Community Redevelopment Agency Board - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to 2026. Thank you all for being here today. And I want to thank the members of the Commission for once again returning to work and we've got a lot going on this year. So very excited about working together and making sure that all the good things happen to our community. Today, we have quite a few presentations we're going to hear. And but before we get to those, I want to first refer us to the communications that we had from first from the Budget Advisory Board. Is there anyone here from the Budget Advisory Board? Mr. Brown.

So there's a motion made by Mrs. Boker, seconded by Mr. Calais to state that the Budget Advisory Board supports the proposed ordinance as presented by staff without amendments. You want to talk

a little bit about that? Yes, mayor, vice mayor, members of the commission, Bill Brown, chairman of the Budget Advisory Board. Judy Erickson from Parks and Rec came before our Board on an ordinance change that related to food and beverage applications and the fees for the beach and the renewals. I believe it came before you at the last meeting for ordinance first reading, which passed. We are in support of as it passed.

We also discussed, I think, what might be an amendment that gives the council the option for a call up on the automatic renewals at staff level. So I think it's on tonight's agenda for second reading. So we are in support of that. And then the second communication, do you want me to

just go into that as well? Yes. The second communication regarding the reserve and the general fund.

You want

to talk about that?

Yes. Staff came to us. They brought after the staff had worked on the financial integrity principles that the city adopted several years ago. They went back, updated it, made it more to make sure that what was current principles in today's municipalities and everything. And there will be a presentation this afternoon from staff on that.

We, first of all, want to thank the city auditor. He attends all our meetings, the budget. And he sits here quietly, doesn't say anything, but we did ask him about the principles and making sure that they felt comfortable with him as well. And he brought up and that we asked that it be amended and put in as a best practice is a best practice is used by the Governmental Finance Officers Association be incorporated in that. So you'll see that in the presentation, but we're in full support of staff's, recommended changes.

Okay. Great. Any questions of mister Brown?

Thank you. Oh, and by the way, thank you for now. All your appointments, we have a 10 member board after tonight.

Okay. Great.

Thank Thank you.

Alright. Very good. Thank you so much. And now, we have another communication from the Planning and Zoning Board. Is there a member here? Ella?

Good afternoon, mayor, commissioners. Ella Parker, deputy director, development services. There's no members of the planning and zoning board here today, but we wanted to let you all know that they would like, the commission to consider changing the time frames before, the planning before an applicant comes to the planning and zoning board to have a public participation meeting more than no more than a year prior to the public hearing. And staff concurs with that, so we would like to take a look at our ordinance, amend that language, and bring something back in front of the planning and zoning board and, back to the city commission, if you all give us that directive.

That's not what it says here. It says here it has to do with adding vacations or rights of way to the code as it relates to public participation. So you wanna limit it to just the vacations and rights of way?

No. So what happened is there was a case in front of the board that was vacation, and the applicant for that vacation, had done a public participation meeting, a couple years before coming back to the board and actually having the items scheduled. Wanna narrow Okay. The

I

see. Yeah. And if, if the commission concurs, I think staff would look at just amending the public participation meeting to anything that's subject to it, not just right of way vacations.

Okay. Great.

Okay. Thank you.

Do you think do you think a year is even too long?

It could

even be, like, six months.

I mean, that internally. Yeah. I I think a year is too long because, you know, things change Sure. Consensus change. People forget. Agreed. You know, players change. It it I don't know. I think Yeah.

We'll we'll assess it, I I concur. I think even something like six months would work. If you all agree, we could certainly take a look at that and bring that back in front

of the commission. You're welcome.

All right, very good. Okay, moving on from communications, we have Business One, and

this is

an update on Broward School's redefining initiative. City manager.

Thank you, mayor. We have Susan Leon, who will begin the presentation, and then Susan Grant will join. Thank you.

Susan and Susan.

Good afternoon, and happy New Year to everyone. Thank you for allowing us to present to you today regarding Broward County Public Schools' redefining initiative, which has primarily begun, due to significant underenrollment and shifting demographics, aiming to optimize resources, improve programs, and ensure equitable funding by potentially closing underutilized schools, merging campuses, adjusting boundaries, and adding new magnet or specialized programs with community input guiding these difficult decisions. So that's why we're here to speak about it today. If you could please put up the first slide. Okay.

So this initiative started, last school year in the phase one. The only item that really, impacted the city of Fort Lauderdale was regarding Broward Estates Elementary School, which has now been transitioned to an early learning resource center. And the students that were housed at Broward Estates primarily went to Doctor. Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School. Some may have transitioned to Plantation Elementary if they wanted to remain in some specific programming.

So for this year in phase two, after many community meetings and workshops, school board workshops, this is part of what is being recommended for this year's phase that impacts the city of Fort Lauderdale. That is consolidating Segal Alternative High School into Witten Rogers Education Center. As you know, they are on the same campus. The Segal Alternative High School campus would then be transitioned to us possibly or for another district use. So we're here to talk about that today. And also Susan Susan, can you

can you explain to all of us what is alternative high school mean?

Sure. The students that are attending the school are still working towards their regular high school diploma, but they're in an alternative setting and is not a traditional nine to 12 high school.

