City Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the regular city commission meeting of the Delray Beach City Commission this Tuesday, July 21st. If the clerk could please call the roll.

Deputy Vice Mayor Markert.

Here.

Commissioner Mulligan. Here. Commissioner Casale. 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.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, Agenda approval. Are there any additions, deletions, substitutions?

I would actually like to pull 6D for discussion. 6 who? D, like dog.

6D, as in dog. Yeah.

And I don't know how to make it the AA1 or whatever. 7AA.

No, it'll be 7AA. We'll do that. I can do that for you. We'll make it 7AA. Are there any other items?

I don't know that.

Do you need more time to look?

I do, please. I marked it. 6g Chief Martin is here.

Correct. Okay.

Chief Martin is here.

He will be in a conference presentation for 60.

That's why that's correct here Vice mayor would that have been 6g community development block rent?

Yes. Thank you So we have 6g is now going to be 7 BB and

Are there any other substitutions, amendments? OK. Are there any motion to approve?

So moved. Second.

All in favor? Aye. It's approved. Great. We have a presentation now from our auditors from CBIZ, CPAs. Moises Ariza, there we go.

Good afternoon, honorable mayor and city commissioners and meeting attendees. My name is Moises Ariza with the firm of CBIS CPAs, and we served as the external auditors for the city, and I'm here with you today to present the audit for the fiscal year ended September 30th, 2025. I was going to mention, my colleague Scott Montgomery is handing out a paper version, but we also did provide binded versions earlier in the month of May when they were issued If you want to follow along, I have on the screen the ACFR, and I'm going to go over certain pages. The first one being our independent auditors report, which is on printed page one. In terms of the auditor's report, we start off by mentioning what we've audited, and as mentioned in our letter, we've audited the financial statements of the City of Delray Beach for the fiscal year ended September 30th, 2025. In the second paragraph that starts off with, in our opinion, that is our conclusion. In terms of a financial external audit, the way we conclude A CPA firm concludes by providing an opinion on the financial statements. So as mentioned here, in our opinion, the financial statements are presented in fairly non-material respects. The financial position of the governmental activities, business type activities, and the Discretely Presented Component Unit as well as each major fund and the aggregate remaining fund of the City of Delray Beach for the fiscal year ended September 30th, 2025. That is an example of a clean opinion or an unmodified opinion and that is the only opinion you want to be associated with in terms of a financial external audit. So congratulations.

It's called unqualified, correct?

Unqualified. Unqualified. So that is the only opinion the city wants to receive. So congratulations to the elected body, the city manager, and city personnel. This following section of our independent artist report, which is titled Basis for Opinion, in summary provides the reader a standing of what are the audit standards that we follow we do follow united accepted auditing standards and because we are in the state of florida as required by the florida auditor general we are required to follow also government auditing standards so we do follow two sets of standards The third section on printed page one, which is titled Responsibility of Management, that is what is management of the city responsible for? So I mentioned earlier we follow auditing standards. What management follows is US GAAP, known as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. So that's what that section of the document goes into. Following the MD&A, if you want to follow along, I'm now on printed page four. On printed page four, you have management's discussion analysis. This document in front of you is nearly 200 pages. And if you have a chance to read it all, go for it. But if I was to recommend something, I would strongly recommend that you read the management discussion analysis. The MD&A starts on printed page four and takes us to printed page 17. And within these 14 pages, management has summarized the document. And what they do is not only they provide an assessment of current year activity, but the nice thing about the MD&A, if you follow along, is that they provide you qualitative and quantitative information regarding current year activity versus prior year activity. So in essence, these 14 pages summarize the document, and the nice thing about it, it compares current year fiscal year 25 versus fiscal year 24. And they provide the underlying justification or reasoning of why there's change in activity. So again, if I could recommend for you to read an entire section in its entirety, it would be this section. Following the MD&A, I'm gonna get to the basic financial statements. The first one being the statement of net position. And this is what is known as a full accrual statement. This starts off with all the assets plus deferred outflows minus your liabilities minus your deferred inflows. That formula equates to net position. In terms of this financial statement, the statement of net position, it may seem like a balance sheet, but it's not a balance sheet because it doesn't have a balanced presentation. It encompasses all long-term assets and long-term liabilities of the city. And in terms of net position, that is the term that we use under government accounting standards for equity. So net position is a term that we use. And as mentioned here, as noted here, The city has a positive equity of $335.3 million for governmental activities, as well as a positive equity of $186.2 million for business-type activities. Total equity for the city government-wide is north of $521 million. If you turn the page with me to printed page 19, even though it might not look like it, It is a profit and loss statement under government accounting. A little different from maybe what you expect. Instead of starting off with revenues, we start off with expenses on this column here, the first column. To the left of that, it's every function and program. So we show the readers the cost to run these functions or programs within business type activities at the bottom and governmental type activities on top. To the right of that, we have program revenues. Those are your charges for services, operating grant, and capital grants. The net difference of your expenses and these revenues equates to the fifth column, which is titled primary government. And to the bottom of that, we have general revenues, which are considered non-exchange transactions. Under accounting, non-exchange transactions are your taxes, fines, fees. We also include their investment earnings between governmental and business type activities. The third line is titled change in net position. If you were to think of it as a profit and loss statement, that is your net income. That's your change in net position or your change in equity, which was north of $61.8 million. That increased our opening equity at the city of $459 million to a closing of $521 million. That's an increase of $13.5 as compared to prior year. Following these two statements, we reach the modified accrual basis statements. These are a little bit different because they do not include long-term assets and long-term liabilities. And that's done intentional. And that's for comparison reasons to your budget. So as you notice on the top, we start off with our assets. There's no identification of capital assets or long-term assets. And then in terms of liabilities, there's only short-term liabilities. So we don't have the long-term liabilities. Net pension liability, long-term OPEB liability, nothing in terms of long-term. This is our current measurement focus. In terms of modified accrual, we identify or define equity as fund balance. As noted here, the first column is your general fund. There's different allocations of your equity or fund balance. And as noted, the third last description is your unassigned in the general fund, which reflects a healthy $49.1 million of unassigned fund balance in the general fund as the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025. That was your balance sheet. If you turn with me to printed page 22, we have a modified P&L, what we call a statement of revenues, expenditures, and change in fund balance. Under modified accrual basis, we identify or recognize revenues. And then we also include at the bottom of our revenues the expenditures. Because this is modified accrual, it is intentionally reflecting just outflows and inflows of cash. For example, there's a line item here that we mentioned as capital outlay. Capital outlay for the entire governmental activities or governmental funds was north of $38.9 million. Under modified accrual, that is picked up as an expenditure. But we know that those are acquisition or building of infrastructure. Under full accrual gap, those expenditures are capitalized and are not recognized all at once. They're recognized as an asset, and the expense, which is known as depreciation expense, is recognized in years to come. So again, it's a different type of accounting structure that is required under government accounting standards. If you notice, we had ending fund balance or equity within the governmental funds of $189.5 million. And following that, on printed page 24, we have our enterprise funds. This is your water and sewer fund as well as your stormwater fund. These are always reflected in full accrual basis. They do not follow modified accrual basis. On printed page 24, we have the statement of net position. And on printed page 25 we have our statement of revenues expenditures and changes in the position which we had a positive change in that position for your enterprise funds of just north of 6.5 million we started off and opened equity of total enterprise funds and as mentioned here we closed it out at 187.2 million that's notated on printed page 24. Following the statement of revenues, expenses, and change in net position, if you turn with me to printed page 26, you have your cash flow. So this cash flow statement reconciles your beginning cash as of the first day of the fiscal year to the ending cash as of the end of the fiscal year. Cash flow statements are only presented for enterprise funds as required by GASB. We separate the activity between operating activity, capital and related financing activity, and investment activity. Following the enterprise funds, we reach the fiduciary funds. That's the term that we use for the pensions. The pensions are incorporated within the ACFR, within the annual comprehensive financial report. But these two pages, printed page 27 and 28, they do not roll up to the government-wide statement of net position. Those are separate trusts, and they're required to be included within this document as prescribed by the Government Accounting Standards Board. but they're not recognized as assets of the city in terms of the government wide between governmental activities and business type activities. Following the statements, we reach the footnotes. The purpose of the footnotes is to give the financial statement readers A background on the financial reporting entity. In this case, it's the city of Delray Beach and all its component units. But I did want to highlight some what I call key footnotes that may be of interest. The first one being on printed page 47. On printed page 47, we provide the readers a snapshot of the investment portfolio of the city. As noted here, $83.9 million in Florida investment pools. A large portion is invested in money market funds, U.S. government securities, and corporate bonds and notes. So again, within the financial statements, the financial statement readers notate and see the cash and the investment amounts. The purpose of the footnotes, again, to explain to the financial statement readers the accounting policies and procedures, but also to provide more granular information in terms of the financial statement amounts that are presented as part of the basic financial statements. Another footnote that I would like to highlight is on printed page 72. On printed page 72, I just want to show the elected body that the city recognized the issuance of $148 million in water and sewer revenue improvement bonds that were issued in September 23rd of 2025. So what we're doing here is recognizing that liability prior to fiscal year end. And if you turn with me to printed page 78, What we do here is we provide the readers, and earlier we mentioned that the city issued this debt. What we do here is we provide the readers a little bit of history of what's the purpose of the issuance of the debt and what is the future debt maturities, meaning how is this debt going to be repaid in future years. So what we provide to the readers is the principal payment and interest payments in years to come. That ties back to the liability. It shows you your principal of $148 million, your interest payments and all total payments principal plus interest after payoff in 2055. The other footnote that I wanted to bring your attention to is our subsequent events footnote printed page 110. OK. So we wanted to highlight to the readers, yes, this financial statement is as a fiscal year, September 30, 2025. But we did think it was important to note that on October 21, 2025, the city approved by resolution the issuance of $32.1 million of public improvement revenue bonds. So again, we explained to the readers this is not a liability as a fiscal year end. but we want to make you aware that after fiscal year end this was issued and as such that liability will be picked up in the in the future financial statement. And then also we mentioned that through a resolution there was an award for a construction contract related to the golf course project and renovations. So again it happened subsequent to year end but we thought it was important to mention that as we were aware of that information. Following the footnotes, we provide, or as required, we provide budgetary schedules and some schedules in terms of non-major funds. The GASB dictates a formula to identify non-major funds, but I do want to bring your attention to the single audit, which is printed page 179. there. So this is our schedule of expenditures of federal awards for the fiscal year ended September 30th, 2025. And the purpose of this schedule is to show the readers and readers of the financial statements all the federal grants that the city received and expended during the fiscal year, which was a healthy $6.9 million, just shy of $7 million. So just to clarify, these are expenditures. So this only captures... grants that were received and expended during the fiscal year. This will not capture a grant that was received or awarded to the city of Delray Beach, but was not expended during the fiscal year. So the driver of reporting these amounts is based on expenditure. Why is this important? There's a reporting threshold, which is $1 million as of the given point in time that this audit occurred, which is once the city receives and expends over $1 million in federal awards, not only did you have a city financial statement audit, but you also had a single audit performed. So this is an audit of the actual federal awards being received and expended. And I always like to remind you that it's a bit more complex and more, intrusive in terms of performing a federal single audit. And the reason I say that is because, for example, in a financial statement audit, if I was to find an error that is 25 cents or 50 cents, I'll bring it to your attention, but it will not change my ultimate opinion on the financial statements. That's because there's a term known as materiality. What can materially change somebody's opinions on the financial statements? In terms of a federal single audit, that term goes out the window because there is a concept of compliance. Either I complied or I didn't comply. In terms of when the city receives an award or applies for an award, it is to adhere to certain program activity or to use those funding for specific costs or activity. So again, there's that sense of either it's in compliance or not in compliance. And based on the guidance from the federal single audit through the uniform compliance supplement, we tested 5.4 million in terms of the major program. which was awards received from the United States Department of Transportation, Highway Planning and Construction, heavily on construction costs. And as mentioned in our report, we had no items of noncompliance or exceptions to report. The results of our test were also submitted to the federal agency through a data portal known as a data collection form. So that was also submitted prior to today. In terms of the results of the audit, again, it was a clean opinion in terms of a financial statement as well as the single audit. There is an item as what we like to call the items in pursuit of perfection in terms of something that you as the elected body are already aware, which is the implementation of a new payroll module, which the city is already working towards. And it has been communicated to us that it will be completed prior to calendar year end 2026. But given the fact that this was produced as of September 30, if we remind you that that suggestion or recommendation is included in the document. And outside of this document, my colleague Scott and I are part of the team, but I also want to mention, even though you only see us here today, we had a team of about eight individuals, including IT auditors. Both Scott and I are CPAs by trade, but in today's day and age, we also have IT auditors. So as part of our process, not only did we look at the financial amounts, but we also looked at your controls. So again, a clean opinion, and I want to thank the finance department of the city for helping us throughout the process. We started this process in November of last year. We don't rush through it. We want to make sure that we follow the audit standards and provide the service and report that is expected out of us. But I do want to mention that we do ask for a lot of questions and a lot of information. So I thank them for their patience and for their willingness to collaborate with us throughout the process. And I'll open it up to any questions you may have.

First of all, thank you very much for the report. Is there any member of the commission that wishes to address Mr. Ariza regarding the report?

Thank you so much. You indicated that the bound version was given to the city in May. Is that correct?

Yes.

Okay. I would just say to Mr. Moore, we just got it last week. If you got it in May, I'd like to get it in May because this is a lot. It's 192 pages, and I've had a week to go through it. You know, more is more when it comes to time. Of course. Thank you.

If I may?

You may.

Sure. So the delivery back in May was really working material. It wasn't permanent at this point at that particular juncture.

I think he said the bound version was given in May.

I might have misspoke. It might have been the first days of June. I apologize.

That's okay. Mr. Moore, you can talk this later. Thank you so much. Of course. I appreciate that. Thank you for your time. You and I discussed the repeat findings, and I understand that process. I just wish it would be happening more quickly. It's been since 2020. I asked for an audit or 2021 on this, and it's been going on since then. To me, it's quite a long time. But for the public, thank you for the report. And I just want the residents to understand Some of your findings, general fund expenses increased by 2.7%. Revenue fell by 1%. The fund balance declined by $1.7 million. And that is something everybody should be hearing as we are contemplating this next process of budget discussion and also our long term debt went from 70.7 million to 229 million. Well, most of that is related to our water sewer revenue bond and for good purpose. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Yeah, I just want to just make some comments. You mentioned that this is an unmodified? Yes. Okay, so that's the cleanest. Yes. So I just want to say thank you to the finance department. to Mr. Moore and everyone that had any doings with this audit. Thank you for the work. And, you know, with the pending difficulty that we have coming up, these decisions we have to make about, it's great to know that, you know, that we're receiving high marks on our audit. So thank you so much. or the work you're doing. And also, question, are there, you mentioned other than the new payment module that you mentioned.

Yes.

So were there any other trends or patterns that you noted that the commission should be aware of or start paying attention to that doesn't rise to the level of an audit?

No, so I was just going to mention, again, we had a clean opinion, and we have that as a recommendation for improvement. That having one recommendation is not typical. We audit, just in South Florida, over 60 government entities. And we do not take joy by giving recommendations or intentionally try to write findings, but it is very common for us to have recommendations. Some of many municipalities in South Florida, it's all public information. So it is typical to have multiple findings and recommendations. It is not typical to receive a clean opinion with just one recommendation. So, again, it's a high remark for the city of Delray Beach.

