City Commission - Regular Meeting

Yes. We're ready to move. Can we move? Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Welcome to this special meeting this regular commission meeting of the Delray Beach City Commission, but it is a special meeting because we are having the honor tonight to swear in our newest commissioner, Judy Moss, here. We're we're excited about you joining us up here. And it's it's in a few moments, you can we'll actually actually have you right over here. So you can watch it. We're keeping it Commissioner Marker is keeping it warm for you.

He's got a little thing down there. I also see in the audience I want to not mention back to the chamber, now representative Rob Long Whoo. Stands for former commissioner Rob Long. Back over here, we have for former mayor Jay Alperin, who's pictured on the wall up there. It's a great crowd tonight. And we have reverend John and we have reverend Johnson of the Mount Olive Baptist Church, who I don't see very often. So we're all getting started. If you could all if you if the court could please take the role.

There was there's also another commissioner that will be sworn in.

Oh. Oh, yes. Yeah. But you're also and also another commissioner will be will be sworn in, Angela Burns. I forgot all about the interview. But but you don't have to change chairs. You can you can here. Commissioner.

Eternal truth on sales. The people is first. You are not appointed. You are not elected without the people. So all your decisions should reflect all the residents of the city of Derry Beach. And my last statement is, remember, back in the day, Atlanta Avenue was filled with black businesses, and we do desire to see that one day. So in your mind, if you talk about West Atlanta Avenue and want to take it from a neighborhood when it's been the viable asset to it, you're wrong. Do what's right for the people.

Thank you. Thank you.

Hi, everybody. Marjorie Waldo. I do not have a written speech, but I have present. This is a very difficult job that you do. I want you to consider, and there's one for you, miss Clark, as well. Take one and pass. Come and see a show and relax. And then if you would be kind enough to to pass these free we don't charge anybody for them, so you don't have to claim them. Just pass them down. Everybody gets one. These are stress microphones. And I suspect I think I got it all the way to you, miss Jellen. I'm not sure. You should have one. Did I leave enough? Nope. Yeah.

There's one.

You got another one? Okay. Good. I want you to know that you squeeze on the stress microphone, come see a show, and keep doing the amazing job that you're doing. Thank you so much. So much. Molotov. Yeah.

Those are funny. Thank you very much. Those are funny.

My name is Chuck Ridley, and my ZIP code is 33444. I wear many hats. Tonight, my hat is a citizen that just witnessed one of the best election cycles I've witnessed in a while. This election cycle, all candidates who chose to run look to bring the city together as opposed to seeing us divided. I can't even begin to express how much I appreciate it.

Now the right candidates did win. Let's be clear on that. But any candidate in this cycle that would have got to sit with you all would have been the right candidate. I hope this election cycle sets the tone for the next and all the elections to come. Delray is a special place. Let's be the prototype for all communities. We can run hard for election without dividing and being better at the end. Thank you to the candidates, and I wanna yeah. We'll see how this plays out this time next year.

Thank you very much, mister Ridley.

Good afternoon. My name is Ernestine Holiday. I live in in the 33444 ZIP code. To the powers that be, you whispered to our community. You can't withstand the storm. The sad community whispered back to you, we are the storm. We did not beg for this success. We worked for it, and we hope that you understand that we work for it and we want results.

Thank you very much. Seeing no other members of the public wishing to speak or unless you are you're migrating up to the lectern here. Yes? Okay.

Good afternoon, everyone. Congratulations on the new administration.

Name and ZIP code, Mary.

Name and ZIP code, Mary

Rose O'Connell, 33483. I just want to thank the city commissioner, missioners, and the mayor for the Delray Golf Course. I think that place will bring more opportunity to young people that have no advantage of being there, and it really touches me with the achievement center. Perhaps they could have a segue there and that these young kids can learn to golf all over the community. I know it was expensive, but I think what happens when kids learn a sport and get off the street or whatever, it it's a tribute to the city.

So thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon. I'm Jennifer Jones, 33444, the mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. I wanna say congratulations to our newly reelected commissioner and our new commissioner elect, commissioner Malika. I wanna say that as a representative of the Asian community, because I don't find myself entering a room without speaking for my community and the Haitian community. I wanna first say thank you to every commissioner who's made a commitment to continue to support the community, to continue to allow its residents to feel safe and protected in our community.

I know that years ago, Dere made commitment to this president to make sure that everyone understand that they are wanted and welcome regardless of how some laws or bills, statutes have passed to make people live in fear. I know that many immigrants live in fear in Florida and South Florida, but I appreciate the fact that they were Derry Beach has worked really hard to protect its residents. I want to, ask you to renew your commitment to our community, to the Haitian residents that are living here and that are working hard. We live, work, and play in Dare, give our our all to the city. Many employees of the city are Haitian, our residents, our children in school, and they are waiting for us.

They're looking at us as leaders and community activists to make sure that we create an environment that is safe for them. And I thank you, everyone who's when I address them, and I mean every member of this commission, new and existing. I've always always showed its support and its willingness to continue to be an ally to the Haitian community, and I hope that we can continue working together. I see great things happening in Dharai. I've lived in Dharai for over thirty years, and it's changed a lot.

And it will continue to change in the coming thirty years, and I'm hoping that we can do that together and continue to foster a space of inclusivity, of thoughtfulness, and a place where we continue to love Dharai the way I love Derry. Thank you. Let's see.

Are there any other members of the public wishing to to speak in public comment? Seeing none, public comment is closed. Now the fun part. The oath of office to be administered to the newly elected city commissioner members for the following seats. Judy Molica, commissioner for seat number two, and Angela Burns for commission as commissioner for seat number four. We will start, well, I guess, with Judy Molica. Do you have someone here to swear you in? Or do. You do. Perfect. Oh, well, of course. I figured, reverend Johnson, you were here for a reason.

But Yeah.