So what does alternative mean? They learn they learn about trades?

Their schedule may be different. Their programming may be different. Some of them may be shared time in other programs. It is unique and individualized for those

underperforming students? Is it for advanced students? Give us an idea. What is alternative?

They may have special needs. I'm going to introduce to you Doctor. Valerie Wanza, who is here. Thank you so much for coming today, Chief Officer for the division of strategy and innovation.

Okay. Great.

Good afternoon, mayor, commissioners. I'm the viewing public. Please forgive my voice. I had oral surgery on Sunday, but I'm here. It look it looks better than worse than how it feels, but trust me.

So thank you for the question. I can tell you so Seagull Alternative High School houses three unique programs, if you will. They have the adults with disabilities program, which is a special allocation for the state where they literally have students from age 18 to 82. And they come there in the daytime for a different type of programming to suit their needs, and they can be effectively or efficiently transitioned into the Whitton campus as well. One of their programs that we probably all know and that has is their longest standing the longest standing program is the teen parent program.

And and that's where pregnant and parenting teens have the opportunity to continue their k 12 education at the school district along with child care services to assist them so that they can go ahead and graduate successfully. And then they have the school of choice program at Seagull, and the the school of choice is really for high well, they have some middle school, but more more so high school students who, for whatever reason, were not successful in the traditional school setting. These are not students who have committed expellable acts or students these are students who are deficient in credit. They're maybe over age for grade. So they transition here, they work on a more individualized pathway and track that gets them closer to graduation and graduating with their cohort.

So when Rogers offers school of choice program, the children who are the babies who are in childcare the in program, program, believe it or not, it's actually on campus where the children are. It's just sectioned off. So the transition of Seagull and Wooden together is more of a likely opportunity because then we will be able to realize greater resources by combining both schools. Seagull has just under 175 students on campus, excluding the adults with disabilities. And Whitton Rogers has about at or about five fifty students, don't quote me exactly on the number.

But all of the programming, the students would not be compromised, would not be eliminated, but they can be efficiently and effectively offered on the Whitton campus because the Whitton campus can accommodate upwards of about 1,400 students.

And and tell us a little bit about what the Whitton Rogers Education Center is.

Sure. So thank you, ma'am. So Whitton Rogers like Seagull, and that that's why it was, a great opportunity to merge both schools. So on on Wooden's main campus, they have, that same school of choice or alternative pathway program for high school students. They also have a middle school component for middle school students who are over age for grades at the middle school level.

And then they also Wooden Rogers also provides all of the educational programming in the BSO jails as well as many of our Department of Juvenile Justice programs. They provide the educational component there. But on their main campus, they offer the alternative or nontraditional tracker pathways for middle school and high school students. But to your point, they do offer some workforce certification programs there. They also partner with our local technical colleges to ensure that students have exposure and opportunities to participate in career and technical education so that they can also graduate not only with a high school diploma, but also with the work credentials as well.

So by combining them, how is the school board able to actually save money? It's on the same campus, same number of students. Tell us a little bit Sure. What are we are we are we reducing the number of faculty and adding more kids to classrooms? How is this how's the school board saving money here?

So so they're on the same acreage, but they're in two different Buildings. Buildings, if you will. Okay. So so a a part of, like, Seagull's main campus and those buildings would be repurposed for another use. Right? And then but to your point, a part of the cost savings is really and truly when you combine schools, you do, you you don't have to have the duplication of staff to operate a school. So so for example, you don't need two principals.

Right. So so your administrative staff is is reduced because you're now doing it under one school system. Right. Okay. So what kinds of what kinds of program what kinds of programming has the school board been considering for the Seagull Building? And that's why

I'm here today, part of the reason why. The city of Fort Lauderdale has been very vocal about wanting to look at opportunities to partner with the district for an alternate use of that Seagull Campus around doing a full service, and don't quote me if I get it wrong, but like public safety, some type of opportunities that could benefit the city and the community at large. Okay.

Alright. Great. Well, thank you. Anyone else have any questions? Okay. Thank you so much.

I did good.

You did good. You get a star, a gold star today. Susan Susan, does that do you have more to, to report?

I do. That was the first item. The second item is they're considering consolidating North Fork Elementary School into other surrounding elementary schools as you see listed here for you and possibly transitioning the North Fork Elementary School building for another use. So this is a second item that's under consideration for adopting. They will be discussing it and voting on their recommendations January 21 at the school board meeting.

Well, again, the North Fork Elementary School campus transitioned to another use. What kinds of uses have we been considering for that?

Oh, I'm back. So right now the board has received proposals from Junior Achievement in South Florida looking at potentially erecting a workforce training center on that property. We also received a proposal from, Cistrunk Rising, which is another entity that would look at doing, some housing, some community resourcing. And then there's the United Way also, provided a proposal. And then there's one more that I can't remember off the top of my head.

Oh, museum thank you. The Museum of Discovery and Science wanted to look partnering with the district to actually leave the school open, but look at transitioning the school into a museum magnet school, a true whole museum school. But after the board takes its vote on January 21 and we know what the final decision is. Then in March, we're gonna have a board workshop to actually look at all proposals received so that the board can come to some kind of direction to give the superintendent on how it would like to see the North Fork campus transition and for what specific use.

