall efforts over the last 10 years. Um so I think this would be a no-brainer for the legislature. Um and I'm happy to support.

Thank you. Uh Mr. Manager, would you please do me a favor? I request that this resolution be sent to every state representative uh with a letter addressed to the speaker of the house, Mr. Paris. um the Senate President, to the governor, to the AG. I'd like a copy of it sent to our state attorney, Kathy Fern Rundle. I'd like a copy of it sent to the Commission on Ethics, both local and state, requesting that this be placed into law at the state level. There has to be accountability. You cannot cast the blame on the people underneath you when you're the person leading the ship. And that's very simple. When you hire illegal immigrants to do the work and they go out there and they falsify people's signatures in this community, very very simple just to throw the blame on them and then they run off and hide in the shadows and no one is left held accountable. The money was spent. The reputations were ruined. It was failed. But it was all a calculated effort to obviously remove me from public office.

You're the mayor. Yes, sir. Well, another concern that I have, and I echo your sentiments, is that um this is all been dangerously moving into business as usual, people making a career out of destroying other people's names, bismerching them, so that long after the recall fails, the damage continues, and that may be actually where they consider it to be a no- lose situation to get involved in that particular type of business. Right. So to the extent that you'll have this communicated to all the elected officials that you just referenced, if there's an advocacy letter that um will be provided that you will be signing, I'd like to offer my signature as well and urge my colleagues in the DAS to all sign off on the same letter. I appreciate that. Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you. And I and I will not rest as I did not rest with the actual radio uh program which Commissioner Fernandez was on. All I requested was an apology letter. They didn't provide it. I got the apology letter. I got the guy removed and I won a massive settlement. That's number one. Number two, we beat the recall. We got reelected by almost 19%. So, at the end of the day, people are not dumb in this community. They know who's here to serve and they understand who's here committed to serve on behalf of them. Just like the laws were changed at the state level to mi, excuse me, at the county level to mimic the state in regards to the ethics complaints. No more anonymous complaints. No more Mickey Mouse complaints. You have to now follow the state, which is something you're well aware of. So, we move forward with transparency, true transparency, real transparency. We move forward in a way that has true accountability. So, and I will always invest my time and my personal treasure to ensure that transparency is at the forefront and that these kind of situations like what happened with my recall never happened to anyone ever again because at the end of the day um these are the kind of things that put stress on a person's career, their family and this is public service.

Uh we have a motion and a second. Yes, sir. We do. And uh we have a a request by Commissioner Lada which I think would be a great idea. I hope that all my colleagues sign on this letter. Mr. Manager, please uh make it make it available even Commissioner Castro who's not here today so she can sign on the letter. Uh we'll do May. Thank you. Commissioner L. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Mayor Lago?

Yes. Moving on to item F10. First and foremost, um, madame director, I want to thank you for your hard work. Uh, it was a wonderful experience. These were wonderful elected officials, a breath of fresh air. Uh, we truly had a good time, but you guys, you and your and your coworker carried the carried all the water uh throughout the weekend. Uh, and I want to commend you for all the hard work that you did. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mayor uh, Belis Perez, economic development director for the city of Coral Gables. Um so the delegation as you know came from Landiwa Guatemala with uh the mayor and some of uh his con council uh people and um really they were here to strengthen the ongoing um international ties that we have. Um so the delegation was led by mayor of Lantua which is Juan Manuel Dastorias Suas and he was joined by uh several of his council members and the municipal legal adviser. The council general of Guatemala Rosa Maria Merida Demora and her trade council which is Lisa Cuentes were also present and thank you to them because they really helped us to uh organize the agenda and have that communication back and forth. Um so basically we met with them uh at the beginning of the um of their stay here and initially what we did is that we wanted to discuss what we wanted out of the relationship and so um that involved cultural programming, art exhibits, uh professional training, learning best practices. We scheduled all the meetings and the things that they were interested in based on that initial meeting that we had with them. And so what came of of that was that um we we had a lot of key departments that um they had meetings with directly. Um we had the police department uh we had the police chief along with our IT IT director explain about smart city technologies and how it supports safety and traffic uh management. our deputy and assistant city managers discussed the innovative uh waste disposal system that was actually presented at the commission at a commission meeting um early a few months ago I would say and um our parking and mobility director and

the sustainability assistant director which speaks a little bit of Spanish if you guys did not know discussed parking innovation, transportation alternatives, uh pricing structure, infrastructure management and trolleys which were they were very interested in and our public works director took took them on a tour of one of our sewer pump stations and how it was managed. And at the end we had a uh sister cities agreement. So that was um and you know we needed to formalize the agreement with our with our sister city and um many of the key items that um that we talked about made its way into that agreement. So this is what Coral Gables wanted. Balo Gables is interested in cultural opportunities. One of them being laser which happens during sea Santa. So that is a carpet of sawdust that is colored in different designs and that happens during Holy Week. They are very adamant that they want to do the same thing here during Holy Week as well. That event and their Holy Week over there is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage uh of humanity. So, it is an important um they take a lot of pride and it's their their most important um cultural uh event and so they want to bring it to Coral Gables. The mayor also spoke with them about bringing some significant art pieces to um to Coral Gables and so they talked about perhaps a a significant artist uh bringing some pieces there and also some other cultural exhibits and exchanges that we can have. Lantigua is interested in the trolley system. They want to know more about the trolleys. Um they want to improve their circulation. They have they talked to us about having a garage on the outskirts of the city and having trouble bringing people in to the main

um downtown because of that. So that last mile is also something that they're looking for u best practices on. They talked about medical emergency equipment um and then the exploration of technology. So security cameras and systems that supplement their current inventory. So these are things that we are now going through our department and seeing what is it that we that is at the end of its life or that has reached its end of its life and could be donated to Landa. They're open to to anything that we can give them. And so that's where we stand.

Thank you very much. So we had a beautiful dinner as I mentioned. Uh thank you for coordinating that. Uh and it was also for the people who attended this the signing ceremony here. Our staff did an amazing job. Uh also I want to thank the Builtmore for hosting us. Yes. Uh we had a great breakfast there. We had a a good probably about a three-hour round table discussion at least two hours. Yeah.

