City Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the regular meeting of the City Commission. This is July 14th. If you could all please stand. Oh, excuse me. To the roll call for first place.

Deputy Vice Mayor Marker. Here. Commissioner Malika. Here. Commissioner Cazale. Here. Vice Mayor Burns. Here. Mayor Carney. Here. We have a quorum.

Thank you very much. If you could all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all very much. Get my agenda out. Okay, we have, for agenda approval, are there any additions, subtractions to the agenda?

The item concerning 46 Marine Way, which is on consent agenda.

6N1. 6N1. Can be removed.

To be removed.

6N1.

It's going to be removed. They have initiated an appeal, and so it will be coming before the city commission.

Okay, so it's not being pulled for discussion. It's being pulled because it's subject to appeal. Fine. Yes. Any other? Did I need a motion to approve?

So moved. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Good. Unanimous. Presentation. First is the Certificate of Recognition of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church. Commissioner Burns.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. We have a certificate of recognition for St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, and this is for the community, the service that they provide to the community beyond the pulpit. The city of Delray Beach proudly recognizes St. Matthew's Episcopal Church for its longstanding commitment to serving the community beyond the pulpit. Founded in 1908 by pioneers from the Bahamas seeking both opportunity and a place to worship, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church has stood as a pillar of faith, resilience, and compassion in Delray Beach for more than a century. Designated a historic site by the city of Delray Beach in 1989, the church has continuously opened its doors, grounds, and hearts to meet the needs of the community. For decades, St. Matthew's has provided more than spiritual guidance by partnering with community organizations to support residents experiencing hardship and housing insecurity. Through partnerships with Interfaith Committee for Social Services, the church hosts a shower truck and laundry service for unhoused individuals twice weekly. provides space for food outreach through the Caring Kitchen and the Lord's Place, operates a biweekly food pantry, and maintains a community garden promoting healthy living and sustainability. The church also serves as a gathering place for wellness, fellowship, and empowerment through senior outreach groups, chair yoga and health initiative, youth social skills programs, and the continued use of one of the community's long-standing event halls at affordable rates for families and organizations throughout the area. The City Commission commends St. Matthew's Episcopal Church for over 100 years of service in faith and action, dedicated service, and unwavering commitment to uplifting the Delray Beach community. May this certificate of recognition honor St. Matthew's Episcopal Church for its generations of faithful service, compassionate outreach, and invaluable contributions to the Delray Beach community. Presented this 14th day of July, 2026.

Thank you very much. Next, we have the Certificate of Recognition for Temple Sinai. I see Temple Sinai sitting in front of me and all my friends. And Rabbi Moss. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Commissioner Gasol, would you please read the certificate?

It would be my pleasure. Thank you. The City of Delray Beach proudly recognizes Temple Sinai for its commitment to serving the community. Temple Sinai volunteers provide food, water, clothing, and toiletries, all funded by their volunteers for those in need in our community. Temple Sinai is committed to serving our neighbors in many other meaningful ways. Their social action committee collected more than 40 pairs of shoes for children and teens for a charity called Jacob's Shoes. They collect many pounds of food for the Jacobson Family Pantry during the High Holy Days, and throughout the year and have provided ongoing financial support to both the Jacobson Food Pantry and Cross Ministries for many years. Every eight weeks, they host One Blood's Big Red Bus in their parking lot for community blood drives. Their commitment to the community extends beyond charitable giving. They partner with Scout Troop 308 by providing space for functions throughout the year and are proud members of the Delaware Beach Chamber of Commerce. Temple Sinai also provides meeting spaces for AAI, Anon, and other community support groups, helping to foster connections and support for those who are in need. They actively build relationships with our other faith-based communities to promote mutual understanding and cooperation throughout interfaith programs and events. In partnership with St. Paul's Episcopal Church, they hosted an annual interfaith Thanksgiving service and are the founding house of worship for the Anti-Bias Coalition of Delray Beach. Throughout their religious, educational, and cultural programming, They strive to create opportunities that are welcoming and inclusive to all members of our community. Temple Sinai's commitment to the broader community is also reflected in the leadership and service of their clergy. Rabbi Moss is on our Delray Beach Police Advisory Board, co-chair of the Anti-Bias Coalition of Delray Beach, chaplain to the Delray Beach Police Department and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, founder and senior chaplain to the Emergency Chaplains Group of the Delray Beach Medical Center, and a board member of the Delray Beach Interfaith Committee for Social Services, a member of the Palm Beach County Attorney's Office of Hate Crimes Task Force, president of the Palm Beach County Board of Rabbis, and attends monthly meetings of the Delray Beach Initiative to End Homelessness. You are quite busy. May this certificate of recognition honor Temple Sinai for its faithful service, compassionate outreach, and invaluable contribution to the Delray Beach community. I'd like to present...

Let's do it right up here. I think we're getting some of it. It's going to be a team photo.

Come on, Ange.

We're getting some of it. Come on, y'all.

I think we're getting some of it.

Wait this gentleman.

Okay, are we ready everyone? Is Ellen in? We're back at Highland Beach now.

We had a meeting this afternoon.

Bye.

Nice meeting you.

Nice to meet you. Good to see you.

Thanks. Bye.

Give them a second to clear the room.

okay everybody okay thank you very much we're going to be continuing with the agenda item 4c which is a junior achievement of South Florida presentation we have

Not me. I'm just introducing myself.

It says here. You're going to present?

No, I would love to present. I'm the next presentation. Good afternoon, Mayor, Commissioners, City Manager, and City Attorney. My name is Janai Bowens, Neighborhood and Community Services. In alignment with our conversations during 2035 Strategic Planning Session, we discussed education as a priority. The Commission, we received consensus from the Commission to outline any available workforce development programs that can be directly implemented into our Delray Beach Public Schools. So after collaborating and connecting with Junior Achievement of South Florida, I invited them here to share a brief program overview and their available resources for our Delray Beach Schools. They're gonna actually conduct a presentation.

Thank you. Clicker. I'll go over there? Yeah.

Well, good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon, Mayor, Commissioners, City Manager, and City Attorney.

Thank you for having us.

You're on. There's a red button on there?

There is not, but now there is.

There you go. I didn't hear myself echoing. I had a feeling I might not be. I can use this PowerPoint, or I can just share with you. I think we can all agree that you can't go online, read a newspaper or a magazine, if you read any of those things anymore, without learning and hearing about the critical issue around workforce development. All of our industries across America whether it's trades, professional, all of them are, over the next few years, they're already facing critical talent shortages, but we know that it's only going to get worse, especially in our trade areas. And one of the things that the state has done from the education perspective uh and also at the federal level is talking about how do we begin in elementary school then in middle school then in high school to begin to share with our students the career right opportunities that are out there for them most of our children the research shows only know five to eight jobs that exist especially our children from the low-income communities right it's what their parents do which often is working in hotels or in the trades sometimes, or across different things. Of course, they're all going to be influencers and football players and all those things, but we have to face reality. And so our job as an organization, we've been doing this for 67 years here in South Florida, and our job is to expose these young people to all of the plethora of careers that exist out there across all of the industries. So when they do these programs, they start in fifth grade with BizTown, They do lessons in their classroom, about 25 lessons. And then they come to JA BizTown, which is in JA World on the Coconut Creek Broward College campus. And they come there, and they do a full-day simulation. They run the town. They all have their jobs. They are learning about the different businesses. They are learning about money, because if they're going to earn money, they have to manage money, right? And then, of course, entrepreneurship. We know that our young people are interested in going into their own businesses. And so we need to start laying this foundation early. So we start in fifth grade with BizTown. Then in eighth grade, we usually work with every business By the way, in Broward County, we work with every single elementary school and middle school. We also work in Boca Raton. And now, of course, hopefully, we'll get to work within your schools. In eighth grade, they do our Career Discovery Park program, where again, in the classroom, they are going deep into exploring those industries deeper. But the other part of that that you're doing in the eighth grade and the fifth grade is those work skills. We hear from employers all the time that people are coming into jobs and they don't have the necessary critical work skills. So we need to start teaching those early. It could be as simple as showing up, how to communicate, how to problem solve, critical thinking, all of those things. This is all experiential and hands-on learning in the real world. And so they do their 25 lessons digging into those case challenges, digging into the industries, the jobs, and then practicing those work skills at the simulation in JA World. I hope that if we begin to partner, you will come out and visit when your schools are there. And so this is the beginning. And then in high school, of course, we have programs like our pre-apprenticeship, which hopefully, if we begin to partner, we'll be able to grow into the high school arena. This summer, we'll put about 350 students into summer jobs in Broad County and Boca Raton. So lots of opportunities to continue to build on it. But what we're asking for in this request is to serve these two schools, your elementary school and your middle school, and to bring these programs to them. We do all the training, training the teachers, supporting the teachers, making sure that those lessons happen in the classroom. And then, of course, the transportation to come out to JA World and have them do the simulation. And so I think really most of that is what's covered, but I really rather just talk about it. I am extremely passionate about this. I think we all are. Our young people today are frightened. They don't know what's coming in the future. They don't feel ready. We see this. We work with almost 50,000 students a year. And when they come to us, they are worried. They're concerned. They don't feel prepared. And they don't know what they're going to do after. And I mean, even as adults, we know that the unknown can be very scary. When they leave our programs, they Today, we had a breakfast this morning with some funders, and we had two of our young people who went through our high school programs, and to hear them talk about their concern from the beginning, and now they're working in these industries full-time. They graduated high school. We actually go out, recruit employers when they get into high school, and place them. So this is about not just about career exploration. For us, this is about connecting education to the real world and to employment. So we respectfully request $25,000 for each school to serve them with all of that included that I mentioned. And that would be for a three-year period if you approve it. And so, again, if you do, we invite you to come out, see them in action when they're in the simulation, come into the classrooms. But that is the gist of it. Any questions?

Thanks very much. Are there any questions from any members?

Just a question. You said you're asking for $24,000. You said for each school. What are you looking for total? $50,000. OK, so there's two schools. Per year for three years. A commitment for three years for $50,000 each? Correct. Thank you.

OK. $50,000 each year. Oh, $50,000 each year.

Correct. You said two schools? Two schools. Your elementary school would do BizTown, and your middle school would do Career Discovery Park.

And have those schools been identified?

Yes. I actually have the names here. Hold on one second. Village is one, and Carver, I believe, is the other. Did I get those names right? Yes.

Those are the two schools. Yes. Thank you. Any other comments from the Commission?

I just was going to say thank her. I wanted to thank her for the presentation. And I don't know if there's any other information that we can get. I mean, I'm familiar with Junior Achievement. I had an opportunity to work with it while I was in the The education field and so I'm very familiar with it and I know that you already have you established The relationship with the school district and I think that you know the programs that you offer Is actually what we need and how the city this is one way that we can support the students in our schools So thank you for your program again You are so welcome.

You're so welcome. And I think a lot of our municipalities and counties are realizing that that if we're going to solve this workforce development issue, we've got to do it together. So thank you for your consideration.

Thank you very much for the presentation.

All right, the next presentation is the federal grant procurement requirements. This is Jeanette, wherever you are.

Good afternoon, J'Nai Bowen's Neighborhood and Community Services. I am here with Tavares Parks, our neighborhood service administrator, to do a presentation regarding federal grant requirements in procurement. So the purpose of this presentation is to clarify to the public the city's purchasing and procurement strategies in relation to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It's also to clarify our current solicitation processes in neighborhood services and how we handle our grants. For example, our community development block grant. And it is also to provide clarity regarding how we're governed under the uniform federal grant guidance. So currently in Neighborhood and Community Services Department, we oversee the Community Development Block Grant, which is CDBG, and that takes care of our grant opportunities for housing rehab, owner-occupied housing rehab, our public service grants that we provide to the nonprofits, and our economic development grants in which we provide business assistance in coronavirus assistance we also provide grant opportunities through state housing initiatives partnership or ship and that's where we provide our rental assistance our homeowners assistance and eviction prevention programs we also provide curb appeal grants that's funded through the cra and that's for our residential improvement programs such as our rehabs our fencing things of that nature. And finally, we also house the Urban Development Action Grant, or UDAG, and that's another public service grant that's available for nonprofits. So our grants within the Neighborhood and Community Services Department were governed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and State of Florida guidance. So our HUD guidance, our Florida state guidance, as well as the guidance provided by Delray Beach Purchasing and procurement office. So with these two houses of guidance, we are responsible for managing compliance efforts. And so what that means, especially with HUD when we do our reporting, is that we have to make sure that there are no conflicts of interest, that we are providing free and open competition to all applicants so we're not impeding on the application process, that we have proper documentation, and that's through how we do our actual solicitation process, and I'll go through that process Also, we have to ensure that we are staying in compliance through our communication channels. So we do have an official communication channel in which we interface with the public whenever they have questions or clarity regarding our grant opportunities and also how we make our evaluation criteria available to the public. once we're done with the solicitation process. And so our Delray Beach purchasing and procurement guidance is also what mirrors this code of federal regulations with what's in our purchasing and procurement manual and in our policies. And so we're also governed by the city's solicitation processes. So how do we put out a bid, our vendor registration and proposal submission process, our question and answer process. So how do we interface with public questions about available grant opportunities, as well as how we make all of this documentation transparent for our auditing purposes. So the continuum of the Neighborhood Services federal grant procurement process is that we are governed by phases. So in our initial phase, we have a needs assessment. And so that's where we communicate with the community about availability of projects and what example exactly is needed, I'm sorry, for our federal and our state grants. Phase two is the development of our notice of funding. or a request for proposals and so that's where we start to put out the projects and we do that through BidNet. Phase three is where we open up the solicitation to the public. That's when we start accepting the applications and we do the education and outreach to the community to let everyone know that these are available grant funding opportunities And this is how you apply. Phase four is where we receive the submissions from the applicants. Phase five, it goes to commission for review and decision. And phase six is when the award and closeout happens. Now starting at phase three is when the bid, when the bid is released to the public, we are under the cone of silence. So we receive a lot of questions and clarification from the public about what the cone of silence entails. And so the cone of silence one is outlined in our HUD policies as well as our city's procurement policies. And so what this is is exactly is our procedures about what we can and cannot say and do with the public during that solicitation process. So the purpose of the cone of silence, especially with how we receive the guidance through the federal procurement process, is to make sure that we are protecting the integrity and the fairness and transparency so that all vendors have access to the same information throughout the solicitation process. So like I said, it applies when the bid goes out to the public. And it applies to anyone that interacts with this grant. So it includes staff within the department. It includes the representatives that are seeking the competitive solicitation. If commissioners or their staff are aware of the grant opportunities, any employee that's authorized to act on behalf of the city, we are all governed by the cone of silence. And so that doesn't mean that we cannot communicate with the public. we just have to be transparent in that communication. And so to remain in compliance with our cone of silence standards, we do all communication through our BidNet direct process. And so that is our main question from the public. It's always, can we ask this question? Can we receive clarity regarding the information about the grant once the solicitation process is underway? And the answer is you can. It's just that the written and the verbal communication cannot come from staff. It has to come directly from the purchasing and the procurement department so that when HUD does their audit or when the state does their audit, we have an actual transparent trail about the questions and answers that were requested from the public. And so this is what it looks like on BitNet Direct. There's also a question and answer tab for clarification for any solicitors, any public members that would like to ask questions. And there's also contact information for the purchasing department regarding who do you ask questions to. And so under the cone of silence, what's permitted so that we can remain in compliance with the federal guidelines is that it's permitted. You can ask procedural questions. It just has to be done through procurement. We review publicly available solicitation documents. The public can attend publicly noticed meetings and ask questions there. We allow written submissions of questions before deadlines, as well as the request to receive information through official addenda. things that are prohibited during the cone of silence under federal guidelines. It's the discussion of proposal rankings or evaluations to contact evaluation committee members, so those people that sit on the steering committee, people that are actively in the solicitation process cannot do that. No attempt to influence city staff from the people that are in the process of the solicitation or the request of confidential scoring information. And that concludes our guidelines for federal procurement processes. Any questions?

Thank you very much. Are there any questions from anyone from the commission? No questions. No, thank you. I'm sorry. Thank you very much for the presentation. Yes, this is a follow-up in clarity regarding the municipality cemetery operations. Mr. Metaw.