Do you wanna use the lectern or microphone? It doesn't matter. You aren't just so smooth.

And we got the we got your family up up behind you on the screen watching. Can you all see it where you are and and and see

it home?

Fantastic. Yep. They're in Denmark.

Prior to swelling it in, me say to the commission I'm not here often but I want you all to know that you are a wonderful group, and you've done a marvelous job. Keep looking to the hills for when it's come with your help, and all things will fall for you. It's my blessing to hear with you, each one. God bless, Dennis. Good to see you.

You too, sir.

Alright. Thank god. Judy and to the audience, you have just elected one of the most wonderful persons in the world. I say that because she's a member of the Mount Olive Baptist Church. Yes. So so is her first man, Mark. So, Judy Malika, would you state your name?

I, Judy Malika.

Do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will support and protect and defend the constitution of the government of the United States?

I solemnly swear and affirm that I'll support and Defend? Protect the constitution of the government of the United States

And the state of Florida

And the state of Florida.

The city of Delray Beach

And the city of Delray Beach

And that I am duly qualified

I am I'm duly qualified

to hold this office

to hold this office

under the laws of the state of Florida

under the laws of the state of Florida

and the charter and laws of the city of Delray

the charter and the laws of the city of Delray Beach

and that I will well and faithfully perform those duties

that I will well and faithfully perform those duties

commissioner of this city

commissioner of this city

upon which I am about to enter

which I am about to enter.

So help me, god.

So help me, god.

Praise the Lord.

Congratulations, commissioner Malika. There's now an empty seat in the front if anybody's looking for an extra spot. Thank

you very much.

And I now have the honor to to for the oath of office to be administered to Angela Burns. Do you have someone here to administer your ID? Okay.

Where does it go?

Asking.

We invite miss Byrne's family to come? Close? Yes. And I'm honored and proud to be the one I'm gonna say the the auto office. It's okay. I'm about to cry again. I'm not gonna do it this time. I did last year. I'm not crying this year. I what I wanna say in the on behalf of the set and the city of Dere and all here how proud we are of you, our champion, our leader, and our fierce commender, miss Perez. Okay. Repeat after me. I. And your name?

Angela Burns.

Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will support, protect,

and defend. That I will support, protect, and defend. The constitution and the government of The United States. The constitution and the government

of The United States And of the state of Florida

And of the state of Florida

And of the city of Delray Beach

And of the city of Delray Beach That I

am duly qualified to hold office

That I am duly qualified to hold office

under the laws of the state of Florida

under the laws of the state of Florida

and the charter and the laws of the city of Delray Beach

and the charter and the laws of the city of Delray Beach and that I will well and faithfully that I will well and faithfully

Perform the duties of commissioner of the city

Perform the duties of commissioner of the city

Upon which I am about to enter

Upon which I am about to enter

So help me, God.

So help me, God.

Congratulations, commissioner Perks. Thank you. Thank you. We now are gonna perform a second roll call because we have newly elected commissioners who have just taken their seat whose terms officially ended a few moments ago. Yes? Which daughter? Your daughter wants to say something?

Oh, she does. Okay.

Well, okay. We we we are live from Denmark. If we can get the picture back. I'm gonna say

I see a little corner of it in

here. There we go. Alright. You are your mother is up here. So

Hi, everyone. Can you hear us?

Yes. Yes. We can. A

big congratulations. We're so proud over here from Denmark. Congratulations. Thank

you. Thank you very much.

That's so cute. I know. I

love it.

That is cute.

We now are gonna have a a second swearing in because we now have the two newly seated whose term ended a few moments ago. So as commissioner, So if the clerk could please read the the the role.

Commissioner Markert? Here. Commissioner Malika? Here. Commissioner Kassoun? Here. Commissioner Burns? Here. Mayor Carney? Here. We have a

quorum. Congratulations. Now we're going go through the rest of the agenda items, which is largely ministerial things, choosing different positions for different people. First will be the selection of the vice mayor for the term commencing 03/26/2026, today, and 03/25/2027. So I'm sorry. Could I nominate mister You wanna be recognized?

Thank you. Like to nominate miss Burns as vice mayor.

Okay.

I was gonna nominate mister Markert, and it's no disrespect to miss Burns, but she did serve a short term, and we had agreed we would try and do it evenly. He's goes

She never served. She was always deputy vice mayor. She was never made

vice We

we we We She never we never made her never made her I apologize. I thought

we jumped you up. Nope.

No. Didn't do it. No.

Some some people in the community did, but we never

did officially. I honestly, I thought we

But you never complained about it, which is great.

You know?

I'm I'm not

a complainer.

I just want So are

you are

you making a motion? Or

I guess I'll withdraw it. I I thought she'd serve her.

So do we have one we have a motion of if there are no other motions, then can we have a call do we need to call the roll? All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Aye. Congratulations, vice mayor.

Now y'all can swing for Will.

We now have the selection of the deputy vice mayor for the term, also 03/26/2026 to 03/25/2027.

I'd to make a nomination. Commissioner Casal. Okay.

Are there any other nominations?

I appreciate that. Thank you.

I was gonna nominate commissioner Marker because technically, it's

his turn.

Technically, it's your turn.

Would agree with that. Would definitely agree with that.

So, your honor, I nominate commissioner Marker.

Alright. We have we have one nomination for are you nominate are you are you withdrawing your nomination?

You should you can

withdraw your nomination. Okay. Then we have one nomination.

You, mister Marcus.

Are you Yeah. Do we only have one nomination of the court district?

He nominated. He withdrew. I seconded her nomination.

Not required, but thank you very much. My pleasure. So I all in favor for Aye. Commissioner Tom Marker as deputy vice mayor?

Yes.

Aye. Any opposed? You should have said no. All the different. Congratulations, deputy vice mayor Marker. Thank you, guys. Appointment of the chair and vice chair of the community redevelopment agency.