Yeah. And Quto Quetto was there. Alonso Quetto was there and other members of the team and it was a really it was really a breath of fresh air to deal with this mayor. Uh he's a mayor young guy probably probably his 40s. Yeah. 40 38. Um he's a general contractor. Funny how that works out. Um and then he uh he his colleagues are for the first time ever uh commissioners from the rural parts of that city. And they were talking about about you know certain things that they've been able to experience as a result of the change in government in their city. So one of them was that when they started to collect the parking revenue electronically that they went, you know, instead of going instead of from going from cash and coins that they saw a 300% increase in the revenue. What does that tell you? Okay, that's number one. about it. And number two, he also told me a very interesting story and he said that the first project that he collected that they collected permit fees for uh they analyzed it over the last 10 years of all the projects that they've collected and I was I couldn't believe it when he told me he goes, "Vince, that one project when we collected it, the permit fees amounted to more permit fees recovered than the last 10 years combined. talking about corruption

and these young men, they're all young. Uh they're talking about what what their aspirations are for their community. And it was great to hear them, you know, explain, you know, police cars, you know, uh, fire stations, hospitals, schools, roads, the things that they're working on that they can finally deliver for their community once they've been able to stop, you know, some of these self-s serving elected officials that were there before them. But I also had a funny conversation with them uh when when they one of I was hoping I would have it here to show you, but I don't think we uploaded in time. I'll have the manager send it to you. So there's a there's a there's a Antigua Gazette and the Antigua Gazette with like the Coral Gables Gazette. Uh remember this? They uh they uh they wrote an article about when these four elected officials came to Miami to Coral Gables to meet with us. And it's amazing how that type of just mudslinging is even happening in South America. And they said, you know, uh, mayor and his colleagues go to Coral Gables to learn how to cor how to do corruption or something like that, you know, spreading their corruption to other cities and they were laughing because they had read our Gables insider articles and they had read our uh, Coral Gables Gazette articles and the the coffee the coffee blog and whatever all that stuff and they were laughing about that. They were like, "I can't believe this happens here. It happens over there." So, I had the article and I was going to show it here, but I I I um we didn't have time to upload it. But the intent of doing this recap was not to talk about that, but you know, to really highlight the visit and how pleasant it was. It was to also talk about that I'd like to put together um a list through the manager's office of items that we have in excess or that are being decommissioned. whether it be a firet truck, whether it be an ambulance, whether it be an electric car, a

vehicle, a truck that's 20 years old, you know, anything that we may have over the next, you know, six months to a year and see if we can work uh with our sister city. Um I think that we could do a lot of good things. Um you know, it's an opportunity to again, we get so much more out of giving than we do receiving that I think it's a beautiful thing, uh to help out our brothers, uh and sisters in another city that happen to be our sister city. If anybody has any ideas, I'm asking the manager to to work on a list of things that again are going to be decommissioned in the sense they're going to be scrapped. They're going to be thrown away. I'm not take I'm not saying to take anything that has good viable value. I'm talking about, you know, I know the next thing. Mayor wants to give away the city. You know, you know how it is. To the mayor. To the mayor.

Yes, sir. Um, so I I had the opportunity to sit down with them and, you know, it was very refreshing to see that with so little resources because their annual budget is $20 million, they're trying to really reform and do a lot of infrastructure projects in the city. Um I did have a conversation with them about an item that we discussed last commission meeting which was the um sister cities room at the museum and they are interested in being this first city to uh display in that uh in that room and uh they talked about giving us a permanent rug that we can use uh in that room as well. So uh I'm still waiting to hear back from Elvis on on setting up a meeting. So I'll I'll be bringing that back up to the commission soon. And as far as resources, the one thing they did tell me that they were in real need of right now was police cars. And that I had talked to briefly with Chief Hanland about what we currently do with our police vehicles when they reach their uh end of life cycle here, which for them is not an end of life cycle. Uh they have a population of 60,000 residents and they have one municipal police car uh that they use to cover the entire the entire city. So they they do rely on the national police, but the national police is limited on what they can patrol and what they can service. So they told me that one of the current needs that they have is one or two police cars to be able to get their officers patrolling the streets. So uh I told them I would definitely bring that up and um you know if there's any other vehicles like you said, Mr. Mayor, I think they would definitely be able to benefit from that and that's one thing that we can offer our sister city uh when things are at their end of life cycle.

I can see it tomorrow. You ready? Commissioner Fernandez gives away all police cars. We don't have a way to police the city. It'll be to our city. I will I'll send that I'll send that out. I'll send that out. I'll send that out. Done. I got them. I got them. We're giving away all our police vehicles tomorrow. Put the picture of the new Taho being shipped off. Of course. Done. Done deal. Done deal. I'll be in the driver's seat. I'm sure they can do what they done deal. I can see it. Thank you, Belis again. And tell your colleagues. Thank you so much. It was a beautiful I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me allowing me to uh to join you for dinner. Thank you for paying.

No, it was my pleasure. My pleasure. It was a truly a pleasure. And uh I learned a lot. I let me tell you, I learned a lot from these guys. A lot. So, so humble, sweet, kind, you know, um just thoughtful. It was very very nice. Also very positive, right? Very positive. the the the the um the other um representatives that came as you say from like more let's say rural areas of the area were the ones who were the more outgoing areas positive. They're very jovial. They were joking about they were making funny with each other how much clothes they bought and all kinds of other having a great time. So it was fun. It was fun. Thank you. Through the mayor I just um I I have to say uh

our department director Mr. Anderson over there I was impressed with his Spanish. We had a great conversation about uh the trolleys and other vehicles as well. And the reality is is, you know, we don't do the overhaul on engines here that uh we used to do many years ago. My husband used to do rebuild on engines uh before. Uh so they'll be very excited to uh extend the life or or I would say um the best recycling is reuse as opposed to uh melting them down. So they'll be happy to drive them back just like u the other country drove back one of our fire trucks. That's a beautiful thing.

It is. Thank you for bringing us all F11. It's simple. It's a discussion regarding sidewalk expansion on our junior drive between Pariso and Blue Road. And um madame director, how are you? We've had we've had uh this is uh something that I've sponsored. Again, we have residents who would love nothing more than to have their homes have sidewalks, especially after all the hard work that your office did in regards to Blue Road. And now with the David Lawrence Park, we'd love to have a little bit of connectivity uh to get there. How do you see it?

Melissa Des um assistant director for public works transportation. So, we put together a presentation um you know, just with some pictures and everything to give everybody an idea of what, you know, this project would include. Um it's basically 0.12 miles of sidewalk on the west side of the road. It's going to be three intersections. So this map shows all the existing sidewalk in the area with a dash line. You can see that by Parma and Paradiso there's no sidewalk. So we're looking to fill it in with the green um line. Some of the issues that we might have with this project would be decorative driveway approaches that we're going to have to cut through tree impacts and other landscaping encroachments. So basically what we're going to have to do is get an arrest report, get a survey, and then come back to commission and let you know what the next steps would be.