Hello. Good evening, Mayor, Commissioner, Sam Mitak, Director of Parks and Recreation. And thank you for the opportunity to talk to you a little bit about the Delray Beach Municipal Cemetery and some of the things we have in store for you tonight with this update. First and foremost, some of you may or may not even know that the cemetery is over 100 years old. It was incorporated in 1903, pretty historic. Hence, many of you are aware that just back in 2024, with the help of Anthea's team, we completed a historic report that really outlined a lot of that history and lineage and suggestions on how we can improve that area and even designate it potentially as historic and really pay homage to that history. Throughout the time, pretty much from inception, there's reports of maintenance issues at that cemetery. All the way back to the beginning times and even somewhere in the 70s and 80s where the city looked to outsource the cemetery to a more private entity. And then that didn't work and they ended up taking it back, right? So in 2018, the city decided to take a little bit more proactive approach rather than a more managed area. And we brought in a consultant who helped us rewrite some policies and procedures. But also, in a really big way, we hired a cemetery manager for the first time in the history of that city. Prior to that, when someone needed to reserve or by a plot, they would come in and try to buy that from the city clerk's office, which was a procedural thing, but not someone that really had the knowledge or training, or maybe even been to the cemetery to help them kind of through that process. It led to a lot of mistakes. Over the years, there's a lot of chronicled burials in the wrong site and having to change things afterwards, which is never a good place for anybody to be in, let alone the city, but more so even for those family members that are going through that process. So yes, in 2018 we hired a full-time cemetery manager. That manager's office is now over in the community center next door, next to us. where a family can come in and meet with the cemetery manager who's grieving, and they have a comfortable place to sit, and she can walk them through that process of going through the cemetery, of buying a plot, what's available, what's not. And she also is very often on site at the cemetery to help. to help go through the funerals themselves and help with that process. So on set, she works Saturdays and Sundays as well. So she works a Tuesday through Saturday and sometimes Sunday. The office is closed on Mondays, and sometimes it's hard to reach on a Monday, and that becomes some of our problem. It's something we're looking to try to work through. A few years ago, we went through what we would call a respectful cleanup initiative. The policies and procedures always allowed or didn't allow for a number of personal items to accumulate at grave sites, such as a toy or a trinket, plastic flowers. And we went through a very slow process to try to be respectful of that, put up signage, letting people know that this was something we were going to do with a cleanup. And it went for almost a year's worth of slowly going through that process. And we try to be respectful. One of the things that comes with that is you can't stop people from bringing these items to the cemetery and leaving them. We leave them for sometimes a week, a couple weeks, and then eventually they get removed if they're not permitted to be there. We've seen just about anything you can imagine as families all grieve differently. Some people try to bring in their own fencing, stones, and ornaments, and try to make it very decorative for their loved ones, try to make respect. Those things just aren't allowed long term. They create individual maintenance concerns around each one of them. So we tried to do that cleanup. It hadn't been done for a number of years. There were some people that were rightfully frustrated. They've had these items at their cemetery site for maybe even a decade, and now we're removing them. So we went through that process. And then things we've tried to do is improve access and staff coverage, right? And as you can imagine, it's not always easy to hire staff that loves to work in a cemetery from a maintenance standpoint. But we've been... pretty aggressive with trying to get quality people in there. Unfortunately, they don't always stay long. Sometimes they come in and they're great employees, and they end up getting a position with other places within the city, even, where they don't have to work in the cemetery all the time. But we're always working to do that. And even bringing in a few years ago, about five years ago, we brought in an outside maintenance company to do the weekly maintenance. One of the thought processes there is the challenge previously with our Parks and Recreation Department is all of the events that we do, We'd pull staff, so there'd be times where it was your staff's turn and your crew's turn to do your maintenance at the weekly cemetery route, and then an event would happen and we'd be backed up, or long rainy days and we'd be backed up. In an effort to get away from that, putting it on a contract made it much more consistent maintenance. I'd like to highlight some of the things that we've done since that time to really improve the cemetery, not just the day-to-day maintenance, but really significantly change that. I'm going to highlight the new perimeter fencing. That was a significant change when you see the before and afters, like it changed everything. There was an entire area of this cemetery that not too long ago was an entire debris area. There was actually a collection of broken benches and foam booths and stuff that collected in the back area. We've since removed all of that, cleaned that area up, replotted it, and expanded the cemetery in a very beautiful new area to keep the cemetery operation going. Landscape enhancements, improving the landscaping on both the perimeter and the interior. And then what we call above-ground tomb care is a few years ago we began doing painting of those tombs every two years just to make them look cleaner and newer, just sitting out in the elements all the time, mowing around them, trimming around them with weed eaters. It collects a lot of debris, and it builds up, and they become more grayed and tinged. So we try to paint them every other year. As you can see, visible improvements. This is one of the things I'm looking at on the before and after. You can kind of see that old fence line, a lot of small vegetation growing on the fence that isn't very slightly. And then even on that corner piece there on 10th and 8th, no landscaping at all really to show that it's a part of this cemetery that you're very proud of. Of course, you can see the difference that fencing makes along the perimeter. This is a photo of that debris area we talked about. You can see it's a significant land mass behind the mausoleum area, whereas now, not only has that been a new road curving and platted, it's an entire process to platt that for new plots, but almost all of that has already been filled. It's been it's been a significant area to keep the operation of the cemetery going Here's another visual along 8th. This is this is before that fence and before I'm trying to improve some of that maintenance you can just see The way that stoning I mentioned the historic concern with that because we've made back and at some point we stopped doing pre-need so I Because we wanted to be able to service the families that needed it the most, the ones that were having to bury a loved one at that time, we could no longer let people just buy pre-need and not have space for families that needed it at that moment. Also, we mentioned before, and as many of you know, because you've been a part of the approval process, we're looking to build two brand new mausoleum buildings. It's the same project, but two separate buildings. It's going to add over 2,000 tombs and niches. A niche, in case you don't know, a niche is where you place urns with ashes and so forth. The challenge with that, as amazing it is to get these two brand new buildings and add that, is the cost of that is a much more substantial cost than it is to do a traditional burial, as well as different cultures don't love the idea of burying in a tomb. While the national average is pushing towards 65% cremation, not all cultures are happy with cremation. So it's not a perfect solution, but it's one we have on the table for us right now. It does expand us. to continue operating from a burial to be able to accommodate from families. But it is more expensive for those families, and it does not meet every family's need. And so that is something for further discussion that we're going to want to talk about. And that is future discussions around the continuous maintenance improvement, but also future cemetery grounds. How do we, and it's not going to be answered tonight, it's probably a workshop for everybody in the near future, how do we want to manage this moving forward as a city? Do we want to look for more land to continue to do this operation? Do you close the cemetery and just maintain it in a respectful way? How do we continue to help out those families? Because, quite frankly, it is not only is it local and convenient, but it's one of the more economic, feasible options for families in our community to bury a loved one compared to having to go outside. Because going to another cemetery can get very, very expensive for families. And then just circling back to some of the original stuff, one of the things we're looking to do, I mentioned the Mondays with our cemetery manager not being in on Mondays, is we had a part-timer since the last comments. Ms. Commissioner Burns, thank you for bringing it up. We had a part-time employee that expressed some interest in doing some more work with the cemetery, so we're going to schedule the Monday shift for that person and kind of cross-train her. So at least there's someone for the community to come in and meet with on a Monday, and that way the office isn't closed completely. As well as one of the bigger things that is a challenge for all of us is There's so many headstones that getting in there on the weekly maintenance and really trimming those back and not letting the growth come over those headstones. So we've gotten quotes and we're looking to move forward very quickly with a company to come in and just come in and just do an entire sweep of the cemetery, clean off every one of those headstones and trim them back so that it all starts from a good place. So those are some of the things we've tried to do. look at even since the comments a month ago before in preparation for this. So with that, I can close my presentation and open myself up for any questions or comments if you have any.

All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Yemita. Are there any questions from anybody from the dais? Yes, Commissioner Burns.

mr mcsaac thank you for your presentation you said that you were anticipating hiring someone to do a sweep of the cemetery a maintenance company a maintenance company and is this a specialized maintenance company because with the the study that was done um on the historic aspects of the the um the cemetery there were there are very specific directions on how to take care of these um these 100-year-olds, in some instances, tombstones. So is this company specialized in this area?

We actually shared that guidance with them so that we know when they're quoting us because it's not cheap. It's a process. It's a time-consuming process. So we shared that guidance from that historic report with them so that they knew what they were looking for from a maintenance level.

Okay. And you said that I know about the niches for the mausoleum. The in-ground plots, how many are available or are there any available right now?

Right now we do not have any available for new purchase. We are only able to accommodate those who have already purchased their pre-need from years ago and need them.

No new purchase. So the residents were hearing something about the only Delray Beach City residents. What was that in reference to?

Yeah, that's been going on for a number of years where we only allow the burial, the purchase of new plots by Delray Beach residents.

So that was something that was ongoing. However, that has ceased at this time.

No, that's still the rule.

But there are none available. There's none available.

Even as they become available, project after project, we're only doing this for Delray Beach residents for some time. And that's an effort to keep those available for residents only and not sell them off.

I may have something later.

Could I just ask for clarification on the photos? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Metop, for the presentation. I can't read that, and I couldn't see it on my screen. That's the main drive with the palm trees, and then below is the interior roadway with the shade. Correct. We're not removing the shade trees, though. No. Okay, all that's staying intact. I just wanted to make sure that wasn't a before and after.

No, no, I just, two nice photos of it for this conclusion.

Thank you for the presentation. I'm sorry, you're not supposed to, Mayor, do your job.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Meese. Thank you all. All right, we are finished with that. Okay. We're now to the part with comments and inquiries on agenda and non-agenda items. There will be Mr. Moore, would you please? You're up there with your city manager's response and your follow-up concerning Independence Day.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen. Good evening. I made a commitment to offer a presentation in this regard because of course in the aftermath of the Independence Day holiday celebration as we host annually here in Delray Beach, there were a number of editorial comments, I'll say, regarding the quality of the fireworks display or the lack thereof. And it's really interesting because there were a number of thoughts regarding The city of Derry Beach not having organized itself accordingly, not doing whatever needed to be done. However, that's not all the case. And so what I've decided to do this evening is to offer context and clarity as to what our experiences have been the couple days leading up into Independence Day. As well as to do what I can to highlight good work that was actually performed by various members of staff and respective leadership. It began Wednesday, July 1st, so three days prior to Independence Day. And frankly, I'll share with everyone, that was a bit of a challenging day for me because, of course, it was a full day personally, professionally, I should say. However, it was a bit of a challenging day personally because, as I've shared with you all individually in recent weeks, my wife, Michelle, sustained an injury resulting in a broken ankle a little over a month ago. So I took an earlier break Wednesday, July 1st to accompany her to the orthopedic surgeon for her follow-up review. So Michelle and I are together getting that all squared away. positive prognosis, et cetera. So it was turning out to be a good news day for Michelle and I. And while wrapping up that particular doctor's appointment, I receive a telephone call from Sam Mitot, essentially informing me that the company for which the city contracts for fireworks services, Zambelli Fireworks International, informed him via telephone that there was an issue with a barge placement or the inability for a barge to be placed to host the city's annual fireworks program. took Michelle back home, got her squared away, back here at City Hall and, quite frankly, all over town, doing what we can to execute a contingency plan, but doing what we can to ascertain from Sam Bailey Fireworks International, why would that be the case? How could the City of Derry Beach be treated so poorly? And quite frankly, we were. So in any event, we spent much of the day not only engaging the private sector marketplace regarding alternatives for other barge placement and other logistics, but frankly to pivot for a state of Florida beach permit so that we can actually launch fireworks from which we did during independent state festivities in that regard. So between the afternoon of July 1st up until the afternoon of July 2nd, we were scrambling quite diligently. the Office of the City Manager, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Fire Rescue, Police, to reposition ourselves in response to the experience we had dealing with Zambelli Fireworks International. So I've asked for individual updates working with the commissioners individually to advise that I formally notify you all the next day, Thursday afternoon, July 2nd. And I'll go ahead and share that for public context because I think that's important to be followed by a written update from Zambelli Fireworks themselves, corroborating the fact that a lot of good work was accomplished by the city of Delray Beach, yet we were in fact treated poorly, and quite frankly, disrespectful, and I promise that there's a conclusion direction to all of this when I finish. Don't worry. So, from Terrence Moore to Commissioners and Mayor, Thursday, July 2nd, 2026, 1.26 p.m. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Yesterday, we were notified by Zambelli Fireworks International, the city's pyrotechnics vendor, that the barge originally scheduled for this Saturday's offshore fireworks display is no longer available. Despite many attempts on part of various administrative leadership to secure an alternative barge for this purpose, opportunities to this effect unfortunately do not exist at this time. As a result, staff is moving forward with an approved contingency plan, which involves a close proximity fireworks display to be launched from the beach. While this format does not allow for the same scale or visual impact as the offshore barge display, it does enable the City of Derry Beach to still provide a quality fireworks show for our community. We recognize that some members of the public may be disappointed, as this has occurred in the past. However, given the timing and circumstances, this is the only viable option available. Otherwise, the fireworks display will continue to proceed as scheduled. So in preparation for this evening's dialogue, my interest was to receive a follow-up written communication from Zambelli Fireworks International. And interestingly enough, that was provided not directly to the Office of the City Manager, but to representatives of the Department of Parks and Recreation. And that was Thursday, July 2nd, 2026 at 3.34 p.m., literally two hours, eight minutes after I provided my written summary to Marin City Commission. So, from a fellow by the name of Tony Saude. Tony Saude is Vice President of Sales for Zambelli Fireworks. Sent this to a member of staff in the Department of Parks and Recreation. To all concerned parties, on Wednesday, July 1st, I received a call from Bayelle Brothers Sales Representative Ross Miller, informing me, as in Zambelli Fireworks, that they would not have a barge available for the July 4th fireworks display at the city of Derry Beach. The reason given was that the logistics division of the company had not kept him informed there may be an issue, and he had just received notice of the unavailability. I repeatedly questioned how this could possibly happen in light of the fact that This service had been confirmed and fully funded for several months. He apologized and told me it was outside of his hands. At that time, I immediately called Danielle, as in Danielle Pearson from the Department of Parks and Recreation, to inform the City of the unfortunate news. After discussing several options, it was determined that the most attainable and workable option would be to use the beach location as was previously done in 2024 when we experienced similar circumstances. However, those circumstances were not at all similar. That was an experience of force majeure, storm issues and events at that particular point in time. And the city was notified two weeks in advance of Independence Day celebrations 2024, ladies and gentlemen. However, this year, 2026, two weeks ago, beginning tomorrow, it was a very last minute 11th hour notification for which the city of Delray Beach prepared and planned as adequately and comfortably as it possibly could. The final paragraph coming from Tony Soddy, again, Vice President of Sales, Zambelli Fireworks International. Zambelli sincerely regrets this situation and have made every effort to work towards this solution. My team will be on site on July 4th. Prepare to offer a close proximity pyrotechnics display for your viewing public. We hope you enjoy it. The experience, again, was not at all optimal, was not at all the same. But I would like for the Commission and the public to recognize we were in a crunch situation literally one day. And keep in mind, July 3rd, that Friday, was the actual Independence Day holiday recognized by local, state, and federal government. So we actually had to summon people to be off work to actually pivot and make various adjustments. I'd like to publicly take a moment to compliment staff and leadership from the Department of Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Fire, Rescue, and Police, quite frankly, because a lot had to be accomplished in order to pivot, in order to respond, to achieve some sense of a program, because quite frankly, I had a fabulous time during the Independence Day festivities during the course of the day. We had the time council unveiling, we had the flag bearing, we had the Declaration of Independence sharing all of you were there we had a very nice engaging interaction otherwise and unfortunately i don't think the city of dairy beach was treated appropriately fairly in fact poorly by subcontractors to zembelli fireworks international which i've been pretty infuriated about that's my ability to speak publicly and openly about this travesty today Likewise, direction is being offered to the Department of Parks and Recreation and all others involved to consider reimagined ways in which we can host independent state festivities. Because unfortunately, the city of Delray Beach does not own a barge. There is no offshore island from which we can launch fireworks. Quite frankly, the purchase of a barge or any other platform to be positioned off the shore would not be in the city's best interest in terms of fiscal affairs fiduciary responsibility. Likewise, ladies and gentlemen, it was very, very unfortunate. But what I wish for everyone to know, and I please ask the public to be supportive as you all possibly can, to understand a lot of good work was executed on part of staff from the aforementioned departments. I applaud them. I compliment them. And quite frankly, I'm very proud of them. And I think you should be too. because we were treated god-awful and poorly, and I continue to remain upset about it. It's not right at all, so we have work to do. Thank you for your time.

What are our recourses? I mean, what's the contract? What rights do we have against the subcontractor? I mean, we were damaged.

I mean, we— I think we—did we pay them, though? I mean, because if we paid them already for a barge, are we getting reimbursed is the more important question.

What's the name of that company again, slowly?

So the contractor, the contract that the city of Delray Beach has a relationship, Zambelli Fireworks International. Zambelli is spelled Z as in zebra, A as in apple, M as in Mary, B as in boy, E as in Edward, L as in Larry, L as in Larry, I as in igloo.

So did Zambelli not do their job to ensure that there was going to be the barge?

I'm sorry, sir?

They had known months, as their own letter said, it was several months in advance.

All was squared away. The city did 100% yeoman's worth.

I think the city did yeoman's worth. It did. With the quickness. But I just want to know what recourse we have against Zambelli or that subcontractor.

Let me. Because. Yes, sir.

You know, the city advertised, I advertised, I was telling people, don't worry, it's going to be this many. Sure. Everybody's up there, and a couple of hotels, you know, rented out the top rooms for everybody to see, and, you know, they didn't see much.

Yes, sir. And just to be clear, the subcontractor to Zambelli Fireworks, Bello Brothers, B as in boy, E as in Edward, Y as in yellow, E as in Edward, L as in Larry. That is the subcontractor to Zambelli Fireworks. Again, the notification letter coming Thursday, July 2, 2026, the day before. Please forgive me, ma'am.

I'm responding to it.

I dropped it. Do we have any recall, attorney?

not against the subcontract them our contract is with zambelli i reviewed the contract and there's no you know and i did speak with mr metat about this our our recourse is to cancel the contract i mean to you know just tell them we don't want to do business with you anymore there's no penalties in the contract there's no fines there's nothing to say that if they don't perform the way that they promised that somehow we get reimbursed or we can issue a fine. So I think going forward, I think lessons learned.

Lynn, I don't buy that. They failed to deliver.

I will show you the contract because I reviewed it. This is not a situation.

Fire Daniel Rose. Take him. I know you will.

Okay, this is getting. This is not a situation where there was a force majeure. It was basically their negligence. They didn't deliver. You know, should we, I don't know what the damages are. You know, we didn't, we did pay.

We can quantify the damages.

What are the damages?

I don't think there's any.

We had people that came down in good faith to see the fireworks. We had people on rooftops that weren't able to see the fireworks. Maybe the recommendation would be, excuse me. They didn't deliver. I don't understand why we wouldn't go after them with everything we got.

Maybe the recommendation is to ask the city attorney to review and get back to us individually because this is a lot of conversation about a failed contract.

I certainly think going forward we need to add some penalty clauses. 100%.

You know, hindsight's 20-20, right? So I think going forward, there will be a penalty clause. Unfortunately, for this contract, I don't know if we have quantifiable damages, like an actual loss that we can say. Do I think that we should have paid for that? No. I think they should have, you know, this is the second time in a row they haven't performed. They should have done this for free, in my opinion. And then we wouldn't even be having this discussion. I know Mr. Moore was going to reach out to them. And honestly, I will look into it and get back with you. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anything else?

I have one more thing. And Mr. Moore brought up something that I do think we should be considering, given we've had this barge issue. Two years in a row now and I fully apologize to the citizens who one year in between so who came down For the fireworks and we didn't deliver We own that I think we should be considering some other venues some people have come forward to me with some different places where we might consider uh doing fireworks old school square some other places that are on land that we could plan for that we wouldn't have to be dependent on a barge um so i think we should look at it and then we should bring it back to the public and let people know what our options are and mr market i've already made a commitment working with the various staff members and departments to offer respective considerations in advance of 2027 so

I look forward to engaging. Drone shows are getting real popular now. We understand that. There's a lot of other things that we could do.