I think I'm next up for the chair because I was in the rotation. I like that.

Well, I think he was the deputy.

I was deputy, but I I I'll nominate mister Patel.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

Are there any other nominations for the for the that you have any you seeking you to be recognized. Do you have any nominations? No. Okay.

Thank you.

Then we have one nomination. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Thank you.

Okay. Appointment and we now need a vice chair for the community redevelopment agency.

I think I should nominate Ms. Malika at this point since we've all gotten a nomination here.

That's fine. Do we have any other nominations? And I need a motion to, I need a vote. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Congratulations. Vice chair of the community redevelopment, Judith Maliker. Designation of the delegate to the Palm Beach County League Of Cities. I I I you have been doing such a great job and and I would be just as happy if you continue to do that. I'm happy to pass the gavel and make that nomination if you if you see I'll nominate her

if you like you.

I'll

nominate Does anybody else want to

do it? Does anybody else want do it?

You've done an amazing job, Ivan. Oh, scary.

I Carry

on. Then we'd like you to We'd like you to carry on. So we have one nomination and that's for vice mayor Angela Burns who sit as our representative to the Palm Beach County League of Cities. Can we have a a a all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Are we are we are moving right along. Woo hoo. The the designation of the Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization, the MPO member and alternate. Mayor. Mayor.

Hold

on. You need an alternate. Alternate.

To the league I

need an alternate for the League of Cities? Oh. Who would like to be who would there is there anybody would like to be the would you like to be the

I'd volunteer to be the alternate in her absence.

Okay. So we have one person volunteering to be the alternate. Anybody else wanna volunteer to be the alternate? Then I need to then I need a vote to approve commissioner Julie Casal as the alternate as a representative to the Palm Beach County League of Cities. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Good. Everybody's rooting right along. Now we have the designate designation of the Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization, MPO member and alternate. This was originally commissioner Long's position, and mister Markert was the alternate who's nobly filled in.

I've cleaned it up, Rob.

Would love to do that. Do you have to

Does he wanna stay?

But wait wait. I I think he would like to continue. So if

there's any

issues, I mean, I'd like a nomination to to to have him continue as the as the I

appreciate that service.

Okay. And any other nominations? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Congratulations, Commissioner Marker.

I'd like to nominate Ms. Malik as the alternate. If you'd be up for that.

Be happy to.

Thank you. Any other nominations for alternates?

No. Thank you.

All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Great. You congratulations, alternate. Mhmm. Alright. Now we have the review of the proclamation guidelines. I don't whether you have a chance to read these proclamation guidelines. There is there is I I I think

move that for another day.

I I would like to actually I'm gonna ask if we could actually postpone that for another day because I do think that

I was too.

The the number of proclamations and things and the reasons when I read what we give proclamations for in our rules and in the code, we seem to be we have expanded that list by use, but not by written word. So I I would like to actually have a discussion on that further to see how we really want to adopt the proclamation policy. If there's anybody have any objection to that?

We'll just put it for a date certain so we don't forget to do it.

Yeah. But that's fine.

April 21. Perfect.

I'm sorry? Yeah.

April 21.

That's fine. That's fine.

So moved.

Alright. Do we have a second?

Yes. Second. All in favor?

Aye. Great. Alright. Proposed city commission meeting dates for 2026 and 2027. You've all had an opportunity to review them. Anybody have any changes?

I was going to do what I did last year and move them all around to give us breaks. If the way this schedule is working, we're we don't have any period of time. You travel quite a bit. I have a child.

Well, we get the

last weeks of June

are free. The last two weeks of September are free.

No. But we can manipulate this and give ourselves a break break. Like, we can move June and give ourselves off from the I I have a lot of dates. If you want me to bring reduce it and maybe if you wanna vote it in next time or do you want me to read it out now?

Well, let's just let's approve the April dates if nobody has any changes to those, and then we can come back and do the balance.

Okay.

Alright. So and that's the budget.

We're gonna the seventh and the twenty first then? Okay.

Okay. We have a motion to to create the the dates of of April 7 and April 21 as our initial dates for the commission. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? So we're gonna also at the meeting on you're not gonna be here on the seventh, but really by the twenty first, we need to be so I think on the twenty first, you'd be prepared?

Absolutely. And what I would suggest, if anyone has a date certain that they would like to be out of here, send it to me and I'll make it work in the schedule.

I don't have a 05:30.

No. Date certain. Not time certain. Date certain. I'll get on that and I'll

So this one's gonna be

So yes. You you will be circulating. And anybody else, please take a look at the calendar. And if there's any dates, you know of a wedding, if you know of, you know, you have to go to Denmark because of the cheap fare. Right. I understand.

Let me know and I'll work it into the schedule so we can have a really

So we so we could so we could manage those dates. I mean, I do agree that it's nice to have, as we do at the June, we have there's like two weeks two weeks free there. Takes us to the and it's the September.

And typically, we do throw a workshop in or something, but but it even just the idea, you could kind of plan a little bit ahead and say, this is what I like to do in the course of the year.

I'm just have the June and September. Don't care what you do with the rest

of the day. Okay. Text email me that so I

have I'm happy to do that.

Thank you.

So that's item 14. Number 15 is review and adoption of the Delray Beach City Commission local rules of procedures and quasi judicial rules. We had talked about amending one of the rules as it relates to rebuttals.

Cross examination.

Well, cross examination. Excuse me. And do you want to articulate that? Have you have you discussed it with the other commissioners?

Pretty much. I think at one of the meetings, we had a quasi judicial hearing and the applicant indicated that they wanted to cross examine all of the public speakers that had come forward. And the rule isn't exactly clear. It talks about one minute and we kind of had a little bit of a back and forth. Obviously, I think the intent was one minute per person, but it's not clear here. So we we just wanna make this as clear as possible for people who come forward so they understand the rules.