I think it's a great idea. I'd love to see again like we had to do in Alhamra, we're talking about 7,500 year old trees in certain areas. Let's try to obviously deliver on the sidewalks while minimizing the impact of the canopy. You know, we do what we can. We do what we can. I'm very familiar with this area. Very familiar. Uh now what happens is after the hard work that your office did, now you you you gave you gave people sidewalks and now people are like, "Hold on a minute. I want sidewalks." And that's the last gap that's missing and that's the last little gap. So people are kind of perplexed by it, right? So uh now with the park, completely renovated park,

both of the bridges are connected now. You're talking about you're going down Granada, you did university. Now we're about to start Doctor's Hospital. Uh it's everybody now wants sidewalks and they want the connectivity. Mayor, I think it's a great idea. I've uh been in that area and seeing how the traffic moves very swiftly to and from the university. Uh it's a dangerous place for people to walk on the street. And so for public safety reasons, I think it's a a very worthwhile project that we need to look at. And that intersection is is interesting because we actually spent probably half an hour, 45 minutes at um observing the intersection

observing that intersection during rush hour. And when the light on Granite is red, it backs up all the way to the bridge. When the light turns green, it all clears up. So you have that constant, you know, heavy traffic clears up, heavy traffic clears up. Um, so it's a very it's a very uh, you know, complicated. At some point getting across, we'll probably have to get the county involved. So our goal is to bring option be able to bring options to you to decide u obviously with some funding and timelines uh, sometime in April. Can I ask you a question? Sure. Again, you guys are the experts, but when you talk about the level of traffic and where that's caused by the light, why not remove that light and put a traffic circle?

So, Blue Road is a is a county road. We actually reached out to them and asked them, you know, if they could potentially um replace the traffic signal with uh with a roundabout, but they weren't in favor of moving forward with that. But ultimately, it would be their decision because it is a county road. Okay. All right. Through the mayor. Yes, sir. So, since you brought that issue up and you spoke to the county, can you just tell me at a very high level, what do they typically say is to push back when when we would want a roundabout, they say when they say no, what are they saying?

They just don't recommend it. That's basically what they say. They'll say, you know, like based on the volumes and everything, you know, they just wouldn't recommend it at that particular intersection. Sometimes it has to do with like the geometry, you might not have, you know, sufficient space for the type of roundabout you might need due to the volume. It's different reasons. Okay. In that particular area, you actually have some turning lanes. Yes. So, you may end up with a situation where you may narrow the traffic and then, you know, you have two lanes into one and you know, it can get complicated. I'm not saying it will be impossible, but um the county tends not to be too fun of those uh circles that are not uh standard.

Do you um what do we need to do to move forward obviously through the manager's office? We're going to get a we need to get a survey uh on our burst report and then we'll put together analysis similar to what we did in Hamra and we'll bring it back to the commission we think probably in April with some estimates and some timeline for what the following steps will be. Could I have a motion? I move it. Second, Mr. Clerk. All in favor? I thank you. So you said April, let's say May. Thank you. It's a lot of work. It is. You got tree survey smile on your face. No. And you got a design. I mean, it's okay. I mean, listen,

it's been a 100 years. We haven't had sidewalks. They can wait four months, right? They're just they're just going to be happy to know that it's moving forward. That's all that matters. And we're going to send them this video. So, okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. I appreciate you. Thank you for your hard work, both of you, and your team. Thank you. Appreciate it. F12 deferred. Oh, deferred. F13. F3 discussion regarding America's 250th birthday celebration. Miss Pontine. Thank you. Uh if you could please uh put up the presentation. Yep. So hopefully the most important thing is for me to pronounce this. The semiquincentennial. That's Wow. Semiqu.

That was the biggest challenge. Few moments when you say a word that you know you're saying it for the first time ever. So semiquincentennial. That's it for

that's amazing. That's amazing. So tell us what are we what are you thinking? Okay. So, the United States started this celebration officially last year uh during Memorial Day, the first big event was uh the 250th uh anniversary of the US Army on Flag Day which is uh June 14th and that's when they had the military parade in Washington DC. So this is a a state and and national observances already underway and uh we can start immediately and uh have some idea. We believe that it needs to be civic focused, educational, inclusive, community oriented and it's not a single event much like we did with the city's centennial. Uh as you see this is the official uh logo uh it says America 250 and if you see we've come up with our own logo uh that you'll see there on the slide America 250 with the one that has a star and it says Coral Gables underneath.

Any thoughts? Pretty.

Okay. So we can also do some visual installations. We can do uh flags in our facilities much like we did with the centennial. We can purchase those flags from the from the committee and we can do that you know as long as soon as you tell me to do so. uh we think that maybe we should reach out to M to do a partnership just like we did some banners uh along uh pontoon from Granada to Sanaro that we would do so again and that's something that then we share the cost uh digital and streetscape uh we could display the graphic on our Ike uh events the trolleys that's a magnet that we put for the centennial so we could we could purchase those and we could have the seal for the commission agenda and for the uh and and for proclamations etc. It's a great opportunity for youth and educational engagement. We can reach out immediately to uh Coral Gables High School. Actually, we have we already started reaching out to them. And now that we also have a a person that we work with at Pon Middle School, they could be included as well. and we think that we should uh have a contest and the winners we would give them a $250 uh gift card.

Okay.

Uh and uh the clerk's office has already agreed and we have uh we had a centennial coloring book for their uh passport office. This would be a patriotic uh for for the United States community engagement. Uh we think that the Fourth of July actually gives us the the biggest opportunity with the drone show that's actually already budgeted for. And if anybody had the chance to see the drone show at the uh Built Mort's centennial celebration, it also included music and and a voiceover. So we think that that's an important part uh to it to include in in that drone show. uh the night foundation has actually uh given uh some money for the communities in which they're involved which actually South Florida Miami is one of them where they're doing some storytelling. So for us to reach out to the night foundation to see if we can include Coral Gables and some of our people in that storytelling. Uh, a big part of how the United States is celebrating is they're asking for volunteer for volunteer opportunities and for that to be logged into their uh site. So, we think that we should designate a with your agreement a citywide volunteer initiative uh for this. Uh, and there there's other opportunities. Uh, I think that for example, I don't know until we're doing the Merrick Minute if it's through April, but maybe we can do like a United States Minute. I know that maybe if maybe if we partnered with Channel 10, they've actually been doing them on on online, you know, they're like 30 second spots, maybe we could do uh something with them, something to to bring the history I love

to life. And so we think that there is an opportunity. We can start immediately and we can use resources already in place. We will need some resources, you know, for some of these purchases. Uh I've already if you like the logo, we can go ahead and we can order pins for our board members and uh our our staff to make them all part of this celebration. And I'll just leave with a with a reflection that America is an idea built on liberty, responsibility, and the enduring promise of self-government. Well said. Well said. Well done.

Um I think it's a great idea. Thank you for for helping helping with this, Martha. It's amazing. I think it's an opportunity for us again not only to celebrate 250 years, but look what we talked about before about Cuba, to celebrate American exceptionalism. you know, the privilege it is to live in this great country and the fact that even though nobody will admit it, I'll admit it. We take it for granted, we don't really realize, we really don't realize how good we have it here in this country. Uh, and it's very easy to complain and we always find something to complain. I'm the biggest culprit of it. Yeah.