Got it.

Mayor? Yes. Is the

school board still taking additional proposals for the property?

We are.

My only concern, of course, is mixing elementary school age kids with adult activities. That's the only concern I would have, so just keep that in mind. Okay.

Yes, Susan. Susan Grant, with the city manager's office. Just gonna provide a little bit more background information about Siegel. As we said, it is jointly, on that same piece of property with the Wooden Rogers. It takes up about a third of that site.

On the site, we just went to the property appraiser's website. The structures are valued at $21,000,000 The land at 17.45 acres and that assessed value is $4,600,000 We talk about the redevelopment options as the city had expressed interest as far as the police and fire training facility or another district use. And just here's some a list of possible uses from fire as far as what would happen at a fire rescue training facility. So dedicated classrooms for EMS simulation lab, office space, training structures for high rise fire scenarios, apartment training facility props, indoor space for skilled based training. And then for the police, similar type of uses, emergency vehicle training on a track, a simulated urban training village, a training shoot house, canine training.

They have a place right now. But again, that's with a lease with, I believe, FDOT, and they don't know how long that will happen. Training for special operations and bomb teams. So those are some of the uses if the city were to pursue. Keep in mind, we haven't had any negotiations, and we haven't necessarily appropriated money in the capital plan, but that's something just that is currently being explored.

Susan, zoning could I back you up on that So for one I know the sheriff just built this rather elaborate training facility. I mean, like, you can drive vehicles into the building. And I mean, this is probably one of the most advanced training facilities that I think we have on the East Coast. Is that not available for us?

I'm I'm gonna ask the police chief and or fire chief if they have any information on that.

Well, I'm thinking that's probably more for PD than fire.

But Right.

I mean, Bill, do you and Sheriff Tony not get along well?

I thought Bill was here.

You're a pretty affable guy. Mean, with

So good afternoon. Steve Greenlaw, Where's assistant chief of Bill? Come on. Bill Bill at the officer, Penny, Memorial. So he will be here momentarily. I'm here just in his absence for right now. But, Commissioner, yes, absolutely. Could you just, reask the question, and, I'll try to help as much as can.

Why can't we co utilize the sheriff's new training facility?

So, we actually we did take a tour of that and, had a lot of good ideas from it. We've worked together with the sheriff's department in training for as long as I've been here, for twenty five years. We do have a good relationship with them. I and I am, surmising this. That facility is also open to others within the county.

Right. And so for an agency our size, it would be hard to get the type of training, that we are looking to for, as much as we would want to share that along with the county and other entities that would be doing it. I know the question remains, we're just building coming to the end of our PDHQ being completed. Look at that as kind of an administrative housing area for us. This training facility would be more of a hands on. As Ms. Grant itemized there, there's many things that we can't do internally at the PDHQ that we'd able to do in conjunction with fire. So on our existing campus where we have the new HQ, there's a

lot of other vacant land back there, right? Could we not utilize that for some of this?

So for instance, the EVOC course, that would not be able to be conducted there. For right now, when we do EVOC, we have to use either the police academy, which has a certified training track or a space that we, at the time, are unable to find because there's just not that land anymore to use for an EVOC course. The simulated shoot house in the training village, that is available at BSO's facility. It's a great facility. And again, it would probably just be the supply and demand of it is how often would we be able to incorporate our wants of training with the other municipalities and entities that are also using the county facility.

The K-nine training field, that is something that's kind of unique in its own. It has to have to be right there at the PDHQ would just not be be feasible, for a lot of, logistics with the animals and the housing and actually probably a lot of the noise complaints that we would get from those surrounding neighbors.

Where do we do canine right now?

There's various places that they do, but I know at the Wellfields, they have a training facility, and then they'll also, work with, other county entities and use vacant malls, vacant shopping centers, so on and so forth.

And it's usually not Because you mentioned the Wellfields, because I was thinking up there. I know currently, you know, fire does their burn training up there, I know there's a lot of vacant land up there. So if it's just vacant land we're looking at, I know we've got a lot of vacant land up by the will field that we could certainly utilize. Reason I'm asking this is I'm not necessarily a huge fan of acquiring additional land above and beyond what we already have to utilize for a dedicated purpose like this. So I just want to know if we can utilize what's currently underutilized land for some of purposes.

Well, to your point though, the existing police station is going to be demolished. So that's significant amount of land.

Right. That's why I want to know, can we utilize it like for the shoot house? I mean, we construct some of these facilities, the shoot house, the training village on that existing land? I get potentially not the K-nine facility, but the K-nine facility could be done up at the wellfields. In fact, I think we had talked about that at one time in the past, didn't we? Yes. I remember those conversations at some point in the past. Again, I'm just wondering how much of this we can utilize on existing city property before we start looking at other things like that.

These are already built, right? So these are buildings that exist, which we're repurposing them. Correct.