So we're tough.

So we're on the top.

Okay, I heard you. I heard you. I heard you. Take the win. Take the win. Yes, yes, yes. I heard you. Take the win. Thank you.

Are there any other comments? Thank you very much, and thank you, CBIC, for all the hard work, and we appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good job. The audit is accepted with pleasure. Okay, comments and inquires on the agenda and non-agenda items from the public. First, the city manager's response to inquiries and highlights.

I yield at this time, actually.

Okay. Now the meeting is open to the public. Any members of the public wishing to comment on any topic or agenda item other than a quasi-judicial item or public hearing item, public will have an opportunity to speak on the quasi-judicial and public hearing items later in the meeting. as those agenda items are called. For public comment, please sign in. Make sure you sign in. State your name and zip code for the record. You will have three minutes. And I'm turning the gavel over to Commissioner Burns.

I have a call. I have to make it 5.30. Okay.

So you are in charge. Oh, here. Just in case I put a call pick longer than I think. Got the comments. Yes.

Good evening Shannon Grice three three four four five Carver middle school principal It's good to see you all again. Thank you I've stood at this microphone before but first I do want to apologize because I need to come more consistently to inform you of the great things happening at our Carver middle school I'm thrilled to share that for the first time since 2012, Carver Middle School has officially earned a B rating. Some data highlights from this year. Our eighth grade science scores jumped by 16 points. Math achievement increased by 10. Reading achievement increased by seven. Acceleration, which is industry certification, algebra, geometry, we scored 89, which is just one point below Don Estridge High Tech Middle School. Carver Middle School, we aren't just preparing our students for the future, we are investing directly in the future of Delray Beach. Carver is one of the very few middle schools, Title I or none, that offer three distinct career academies, pre-IT, pre-medical, and criminal justice. Thank you, Chief Hunter, for all your support, including a partnership with Emery Riddle for aeronautical technology. Thank you for the grant that you guys hopefully will approve in a few minutes. Appreciate it. We combine these academies with the arts, world languages, and music, all while instilling the rigorous IB program in every single classroom. We're shaping well-rounded, responsible citizens who will give back to our Delray Beach community for years to come. Now, just so you know, many surrounding schools have selective admissions. Carver's doors are wide open to everyone. We are Delray Beach. To keep this momentum going, we're needing your support. So I will be here just with different events. Please come out. We invite each of you to join us on August 5th for student schedule pickup to meet our incredible families. And to come back on August 10th for the first day of school to greet our students as they walk through the doors. I have flyers. I'm not sure if I can just give them to you guys. And you can contact me. Again, you will see more of me or my leadership team. And go Eagles!

Commissioners, my name is Gary Eliopoulos. Address is 1021 Northwest Fifth Avenue, Delray Beach. I'm here tonight to basically request the Commission to consider reviewing the review process for projects. In particular, and this is definitely not something I want to do because usually it actually increases the workload for staff So I'm not sure how it would be handled. Maybe it would be internally, or maybe it'd be staff working with a workshop, maybe a series of them. But the point is this, is a lot of times you have projects that are going through the process, and there are a lot of comments. Now, if the comments are significant, they're going to affect concurrency and or the LDRs. Well, obviously, those items have to be worked out. But a lot of times, there's plenty of comments that are really insignificant. And it should be able to be going to a board for the board to consider. One of the things you want to be looking at is a lot of times these projects, if they're insignificant comments, we want to just get the projects to the board for them to approve these projects so that our clients can offset some of their front costs. A lot of times we have to bring in special engineering and everything. It has nothing to do with the actual design and the approval, but more to the point of when we go to work in drawings. So I think this would be an important thing that we can consider because you want to push these projects through. And I'm not saying to just get projects out. I think Delray has one of the best levels of looking at projects and having quality projects come through. So I definitely think we've done a great job compared to all the other cities we work in. I think also over the past, there was creativity and amazing talent with our staff. And a lot of times that gets lost. So in the past, there was a big word that was used, and it was by commissioners, accountability. Well, when you talk about accountability, you cut creativity right out the door. Because it basically makes you really go down to just a checklist. And I don't know whether it's more of a legal thing because they can't really be creative. But in the past, and I can tell you this staff is that talented that they actually can make our projects better. I do feel that there's almost like a stop put on them. And they got their list and they just go through it and they say, this is what you got to do. So I hope you guys would consider that. I think it would be a good thing for us because I think a lot of times projects are getting backed up while other ones, once you realize when you go through the process, it's got to get reviewed again, then reviewed again. The goal is to try to get to site plan certification. You still got to answer everything and satisfy everything before that. And even then, you still have a building permit that has to be issued. And you say, listen, you haven't resolved this. You're not getting a permit. So I'm hoping you guys will consider it. Thank you very much.

Good evening, . I was actually able to make it tonight. I have some really good people in my life that understand how important today's meeting is. I spoke with Albert Richwagon. He's in Canada, and I wanted to bring up a few things with him that he wanted me to express. Apparently, there's a letter that was sent to him by Mr. Mayo's attorney telling him how much Mr. Mayo admires him and everything else and wants to get an easement on his parking for parking against Albert's property. But for the last two years, maybe more, this thing has never ended. I know you gave 90 days. We're at 108 days, 120 days. We've been subjected to reckless defamatory posts, malice. harassment vandalism gaslighting doxing and threats one customer i don't know if you're aware or not i have his photos threatened to shoot albert when he asked him to move his vehicle um i know from my personal experience i have a new venture i'm starting hopefully september we're just working on some things um i had to do everything i needed to do to get a btr i even bought things and spent money on things i didn't need at this time in order to go through the paperwork and i do have my btr and i'm in compliance with the um with the city on that i didn't just open it up which it's a very high-end venture I basically could have opened up the day I decided to do it, made my money, i.e. what he's doing, and just ignored you guys and played this game where you've been generous enough to give 90 days here and whatever else. It's enough already. I did it the right way. I followed the rules. So with this letter, I mean, Albert's response is his customers parked there everywhere. I mean, on the weekends, they move his cones and park there. And his customers have destroyed his Google reviews. I mean, they've left negative reviews. They did it to me, and they all got deleted, thankfully, if you know the right people. They did it to me. That's their retaliation, their threats, their intimidation. It's been more than 90 days. It's been two years. Nothing's done. The fact on Friday he decided to put something in at the last minute, I mean, you know, it's just wrong. It's time for him to be held accountable. He should have done that parking thing in April, not July 18th. You know, I've had two instances of vandalism, and they're subculture related. All my no parking signs were destroyed in favor of subculture protest signs. Please do something. It just never ends, and I'll leave you with this. I actually don't really talk about my law practice that much. I actually have a case in the fourth DCA that is a written opinion that I won, and it dealt with the default of a court hearing. The DCA sided with me. I had a case against a lawyer from my client, and the lawyer kept asking for more time, kind of like in this case. He got 90 days, he got this, he got that, and then he finally got defaulted. I got my final judgment. So they came up with a three-pronged test, which is due diligence, excusable neglect, and meritorious defense. So in this case, it's 108 days to file something considered due diligence, moving fast. If you've got a default, the court's like, you've got to move expeditiously and do something in the first few days to show us that you meant something. It's not excusable neglect that he waited 108 days to give you guys something. And then again, meritorious defense, he's done nothing. He's made... All the money he can make in three months, all the revenue, events, customers park everywhere. It's enough. Please do something. Thank you. I'm out of time. I'm sorry. Was there a question or something?

No. I was thanking you for your comments. Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you.

George Long, 33444.

Well, despite the fact that you have ignored my last three proposals for events to make money for the city, I have one that's not that much trouble for you that will make use of facilities in the evening. The first thing we need to do is invest in some signs that say, do not look up at the flying fluorescent bagels. to start with. And then what I have in mind is using the garage tops at night for a type of skeet shooting. And what you can do, so you don't have to, you know, have lights go and stuff like that, you can actually dip the bagels into a solution of bioluminescence, dinoflagellates. All you need is water and motion. You can send these up and they will streak across the sky. The guys on the roof will be able to follow those and shoot them down and they will be biodegradable. The reason you can't look up is in case somebody brings shotgun pellets or BBs instead. They will not penetrate the skin, but they will hurt the eyes on that trajectory coming down on the ballistics. So I believe if we go to a drive-in movie, of course, where they have the snack bar and thousands of different types of candy, there is something out there that will work. And if you think that I'm making this up, I did find on YouTube a guy with a shotgun that was shooting candies at the targets. And I don't recommend it. Because if you put something in a barrel, you're looking for trouble. Anyway, please take that more seriously than you did my last three proposals.

Thank you, Mr. Long. Put that into consideration.

I should have gotten more organized and not followed him. It's always hard to come in after Mr. Long. Marjorie Waldo, Arts Garage, 33444. I just have a couple of updates. I wanted to tell you that we're in week three of our Places Summer Camp. We have each week about 12 participants. Overall, 60% of the participants were scholarshiped thanks to the fundraising efforts and show sponsorship of Tom Porter, so super grateful. They've already finished technical theater and playwriting, and they finished improvisation. And this week it's musical theater, and it's extremely loud. There will be a showcase on Friday at 4.30 if you'd like to stop by and catch a little bit of it. Next week is acting, and you can come the following Friday, the 31st, at 4.30 if you'd like to check it out. I meant to start by saying that Chief Hunter's competition is in the room tonight. I got to meet his five-year-old hopeful replacement for chief of police today. I meant to start there. I hope he'll come to my summer camp in a couple of years. The second thing is I wanted to give you each, please if I can, thank you, one for you too, photos of our ribbon cutting, our 15th anniversary ribbon cutting. I believe most of you are in this. I again thank you for everything that you've done for Arts Garage for 15 long years. Finally, I'll quickly point out that I got to see in the Boca Raton Tribune the results of a report compiled by DataFi, a leading urban analytics and economic intelligence platform. And this was compiled for the DDA, our own DDA. The downtown Delray Beach... Sorry. I should have had a glass of wine first. Downtown Delray Beach attracted more than 9.3 million visitors and generated approximately $130 million in credit card spending during the year, underscoring the district's position as one of South Florida's premier dining, shopping, entertainment, and cultural destinations. They also noted that dining and nightlife, think Arts Garage, Old School Square, Accounted, and many other places, accounted for nearly 50% of all spending, making it the district's largest economic category. Thank you, DDA. And data. Okay, thank you. Thanks, everybody.

Thank you.

Hello. My name is Queen. I'm zip code 334, whatever the rest of it is. We'll talk to Chief Hunter about that later. I just wanted to step up to the podium and say I did hear about what happened with the mayor and his $600 million Ponzi scheme. Having something like that hit our Delray Beach community and not be made aware of it, especially when we had a meeting about him on last Tuesday, it was really intriguing to see that that wasn't something that should have been announced. I feel like as this mayor, and I'm going through a lot with the graveyard, not really getting the support that I've been begging for, for the retaliation that I've been treated because I'm fighting for justice and looking for my grandmother and my granddad who's been lost. They're not being proactive about it. They're not being transparent. We had Sambrella here last week. and he know he didn't tell the truth. He photoshopped videos and photoshopped pictures. If anybody have been out to the graveyard, I'm sure you do not feel comfortable walking out there. So if we have a city employee director of Parks and Recreation that can come and sit in front of the commissioner, the more that he should report to city attorney that's supposed to sign off on papers, how could I trust, if he would come and not tell the truth, the commissioner ask him, Will you have professionals out there looking at those tombs? He said, yes, we're looking, but it's expensive. But the next morning I went to the graveyard, they had already had people touching the tombs. They've been scraping them. They've knocked out the name. I don't know where the name plate that was on that particular tomb is at. And for everyone to sit around the city attorney, the city manager, the mayor, I can't put you all in it because I'm not sure. For them to sit around and act like they didn't know, I feel like that is not being honest with the community. And then to see that the mayor is a part of a Ponzi scheme, $600 million, y'all know that's the history of Delray. I don't think we ever had that before. We need to put that in the Delray books. But what I would like is for him not to be a part of any budgeting when it comes to that graveyard. You can do whatever you want to do to the cemetery except my part of the cemetery. But that graveyard, Why would he be a part of the budgeting? Why would he be one making decisions? Why would he be one telling someone, yes, no, he shouldn't be a part of that? He's in the middle of a $600 million Ponzi scheme, and it's related to real estate. The land out there to that graveyard is for real estate. And I feel like we should not have him on any type of budget decision, especially if it's running in a conflict of interest with me. with my parents being missing from out there, he would not lead me down the right road because if he's been a realtor all of this time, I'm sure he's been to the graveyard and he knew before today, he knew before last week that that graveyard is not in a condition for people to even be visiting, especially if you're someone with immune deficiency, especially if you're someone in a wheelchair, that ADA compliance grievance that whoever DeAndre is sent back to me with that half answer, we need it changed. I don't want him on any budgeting, and we need a budget for the graveyard. I don't trust him, and I need to do whatever it takes to get him off these cases.

Things may not look like they're moving, but we are moving forward with all your concerns on the graveyard. Thank you.

Next.

Chris Jensen, Delray resident, 33445. I see some familiar faces here today. I just wanted to offer some public comments because I understand the millage and the DDA are on the agenda. So just as a resident of Delray and also as a business operator in downtown Delray, Just wanted to share a few comments. As a resident, my family and I have enjoyed being able to participate in different events. Most recently, my wife was very gracious that she thought I wasn't going to run with the chief, but I ran with the chief. So that's a recent example of something that's very enjoyable for the family. And I got to see city manager Moore's family there as well, which was enjoyable. So that's a good example as a resident of things that we really enjoy and appreciate in downtown Delray. As a business operator, we run a business called Let's Talk Mortgages. But the way that we approach our business is we care a lot about charities. And so really with the support and encouragement from the DDA in the last two years, we tend to do one or two charity events a year. They're always revolved around something in our back parking lot. We're next door to the Seagate there. One year, we did a self-defense course for female realtors. We'd done a toy drive where we raised 200 toys for four kids, which is a foster care program here locally in Palm Beach County. And then even most recently we raised several thousand dollars for the YMCA up in Boynton all through an event that we did in our back alley. And most recently we did an event that was geared towards a charity program called City House in Delray where They house single mothers and their children to try and keep families together, typically women who are coming out of domestic violence or homelessness. And the goal is to prevent foster care from having to intervene and keeping families intact. So we had a charity event for them. But more importantly, it was a family event where we had A magician, we had a K-pop band, we had bounce houses, we had sports challenges, we had just a whole slew of things. And that wouldn't be possible without, again, the support and encouragement for the DDA. Because they helped us. We partnered with the Seagate. So we helped contract with the Seagate to do parking. We helped steer business to different businesses that were ancillary to what we were doing. But I share all that because we really are enjoying and pretty deliberate about taking ownership of being a downtown Delray business. So for what it's worth, that's all encouraging stuff. And, again, I know there's heavy stuff to deal with, but this has been a very good, enjoyable ride. So I want to say thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, Madam Vice Mayor, Honorable Delray Beach City Commission, City Manager, City Attorney. My name is Neil Schiller, Government Law Group 137 Northwest First Avenue, representing tonight Ultra Luxury Townhomes, LLC. I'm here tonight asking this body to move to reconsider the denial of the applications for the 47 townhomes on North Federal Highway from last week. As I've outlined in my letter this afternoon, we're asking for this reconsideration Based on the performance standard that was expressed, the conditional use that, if approved, can be conditioned to make the project more compatible with surrounding properties. And a third issue, which I just reviewed the economic development presentation, page 7 of the economic development presentation says, North Federal provides the opportunity for smaller, high touch firms and talent-oriented residential infill, which is what my client aims to provide. If we do have the chance to come back, we will make a salient, concise presentation and proffer conditions of approval that make the project a little bit more compatible. And we hope that somebody will make a motion later in this meeting and that you will support it. Thank you.