They're extremely expensive at 4th of July time. If you're doing a drone show for the 4th of July, you're paying a lot of money. So a lot to discuss. I understand, but I'm just saying there's a lot of factors. So maybe we get it all together and have a discussion.

I just want to make sure whatever we order gets the letter.

I say hire whoever was doing all the fabulous fireworks in the set. Because it was going off. Find out who that is and fire him.

Thank God. Thank God. That was good. Anything else for Mr. Moore? Are you finished?

I yield at this time, sir.

Okay, no other comments. Okay, we're now to the portion of the meeting, which is public comment. And I will read you the instructions. Meeting is now open to public comment from anyone wishing to speak on any topic or agenda item other than a quasi-judicial item and public hearing items. The public will have the opportunity to speak on quasi-judicial and public hearing items later in the meeting as those agenda items are called. For public comment, please sign in, state your name and zip code for the record. You'll each have three minutes.

And, Mayor, there's only one quasi-judicial, and that's 7-I.

There's only one quasi-judicial, and that would be 7-I. And all of the items on 8 are public hearings. So unless you're here to speak on 7-I or any item on number 8, you'll have your turn later in the meeting.

Good evening, and station right 33444. I'm very disappointed that last Commission meeting I spoke about some concerns that this community had as far as our cemetery some things were we have no problem with the fencing that's great we appreciate that it makes it look so much better again My concern is, and it has not been addressed and was not addressed, is this person whom you have as supposed to be full time that works Tuesday through Sunday, where is that person? You don't see her. You have someone else in the office, guest part-time. I know her very well. And I give her a hard time as well. But we still not being able to meet with this particular person. She's working from home. Again, what qualifies her to be able to work from home? COVID is over. COVID has been over. So I think we need that answer. As far as... The upkeep and the maintenance, you talked about people having stones and people having other items. You can't even leave a flower for your loved ones. Again, I went back out this week on yesterday, looking at my parents' headstones. Again, they're still covered with grass. You say, okay, you outsource it. What is wrong with taking it back to the Parks Department? You have people that don't want to work there because they're not being paid. Pay them. Pay them. They're worth the monies. You never had any complaints from the community or anywhere else until recently. Again, someone please answer me, whoever this person is, and I've been in this city for years, whomever this person is, what are her hours? She said Tuesdays to Sundays. What are her hours, and where does she work from?

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon. I'm Sandra Owens. I live at 128 Northwest 12th Avenue, Delray Beach. And I'm giving it because the last time I spoke before this board, you guys were preparing for a tennis match of some sort. Now you're giving all these accolades to the Department of Recreation and you're talking about the fireworks and how they were disrupted. This is my third or fourth time coming before this city. I purchased a plot. K car or whatever her last name is, when I called her in late spring of 24, I got her message. I finally reached her. I'm not in my office. I don't come in unless you make an appointment. All right, so I went from there. I wanted to speak to her manager because after she yelled at me, I had nothing else to say. I met with Sam. and K-Car in a meeting, the only thing they could tell me about this burial plot, which I have the title to right here, says I own it, is that, oh, we can dig up your parents and bury them somewhere else. And I was explaining to them, I purchased this plot in 2005. I finished paying for it in 2006. I have the titles to the ownership plot right here. That's all she'd give me. Or when you see the city digging up graves or the roadway, I guess, you can come and contact me then. I don't need somebody coming to my house putting a certified letter. and my screen door. I am a resident of this city. I work in this city. I live in this city. I volunteer in this city. All I want from the city is my burial plot. I purchased that plot on the right side of my mother. And as I've told you before, that's where I want it to be buried. Now you talk about recourses for fireworks and all these other things. Let's talk about accountability. And record keeping. I read a statement that the city manager made about, oh, record keeping has been an issue for the last decade. When are you going to fix it? I want to be buried on the right side of my mother. And I keep asking you that. I'm not going to ask anymore. Because right now, I think I'm being bullied. And it sounds as though I'm begging for what is rightfully mine. And I've taught students in my career to stand up for their rights. That's why I'm here. I want my plot. I want to be buried on the right side of my mother. They need to get it together. Because the pictures you put up of the dairy cemetery, I don't even recognize those. So this is what I'm asking you right now. I want my plot returned to me.

Thank you very much.

May I give you these to hand out? Good evening. Pamela Williams, 33444. I am coming before you this evening yet again in reference to a property located on Northwest 8th Avenue, 240 Northwest 8th. That is to the west of my property. What's going on there? We've had complaints about having the property owner to maintain the site and to make it secure. My initial complaint was that vagrants were beginning to live in there. We've had problems now to now we have cited the person going in and out of it. We've called the police department. We haven't been able to get anything done with that. So what's next? I've asked for you to cite them. I've asked for the grass to be cut. I've asked for the windows to be boarded. There is a vagrant that goes in there every night at the same time. Who knows what he's doing in there? But now that we have someone using that space, we can only assume it's going to be lewd and lascivious acts coming thereafter. I've got children on that street that walk to Spady, that walk back and forth to Pompeii. We are a community of elderly and mostly of school-aged children. Now, there is someone taking residence in a home that the city is allowing the owner to neglect. What's the big problem with you all yourself putting up boards to protect the integrity of the structure and then put that on lien to the homeowner or the property owner? I'm just so afraid something will happen and I'll have to go before someone to say I've told them on X amount of times and here I am paying for the mistake because they're going to sue. They're going to win. Let's have code enforcement to come out there and board up all entry spots for that home. Because now that one person's there, that's going to be two. That's going to be three. What do we do? I'm going to have a meeting with my police chief to see what can be done. I'm not sure where the ball fell, but they have reported to our community meeting that no one came out to hear their concerns about an unidentified individual at a property that no one lives at. So please, code enforcement, police department, someone do something to secure that area and to help us keep trespassers out of that.

Can you confirm the address again?

240 Northwest 8th Avenue. I get it mixed up with the bylaw address. Thank you so much in advance. I look forward to you all resolving this. If not, I'll see you guys on Tuesday.

My name is Queen. How y'all doing? My zip code is 333. I don't have the last two digits because it seemed like the city of Derry with their harassing officers won't seem to leave me alone without the harassing and the stalking and the retaliation and the abuse of power. And it seems like a lot of this stemmed from Troy Bear. And then it ended with the city manager over the graveyard. And I am glad that I was able to finally bring the graveyard to your attention. So I don't know why you guys keep talking about the cemetery because the part of the graveyard I'm referring to, there has been no attention there. I want to take a deep breath because how you got very upset over there about fireworks. I don't think you understand fireworks is at the pits that are held at that graveyard over there. My historical family members are there. You guys have lost. I'll wait for the city manager to pay attention. Because he got very upset about the fireworks, and I paid attention to you being upset about the fireworks. It took your heart to the ground about those fireworks. And I want you to understand, it took me to the ground about that graveyard because you lost my mammy. Y'all lost my Enoch. Taking accountability, you guys decided to retaliate against me, trespass me from places with no apparent reason why you're even trespassing me, discriminating against me. I filed a complaint against you on April the 24th. What happened? I've given them to the commissioners, the mayors. Everybody have those letters. I haven't gotten a follow-up from anybody about the complaint against you for discrimination. First of all, next of all, I haven't gotten any update, any updated information about the grievance I put in for the graveyard because I was way far more technical when I gave you the bullet points that needed to be pointed out. And I heard someone say something about the gate is fixed. No, the gate is not. That gate is nowhere fixed. That gate had you guys put your piece of junk there just to cut it off at the top. But we need to go around the gate. We need intruders to stay out. The reason why we need intruders to stay out, there's a big hole in the gate. The Haitian church right here, they got their trash stacked up to the top like they got bootleg cold enforcers that don't come out there and get the trash up. It's filthy. It's filthy out there. And if you've been out there before, I wonder you're going to go back out there again. I'm out there every day. If I'm not stalked by the police department, if I'm not being stalked and retaliated against. And I want to know another thing before I finish with the mold and the must. And you guys, we're painting over the graves. How do you paint over black mold from historical graves? Those are not regular graves out there. They're historical. We have five graves out there. We have Dina. She got her whole pamper missing off of her. You go back to her body, it's torn down. This is mother nature season. So her tomb is open. What do y'all do about her being open? We have five of them open now. You need me to give you the names? You need me to give you their whereabouts? You need me to tell you what we need to do with them? We don't want anybody touching them. Until you find my Enoch and my Manny, I am pent to the graveyard. I want y'all to do better. That fungus out there is airborne and hazardous, and you know we need to have the right person out there to check that soil. And you guys aren't doing that because you're trying to brush it off. And when we're talking about a tree, don't cut that tree down out there that you're expecting to cut down so that you can have your little mausoleum.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Queen.

Yeah, because you had an easy conversation on me a few minutes ago, and I didn't appreciate that.

Good evening, Daniel Rose, 33444. I brought a couple things. I will look in that fireworks contract. I just put a public records request in. Mr. Bruce, can you talk to Michael? I just put in a public records request. I'll look at the fireworks contract. I was at a funeral today for my good friend's father, and listening to the presentation, that's not what I'm here for. The city perhaps should consider it's highly regulated. Actually, one of my first litigations dealt with a cemetery that wasn't delivering on what they were paid for. So I kind of, it goes back to my early days. It's highly regulated. Maybe the city should consider, because you'd like committees, the DDA is doing a beautification committee, maybe doing a committee to deal with this and get suggestions so the community can be better involved. Because you have the DDA, you have an arts advisory board. I think that'll solve the problems because apparently it seems to be, from what I'm learning from today, it's a communication issue and the passion's there. It's people's legacy. It's their family. So I think that It can be probably better resolved by having a committee that can report back and have meetings and allow them the public, even a workshop. I think that would be a good solution to that issue. Because once you start getting into regulatory issues, it can get very expensive. I'm here because I might not make the next meeting. I'm working on a really awful case right now that's very, very severe for some people. So I want to make a statement in case the subculture thing comes up next week. I don't know if it's on the agenda. I just don't want the fact that I might not make it on time at some sort of I agree with them, or I'm giving in, or I don't want any false narrative that I might not make it. But I wanted to make it clear, like I said, it's not approved. 105 days, nothing's been done. Three special events, business as usual. Had a couple instances of vandalism. Someone actually took all my no parking signs, put subculture protest signs. So the message has been sent by the customers. I reported April, May. We did a little project. We didn't do June because in April, May, I was out 14 days. I sent over 200 incidents to the city attorney of illegally parked cars, cars parked on my property, all the other properties. That's a lot, 200 incidents in two months. It's not gotten better. It's gotten worse. McLaren moved all his vehicles in good faith. They take up the parking. The bottom line is a lot of it, too, is the same customers. They don't want to walk, and they're not there for five minutes. They're there for two hours at a time, as we learned earlier this week. So breaking down the numbers, 200 examples. Two vandalisms. Money spent by subculture and all this, zero. Same thing for accountability. There's been no accountability to fix this issue. You've got no handicap parking. I had a lawyer friend of mine whose son is disabled, and he can't go there because he can't park his van with the access. That's a real problem. These are human problems. Couldn't care less. It's that saying where it's collective blame of me for their problems instead of accountability. Like, I have anything to do with their construction of their parking lot. Doxing and gaslighting people including members of the Commission and like I said, what point do we allow this bad precedent to continue? You're all smart people. Like I said changing the It's a restaurant. Nothing's gonna change. It's got to get fixed and the time's up as they say like mine is.

Thank you Thank you very much Good evening, Kevin Mitchell three three four four four honorable mayor, vice mayor, council members, city manager, city attorney. It grieves me greatly as it relates to the city of Delray Beach Municipal Cemetery. My recommendation would be that an independent outside audit be done as it relates to the previous graves, who they were purchased to, how many were purchased, and who holds what grave spaces. I sincerely think that there are graves that are still there that are available for burial. I'm concerned because in September of 2025, my mother was diagnosed with dementia in stage placed in hospice. I contacted the city, the cemetery manager to begin the process of purchasing a pre arranged grave burial space. She said, we're only selling at need. I said, she's in hospice. Will there be an exception? Are there any bylaws? Are there any regulations or anything that we can work around to get the process started? She says, no, only at need. June 6, 2026, my mother passed away. I contacted the cemetery manager. I was informed we have no grave spaces. We will not have any grave spaces for six months. I said, do you have any recommendations? Any suggestions? No. Her attitude, her demeanor was dismissive, unprofessional, and did not represent the core values of this city. I strongly recommend, Mr. Moore, that you do a thorough review of the cemetery operations. I recommend that you form an ad hoc committee. that encompasses members of the city as well as members of the board. I recommend that you do a audit to find out who holds what grave spaces currently. Going back five years to see who purchased graves because if you have brokers selling graves three times the price of what they're worth to residents, it's a problem. Mr. Moore, we have a problem. I'm saying this directly to you, man to man, as a citizen paying taxes here who lost his mother and I had to bury her 20 miles away in another county. The price wasn't the matter, but she wanted to be buried here where she lived 84 years, served as a school teacher teaching boys and girls here in Delray Beach. and fulfilled her education requirements here in South Florida at FAU and Palm Beach Junior College. And I had to take her to Deerfield Beach to a private cemetery and to have a dismissive employee to present what she presented to me. Mr. Market, you wouldn't approve of that. Mrs. Burns, you wouldn't approve of that. Neither would you, Ms. Malika. The ball now is resting in your hands to make it correct.

Thank you very much.

I'm Ezra Krieg. I live at 2984 Needham Court in Delray Beach. That is west of I-95. The only reason I mention is a number of people don't know that Delray Beach exists west of 95. And so I thought I would take this opportunity to invite you to come this Saturday when the Kiwanis Club and our Chief Darrell Hunter, unfortunately a Rotarian, will be walking at the new story trail that has been installed at Barwick Park, allowing children to come and read a school book as they exercise in the park. So I have invitations for each of you. I hope you will accept. I also am here to talk about item 7D. As a proud member of the Delray Beach Housing Authority Board, you have two openings that you're going to fill today. One of your nominees is Diane Colonna. who, if she wasn't going to be on the board, we would need to hire her to work for the Delray Beach Housing Authority. The woman has incredible credentials, is an urban planner, has done just a myriad of things. And I really believe that if we can get her for free to be on our board of our Delray Beach Housing Authority, we would not be making a mistake. And lastly, I want to thank you all for recognizing both Temple Sinai and especially St. Matthew's Episcopal Church. These are two institutions that have done so much for our community. And without them, Delray Beach would not be as great of a city as it is. So thank you.

Thank you very much.

Good evening. My name is Jillian Cowie, 33444. I am here tonight because I believe that I was treated unfairly by the city's risk management process. And I'm respectfully asking for your assistance in reviewing my claim. On May 13th, 2026, during a period of severe rainfall, my vehicle struck a displaced storm manhole on a public roadway in Delray Beach. The impact caused immediate damage to my vehicle, including the destruction of my tire and rim and additional expenses. The following day, I went directly to the city waterworks facility on Swinton Avenue. Seeking answers, there I met Billy, a manager within the stormwater department. He located the exact manhole and the coordinates on his city issue iPad and explained to me that the extreme rainfall pressure of the stormwater system had caused the manhole to become displaced. As a resident, I believe that the information would be important in determining the responsibility because it confirmed that the hazard originated within the city's stormwater infrastructure. I submitted my claim in good faith in providing the information available to me. However, my claim has now been denied twice by the city's risk management. What concerns me the most is not only the denial itself, but the message it sends to the residents. City-owned stormwater structure becomes displaced, creates roadway hazard, damages a citizen's vehicle, and the citizen is still left responsible for all costs. Where is the accountability? This is not simply about a tire. It is about public safety. A displaced manhole can cause significant property damage, accidents, injuries, or worse. I was fortunate that the damage was limited to my vehicle. I am not asking for special treatment. I am asking for transparency, fairness, and a thorough review of the facts. I respectfully request that the Commission direct the appropriate departments to revisit my claim, review the information provided by the Stormwater Department, and ensure that this matter receives a complete and impartial evaluation. I love this city. I've been here 37 years. I work in this city. I live in this city. And I volunteer throughout Pompeii every day. However, residents should not be expected to absorb the financial consequences of hazardous conditions that arise from public infrastructure without receiving a fair review of their claims. Before I conclude, I would like to ask every one of you this question. Can you please explain to me what evidence would I be required as a resident to successfully pursue a claim when damages are caused by a city-owned stormwater structure? Due to my claim being denied because I had lack of evidence, I cannot prove that it was Delray's negligence. But thank you for your time and your service.

Thank you very much.

Good evening. My name is Timothy Kitchens, 33444. I'm going to just cut across the field here. My partner Kevin Mitchell said a mouthful about the cemetery. Mr. Martog that spoke earlier. Martog? Maytog, or whatever his name is. Mr. City Manager and to this council, I recommend that they be fired. Yasmin, I recommend that she be fired as well. Yes. And reason being because when you don't have empathy or sympathy for families, you know, doing... their moments of grief. Somebody needs to be accountable and I put this on the city for not doing your due diligence in hiring, you know, the people that you hire. Especially this guy that sat here and told an outright lie saying that the cemetery looks like this and that I just left from out there and the grass is dead. Most of the grass is dead. I see headstones that are up uprooted i've seen that what he said there was an outright lie i'm sorry i'm sorry well he didn't tell the truth put it that way okay okay so if you want to work around that part he did not tell the truth to you so i recommend an independent council before him to regulate the cemetery's upkeep. That's what I recommend. Thank you. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, if I may please. Yes, sir. At the conclusion of the regular meeting this evening, I plan to offer a path forward in terms of how we address the matters, and concerns haven't been outlined as it relates to the cemetery.

That was going to be one of my major comments, because I think that it's about time that we really do do an audit to see who's there.