Okay. That's fine. As long as that rule does not apply to cross examination of of the city.

So sorry. The the rule currently says is cross examination shall be limited to two minutes.

Right.

So do you want me to write two minutes per person for each person to be cross examined?

Mean, I thought we were trying to were trying to reduce it to one minute?

Mean We

can do one minute.

I mean

I mean, one minute's really.

Short.

Alright. Well, two okay. Two I

I think it should be two minutes per And

and obviously, if if somebody needs additional time, it's at the discretion of the board. So they

can always how ask long of a period are we giving them then for the cross examination? Is it a total of ten minutes? Mean, should put a limit on to how long cross can

take So you can do two minutes for each person to be cross examined for a total of ten minutes if you wanna do it that way.

Okay. Because that would give so is that Would

it allow for five people

or Is 10 should we make it

50? If they want to cross examine 10 people, they have to do it all within ten minutes. That's it's

I agree.

Think make it fifteen minutes. Still can't redo it from one two minutes for one person.

Well, fifteen is the entire presentation time limit.

It's twenty minutes for the presentation. Fifteen. Isn't it?

But this is Fifteen. I'm just just wanna confirm that the cross examination does not apply to the City. Applicant cross examining the city or the city cross examining the applicant. I

can I can make that distinction?

I just think the city and the applicant ought to be able to cross with each other as opposed to what it is to what strictly apply to members of

public who appear for for public comment during the quasi judicial hearing. They can only be cross examined? Right.

Yeah. I would think that yes.

For the two minutes.

No. They only the time limit only applies to them is what he's saying. Not that they can only

be Yeah. Because the applicant and the city are are different, you know

Yep. So two minutes for people who speak during public comment.

Right. Okay. And so did we say fifteen minutes

or No. The total we said total of ten minutes for the cross examinations.

Public, I think.

In case we're Or minutes of the presentations.

Yeah.

Or a total of ten minutes, I'll say.

Or a total of ten minutes. Right.

Okay. Alright. So I'll make that change. Are there any other Alright.

So we have that proposed rule change. Do we need a motion to approve the local rules?

As amended.

As amended?

So moved.

Second? Second. All in favor?

Aye. Any opposed? Great. We're right along. Good. Now we're going into the regular meeting. This is very that's exciting. The we have a consent agenda. Are there any items on this consent agenda which which really there's not much to it, but No. All proclamations and things such as that which we are gonna be dealing with. So are there any amendments to the to consent agenda that I need to move to approve the consent agenda.

So moved. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Great. Alright. Now we have we're coming to the portion of the ref some of you in this room participated in the in the visioning 20 to 35 process. We hired a company called Raftelis to conduct all those meetings, including initial meetings with the steering committee and a final meeting with some 100 and some odd residents of the city of Delray Beach. This is their report, which they have sent to the city, and the commissioners all have received a copy. This is their initial report as to you know, the scope of what they have found and where they think we're going. There will be there is also discussions in a month from now of bringing the the groups back that participated with an opportunity to kinda go through it as well.

So with that in mind, turning it over to Ralph Tellis. Your name and for the record, please.

Yes, sir. Good evening. Sheryl Trent with Ralph Tellis. I'm your neighbor just a little bit south of here in Cape Coral. It was a pleasure to drive over. I spent some time in the city, contributed my sales tax dollars. So I try to every time I come. Thank you. I wanna thank the mayor and the commissioners. I wanna particularly thank, the community members and the steering committee members that helped so dramatically shape this plan for the vision 2035.

I'd like to give you a brief overview. I know you have the full report, which is some 72 odd pages long. I will not read that to you, but you did also have a PowerPoint associated with this presentation that I would like to just kind of go briefly through to hit the highlights. So, first, congratulations. This is hard work and there are a lot of people in the community that put their time and effort into it and it's never easy to come together and talk about issues that you feel very passionate about and to try to make sure that those issues are part of the future agenda of Delray Beach.

Your community did an excellent job of engaging, of having really insightful and thoughtful communications. I know many of you stepped in and out during that time frame to kind of check-in and see, and there were several people who had experience and background doing this kind of work, which was also helpful to us at Raftelis. Our team was comprised of Michelle Ferguson who was here on the ground. I was here several times, and you had a visual facilitator facilitator that was also here. So if you would like to I have a clicker. Look at me. Ah. Oh, seriously high technology. So, the report does include some more photos of all the work that was done. Very hands on, very participatory, so people could have those conversations and put down what they felt.

This is one of the graphic images that our visual facilitator was able to capture. As people talked, she captured their thoughts and what they came up with in terms of what they want to see for the future. And what I will say is Delray Beach is clearly an incredibly special community, especially to the people who live here, and they they hold it very dear to their hearts. And in the actual report, you'll see the work that you saw that Julie did that included what we love about Delray Beach, and there's so much to love and to preserve, as well as a a look ahead to the future. And what I wanna do is talk briefly about the vision statement that we are proposing.

There is there are solid reasons to have a vision statement. And the trouble we find ourselves getting into with a vision statement is sometimes it can be wordsmith. So I look at this as a working vision statement that I think that the commissioners can, have some strong, foundation knowing that your community came up with this vision statement for you. Just for the record, I'll read it quickly. Delray Beach, the village by the sea, a thriving community with a charming downtown and vibrant neighborhoods that celebrates heritage, value sustainability, and creates an inviting quality of life.

So it captures that essence of what you already have in Delray as well as this look ahead to the future of this broad possibility of what you could continue to do to improve what you have. There were some key focus areas and we captured that as well. These visual captures work really well to remind people so much better than a report. So I strongly encourage you to use them in your subsequent meetings moving forward as well as these were the main key focus areas. Each one, especially the very first meeting with the steering committee.