Thank you. Actually, Vice Mayor, because the mayor's not here, if somebody wanted to undertake that now just for purposes of efficiency, you could do that now if you wanted to. I know it's a little bit out of order. I don't know if anyone's inclined to make that motion, but if you are, only because he's not here right now, it might be easier.

Okay, thank you. So I'll pass the gavel to our Deputy Vice Mayor, and then I will make that motion. So I'd like to make a motion to reconsider the denial of the ultra-luxury townhomes from our last week. Can I get a second?

Second. Okay.

Yes.

Technically, he's supposed to say that. So if you need discussion, you can have a discussion. Or if you want to just call the roll, Deputy Vice Mayor, you can do that as well.

Could we call the roll? Madam Clerk?

Wait, wait. Let's have a little discussion. Fair enough. This is highly unusual. The mayor magically disappeared from the dais. And now we're having a vote. And if you believe there's no information, I'm going to support you because you are entitled to that.

Absolutely. Thank you.

But I just will say that for the resident's perspective, and it's no disrespect, this is circumventing the process. I'm supporting you as your colleague, but I don't think this is...

really a good look but i i am supporting you thank you i i think that if there's some new information that that we can need to understand better then i think we he should be given a chance to do it thank you and you were calling the role did you have any other discussion judy do you have any comments

Yeah, I just don't understand circumventing.

The project is going to come back before us with changes based on our recommendation. It failed 2-2 as it currently stands.

For the record, it's not coming back with changes. Mr. Schiller is very aware that what was presented to you is going to be presented again with whatever new evidence he's discovered. that potentially could change your opinion. But there are not going to be any changes to the site plan. There's not going to be any changes to what the waivers are doing.

So we'll be voting on the exact same thing?

He can have the ability to bring new evidence, but it's not going to be any changes. Otherwise, it will be a new process, which will go before the voting zone. Right.

And in my discussion, I thought that there was going to be. No. they were going to look to modify. So forgive me if I misunderstood you. But if that was the case, then that would not at all be. We just should go through the process. But I am supporting my colleague if she feels there's more new information. I think this is just.

If there are changes made, a new application is going to have to be submitted, and it will go through the TAC comments the same way that any other denial would have to follow that process. 100%. So you're being given an opportunity to present new evidence to the commission that you feel would change their opinion. That's what the letter said. But everything else is going to stay the same, right, Mr. Schell?

That was my understanding. 100%. That was my understanding. Okay, got it.

I mean, the local rules do provide an opportunity for reconsideration. It's unusual in the sense that most people don't, we don't really see a lot of these, but the local rules do allow for it. Now, whether or not you want to give that opportunity, that's up to you.

So just for clarification, I think there's a couple things that I've learned over the past week with the process, and you can tell me where the truth lies. We have a couple of options here. One, we can open this back up. And there can be some small modifications that are done based on language or things that perhaps we may be misinterpreted. Let me finish, and then you can correct me. Or we can go back to the beginning with this process. And they can be asked to come back at a later date and start the process and resubmit it.

The two options are this. If you want to give Mr. Schiller an opportunity to present additional information that either was incorrectly presented or not, and obviously staff's going to get the same opportunity as well to rebut what he has to say. So you can afford that opportunity to Mr. Schiller. And that would be the reconsideration would come back here, same thing that we went through last week. The other option is that, and it's not a we, it's the applicant would go back to the drawing board, recognizing some of the comments that this commission made and potentially adjusting them, bringing that package back to staff. And that would start a whole new application process and a whole new consideration. Maybe they'll come back with no waivers. Maybe they'll come back with different waivers, things like that. They wouldn't be able to present the same exact application because that would be pretty much pointless, right?

Circumventing the system.

I think that's strong. But I think that if you feel that based on Mr. Schiller's correspondence to you that there's something that you want to explore because you feel that maybe there's some credence to it or you want to be able to meet with staff and understand that better, You have that opportunity. You don't feel that that's worthwhile and your decision is made. You've already made your decision. That's your choice as well.

Okay. Any other comments from the commissioners?

I have respect for Mr. Schiller and my colleagues, so I will hear what is presented. But I fear that the public is going to view this as highly unusual. And unfortunately, the project involves an individual who's one of our colleagues' relatives. So I'm concerned.

Ms. Burns, any further comments?

I'm ready. I'm in favor.

Okay. May I hear a motion, please?

The motion has already been made. We're at a vote.

Alexis, when you can, you can call the roll.

Deputy Vice Mayor Markert?

No.

Commissioner Malika?

Yes.

Commissioner Cassell?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Burns? Yes. Motion passed. Thank you.

So staff will sit this probably, Mr. Schiller, the second meeting in August. Sorry. Thank you.

So that would be August 18th.

Okay. Next on the agenda, we are at the consent. As amended so as amended yes second, can I get a second okay all in favor aye aye, okay We are now at item 7a Which was formerly 6d right and

Well, good evening. For the record, Ron Martin, Fire Rescue Chief. What you have before you this evening is a request to add additional purchasing authority to an existing city contract. These types of approvals don't get to your level without a series of review. We work in conjunction with our procurement department. The process is initiated at our divisional manager level through the deputy chief to my desk. That gets reviewed, and then we work in tandem with our procurement department to ensure we are satisfying various compliance regulations as well as state statute. What we're looking to do is expensing already budgeted funds of excess of $100,000. We have just reached the purchasing limit of the contract, so we need your approval to add the additional spending authority to the contract in order for us to execute the purchase. The purchase of this equipment is for some routine consumables related to vehicle extrication as well as some of our cutters and spreaders for our fire rescue fleet.

Thank you. I actually pulled this because I just wanted to understand, that's not coming from your already budgeted items. You're asking for extra money, correct?

We're asking for additional spending authority. The funds are already within the fire rescue budget. Just in order to expense on this contract, we need the additional spending authority from the commission. to add this $100,000 of spending authority to the existing contract in order for us to execute the purchase.

The budget is available. We're simply asking for commission's permission.

Thank you.

It's like asking for a credit limit increase, essentially, on your credit card.

Okay, as long as I don't have to write the check.

You know, we have the money. Thank you so much. Any other questions that I may ask? Technically, you can.

I'll make a motion to approve additional spending on agreement P2024-007-I. I think that's an I.

Okay.

I'll second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you all.

The next item is 7A, formerly.

The next item is actually 7BB, formerly 6G, Community Development Block Grant Annual Action Plan for Fiscal Year 2026-2027.

Thank you. Mr. Moore?

You're welcome, ma'am.

Okay, and I pulled this item because I thought that there was, I remember this report being presented before, short of the required time to submit it to the state. And it had a very low participation in terms of the survey. I think it was like less than 10 people. So I was under the impression that we were supposed to get some feedback or some follow-up information about this before it was time to submit again.

Sure. Jerry Pryor, Director of Neighborhood and Community Services. Thank you for this opportunity. I would like to introduce Tavares Parks because he can outline for you the outreach that his team did to make sure that we had enough public outreach. And then the timeliness to get to HUD for this report is in August.

Hi, everyone. Hi, commissioners. Again, Tavares Parks, neighborhood services administrator. This is our annual action plan for our CDBG, our community block grant program. And for the needs assessment or the annual action plan, we do a needs assessment with the community. My team, we went out to the elders table meeting. We had an internal meeting within City Hall as well. We sent out surveys to previous clients, residents. We tried to get it out to the mass of the community. Thus far, unfortunately, we've only received 29 surveys back. However, we're keeping it open until our due date to submit to HUD.

So we are approving this tonight, but you're keeping it open?

We want to keep the surveys open so we can receive as many as possible.

Okay. Has there been any consideration as to an alternate way to get participation in this kind of thing? Like 29 is more than 10. However, is there... any kind of consideration as to a different way to get participation and not just a survey. Because if you're just sending it in an email or whatever, people tend to not open this kind of stuff.

So we also have a resource fair coming up this Saturday at the neighborhood resource center. We plan to have residents that come out and participate in the resource fair to complete the survey there as well. So that a way to engage more residents and community members.

And so how are you how are you marketing the research the resource fair? Do people know about it?

We have it on the website. We went to the elders table. We went to some other events within the community to promote this resource fair.

Okay.

May I ask, what other events did you go to? You said we went to the elders' table and other community events. What other community events?

The homeless task force, they always have a meeting that we attend as well, and we try to pass out flyers and have them email out.

So our partners? Yes, ma'am. That's good.

Thank you. So participation in the resource fair that's coming up, I know that you probably weren't here at the last one, but do you have any records as to how – How many people attend this?

What's the attendance like? Well, the neighborhood resource fair, from my understanding, occurred in the springtime of last year. So this is the first time that it's over the summer. And during that time, there wasn't any outreach on the CDBG program during that event. But no, I'm asking the attendance. I don't have that answer for you, but I can find out for you.

All right.

Thank you.

Any other questions about this item?

Motion to approve Community Development Block Grant Annual Action Plan 2026-27. Can I get a second?

Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you.

Thank you. We should take a break and let the mayor come for this part, right? We're at 7 a.m. Well, he said he had a phone call. I know, but we're going to discuss the millage rate without him.

Sure. We'll take a break and check on the mayor, see if he's finished his phone call.

We need to tell the audience how long a break we're taking.

Five minutes. Let's take five minutes.

Five minutes. We'll take a five-minute break. So we'll resume at 6.10.

Yeah.

All right.

Good evening, everyone, and welcome back after our short break. We are now on item 7A of the regular agenda, fiscal year 26-27, proposed millage rate. CFO Henry Dockowitz will make the presentation. Actually, Mr. Mayor. After Mr. Moore wants to interject.

I'd like to offer a few opening remarks, however. There's not a resolution at this particular point in time. And frankly, my interest in speaking first is, during the past several months, we've offered a lot of background information, data analysis metrics, econometrics, if you will, to support the specific recommendation in terms of why we are where we are. So the operating millage rate proposal of 6.4371 mills is based on the principle of the City of Delray Beach's desire to maintain levels of service and to some extent expand it. We had a fairly robust discussion devoted to last week's workshop meeting to outline this particular path forward and of course you've also had an opportunity to listen to Mr. Ariza from CBIS relative to aggregate financial health in this regard. So as we proceed forward, the opportunity for finalization to this effect will take place throughout the month of September. So public hearings the month of September to include September 8th and September 22nd. But again, much work has been accomplished. All the commitments we've made to provide you with background information, data, the zero-based budgeting piece, I think a lot has been accomplished to help us get us to this particular place and position. Chief Financial Officer Henry Dakowitz is, of course, available to address any specific questions or outstanding observations you all may wish to offer at this time. But again, given all the work going back to March, really, here we are in July, I think the recommendations speak well.

Mr. Dakowitz.

I have no presentation. I was just available for any questions or issues. Not much has changed in a week.

Could you remind us again of the cap that you were suggesting? And also, could you explain the cap aspect, meaning that we can go down, but we cannot go up?

The cap on the military?

Correct, please. For the residents, if you don't mind.

Yes. Thank you. The cap on the millage rate.

Is your mic on? I'm sorry. I feel like I can't hear well.

Speak up. It could be me. Cap on the millage rate is based on the rollover rate, 10% increase. And the concept is if you have a unanimous legislative body that agrees, you can exceed that cap and increase the millage rate more than that. We made the assumption that with a three-fifths majority, the 6.4371 would be an increase that balances the different competing forces that we deal with, whether it's the current taxpayers, whether it's prospectively for the future. It's also related to how much of the... fund balance we decided to draw down and how many dollars of efficiencies we were able to obtain when we reviewed the budgets.

I just want to jump in because that is not what the bill says. If you go to 110% requires, if you're going over the current millage rate, if you're trying to raise your millage rate, it requires four out of five votes to do that. If you're going above 110%, it then is a 100% of the commission. Am I correct in that analysis?

Yes, but I don't think that was a question that was asked.

No, I think what she's asking for was not what he was answering. What Commissioner Gasol wants to know is whatever millage we set today is the maximum that we can charge, and we can always go lower when we adopt a budget. But not higher.

I wanted him to explain to the residents what we're doing here today.

So the trim notice is going to have for our residents and taxpayers the highest. You can always go down from that. Right. I think that's what you were asking. When Mr. Dakowitz is talking about it, Mary, you're correct. Senate Bill 4F— which is the voter referendum for the property tax change, also included language concerning the millage rate. And what it says is if the commission is going to adopt a rollback rate, you can do that by a regular majority. Up to 110% of the rollback rate, so the rollback rate times 110% would need a supermajority, which is four out of five of you. And if you want to exceed 110%, That's a unanimous vote. The number that's before you is within the 110%, which would only require a supermajority, like you said.

Isn't this the proposed legislation?

It's still opposed.

No, it was signed.

No, no, no. It was signed. It was adopted effective July 1. The referendum language is up for a vote in February, but this millage language was approved.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to offer some specifics to support Commissioner Casale's inquiry. The fact that the city of Derry Beach supports a community redevelopment agency, we actually were able to come up with a calculation in terms of what that Maximum 110 percent would be and if the direction were to proceed in that regard it would be six point five four or five two Mills versus the recommendation of six point four three seven one Mills so to help underscore That there's some element of responsibility and focus in this regard. I thought I provide that background information so myself working closely with the Department of Finance and as well as Palm Beach County property appraiser to come up with those metrics that provides a sense as to why we are where we are. So again, factoring the fact that there's a community redevelopment agency and the metrics and the dollars that go towards that operation, the 110% position would be 6.5452 mills, which is a difference above the 6.4371 for which is being proposed for the reasons haven't been outlined last week and prior to last week.

Again, my only point was that with the request, it's a super majority vote because we're not going to the existing military. That is my only point. Yes, sir. So I'm not value judging. I'm just saying that's what the law says.

Right.

He's done his presentation. I mean, for me, I don't think we should be raising our millage. And I've been on record for saying that. I'm not suggesting a rollback rate, which would be even lower than the existing millage. But I am suggesting that we continue with the same millage rate and find other ways to... save money with our budget and that we'll have that opportunity I do understand whatever budget we're doing whatever millage we do today is subject to further you know downward revisions it's so I'm not going to articulate all the items today but I just I am NOT going to support anything over other than the existing millage and i may stand alone in this that's fine i don't mind standing alone but that that's where i am on all this so because i mean everyone always talks about you know well we don't have a level of service and nobody defines what they mean by this nobody defines it so it's you know i mean there's a lot of different ways that we can save money in the budget which we're going to get to so i'm hoping whatever millage we we adopt if it's over the current millage, that we at least address that. I've been watching online. I'm getting all these comments from all these people online about we're scrutinizing overtime, delaying non-essential new hires, deferring non-critical capital purchases, consolidating administrative functions. There's a whole litany of stuff that they have been writing, all of which are great ideas, which we're going to get to, I guess, when we start to sharpen our pencils.