Again, I will be offering a path forward consideration to get to that place. So we have some work to do. We understand and recognize that. But I would like to ask people to... Recognize what I just said and committed and I'll offer specifics moving forward and so please likewise be respectful because We need to do what we can please offer decorum and be gracious and magnanimous But we hear that loud and clear and understand that I do my absolute best to be as responsive and attentive as possible encourage others to do so so understood we listen and I'll be offering some thoughts at the conclusion of this evening's meeting once we get there, as well as follow-up updates in terms of how we move forward with respect to the noted considerations. So thank you all, ladies and gentlemen, for your comments, and I appreciate those. And we have the opportunity now to take that into account. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners. I'm Mavis Benson, 33445. The two words you're probably hearing most this summer are, it's hot. So think cool, think comfortable, think Cornell Art Museum. I'm proud to say that since the Persistence of Matter exhibition opened, and on opening night we had 500 plus people there, It's been well received. So I come tonight to let you know and to let the public know that we're excited to present three different events around this exhibition. We're going to have two artist talks, the first one being this Saturday. It's going to be From 5 o'clock to 7 o'clock, we'll have three of the artists, one that works in computer parts, one that works with surfboards, and another one that uses discarded utensils to make these beautiful works of art. Then on July 25th, we do have a kids' workshop where the kids will be making artwork based around, if you've seen the Dreams exhibition, the piece that was done in honor of the Parkland tragedy, the shootings that took place, done with the prescription pill caps. They're going to be creating artwork like that. And then we do have the final one, August 1st, which is a conversation with Sonia Sanchez Arias. She does, you've probably, if you've been or have seen any images, It's the dress, the gown that's made out of plastic bags and bottles and such. So remember those three dates and please, you can go to the DDA's website and get all the information, times and everything for that. So if you're not at the museum, you've done the museum and you're moving on to other things, I also want to let you know that we have Wellness Month coming up. This is going on now between July and August. We've got 20 different wellness centers, studios that are offering try a class, do something different. So they have something different to promote that to get you in to try a new experience there. Also, we have next week, the 22nd, is Art and Jazz on the Avenue in Pineapple Grove. And then the Friday night after that, is our Friday night concert series, and it's a tribute band to Boston and Foreigner. So we've got a very busy couple of weeks coming up with lots of things to participate in, and want to let you know also that, and start thinking about it, Restaurant Month will be coming up in September. And I did want to thank you, because we're getting good feedback from our merchants that Wednesday free parking has been a plus. And so on their behalf, I do want to thank you. If we could extend it a little longer, that would be wonderful. Thank you very much. Thank you.

First of all, my name is Randy Strong, 26 Southwest Fifth Avenue, Delaware Beach, Florida. I'm the President and Strongest Son, Tri-City Funeral Home. My family been in business since 1980. My father, Alfred Zeit Strong, along with Eloy Strong, helped find this funeral home. My concern is not to keep continuing your blessing about the cemetery, but you've got to have a place to bury these loved ones. It's sad when family come make an arrangement to us and say that we got to tell them there's no grave space and we want to know why there's no grave space. Well, I guess we're poor planning. If you can build condominiums constantly around here, then you'll have a place to bury your loved one, then there is a problem. Jesus ain't going to come right now, but people are still going to be dying. And I'm pretty sure that as far as the Derry Beach Cemetery, I mean, it look good. We about one of the best cemeteries in the county. But we still gotta have room to bury the loved ones. It's sad when I have to tell families that you gotta go to another city and then pay, instead of paying $7,500, you're paying $9,000 or $11,000 for a grave space. That's not good. And then the grave space cost more than the service itself. Some have to be done because this is embarrassing. I'm telling the family members there, hey, there's no space. Even with our family, we bought five or six graves up there in Palm Beach Memorial Garden. It cost us $6,895 per grave. And then what we tried to pass that on to the family to try to save some money, that's still expensive. The key to it is We've got to come up with something to bury the loved one, because everybody don't believe in cremation. And I know by blindfold, they believe in burial. And we've got to come up with something to do that. I want to thank you all again just to listen to us. And there's just a problem that we have to do and resolve together. We thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Stratton.

Oh, boy.

Hello, everyone. My name is Nicole Ivy. I reside at 33444, so I just want to give you a little history on me. I've been a lifelong, dedicated person here in Delray Beach for 39 years. I just want to give you a little backstory that my family has been here for even longer. They are in the Spady Museum. My great-grandparents were here on Southwest 4th Avenue, and that's where my whole family came from, so not only me, but my whole family has been rooted here in Delray Beach. So I say that to say that I'm only here about fairness, and I'm here because of Jillian Kroll, Thankfully, when she did get into that accident, me and my fiance were there and we were able to assist her. She was getting my, I know she didn't want to give you the backstory on it, but she was getting my little cousin and she was nearly late on getting him because of that incident. My fiance had to help her and fix her tire, put her spare on. And right now, to this day, she has her spare on. She's a single mother. She can't afford to sit here and pay for the damages of the city of Delray. That's not fair to her. I hope that you guys look into and investigate her situation, and I hope that you reimburse her for what has happened to her, because that's not right. That was literally on the city's negligence on her car getting damaged. And for her to have the runaround, she told me she had to go this place to that place to this place to even get answers. To now, they're telling her that, oh, well, we can't support you and fix the damages that were caused. That's not right. And I know that you guys up here will do the right thing and do a thorough investigation and get her vehicle fixed. To this day, she's riding on a spare tire. She has children. If something were to happen to her, what is the city going to say? apparently she can't even get buried in the city graveyard. So, I mean, at this point, I don't even want to get to that level, but, I mean, that's just the situation. Anything can happen. And that's all I have to say, and I hope you guys look into that and provide her what she needs. Appreciate that.

Thank you very much. Could I just say one thing? No, you're really good.

It's an open claim.

All right.

Well, I'll talk to you afterward.

How you guys doing? My name is Andrew Haynes. I was the one to help Ms. Jillian out. Your zip code for the record, please. 33444. Thank you. I was the one to help her out. I changed the tire on the side of the road. I work for the street department for Pointon Beach. We was out there for over an hour. There was no city worker came out there within the street department to come and look and see what was going on. That's not right. I even put caution tape out there so that the road can be blocked off so the cars can go around. We was out there for over an hour. No city worker came on site. My father's a city worker. I called him and asked him about it. He told me make sure that I'm at this meeting tonight. Because that's not right. So I've been here 39 years. I even tried to get a job here. They told me I wasn't qualified. And people who knows me know that I'm qualified to do anything that I put my mind to. But I still love my city. I love everybody in here. I just want something to be taken care of by Ms. Jillian because that's not fair. Like my wife said, she's riding on a spare tire right now. She got multiple kids. If something happened, what we gonna say, oops? That's not right. So all this money going into other events or whatever? You guys can't give her $3,000 just to fix her car and be done with it. That's all she wants. I'm talking about bills and stuff instead of going up. And she got worried about her car. She got worried about putting the roof over her kid's head. Getting him from point A to point B. But she got to go through this here. That's not right.

Thank you very much.

How you doing? Wesley Shuler from Shuler's Memorial Chapel Funeral Home. It's very sad as funeral homes that we have to come down here and deal with this issue because this issue should have never happened because for one, it's summertime too. The city of Derry don't have no water out there. No water. You go to SEI cemeteries, they got water. From what I was told, When I did ask her about the situation, she said, we'll have to look into it. We maybe don't have no money in the budget for it. That's one situation. Now, the second situation, if it's cases in different plots and stuff like that, you got a serious problem. You're looking at major lawsuits. Because by law, somebody could really go to jail because they don't play about the cemeteries. And then for three, She should be on site, meaning physical or office on site. Somebody needs to be managing that site because this is somebody's loved one and you don't have the right to talk to people any kind of way. You have to be a people person dealing with the deaf. Because y'all don't want nobody to come and talk to y'all the wrong way. We just want the respect that's due to us and the families that's due to us. We should not even have to take cases out of another state or out of another town just to bury somebody. If somebody's from Delray, they should be able to bury in Delray. Because I know for a fact I got me a permit. I'm going in the wall. I hope I'm going in the wall. So now you got me wanting to look into it. So to put this at the end, what I'm going to do, I'm going to call Jessica tomorrow. And I'm going to get her to come and be able to deal with this issue. Because this is a serious issue. Somebody needs to be dealt with. And that's all I've got to say about that.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, everyone, city officials. Randell Strong, 33444. I'm going to get right into the meat of it. The late Robert Johnson and the late Terry Green stated to me years ago as a little boy growing up there in the cemetery, Strong, we're going to need some land eventually. So a proposed spot was where the laundromat is and the Dollar General is. So, but... know what happened with that but so as of right now this is where we're at right now so i'm proposing i'm asking if in the conversations we had lately about the old hard drive property on south congress avenue across from uh right by the standard steamer so i don't know who owns that yet but i was just you know as i as i ride around doing my daily job routine throughout the day Just looking out for the city, seeing any proposed properties that's in the city that can accommodate this problem. Growing up in the front of business. So, like I said, I love this city. To everyone in here, you know, we eat, breathe, sleep, argue. Derry Beach, Florida. So, you know, just... Just being, you know, one of the native sons in this community, you know, we care. I'm pretty sure you all care, too. So, like I said, I'm just looking at proposed properties that may help soothe this problem. So that's all I wanted to really say about that proposed topic. Everyone have a good evening.

Thank you very much.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners. Andrea Bruton, 33444. I can't tell you how it warms my heart to see the young people here speaking up for themselves today. This is awesome. Thank you. I'm here to express another serious concern about the proposed expansion of the entertainment district west of Swinton Avenue to I-95 and its direct impact on the businesses and the residents who live there. At a previous commission meeting, The mayor stated that the entertainment district was originally east of Swinton Avenue to bring the entire city together to support businesses and enjoy downtown. While that may have been the intent, our community already had thriving businesses and entertainment, restaurants, music, and gathering places long before the district was created. The issue isn't whether our community deserves entertainment. We've always had it. Our history is worth protecting, but this conversation is more about economic growth and opportunity. Within the past five years, two businesses opened along Atlantic Avenue that created entertainment opportunities for our community, and they were thriving. Yet, they were forced to shut down due to the noise ordinance that differed from those applied east of Swinton. We ask that you provide the same opportunities for businesses and residents on the west as you afforded those on the east. The people who live in this neighborhood understand its history, the strengths, the challenges, and the cultural better than anyone else. Our voices should carry the greatest weight when decisions are made that directly affect our quality of life. While all perspectives are valuable, those who do not live in our community should not outweigh the voices that do. We could never go to Pineapple Grove or Del Ida or any neighborhood east of Swinton and tell those residents what is best for their community or what kind of entertainment district they should have. We simply ask for the same respect. If the district is expanded west of I-95, it cannot simply be an extension of boundaries. It must recognize and preserve the cultural history and the identity that existed in this community for generations while ensuring equitable economic investment and opportunities. We don't need our identity redefined. We need it respected and supported. Please ensure that the people who call this community home are not just included in the conversation, but are leading it. And at the same time, the level of opportunity and investment is the same level of opportunity and investment is extended west as it has been east. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Good evening. Dedrick Strong, 33444. Hey, planning and designing buddy. I want to spend a few moments to talk about the cemetery. I don't want to really rehash what's already been said, but I wanted to point out a glaring issue here. This cemetery, the problem with it is poor planning. I've been a part of the city for a long time, sat on several boards. One of the things that I know about the city of Derry Beach is You all are adamant about planning. You plan 30, 40, 50 years ahead, but that didn't happen with the cemetery. Land is not infinite. You knew that over 100 years ago when you put the cemetery there and you dedicated that land. You knew at some point it was going to run out. Land is not infinite. Human life is. And I heard Mr. Metalk give his presentation. But what I noticed was it was a glowing testament to what the cemetery is and what he thinks it should be. But I didn't hear any real solutions. He kind of glossed over the whole fact that we ran out of land. We don't have that land anymore. And he was like, well, maybe we can workshop it. The problem I have with that is you're over parts and wrecks. You should have come tonight with some viable solutions, some options, instead of just saying, let's workshop it later on. And another thing I noticed, and I don't know if any of you all in here noticed, but once he finished his presentation, he left. He didn't stay to hear what the community had to say about the cemetery. And I think that's a problem, and it speaks to leadership. So, again, I I don't understand how you can plan this city for 40, 50 years out, but you didn't plan for the cemetery. My dad got up and he talked about having to talk to families and tell them you have to pay four or five times as much as you would pay being a resident in the city by having to go to West City's private cemeteries. And quite frankly, they are gouging. People because they know you can't bury in Boynton. You can't bury in Delray. So they're taking full advantage of it. Like you said, you're paying more for the plot than you are for the funeral itself. And that's ridiculous. It's never been that way. But a lot of that fault falls on the city. Not necessarily you all because this was an issue way before you got here. But you're here now. You've been here for a while. Mr. Metalk has been here for a while. There should be some proposal or some plan already in place. for how we move forward with this issue. And I have not heard, if there's one, I haven't heard it. It wasn't in this presentation. And if we're going to hear one, it should have been tonight in that presentation. We shouldn't have to wait to workshop an issue that has been ongoing at least for the past 10 or 15 years. I believe that we all have been talking about it. So there has to be a higher level of accountability for the people that's over this department. And I think you all really need to look into it.

Thank you very much, Mr. Trump.

My name is Chuck Ridley. I am 33444. I want to continue the conversation that Ms. Bruden started regarding the entertainment district extending to I-95. This, again, is not a new conversation. So let me start at the end. I was extremely disappointed in many of the members of this commission asking for additional conversations about this topic as though you haven't had enough. We have shared with you through the Southwest Plan. I know because I was the chair. We shared with you through the Set Transformation Plan. Again, I know because I was the chair. We shared it with you through the most recent update. I know again because I was the organizer that worked with your staff. I've seen you at the meetings. I've seen you hear the topic come up. We have explained to you infinitum about why we wanted to see it extend back Now, I'm saying back because it once existed. It was there. We're not making that up. It existed. So what happened? It was an attentional act. The moment we got a CRA and downtown became the focus, to kill, entertain adult, well, y'all know what I mean when I'm saying adult entertainment, from I-95 to Swinton so that you could see the downtown happen. It was killed. Now, there are folk in here can tell you that west of Swinton, was called lottering if you stood on the sidewalk. And east of Swinton was called pedestrian traffic. They will tell you about the lights that used to flash when you would be leaving this neighborhood from west of Swinton to I-95 so that it made it easy for those who was exiting. They will tell you about the type of law enforcement that happened that made it uncomfortable They will tell you how cold will go in to kill their business. Now, when we come to the entertainment district, it almost feels like double talk, not just double standard. Because when we talked about the noise ordinance and brought up entertainment district, it wasn't about entertainment district. It was about the noise ordinance. And then when we talk about the noise ordinance, guess what it is? I mean, the entertainment district, it's about the noise. I ran out of time. The last thing I want to say is when this young lady in seat four says she's talking to this neighborhood, don't think the neighborhood voice hasn't been heard. There is no one to spend more time listening to what has been said and coming back. You do not need to get your staff to come tell you and set up meetings. When she says something, please listen. Thank you very much.

Hello, my name is Toy Thurman. Usually I don't speak. My address is also 33444. So I just wanted to express a couple of concerns. First off, I see most of the concerns that came in today were strictly about having plots at the graveyard. But personally, I think it's a bigger issue rather than just the plots. There's fungus at the graveyards that has been complained about. There's not trash cans at the graveyard. And I remember even the last commission meeting that we came to, you guys were making a big decision about what taking a building from one of the parks or something like that. There's so many more issues around Delray. I mean, even thinking about the roads, Carver, Carver Middle School, that road right there, how long have you guys been working on that road just alone? while so I think even going back to the graveyards I don't think the biggest concern is necessary to plots but what about the maintenance when we complain about things at the graveyard should there be retaliation because I know that we've complained and I know of someone who has definitely complained and someone whoever works at the graveyard Sam He came, he grabbed my grandma's stuff, took her flowers. Should we not complain about things that happened? Or if it's a concern or anything like that? The concern was there's fungus at the graveyards. There's no garbage cans. It's a lot of maintenance that could be done, but it seemed like the focus is elsewhere. So I think my biggest concern is not really even the plots, because I wouldn't want to be buried out there with fungus. And nor would I want to be out there while, you know, my family is fighting for me and I'm getting retaliated. So flowers are being gone. But then you look around and everyone else's flowers and, you know, accessories are still there. But because what we're complaining and speaking out, does that mean that our flowers and stuff gets omitted and everyone else's get to stay for speaking out again? But that's all I had to say. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Montre Bennett, 323-333-444. I'd have been in Chicago whole week. OK, so cemetery life. I'm going to speak first of my son, Malachi Bennett. Florida Department of Transportation put his sign up on Northwest Seventh Avenue. What year? 2016. And the sign has been there. So one day, probably three months ago, I did not see the sign. And then his mom called and said she did not see the sign. So I rolled past, and I see the sign next to Junior Shop in the grass across the street. So whoever y'all hired to contract these streets, make sure they put the stuff back. I put a sign in my yard for the last month and a half because the city ain't looking for it. The contractor didn't look for her to put it back. So to say this to say, Chicago Fungus is a company in Chicago they use to get rid of the fungus out of their spruce trees. Maybe look into that company. Maybe they have something to take care of fungus. Three, the cemetery. That's our loved one's final resting place. When my son died in 2013, I was out there decorating his grave faithfully for every holiday, everything. And I took care of it. I cleaned it. I did it myself because I wasn't expecting for nobody else to do that for my loved one. So when they put out that sign saying we can't decorate, that pissed me off because now this is my child's final resting place. My child is two years old. So to me, to give him some comfort, that was comfort for me to go out there and decorate his grave. For city workers to complain because it gets in the way, yeah, hoo-ha. You move them when you're digging up a grave and you put it back. What's the difference? Move it out of the way and put it back. And a lot of times they don't put stuff back in the right spots. So my last request, how does the city put my child's son back on Northwest 7th Avenue and 11th Avenue? Right there by the gas station. That open grass is right there on the road. That's all I ask. I'm complete.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Public comment is now closed. I now need... Oh, I thought you were telling me to do a comment.

I'm sorry.

I need a motion to approve the consent if you all have the opportunity. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Consent agenda is adopted. Approved. Whatever. Okay. Regular agenda item number 7A, internal auditor's merit increase.

Thank you.

All right. Good afternoon, Mayor, Commissioners, Human Resources Department. Here to present the internal auditor merit increase. Ms. Torres has received all of your performance evaluations. She is aware of them. And the cumulative score, the net score was 3.5%, which was up for your consideration for merit increase.

Okay. All right. Is there any discussion for the commission? Any motions?

I'll make a motion to approve the 3.5 merit increase for the city internal auditor. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? It is approved. Resolution now 111-26. Would you please read the resolution into the record?

A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida amending its budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025 by providing for supplemental appropriations in the amounts identified in Exhibit A, repealing all resolutions inconsistent herewith, providing an effective date and further purposes.