Trying to put

it there, trying to locate them, co locate with our headquarters would require an additional outlay for building a structure. That's

the only difference, right? Well, the reason I'm asking, Mayor, is I've had a number of folks approach me about looking at opportunities to construct workforce and or affordable housing in the downtown area.

And

before we start looking at creating new trading facilities, I think we've mindful of the fact that we have a housing crisis in our area for our service workers, people that work in our hotels, people that work in our restaurants, and we're constantly on the lookout for locations that we can utilize to increase that availability of housing. I think this is an ideal location for that. And again, I know I've had a number of developers that work in that space that have approached me that are basically chomping at the bit for opportunities to create more housing for our employees that have been priced out of our area. We look at the fact that we have an affordability issue. These folks are having to live further and further away from where they work, which puts more traffic on our roads.

We don't have very viable public transit, and so that's more traffic on our roads. It just creates a cascade of problems that having people that live close to where they work tends to solve. And I think if we can utilize that in a way to help solve some of this problem, I think that's a more pressing need for us, especially if we have other existing locations that can meet the needs of our training requirements for police and fire. That's all.

Thank you.

Mayor, who's that?

I would just like to ask if Chief Bowling could provide a little context on what the fire rescue needs would be for this training facility to augment what assistant chief Greenlaw mentioned earlier. Sure.

Hello, chief. Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. Happy New Year to you all. Thank you for the opportunity. The uniqueness with this property is just as the Vice Mayor stated is we can erect these training facilities on any parcel of land anywhere.

But we have to do so carefully. Part of that needs to be outside of direct contact in residential areas because of the smoke or because of the activity of public safety training taking place. And the beauty of the schools is that there's already classroom space that's available. As we all know, the cost of construction and the time just even build a classroom space, how long that currently takes and already have classroom space that is already set, ready to go and kind of a plug and play where we could just build the Connex box structures out in the parking lots is would speed up our timeline incredibly. Absolutely, there are other training facilities as far as from the fire rescue side.

There's Coral Springs, there's Broward Fire Academy in Hollywood. But all of those require us to take our units out of the city of Fort Lauderdale to attend training at those events. And the challenge with that is we run so many calls that we have to backfill then. We were fortunate enough just to receive a grant from FEMA and that grant allows us to pay overtime so that we can then go to other locations. But that historically is not the way that we've been able to train.

Most recently, we were utilizing the HCA training facility out at Westside Regional in Plantation, beautiful facility with some mannequins there that will do everything from bleed to deliver a baby, putting the paramedics in real life scenarios. But we're not afforded that same opportunity here. We do have the financial ability for some of our FEMA grants to purchase those SIM mannequins, but we don't have the classroom space to deploy those mannequins. This would give us that training classroom already there set up where we'd be able to start doing some of this training in house in meeting the requirements that we currently have to our firefighters on their annual training needs.

Quick question on that then, Chief. So if you have a I'm assuming you have a training day, right? So if it's a training day, you're not taking somebody out of service necessarily. So if it's a training day, whether they drive to Coral Springs or whether they're driving to this location, it doesn't make a difference, right? I mean, first of all, none of our firefighters live in Fort Lauderdale anyway. So they all probably live in Coral Springs or somewhere closer to that. I mean, realistically speaking, most of our firefighters are not living in the city limits. So they're probably elsewhere. So if you have a training day and that training day is in Coral Springs, it's just as easy for them to drive their personal vehicle to Coral Springs on that training day. You're not taking anybody out service. You're not leaving the station to drive there and come back. I mean, We're we're listening the

taking stations out of service. We'll take one of the other stations to backfill that station. Then that Are you doing station it anyway regardless

of where they've got to be? So if you're training for two hours, I get that. But if you're training for an entire day, you're taking them out

of service anyway. So by the location of Seagull in particular, the Station 3 right there. So theoretically, I could take the Station 3 units, move them to whatever firehouse was going to training, and then the units would still be in that zone. So if a call came in for a fire in the Seagull zone down in 3 zone, they would already be at that facility in the city. Whereas right now, if they're going out to Coral Springs, it's an easily forty five minute, thirty minute response code three, should we have multiple units. And there are unfortunately times in the city where we do need all hands on deck.

But if you're at 53 right out at the beach and you're doing a training day, does it make

a difference where you're driving to for that training day? It would because this would afford me the ability to send station three up to fifty three to cover. Right. And fifty three would then come down to station three. That's where the training would be. It'd in the city. They'd be able to

So if you had to call them back into service is what you're saying. So you pull them off their training day and pull them back into service. In other words, they're closer if you've got to recall them.

Correct, sir.

And that's a common occurrence? It is. Okay.

Thank you.

Yes, Ms. Grant had just mentioned that the other side of it is also that they have to have their equipment with them. So they don't report directly to the training facility without their equipment. They would need the trucks, their bunker gear, all of their stuff.

Don't they typically travel with their bunker gear? No, sir.

They leave at the firehouses because of the contamination in PFAS. So when they get done with their shift, they everything at the firehouse they're assigned to.

It. Thanks.

Yes.

And before we move on to the next campus, just to point out, we had talked about this isn't necessarily the city buying this land. I mean, it would be subject to negotiation with the school board. It might be a lease for a certain period of time, but it's not necessarily a purchase of the portion of this site.