We spent a long time talking about these. You can think of them as their big buckets. The things that are the most important to focus on. Economic development, education, environment, historical preservation and strategic development. They are in alphabetical order. There is no particular weight to one or the other. They're just in alphabetical order. The document goes into some detail about the definitions and all the hard work that went into saying, well, what do we mean when we say economic development? Which then led us right into the conversation about the goals. We did work with the large community meeting.

Over a 100 people came to your community meeting after the first two steering committee meetings and a 100 people put their work and effort into crafting these goals and trying to set up some sort of priority order for these goals so that the commissioners could hear what they felt was most important. So I don't wanna, belabor this so I'm gonna go fairly quickly through each of these. It's important to note that there were many, many, many more things talked about and what we try to do with strategic goals is roll them up into the biggest, most broad categories so that you as a commission aren't constrained and your community isn't constrained by a very narrow limited goal that you might accomplish in a year. These might take one year, three years, five years, ten years to complete. They may be some ongoing projects here and it's good to look at them this because so many things you could accomplish within each of these goals.

So in economic development, advocate for community or economic development support, promote the arts, and promote small businesses and entrepreneurship. These are are this is not to imply you're not currently doing these things. I should make that point as well. No strategic plan is implying that you aren't currently doing them. Your education goals, restore the education board and encourage internships.

Your environment goals, maintain, protect, and expand open spaces and increase and preserve the tree canopy. Your historic preservation goals, increase historic designations, create incentives for historic preservation, and preserve legacy trees. Strategic development goals, this was a very related to, the right kind of growth, thoughtful growth. Enforce appropriate zoning and focus on citywide transportation. The next steps as we see them would first be the conversation around using this framework.

We really look at this as a framework. It's not a complete. It should never be complete. It should be a living document that you consistently update as you have a history of doing. So using this framework to prioritize actions when you talk about as a commission, any goals or any projects that you're thinking about and using that to help drive your budget conversations as well.

Taking a look at your operations across the city and it is incredibly rare that what you're currently doing is any kind of conflict but sometimes there are minor changes that you can do operationally that your city manager can undertake to more closely align the work of his staff and his teams to align with the strategic plan. And then when you have budget items, when you have items that come in front of you for consideration, when you're discussing any types of projects that come onto your agenda, making a note of how they align with your strategic plan will be a great way to keep the strategic plan alive. So which one is of these goals? Which one of these key focus areas does this potential project align with? And that will give the the commission great direction on whether or not it's a community priority.

And then finally communicating it, Putting it out there on your website, sharing those visuals that Julie did, implementing it into your conversations with your community would be our recommendations. So that really was a very quick pass through of hundreds and hundreds of hours of work from you all and your community. I would be happy to answer any questions or offer additional information if you would like.

Okay. Well, thank you very much. You guys did great work, by the way, and it was Oh, thank you. I mean, I was just there as an observer. The commission we commissioned. We're just really there as observers, but it was fun to observe all the tables interacting and people bouncing from table to table depending on the issue that they were, you know, they wanted to discuss. So it was I thought it was it ended up it was a very well run And I want to thank Raphtellis for all the work that they did. Are there any questions that any commissioners have at this time?

No questions.

Thank you. I just

have one quick comment. I just want to say thank you for the work that you did. I thought the the citizen participation in these events was off the charts amazing. We had lots of people there with lots of diverse opinions, and that is what you need in the strategic planning process. You need to hear every voice, and people really came out. And I'm I'm so thankful that people made time for it because it really did help us get to the right place. So thank you for for making that happen.

You're welcome. Our pleasure. Commissioner?

Sure. Thank you very You know, we do the goal setting annually. And and I'm sure because you participate in the goal setting that you see it's kind of repetitive in terms of the same thing that comes up at goal setting as the values that we more or less have are pretty much the vision that came out of this. A little bit more time, but same thing. What are the you've got a couple things on there, but concrete actionable strategies to get us to where we need.

What are the performance metrics? How do we measure if this vision is on its correct course? And how do we align it financially to make sure it happens? You know, because you're leaving us with this document, but at the end of the day, when I go through it, and I did a couple times, I don't quite know where to go next. Yeah, it's in my own decision making to be mindful of this vision.

But I think as a commission, we need to have a clear path forward of how do we get ourselves to this vision because I don't necessarily appreciate that the same goals are coming up every year at goal setting. And at a visioning ten years after or fifteen years after the last, if you compare the last visioning to this one, you're going to see there's great similarity. And what that says to me is we're not accomplishing our purpose because people aren't seeing that if this is still our vision, then we haven't done it. And that's I want to be able to say, how do we get from here to there? And this document didn't necessarily place me there.

And I think if you look at BOCA, they do quarterly follow ups with their strategic plan to say, these were our thoughts. Maybe it's just reminding us of what the residents want, because we should be viewing it in every aspect of our day to day operation. But I think, Mr. Moore, we need to figure out a way to get this report to be a reality. And that's something we need help with. Thank you. But I appreciate you and the report.

Thank you very much. Yu Jo, for comments you want make?

I might offer a perspective that is very true in our work. When we find that the current work is similar to the work five years ago or ten years ago, what that tells us is you did an exceptional job ten years ago or five years ago. Visions in particular and big strategic goals typically are ten, fifteen, twenty year components. What you're talking about is the implementation piece, which would change rather dramatically from, you know, quarter to quarter, certainly year to year as you make progress toward your goals.

Right.

Some of these goals, I think, are are never ending because Should be. They're a consistent work in progress. Right. So it is something as you go through the implementation piece and your manager has the opportunity to integrate this into the budget, you'll start to see, I think, those pieces come through as well as, you know, metrics are I love metrics. I'm sort of a data geek, and they are very important, but they're also really difficult to get right. So thank you. I appreciate the feedback. Sure.

Thank you very much. Mhmm. We will did you have a comment?

I did.

Okay. Okay. I heard. Thank you.

Pushing around that vice mayor stuff. It was strong. I can see. You know?