And much of that work has been done, as we've explained, along the way via the zero-based budgeting format. A lot has been accomplished.

We're going to disagree on whether or not it was a pure zero-based budgeting. You yourself said it's a modified zero-based budgeting.

I said it was an updated. I did. I do not dispute that, Mr. Mayor. It's not a pure zero-based budgeting. In addition to that tool, much work has been accomplished to get us to where we need to be. I'm not suggesting it hasn't.

I'm just suggesting there's a lot of areas where we can still save and we should try to save and not overburden the taxpayers who are going to be overburdened enough.

If I may, please. Through the course of any fiscal year, we always strive to accomplish that. Focus on the presentation that was offered by CBS as far as our overall financial well-being. There are significant outcomes above and beyond what was budgeted in terms of revenue and financial position. I feel the need to clarify for the record and publicly that is a continuous process. That's much work to be done. I am fairly conservative and responsible in this regard. We talked a lot about the municipal rate of inflation, the index, etc. We provided a lot of background and data and municipalities, we provide the services, we provide the direct point of contact and we are adversely impacted just as well. So we struck every balance and we will continue to do so.

Everybody's going to be adversely impacted. And look, I just think that we do the process wrong. We establish a millage and then we try to build our numbers back into it instead of saying what our budget is and then figure out what our millage is going to be. In budgeting, that's what you do because this is really just revenue allocation.

And I understand very well, Mr. Mayor, I assure you.

As I said, I may stand alone in this, but I am just... This isn't the budget discussion. This is really what we're gonna set for the millage in this Commissioner Casale and and you have accurately pointed out We could go way down we could change it. So so that's correct, but I'm just telling for the record I Don't want to go. I'm not I'm not gonna vote to increase Our actual millage rate. I want to stick with what we have. Yes, sir. I said, that's just me Okay

Could I, if I may? Is it? Are we going to speak? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, sure. Thank you. And look, with respect to the zero base budgeting and no disrespect, I've been asking for that for a long time. But the way it should be done is one department or two departments at a time, Mayor. You wanted all the departments across the board done. We didn't have the staff, the resources, or really the time to do a project of that size to do it correctly. If you want it done correctly, you take one large department and one medium-sized department annually and you do them on a cycle. That's how it should be done. As we sit here today, we are where we are. And scrutinizing overtime, we've been doing that. I mean, I think the fire chief, when he came in, the overtime was so excessive. The whole reason why we... we're changing the shifts was to stop the overtime so we to to say that we haven't been doing those things we're talking all the time about revenues but i can we can't be here at tax time having that same conversation about well we need to do this we need to do that this is the stuff you need to see happening well before we're even at the table having the tax conversation

Well, it was five months ago when we talked about the zero base budget, so we can argue whether or not that was a sufficient time at another time, because right now we're just doing the- Look, here's what I say.

We all have the desire to reduce the millage rate, especially after years of rising property values, but our responsibility is not just to balance this year's budget. It's to make sure that our city remains financially strong in years to come. We have our revenues, our expenses are consistently annually outpacing our revenues. We are consistently pulling down from our reserves and on fund balance in amounts that leave it teeter-tottering between the 21 and 25. The city's financial report shows that while our overall position is improved. Our unrestricted reserves, again, are declining. Our long-term obligations have increased. I discussed that earlier. We continue, and we want to invest in our critical infrastructure. Well, no question.

You're making my point as to why we should be looking at cutting our expenses. Okay. Thank you for making my point.

May I finish? Thank you. You're welcome, Mayor. I'm glad to help you. But at the same time, our costs of providing our essential services from public safety, we're just in that meeting talking about the fire contract, to the parks, to the roads, to the lift stations that drain our water in all the areas that are flooding in our city. Those are costs that continue to rise. We have to be careful about making decisions based solely on today's values because residents expect to maintain the quality of life that makes Delray Beach special for years to come. And that requires stable funding.

Well, I agree with you. And again, we keep talking about what the quality of life is. We had a pretty good quality of life when everybody moved here.

A modest increase in the millage rate isn't about growing government. It's about protecting the services that our residents depend on, maintaining our infrastructure. I'm talking and you keep interrupting me. And ensuring that we are not... passing today's costs on to future taxpayers. Because we all sit here today and we know that's what happened. Years and years of not increasing our utility billing is why we're now hitting people so hard. We had good costs in terms of our waste management. It's increased. Years and years of not providing money for our infrastructure, like our water treatment plant, which everybody says is long overdue, is why we're here today spending all this money. But I would rather make smart investments today than find ourselves cutting services tomorrow, because our job here is to strike the right balance between what's affordable and what is long-term fiscally responsible. And, you know, commission cuts, savings are small.

Getting expenses under control is the most fiscally responsible thing we can do.

You're right. But you haven't done one thing to do that in the last two years that you sat up here. All you did is critique us, and you didn't provide any solid reasons or reductions. But commission cuts, maybe savings are small today, but the costs are going to be very high in the future.

Well, you know, again, we can all argue what you mean by services, and we seem to define services by hiring more people. We stopped paving our roads.

We didn't do our road program for years, and everyone complains about paving.

And the second you get a complaint. We need to be looking at additional sources of revenue. We need to be looking at charging for things that we're not charging for.

The second you get a complaint, you're calling the city and asking everybody to circle the wagons and fix the problem. That's what the money is for.

Well, again, we can agree. Right now, we're just trying to set the millage. We can have these budget discussions in a very spirited manner when we get there. So right now, go ahead.

Yes, please. A couple things I'd like to say, and I apologize. I have a hard time not wearing my corporate CEO hat when I get up here. Every year, we went through the same thing in the Fortune 5000 world. And the one thing that... I want to be able to see when we get to the end of this process is if we are going to make cuts, what exactly are those cuts? what does it mean and that if i was sitting in the audience that's the question i'd be asking today does that mean our roads aren't going to get fixed does that mean the water treatment plant isn't going to happen does it mean we're not going to make improvements to the cemetery it's easy to sit up here and say no no increase it's then that's very always very popular however we have a city that's doing really well right now we are our property values are growing people are moving here they want to live here We're doing some things right. We are investing in some bigger projects right now. The water treatment plant, which Commissioner Casale brought up, that probably should have been done seven, eight years ago. It didn't. We took that on, and we're paying for that now. But you know what? In two years, we're going to have beautiful, clean water, and that's going to be another reason why people are going to want to come to Delray. It's another reason why our property values will continue to trend up. I mentioned in last week's meeting, I am dead set against – digging into the reserves. That scares the death out of me. I mentioned it last week. I spent a lot of time in Washington. FEMA is not going to be there if we have a disaster. And God forbid we do, we've got to have the money. Where is it going to come from? We have to be smart about that. And I want to be careful. up here as a commission that we don't defer other bigger projects like like has been done in the past that's not that's not good i wouldn't allow it to be done in companies i ran i don't think we should be doing it up here however Let's get a list of what we're going to cut so that we can all look at it and say, yeah, I can live without this project, and I can live without this project, and I can live without this project. And then we can all make an intelligent decision. But until then, I think that we should hold to the 6.4371 number. as our ceiling. And if we think we can lower that number comfortably, then I think we should look at it. But do it through a lens. And I'll help you with it, Mr. Moore. Do it through a lens so that we can explain to everybody what it means. You know, just kind of like the budget that we all run at home. And if we can do that, I think we're going to be fine.

Commissioner Modica.

comments or commissioner burns i'll save my comments to budget discussion time then i need a motion for the proposed millage rate

so moved there's two numbers that you need to include would you please articulate them for motion to approve staff's recommendation the city commission set the proposed millage rate at 6.4371 mills for operating

and .0289 mills for debt service for a total of 6.4660 mills.

I'll second that. Okay. Would you please call the roll because it's not a majority of things.

Yeah. Commissioner Mulliker?

Yes.

Commissioner Cassell?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Burns? Yes. Mayor Carney?

No.

Deputy Vice Mayor Markert.

Yes. Great. Okay. 7B, fiscal year for 2026-2027 proposed millage rate for the Downtown Development Authority. We have the Executive Director here. Ms. Simon, you're on. Yes.

Thank you. Good evening, members of the community, City Commission. I'm Laura Simon. I am the... Executive Director of the Downtown Development Authority. And I did have one of my board members here, Bob Kentwell, was here with us. So on behalf of the board, my team we have our council here Quinton Morgan as well but we are here tonight to as you all are setting your tentative mill the DDA which is a for the Downtown Development Authority is requesting to set the tentative millage rate at our maximum which is the one mill which is one percent on the property values in the DDA district just wanted to just I have a brief little presentation just I'll keep it real brief because I know you have a lot on your agenda but as we approach our 55th year serving this community the DDA remains focused on our mission which is to stimulate enhance and sustain the economic vitality of downtown Dowery Beach while enhancing the quality of life enjoyed by all this mission has never been more important as downtown continues to grow as you see And as you said, we're award-winning. We are continuing. People want to be here. We really need to focus as we have. And I wanted just to share, just I'm going to go back just for our, why is it not going backwards? Oh, well. As you can see on this map, the DDA is the downtown, which is 95. Our district runs from 95 to the beach and four blocks to the north and three blocks to the south. And this is where the millage is assessed on the properties in which 95, 95% of those are commercial properties. So we are, as a part of our mission, is really while property values have increased, the expectations of the downtown have grown. continue to grow as we saw last year in our town hall the expectations continue to be um really focusing on all that the dta dda can do year round especially as we fall in summer we're not a 12-month city so we want to make sure that we're continuing to focus on that and as we go into this planning as you all are we're planning our budget and as we focus on our year ahead And we'll be meeting on August 10th, as well as we have a town hall on August 12th. And we'll be hearing from the community, our stakeholders. We've been meeting with our property owners, our hotels, our residents. We do have two big events this week, which we are gaining feedback from the community. We have an art and jazz on the avenue in Pineapple Grove tomorrow night. as well as a concert on Friday night and all have our information tents where we have volunteers and our teams there to gather information and listen to our community of what our stakeholders want to see as we move forward and the growth of our community. So just a few Things that our board has been working on, as you know, beautification is a very big priority for us and the beautification of downtown as we embark on the next 100 years as we celebrate our 100th year milestone this year with our centennial of Delaware Beach and planning for the coming 100 years and enhancing and preserving the destination and making the experience much more enjoyable. enhanced for all that are here investing, those that are new, and those that have been here for 100 years. And with that, again, as I said, these are important dates. So this is, we are public, and we really want to hear from the public. So August 10th, we are in the city hall meeting for our board. We'll be really focusing on our budget and our planning. And our stakeholder town hall meeting on August 12th, which will be in the Vintage Gym, and we welcome all to attend. And also, just as part of our planning, as you know, Old School Square is part of our operation and we'll be planning that as well in all of these open meetings. And with that, again, our proposed millage is the one, continues to be the maximum that we can set. And as you can see here, our taxable value this year has gone up 6.2% over last year and the value of downtown continues to grow. We have a lot of new construction still continuing, a lot of construction still happening, which will all need resources as we move forward. So we just request that the commission approves the one mill as we propose our tentative millage rate. Great.

Thank you very much. To the commission. Commissioner, any comments? Commissioner Malika? No comment. Commissioner Drake? No comment. No comment. Then I would only ask that when you look at doing things this coming year, there are going to be things that the city is not going to be able to do anymore that I would hope the CRA would, I mean, the DDA will look at, CRA too, but I don't think they can do either. But the DDA would look into maybe helping get some of these projects which bring people downtown together. I look forward to the list. I'm sorry?

I said I look forward to the list.

Good. I need a motion.

I didn't get that.

The list. Are you recording? Oh, yes. Motion to approve.

I've got a dictaphone. It's much more effective. I'll put it on my desk. I'm sorry. Okay. Do I have a second?

Motion to approve staff's recommendation that the city commission set the proposed millage rate at one mill for the downtown development authority. Do I have a second?

Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

Thank you.

That one doesn't require a majority. That's just the budget, right? Yeah. Thank you, Laura. 7C, Resolution 108-26.

Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Zari Beach, Florida, co-designating a segment of Northwest 12th Avenue, a public right-of-way between West Atlantic Avenue and Northwest 2nd Street as Northwest 12th Avenue slash Weatherspoon Way. There's more particularly described herein and providing for an effective date and further purposes. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Presentation will be made by our director, Anthea Giannotis.

Thank you, Anthea Giannotis. I'm happy to bring this forward. This was a commission directive to recognize the Weatherspoon family. And so what's before you today is Resolution 108-26, which would co-designate So we're not replacing Northwest 12th Avenue, but we would be adding the name for the Weatherspoon family to Weatherspoon Way. I think this achieves the recognition that the commission desires. But everybody's driver's license, their real ID can stay intact. It would change the entire length of Northwest 12th Avenue. It is a city right-of-way. It was originally clotted in 1925. And there are approximately 30 properties that face this street. Reverend L.C. Weatherspoon moved to Delray Beach in 1940. He began work as a bulldoze operator. He founded eventually L.C. Weatherspoon Paving and employed migrant farm workers and paved many of Delray Beach's streets. He became a lifetime member of Delray Beach's Voters League. He worked to increase voter registration and civic participation among black residents, founded and built the Community Primitive Baptist Church, which is located at 33 Northwest 11th Avenue today still. His son, Jimmy Weatherspoon, entered local politics. He has served as vice mayor of the city of Delray Beach and received the NAACP Community Service Award. And as you all know, the Weatherspoon family is still prominent in the neighborhood. We do have street naming rules. There's a guide that was adopted by the Commission basically that you can only name a street if the person has, such a weird rule, has been deceased for a minimum of five years. Reverend Weatherspoon passed away in April of 1988 so that requirement has been met. So if the naming request is approved, city staff will replace the street signs. And if there are any that affect DOT right-of-way, which I think when it intersects Atlantic Avenue, we'd work with them for that. They would be the same style as the existing streets. I thought we had a mock-up. Do we have that? Yeah, we do. I wanted to say something. So I do want to thank Public Works. When you're done.

We got artwork. Hold on.

Well, I wanted to say something. It's heavy.

I can bring it out if you want me to hold it. It's not heavy. It's awkward. There he is. There we go. Wow. So thank you to Public Works' Streets team, UC Barletto's department. Mike Crawley had his team mock one up. So you can all see.

Judging by the applause, I think we have consensus. So can I get a motion to approve? So moved.

Could I ask one question, just out of curiosity? How does this work on Google? The only thing I worry about is if people call the police. They're still using that same main road. There's no issues. There's no issues with Google directions.

think it's similar to how we have Martin Luther King got it recognized as well right yes okay just because it's okay so you need a what are we doing I was gonna make the motion but I wanted to say also that with doing this we're not really creating a new honor because this the the honor was granted by the city before decades ago but the name was misspelled, and correcting the spelling would have required a lot of burdens on residents on that Witherspoon Lane, so this was like a compromise, a practical option to compromise to preserve this, and so we have the coal, what are we calling it? designation co-designation so I like to make a motion to pass resolution number 108 26 establishing a dual name for a portion of Northwest 12th Avenue to weather spoon name wait wait do I have a second second wait all in favor aye any opposed

Jimmy Witherspoon will be happy.

The rest of them will be happy. Anybody want to know any more about it? We're going to plan an unveiling as soon as the family can let me know when their out-of-town relatives will attend. We'll let you know about it.