Okay. But at the end of the day, at the end of day, when you look at this, and I say it all the time, there's no place, no place on this planet where immigrants can come and in less than one generation be put in a position where they're standing on their own two feet and they're enjoying the liberties that are afforded to us by the Constitution. I'm not saying that you're going to be rich. I'm saying that you're going to be able to make your life what you deem appropriate all through hard work. And I think that the 250 years is an opportunity to celebrate. I think what you said about the 4th of July. I was thinking about pins until you said it right there. It'd be nice to do something. I don't want to I by the way I saw pins this weekend. Not this weekend. I'm sorry. Yesterday at Bernie Bernovar's swearing in.

People were already wearing the 250 year pin. But they're very big. They're very big. Well, I'm making sure that they're small. Uh I've already uh have a design. I've already gone out to get uh items. I actually had hoped to do a showand tell. I've ordered uh from the the committee uh it's a like a flag stand with the the the the semi that one

I'm not looking at it uh with with that flag and and the US flag to to to put on to put on the on on the dis. Uh so I think you know to to give uh the the dis also part of the participation and we have lots of opportunities for the for flag day. We can have uh in front of Builtmore Way and along uh Miracle Mile we can have uh US flags put there. We've done this before with the with the fire department. So there are a lot of opportunities and of course we're also looking not only for ideas uh from from the DAS but from from anyone uh in the community that has any idea of how we could proceed to make this an even uh bigger celebration. I think what I need from you is do we uh there's some states that are going for example North Carolina they're going through in celebrating through 32 because they're doing like the whole revolutionary war period. There's other states uh like I forgot which one, but that will go through the end of the year. Do we go through uh July 4th or do we continue through the end of the year? That's the only question that I would have.

If it was up to me, I continue for the end of the year. I mean, you might as well you're ordering you're ordering some great swag uh that I think could be used and I and I and I think that we should also get our employees involved like if they have shirts and they're going to reorder shirts, you know, 250. Again, I know we're celebrating our centennial. We just finished our celebratorial, but we celebrate America first at the end of the day. And you know, to put 250 on on on something to me is a big deal. It's a big celebration. And I want to hear ideas like you said from the residents. Maybe we can have in one of our emails that you send out. Say, "Look, we're talk a little bit about the 250 years. I'm not even going to try to pronounce it. The 200 the 250 years." And uh say, "Send us your ideas. How can we make this a memorable 250? What is your opinion?

Okay. I'll make sure that I celebrate the semiquincentennial. Correct. Yes. The mayor. Yes, sir.

So, um I'm excited about it and I love the idea that we're me personally that we we've just completed a really super successful 100year celebration of the founding of the city of Coral Gables. Let's just keep the the spirit going, right, for for the 250th uh for the founding of our country. Um but maybe you and I can work together along with my colleagues so that on the more patriotic celebrations that we have during the year which includes you know Veterans Day that we make it a super special one given that it's occurring in the 250th anniversary of the of the founding of our country. So I I think this is the opportunity especially be it'll be the first one that will be recognized you know after the resolution was carried so off of the bank. So what you you have the best ideas Martha so

the mayor um that you had actually brought up, Mr. Mayor, and um had given me the idea and I just hadn't we didn't never had a chance to discuss it that day. Is there a way that we can compile a list of veterans who live in the city and maybe have the pledge of allegiance every commission meeting led by one of the veterans or veterans in a city or active military who live in the city?

I think that would uh I mean I know we have a list of disabled veterans because we we do have the the disabled veterans relief grant program. So, we have a list of those, but if we can maybe compile a list and have one of them lead the pledge of allegiance every commission meeting, I think that's something we can do to highlight America because they've been integral to ensuring that we're here today. Yes, I know that for uh during close to Veterans Day uh for the past couple of years, the mayor has called upon a city employee uh that is a veteran to lead in the pledge of allegiance, but obviously that could be expanded to the community. Uh maybe the best place for me to start would be through the American Legion. That is people that have served and then then but however, if you did not serve in a war, although you are a veteran, you're that you're not part of the American Legion type of thing.

So maybe it's something we can just send out on the e-news. If you're a veteran, let us know. Um and then we can just do it that way. I think it's a great idea. We can take advantage of it. Yeah. Um thank you, Martha. I'm looking forward. All ideas are welcome. Everything.

Okay. America 250. Beautiful. Good work, Martha. Thank you so much. Uh item F14. This is a simple one. So, you know, one of the things that as as I've had the privilege of serving here for 13 years, and I've always wondered, we have all these amazing photos of past mayors on the wall, right? But I think they're taking up way too much space. And I think that we need to be a little more concise. And I want Martha to give us a little bit of information and feedback in regards to what she thinks maybe we should do uh in regards to all these portraits. What could be the intent and how could we do something that again, you know, because if you're in if you're in one of the floors of the building, you just see a picture, but you don't see all the pictures. So, you you don't know who that person is. And I'll be I'll be frank with you, I know a lot of people on the wall, but I don't know every single person on the wall. So, I think there's an opportunity for us to do something. Uh it's been done recently in other municipalities. I've seen it because when I've gone to visit them, I've seen, you know, the mayor's wall completed. Um and when we finish this building in three years, it's going to be when it's going to be done. Uh I think it's an opportunity to do something special as we inaugurate the building. So, as you know, the the pictures, the photos of the past mayors are actually in the commission assistance office. Some have actually faded a lot because of how of where they are placed. Uh tomorrow I have someone from Monor Studio who as you remember they celebrated their centennial as a business. They're here in Coral Gables coming to see if maybe those could be restored uh to give them a better shape. Uh we think that once this building is complete that we could have a mayor's wall, but it would have to say and it would not in an office. It would need to be in a hallway so that it's publicly

accessible because right now it's only if someone is going in to see uh one of the commissioners that they go in through that office. But we also think that with the restoration, we also have an opportunity and the opportunity is to do something online with in in the city commission page. We can actually add former mayors and we can actually even take it a step further. We could put the names of all former commissioners. I believe the city clerk's office uh does have that information available. And then that way in the commission page you could see the people past and present uh by years. Uh with the mayors is where we have more opportunity because we do have uh pictures. So uh let's see how this restoration and how we can use that restoration to digitize to digitize the photos. I think it's a great idea on multiple fronts and I if you if I may through the manager I ask you to please look at what the city of Miami just did. So instead of having large, you know, one by two foot photos, they went small 6 in and they put all the mayors on one wall and it literally fit perfectly right when you walked in uh to the Pan-American building and you could see and you can follow the first mayor to the to the last mayor. Uh I agree. you know, the commissioners, we should have something online where where it says who has served, what years do they serve, um, a little bit of information if we have something brief, one paragraph or anything like that. Um

I think I think getting a paragraph for people from the 20s, 30s, 40s, it's going to be it's going to be a challenge. But we could always do it with with respectfully like for example, you know, through family like for example, Janette Les who's no longer with us, we would ask Don to provide to provide a quick one. I'm just saying if that's an interest, I understand it's very complicated, but I don't to me what I what I've seen here before this why I bring it up. All those photos, they're great, but they're everywhere. You can't put them into one room. I think what's great is when you walk into, for example, one place and you see all the photos on the wall and you can follow it from the beginning to the to the to the latest.