You're supposed to elbow him, ma'am.

I might hurt him. But but I just wanted to say thank you for for your contribution. I've always enjoyed working with you, and the the community came out in numbers. But I think one of the things and the next steps is that the city has to figure out what our priorities are. We have to figure out based on these things, we keep planning and making but what is our priority? Make it known to the commission and to our residents. You know, what are, like, three things. What are the priorities? Once we work on that, then we go to the next three. But we need to identify what our priorities are. And that's my comment. So thank you.

Did you have a comment?

AGENT Yes. I was part of the visioning process as a citizen. And early in the process, there was some more solution oriented things. There were a lot of ideas out there. And I think in some of the reports that were emailed, some of those are sort of identified. So we can go backwards towards the big picture and the big goal to sort of implement those ideas, in my opinion. And I think you did a great job, especially keeping us in line. Thank you. Yeah.

Those those those what you're this was a very overview because you've articulated it much in in much greater detail in your 78 page document, which is a great document. But I do view that we're going to be the best when we did visioning way back when and I was on that board, next year we had our goal setting. And that visioning thing became a big part of the discussion. So I'm looking forward to that, as Commissioner Casalas, to try to how can we implement some of these things? What are our goals going to be?

How do we want to prioritize things? And so I do think that's always the challenge to implement. But I do believe that so many of the items that are identified now that were identified then is because that's the city is a work in progress, but these are our ideas. And so far, you know, we we try to grab as many as we can to make them work. So but I wanna thank you very much for for everything that you guys did.

Thank you. And it was really due to your community. We can't we can't ever do this work without

their participation. So We have a great community.

Absolutely.

Thank you

very much.

Thank you for doing Before

I continue, I I I recognized a bunch of people when the when the meeting first started, dictionaries, but I did not see until somebody moved seats. And then I see her plainly in front of

me

is is is constitutional officer, Palm Beach County tax collector, Anne Gannon. Commissioner mister Moore yes

mister mayor so my one item contribution this evening is in relationship to the 2026 goal setting session We are making arrangements for Friday, May 8 to take place over at the Vintage Gym at the Old School Square campus. And in essence, the timing is rather impeccable given the conclusion of the vision twenty thirty five exercise. This will be commission's opportunity to utilize what was just shared by representatives from reftellers and Cheryl Trent how we can make a connection in this regard in terms of priorities direction etcetera not to mention the proposed budget process for the coming fiscal year is also eminent in this regard so for that reason I think this would be a productive exercise as was the case back in 2024 we did utilize facilitation services involving reftellis we are making to do the same for 05/08/2026 and given their intimacy and involvement with the aforementioned vision 2035 exercise I think it should be a very productive approach not to mention the selection of a new commissioner to provide her with an opportunity to connect and offer contributions in this regard. I think this would be appropriate.

Do need a motion to create the May 8 date, or are you just

gonna do I've the actually made arrangements. However, support from the city commission to the effect of what I just described, I think, would be nice. Okay.

So if you let you it's you're recommending a motion, so I need a motion.

So moved. Second.

All in favor?

I Did we say what day is

May 8?

'18. No. May It's it's May 8.

But what day is it?

May 8. Oh, hell. Now

I know.

Friday. May 8. That's a Friday.

It is a Friday.

Okay. Can

I just quick Okay?

Alright. So we're all all in favor? Any opposed? Good. Thank you. We got that. Mister Moore, you've any other remarks?

I yelled at this time.

Thank you. Okay. To the city attorney.

I just wanna say congratulations to commissioners Malika and Burns, and we're so excited to start working

with you. Thank you. Yeah.

I'm

gonna then then we're now it's now time for commissioner comments. I'm gonna give the floor to our newly the not you were also elected, but the newest person to have a chair. I'm good. I'm good. Okay. Commissioner Maliker.

Well, I thank you all for being here. I'd like you to to come to every single city commission meeting, please, because I'd like to see you all out there. And thank you to all the voters of Delray Beach. I'm excited and honored to represent every citizen in Delray Beach. And I'm also very honored to be part of this team. And I look forward to working together and supporting our Delray Beach professionals. So thank you very much.

Thank you. Commissioner Marker.

I just would like to say thank you very much. I know the campaign was, you know, it's always hard and it takes a lot of time. It was well done, and congratulations to you. And I'd also like to congratulate my friend Angela, who also is up for another term. Looking forward to working with both of you. So thank you both for for doing this.

Campaign going forward.

Commissioner She didn't campaign that hard. No.

Commissioner Casal.

Thanks. Welcome, ladies. Thank you. Welcome back, and welcome. Chief Hunter, he's celebrated his birthday. Happy birthday, chief Hunter. I hope he's having fun somewhere. And also, chief Rodney Stevenson also had a birthday. Happy birthday to both. Audits.

When the city is being audited externally and if there's an internal audit going on, I would like the commission's consensus to direct mister Moore to inform us. I don't I want to know when an audit is happening in the city, and we don't know. I want to know when an internal audit is going on, like a staff person.

Are you saying, like, if the state can't I mean, I just Palm

Palm Beach County, the state Okay. Whomever, I think we should know that's happening, and we don't. If you feel it's a sensitive issue, you can reach out to us by phone, But I do think, as commissioners in the city, we should not be finding out about audits after the fact by reports or from outside individuals or organizations. Can I get a consensus

for Just as a do we have a do we I mean, that seems to make sense? I mean, you can contact us all privately if it's confidential and swears to not say it to anybody. That's all. But I do think it's important for members of the commission to know if there's somebody in town doing an audit. And I think that's a very good suggestion. Of course. So do we have consensus for that?

Yes. And also if there's an internal investigation or audit going on, we should know that as well.

Internal for for what respect?

HR doing an audit of somebody or some such.