We'll let you know when you're out of town, and we'll call it that day.

Harder than 12th Street.

It's going to be like a ribbon-cutting, or we're calling it an unveiling, so we'll let you know about that if you want to attend. Thank you.

Thank you very much, and well done, Witherspoon family. 7D, economic development positioning and targeting plan update. Jeff Horace and our economic development person.

Mayor, commissioners, I'm Ashley. Photograph.

I'm sorry?

We actually have some family members here.

Can we do a picture?

Absolutely. Oh, this is not good. Oh, no, Luke.

You want us to stand okay we

Happy to do it. Okey-doke.

Thank you very much. Okay, 7D, Mr. Orris.

Mayor, commissioners, I'm just going to turn it over to our consultant, Kevin Crowder of Business Flair. He's got an update for you.

Very good. Mr. Crowder, good to see you. Okay, a little red dot, then you know you're live.

Right. Good evening. Nice to see you all again. We're glad to be back here after not very long from being here, just a couple of months is when we were here before, to kind of walk you through some of the things that we've uncovered, some of the things we've found, and some of our recommendations. Joining me, McKenna West, who partners with us on many projects from a land use perspective. Also joining us on YouTube, watching, is the rest of our team. Camilo and Alicia, who are my COO and our economic designer and in-house architect. We have Ruth Buchanan, who's one of our other economic developers, who's over on the West Coast. They may have already left. We also have our engineering partner and someone there who, if they're still watching, may be watching from the building that also houses our new Delray Beach satellite office, which we opened about two weeks ago. Oh, that's great. We're based in Miami. We have an office in Stewart, but with the amount of work we do up here, we thought, especially having a project partner here, this was a perfect place to also... be able to spend a lot more time than we've even been spending lately. So I'm gonna try and be brief and succinct with my presentation and get to any comments or questions or observations that you have. When we look at where you are today, where you've been and where you're going, you've gotten here, there's a lot of similarities and things that I can relate to just based in my experience. is you've had a somewhat what I would call passive model for economic development. You've had wealth coming to you. I used to describe my experience in Miami Beach, at least when it came to South Beach, as our economic development approach was answering the phone because the wealth was coming to us. You also have a similarity when we get to the tourism piece where you have a very strong vista base that's a core of your economy. And one of the reasons it's key is the visibility it creates of the opportunities that you have here. Tourists become residents. Tourists become entrepreneurs. Tourists become restaurateurs. They become hoteliers. I always tell everybody, Tony Goldman discovered Ocean Drive on vacation. And it's that simple moment that was transformative. And you never know when that's going to happen. But some of that is changing. You have migration patterns changing and slowing down. You have aging. aging patterns changing, where you have a significant part of your population continuing to age out of their core workforce years. And then we'll talk a little bit about some of the land use things that are happening. So really to think about what you need to be thinking about for economic development from a big picture perspective is going from attracting wealth to building it and looking at the ways that you can build it here internally. And you have a lot of that already present. It just needs visibility. I neglected Greg Agnew is here as well who will be tasked with – moving this out into creating that visibility so one of the things that we have is um just just very briefly on the migration we've gone from 2020 where the value of migration coming to uh palm beach county was over seven billion dollars and it's it's half of that now in what's coming there's a lot of opinion out there that the bulk of people who have migrated in in large amounts have done so There's still migration that will happen. And there's still migration patterns that will happen. But I think the other thing that's when I look at that is the in and out ratio was $2.50 in for every dollar that was migrating out. And now that's down to about $1.60 from $2.50. So it's not just the volume that's come down. It's the ratio of in versus out has also lessened. One of the biggest things that we found was looking at the economy you already have. And I may have told you the first time that we, when I was here just talking about my approaches, is the most valuable part that we over and over discover in places that we work is finding things that already exist that nobody sees. Founder led firms that exist in places a lot of it's what's already organically migrated to you and it is that lane for you to step up and really be able to claim and Build on because it's something you have already authentically been able to create So it really is about a visibility gap and getting that closed And then from there you start identifying where the other places that we can grow from building off of that as people start seeing that and Now, one of the other pieces that we've found, well, I do have one more thing that I wanted to add on this piece. And that is when we do economic development, we do a lot of data. And we've done a ton of data on this. But the things that are most important for economic development at the end of the day are not the data, it's the stories. It's the stories that are the reasons that people want to be in a place. And people are going to decide that they want to be in a place for a lot of different reasons, but a lot of it has to do with belonging and finding that place that they feel like they belong for whatever it is that they're looking to do. Sometimes that might be schools. It might be kids. It might be recreation. It can be innovation and opening a business or running a hotel or whatever it is. But it's being in a place to do something. to be in Delray Beach to do that, they have to have a place to do it. And it's led us to primarily a lot of conversations about Congress and the need for economic development for some intervention on Congress that has to do with the use of the land. It's not limited to Congress. We have some of this issue in downtown. When we look at land and we'll talk about sort of the three primary areas, we talk about West Atlantic as well. You do have a lot of properties available. They don't necessarily match up to prospects. So you have to think constantly about your processes, your regulations, the decisions that you make, and how the available properties can better align with the prospects that you may have coming. But the other thing is economic development is always changing. And so in 2008, over there on Congress, you had an office park with a parking lot full of cars. By 2017, nine years later, this is not COVID. This is not 2009 housing crash. This is just nine years of economic evolution that happens as business evolves. You have an office park that has no cars in the parking lot. You have an obsolete or becoming obsolete model. And that constantly happens. It's why you see cities go in and out of either improving or declining. What happens when that happens, when you have that sort of happening with business and real estate where it happens is the repositioning of the land starts looking for a path of least resistance. And that path of least resistance comes in a couple of primary places. And one is market feasibility, financial feasibility, and one is regulatory. It's regulatory efficiency. The path of least resistance is also not based necessarily on the best or the highest return on investment. It's based on the best assessment of a risk commensurate with the return. And so that becomes important. And so that's where the regulatory structure ends up leading to this situation, where the What you have on the left are office buildings that I'll use the example of a 30,000 square foot tenant that has, say, 100 employees. I don't know if that math works out, but just as an example. When that tenant goes out of business and you have what's open on the left, you have an economic development problem. You have space. You have jobs that have gone away. You have space that's dark and space that needs to get leased up. But what you have on the right is no space to lease up anymore for the evolution of industry and of business to find what it's looking for. That really kind of hit us when we put the drone in the air over on Congress and really told us that the ground truth was even more important than what we were seeing in the data when we were just going through the data. And so this, and I'm sure you've already seen in review in the presentation that was provided, that this is a recurring theme and the importance of this theme for us. Because, you know, and especially understanding that conversations in the past about Congress and mixed use is not what you're getting with these projects. You're not getting mixed use projects with these. You're getting vertical suburbs with these projects. You also are losing, you have my understanding, a six-month time frame for non-conforming uses, which also furthers that erosion. And even with mixed-use, I'll just say this, I've been doing this for a long time, mixed-use developers are multifamily developers. Five to ten percent of mixed-use developers actually do true mixed use. And they're developers who are going to be looking more at places like downtown and Atlantic Avenue. They're the developers who are bidding on City Center and Boca. Not as much looking at Congress, but they may. And that's where the storytelling comes in again because that storytelling is what can show and give visibility to the opportunities that they otherwise will miss. And you have to be in that room. And that's going to get me to... one of the next slides. The next slide. What gets you in the room, this is sort of what, when we talk about high touch from the economic development perspective, I think you probably have a good sense when I talk about your business base being high touch, boutique, concierge, That's your market. So continuing building on the investments and the efforts that you make as a city on having that concierge service when you're dealing with the private sector, every city always needs to keep trying to improve that. But that high-touch boutique concierge approach becomes important. And from that perspective, it is about being in those rooms with the people that you're working with. It's how you engage with your founders that are here, not when they need something from the city, but in an ongoing basis in those ongoing relationships. It's how you engage and tell the story with that developer who would do the right type of project over on Congress long before he's ever even looking at you and being in the places that they're going to be and being in those rooms. And, you know, I'll give you an example of that. We talk a lot in economic development about innovation and we talk a lot about creativity in the creative economy in these things. And I'll tell you, I was at South by Southwest back in March. And I was at the Creator Gold event, which is the top creative industry event at South by Southwest, a free event that anybody can sign up and go to as long as they have capacity. And I was the only economic developer in that room at that conference. Because the economic developers are at the economic development conference telling each other how to do what they already know how to do. They're not going and getting into the rooms with the people that they need to do. And so, again, that's where the next piece of the visibility, that outreach and that communication and telling your story needs to be being told in the right rooms. And then, you know, I think we always kind of come in when we're in South Florida, we always kind of come in from a perspective of, you know, I think we've had just the concept of workforce housing just kind of beaten into our brain so much, we kind of start there. And I don't mean that it's not important, but you're a regional metropolitan area where people make lifestyle and housing decisions not because they specifically want to live and work in the same city. There's a lot of different factors that go into those decisions. And once we really started digging into Congress, what we saw is workforce housing taking care of itself with other negatives for economic development. It doesn't mean they're negatives for other things that you – I'm glad I don't have to make the decisions that you have to have. I have one discipline that I have to focus on. But from the economic development perspective, protecting the corridors, Congress, downtown, become really, I mean, your number one thing to do. We do have the demographic clock other piece as well. And this is why that looking at going from importing wealth to building wealth becomes important as well. Your population, again, I think one of the advantages here is you've created this great place where affluent couples, families, People who have been very successful have chosen to come. And they've brought their businesses. They've brought their spending. They've really made it a great community. They've protected the community as well. And that provides you, again, that great sort of selling point, that lifestyle, that reason that people do want to be here. But you're kind of up against the clock there. Your population over 65 is double the normal population for a town of your size. From my perspective, I'm 58. I'm an older Chinzeer. Your Gen Z population is half what it should be, on average, for a city your size. And your millennial population is between 2 thirds and 3 quarters of a city your size. Why that's important is when we're talking about economic development, we're thinking about what happens over 10 years, over 10 years of doing economic development. Well, you have a 26-year-old founder, Gen Z-er in Delray Beach right now, who's building a company. And you have a 76-year-old founder, CEO, who's built and run and successfully still running a company in Delray Beach. But in 10 years, we can pretty much safely say that one of those is still going to be in Delray Beach. The other one's going to be where he feels like he belongs and where he can build. having built something successful. And so that's why it's not about Gen Z. It's about generational talent. It's really about making sure that everybody who's part of economic development contributing to it has those reasons that they feel like they belong. Actually, I'm going to take a quick moment and just I screenshotted something about half an hour ago, which is Very, I thought, very relevant to this. If I can find, yeah, this is it. And it was what each generation calls success. And just very, very short, what each generation calls success. Obviously, it's going to be, it's a couple of, it's going to be very, you know, not broad, but the baby boomers, a stable career, a pension, a paid off house, children who turn out fine. Gen X, financial independence, low drama, steady income, and weakens to ourselves. Millennials paying bills without panic, real friendships, meaningful work, and a therapist that actually helps. And Gen Z, work that does not define identity. strong boundaries, and enough savings to walk away from anything unhealthy. Gen Z is the first real generation that we think that when they feel like a place isn't working for them, or they feel like they don't belong in a place, they're not going to hesitate to abandon that place and find one that actually works. They're the first generation that, almost en masse, can do that. And that's why we talk so much about that, but in the pure generational perspective. And that's why You know, that building wealth, it still is about being that place. Just based on your demographics, you're not going to be able to grow your next generation of talent, not in the near term, not in those 10 years that we're talking about. So you still have to be that place, which you've been very good at being that place. It's just understanding the generational needs that people are looking for. Working with your partners like the DDA. I mean, you heard the numbers about the visitation downtown. We ran our own foot traffic numbers for Atlantic Avenue, and it's absolutely consistent there. I would tell you that one of the other things when we talk about maybe process or perception or regulation, one of the other things for the storytelling, you all know this, you have an item here and five people show up opposed to it and it gets very frustrating for you because you know that for those five, every five of those, that there's 20 people out in the community that have a different opinion and that supports something that people may be opposing. But it's hard to get the supporters to come out. You have sort of the same thing when it comes to processes and regulations and stuff. It just takes one story to cause you real problems with your reputation. And then you need to think about how you tell those stories. And coming from a city that was very strong in preservation, very strong in land use regulations, You have a great historic district, you have great neighborhoods, and they're very well protected and they need to continue to be protected. Sometimes a city can get a reputation for red tape that's really about that protection. But when it turns into a reputation about red tape and it's for this area over here, people out there thinking about Delray Beach that hear that reputation, may only be interested in Congress, but they're not considering Congress because of something that's really unrelated. That again gets us back to the storytelling and making sure that those stories are being told in the right way and in the right rooms. So one of the things that we had in our scope was to give you our ideas on if you're going to target, how are you going to target, and to give you three tiers for that targeting. The primary tier is building off of what we've already found here. Again, those high-touch, founder-led professional services, the boutique consulting services, things that are remote first where you can really capitalize on your lifestyle, and then even your hospitality and experiential concepts because the experiential concepts especially are the things that very quickly evolve as that industry, the visitor economy and all of those pieces evolve. They move very quickly and it keeps you visible to people that want to experience that and be part of it. Our second tier, wealth management, family offices. Again, things you already have here, but things that people may not realize the scale of what you have here. Because, again, they may be looking more regionally. FinTech and digital health. Creator economy infrastructure. This is one of the places that we think that there's a good crossover generationally. You may have... healthcare-related issues that need innovation that can be solved, that may be aging-related, that can be addressed and solved by very creative Gen Z or younger innovators who are looking for, at digital health and those industries. And so it starts, you start seeing some of those opportunities for that sort of crossover. The creator economy infrastructure, this is going to be a $500 billion industry next year. This is not a kid with a ring light in their parents' basement anymore. This is what all, I mean, Fortune 500 companies, everybody is hiring companies like McKinsey to figure out how they can all of a sudden get into this industry in a meaningful way. I can't name a single city that is doing anything about this, that has entered this world. I mean, it is completely vacant space in economic development right now in any meaningful way. And a lot of that has to do with really good, really cool places, places that have a cool factor that you can build on, which you have. And then our Tier 3, and these are not exclusive. I mean, opportunities that come along, you're going to address them and respond to them. Tier 3 are the opportunistic ones, emerging and adjacent activity near to some of those primary tiers. Technology at this point, you know, economic development, there's been a piece about it. We need to attract tech. That's been 20 years we've been hearing that. Technology is everything now. Technology cross-cuts every single industry and is in there. So, again, some of that adjacent activity and the niches in technology that serve what you already have here are really good opportunities. And then, again, AI and I enabled micro firms. I mean, I can't remember if it was Elon or Jeff Bezos or, you know, one of them. you know predicting that we very shortly will start seeing one person billion dollar valued companies because of what ai is doing again this very much comes becomes somewhat something about just being able where do i want to do this from uh plan of work what we see uh first 90 days is to start the process of identifying the things that you can do and you should do um to protect the commercial land base mainly on Congress and looking at what you need in downtown. We don't necessarily think that this is as big an issue everywhere, but primarily it's Congress because that's where your big opportunity is, and the land area on Congress is already 51% residential now. Second is serving the founders already here. This is especially where part of the communications effort and that creating visibility comes in. But this is also a really good place for the partnership, working with your partners, the DDA and the Chamber especially, who are already in a lot of those rooms. And it becomes the more of that way that you get in there because, again, founders like to cluster as well. And then claiming that high-touch boutique lane both in your messaging and approach as well as just the visibility, again, of what's already here. And these are things that you can start doing. You're obviously not going to solve the Congress Avenue land corridor issue in 90 days. But you need to start it within that time frame. And then months 1 to 3, you see there. And months 4 to 6 is getting really more aggressive and active in the engagement and creating that visibility, creating some opportunity profiles. We listed North Federal here especially. But for all of yours. And working really with the CRA, what the CRA is looking at doing on West Atlantic. You know, really just continuing months 7 to 9. You're going to be learning things with your partners as you work through your first six months on how to really align that even better as your economic development manager is getting up to speed here. So a lot of that comes in. And then within a year, check in on what's working and what's not working. And figuring out a way, and I know government organizations, it's hard to do this. It's hard to react the way that the private sector reacts and entrepreneurs. But if something's not working, then kill it and stop it and try something else and see what else is going to work and do that check-in after a year for that. So we have for tonight, hopefully for some conversation, and is to kind of adopt this operating framework. We want to hear discussion and come back and finalize and be able to give you an overall final with input that you're able to give us tonight. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on that. And then affirm the target sectors in general. You know, are those consistent with things that you've been thinking of, things that you see out in the community, on where to be most efficient with the resources you're going to deploy into this effort. And then authorizing the plan of work, which starts with that commercial land-based protection, especially along Congress. And with that, I will close. I look forward to comments and questions.