Yeah, I know. I went to the city hall in uh Al Aleante in Spain uh a couple of years ago and they did have uh all the mayors and it was a very very nice uh place. We've also reached out uh we haven't heard back. I think that there was an interest in possibly doing an event. So, we've actually reached out to the Coral Gables Museum. They have a smaller space where currently like where they have the Seliaak Cruz exhibit that maybe uh in the future they could do as we restore these uh as as we restore these that maybe we could do an event related to that. Actually, I I had um when I first got elected, uh I reached out to the clerk because I wanted to know who had been in this seat prior to the my predecessors and the ones that I knew. I knew it was uh Vice Mayor Men. I knew it was Vice Mayor Kurdike before him and Janette Slesnik, but it was hard to go back beyond a certain point because the commission structure had changed. At one point, everybody was on the same ballot and the top five vote getters were elected. top getter was mayor and and the next four were on the commission. Um but it was even hard to find photos of anybody prior to a certain date because we just don't have them. Um so I think it's a great idea. Something I would suggest is maybe we can designate the conference one of the conference rooms as the mayor's conference room um and have the them displayed there and that that might be a place where we can display it in city hall that's that's visible.

Yeah. So the first step I said as I said tomorrow we have uh the person from Monor Studio uh coming coming by to see what we can work with. I mean we will obviously reach out to other people. We just thought uh we have a person locally. Let's see if we can work with them. I think it's a great idea. Thank you so much Mark. I appreciate just bringing this to your attention. I think it's a good opportunity and let's see let's see where we go from here. U Mr. Clerk, have I caught everything here on the agenda? Am I missing anything? We're missing one city manager item, I believe, sir. H6 H6. Perfect. H6. Thank you. I feel like I'm on duty here. Back to back.

This one's easier to say. This one is much much easier. And uh

I have a Sandy here because uh this is a been really a team effort on behalf of the entire city because we've had all departments involved. But uh my office has led this charge, but the person that has really led the charge has been uh Sandy Rodriguez. And I did want to recognize her. I also wanted to recognize two other people. Uh Nick Science, who is our web master, and he actually got our website up and running, uh 100 coralgables.com. We did it at a reduced uh price for like $3,000. uh other cities when we looked to do a website like Naples had spent something like $80,000 and and ours it it we had so and we did it all inhouse. The other person I would like to recognize is today you saw one of the videos. It's the video of the person from was from the person uh the principal of Ponelon Middle School. We did get to aundred videos that was a big big job to get done. We started like three years ago and for that we have to credit uh Michael Roachcha the man behind the scenes always uh here. So well we've been we were we celebrated the centennial for this past year. Uh the anniversary was on April 29th and we wanted to pay tribute to the past, look to the future and collaborate with community organizations. Part of this is we met with uh we had more than like 200 meetings with different people, we actually uh have in addition to the 100 videos that we did, we went out to community events like the farmers market. Uh we were there every weekend. We went to the literacy fest. We went to

uh adventure day. We even went to EWM offices uh to get people to share their stories to make it inclusive. So we had about 200 people uh share their stories with us. So as I said the oral history project we think is really a a lynch pin of the success of our centennial and the profiles are housed uh were housed during the centennial at the Coral Gables Museum. We are moving that installation over to the since that's going to be the new city hall for a while uh we're moving that installation to the public safety building. so that people can actually uh look at these videos. Uh they are also the website 100c coralgables.com. We're still keeping it keeping it up.

I think we should keep it up constantly. Yes, it's a great idea. It's and it's only like $300 a year. Uh

you're selling I mean you're selling what makes Gable special. It's great. It's a great investment for $300. So uh with building community as the centennial site that uh had impactful pictures, we had people participate uh by sharing their their photos etc. And for an update on events and as I said the events were not exclusive to the city of Coral Gables. They included whether it was the bar association's event or or the garden club event. And and in the oral history I failed to mention we went out we not only reached out to people on this dis and the people that had previously served but we re reached out to multiple organizations such as the Rotary Club, the garden club so that they could also say their stories of their involvement in Coral Gables. The engagement opportunities people shared their their be city beautiful memories. We had the frame the memory challenge, the audio booth submissions, uh historic timeline uh where we included and we had you know when did Coral Gable's hospital start, when did uh Doctor's Hospital start, uh when did the Rotary Club start? We did community partners uh and in celebration and continuum. M had their own celebration. Uh but for here for example you see the garden club that's the sculpture that they that they commissioned uh part of our art and public places. So that is one of the activations. And here we have our city attorney and our former city attorneys. Uh because we worked with the Coral Gables Bar Association to make it uh their annual gala a salute to city's attorneys. Uh because when the city was established, the city attorney position was part of

what uh George Merrick envisioned that needed for the city to have. Uh so it was a year of commemorations. Here's just like a brief timeline there. There are obviously others of of what we did in organizing this and I'd like to stress that we did it without any additional resources and our city departments throughout celebrated. So, uh we had economic development had the uh the the the ornament uh public works. We have 10 of those uh storms uh storm drain covers. Uh we had uh parks department the the 100th anniversary for the drone show. The police department had the cars. Art and Public Places is going to have uh this one is one that's still pending, but that will be here right across in Merrick Park, which is to commemorate uh the Bohemians that were the workers that built uh the city beautiful. Uh here we see a house with a plaque that is a centennial house, something I know that uh Commissioner Fernandez brought forth, and you see one of the houses that that has that plaque. uh economic development also did uh something with our city sister cities of uh pro in provence. Uh the budget cover the the passport office had their their coloring book. Uh all your agendas had the the seal uh all our employees received uh the pin. So did our our our board members. So, we wanted to make it special.

And you had Oh, and the coin, right? We can do a coin for the uh uh on Centennial Day. Uh you all remember you were all here. Uh we we did the the flag raising ceremony and we also did other things. So, for example, the Miami International Airport had their electronic message about Coral Gables. Uh, FIU had an electronic message about Coral Gables. We got uh three buildings besides City Hall to be to be lit. The Builtmore Hamburg Towers and the Lowe's Hotel. I love the flowers in front of city hall. I love that.

That that was green space man. That was green space management.

Oh, beautiful. Uh it was covered in the Miami Herald uh as a front as a front page. We had the essay contest winner from uh from Coral Gables uh high school read. The grand finale was the the concert uh at the Venetian Pool and uh that was an event in partnership with the Miami Symphony Orchestra. So by the numbers 100 oral history stories filmed, 193 audio stories recorded, 12 Merrick moments highlighted that we highlighted also I know that they've continued that we highlighted in uh ENUS EN had a centennial look throughout the year and we looked at we had a a centennial corner. Uh we had 10 Centennial manhole covers, 54 tree of the year submissions were received and there were 250 attendees at the Centennial concert. So we think it was a success and uh again thank you to Sandy for all her hard work and you know it was great for the community to be able to celebrate with us.