That's a tougher one. I I I I think that I don't know that I think that's not a good that's that's

We get inquiries on regular basis. If you wanna stick to the outside for now, we can think about the other. Yeah. Let's take look critically important

to outside, I agree with completely. The internal, I think that that's getting too involved with the internal workings from that off.

Just that we know something's happening is sometimes important because we all hear things and it's it's it I have to direct them off, obviously.

Agreed is important, but whether or not it's appropriate is the other is is where I'm I wanna give them

I'll the give you I I think you're right. That could Alright. But the outside for sure.

The outside, we've agreed.

April 22, you were is on the calendar to speak about procurement on my calendar. I think I'd like an update. When did we say we're going to update? I've kind of asked three or four times on this. Procurement is a really difficult issue right now because we're not procuring the way we did, and I'm not exactly sure what we're doing. We don't have somebody in charge. And I know we put out that job posting some time ago, but I'm curious. I don't know why we can't just get an update on this easily. It seems it's difficult to understand why there's not just some update. We've had so many applicants.

The process is open. We are in the we are I mean, if you put that out however many months ago, and it was a long time, any applicants probably, if they're worthwhile, have found jobs by now. Do we have to go back out? Has it become stale? What are we doing? Because I think it's critically important that we have a qualified and the right person in the procurement department. And I say this sitting here because I sat here when we had somebody who was amazing. And I've also sat here when we've had nobody. And there's a very big difference in how quickly things can move through the city. And I don't I'd like to see progress in this regard.

And I'm very concerned with the fact that I can't seem to get an update or an understanding of exactly what's going on.

Mister mayor if I may please you may thank you so we initiated the selection process in latter January so a little bit over approximately a couple months ago two months ago it's now late March and we are in the midst of finalizing the selection process, and the dates I've outlined coincide in which I anticipate making an announcement as to what the selection will be.

When do you expect to make that announcement?

Within the next couple weeks or so. Okay. Mid April. So we are very productive in this regard ladies and gentlemen and therefore my interest is to visit with you all to share what that will be and likewise who the selected chief procurement officer will become We are well on our way and I look forward to sharing that with you all and thus the arrangements in April.

Thank you. One other thing, I had brought up about an insurance claim on Mr. Leiner's building being approved and paid out. And then there were follow-up claims made. There's a question of, did we accept liability in the process of quickly paying out that claim without doing a lot of research? I had a recent exchange with Mr. Moore on another question about an insurance claim. I was hoping you could just maybe give us a two minute presentation on how claims work in the city. If someone calls up and has a claim, who decides where it goes? Do you contact the appropriate department heads?

And I'm asking this because in our exchange, I was able to provide you information that you didn't have before talking to the individual and beginning the process. So, how do we get information before we determine what are the next steps? And then what exactly are the next steps? Because it's concerning if we're paying out on claims that we don't need to be. It's not a good practice to be paying out taxpayers' money unnecessarily on claims. I'd just like to know what that process looks like so that we understand what the chain of command is and how it works.

Mister mayor? I'm just gonna caution. This is a good it's a litigation matter, and we need to be really careful about our discussion of claims, damages, liabilities, etcetera.

Process. That's what I'm that.

That. So So I I just just wanna wanna couch, make sure whatever answer that is being provided, either by the you or the city attorney, we you we need to keep that in mind.

Of course. And if I may, mister mayor? Yes. Thank you. I would be more than happy to offer a very brief succinct discussion or presentation during the April 21 meeting

thank you

via city manager items section five yep to briefly outline the process when third party applicability is the case or when an internal process is necessary to get to that place so that the clarity can be achieved so with that ladies and gentlemen I'd appreciate you all's consensus to support the April 21 arrangement That's fine. And we will

just clarify on the consensus. What I'm what I'm not what I'm trying to find out is what your process is in the city. Not I understand. Beyond that. Just a step by step. Not any specific claim, not an individual. You could hypothetical, what if this happens, what that. But I'd just like to know what your process is because these two different issues concern me. And so I question, is the process working correctly? Thank you. And that is all I have.

Thank you. Commissioner Burns. Vice Mayor Burns.

Thank you. So I just wanted to congratulate Judy again. It is such an honor to have been sworn in alongside you today. And thank you for, stepping up to serve our community. Tells a lot about your heart and your commitment to our city. So welcome once again. I also wanted to say that, at the League of Cities meeting on yesterday, Delray Beach was recognized for the Delray reads. We came in second place in the county. It seems that we're always second place to the village of Wellington in many in many areas. However, I I did receive a certificate.

I'll bring it, at our next meeting, so that I can give it to the appropriate person. But, we did, I think, the village of Wellington, they created a video where everybody participated in. So they went over the top with theirs. They had a lot of readers as well. We had a lot of readers, but they they did a big social media, push for their read day.

So we were honorable mention, and they were the winners, but we got that recognition at the League of Cities meeting yesterday. And then also, in reference to the the Barwick Road project, I know that I'm sure commissioners, you've received lots of correspondence about it. But I am I'm I'm asking for consensus, I guess, so that we could get a presentation given by SEP. I appreciate the one that we've already gotten, but it seems that people are very concerned about safety and that these barriers are being removed. And I am trying to figure out how can, you know, keeping the barrier there and and putting an extra layer of safety can be an issue.

So I would like to get consensus from the commission to see if we can get maybe the who are they? The project managers, the contractors, someone to give us a, you know, a short presentation to explain why those barriers have to be removed or why they can't stay and create an additional you know, my children went to school at Banyan Creek and walked along there, and there's been accidents over the years. And so I've I've seen it and witnessed it, you know, and lived it myself. So I'm just I'm not understanding why keeping those barriers there would be detrimental. If we could get a consensus to have the engineers or the

project managers Missy would do that.

Have a Missy question. She could come in.