Great, thank you very much, Mr. Crowder. Commissioner Casale.

Sure, I'm excited to move forward. I really appreciate the presentation, thank you. It's a lot of the things that, as you said, we struggle with up here. We have a tremendous amount of pressure to convert commercial land use to residential, and that's something I want to fight all the time. And, you know, also you referenced in your second-to-last slide about looking at North Federal Highway, and I do believe that is an area that we really, that the studies from 1996, I've been asking for an update for years, and I think that is an untapped area that we can create what we want and what we need. I'm looking forward to working with you, and I really appreciate you.

Thank you. All right. Commissioner Burns, any of you?

Yes, I just want to say thank you for the presentation. Very enlightening. Some of it confirmed some of the thinking that I've had. Really want to concentrate on that Congress Avenue corridor. Surprised to hear that it's 51% residential, although not unbelievable because you see it every day. But thank you, and just looking forward to moving forward on this. Thank you for the information. Thank you.

Commissioner Marker.

Yeah, first of all, thank you for the presentation. I took a couple of things away from it that I think are really important. I don't think we've spent as much time on Congress Avenue as we should. I found your presentation to be very enlightening. It's an area that's a little bit further from here, and we haven't spent as much time on it. And we have had some businesses that have left there over the years, and there is some empty land out there. And I agree with your assessment that that's one we should be paying more attention to. So I found that to be very valuable. The other thing is in terms of the types of businesses that we're looking to attract in Delray, private equity for me is pretty high on the list right now, and that comes in a lot of flavors. We've been able to attract some private equity firms to Delray already. Some have even moved here from Boca, and they're really happy here. They like being here. Some of them are downtown. like being downtown. So I think we've got a lot of things to offer for a private equity company. And I also like the AI slant. I think that's a new game, but it's going to grow fast. And there's going to be some problems with it, for sure. But I think there's going to be far more good to it than not. So I'm very interested in anything in the AI area that we can attract, particularly interested in security aspects around AI. That's a growing area right now. And there's A lot of money being spent there. So my takeaway is Congress Avenue and AI and security are some big ones. So I appreciate the words in that. It opened my mind to a couple of things. So thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Mulligan, do you wish to comment?

Thank you very much for your presentation. At the very beginning, you said that the city grew on a passive model. We kind of grew with intention, just saying. However, one of the things that you point out, and I think it's very important, is we need to change some of our zoning. Because all of our businesses are going away and being turned into townhomes. So we need to put place or guardrails for that or we'll have no offices. We'll have no, what do you call them, touch services? High touch. High touch. We'll lose our high touch. So I'm absolutely in agreement with that and thank you. Thank you.

If I may, I think, did you mean by passive that we weren't out cultivating? People were just naturally coming here. We didn't have to do the work. They just showed up.

Right, by passive it's more, it's almost the type of economic development we want to see. It's what you were doing, it's not that you weren't doing anything, but you were doing the right things that set the table for the market to just come in. Even with the CRA at the times that the market wasn't working, you were getting the right things in place where you weren't chasing smoke stacks, is more what that means. And then it became, once it started evolving and started working, that's when it really became, at least for the core and what everybody knows as Delray, it really became more of that responding to the interest, not having to go try and find it. That's more what it is.

We're late to the table. Thank you.

First of all, great presentation. Learned a lot. I was surprised that Gen Z is only half of what it should be in Delray. What is Gen Z looking for? What are we not providing to Gen Z that they're not going to get? You're Gen Z. I mean, you know, I'm baby boomer. I'm 72, sorry, 71. So I'm 72, actually.

Yeah, yeah, 72.

So I've got the comfort home and all that other kind of stuff. So, yeah.

So we could be here for a long time. No, but that's just curious.

I mean, what are we not providing that you would look at? I mean, because we have an exciting downtown. We have a beach. We have so many vibrant things going on. I mean, I do appreciate your comment, because I have seen it myself, that they are the first generation who just say, You know, I don't like my quality of life. And they go off in the move. You know, I just, that's not what we did. We just trudged through and built, you know, what we had to build. So what are we not providing?

So there's, I think there's a couple of different elements to this. And there's one that I won't get into that we can talk about, which is actually how you build for Gen Z and what they're looking for in the physical spaces. And, you know, there's plenty to talk about there. But it's kind of what I described. They're looking for belonging. And part of it is sort of figuring out how to have the empathy for what Gen Z is feeling when they're in a place. I had one of our other team members who's Gen Z, who's based here in Delray, described it as not just belonging, but that there's a lot of loneliness. They also feel like they're always on stage. So sort of it's belonging and almost a safe haven is one of the things that we hear. I don't know if you wanted to add. No. You know, it's- The first is the old guy, so- I'll give you the other, I'll give you another example which some people get upset with. Gen Z, I have a thesis, and I have one of our Street Economics channel episodes is about this, that Gen Z is the new Gen X. My thesis is that boomers and millennials had places built for them. And that Gen X and Gen Z now have to build places themselves. Because nobody understands them. And so they build it for themselves. That's how we felt as Gen Xers, as outsiders. We were latchkey kids. We had no supervision. You'd think that's awesome. But no one was paying attention to us. So we built fanzines. And we built just our own local kid economy and all of that. And now we grow up and we're the ones in charge. But then the millennials came along and we're building craft breweries for them. And we're building... you know pitch nights and co-working spaces and every city and i'm sure this one because every city i worked for was chasing millennials and how do we get the millennials how do we get the millennials gen z is not finding what gen z is finding is that they are called lazy that they are always on their phones And so there's this misunderstanding of them that's walling them off the same way that my generation did, and especially some components in which I'm one in the Gen X. That's what we're seeing happening in Gen Z. It's just they're just building for themselves in a different way. And now the difference is very few of them. I can tell you, I grew up in the Texas panhandle. And I've got my 40th high school reunion in October, 200 person class. And there will be five of us that live more than 10 miles away from that city. Gen X didn't leave when the place wasn't working and they built for themselves. Gen Z can do that. That's kind of what comes back to that. But it is. It's about they're going to build for themselves because they're not lazy. They're not always on their phones. And when they're on their phones, they're not doing what us Gen Xers are doing, doom scrolling. This is where they build the entire economy now. This is where you build a business. I can record an album. I'm a musician with an iPhone. When they're on their phone, that's what they're doing. It's also, it's where they do get engaged. And so it's just, it's this misunderstanding or misrepresentation that they react to that, again, kind of walls them into their own reality. Outsider status, their own clique. But they are also, faster than any generation, going to be the ones in charge. The economy is moving so fast. AI is moving so fast. The things we've been doing technologically, just our firm, the last six months have been amazing, the acceleration that we're seeing. And that's going to lead to an amount of wealth being created by the Gen Z founders that's going to be unprecedented. And they're going to be doing it themselves unapologetically and not waiting for a place to catch up with them. And so some of it, I think there's flexibility when it comes to regulatory perspectives and the way you look at how business is so overwhelmed.

Yeah, I mean, I think this is, I mean, I thought it was very good. I learned a lot.

I gave my consensus. I'm sorry?

I gave my consensus. Okay, we all have consensus. Okay, you got consensus. Yeah, thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Kevin and McKenna.

Look forward to the marketing guide doing, you know, the two stuff. All right, we are now on to 7D. E. 7E. on subculture coffees efforts to respond to the City Commission request from March 31 2026 meeting mr. Orris you essentially outline four things you'd like to see subculture

and we have had very little moment on this. They had submitted through the city attorney's office an agreement they had for their employees to park offsite, although we did not receive any of those that were signed by any of their employees, nor do we know how it would be enforceable. They submitted to us a letter they sent to Mr. Richwagon, inquiring about utilizing some parking on his site. Again, I have no response to that. I don't know what happened there. They did make an effort to submit an updated life safety plan. Unfortunately, the application that they updated had already expired. They were sent a letter that told them this and that they would have to reapply and bring their information up. The most recent thing that happened is they did, over this past weekend, submit a letter How far past the 90 days are we today I believe we're somewhere about 120 and

It was the end of March so 90 days would have been June 30th so this is now 21 days into the month of July so about 21 days after the 90 day mark.

Okay well what are our options?

Can I ask a question? And so when was something recently received? The most recent thing that was received was over the weekend. This past weekend? This past weekend. And so can you explain what, okay, you said that there was an updated life safety plan, but something was wrong with it?

Yeah, they were trying to update the life safety plan. Their application for the life safety plan had expired quite some time ago. So they were informed they would need to reapply for that and submit.

Was that before the 90 days or during the 90 days?

I'm trying to remember exactly when that was. That wasn't very long ago. That was probably, I think, about two weeks ago.

Okay, thank you. Two weeks ago.

All right, thank you. Would you like to address the commission, sir?

If you wouldn't mind. Yes, my name is David Ware. I worked for Subcultural Journal Logistics. Our attorney, excuse me, Peyton Pipes, was supposed to be here, but he was informed his mother-in-law passed away on the way to this meeting. So I was prepared to speak or answer any questions for the commission, but I can go through what Mr. Orris was talking about. Initially, our original contractor had allowed the permitting to time out. I discovered this when I physically went to the city. And the people, everybody there was gracious enough to help me. They were perfect in their efforts. I went back and was able to resubmit them. But because they had timed out we had to resubmit the entire packet We had a new contractor at that point he submitted a some documents, but they went to the wrong portal. He was from North County. He doesn't work here. We had trouble getting contractors in the city of Delray because, quote, they didn't want any trouble with the city because of what's going on and all the traction this whole issue's gotten. We're currently in the process. We submitted the permit. As quickly as possible after this, it's pending tax number and I believe insurance update information, but it's on hold. I got that today from a building. Regarding, I'll answer in reverse order. Regarding the employee contracts, we weren't aware we needed to provide signed contracts of the employees. This is an ongoing policy. The commission, whomever are legal, would like to have actual physical signed contracts from the current employees. That's perfectly reasonable. We can provide those. But it is... a business where young people work, there is turnover. So there'll be constant, I would imagine, updating of those contracts or new signed contracts provided to a particular person, whoever you deem you'd like them to go to. Regarding Mr. Richwagon, over the course of time, we've attempted to reach out with several remedies, somewhere to possibly rent spaces off after hours from him. Our attorney, Peyton, sent the registered letter to him we didn't receive any response from him I know Mr. Richwagon from just over the years growing up in the area personally vaguely from around and attempted to contact him myself to see some some resolution we're not quite sure what went wrong with Mr. Richwagon and subculture in general but I wanted to talk to him but he I just never could find him at the shop And that's where we're at right now with the permitting. We're waiting for Mr. Mayo is away. One of his family members, his sister is ill. He's going to be back later tonight. And as soon as that happens, we'll get everything updated in the permitting and move through it as quickly as possible as the city system allows us to.

And then me too.

Yes, ma'am.

I have been trying to stay updated with this since the commission allowed the 90 days and I've been checking with the city attorney and I have been told time and time again, nothing. We received nothing. I mean, every time I checked periodically, we've received nothing. And I didn't check last week because the 90 days were passed. I don't understand. Is there an explanation as to why for three months nothing was received? No communication with the city attorney for different problems that you were encountering or they were encountering? Like no kind of update whatsoever.

Well, there were a couple of issues. Our attorney, again, I'm not the attorney. Right.

I know you're speaking on his behalf.

Mr. Pipes has been in touch with Ms. Gallant over the course of time, and they've had – To me seem productive discussions. There was some clarification. Mr Mayo would like and some clarification the city would like from mr. Mayo that was discussed Once that was done. That's when things started to move forward one was regarding to be able to have events in general the whole special permitting the types of events and things like that and There was a general understanding of what would be allowed and what would not as long as things didn't pour out into the street or outside into the parking lot. Normal themed type nights would be allowed. The parking lot striping, the last meeting we had spoke of making some, I guess, acquiescence because all the buildings are old and working with subculture regarding the design and things like that. But aside from that it was the original contractors allowed it to time out to find the new contractor It wasn't as easy as some might think there's a lot of people just won't take the job because they work within the city and They want to have a smooth sailing when they go to building and for some reason they think that We don't want to ruffle feathers and we don't want to take the job And so we finally got somebody to take it that worked in North County, thankfully and we're moving on from there

Ask a question. Where are we at with not for you, sir? The in lieu parking fees? Have they been paid?

They have not. Okay, guys.

We're so far behind. We've given time over and over again. Come in front of us. Over and over again. And now here we are. Our fees haven't been paid. And nothing at all has happened. And we're well past the 90 days. And the 90 days didn't just start. This has been going on for, city attorney, years? How long has this actually been going on?

An extended period of time.

Extended. Greatly extended. Sir, I'm not asking a question. I'm going to my colleagues to say at this point we have an obligation to the residents to just decide, are we going to follow our rules? Are we applying them? Are we not applying them to this individual? If so, why? because the not paying the in lieu fees is a whole other issue but it's been an ongoing problem i feel bad for mr mayo but at the end of the day the fact of the matter is this was never the right location for he he did not present what he was going to be doing there in a way that made the commission at the time understand his needs and here we find ourselves

Yeah, yeah, I do know if anybody else want to speak but I wanted to ask after everybody what what are our recourse?

Yes, I don't think I was without a commission I don't think so. I think I was in the audience.

You were just selected. So your first meeting was a week later. I

Oh, great. Good for me. But I do remember the city saying that we would put signs up on federal to give limited parking to help keep those parking spots turned around. And I know they moved the vehicles, but I don't think I've not seen any signs up showing that they can only park their limited. It's like we didn't do our part either.

But they have moved those trucks. I drive by there every day. I know. Thankfully. Those trucks are gone. I mean, they comply. Right. So those spaces are available.

So I know that they didn't do it in the time we want, but it looks like they're trying to get this, I guess, the permits for the striping?

It's for the parking lot. The parking lot, right. Which is part of the issue because it's a mishmash.