Thank you very much. Mr. Dockowitz.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, commissioners, city attorney, city clerk.

Mr. Dockowitz, your mic is not on. I'm sorry.

It is now.

Oh, thank you.

Yes, thank you. OK, we have certain items for budget transfers for this evening. let's start with the general fund communications creative arts school requests a ninety thousand dollar expense budget transfer from contractual services to a different line item supplies and equipment promotional special events and advertising In response to sustained growth in programming, enrollment, and community demand, this reallocation of funds will strengthen operations, increase revenue, and ensure the continued success and sustainability of the Creative Arts School. Regarding funding, it's no change because it's an expense-to-expense transfer in the general fund. Second item, neighborhood and community services requested $14,500 expense budget transfer from tuition reimbursement to training and education, travel and per diem, and uniforms to support professional development for new staff and purchase of uniforms for daily operations. Again, no change from funding $14,500 expense to expense transfer within the general fund.

Okay.

Finance requests to transfer $448.77 within the city manager department to clear a travel and training deficit and $81,889 remaining across various general ledger expense budgets related to the move of the education position from the City Manager Department to Neighborhood and Community Services Department to ensure proper expense reporting where that area is now located. Again, funding source no change, $82,377 expense-to-expense transfer in the general fund. Finance requests to transfer $3,298.40 within finance to clear a sick vacation payout deficit and $365,710.99 remaining across various general ledger expense budgets related to the move of purchasing from the finance department to its own department, which occurred April 27th, to ensure proper expense accounting. Again, no change. The $369,009.39 expense to expense transfer is within the general fund. Finance also requests to transfer $72,765.64 remaining across salaries, wages, and FICA expense budgets related to the move of pension administration from the Finance Department to Human Resources Department, which occurred May 4th, to ensure proper expense accounting. No change funding source, the $72,765.64 expense to expense transfer is all within the general fund. General construction fund, $19,609,608.43. Public works request, a $252,751.43. and 34 cent revenue increase to prior year surplus and expense increase to aid to government agencies, CRA, to refund surplus funds following project closeout of Osceola Park phase one and two projects. Public Works requests a net revenue increase of $19,356,857 to Community Redevelopment Authority contributions and donations and a net expense increases across various capital projects to align with First Amendment of the interlocal agreement between the city and the CRA for construction professional services for fiscal year 2526. The amendment decreases fiscal year 26 funding for the Northwest Neighborhood Project by $3,706,725 for a new total of $11,893,275. increases Southwest 8th Avenue, Southwest 2nd Street intersection improvements by $107,000 for a new total of $318,000 and increases Pompey Park Recreation Center project by $23 million for a new total of $48 million. Project totals for Merritt Park Shade Structure and Carver Park Playground are also amended from $150,000 to $118,910 and $360,000 to $347,672, respectively. The increase amount requested is $19,609,608.43. The funding source, increasing revenues and expenditures by that total amount within the general construction fund.

Thank you very much. Are there any questions from anybody on the commission? Seeing none, then I need a motion to approve the resolution.

So moved. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Adopted. Thank you. Okay. 7C.

Resolution number 109-26, a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, recognizing that the City of Delray Beach is considering amendments to its Land Development Regulations, LDR, with respect to payments to the City of Delray Beach Housing Trust Fund in lieu of providing on-site or off-site workforce housing. providing that during the pendency of the city's consideration of the new LDR amendments, the city will defer the processing and approval of all applications in lieu of workforce housing requests and providing an effective date. This is in response to the commission's direction to review the ability for applicants to pay a one-time fee in lieu of providing onsite workforce housing. It doesn't do anything to the rest of the program. It's just that until we come up with a new number, if we receive an application, it's going to be on hold until the commission directs staff on how to handle those. What number you want or if you don't want a number at all?

Can I ask for clarification? So you're saying it's just the amount, nothing else? Because you know that applicant who came in front of us, a lovely gentleman who bought the, wanted to out-purchase the workforce.

He was already denied. So if he wanted to come in.

He's asking to meet with us for an off-site purchase. So it's unimpacted.

Thank you. It's just if somebody wants to make an in-lieu payment, they won't be able to until the commission determines that amount.

Thank you.

So are we going to have a presentation? Do we just want to? I think we just move it through. So then, Thea, you know, she was back there, so I was going to drag her up there. I was saving her the trip. I need a motion. If there's any other comment.

Motion to approve resolution number 109-26.

I'll just stay here and say aye. Seconded. Seconded.

All in favor? Any opposed? Fine. I'm unanimous. 7D. Nominations for appointments to the Delray Beach Housing Authority. Based on the rotation system, there are two regular members. One will be made by Vice Mayor Burns. The second will be made by Mayor Carney. Ms. Burns.

I nominate Suzanne Wright.

Okay, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Fine. I'm going to nominate Diane Colonna.

All in favor? Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, that's fine. We're going to go now to 7E, nominations for appointments to the Police Advisory Board. Commissioner Casale and Vice Mayor Burns have these appointments. Commissioner Casale, you go first.

Yes, I'd like to nominate Matt Willman. He's back here. Okay.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Approved. Commissioner Burns?

Maxwell Zinge?

Max Dengage. Okay. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Okay. That's it. Done. Nominations for appointments to the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. This we have first Commissioner Mollica, then Commissioner Casale, then Vice Mayor Burns, then Mayor Carney, and then Deputy Vice Mayor Markert, and then again Commissioner Mollica. So you get two, but you have to do them in order just in case. Okay. So anyway.

So my first nomination is for Danny Pacheco.

Who? Danny Pacheco. Very nice. All right. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Approved. Next is, who did I say?

Cassell. Commissioner Cassell.

I'm sorry?

Can I select Ms. Dobson?

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? OK. next is vice mayor yep the vice mayor burns um this um badette augustine okay all in favor aye aye any opposed that's fine next is it's me no next is me okay i'm going to uh uh reappoint monica uh brisson good choice thank you all in favor and Now I think it's your time.

Suzanne Wright.

No, she was already placed on that.

She's just been appointed on something else. Oh, yeah.

Oh, OK. Nick Minerva.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? OK. And the last one is Commissioner Malka.

Ryan Hawley.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No? Fine. Perfect. 7G, nominations for appointments to the Public Art Advisory Board. Commissioner Markert, Commissioner Malika, and Commissioner Cassell. Deputy Vice Mayor Markert, you go first.

Joe Ehrenstein.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Commissioner Malika.

Monterey Bennett.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? OK. Appointment check. Appointed. And the last is Commissioner Casale.

Thank you. Lark Keeler.

I'm sorry. Which name?

Lark Keeler with a K. Second from the last.

Oh, yeah, there he is. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, that's fine. Next is the appointments to the Green Implementation Advancement Board. Two regular members. First will be done by Vice Mayor Carney. The second will be done by Deputy Vice Mayor Markert. I am going to choose Sarah Brown. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Fine. Number two?

Bonnie Bellinoli.

Bonnie Bellinoli. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Those are all done.

Wait, who did he pick?

Bonnie Bellinoli, the last name.

Bellinotti.

Oh, thank you. I thought you were saying a B. I apologize. Thank you.

okay at this point i'm going to be passing the gavel to vice mayor burns who will be chairing the meeting for the next agenda item for which i have accused myself and filed the appropriate forms with the city attorney's office and um

The next item on the agenda is 7i.

Do you want me to read the resolution? Yes, please. A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, approving a conditional use to allow freestanding multifamily housing in the General Commercial Zoning District, approving a waiver requested Section 43304A of the Land Development Regulations to allow an offset of zero feet between townhomes Approving a waiver request to section 434H6B of the land development regulations to allow decorative fencing in the special landscape setback. Approving a waiver request to section 469D6D of the land development regulations to allow 22 foot wide drive aisle. Approving a waiver request to section 4616H3D of the land development regulations to allow three foot buffer between driveways. Approving an internal adjustment request to section 462B of the land development regulations to allow a minimum separation distance of 25 feet and 12 feet 4 inches between residential buildings, approving the adequacy of the proposed off-street loading accommodations pursuant to Section 4610C of the Land Development Regulations, and approving a Level 4 site plan, landscape plan, and architectural relations for the project located at 2419, 2507, 2515, 2519, 2601, 2605, and 2613 North Federal Highway, as more particularly described herein, providing for an effective date and for other purposes.

Thank you. So are there anyone that's here that will be speaking on this item? Please stand and be sworn in.

By the authority vested in me, as a notary of the state of Florida, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes.

Thank you. Has the project been entered into the file? That was, okay.

Good evening, Anthea Ginotis, Development Services Director. For the record, I'm going to enter two files, 2025-213, which is for the Level 4 site plan and waivers, and 2025-214, which is for the conditional use.

Okay, thank you. Any ex parte communication Commission Commissioner Mulliker.

Thank you. I drove by the property. I spoke to Jeff Costello. I spoke to Peter Carney I watched the planning and zoning meeting on March 18th and I spoke to several citizens and We received some emails which are on the server.

Thank you Commissioner at market.

Yeah things that are on the server applied to me as well And I did meet with mr. Cassell

Okay. And things on the server as well. I spoke to Mr. Costello and then I also drove by the property.

I met with Mr. Costello. I drove by the property. I spoke with staff. I spoke with the applicant, Mr. McFillin. I have spoken to some of the planning and zoning board members, generally, not specifically to the project, but other things. And I did receive an email on my private email, which I forwarded on to the city email.

Okay, thank you, and we will have the presentation of the Okay, mr. Costello good evening commissioners city manager city attorney moment services team community Jeff Costello JC planning solutions three three four four four Here to present on behalf of the applicant the subject properties on North Federal Highway there was a Long list of addresses that go with this. And as you can see, it's currently vacant in the surrounding property. I'm sorry.

Can we wait one moment, please? I'm sorry.

I forgot to read the rules, so let me read the rules and pardon me. Okay, this hearing shall be conducted in accordance with the quasi-judicial rules. The applicant and the city shall be allowed 15 minutes each to present their case. The public shall be allowed to speak for three minutes each or a maximum of six minutes if the person represents an organization or a group of people who are present but agree not to speak. The city commission staff and the applicant may be allowed to cross-examine a witness. The city or the applicant will be allowed to offer rebuttal testimony. The decision to approve or deny an application or appeal may not legally be made upon personal views As to whether a project is a good project or not, nor may a decision be based on the number of citizens who support or oppose a particular project. The law requires that all decisions must be made on the basis of whether the project meets the requirements of law, the comprehensive plan, and the land development regulations. Thank you. I'm sorry, you may proceed.

Thank you. On your screen is... So a brief background with regards to the property. Currently, the properties are vacant. The existing commercial structures were demolished in 2006, so it's been vacant for 20 years. Most recent land use actions occurred In 2022, where there was a rezoning denied from rezoning from GC to AC. And then on May 18, the Planning and Zoning Board, your local planning agency unanimously recommended approval of the proposed conditional use site plan, various waivers, and internal adjustment. These are just some, I'm going to go quickly, quick photos of the area. I'm sure you all have driven by the site, very familiar with some of the wonderful lodging just across the street at the Budget Inn. And then to the east, we have, of course, this low-density, single-family town of Gulfstream. The proposal was $39,000. townhouse type condominium units in purple already already they're all two stories the only three stories are adjacent to the commercial to the south there there are two three-story four-unit three-story buildings includes the and then blue you have the amenity building as well as the swimming pool tot lot this does include this is all it's can self-contain access off the federal highway, right turn lane off the federal highway into the site. And there's the waivers that went through thoroughly by our city attorney. This is the overall. So with regard to the required findings that need to be made, required findings can be made with regard to LDR section 3.1.1. regarding the land use map. The GC zoning is preferred under the GC land use designation. This is a mixed use zoning, mixed use land use and zoning district, which allows, provides for this type of use. The use as a freestanding in this GC is a conditional use for freestanding multifamily housing. The density While 12 units per acre is the max in this particular location, we're proposing 10.7 instead of 52 units, 47 units, floor area ratio of 0.79, and then, of course, the floor area ratio of 3 is allowed. Concurrency staff report confirms that the project meets adopted letter of service standards. Very detailed staff report. And then the consistency with regard to the to the comprehensive plan as well as Article 3.2. Consistency with the comprehensive plan, particularly with regard to the neighborhood districts and quarters element, the housing element, economic prosperity element, as well as the north federal highway redevelopment plan, which this is within, the redevelopment area. On your screen are a number of applicable Con plan policies from NDC, the economic prosperity element, and include the housing element. But just to note that with regard to NDC 1.3.10, the use of general commercial land use designation to accommodate wide range of non-residential and mixed-use development and limited stand-alone residential development along major corridors and in certain districts in the city. That's just Con at one, but there's others that support this proposal. Compliance with the LDRs, the LDR section 246A5 conditional use findings, in addition to chapter 3, which positive findings can be made to, findings can be made that establishing the conditional use will not have a significantly detrimental, I'll just say, will have a detrimental effect. There is no, it just will not have a detrimental effect upon the stability of the neighborhood within which it will be located. And it will not hinder development or redevelopment nearby properties. This is a redevelopment initiative in a redevelopment area that needs attention and investment. On your screen are various surrounding zonings. Of course, to the north, west, south, our commercial to the east is low-density residential. It's adjacent to a blighted, underutilized commercial properties within the north of the highway redevelopment area. The system to revitalization and stabilization of this corridor, which needs attention. The two-story townhomes with increased setbacks adjacent to the single family. We heard through the concerns with compatibility when the rezoning was going through with the previous proposal. The intent coming out of the gates was to be compatible with the low density to the east. And we've had letters of support or emails that you've seen from the adjacent residents. Again, we went through the density, floor area ratio, and so forth. Buildings are reduced, floor area ratio reduced. This is just an exhibit that shows what could be there with a 48-foot high building all along in the majority lot. Noted that, yeah, this wasn't scaled out to be all in all, but it just gives an example of it could be 48-foot high within one single building. The site plan findings, 2410A3, positive findings can be made with the standards for site plan and plat options 3.2.3. There's a list of them in detail in your staff reports regarding traffic circulation, multimodal connectivity, open spaces, street circulation, housing types, and so forth, safety, livability, stability in surrounding neighborhoods. This project proposal meets the applicable standards. There's no identified areas of concern with regard to impacts of the overall site configuration and the building design on the surrounding area. This does support compact urban development, which was envisioned in the North Federal Highway corridor. Development proposal complies with the LDR sections development standards, excuse me, listed up on the screen, as well as their performance standards. It's kind of an odd situation in a commercial district where You need to still comply with these standards for multifamily as though you were in a residential zoning district. However, positive findings can be made with regard to these standards. This screen really duplicates what's in the staff report where we're below density, height, maximum height of what the three-story buildings is 38 where 48 is allowed. The two-story structures are 26 and a half feet in essence. We increased the open space required parking. We increased that. Each unit has two car garages and two car driveways, as well as there's other scattered parking throughout the development. With regard to the waivers, this was previously approved by the reduction in stacking distance with the city engineer and DOT. There is a right turn lane. This has been addressed and has been approved. With regard to drive out with. The standard is the section of the code relates more of a parking lot scenario. Here we're dealing with internal streets, internal to the site, at 22 feet wide, or typical of a city street, 22 feet wide. And so in this particular case, what we have are the favor findings, 2411B5, where listed on your screen, where it won't have an effect on you. These are all internal to the site. Won't, if adversely, affect the neighboring area, diminish provision of public facilities, create an unsafe situation, or result in a special privilege. These are very similar waivers to what was processed with the tropics of Delray across the street in their townhouse component. It's a little different when you're dealing with a freestanding condo building And then you're providing the streets and access for townhomes. Again, in this case, too, there's sufficient maneuvering area between the driveways for vehicles. The street itself, 22 feet wide, there's traffic calming that's being provided. I do want to note that there are stop signs provided throughout the site, mid-block crossings, and then also with regard to the speed limit limited to 15 miles per hour. There is another way with regard to the four-foot offset. The way the code provides is the whole building needs to offset. The architects went forward and designed it where the actual structure itself, each unit, the way the building is designed, the articulation of the buildings provide that four-foot offset while the entire building does not. These are just some of the exhibits that the architects provided. And then the deposit of findings can also be made with regard to the waiver findings. This is all internal to the site and meets the intent of the code and provided the relief intended by the LDR designing the articulation within each unit. I'm just scanning through. Internal adjustment. This is another one where this provision relates to is more of a suburban code requirement. We're distanced between buildings where we also have a townhouse section that has reduced setbacks. But the provision applied. So we have requested the waiver. It isn't appropriate for non-residential zone properties or townhouse-type developments, especially in urban areas, such as the North Federal Highway corridor, downtown area, and other redevelopment areas. It is true. I mean, this isn't the CBD, but we wouldn't have this conversation. But it is what it is. So the North Federal Highway Redevelopment Plan emphasizes traditional townhouse-type development, traditional neighborhood development design principles, which this accomplishes. And a superior product will prevail by providing this reduction. Just want to note, so between the buildings, what you see is the townhouse regulations for two-story buildings, 25-foot separation, however that other co-provision applies. So primarily, most of the distance between is 25 feet. For the three-story townhomes, it's supposed to be 30 feet. However, we're also requesting 25. We shifted the buildings away from the residential to the east to try to mitigate even further. And then also, it all applies to the end units and even between the amenity building and this unit here, in this small area here. Loading deliveries, you know, the 4610 are loading guidelines, and it doesn't really suggest loading berths for single-family duplex or townhome developments. However, it is a code provision that we need to address. And so we did provide the statement that, you know, most of the loading activities are two-car driveways, two-car garages. A vehicle could park there for move-ins, move-outs, also within the street on a short-term basis. coordinating with the condo association. And then you have your regular drop-offs that you have with your FedEx and Amazon. Typically, they just pull up, drop off, they're out. So it's a very short-term occurrence and no conflicts. Positive value is going to be made with regard to landscape plan, 2410A3C. It's consistency with 4616. Significant landscaping on the perimeter side. I did forget to mention that there will be an eight-foot-high wall on the east side of the property and extensive landscaping as required to mitigate any impacts from commercial to the low-density residential on the east. Special landscape setbacks. Along Federal Highway, there's a special landscape setback requirement. However, if you want to put decorative fencing within that area and landscaping, A waiver is required. Positive findings can be made. This has been approved in various townhome situations. This one photo is St. George's townhomes just south of here near the Minister Golf Place. And then also you could see the rendering where the landscaping on either side of the decorative fencing, the concrete columns with decorative aluminum fencing, really aesthetically appealing along the corridor, really an upgrade to this corridor. And then last but not least, there is another proposition with regard to a landscape setback between properties. It's supposed to be five feet. In this particular case, positive findings, again, can be made. These are all internal to the site, and it won't affect the neighboring areas in all the reasons listed on the screen. We did provide the way that the townhomes are oriented. In some cases, the driveway's a butt, and there's a three-foot separation there with Alexander Prom landscaping. However, the other area where the fronts are is increased much greater than is required by code to provide a more substantial tree, as you can see on the screen. And then with regard to architectural elevations, The criteria for board action, 4618E1-3, on the masonry modern architectural style. There's the rendering up on the screen with regard to the townhomes, the varying roof lines, the articulation in the townhomes. There will be a really significant improvement on the North Federal Highway corridor. These I'm going to go through quickly. And I thank you and appreciate your support.