Thank you not to not at all to want to add any work to your overflowing plate. You know what I would love to see? May maybe it's something you have already cooked up in your laboratory somewhere, but you've documented well, first of all, you've put together you and and the city staff done such an amazing job, you know, putting together a well once in a hundred year event, right? Celebrating the city. But they're all such wonderful events, right? And they're each of them was over the top and beyond what I thought they could have been. and culminating with the U Venetian pool celebration. I mean, that was just something that everybody who was there is going to have to say is is is uh beyond memorable, right? It was such so amazing to have a do you have a a video recap of like starting in January through December just linking all these events so somebody can see it for posterity? This is how we celebrated our our um 100th year. I don't have a video recap, but I guess Michael just got a new assignment.

The power of delegation. I don't know. I would just love because so much went into that celebration the year long to be able to at least give people um an opportunity to kind of relive it um with vignettes short to the extent you have photos or actual video bits that just takes you through the timeline of the year and culminating with because there's such great stuff you know I think it's deserving of that kind of um I'm sure we'll I'm sure Michaelity I'm sure Michael Roachcha will work his magic and we will make sure to show it at an upcoming commission meeting. Wonderful. And then hopefully it'll live on on our web. Uh be like a time capsule. That's what I'm saying for for posterity, you know.

Okay. And since I've been here so long, I just want to remind everyone that tomorrow we have the first Jose Marti celebration at 10:30 a.m. Looking forward to it. Thank you. Thank you, Martha, for that. I appreciate I know you've been working hard on that. Thank you. Um Madam Vice Mayor, anything else to the good of the order? Just um usual reminders, we have the farmers market. A lot of activities in this city uh on go going. Uh we have the underlying dog park and at 10:00 bring out your pooch. Which one are you going to bring? All three. All three. I'll bring one. Um zone defense. And then we have our Tallahassee trip coming up. I'm looking forward to that. Perfect. So,

Commissioner Oh, sorry. I didn't know you're done. No, that's it. Commissioner, um echo exactly what the vice mayor said. I really appreciate everybody's um willingness to work through and get done in almost record time today's um agenda meeting with a lot of successful initiatives being met and done in a um in in a positive uh collaborative spirit. Um just reminding everybody I continue to maintain my office hours on Monday mornings from 8:30 to 11. Commissioner, not going to repeat it. Things have already been said. So,

okay. Um, I'm going to touch a few points. Uh, first and foremost, uh, Mr. Manager, uh, please, uh, congratulate your team. Uh, the UN watch party was a huge success. I want to thank Agave. Um, obviously it doesn't do it justice. This does it justice. Uh, so let's hold that picture right there. Okay. We put this together in a matter of days. Agave came in with a sponsorship and they paid for the the the TV. Correct. The rental did not come out of the city's

budget. This is something to be proud of. Not only am I a diehard hurricane fan, but bringing Can we go back to that picture if we don't mind? But bring bringing all these people out to enjoy this game and be amongst community in the city beautiful in the perfect weather. You know, they were having a great moment celebrating something that haven't happened in the city in over 25 years. Uh that brought me a lot of great pride. And I want you guys to consider I know that we're working on right now on finalizing the design and I had the pleasure of meeting with the attorney uh that's representing Alan Morris to talk about the the design because I have some interest in regards to how like the just position of the artwork with the proposed actual park layout. It's coming out very nice. The manager's done a great job. We're just discussing about a few different things. Bathrooms, no bathrooms, things like that. But when you see this TV there, you think to yourself, I don't know. I mean, I just think that this is this this may be it. I know that it may not be something where By the way, the parks department killed it. Mr. Director, you killed it. Great job. Madam ACM, you killed it. Um, I I'm just I'm looking for guidance. You know, I brought this idea up. Look at this. Look at this crowd. Look at the people having a great time. The kids sitting down. Can you imagine if we had this fulltime and we could do something where it comes out of the ground. Comes out of the ground. Now we rent this. Not that we put it up. Something that comes out of the ground and people can watch a movie. Watch a Super Bowl in two weeks. There was no fighting. There was no problems. There was no screaming. You you know it wasn't it wasn't uh rowdy.

You know, it was families through and through. People are having a great time. And this is what I I envision when I think about Pawn Circle Park. Mayor, I want to bring it up. I mean, I I think at Pawn Circle Park, uh we absolutely need to have a band shell. Yeah. You know, I agree. And that can be part of uh the band shell. whether or not moisture wise it can stay there or just be one of those. I know that they have these fancy TVs now that can even roll up like a like a blind

like an old blind you could roll down. Uh I think that's something the staff can figure out. But designwise I I absolutely think we need a permanent bench shell there. something that can withstand a hurricane and provide and put the the noise to the north, not to the residential area. But there's been so many occasions where we had staging there and functions occurring. It can be really a important magnet for our community to be coming out and enjoy like you just saw. You could have you could have the mayor

the symphony. You could have concerts. You could do concerts. Let's say you could have a a mass from the Vatican. You could have uh you know celebrate high holy days. You could you could celebrate for example uh if if if there's a symphony in Paris or in Rome or the Olympics are being played or you have you know just this year alone you have a huge amount of national and international events happening in our own backyard where people can afford to go. People cannot afford to go to um game national championship. They cannot afford to go to the Super Bowl. It's in our backyard. I'm not going to the Super Bowl. I'm not paying for those tickets. You know, there's there's the G20 summit. There's a litany of different things going on here. You can watch F1 racing. You can do all these things. And this place lends itself perfectly. Look at the crowd that's there having a good time. It's safe. It's beautiful. Our staff did an amazing job putting this together. I met with the director and the ACM and it was like, you know, they were running around trying to figure this out, trying to make sure that it was the best experience. Your staff did such an amazing job. We always want to highlight the things that are wrong or the things that could be better. This was perfect. Like perfect. No seating. No seating. It was perfect on every single front. Look at nobody complaining there. People were having a good time. Everybody, everybody understood to bring chairs, bring a throw, you know, just become become part of the community. This is perfect through the mayor. So, I agree with you. Um, and leaving that photo up there and taking a quick peek. Oh, just putting it back. You know how that always seemed, at least to me, I'm pretty sure to you that that building just seems like too big, right? Yet, when you have a crowd like that, it sort of like helps um bring it all and tie it together

because when you want a big event there, it just feels like it's not so much of an eyesore. It kind of looks like this is this the center

of where like entertainment and culture can come together for a large number of people. And like the vice mayor said, I you know, listen, I lived in Boston for a while and I love the Hat have had up there for the Boston Pops, right? And they would put on an incredible Fourth of July all the time with music, right? with John Williams putting on his performance. The Miami Symphony Orchestra, Frost School of Music, you know, I bet you there's an an overabundance of really high quality cultural events that people want to get p publicity and attention drawn to their own organizations that would be willing to donate these types of events to a public forum like that on a real classy premier stage. So, if you're thinking like some kind of like interesting tech where the TV comes up out of nowhere, big, right?