Did you hire a parking person to design it? Yes. Oh, good.

When? I'm sorry, sir? When? Prior to the first submission meeting? Yes, after the last meeting when that was one of the requirements.

What's the contractor's date to complete this?

It's already been done. Again, I'm not involved. What's been done? The parking lot design.

What's the striping going to be done?

Because that's been on the list for 120 days. I understand that.

It's a pretty simple process.

It's not complicated. It's a small lot. There's eight spaces. I mean, it's not complicated. I'm sorry. Where I'm at, I came out in support of Rodney in subculture. I've liked it. But this is really getting difficult up here, and we're getting a lot of pressure from residents. I mean, this thing keeps coming up and up and up, and there's been zero progress. The in-lieu hasn't been paid. The lot hasn't been striped. The fights with the neighbors are continuing. I mean, it really gets old up here. And, you know, we're now at day 120 or whatever it is. Why are we supposed to sit here and think this is going to resolve? I mean, there's been zero progress, sir. I understand your position.

And again, I would say we're working as fast as the bureaucracy will allow us to. Secondly, the in lieu fees are paid in segments. It's the last segment that hasn't been paid. And there's been talk of putting in escrow until. But Mr. Mayo's position is that because everything's still up in the air, why would he pay the full amount? and allow that to be out there. Because it's an obligation. It really is.

Okay, let's just go to the commission.

I will say that I had a lot of flexibility in this earlier because I was willing to listen. But, and I'm not saying this is intentional, but certainly a... A dispassionate observer might think that you're kind of thumbing your nose at the city. Mr. Mayo has been thumbing, and that operation has been thumbing their nose at the city's regulations for some time. And when a fine would be imposed, it wouldn't be paid. Or when this was imposed, it wasn't paid. And when this was done, it wasn't done. I mean, at some point, the authorization to conduct business there based on representations that were made which have not been fulfilled um for whatever reason suggests that you know we have to take some action it's just it's reached a point where Others are looking at it. Others in business are saying, well, why are you making me do this? We have to be very equal in our application. As much as I like, my wife goes to Subculture all the time, and I like his other restaurants, but the point is... This location is not working out the way he wanted it to work out because for whatever reason, again, we can argue whether there should be events there or not. I mean, I think it's a little small to have events when you talk about not spilling over into the street. No, you can't really take up your parking lot either. That's not what I was talking about. No, I'm just saying, but he's been having events there which really use this whole parking lot.

Not for over a year, sir. I'm sorry? He hasn't had an event for over a year, sir.

That's not accurate. I live in the neighborhood. I'm not going to argue with you. I'll take pictures next time. But by his own things, he had one in April. I mean, he advertised it. So I just think I would like to know what our options are. As a commission, what are our options?

Well, certainly you can take up the option that was before you in March, which was some sort of revocation of the in lieu of parking. That resolution was before you. It got halted while you gave them some time to do that. That can always come back.

And what does that mean? A city attorney, if we revoke the in-loop parking, what happens?

If you revoke the in-loop parking because they're in violation of the agreement, they're in breach of the agreement, they're not fulfilling their parking requirements as mandated by the city code, And so they would not be able to operate until such time as they come into compliance and provide 13 spaces. And that's not even going into the extra spaces with the special events. No, I understand. That's the mandate 13.

I'm not even looking at the special events spaces. I'm looking at just the regular old requirement for parking that we impose on everybody else.

Our code indicates that if you're not in compliance with your parking, you're not allowed to be open. You know, I would really hope this would not be a situation where, you know, we have to go and seek injunctive relief because he continues to not violate. He could also voluntarily, you know, ask to terminate that in-loop parking agreement. He would have to close. And you would make a decision whether or not that last payment is required.

You should get a refund. Well, theoretically.

Well, he operated for two years because of that. I'm talking about that third payment.

Mm-hmm.

could theoretically have an agreement that would say that you don't have to meet that final payment technically that payment's been due since i believe may and our and our staff has repeatedly um attempted to uh collect those those monies mr pipes did indicate that the money was held in escrow which i don't even understand mayor because there's this is a contractual obligation this is not you know closing where you're going to put money in escrow pending the closing. This is a contractual obligation. The money was due.

If I pay for a building permit and decide not to build a building, I don't get my building permit money back. You don't hold it in escrow. It's the permit fee. Commissioner Burns, do you have a thought? A recommendation?

I think the city... I think that we have bent over backwards to give Mr. Mayo a chance to come into compliance, and he has not. So are you recommending that we revoke the... And if we revoke, then he still has an opportunity to do the 13...

He would have to somehow come up with 13 spaces. There's only eight on site.

Well, he will appeal, right?

I mean, is there an appeal process that he can... Candidly, I would not have you do that today. I would prepare a resolution for you. outlining what the findings you're going to make are so that it's memorialized, it's proper. We can do that in August. And then in the interim, if he voluntarily wanted to not operate, I would bring that back to you as a settlement. But otherwise, what I would bring back to the commission is it's essentially a revocation of his parking approvals because he's in violation of the contract. Right. And until such time as he can provide proof evidence to the city that he has either 13 on-site spaces or an agreement for those additional five, he would not be able to operate. And that would turn into either code matter or we would see conjunctive relief in court.

I mean, I happen to think that unless he's given that kind of thing that he's just not going to do it. He's going to have to.

And respectfully, those applications for permits, They were made towards the end of the 90 days. They were not made towards the beginning of the 90 days. So, I mean, they literally waited until like day 89. You couldn't get a contractor. So, you know, at the end of the day, I think you were very generous. They've actually had 120 days and we're still not in compliance. And more importantly, I don't understand how money that's due to the city that is required to operate because you can't operate without parking. is an escrow.

That doesn't make sense. Okay, so do we have consensus to direct the city attorney to draft the resolution that she's just described? You have my consensus, yes.

Isn't this an unofficial meeting regarding subculture and unofficial? It was delineated in the announcement.

We're saying we're going to put it on a future agenda.

It's going to be on a future agenda, and he will have some time in between there and now, too, but it's one of those, if he doesn't...

Understood. Can I ask one more question before? Certainly. For Mr. Mayor, he was curious. He'll ask it again. It's been asked before. If he does decide to close shop at the building because he owns it outright, is he able to lease it to a 50-seat restaurant?

Mayor, can I respond to that? Because we've responded to this. If Mr. Mayor wants to get that information, we cannot give that information off the cuff. He can seek from the city. It's not a ZCU.

Anthea, what's the name of it? He can get a zoning letter.

Zoning verification letter.

Yeah, zoning verification letter.

He would have to apply for that. This has been advised.

The city would review this.

I'm sorry? No, I don't want to cut you off. He would have to apply for it, or the- potential we see. Whoever.

Well, whoever's going to, the operation would have to apply for, I mean, typically the owner of the building signs, that's because, you know, and he would say this is the intended use and get a letter back from the planning and zoning saying, yes, you can do it if you do this or no, you can't do it. I mean,

And that would be to Mr. Mayor or to, like I said, the leasee?

Can you just have him reach out to staff? This is not a problem. Do you mind? Staff is here.

They can help give you that direction. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Steve, someone would make the application to get the zoning verification letter. It can be a prospective lessee. It can be a prospective buyer. It can be... the existing i'll pass it on i appreciate it that's not dependent on ownership so that would be the rule so you've got your direction yes sir thank you for appearing i'm sorry for the anything else the attorney boss no thank you thank you thanks for the help thanks thank you very much okay 8a public hearings um This is going to be on, this is the impact fees. We're going to actually have a, I've asked for a presentation.

Mayor, can I read the caption?

Please read the caption, yeah.

Ordinance number 34-26, an ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Dowery Beach, Florida, amending the land development regulations and code ordinances of the City of Dowery Beach, Chapter 5, subdivision regulations, Article 5.3, dedication impact requirements, Section 532, parkland dedication, removing subsection C, Impact fee requires to move the park impact fee to a new Article 8.1 impact fees by amending Chapter 8 special implementation programs to enact a new Article 8.1 impact fees, increasing the park's impact fee and establishing impact fees for municipal police, fire rescue, water, wastewater, and stormwater facilities, adopting the City of Diary Beach Impact Fee Justification Study, and establishing the impact fee schedule, providing a conflicts clause, a severability clause, and authority to codify, providing an effective date and further purposes.

Thank you. Mr. Orff. Good evening. Well, we're finally here, where we have everything all wrapped up for you and ready to discuss. Let's see what we can do as far as presentation ordinance. This ordinance is a city-initiated amendment to Chapter 8, Special Limitation Programs of the Land Development Regulations to enact a new Article 8.1 impact fees to establish impact fees for those things that the city attorney read in the ordinance. Now, just the quickie, so everybody understands, impact fees are regulated by a state statute. They're one-time charges to new development. They help fund public facilities and infrastructure that are impacted by growth. They're not to cure existing deficiencies. It's important, as I said, the impact fees will only be applied to new development and new development that are expansions over 1,000 square feet. So if you add 900 feet to your house, you will not be responsible for impact fees. If you have an existing property, You are not going to pay impact fees unless you expand it more than 1,000 feet or you tear it down and build bigger. The Florida Impact Fee Act talks about the calculation of impact fees and how they have to have a rational nexus with what is going on and what we anticipate to have to pay for. The study has to be done within a 12-month period to make sure that we're using the most updated costs of the city. And also, the fees will be in place, and we can't really change anything for four years. So you can't adopt this now and then come back next year and change everything. Everything gets handled at this time, and then we can't revisit for four years. And at that time, we would have to redo our study with a justification from the previous 12 months to say why we should change something. There are instances. I'm not going to say it's in all instances, but there are instances for emergency changes. But generally, you're talking about natural disasters and what you might do. And for the most part, they're designed to lessen the fees. Okay, again, I'm going to also tell you that fees that we collect can only be used for capital expenditures, for equipment and facilities. And we also, they have to be identified in the plan. We can't decide, hey, you know, it would be really good if we built a new shed at a fire station to store stuff. If it's not already identified in the plan, we can't do it. So the study has some proposed maximum fees. This is going to come up in a slide later, but I find it important I should say this now. This study tells us the maximum we can ask in impact fees based on what we need to handle the anticipated growth. It does not mean that's what we have to charge. We can choose to charge less than the fees presented. Wanted to let you know that. Here are the standard fees that are the maximums identified in the study for city administration. That would be public facilities that the administration utilizes. It might go to a new city hall or something to that effect. police, fire, and the change in parks. Now, one of the important things when looking at it, the one area that there was concern from the director of that department was water and sewer. Mr. Hajimiri had some concern that there was a lot of fees related to the water plant, and he felt that those were comfortably being taken care of by the bond issue. So he didn't feel that the maximum was warranted, and he recommends half of the maximum for water and sewer fees. Again, also a fee in there for stormwater management calculated based on per square foot of impervious lot area. The LDR amendment establishes the new section, adopts a required study, moves the parks fee from Chapter 5, indicates how to calculate, also talks about credits. If you have an existing structure, you will get credit for that square footage. If you have a 5,000-square-foot commercial building and you tear it down and you build a 10,000, you're only going to pay impact fees on the additional 5,000. So we did account for that. There's also, within the ordinance, an annual review. So we're taking a look at what the fees are, where they're going. We can't change them, but we'll look at them. There's also a transparency aspect where there will be a report. The act requires a fund for each of the fees that we collect because those fees can only be spent for the area they're collected. We can't collect police impact fees and spend it on fire and vice versa. You can only spend it, if you have police fees, only on police. Each one of them will have their own fund, and the ordinance outlines once a year we'll report to the commission how those funds have been collected and what we've spent them on. This would be the overall chart of fees that would be utilized if you adopt as presented. Again, the city can't apply impact fees any greater than the study recommends, but you can choose to adopt fees that are less. If the city wishes to increase impact fees, like I said, can't do it any more than once every four years, must do it according to the plan, so generally we're going to do another justification study. And even at that time, we cannot increase fees by more than 50%. Not only can we not increase them by more than 50%, but then fee increases of up to 25% must be implemented in equal increments over two years. And if you go to 50, more than 25%, they need to be implemented in increments over four years, equal increments. So it doesn't happen all at once. And those increases cannot be retroactively applied. So you're not going to say, hey, we pass it now for everything that was built in this fiscal year. Nope, it has to be everything from that day and actually 90 days from the adoption of that. And the fees. here's an example of what would happen 267 square unit building with three hundred nine thousand seven hundred thirty four square feet under air plus in calculation would be on under air wouldn't be under open spaces plus a nine thousand five hundred eighty one square foot clubhouse on the property with twenty nine thousand four hundred eighty eight square foot industrial building to be demolished so you can see through this some of these fees like the parks are per unit but Municipal police fire are all square footage related. Water is units based on the number of units, as is wastewater. Stormwater is based on, again, impervious surface. So you can see what that charge would be less the credits that are given for the building that they tore down on the site. So the total impact fees that would be due on this project would be $2,077,145. For approval, the City Commission must make a finding that the text amendment is consistent with the comprehensive plan. So we show you those objectives and policies in the comp plan that support this. You have the update on land development regulations, regular review, provide necessary infrastructure. This would certainly help us provide that infrastructure. This is for that infrastructure. This is for the impact of future residents and future businesses on our infrastructure and our equipment needs. Again, this is the sort of thing at some point, this city will have enough residential units and commercial space that it will require us to build a new fire station. We will just need more coverage. My understanding is we're not looking at that the next couple of years, but at some point that will happen. Anything collected and that we have on hand could potentially be used for a new fire station if it's identified in the justification study. That's the sort of thing it's designed for. It's not designed to buy a new car for one of the staff members. It's designed for those things that the growth requires. It could be a new car for a staff member if our growth requires us to, say, include a new assistant chief in the fire department. I apologize to the fire chief for using his department as such an example. But that's the sort of things it can be used for. Again, it's not there to alleviate pressures on our general fund, it's there to help us pay for capital expenditures based on the needs because of that new growth. Again, our goals in the comp plan include excellent open spaces with the parks fee that would accomplish some of that. The Planning and Zoning Board found the ordinance in conformance with the comp plan and the LDRs and recommended approval of the ordinance 6-0. However, they also included a recommendation that there be considerations for relief for workforce housing, and they clarified by workforce housing they meant everything that's in an affordable category, workforce and down. Historic preservation, they did not want to... interfere with people maybe preserving or expanding historic structures and infill construction. Again, the LDR sections that support what they're asking for are here. So that is a question that's posed to you, is should those things receive some sort of discount or allowance as we implement? And that's all I've got.

Great. I'm going to turn it over to the commissioner. I just have one question. I understand that once implemented, you can't make adjustments over the four years. And if you do, you have the 50%, 25%, 25%. I understand all that. Does it have to be? 0 to 100 when you start? Or can you, if we decide to adopt this, can we say, well, I'd like to, I mean, I understand these figures already include Mr. Hajimiri's calculations. But do we have to do them like all, I mean, can we do like, phase in these increases? Is that allowed within that four-year period? I don't know. Or do you have to do all or...

I don't recall seeing any language that allows it. Okay, just curious. The phases are only talked about increases to them.

Doesn't it have to be based on, you have to be utilizing the numbers in the study. So if you're saying, are you meaning phase in amounts or phase in areas? Take an example. You say do parks and don't do something else?