Didn't I hear there from the school board that they intend to maximize their their price?

And and we have heard that. With this side, I think, might be a little bit more unique just because it is that combined both of those uses are on that same set of property. But again, I think that would be subject to negotiation.

I think we should proceed with the assumption as the School Board has stated, that they intend to maximize their financial return. Desperately short of cash. I wouldn't assume they're giving anything away at this point.

Oh, and I don't think giving away, I just I don't know that it's necessarily a sale.

Susan, just dovetail on that. So the assessment for Seagull is, with the structures and the land, about $25,000,000 What would be our plan? I mean, we were really interested in moving forward with something as opposed to just letting the market do what it's going to do and whoever is going to step in and do what they're going to do, where are we coming up with $25,000,000 for this?

Well, again, that is for the entire site, and the Siegel piece is about onethree of that. So the property appraiser's website, it's the entire Widden RogersSiegel site. So but yes, when you look at it, it is $25,000,000 so maybe onethree of that. And again, we talked about that this is just at the very beginning stages. We haven't necessarily started putting it into, hey, what's the financial plan? But we're here to get some input to talk about how we

would go forward. Thank you.

And there, again, is just the zoning for Siegel. It's currently community facilities. The next one we were talking about was North Fork Elementary School, and that is 11.17 acres on the property appraiser's site. That land is valued at 1.3. I think for 11.17 acres, that's probably on the low side.

The structures are valued at 11.2%. As Ms. Wanza said, the redevelopment options that have been the people have contacted the school board, Junior Achievement, United Way, she had mentioned one other and then mods. And then there are the zoning, for North Fork. And again, just here for any discussion or questions that we can answer.

Okay. Does anyone have any further questions of Susan or Susan? Yes, go ahead.

I'd like to ask a question of Doctor. Wanza. Thank you. I'm going back to page two of the exhibit Okay. And we're giving the consolidation of the schools.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. My question and concern with where we have those, scholars who are living in the area, and we're looking to or it's being suggested that they would be, moving into, Crescent Park.

Mhmm.

Okay? And then also, doctor Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, schools in the area. I'm looking at specifically, Walker, and I don't see Sunland Academy on here, but those two schools are, like, immediately in the area. And my concern and thought, if our two schools that are in the immediate area, what's the conversation to keep those scholars in the area? I'm understanding that, Walker, their capacity they're not at capacity with their numbers, but Sunland Elementary may be a little bit closer to their capacity.

Capacity. So what conversation is being had to keep our scholars in the community?

Thank you for the question. So when we had the workshop on December 9, I believe it was, there were two proposals for the board for the board to give the superintendent and staff feedback on. One was to to transition all of the students from North Fork into Walker Elementary School, And then the other because Walker does have the capacity to house the students from both schools. And then the other was the proposal that you see up here. Mhmm.

And the reason why this one was the one that, I guess, received more of a favorable this is something we want the we would support more, and it became one of the superintendents. It became the recommendation is because we heard from the community where the boundary is large. And if we're gonna repurpose the school, then can we put the students closer as close to possible to their residential area. Right? So you have some students given the actual boundary of the school on the outer fringes.

They actually live closer to Croyston Park. They would no longer have to cross Broward Boulevard to come to school. They live closer, you know, to Thurgoods. So so that's what we did following community input to really try and actually clean up the feeder pattern and and make it less of a a safety hazard if you will for students to have to have hazardous conditions to now contemplate with as they go to school.

Thank you very much. You're welcome. Any other questions?

Mayor, yes. Yes. Go ahead. Thank you. Yeah. Don't go away. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Mayor Segal is in in District 4, and the principal at Segal I've had a chance to spend some time with is was nominated to be Principal of the Year. Broward County, amazing principal there.

So there's a lot of great work that happens there. As we think about the possibilities for Seagull as it consolidates consolidates to Winton Rogers, I like the possibility of exploring how this could be used as a police and fire training facility. And Chief Golan, a question for you around that concept. When you go to other facilities to do training, do you pay those facilities for that?

Thanks for the question. Absolutely. So whether it's Coral Springs, Broward Fire Academy or Hollywood, we do pay for the amount of time that we're there. We're also for our ISO insurance rating required to have so many facility training hours per year per firefighter.

Any sense of the annualized cost of training use of facilities, what that might be?

I don't have that number off hand. I apologize.

That's all right. So Mayor, that's in commission. That's one of the, I think, cost savings that this would represent, clearly is saving some of those, the use costs. Chief, if this were to be leased by the city, would it be a possibility for the city to then in turn if negotiate with the school board, but in turn be able to lease that facility at times when we wanted to other agencies?

Absolutely. And we've been approached by some of the maritime industries that have been interested in partnering with us. They have what's called STCW, and I can't for the life of me remember what that acronym is for right this moment. But that is training that's required by all mariners, licensed mariners on an annual basis. There's currently, to my understanding, not enough of those training facilities. And they're required to use the live fire props. That's why they want to partner with us. It's about more than just classroom space. The other thing I think that's even far beyond that is CPR training. We hear from our community on a daily basis requesting CPR, stop the bleed and even how to administer NARCAN. Those are all that could be taught out of this facility helping our community.