All right, thank you. Okay, to the city.

OK, so good evening. Anthea Giannotis, Development Services Director. With me is Susanna Rodriguez, who's a senior planner, and she was the project planner for this project. So I asked her to be here if there's any detailed questions as well. You're voting on a couple of things. You are voting to approve the site plan, the waivers, and the conditional use. They all have different standards. Mr. Costello raced through them, I think, really well. But I'm going to try to go quickly and not repeat. You know where the subject area is. It directly abuts the town of Gulfstream with single-family housing, which, as he mentioned, was a problem with the previous Attempt to change it to automotive commercial, you know what's around there So the proposed density is 10.7. The maximum density allowed is 12 Just to be clear. I'm not trying to sway you but we do need to deal in fact and truth and when you're dealing with general commercial it is eligible for the live local act for development which allows up to 40 dwelling units per acre you still have to fit it on the site and You are required to do 10% commercial in our city because we don't have very much commercial, and 40% is affordable housing. So general commercial is a very broad. It can be all commercial. With a conditional use approval, it can be all residential. But that is one of the items you have to take action on. So the proposal, I think, as you've gotten a good overview, is 47 residential units. They are in a townhouse typology, but they are not proposed to be fee simple. That changes a couple of things. The loop access that you see is actually not a private road. It is considered a drive aisle. A private road has other requirements, like five foot sidewalks and street trees lining it, which would be nice to have, but is not what is proposed here, necessarily. All of the units, regardless of whether they're two or three stories, are three bedroom, and all of them are over 3,000 square feet. There is a one-gated vehicular access, which an administrative waiver of the stacking distance has been granted by engineering because there is a new turn lane coming in that accommodates that. There's no reason to pull the gate further forward to do that on the site. There are two pedestrian links, North Federal Highway, and I do think that becomes important with some of the findings. So there are four waivers that you will have to use the waiver findings to grant. One is the relief from the four-foot townhouse off-site. The other is the decorative fencing. Then there's the drive aisle being reduced from 24 feet to 22 feet. That's because there are garages that are backing out towards each other. And then there is the five-foot landscape buffer. The internal adjustment, meaning if you adjust this, it doesn't really affect the neighbors. It only affects what's happening inside the project is the spacing between the buildings and the loading determination. So very, very quickly, waiver one is the off-site. The code Kind of directs that the architectural articulation happened between units so that you know Which unit is happening is is is which I guess is the the intent behind it It is important and I think mr. Costello touched on this and I don't disagree with him in the central business district That is not a requirement. We have a more urban form as expected this is absolutely a requirement when it's a freestanding PUD and this is a and north federal highway so i think some of this is which standard is maybe more appropriate the architecture provides the variation through not only using different story heights which we don't always see they usually all come in three stories so the summer two summer three and then each individual unit itself has roofline articulations as well so it's a different articulation I'd leave it to the architect to discuss anything more detailed than that. The special landscape treatment. What is proposed along Federal Highway is a six-foot fence. There's a mixture of sunshine palms and crape myrtles. This has been the situation that's happened over and over again on Federal Highway to sort of realize the urban form. In this case, according to the landscape plans, you will have the wider sidewalk on Federal Highway. The little strip of grass is gone, which is, I think, a better solution. But as you can see, there's the decorative fence. The access from the units is provided through a gate. It's a very similar design solution here, and it actually provides those pedestrian links for those units and provides that activity and other things. They have overhead power lines that does limit the tree that they can put in place. They've specified crape myrtles. We kind of want to talk to them about Dujun hollies, but it's a minor adjustment on the species if they're amenable to just something that maybe would cast a bit more shade faster. However, they're fairly consistent with other developments that have had this. The dry vial width. This is two-way circulation. And there are, if I can get closer, in some situations driveways are backing out from driveways. If it was purely a drive aisle, it would need to be 24 feet. It's a drive aisle and then there's also four foot sidewalks. They're not traditional sidewalks. They're at the same grade as the ground. That's good for backing out. It's not preferable for pedestrian separation from moving cars. So It's just something to consider with this waiver request. If it was a street, a private road, the sidewalk would be required to be five feet. And it would either have a curb or there would be a landscape separation. So it's a little bit of design standards from both sides. sides of that. There are parallel parking spaces. These are guest spaces in some cases. And let's see, fire had noted some concerns that if the fire truck blocks has to respond and blocks the path. But again, this is It's a loop road that is connecting the neighbors. And if something's blocked the connection, you could go the other way. So it is something that, you know, it's a serious consideration. And obviously, you know, that's something to maintain, to consider. The landscape waiver, this comes up over and over again with the rears, usually, of town homes, that because the width of the garages have expanded over time to almost be the width of the units, there's not a lot of room left over for the, For the trees, in this case, staggering the entries with the garages actually has provided more opportunities for landscaping than we typically see. So while it's only three feet here, it's over 16 feet here, over nine feet here. And I think it's just a determination to you using the findings whether or not it meets the criteria. So for those four, you have to decide whether granting any of those or all of those or none of those creates an adverse impact on the neighboring area, whether there is an issue with public facilities, whether something is unsafe as a result, or if it's a special privilege. For the internal adjustment, the code requires a formula to determine, based on the height of different buildings, how much separation should be between them to accommodate light and air in open space. And this is something that's required for anything that's condominium or townhome. So a condominium and a townhome typology, that certainly applies. So using the formula, the 25 foot opening here really should be 37. The 25 foot here should be 37. The 12 should be 31. However, Mr. Costello is accurate. This is also a requirement. We do not apply downtown in the more urban environments. We require instead in that area of town, what is required is that if the length of your building is more than 250 feet, you have to provide an access point, a pedestrian thruway. The lengths of these buildings are 192. So that's just something to consider, whether you think it's an acceptable execution of the code and the level of urbanism that it's supposed to be. And that, again, is internal because it doesn't affect an adjoining neighborhood. Loading, we have seen a couple of these, and to be honest, if you are inclined to grant this, I think I need to bring an LDR amendment through because if I live in one of these townhomes and I have a private garage and driveway and somebody is delivering a new couch, they're going to unload in my driveway or in my area without blocking a neighbor. When this rule is applied to multifamily that is in a condominium building or in an apartment building, and we don't have loading, then somebody is bringing the couch and they're blocking three people's parking spaces to stop and unload the truck. That's why that rule is there, ultimately. So that's for that one. The landscape plan, because you are approving the landscape plan the same as you're approving the elevations and all of that, is, again, it meets the standard. It does manage to provide more shade trees where there is not a sidewalk versus along some of the pedestrian paths. But overall, the site doesn't have a lot of planting on it, and it will have a significant amount more. And again, just the part that faces outward along Federal Highway, there are overhead lines, but we really want to achieve a shaded walk as quickly as possible for the people that may live here even. um this is the traffic system so then there's the other performance standards for granting all multi-families how to that's over six units per acre does the traffic system control speed it's meant to use loops short segments just the way that it's designed and then ultimately having more than one entry is desired if possible and then whether or not there's um you know, stop signs, speed bumps. Again, it's a loop road. Are the buildings placed in a manner that the overall massing provides a feeling of open space? This is kind of interrelated to the internal adjustment. So that's something that you're looking at to determine if it's adequate. I do think that we require additional rear setbacks when you about single family or residential zoning. And even though Gulfstream's single family isn't technically in the city, they did provide the increased setback to 12 and 1 half feet from 10 feet. And then finally there's supposed to be a very streetscape and building design it does consist of two and three story buildings and incorporates the different moves and shifts in a different manner There are other performance standard The biggest standard that will come up again in the consistency with a comp plan and with this one is the housing variety type The city requires this over and over again with our standards because we are trying to achieve a mix of incomes and a mix of housing opportunities within the developments that come up. So all of these are three bedrooms. All of them are over 3,000 square feet. There is not a variety in the housing type. In terms of the open space, 25% is required, 27.4% is provided. There's 134 native trees specified, but only 54 are required. There are two links to Federal Highway, which provides that permeability for pedestrian access by ped access. Obviously, you've seen the architecture. And there are common areas and amenities that serve the residents as part of this plan. There are on-street parking spaces provided internally for guest parking, things like that. The criteria for your board action on the elevations, if you think they're in good taste, there's new legislation that we probably need to get into that. And I mean, they're not going to depreciate the appearance of the neighborhood. And generally, being in harmony, this is a much more harmonious transition for our neighbors that are single family in terms of height and scale. And then again, there's a full analysis of concurrency. It's expected to provide 324 additional daily trips. It has been determined by the county to meet the traffic requirements. There are some solid waste concerns about the way that the gate and the visitor's lane works. Or did we resolve that between the planning board and? Okay, I'll let Mr. Costello respond to that when he comes back. And ultimately, there's a lot of comprehensive plan elements that Mr. Costello has provided you. There's plenty in the backup with the city staff report as well. And standards for site plan action, I think you've gone through all of those again. And then in addition to Chapter 3, for the freestanding conditional use to have a freestanding all-residential project and not have commercial in it, you just have to decide whether it's going to have a detrimental effect on the stability of the neighborhood or hinder development or redevelopment. The Planning and Zoning Board reviewed this on May 18th, and they recommended approval unanimously.

And they would?

recommended approval unanimously.

And that's it. Thanks, Mayor. Can we take a break for a minute before you move on?

Is that all right? Yes. Thank you. Two minutes?

I can move faster than that.

Okay, we're going to take a two-minute break.

Can you slide back two slides for me, please? One of those slides went over.

All right, we're back in order. So, Anthea, did you finish your presentation? Okay. So are there any public, anyone from the public wishing to speak on this item?

And, Vice Mayor, just as a reminder, because this is quasi-judicial, people have to give their name and address. Okay.

Name and address, and hopefully you were sworn in. Let us know if you were sworn in.

Yes, ma'am, of course. Made that mistake four years ago. We're back, and I've been sworn in. All right. My name is Trey Nazaro. I am currently the now town manager of the town of Gulfstream. I was previously with the Attorney's Office, so made that transition the last few months. I just want to say it's great to see City Manager Moore, Attorney General, and the Development Services Director here four years later still doing a great job for the city. The town just wanted to speak in support of this project. I did forward, that should be part of the record, something from one of our commissioners, Rob Canfield. He's been a Gulfstream resident, excuse me, for the past 11 years. He lives in place also very close to this development. He's also a member, a former member, I believe, of the board there. I'm just going to read the portion that I think really speaks to the town's position that he put in that email, which is, as the commission may recall, our community strongly, sorry, the town, strongly opposed the previous proposal to rezone this property for auto commercial use. While we were firmly against that proposal, we also recognize that this property will ultimately be developed. So I've mentioned that it's been vacant for 20 years, so we're seeing some redevelopment here that we're not opposed to. We know that it's going to happen. We believe the current proposal is a thoughtful, appropriate, and far better outcome for both the surrounding neighborhoods and the city than the previous application. So with that, I thank you for your time. Thank you.

Is there anyone else? Seeing none, we'll move on.

Any rebuttal?

Mr. Costello?

No rebuttal, but I just wanted to... Speak to the trash. Speak to the trash. So whenever waste management initially saw the proposal, the entrance was totally redesigned. It was totally different. It was much narrower. Entrance lane coming in. Now there's 24 feet between. There's two entrance lanes, and there's 24 feet in width. Initially it was a lot narrower and so we went through quite a few revisions with staff based on their comments and then working with DOT and so this particular design addresses their concern was that they would get stuck behind someone and it wasn't adequate with the bypass. We've addressed that with them. And I wanted to thank staff in working with us on this. Look, there's a lot of back and forth. This is a trapezoid site. It's an odd site. When you look at a development like this, this requires you to construct a lift station and other infrastructure improvements because just the way the public infrastructure is designed. Just appreciate the support and for staff working with us and a lot of these different adjustments. So that's all. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Anything else? Okay.

Consider them a more robust retreat than the crepe myrtle, maybe before certification. The Duhun?

Duhun-Hawley?

The crepe myrtles and the berry trees?

I believe. To whom Hawley's preferred? Yes.

But we're not negotiating on the dance. Oh, yeah. No. No.

Okay.

I understand.

All right. All right. Thank you. So now to the commission. I'll go to my left. Commissioner Cassell.

I'm sorry. I didn't hear what was going on.

Well, I was going to go to, we're at commissioner comment. Commissioner Cassell wants a minute.

So I campaigned in favor of keeping businesses and I hate to think of like something where business could be to the residential however this particular parcel has sat there for 20 years and no business seems to want to go on there and it's like a blighted eyesore at the gateway to our city and Years ago, I understand there's like a flea market or something, but there's been nothing there ever since. The commercial market has spoken. So we have to think about a change. I mean, Tom is a marketing guy. If somebody doesn't want something for 20 years, you've got to change something up, right? Can't keep it like it is. I did watch the planning and zoning meeting on March 18th, so I understand the project and the vision of it. I think it's a beautiful addition to that. Not addition, a beautiful replacement for what is so ugly when we're driving into town here. I do know that a lot of people from Gulfstream and the surrounding neighborhoods came out and spoke in favor of the project and I just think it's it's especially if there's a risk for live local. I think that it's a beautiful beautiful project and I'd love to Control what goes in there? the plant the PNC I guess voted unanimously for this project and I agree with their recommendation and And I would be in favor of this project.

Okay, thank you. One other thing.

What was it? I don't know why I wrote this. Oh, the loading. So I own a townhome in Atlantic Grove with even smaller than that, even out the sidewalks. And some, I think Anthea mentioned, the move in and move out, it is not a difficult thing. It's like when somebody moves, you know, we tell our neighbors, we know it's going to happen, and the trucks go out. So at least in our townhome, configured similarly but without those sidewalks, it was never difficult because cars can still get around it. Can't back out your garage if there's a truck in front of it, but you usually let your neighbor know. So I just wanted to address that from a personal perspective. So thank you very much. Thank you, Commissioner Marker.

Thank you.

A question and then a couple of comments. Tell me about the wastewater system.

So the right there, that's the lift station that has to be constructed to accommodate the sewage from this development, then there will be it'll pump out into the forest main along Federal Highway. That's due to the depth of the sewer main within the Federal Highway. Okay. And so I'm not an engineer, but that's understanding the basics of it. That's the issue there.

So that water will pump to our sewage treatment plant that we share with Poynton? Yes. Okay.

It's just similar to if you, around town there's various lift stations. And it's the same scenario.

Been selling anything you and I want to do. Lift stations, yuck. And then my other concerns, the loading situation scares me a bit, just knowing neighbors and neighbors. And I'm also concerned about the curb height. That sounds kind of dangerous to me. If there's kids that are there on bikes, you know, and people have the ability to back out, that scares me a bit. I won't lie. Those are my biggest concerns right now.

If I may on that? Sure. With regard to the loading, that's just within any residential area, and you heard Commissioner Mollica speak to it, and their alleys are 20 feet wide. They're alleys. And these are the street. Now, we did try to address, with regard to internal pedestrian connectivity, the designers went ahead and put sidewalks on both sides. They're basically walking paths. Given the speed limit, you'll see on George Bush Boulevard between Seacrest and George Bush, you'll see that the sidewalk is really at grade level, although there is a valley gutter. But there is that very similar situation. In this case here, we thought, well, the designers went ahead with putting on both sides. If it's acceptable, one side of the street would be fine. And and you still have that maneuvering area it would provide your little utility strip maybe a couple feet but but we were Examining it the fact that you do have driveways You'll see a lot of areas like on setting Northeast 7th Avenue where the city went in to put a project. I'll be quick They the sidewalks are at grade level Couldn't then enter consistent with the driveways And they function. The fact is it's internal. It's very slow speed, 15 miles per cap. If there's additional speed humps, we'll install them if that's desired.

OK. And do I get to respond to that?

I mean, this is not a Q&A, so no. If there's a question from one of the members of the commission, they can ask. But unless she's giving you the look like she wants you to ask.

Commissioner Cassell.

Thank you, Mr. Costello, as always, and Ms. Junotis for the presentation. I'm struggling with this project. I had the most lovely conversations with Mr. McFillin about this project. And I like Peter, and I want to embrace this project. I don't know Mr. White. Because when we live in a small community and there's going to be development, you want to support people in developing the city. But I've always, I campaigned and fought tirelessly against commercial in a place where there could be residential. The aura, as you may recall, and a whole host of other developments that I flat out declined. We did take a risk and approve that project across the street, but it sat there for three years and it's not anywhere near being developed in residential. It may even be there's more talk that it could potentially be something commercial, because that could be what the area really needs. We also approved a project slightly to the south on Federal near the bank, and that still hasn't developed, residential. So I know what you're saying about It would appear, because this property is sat here and it hasn't happened, that perhaps residential is the answer. But if you're looking at three recent projects that have been approved, they say otherwise. So what the governor is doing with our taxes and our need for a commercial tax base, we even saw that in our slide today on the budget. What percentage of our taxes come from commercial? like 10 to 17 or something. It's so small. But in looking at this project, even if you can overlook the fact that it doesn't meet the performance standards, which is frankly a big deal if you're having all your units have three bedrooms, that doesn't meet the needs of our residents to justify a waiver. Because you're asking us to waive our rules for something, but what we get should be something good. and that isn't meeting our standards and they were they there there's questions about backing out of the driveways into the road is that a problem are the sidewalks narrower you know i don't even know if they're i don't know the width of the sidewalks if they meet inches okay so it's like costello i'm sorry mr costello no that was my fault i looked at him and gave him the signal to answer i apologize mr costello i did that to you but Even if, and I don't dislike the project. I think it's an attractive project. I like the way they designed it. It looks like it's staggered when in fact it's not. You could argue if you take out, if you do the spacing a little better, you have a couple more units and you fall within our rules. But I still struggle to, I think because that area is going to flourish and develop with all the development going around it residentially, that commercial is necessary. And I very much worry about not protecting and preserving our commercial tax base. Kelly Smallridge came in and spoke to us, and she said it's a mistake to keep on So I'm concerned. But more important, I don't know that I think the performance standard metric that you put up is problematic. And I would just say to you, when you say we don't want live local, there's 40% workforce housing, a residential component with a commercial component. Why not? Why don't we want 40% workforce housing?

so vice mayor can i just yes add something yeah so just remember what you're you're not here to consider a rezoning no i know what we have here is a conditional use and waivers so i think we need to stick to the findings if you're concerned about not i'm concerned about the performance standards that's fine but talking about other properties no no i we have to look at each project individually thank you and with the findings that are before you And so if the performance standards are the issue for you, that's fine. But we can't consider the Live Local Act and other things like that because that's a distraction. Well, it came up, so I felt like I needed to answer that. I understand. But that's not really before me today.