This is going to be $1.22 a square foot, whatever that is. Okay. In terms of, can you make year one, it's only 45, year two is double that. And by the time year three, it's up to $1.22. I mean, I don't know the rules, so I'm just trying to see.

Kind of like they would do if we increased it.

It has to be equal amounts installed over the two to four years.

Well, that's if you increase it. It says any new or increased. Correct, but I'm saying with the additional adoption, are we allowed to phase in the numbers or not? That's all I want to know.

Wait, Julie, you just said any new or?

Yeah, I don't think.

Once adopted, I understand the rule. What Commissioner Casale is talking about is once adopted, if you want to do it, that's the rule. But at the initial adoption, do you have to do the maximum of whatever the statute says or whatever the justification says?

You don't do the maximum. You don't have to do the maximum. You can set it at whatever you want. So if you want to start low and then we review it in four years and you increase it at that point, you can absolutely do that.

But if you start really low, you can only increase a certain amount because you have a cap. Right. So now I understand it.

That's why I was trying to get to doing it all but phasing it in as opposed to doing it all in year one. But you've answered my question.

We won't reach the maximal supported funding if we don't do it. in the amount. And that's the problem we're going to have, because we're already well behind. And when I brought this up and gave Mr. Moore a hard time, because this has been This should have been done years and years and years ago.

We're going to come back to you. This is a public hearing. I'm sorry. I meant to do that before I got everybody all riled up. If there's any members of the public wishing to address this item, please come to the lectern. You will have three minutes. Give your name and address for the record. Oh, you moved in the chair. Are you getting up? Trying to give me a little thing. Public hearing is closed. Back to the commission. I'm sorry, Commissioner Gasol.

No, I just think, unfortunately, we're starting out in a deficit. All the surrounding communities have been doing this for years and years and years. And when you're in a deficit, the cost is your residents are paying for the infrastructure. that could have been paid for if we had been doing this for a long time. And so when you're starting out behind, and the way this is structured on how you can cap, how much you can increase, and what you can do, and starting with a deficit, if you don't go in with the numbers recommended, we're always going to be behind. That's the reality. So the question is, do we want to continue to have the residents supplementing these future needs or not? Because if we don't go in, with the maximum that's the result. Yeah, we'll be getting more money, but it's still. And then I would say I agree with the historic preservation. When you talk about giving relief to workforce, you wouldn't necessarily want to do it. It would have to be on a case-by-case because you wouldn't necessarily want to do it to a like you say a 292 unit complex that's getting a bonus and they're getting the workforce bonus so therefore i wouldn't necessarily want to give relief because the bonus is the relief itself um and and the infill vacant lots again case by case but i i would say you know i think we have to be careful i i think there should be on historic perhaps but on on the others i would i think we have to be careful

Commissioner Burns.

Yeah.

I've had a lengthy discussion with Mr. Moore about this, so I'm okay with it. However, I am in support of giving relief for the workforce, the historic, and the infill. And, you know, if we have to look at it case by case, that's fine. But I think that, you know, persons building workforce, and I'm not talking about your big, giant businesses, developments that's got 100 units, I'm talking about possibly individuals, because it applies to everybody, that I'm in favor of relief for those three that were indicated.

Okay. Commissioner Marker.

Yeah, I agree with what Ms. Burns just said. I think the exceptions are fine, but I think we should look at them on a case-by-case basis. I think that's the fairest way to do it. And then I just have a question, Jeff. So I know we can't raise those fees during that, was it that four-year period? Can we lower them, or are they fixed? I know that's probably not a question anybody prepared for.

Yeah, I didn't prepare for it. I know there's some language in the statute about lowering. I don't recall exactly what it says. I think they're fixed.

Some emergency stuff that you're allowed to lower when there's certain things, but I don't know of one. I mean, I read it pretty carefully.

I just don't know. It can be an open question that we can deal with. If we went too high in an area or two, we wanted to adjust midway, can we do it? That's my question.

No, that I know you can't do. So what we try to do with this is take the discretion out of it because we never want to be accused of favoring one developer over another. So what you see here is really just – Based on square footage, impervious, pervious, whatever. Because you don't want to have that discretion, right? Because then that's when I think where we kind of get in trouble. Commissioner Burns, for your and Commissioner Cassell, in our code, I believe for certain groups like DBCLT, cra you know we do wave fees right so we could put and i thought we did put that in here anthea we could put that language in there just to mirror what's in the other sections of the code right um so that we have that ability but those that i see in the code are referenced

to, like, an entity. It's not like if the person who builds a 267, you know. Exactly.

Yes. Right.

So, like, we can waive it in favor of the CRA. We can waive it in front of the community, the housing, the Delaware Housing Group.

Exactly. That's what it is.

But I didn't see where we're allowed to pick and choose which we think that this historic project should get it, but this one doesn't, or this workforce should get it. I think we either have the rule or we're not, unless it's a government entity or a not-for-profit, which we can do it for.

Which is different. Right. I think historic might be a little bit challenging. Why? In the sense that... Is it just a COA for a new roof? And does that trigger this? I mean, I guess this is new development.

But it has to be over 1,000. Yeah.

Yeah, I think you're right.

So a new roof wouldn't.

No, you're right. I'm just seeing what would trigger. I'm trying to see what would trigger it to see if it's something de minimis that. you know would warrant leaving it versus a larger project but i you could you can probably do it it's a historic district or a structure so you think the language is already included in the in the resolution i i know i thought we did cra and i know i know we didn't do historic i don't believe we did that but i thought a cra because that was historic properties a whole historic I think that's what we need.

So I could put an addition on my house because I live in historic.

That's what I'm trying to say. Right. So what's the cutoff, right?

Well, it has to be, just can't be in a historic district. It has to be because we have a lot of nonconforming things within a historic district. Sure. Right. So we're really talking about things which are designated or the person wants to designate. I'd actually give them the opportunity to put it on the register if that's what they want to do.

What if it's a contributor?

Right.

What if what?

like a contributor so if they want to make themselves they want to subject themselves to the rules then i'm willing to look at that form as part of the no i wouldn't be in favor of a contributor no that's in the district and not historic with pardon me correct it's in the district there's a lot there's a lot of properties it contributes to the district but it in and of itself it's not it's not historic no just historic is what i would say not just in the district I keep looking at Anthea, but she's not making eye contact.

Yeah, I don't blame her. And my question was, what relief do you want to get? Do you want to say you don't pay anything? Do you pay 50%?

No, we'd have to, on a case-by-case basis. We don't have a case-by-case. That's the problem. You can't case-by-case it. Maybe like a 50%. I don't know.

We could establish a different rate if it's historic, but they have to be applied uniformly.

Right. I mean, a flat discount rate might be easier, maybe. Because then they could compute what it is based on the chart, and then they would just reduce it by 50%. So that might be easier.

Okay. 50% discount, I'm in favor of that.

But it would only be for an already designated historic home, or building in a historic district, but not a contributor.

Correct. Correct. If it's not contributing, it wouldn't qualify. Only if it's historic.

Right.

If it's in the district, it's in the district. And we can't go case by case. Right. But I have some questions whenever it's my turn while we decide all this. Don't worry about me.

We're listening. We have you.

Like, I don't know what infill means. I don't know what that is.

We would have to define it, but generally infill would be a vacant lot surrounded by other development.

Right.

Most people don't go seeking those to build a house on or a piece of something on them.

Why? That's exactly where you'd build a house.

Am I right?

No, what am I missing?

And that's actually defined as infill. So infill, residential development, redevelopment, that's all it is. So that does happen from time to time.

Okay. But it wouldn't apply if they tore down a house and then rebuilt it.

Well, you get a credit.

They get the credit. They get the credit. Credit for the square footage of the previous house, but you wouldn't have it. Right. Because if you take one of these smaller houses and double the size, so they get the credit for the first half.

Right, so you get the credit for the, exactly.

So, Mr. Orr.

That would be infill development, but I'm just saying.

Well, I wouldn't. Everything in the city is infill, so I would stay away from that designation.

Totally agree.

Would keep a designation of infill as being vacant now and having been vacant for some period of time Why would you want to do this for infill vacant infill lots

Yeah, one of the concerns is right now that's kind of all we're getting is infill.

No, I'm saying why would we reduce on that?

Right, and that's the question is why would you reduce it if that's what we're talking about.

That's why I said I don't think it should be on the list originally.

Right, so the Planning and Zoning Board did review this first, and they recommended that you provide some sort of discount for historic structures. So you can decide if that's anything that's designated or a contributor in a district or just everything in a district because – It's up to you.

Well, everything in the district is subject to the historic rules, so maybe you guys won't come along. Right.

That's the other part that you're in my head, because the non-contributors have to still build. They still go to a board. Then the other thing was affordable housing. And so while, yes, the Housing Authority and the CRA, I think we should specifically exempt them from impact fees. We also have the Delray Housing Group. I thought we put it in here. I don't remember because I feel like we just wanted them to tell us. You have the Community Land Trust.

You have the Delray Housing Group. You have those who have been.

Right.

Like the ones that are already in the code. Right.

One that we already recognize. So you don't want to include people who. I'm sorry. You can't. Build affordable housing that is deed restricted as part of their density, and they get a density buffer. No. No. Not at all. Got it.

Can we just get a consensus on these three so it's clear?

I have them listed. So for infill.

No.

No.

What no infill it feels just vacant lot. Correct. Basically anything. I don't know why they put it on. It's not just even vacant lot How about a yes or no no Historic only designated only designated correct.

Oh

I'm not sure. I've been thinking about this. I think everybody in the district is subject to the historic rules. If I'm doing something in a non-conforming structure in a historic district, I still go in front of the HPB, correct? Yes.

I say give it to anyone in the district. Yes.

Sorry, I mean even if they're contributors so this is if you're building a thousand square feet or more so keep in mind you're doing a check color change you're Changing your this isn't gonna trip you know And even so right now the fee that we collect on behalf of the city at permit is the parks fee $500 per hotel room or House and if you had a house and you tear it down and build a new house You don't pay another parks fee because we already knew you had a family there, right?

So we can do we can structure it however you want I mean for ease it should just be if you have to go to HPB then You know and you can do a percentage you can do 25 percent. You can do 50. It's whatever whatever the Commission teams appropriate and

But the mayor is correct. Non-contributors do occasionally end up before the board if they are doing a big enough change. And they are required to be compatible. So they have design standards that other single-family houses don't have.

We're trying to incentivize people to designate their homes, not just everybody who lives. It doesn't incentivize people to designate if you apply it across the board. That's fair. Guys, excuse me. I just was saying it doesn't incentivize.

Houses that are already designated. Designated or want to be. There's historic houses in non-historic districts in this city.

But you had mentioned to incentivize people to designate their residence.

That's what I just said.

If they want it.

Okay, so designated or intend to designate.

Well, how do you, what if they choose not to after they get the waiver? I mean, I would say I'm going to, I mean.

No, they do it at the time of their permit application. Yeah, this is during permitting. So if they're going to do all that, they would have done it all concurrently. All right.

And then you're affordable, you're going to include our partners and nonprofits, and that's it. And Skip, you're taking out income.

Established, you know, we have a group that does it.

I'm going to just take the language from that other section of the code and just plunk it right in. So it's exactly the same.

Now is everybody satisfied with all the different groupings? Can we get the list of groups? I don't I don't have the whole list on the top Thank you

No, I don't.

He did not.

OK, so the different groups are parks, which we already have. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you meant the non-profits.

Buildings, parks, municipal, police.

Is everybody OK with all the different groups? 100%. OK, that's easy. I thought you meant the non-profit groups. No, no, no. Yeah, I did too.

I'm sorry.

You'll be able to see this only first reading.

I know. Hang on, Mayor. If it's first reading and we have changes, we should make them now.

No, no, we can. We can make them at any time. But I mean, yes.

Oh, that's what I was perfect. Thank you.

I have a question, please, to Ms. Dorris. You said that these are only for capital expenditures that we've already identified.

Yes.

So in all of these, the buildings, parks, municipal police, we've already identified capital expenditures?

We've already identified our need and identified what portion of that would be from new growth. From what from new growth from new construction? There's a portion of things that we replace or we need because we just need them at some point That's the maintenance part We can't pay for but if we have to expand because of the growth then it's only the portion from the growth that we're paying for So we've collected the fees already. We haven't planned for it yet, but when we need it Then we use the fees is provided that that expense is outlined in the justification study. I see.

Okay. Thank you. Sorry anthea. I

Everything some of this the last legislative session has told us we cannot use a percentage of building permit fee So I think when we bring it back in an abundance of caution the administrative fee cannot be 2% We would have to say like it's $40 or something So I'm gonna check what our neighbors are doing but that number on the fee schedule probably should be updated to be a dollar amount based on just what happened with building permit fees and development review in the last session. Is this the right slide?

Mayor, do you want a motion? Are we ready for a motion as amended?

This is the first reading, so we need a motion to move it on to second reading.

Motion to approve ordinance number 34-26 as amended. Second. Thank you.

Call the roll, please, clerk. I do that when you're not ready.

Commissioner Casale.

Yes, thank you.

Vice Mayor Burns? Yes. Mayor Carney? Yes. Deputy Vice Mayor Markert?

Yes.

Commissioner Mulliken? Yes. Motion.

Thank you very much. To be fair, I always do it on the public hearings. All right. We now have first reading of Ordinance No. 33-26, if the city attorney would kindly read it into the records.

in 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 two administrative provisions amending article 2.2 general procedures section 2.2.4 certification of actions taken to allow site plans for townhouse developments with an approved plan plat to be valid for 24 months after plot recordation and providing for a 24 month time extension and to allow approvals initiated by the city and the community redevelopment agency to be valid for five years providing a conflicts clause, a severability clause, authority to codify, and providing an effective date.

Great. Thank you very much. We don't really need, we're not, this is a first reading, but we don't really have members of the public speaking, so.

Motion to approve ordinance number 33-26. Second. Thank you.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. We now have comments and inquiries on non-agenda items. Mr. City Manager, you're up.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I actually have one item, and This is a friendly reminder, the next step in the fiscal year 2026-2027 proposed budget process will feature the annual town hall engagement, which is scheduled to take place this coming Thursday, July 23rd, 2026, at six o'clock p.m. over at the Creative Arts School. So myself, along with Chief Financial Officer Henry Dacquois, will facilitate that engagement, and from there, we will be back before you in September with the respective two hearings, as well as opportunities to finalize from there. Anyone who's at Liberty or has an interest in attending, please feel free to join us and we'll have a good experience as always.

This is on Thursday?

Yes, ma'am. What time?

6 p.m. Oh, okay. CRA is on Sunday.

It will be after that, but this is for the general public. Got it. For their benefit. So we will host this exercise, and we go from there.

Please make sure you sit down and notice that more than one commissioner may be at the prison case. If everybody wants to, go. What's the date on that? This coming Thursday.

Thursday. 6 p.m. I yield at this time. Thank you.

To the city attorney.

I have nothing here.

Sorry?

I have nothing.

OK. To the city commission.

Commissioner Mulligan. First of all, I want to thank for these signs in the park. It says, thank you, residents. This park maintained. This park, I should say, is maintained. This park maintained using property tax. And it's a little squirrel.

It's not us, it's the county.

It's the county. Is that counties? That's the Long Beach County, actually. However, the City of Delray Beach is proceeding with a similar endeavor, so you'll see more experiences to that effect, and therefore we'll be in good shape.

You just took credit for that.