Great. So I think that's an important point you're making, Chief. And then Raquel question and it was brought up workforce and affordable housing, which I'm a big believer in. I know I've been working on one of the initiatives around that, which is in our the well field that I think was mentioned. We've been working with the housing authority in the city to explore a workforce affordable housing development there. Is that am I saying that right?

I'm not familiar with initiative for the Wellfield in terms of affordable housing.

Which Wellfield are we talking about? The one by

Field Dixie West? The Field Dixie one? Yes.

Mayor, Commissioner and Chris Cooper, Deputy City Manager. So I think you're talking about the Broadview site, which is in, unincorporated Broward County, just West of 441 near the city of Plantation. Exactly. Yeah. And is that how is that project coming? So they're currently working with Broward County. That's the entity that issue their development permits. So they're going through that process. We're working on some other issues to make sure that that property is clear so they can develop. So it's in progress. And that's with the housing authority.

That's what the housing authority is what I thought. So and that's if I remember right, I mean, that's 500 units or so? Yes. So I think a

little over 500 units kind of mix of housing types, both low density single family type with some multifamily as well.

Okay, great.

So I didn't know if that

was the well field that was brought up,

No, the well Do we field brought up for the K-nine facility is the Prospect Lake Well Field, so it's near the new water treatment center.

Near the new. Okay, great. Okay, fantastic. So what Susan and Susan, so what would be helpful for you all to hear

about And I'll refer the City Manager on that. Sure.

So one of the reasons that we brought this item forward is that there's been a lot of communications, media reports, a lot of meetings being held. And we wanted to ensure that the commission had the appropriate opportunity to discuss potential development options for either of the sites being impacted that are within the city of Fort Lauderdale. We've recently and publicly talked about the public safety training facility at Seagull, but we have not had an opportunity to discuss the North Fork site. And should the commission seek to go in any particular direction or direct staff to engage with the school board or its staff on any initiative preference for the North Fork site or for the Seagull site, we would like to get that feedback from you so that we can appropriately have those discussions with the members of the school board. We want to make sure that we're in alignment with the city's goals and objectives.

And although we have put forward the public safety training facility, it's not to say that we don't think other uses might be relevant. We do understand the need for affordable and workforce housing within our community. And should the commission want to see the school board go direction, we would want to communicate that to the school board so that they can know what the city's preferences are and they can contemplate that as they make their decision on January 21.

So Mayor, my suggestion for Seagull would be that we explore with the school board this possibility of a police and fire training facility. I think a $1 a year lease would be a wonderful price. So that's going be my suggestion, Mayor, to the School Board. And we appreciate their partnership and being sensitive to our budget limitations. And that we also, in that analysis, do a little bit of what's the cost outlay currently for Police and Fire training, what could be potential revenue draws as well for that.

And in our conversations with the School Board, sharing that we would like to have, if we pursue this, the possibility of being able to use it with other services and agencies to maximize the utilization of it for the Seagull.

Mayor and also to my colleagues, I did speak with city manager about the North Fork site. That location, as we know, it has been it's been a it it is a prime location. Also, it has documented to be, land that is also burial ground. So that property has a lot of, legacy, a lot of, history that we have not really talked talked about currently. But I did ask if city manager would look into the opportunity what it would look like for us us as a city to even discuss assuming that property.

We don't know exactly what that looked like today. We don't have a purpose spelled out for it, but also being able to hold on to something that has a great significance to our city and being able to, in the future, have a voice as to what happens to the land. So I I wanna put that in part of our conversation as well.

Well, it being a burial site, would that limit our ability to develop it?

Possibility, but also with what we have there already that will give us opportunity with what's being utilized, the land that is being utilized.

Okay.

But the barrier land that's been identified along the waterway there and even going a little further into some green space that's on that property. It's been identified through conversation to have been used as burial grounds for indigenous people.

Okay. But for the purposes of our trying to create an activity on the site, I'm not sure acquiring property that's going to limit our use is going to be the best use of taxpayer dollars. If we're acquire land and then let it sit because we're trying to respect the fact that it was a burial site, I'm not sure we're achieving the purposes for which we are seeking to pursue now. Do you have something to say, city manager?

Just seeking clarification, Commissioner Beasley Pittman, is

it that you are considering repurposing the existing structures on the site for other purposes other than for the educational purposes provided today? Yes. With that, it's open an opportunity to have that discussion where we could see where we could use this the structure was there because there's there's great opportunity with the structure that we can also discuss and see what we can use that property for as well.

Commissioner Biese of Himmel, I completely agree. I think it's worthwhile having that conversation. And Mayor, I think if there are some encumbrances or limitations to the property, we obviously do the due diligence and that would factor into pricing and opportunities. But I think it's worth at least a conversation.

Yes, conversation and leaving our opportunity open to us and not just walk away, at least having a conversation.

Okay.

So city manager, is it possible that we have someone, whether it's from the historical society or anywhere else, that can educate us fully on exactly what we're talking about on this property so that we know going in all of the facts, all of the relevant information.