Did you finish your comments? Thank you. So, you know, based on the findings, and I think, you know, I see things a little different. I think that it is consistent with the... comprehensive plan. There were many items showing that it is and that it is compliant with the LDRs. I don't think it will hinder development or redevelopment. So I believe this project meets the standards and I'm ready to support it. Are we ready for a vote? Okay.

I move to approve resolution 96-26.

Can I get a second? Can I second it?

Pass the gavel, just to second it. Pass the gavel? Yes. Okay.

I second it. Okay.

Want to just call the roll?

Call the roll, please.

Vice Mayor Markert? No. Commissioner Mollica?

Yes.

Commissioner Cathal?

No, I'm very sorry.

Vice Mayor Burns? Yes.

And so at this point, I would recommend just, in order to preserve whatever rights they have, It just should be denied. I know conceptually you think it should be approved, but just for purposes of the record, there should be a motion to deny made so that they can... So moved.

So does a motion to deny get a 2-2 vote as well? Or we should all just go with the deny?

I think, honestly, my advice to you would be to just deny it. Because there's not a lot of wiggle room on this one for you to negotiate otherwise. We know your feelings on it. But if we don't do a motion to deny, then it's kind of just stagnant. And it would just allow them to pursue whatever they desire.

What do you mean?

Appeal.

If you wanted to appeal?

To the court.

OK. To court, yes.

Motion?

I did make the motion. Second.

I can't.

We'll hand it back.

We'll just do a ping pong. No, no, he needs to hand it. No, no, we're done with that other motion, so now you can have it back. And I need a second.

Second.

All in favor? Do you call the roll? I think we should call the roll.

Yeah.

Commissioner Malika?

No.

Commissioner Cassell?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Burns?

I just thought we were supposed to vote. You are? Yes. Yes.

Did everybody vote?

No.

Deputy Vice Mayor Markert?

Yes.

And Vice Mayor, you're doing it on my legal advice because that will give this item closure.

Yes, thank you. All right, thank you. Okay, next item on the agenda. Is somebody getting it?

He's right here. 7J.

Okay.

Moving on to Item 7J, the presentation of the proposed 2026 stormwater non-advalorum assessment rates. And there you are.

Here I am. Thank you, Mayor, Commission, City Manager, City Attorney. I appreciate your time this evening. My name is Cynthia Busson. I'm the Assistant Director of Public Works, and I will be...

Thank you.

My name is Cynthia Busson, and I'm the Assistant Director of Public Works. And I want to present to you the 2027 proposed stormwater utility assessment rate. OK, so a bit of history on our stormwater utility. It was established in 2008. And then most recently, our ordinance was updated in May of 2023 following a rate study. The ordinance updates from May 2023 included a new rate structure that is based on the amount of impervious surface area on individual properties rather than on a simple residential unit basis. And what this means is that each individual property is being assessed based on their impervious area. Impervious area means the amount of area on a property that cannot uptake water, such as concrete, asphalt, your roof line, whatever impervious area. And that's on a residential basis. This rate study was completed in 2023 and adopted at that time. And this is the second request for increases since that 2023 adoption. And we're supposed to be increasing small annual incremental amounts to cover for the increased capital project and operational costs. So the city's stormwater utility assessment It's assessed annually through the Palm Beach County taxes, and it's in addition to the ad valorem taxes. Assessments are tiered based on individual property amounts of impervious surface, which determines their contribution to the stormwater management system. So the thought process is if we are assessing based on the impervious area of each individual property, it's a more equitable system so that everybody's paying their share of how much they have.

All right.

The stormwater assessment provides revenue for stormwater engineering and maintenance staff, maintenance equipment and activities, capital improvement projects, and then future debt service from revenue bond issuance. This coming year for fiscal 2027, we are proposing a 4.8% increase. The current stormwater unit annual rate is $23.17 per stormwater unit. And what we're proposing for 2027 is $24.28 per stormwater unit. Again, this is about a 4.8% increase. The city has four general residential tiers, tier one being 500 to 2,000 square feet of impervious area. Their increase in the coming year is proposed to be $3.01 from $62.55 that they paid this year to an proposed annual rate of 65.56. Tier two, which is 2,000 to 5,000 square feet, we're proposing to increase $7.11. Tier 3, which is 5,000 to 7,000 square feet, we're proposing to increase $13.21. And Tier 4, which is 7,000 to 10,000, we're proposing a $17.51 increase. Parcels which are greater than 10,000 square feet of impervious area are individually calculated on their actual impervious. And then unimproved land is assigned one stormwater unit. And one thing I just want to mention while we're here is that approximately 80% of the residential properties within the city of Delray Beach fall into either tier one or two. So year to year comparison, this shows you just a quick breakdown of the total assessed parcels in our town. For the coming year will be 32,232 parcels. There's an additional 932 parcels that are exempt. These exemptions include government, school, and religious organizations. as well as CRA unimproved properties. The total assessment proposed for fiscal year 2027 is $7,684,502.76. Comparing that to last year, it's a total increase of $434,153. This table shows you the breakdown of properties and their proposed assessments for the coming year. Basically, the pink column is commercial properties. We're expecting to receive $2.2 million in stormwater assessment from non-residential, which is commercial. And then residential properties account for $5.4 million of the total $7,684,502. In the residential column, you can see the percent column is broken down by percent of properties, and that residential tier one and residential tier two is over 80% of our properties fall within those first two tiers. This table shows you current and future proposed stormwater capital improvement projects. This is just to give you an idea of what we have going and what we have coming. The actual capital improvement projects for the stormwater program for the coming years will be presented and approved in the previously mentioned CIP presentation in August. then in terms of future revenue planning we are presently um pursuing a study or doing performing a study with wildan financial services the study is called a stormwater rate and financial feasibility study the financial feasibility study the purpose of that is to um is to have an understanding of the financial feasibility before we can go out for a revenue bond to cover the capital improvement projects that are currently either in planning or construction phases with our town This includes Thomas Street Pump Station, Marine Way, Tropic Isles, projects of that nature. So the financial feasibility study will determine whether or not the city's stormwater utility can sustainably fund its long-term operational maintenance and capital needs. And it will also identify the rate structure, which presently is the pervious impervious I mentioned, and then develop a revenue strategy to ensure that we can cover current and future maintenance and operations and capital projects. So that's all I had to present to you this evening. I am looking for consensus on the proposed stormwater rates so that we can bring those forward to you for formal adoption in August.

Thank you very much. I'm fine with the rates. I'm just curious. So you said 80% of the properties. Do you do like a physical inspection to make sure whether it's impervious or not, whether they've added a driveway or added a patio or added a, you know?

That's an excellent question. So when we did the study in early 2023, we actually had aerial images that we used to outline all the impervious on every single property. And since that time in 2023, we have used the permitting system to account for additional impervious that are added to properties.

Oh, good. OK, good. Any questions from anybody in the commission? Do I need a motion?

No, thank you. That was a lovely presentation you did. I'll make a motion. I don't know if you need a motion.

Do you need a motion today or just consensus?

Which is one consensus. OK, well, we have consensus here? Yes, we have consensus.

Yes, thank you.

OK, perfect. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. 7K, discussion regarding draft language for the eBike ordinance.

So I'm freshly back from the Municipal Attorneys Conference where e-bikes were discussed. And as some of you know, and I did update the agenda cover memo, Governor DeSantis did veto some of the changes that were proposed, the task force and some other things. And so right now the city can regulate three things, according to Florida statute. The age limit of riders, whether or not helmets are mandated, and training requirements. Do you want to come, Chief Martinez? I heard you were the representative. Yes.

I have a little bit.

Wherever you want.

Wherever you want. So I've spoken with Chief Hunter about this. There's two options we can do. We can either draft our own ordinance. We already have a micromobility section in our code of ordinances. So we would just need to amend that to add some language. Or we can wait for the county to adopt theirs. The county has, they did a draft. I spoke to the county attorney. He indicated that around August 18th, they'll present for first reading a different draft potentially. And so we don't have to take any action. If the county adopts an ordinance, we would have to take action if we didn't want to comply with it and we wanted to draft our own. So we can take a wait and see approach. I did have a conversation with Chief Hunter this morning. And right now, we do have the ability to regulate it, the e-bikes, in the sense that if they're driving recklessly on the roads, PD has the ability to effectuate traffic stops. I spoke to Chief Hunter. I think he's spoken to parents. about their child's behavior. So we are taking a very affirmative approach. I think that's a fair way to say it. So it's not a situation where right now there's nothing that we can do. But if the commission wanted to go further, we can either draft our own ordinance, like I said, or just wait for the county to adopt theirs. The one thing I learned at my conference that was interesting was that the law, the Florida statutes, actually treat e-bikes like a bicycle. And so that's a concern because bicycles are allowed on sidewalks, right? And so I think the commission has to decide. I mean, you know, and it's going to have to fall to the state to decide, actually, because I don't even know what's safer, you know, a sidewalk where you have, you know, tables and chairs like we have on the app or the roads where there's vehicles. So from that point, that's left up to the legislature. I don't really have anything else. Did you want to add anything?

Could I ask, is there a speed limit? Because you see, part of the problem with this is, well, you all know the shenanigans going on downtown at night are a little concerning. But also, these bikes are on sidewalks going sometimes over 30 miles an hour. And that is unsafe. So can we regulate the speed on sidewalks?

Well, that's what was before the governor. He denied that? He vetoed it. 10 miles an hour before. It was 10 miles. 50 feet, I think. And you had to have like a bell or something to alert people.

The other solution they talked about is having two classes, you know, and ones which were slower. And then the ones which were more, then you would have to get a license for it. He vetoed everything.

It's unbelievable. But I think we should do what we can do, which is what you said. Age restrictions and, you know, I mean, I think we should make the move to do at least the minimum that we're permitted to do under law at the present moment.

Yeah, we towed a couple the other night. And it was a wattage issue also. Yes. I think the limit is $750, anything over that. And I think the two that we got the other night were like $4,000. That's crazy. So they were modified. Yeah, they were modified. Yeah, basically. And so that's where the enforcement piece comes in. If it's over that wattage, then we can enforce it.

What's the timing on the county witness?

August 18th for first review.

I'd love to jump in on that just because I have some questions. I sit on the board of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is one of the county's organizations, and I spoke to the executive director today. And we talked about this in our last meeting. We have another meeting on Thursday. The county is working on this diligently. And they've been soliciting input from other towns that are maybe further along than we are in terms of thinking about this. And they cited a couple of those. They're going to give us that information. They want us to have that. I personally think we would be best suited to be in alignment with our neighbors. That's just going to make enforcement more uniform. It'll make information to kids more uniform. I think if everybody goes in their own direction, we're going to have... It's never going to be enforceable because they won't know from Delray to Boca. So I think this is one where we should collaborate with our neighbors as much as we can. And I'd be in favor of just waiting until August until we can see it and see if it's something we can adopt. But I don't think this is a great idea for each hamlet to adopt their own legislation. And I also feel bad for the police department. Enforcing this is not going to be easy. Like, you don't want to be chasing a bicycle down the street. I know that. And it's not going to be easy. But I think if we have one set of rules, I think we're going to all be better served.

So could I suggest, could you figure out what they're doing and get their paperwork? Because presumably they have it close to written if they're going to do their reading in August.

That was the original. I can find out. The county attorney is very sensible.

In other words, if they're doing theirs in August and it's typed up and ready, we can do ours in August too. So we don't have to wait. Just have it ready to roll.

So I had an objection to both Palm Beaches and at least the draft of the counties requiring a government issue ID for anybody on an e-bike. I just don't think that's relevant.

I agree, because kids have school IDs and stuff.

Kids and maybe people that can't get them. I agree.

I don't think the government ID is.

So if we adopt the counties, if that's still in there, then we might have to draft that out.

We have to opt out. Well, you could take that part out.

Mm-hmm.

Okay. I'd be willing to wait.

So wait. So we have two waits. One, do our own. Yeah, I'm happy to wait. I'm happy to wait.

But I'd do it with the police department to be diligent in stopping. Thank you. You've had a long day. I'll keep doing our thing.

For sure.

Yeah. For sure.

Thank you. It's dangerous.

Thank you. Thanks. I'll come back on Thursday. I'll see what I can collect from the executive director. But I personally think waiting a month and Trying to collaborate with our sister cities is the right way to go.

Great. Thank you.

All right. 7.0, discussion regarding draft language for the lobbying ordinance.

So this was directed from the commissioner in our last meeting. I did provide you the Boca ordinance. What I'm handing out now is the actual application from the city of Boca Raton. And if you take a look at page four out of five, you'll see the lobbyist disclosure. So essentially what Boca is doing is they're requiring an initial certification by the applicant, which is what this paper is. If there's anything that changes on this initial form, they have to supplement it with planning and zoning staff. When a presentation is made in public, there has to be a verbal disclosure. My name is Lynn Jelen. I'm a lobbyist on behalf of whomever. And they also have to comply with the county's lobbyist registration rules. So I think we know why Boca drafted theirs. They had a big issue with some constituents who felt that during the P3 process, They weren't very clear on who was representing whom. And so this is really just a reaction to that. And it really just amounts to an additional page on the development application to make these certifications known so that when the members of the commission and the members of the public are reviewing those documents, they're aware of who's representing whom and who's lobbying on whose behalf. That's really all I have. I'm happy to prepare an ordinance if the commission desires. But this one piece of paper is essentially what that ordinance would look like.

I'm sorry. Go ahead.

I know that sometimes cities overreact to an occasion that happened.

We would never do that.

No, we wouldn't do that. No, we have done that, actually. We're about to see a case where we did it. Further in, but I don't think we need this, personally.

If I may, I asked for it. I think it's for transparency for the taxpayers. It's a good thing for the taxpayers to know who's lobbying for what projects. It gives us transparency, and that's what people want. And if you look at all the surrounding communities are doing this, this isn't like one focus didn't, you know, they were late to it, and we're way late.

Who else has it? Did you know?

All of Broward has it. The one in the general.

I don't think Boynton has it. This is people that are paid to lobby, correct?

Correct. I can lobby for it.

You can lobby, but if you're not paid, you don't have to disclose. It's paid lobbyists. It's not like some lovely old woman who wants a project and comes and calls us off. You call me old? No, no, not you. I'm just saying.

How are you defining a lobbyist?

Someone who's compensated. Correct.

Well, the lobbyist definition is through the county, and it's somebody who's paid. to act on behalf of somebody who wants something from a commission, essentially. That's the very simplest way that I can describe it. But it's somebody who's paid.

But don't they identify themselves anyway?

They always do. No, they don't.

We've never had the issue. Only once that I've seen, since I've been up here this last time, have we actually had a lobbyist come in and do it. Because it's not the attorneys. It's not the agents. They're already there. So it's...

But I think it was a freestanding ER, wasn't it?

We had the thing when it was on the Delray Medical, the person came.

There are people in this city who are lobbying as consultant-type people. I would just say, why wouldn't we want this? Why wouldn't we want this for transparency for our taxpayers?

This is just going to help us make more informed decisions. Exactly. Why wouldn't we want them to declare that?

I just feel like maybe development services would get more bottlenecked, especially if, oh, now we've got to change the lobby person or whatever. I don't know. That's my own opinion.

Anthea is shaking her head. Do you want to?

Is that a yes or no?

No.

She's saying it doesn't affect her. She's like, leave me alone. It really amounts to an additional piece of paper on the development application. The onus is on the applicant to supplement it, and it's really just a form. It is filled under penalties of perjury, so there could be consequences to not being completely transparent in what you disclose to the city.

So is one piece of paper added to something we already have?

Yeah, but it's for our residents. Other cities, Fort Lauderdale has such a strict one, if people are going out to lunch, they have to document it. I mean, some cities are very strict on them. This is not very strict. It just tells you who's a lobbyist, and then you know, and the residents know. It's for the residents to know if someone's talking to us, are they motivated by a care concern for the city, or are they And I think it's reasonable. There's so many questions about how does this development get here? How does that development get here? You see all these comments. Everybody sees the same comments. This is just about telling our residents we're being transparent. I'm all for it. Thank you, Ms. Burns.

Well, I'd like to canvass around some of the other communities.

Well, she just got three. Mr. Markert said yes. Ms. Burns said yes.

I said yes.

I know, but she got three. That's three. in favor?

I'd like to finish. I think before we start adopting ordinances that affect a lot of different people, I think it'd be nice to know, you know, a comment was made that other communities around us are doing it. I'm not seeing any. Okay, we have BOCA, and BOCA is a direct response to the whole big project they did downtown where they did have all kinds of people all kinds of ways. I mean, we typically have, you know, the lawyer or the agent... Right, so that'll just be the name on there, and when you're... Well, no, you can't really, you don't want to force a lawyer to register as a lobbyist.

I'm not saying that. A lobbyist is separate than a lawyer that's representing, because the name is on the application as a representative.

No, it's not.

I actually had a conversation with Mr. Schiller about it because there is a difference. And sometimes he is a lobbyist on behalf of a project and he's not the attorney. If he's not doing the land use review but he is petitioning the commission on behalf of his client, then he is a lobbyist. What I can do. He is registered. What I can do is.

You have to register. There is a county registration.

And there are consequences if you don't. What I can do is I can.