Yeah. There's already there's already there that technology already exists. It's expensive. It's expensive. But to me, and the manager wanted to say a few words, but to me, when you look at this, I know what you're saying about the building, but to me, it was just the scene of all these people, all these young people, all these oak trees in the back. Like, you break up the building in the back. you know, you kind of get lost in the fact that you're in the middle of a city and you're watching this amazing game. The weather was immaculate. It was perfect. Everything worked out perfect for that night. Uh, Mr. Manager, uh, thank you. Except for the win. We didn't win, man. You know, but, you know, I think we did win because we had an amazing season. So, at the end day, we did win.

Number two, uh, mayor, we we have not brought the preliminary design from for the park yet. We're working on the actual budget, but we are looking at a band shell on that side. Yes, we are currently looking at a band shell on on that side. We're also working with a we we want to we want to cons we want to bring in an acoustical engineer to make sure that the acoustics uh that everything is brought north. Yeah.

So that ding is is uh so that the residential area in the in the in the south is not impacted. The park has a central area to do these kind of events and then the park has the the uh major artwork on the north side. So, we uh we're currently working on the on the budget because it's kind of an elaborate park and and to see where we're at, but that's this is exactly what we thought that the commission would want in at this park.

Yeah, I saw the bans show looks great so far. Obviously, it's very preliminary, very prelim, but one of the comments that the director made was that we were talking about putting up like an inflatable, an inflatable the city owns. you you guys were 100% right. the ACM the director that would have been okay putting up this screen which we got a very good deal on was we didn't pay for it but I'm saying it was sponsored but we were looking we were looking at some prices that were like double the price you know this changed the game I mean this look at that that's just anybody you could be at the end of the park could be in the park and you could watch that game from anywhere in the park you didn't have to be up front there was no glare there was No, you know, you weren't there wasn't no projection. It was perfect. Perfect.

Um I think the the band shell that's being proposed would have the ability to have a projector project on the back wall. And the projector technology today isn't what it was even 5 years ago. Uh we have 4K projection nowadays, which might be cheaper than a TV that we'd have to be moving in and out because the TV technology may be more difficult to improve in five or 10 years when it does. a projector may be easier to to replace, but the design is really facing that direction. So, it's it's exactly where this is. Um, and as I saw this picture, I was visualizing the the design. I think it's going to be perfect for what we're looking for. It's exactly what we're looking for uh at this park. And it's really going to make Pawn Circle Park a 100 years late, but what originally was intended to be. Wait, this is this is a great test run. A great test run

to the mayor. Yes, sir. Uh the park also slopes south uh up. So So when you sit on the north, you're looking up. So So it's it's almost I mean everything everything falls in line with the design uh to doing that. We we're currently pricing it out, but and and if we can get the acoustics correct, then the the southern uh residents will not be will uh will not be uh impacted by it. Madam Vice Mayor,

so I'm going to pass my phone a photo that was taken last Friday evening when I went out to walk my dogs, and that is Sanctuary of the Arts. And they had a screen up right across the street. And they've done this more than once. And they there was not a lot of fanfare, but this was full. you know, was a quite a production and you can, you know, you can you can see that it's a screen that was brought in.

I know that the city manager is quite familiar with the permitting processes of it because I I brought it to the off manager's office attention that they needed to make sure that the timing on this was was complied with it so they could do the show on Friday night. So, it can be done. And this one was trucked in. they've done this more than once. So, you might want to just ask them who they're using because the technology is always going to be changing. So, that's a factor that you're you're going to have to consider whether it's projection format or this LED digitized format. There was a a stage below it as well. So, it replicates the concept that we're talking about of having a band shell. So, u Fred, if you want to look at the picture. I I know you know I know you know what this is. So, you saw it and thank you for all you do, mayor.

It was amazing. Yes, sir.

Uh this park is just tremendous potential. We have there's probably over a million people going by. Uh we just it just we've done everything possible to isolate the park. These civil improvements are going to bring the park back to the people. the fact that we have a trolley takes over a million people going through the park. Even the slope is correct. Uh so so I think that we're looking at we're we're looking at a a very unique design and soon as we get some uh some of that pricing in we'll be uh bringing it to the commission. We're just trying to see what the what the budgetary constraints are. And a perfect segue to what you're saying there, Peter, about how the trolley system is is really going to be contributive in a big way to this success. But ultimately, we're going to have I don't know. I'm not sure exactly what we're calling it, but like the mobility hub, right? So when we have that completed, right, the the kind of people we're hoping are going to be attending this this and events to come in the future, imagine like just how important it is to have that parking facility at this at this time coming together. Then the folks doing a wonderful short and showoff walk from there to Pun Circle, which should be I hope an additional driver to economic um uh activity to all the small businesses along the way because from there everyone's there and you're just hoping they're going to be like, "Well, let's just keep it going either before, during, or after the event. Keep enjoying the City Beautiful's um shops and dining experiences."

It's a great point. Um in closing, I just want to say thank you to the Plaza Antonio for always saying yes um or see or see. You know,

I know he was donate. I know that he was singled out as one of my donors in my campaign. Yes, he was. And I voted against his project, but he didn't say no when I asked him for money for uh uh for this project. So, I guess that won't that won't make a donation list, though. But it was good for the community. But it's good to body slam people when you get every opportunity to. All right, so moving on. Uh the Bark Park, like we said, um super impressed by those two young ladies today. I want to do more things with them. They're very they're very committed to the cause of dogs. I want to I I want to see if I can engage them with the vice mayor and may we now that we have all these dog parks coming online or that we're working on. I think we need to take these two young ladies, they're in high school, they got about another two years in high school and engage them in one way or another. I don't want to waste this opportunity and just do a one and done. I think we can really get them involved. They came to my office. They were like super committed. Uh they brought these great ideas. Uh and I think that these are two young ladies that, you know, we have to use for our advantage. I hate to say it that way, but they're amazing. They're amazing and they have great ideas and they are super super committed. So, think about ideas that we can engage with them.