We will do some outreach and our own research.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay.

Any other questions of the commission to Susan? Susan, do you have anything more to report?

No. Thank you for your insight.

Okay. Thank you. We have one person to sign up to speak, former school board member, Heather Brinkworth. Heather? Welcome.

Hi.

Good afternoon. Happy New Year. First, I want to say how thrilled I am to see great progress with our city's public schools. I'm impressed with the community support for the Sports Academy at Bennett Elementary and the Feeder Pattern Sports Focus, and to see it come through life through the recent kickoff. What was it?

What would you say at Bennett Elementary?

The Sports Academy and the new, sports focused feeder pattern that we have with the groundbreaking we had recently at Sunrise. I'm really excited to see that come to life.

Okay.

Second, I want to remind you all how proud we should be of our city's formerly struggling schools, being at capacity and serving our students very well. Now I'm gonna get straight to the point on what is before you today. I'm disappointed, not in you all, in BCPS's failure to listen to the overwhelming show of community support at the last Dillard High School meeting to maintain an elementary school for the neighborhood at the North Fork site. I understand the financial constraints the district faces, but I remain steadfast in my push for innovative thinking to serve the students of our city both now and in the future. I have reviewed the proposals being put forth by BCPS, and I encourage the city to not be shortsighted and to push back.

An innovative neighborhood elementary school could coexist with either the JA proposal or the United Way proposal. I heard the mayor's caution about colocation of students with adults, but I ask you to look at facilities right here in Broward and around the country and around the world, where innovative solutions are in place. With the immense growth of our downtown corridor, it continues to be prudent to include the opportunity for an innovative elementary school in that area. The North Fork site would be perfect. With regard to the Seagull proposal, my question is how much of the acreage?

I think you all started to talk about that. Would the city plan to purchase or lease? I noticed that the entire 17.45 acres were listed in the backup, and it certainly wouldn't be that much because Witten is going to still continue to exist. I do believe that the usage of the Seagull site to meet the training needs of the city's fire department may open opportunities for the city to recruit BCPS students and have other opportunities for training for cert for neighbors, CPR and those types of things. My brother is a hazmat for, BSO, and so that type of training is really important to me as a resident of the city to make sure that our responders are ready in case of, a disaster here within our city. So thank you for your time and your consideration today.

Alright. Great. Thank you.

Heather, I have a question. I'm sorry. And happy New Year.

Happy

New So has the Education Advisory Board discussed this topic?

We have not, unless I missed the meeting where we discussed the proposals that just came forth.

Because it's you're making good points, but I'm wondering this has not been a topic of conversation and our Education Advisory Board taking a stand or having an opinion or expressing it even as a communication to the commission or to the school board on the January I guess what they're meeting on January 21?

Yes. We did not have a meeting in December.

Okay.

So, at the I believe it was the November 5 city commission meeting, we did have a, communication from the Education Advisory Board. It was dealing with recommendation. They hadn't addressed, the North Fork because I think that was still being, considered, with the school board. But there was a letter or a communication supporting the fire and police training, at I think it was November 5.

Does the Education Advisory Board meet before the school board meeting?

Yes. The next meeting is January 15.

Do you think that that will be a topic of conversation, the North Fork site?

The redefining initiative is on the agenda every meeting.

Okay. Great. I'd be interested to see what So that conversation

the superintendent's memo that made the recommendation that you saw today came out after their last meeting. So they haven't had an opportunity to discuss that. They've discussed all of the re inviting initiatives and attend the community meetings as well at every meeting. It's a topic of discussion.

Okay, great. Thank you.

So

a lot of what we're talking about are really this is a business decision that the School Board is making with regard to repurposing and shuffling around a lot of these assets that they have. And then I think they've come today to say, hey, there might be an opportunity for you to repurpose some of this stuff. I know the Education Advisory Board would certainly have an opinion as would members of this commission to give to the school board. But I guess ultimately, it's their decision. And so whatever they decide, what remains as options for us will be determined by the decisions that they make, right? That's the way I'm understanding it, right? Okay. All right. Very good. Thank you so much.

Thank you all for being here today. Moving on to business two, fireworks and drone shows.

Mayor, this

is Could you bring

a sample today for us to observe in this room?

No, I don't think we have the height clearance. So at the October 23 commission meeting, it was discussed at conference to look at alternatives and to just look at the overall of firework displays and drone shows. And so this presentation today from Carl Williams and Amy Jean Baptiste will provide a little bit of clarity surrounding those two options. Go ahead, Carl. Thank you.

All right. Good evening. Mr. Williams.

Afternoon. Yes, sir. So as the manager mentioned, at that October 23 commission meeting, there was a conversation regarding the fireworks and the drones and some of the operational aspects of that. We were then tasked to come back to you to provide some feedback as it pertains to those drone shows as well as our fireworks. And doing that will be deputy director Amy Jean Baptiste. Good

afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. Happy New Year. Amy Jean Baptiste, deputy director of parks and recreation. And like a city manager said, I'll be providing some cost and operational comparisons along with key items to consider. So Parks Recreation produces approximately 60 events annually ranging from large scale signature events to neighborhood community events.