As I say, Delray used to have one.

That's what I understand. I can draft the ordinance and I can bring you examples from other municipalities. Thank you. And then I'll give you samples and then whatever I draft, if you want to make some changes to it, we can do that.

That's fine. Okay. Thank you. I just want to see what others are doing. I don't want to just adopt what Boak is doing. That's fair.

Thank you.

Okay. We got that. Thank you. All right. Next is?

8A.

8A.

The very first ordinance for 2026, 01-26, an ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, amending Title III Administration Chapter 33, Police and Fire Rescue Departments of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, by amending Section 33.74 definitions to implement pension changes contained in the 2023-2026 Collective bargaining agreement between the city and the professional firefighters of Delray Beach Local 1842 IAFF, Inc., providing a confidence clause, a servability clause, authority to codify, providing an effective date and further purposes. This and 8B are just cleanups. We've had some issues with things being implemented in a collective bargaining agreement that unfortunately didn't make it to the code. And what staff uses when they're determining if something's pensionable is the code. So I just went through the collective bargaining agreements, reviewed what was specifically stated in those agreements as being a pensionable earning, and I put it in the code. So this one's for the firefighters. We have two.

This is what we have to do. This is conforming it to the existing thing. Exactly.

OK, you want a motion?

No, we need to open it up.

This is a second reading. This is a public hearing. If there are any members of the public wishing to address this matter, please come to the lectern, give your name and address. You will each have three minutes. Seeing none, public comment is closed. To the commission.

Motion to approve ordinance number 01-26.

Second. Roll call, please. I just figured you weren't ready. No, I always do it on the public hearings. I always do.

Giving Alexis a hard time.

Commissioner Casale? Yes. Vice Mayor Burns. Yes. Mayor Carney. Yes. Deputy Vice Mayor Marker.

Yes.

Commissioner Mulliken. Yes. Motion.

Okay. Now, ordinance number 02-26.

An ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Zahra Beach, Florida, amending Title III, Administration Chapter 33, Police and Fire Rescue Departments of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Zahra Beach, Florida, by amending Section 33.60, Definitions to Implement Pension Changes Contained in the 2024-2027 Collective Bartering Agreement between the City and the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association, Inc. Providing a conflicts clause, a severability clause, authority to codify, providing an effective date, and further purposes. This is second reading.

Okay, this is a public hearing. Any members of the public wishing to address the commission on this item, please come to the lectern, give your name and address for the record, and you will each have three minutes. Seeing none, public comment is closed.

Motion to approve ordinance number 02-26.

Second.

Call the roll, please.

Vice Mayor Burns? Yes. Mayor Carney?

Yes.

Deputy Vice Mayor Marker?

Yes.

Commissioner Mollica? Yes. Commissioner Casale? Yes. Motion to approve.

Okay. Ordinance number 11-26, which we can all go out and you'll be back in 20 minutes.

I mean, give me 20, right? In ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Zellery Beach, Florida, amending the land development regulations of the City of Zellery Beach Code of Ordinances, Chapter 4, Zoning Regulations, Article 4.4, Base Zoning District, Section 4.4.9 of the General Commercial GC District to change pet grooming from a conditional use to a permitted use. Mending section 4411, neighborhood commercial NC district to change pet grooming from a conditional use to a permitted use. Amending section 4413, central business CBD district subsection C allowable uses table 4413A. Allowable uses and structures in the CBD sub-district to change pet grooming from a conditional use to a permitted use for all sub-districts. Amending Section 4419, Mixed Industrial and Commercial MIC District to change pet hotel, domestic animal training, and daytime boarding from a conditional use to a permitted use and change pet grooming from a conditional use to an accessory use. Mending Section 4420, Industrial I District to change pet hotel domestic animal training and daytime boarding from a conditional use to a permitted use and change pet grooming from a conditional use to an accessory use. Mending Section 4426, Light Industrial I District to change pet hotel domestic animal training and daytime boarding from a conditional use to a permitted use and change pet grooming from a conditional use to an accessory use. Mending Section 4429, Nix Residential Office and Commercial MROC District to change pet grooming from a conditional use to a permitted use. providing a complex clause and a severability clause, authority to codify, providing an effective date, and further purposes.

Wonderful. This is a...

Okay. Good evening. At the Aegeanus Development Services, this was a commission-directed adjustment. There is another slight tweak I just want to be sure you understand related to the more intense pet uses of boarding and other things. I think it's possible, Commissioner Malachos, you're referring to an overcorrection. Those of you that were on the dais know that we had some pet services businesses that didn't open properly and were bothering neighbors. And so we redid the use back in 2021. And on the dais, I think the commission in the last hearing was like, make them all conditional. Like, we're going to see every pet service because of the disruption that had occurred with a couple of businesses. So over that time, we have started to slowly roll back that. We recently updated the regulations to allow veterinary offices to be permitted uses. They're well regulated by the state. We've never had a conditional use request come forward that wasn't granted, so certainly no reason to run You know veterinary offices through this Pet grooming we have had Several businesses new businesses open under the new ordinance. These are these tend to be small businesses and They're being put through the conditional use process, which is expensive and it takes a couple of months just from to go through planning board and then achieve a City Commission hearing date to date Three of those businesses have come through and been approved. And so the commission was, or four of them, sorry, have come through and been approved. And so when we're always going to approve them, then do we really need to have a higher level of process? And thus the commission directed us to look at that. So again, the big difference is that one can be approved administratively through the zoning certificate of use process. We just confirmed that the zoning allows the use. If you're approved you go straight to BTR versus conditional use where there are extra findings that the Commission has to make And it's also cost several thousand dollars so the pet services definition is remaining the same and Then we are here's the easiest way to show you so in and Pet hotels and animal shelters where the animals are there overnight or if they are doggy daycares where even if they're only there during the day, there may be barking. Those are remaining conditional use. If you are a standalone pet grooming or you're co-locating with like the dog bakery on East Atlantic, it's $1. dog or two dogs and then staff is just confirming on the interior build-outs that there isn't a play area or an outside use area in that case we could just continue we could begin to approve those uses administratively um likewise and this went a little bit beyond your direction The more intense uses that are allowed in the industrial districts where there is training boarding hotels We have approved a couple of those We don't want the groomers to go there because there's a very much of that property So we are only this this ordinance only allows them to be accessory to the more intense use It doesn't have a whole lot of options of where it can go in the city And then if that's where we want them to go, instead of putting them through conditional use, moving that to permitted. So this is really a business-friendly operation. We've been through the ringer through this for a couple of years. We've tested the new ordinance. And at this point, we think that this is the right balance of allowing the small businesses or the groomers to go as permitted uses throughout the commercial districts, and then in the industrial, letting those more intense shelters and training facilities. occur without having to go through conditional use. So these are the findings. Planning and Zoning Board reviewed this at its May meeting and recommended approval six to zero.

Thank you very much. This is a public hearing. If there are any members of the public wishing to address the Commission on this item, please come to the lectern, give your name and address for the record. You will each have three minutes. Seeing none, public comment is closed to the Commission.

Motion to approve.

Go Judy.

Motion to approve ordinance 11-26.

Second.

Call the roll, please.

Mayor Carney?

Yes.

Deputy Vice Mayor Markert?

Yes.

Commissioner Mulligan? Yes. Commissioner Casale? Yes. Vice Mayor Burns? Yes. Motion.

Okay. We now have Item 9A, Ordinance Number 35-26. This is going to be a first reading. If you could please enter into the record.

An ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, amending Chapter 35, Employee Policies and Benefits, subheading Retirement Plan of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, by amending Section 35.098, Supplemental Retirement Income and a Minimum Benefit to Provide a Cost of Living Adjustment of 2.5% to Retired General Employees. providing conflict clause, a severability clause, authority to codify, and providing an effective date and further purposes.

Motion to approve. Warden is number 3526. Second.

It's actually a first reading. I've just got to just make sure that if there's any members of the public wishing to speak on this item.

No. You don't own a first reading. First reading.

Oh, you're right. Okay, good. We have a motion to call the roll, please.

Can we do an all in? We voted on it, but we don't. It's up to you if you want to call the roll.

Can we just do it? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, good. 9B.

In Ordinance 3126, an ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, amending the land development regulations of the City of Delray Beach Code of Ordinances, Chapter 4, Zoning Regulations, Article 4.3, District Regulations, General Provision, Section 434, Base District Development Standards, Subsection 8, Setbacks, to apply rear setback requirements, side street lot lines adjoining. to apply rear setback requirements to street side lot lines adjoining alleys, providing a conflicts clause and a severability clause authority to codify, providing an effective date, and for other purposes.

Motion to approve ordinance 3126.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Fine. All right. Comments and inquiries on non-agent items? One more. 3226. 09C. I'm sorry. I'm trying to race this through here. I'm sorry.

An ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, amending the land development regulations of the City of Delray Beach Code of Ordinances by amending Chapter 2. administrative provisions article 2.1 reviewing officials and authorities section 2.1.1 administrative officials subsection b director to provide the director of development services the authority to administratively approve Request to adjust setback requirements up to five feet when related to a right-of-way dedication. And by amending Section 2.1.2, reviewing authorities, subsection B, Development Services Management Group, the SMG, to provide the Development Services Management Group the authority to approve deviations up to 5% from a development standard due to unique site constraints, providing a conflicts clause, a severability clause, authority to codify, and providing an effective date.

Thank you.

Motion to approve ordinance number 32-26. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Now, comments and inquiries on non-agenda items to the city manager.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So the presentation we had earlier regarding Derry Beach Municipal Cemetery, that was... made available because, of course, speaking to the majority of you all individually, you expressed an interest in having such a presentation, much of which was in response to complaints you all received individually. So speaking with all of, not the majority of you all, I may have missed one or two, but I believe I spoke to maybe at least three or four of you all about some of the complaints having been made available and the fact that you individually expressed an interest in taking these concerns seriously. So for that reason, we made arrangements for a presentation regarding the current state of affairs, and I was comfortable in doing so, ladies and gentlemen, also because some of the improvements that have been initiated go back to a external consultancy service that was performed, as I understand, back in 2018. So the city of Derry Beach does, in fact, enjoy a past president of external consulting services to help address issues and concerns as it relates to the cemetery. However, this afternoon's or evening's engagement to this effect was not intended to cause discord or attacks against staff. And that's something I do not condone because, quite frankly, The office of the city manager is, in fact, ultimately responsible for any performance issues or whatever challenges that might be, and I do my absolute utmost to be responsive and attentive accordingly, thus my being able to communicate publicly in this manner. But make no mistake about it, ladies and gentlemen, this was me being responsive to the fact that a number of you all received specific complaints about And I think those were highlighted in a couple of the public comment presentations and therefore the interest to offer some context and clarity so that we can move forward. Speaking of moving forward, the interest now is to do what we can to offer solutions. Madam City Clerk, if I can summon your attention, please. What this involves, ladies and gentlemen, next steps for the August 18th regular city commission meeting. The title of the item will be Path Forward Guidance to Address Operational and Maintenance Considerations at the Delray Beach Memorial Gardens Municipal Cemetery.

One more time.

Path forward guidance to address operational and maintenance considerations at the Delray Beach Memorial Gardens Municipal Cemetery. This will take shape in terms of internal review and analysis, but frankly, the necessity of engaging external professional services to help us get us to where we need to be optimally. So speaking with members of the team, Department of Parks and Recreation, appropriate staff, et cetera, we all in alignment to get to that place for purposes of achieving solutions to some of the issues and concerns haven't been expressed and again, Most of you have expressed an interest to me individually to do what we can to be responsive and attentive to the extent that we possibly can. Thus the presentation earlier this evening, moving forward for next month to begin the process of identifying solution opportunities via the resources the resource considerations internally and externally to get to the absolute best place possible. So again, August 18th, regular city commission meeting. Madam city clerk will firm this all up, of course, over the next couple of weeks, working with everybody involved. And I look forward to a productive experience as a result. On that note, Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, I yield at this time, unless you have a question.

I have a comment. There were several suggestions made of having a board, an advisory board or city board for the cemetery, and I think that's a great idea. And so how do we move forward with that in lockstep with your next steps?

As we prepare for August 18th, as I've outlined, there will be an opportunity for Commission to consider direction and guidance to that effect. I think it's appropriate for you to understand and listen to the structure we have in mind to proceed with the path forward. So as to, as you put it, engage in a lockstep approach with respect to that consideration. August 18th it is.

All right. So I want to bring this back up on August 18th after I listen to what you bring forth, okay? Yes, ma'am. Would you like to continue with your commissioner comments?

City Attorney was next, actually.

I'm sorry, City Attorney.

Okay.

She said she had no comments.

Thank you, Mr. Moore. Were you finished? You were finished? I got it this time. Yes, ma'am. Okay, thank you. So I have a couple of things. One of them, I wanted to... get a consensus to present. I attended a Haitian Church of God of Prophecy for their 45th anniversary. I was invited and really surprised and taken by surprise when they honored me at their 45th anniversary. I hadn't realized that that church had been there that long, but they've been in the neighborhood 45 years. So I wanted to get Consensus to present to them a recognition for their 45 years. This is not one as we did tonight with Activities and services that they provide but just for their 45th anniversary. I wanted to I have a handwritten Thank-you note and along with that. I would like to present them with a certificate. So if I could get it up Okay, thank you and then secondly I have been in conversation with a impact firm, and I'm also seeking, oh, let me pass this out to you. seeking consensus to um afford the palm beach county yes i do um palm beach county impact film initiative uh an opportunity to make a presentation to us concerning a proposal to create a community impact feature film that will be produced in delray beach and in palm beach county The project aims to raise awareness of some of the issues affecting older adults, such as social isolation, depression, financial vulnerability, and access to health and supportive services. This initiative seeks to partner with the city by engaging residents, creating workforce development experiences and training, and showcase our city in its storytelling. I've made copies of the proposal which I've just passed to you and would like to get your consensus to have them make their presentation.

Could I ask a question? They're looking for public funding though, right, from the city?

Funding possibly and services. For instance, like police location, those kinds of things. They're also going to be talking to Palm Beach County. So they're going to be looking for funding from us, Palm Beach County, and private entities as well. I just want you to see their presentation.

I'll see the presentation.

That's what I need consensus about.

That's fine. I'm interested.

I don't know about the funding part. I'm going to speak to the film. I mean, Michelle Hillary from the Palm Beach County film.

I have that contact, Mr. Moore provided me with that. I haven't talked to anybody yet, but I want to connect them together.

I would be happy to introduce you.

Oh, thank you. All right, thank you. I have the consensus, correct? Yes. Thank you. And then the last thing, I have something else, but I'll make it for next time, my act of kindness. I'll do that next time. I'll wait for that. But thank you. I'm done.

Commissioner Gasol.

Sure. Thank you. Mr. Krieg brought in the flyer for the walk with the chief, but I'm attending, and I hope everyone does, July 18th, 9 AM, Barwick Park. You won't have to run, so this is great. I want to thank the fire department. There was a fire in a connecting neighborhood. It was two to three houses over from me, and it was a big fire. I mean, I've never seen smoke like that in my whole neighborhood. The firefighters, our firefighters, were described as heroic in taming this fire. So thank you. And our police were also present. So thank you to them. I have my biometric screening. And I want to thank HR, that experience. They make it very easy. And it's fun. And they provided breakfast. And you really just get to engage with staff that you don't always engage with. It's not hard. Sorry, am I interrupting?

No, we're just saying we're Medicare.

In a place where you might not. You're sitting with staff. So it was fun. Mr. Hajimeri, when we put the shovels in the ground for the water treatment plant and I got the opportunity to speak, I talked about a little plaque for Mr. Hajimeri on the building.

I would like that.

Yeah, and we all said yes, but I want to get a confirmation on that. So we'd like a plaque on the new water treatment plant that says that something about Mr. Haas couldn't happen without him, made possible by something.

I'd like his picture on it.

I want his picture on it, too. Absolutely. His face. His face and his name. I'm not joking. It's serious.

You don't want to do it. A marble bust, maybe?

It's not going to be a marble bust. It's going to be his face. But I really do think I want to say this to you guys. If someone, wait, OK, are we ready? He's quite amazing, and he's always looking out for our taxpayers. I won't go into specific details, but he really is. and I want to thank the Parks and Rec Department I know we got a lot of complaints about the 4th of July fireworks but I have to tell you every holiday when I'm with my family enjoying myself our Parks and Rec Department is out hustling without their families and it was hot as heck and things were not falling into place correctly and they're always smiling always upbeat and always representing us well and I just want to know I want all of them to know how much I appreciate appreciate them James McRae Willie James McRae chess James passed on I went to the service because I remember when James approached me to start the chess and what a lovely gentleman he was and very inspirational for young kids and And I would love it if we could just put a little sign on one of those tables over in the park on Atlantic where he used to play chess with the kids, too, just in memorial of Chess James. Could we do that? Willie James McCrae. I'm looking for a consensus.

Consensus is just necessary, and we'll be happy to.

Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm asking for. I've got one, two, three. You've got your three. OK, I want to say happy birthday to our amazing executive administrative assistant who may be not listening, Miss Morgan. She is outstanding, and we are so lucky to have her. And to our fabulous city attorney who made us all look good today by bringing in cakes and reminding us of her birthday. Thank you, thank you. And Mr. Morrow, I'll quickly, I'm going in a positive way, and I don't want to circle that around, but. During our break, I spoke to Mr. Moore because with the cemetery thing, no one asked me about a presentation on the cemetery. My feeling is if we're having presentations about complaints, and this woman has a serious complaint that she's brought to us multiple times, I don't know that there's a resolution to this. And I think it's very unfortunate. And I feel horrible. I don't know. And the gentleman came. and made very valid points about the cemetery. But when we have very specific complaints coming to us about something, we can't do a presentation that doesn't address them and talks about other things because we're just throwing our staff out there And it's not fair. We need to get these solutions for these complaints and then do our presentations. Because otherwise, all those people came and sat here for a very long period of time and spoke. But they didn't get the information that they expected. And they should be frustrated. Because the complaints were very clear. So when we're getting constant complaints about the stones being cleaned, if we have a presentation, it should be this is our next step to doing this. This is what we're doing. So that our staff gets the appreciation that they really deserve from the community. Because our staff works very hard. And it's hard to have them not feel appreciated in these moments when they're doing presentations.

Agreed. And we'll proceed accordingly moving forward.