Oh, well, this is how new foster agencies uh are spawned. I mean, um, I thoroughly enjoy getting dogs from a foster, you know, for those those reasons. Um, so so definitely tell them to come on down the other end of the hall. I do have office hours every Friday except for when I'm out of town. So,

true. Talk about that. Office hours again, uh, this past week, we started at 2 o'clock, we ended almost at 7 o'clock at night. We're there for five hours. It was amazing. So many people. Thank you to staff for uh for always resolving all the problems and doing the best that you can. Very from very complex issues to to simple issues. Uh but again, we have office hours this Friday again um starting at 2 o'clock. Another issue that I want to put in your front burner. Uh this is a conversation that I had with the tax collector. Something that has been that's been uh itching, no pun intended in my eye here, but itching uh at the back of my brain for a long time. And that is the issue of handicap parking spaces. So think about handicap parking spaces. What is the intent of a handicap parking space? You hope that when you see somebody and I had this conversation with my city attorney. Uh what is what encompasses a handicap? There's many different avenues. You have to be careful obviously and be considered thoughtful on that front. But there is a lot of abuse and I don't think that's anything wrong to say. Um I'd like to see if if we can, Mr. Manager, put together a resolution for an urging to the state where we urge the state legislature to change renewal process from every four years to every one year and make it harder to get a decap. I also want us want to make sure that we stop these u kind of like these mills where you basically go online with a physician which is not really a physician and they say, "Oh yeah, send me $150, $200 and you what's what's your what's your uh your handicap? I'm not going to get into it. This is my handic." And you have to respect, you

know, for me for me. I may get in trouble for this, but it's okay. I'll take it. Um handicap needs to be something that is severe. You know, a person who suffers from tragic injury, you know, back back surgery or has their for example like what the what the city attorney had and I had at one point where she had a broken leg and she had to have a temporary handicap uh sticker. Um, you know, obviously you also have people who are who are disabled in one form or another. um you know, people who are blind or things like that. But there's just so much abuse and we see it every day when we go to a shopping center or we park in all throughout the city. You see people hopping out of their Porsches, you know, or their Ferraris uh with the handicap sticker and they just take it out of the glove box and they put it on the top. Again, that to me is an insult for somebody who served this great country and was injured in Afghanistan, World War II, Vietnam. Uh I think that we can do much better. So I think that we have to come together. Um listen, my mother has a handicap. My mother has multiple back back surgeries. Um and um you know she has Parkinson's and yesterday she was diagnosed with dementia just stage two dementia. So I think this is something that we have to come together. We have to collaborate on this front. Um because you know I think that There's a lot of people who are suffering out there and people take advantage of the system. They gain the system. And I think that we as a city can be a voice of reason and ask our state leaders to truly crack down on certain things that are

happening in our community. I remember one of my buddies telling me who's who's an attorney telling me that 70% of the fraud, you know, insurance fraud happens in South Florida, in the entire United States. I mean, that's that's something you don't want to be known for. And that actually is embarrassing and shameful for our community that 70% of the fraud happens in this community in the entire United States. So, I'm pretty sure, and I was talking to the tax collector about it, that they're looking into it also. They're going to be cracking down. And I think that we got to we got to be a resource to the tax collector. The tax collector is a resource for us. And if we get emboldened other communities, 34 municipalities, the county to make the same request of the state legislature and change the laws. Yeah, we're going to ruffle a few feathers. I get it. But this is something I think needs to be addressed. So,

having a husband who can't barely walk from the front door to the to the car, you know, distance is is an issue. But I'm going to make the following suggestion. I am his designated driver. I don't need the handicap sticker. Okay? If he was driving on his own, he needs it. So, when you have somebody else driving you that can drop you off at the door, you shouldn't be using The driver should not be using the handicap sticker to park. I can go to the park. That's integrity. Integrity, right?

So, if I use it, okay, I can be moving that car up to the door for him. And that's what I do. It's my routine. Um, handicaps, parking stickers should not be used for that purpose. Frequency I don't think is going to change it. It's just going to more paperwork for people. Now, I have the I have the handicap placard because if he ever needs to drive it, he absolutely needs to be able to get near the door because he can go from there to the little scooter cart to go to Publix to get a few groceries and come back home. So, that's some of the the points I think where you could really shave off um um a lot of the fraud that's occurring I think right now where other people are using the handicap placard. Um I had called in one time uh parking because I saw somebody who was very ablebodied um park in a location and um parking advised me that they could not ask the person who was driving to see their driver's license, see if it matched the handicap placard. That's a huge problem. That's absolutely a huge problem because how else are we going to, you know, may they be picking up somebody that's disabled? Yes, they may be. But then we go back to the scenario that I described to you. That person can park remotely and then drive up to pick up whoever that person is, whether it's a child or or otherwise. Um there's a lot of improper use of handicap placard. So we need to look at these scenarios and provide parking and provide uh more authority to be able to issue the tickets or question whether the person parking there is actually the the the

driver that has the placard.

So on that point you remember that years ago there was the issue of pill mills. You had physicians who were retiring close to retirement age and they were online providing you know uh prescriptions and it got out of control you know they were they started busting they started busting clinics where you know you could buy a prescription for a few dollars. So that's in the same vein as as what we're seeing here in regards to these u these handicap parking decals where individuals who are actually handicapped are getting to the handicap parking designated parking space and they can't use it because it's already been taken by somebody who's able-bodied. So I think we also need to establish a task force with other municipality police departments to investigate this issue. I'd like to work through the manager's office and I ask my colleagues to engage in one form or another. um to work with the tax collector. He's the real resource here, our police department and other municipalities. I want to craft a resolution of some sort that basically calls on the state department on on the state, our state leaders uh to crack down on this to hold people accountable because I think that this is something that again it's a quality of life issue and I think that people who have true handicap should deserve the privilege to be able to live as comfortable as possible. Those those those places are designated for those individuals. All of us that have the honor to be able to walk without pain should park where we are designated to park, not take it away from somebody who is again like the vice mayor said, her husband, my mother who are dealing with real issues that they're battling every single day. So with that being said, I don't have anything else. I think we've covered a lot of things today. Um I want to thank

um as always uh the employees for working so hard. I know that um over the Christmas holidays they tackled a lot. The city's never looked better in my opinion. Uh thank you for the hard work. Um, I know that I talked to the DCM and we are full-fledged in an educational campaign to ensure that people know when their their trash days are that they're not throwing out u plastic bags uh in the trash pit and leaving it out there for four or five days. I mean, I get the calls from the from the neighbors who are unhappy about that. Uh I know that we're pushing forward on addressing a lot of issues in the downtown in regards to cleanliness. Uh ensuring that that businesses are pressure cleaning, that the streets are clean, the street sweepers working. Um again, we continue to put our best foot forward. Landscaping looks great. And like I said, if you look at the monuments on Ponent A Street, I've never seen them that clean. If you look at the monuments on on Miracle Mile on Miracle Mile and 37, they look impeccable. They look great. That is a testament to staff to staff's effort. Uh it looks great. Amazing work. Um and Mr. Manager, I know you and I talked about this, but I'd like to see when we can expect to have the University of Miami U development agreement on the on the commission. I know we're about probably about a month away. You think? We're trying to work it as fast as we can possibly can.

Okay, perfect. I But I think I think we we we've come to a consensus. Okay. Um Commissioner, you brought up the Praau entrance and I had forgotten to mention it to the manager. There's somebody who's selling a motorcycle. They're parking it there at the Praau entrance. Uh at least on weekends. I've seen it. I saw it on Sunday and I was told by a resident they had seen it the previous weekend as well. Uh on the 8th Street side. So, right between I guess right in the center of the park. They're just parking it there in the middle of the park. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else further? God bless. Thank you very much. Was that 10 minutes after four? Is that accurate? Nine minutes. There you go. Eight minutes now. Nine minutes.

Thank you. Thank you.