And let me work closely with Missy. I'm being as conscious as I possibly can relative to city commission requests working with the office of the city manager so that I can determine what appropriate staff members are necessary to facilitate a response to an inquiry. In many cases in this regard, it would be Missy, but sometimes it would necessitate outside project managers and other contract representatives. I will work out those details. Nevertheless, with the consensus being proposed, I will make arrangements for the next couple meetings or so.

Thank you. Did I get consensus? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Finished? I think that that's it.

Yes. First

of all, I want to congratulate and welcome our our newest commissioner and our returning commissioner to to the dais. You know, I'm you know, I've watched you in the p and z. You're you're very thorough in what you do, and I'm really looking forward to your your input to our decision making process here. And we are a great group to work with, so you're gonna have a good time and I'll

let you know.

And the mayor's always right. Just remember, the mayor's always right. So other than that part other than that part. I I okay. There's some disagreement on that.

Except for that matter.

There's some disagreement on that. But then congratulations to you to to the I'm vice mayor as glad you're you're you're making your way towards the the getting the purchasing department underway because really and truly, we have been without someone for a long time. And the part of our issues, which related to the Seawall contract and the contract we're having with Pompeii and others, are because we really have not had someone at the helm who has subject matter expertise. So it's really going to be a welcome thing for us. Because I do think that this commission needs to sit down and have a discussion of what we want our purchasing policy to be.

Obviously, we need purchasing person in order to do that. But as soon as we have that person in place, which is a sooner rather than later thing for me Yeah. That would be that would go a long way to facilitate how we operate because, you know, this the the I'm very happy we got this. My next question is gonna be to you about the seawall, which contract we approved tonight. But these kinds of things took an inordinate amount of time, I believe partially, not solely, but partially because we didn't have a person, a purchasing department to kind of really work their way through all these contracts.

And I'm I'm looking forward to it. I think it's overdue, and I'm really looking forward to the next couple of weeks, you presenting the person and telling us who this is and moving forward on that. As it relates to the MANCON contract, which has now been ratified, we have signed it, when do you anticipate I see people from the Marine District out there wanting to know when are you going to start. Are we buying shovels already?

Yeah. That's a good question for Missy. First, we have to get this executed. So that's gonna that won't be tonight. So I'll give it to you tomorrow. But Missy can answer that.

Good evening, mayor and commissioners. The Marine Way contract is a construction manager at risk contract. So the way that that contract is structured, the first portion of the contract is us looking at all of the plan sets and designs for the project and agreeing on a guaranteed maximum price, which we bring back to commission. So phase one happens very much outside of public view. It is us negotiating back and forth with the the contractor in association with our owner's representative to arrive at the best possible price for the work that needs to be done.

We bring that back to commission. Commission approves that price, and then they move forward with the construction project. So those those discussions on arriving at that that guaranteed maximum price can take anywhere from a couple of months to to four or five months as we we move forward.

Well, I just again, that's one of those ones we've been it's been languishing for a while, and we wanna

It was one of my first projects when I came to work here ten years ago, and I'm gonna get it done before

I leave.

Agenda for my 20 birthday. So, I mean, I it's been a long time. So, I mean

Unless you ask me to leave before it's done.

Okay. Because it is a it's not it's not getting any better in that neighborhood, you know, as as the tides are

We're very aware. We keep very close eye on on the increasing levels. The king tides are literally going up every single year whether we we attribute that to a weather pattern that is multi decadal or climate change. No matter how you you look at it, the science says the water levels are going up.

At least we've got we're starting phase one, which is better than we were last week at this time. So that's good. The only other thing is that we we received something from Gina Carter this morning

on Wait, Missy.

On the o OSS thing. But I'm just wondering whether we did not get that.

I'm sorry?

Did Gina Carter send out a thing this morning to you of us on the study that had been done? I'm just wanting to make sure that that's part of our when we do our goal setting, that that would be something that I'd like to be to be discussed as well. I mean, I'll bring it up. I

just You will be able to initiate that that that time.

Yeah. That's fine. I just that's fine. And I didn't have anything else real well, did, but I'm not. Did you have something else you wanted to say? You're starting

something Yeah. Before you hit that gavel. I just wanna thank a city attorney for this lovely flower arrangement. I just looked on to see was like, who gave me this? So I'm

just thank

you for this.

Thank you. You're welcome. Could

I ask Missy a question since you brought her up for this

appointment? Please, you may be very careful.

This is a CMAR, construction management at risk contract. Are you saying that when this price is locked in, we won't be getting these additional bills in the future?

So yeah, once we arrive at a guaranteed maximum price, then the contractor that does the construction takes on the full risk and responsibility of of time changes, unforeseen conditions, all of that.

So And so when when when we go forth with a design build, that responsibility is more on us? Yes. Okay. Thank you.

Theoretically, if it comes in cheaper, we get the benefit. Well Theoretically. That's right. That's a theoretical in capital letters, bold underscored.

Well, the devil is always in the unforeseen details.

Gotcha. Okay. And one more question based on your comments. I'm sorry, ladies. I know you're looking to go celebrate. Why did that, item get sent out to to us today? I kinda found it shocking to get an email about that email. I don't understand what's and I was looking to inquire with you privately, but because it came up, what what's going on that we're getting that email?

Director of communications, Gina Carter took the initiative of outlining a potential outline in the event that it becomes

a part that initiative on her own without your direction?

We talked we talked about it, like, two months ago. She we was No. Mentioning that she was gonna be looking at, you know, calculating I mean, I'm assuming that's what

I'm just why did that come up today? I I don't understand.

If I may? Please. Thank you. As I stated, that initiative was taken. It was provided. An interest was expressed by one of you, mister mayor. Actually, I'll speak specific about that. My policy and practice is I share with everyone. I've asked miss Carter to share that with everyone because it was made available, therefore, I think you all should have it. It's provided to all five of you, and I did request that she do so.

Are we ready?

Yeah. We

are adjourned.