Today, we are focusing only on events that includes firework displays, which are the fourth of July spectacular and the New Year's Eve downtown countdown. So here is a snapshot of our current fireworks programming. So for downtown countdown, it's a four minute land based display, and it costs just under $6,000. And for fourth of July spectacular, it was a twenty two minute offshore display. So this includes marine, operations. So for the barge and tug, that's $54,000 and for the actual display itself, it's $86,500 totaling the $140,500 there.

But I was looking at these numbers, and it's very hard to make a comparison between the two because the fourth of July spectacular is far more spectacular than the New Year's Eve display, which we all saw the other night was kind of looks like

a

backyard effort to just throw up a few fireworks. I mean more people were interested in the anchor drop than they were in the fireworks, and it was good to have fireworks, but they don't compare, obviously, right? So if we're looking at costs, really, fourth of July is probably a better standard by which we should follow any discussion here today.

Sounds good. Yes.

So the Drone Show is an aerial light display created by a fleet of drones equipped with LED lights. The drones are programmed to fly in formations that create images, animations, and story sequences in the sky. So this photo is a depiction of what an event goer would see in a typical drone show. So simply put, there's hundreds of drones that move together to form shapes, logos, and animated scenes. A show can range from 150 to a couple thousand drones depending on the complexity of the visuals, and the vendor can create custom storyboards that match music or event themes.

This photo here was taken from a drone show in Miami. So previous drone shows that we've done, we first started off with Starlight Musicals, which was back in July as part of Parks and Recreation Month, where we did 200 drones at the cost of $20,000 For Summer Jams, which was in August, we did 300 drones, and that was sponsored so it was sponsored by the drone show company in exchange for marketing exposure. And downtown countdown, which was last week, was 200 drones for $40,000. It is important to note that the item we're considering here today, downtown countdown Countdown and Fourth of July, are both on holidays. So the price is significantly different.

As you can see for Starlight Musicals, you have 200 drones as well for Downtown Countdown, but the prices differ.

I wasn't there for the Downtown Countdown, the Downtown Countdown show. I wasn't there because that was done earlier in the evening. So how many images were displayed at that time? And what period of time over what period of time was the show conducted?

So it was about a twelve to fifteen minute show. The storyboard might have had about 10 images, which included the city's logo. It was Happy New Year's. There were some cheers. And it was shortly after the anchor lighting for the kids at 07:00.

Right. Okay. So it was about twelve to fifteen minutes, you said? Correct. Okay. Was there any musical accompaniment to the to the drone show There was. That that complemented what they were seeing?

So it wasn't complemented. There was just house music in the bag, but it was an a a complemented show.

Okay. Alright.

So this item was brought to the Parks Recreation and Beaches Board for their recommendation. The consensus was to continue fireworks for fourth of July either exclusively or combination with the drone show, and the feedback I the feedback I received from them was referencing the tradition and the historical significance of fireworks. And they're open to consider a drone only display for downtown countdown as potential pilot. So key items to consider. If we're adding a drone only display or a drone show in combination with fireworks for Downtown Countdown, this will result in a fiscal impact of about 40 to $60,000.

And if we're adding a drone show in combination with fireworks for fourth of July, it will result in a fiscal impact of about 80 to $100,000.

So that's that's fireworks and drone? For

so July. For fourth

of July.

For fourth of July, that's if we do a combination. So the next slide will have the will have the price list. But in in terms of fiscal impact, it will be in addition to what's already budgeted. So just to compare fireworks versus drones, in terms of regulatory processes, there is a fire watch that is done by the fire department, and there are some regulations by FDEP. For drones, they're regulated by the FAA. And as as it relates to setup, there's no impact from a staff perspective. As for fourth of July, they're done offshore. And there are limited impacts for drones as they don't like to typically fly over people or cars. As far as noise, as we know, fireworks are loud. Drones are quiet, practically noiseless.

And for visibility, we're talking about maybe three mile radius for fireworks and a mile and a mile and a half for drones. The weather conditions are similar where they typically fly with winds less than 15 miles an hour. However, for drones, they can fly in light rain. As it relates to beach access, there's no restrictions for fireworks. For drones, they will be flying from the sand, so there's a restricted area needed.

For fireworks, we typically do a twenty two minute display. And then for drones, they're they're and they range about twelve to fifteen minute shows. So what I did want to point out is that if we decide to retain the fireworks for fourth of July, staff will evaluate reducing the duration to about ten to fifteen minutes. And that doesn't necessarily mean cutting the the show in half would result in cutting the price in half as there's fixed operational costs such as the tug, the barge, and the base production costs. So I'm seeking commission feedback on options for each event.

For downtown countdown, if we're gonna continue with the fireworks show only, it's $6,000. If we're gonna do a drone show only with two to 300 drones, that'll be 40 to $60,000. And if we're gonna do a combination of both, it's 46 to 66,000. For fourth of July, if we're gonna continue with the fireworks show only, it's 145,000. If we do drone show only with four to 500 drones, it's 80 to $100,000. And if we do a combination of both, it's 225,000 to $245,000. That's the end of my presentation. I'm available to answer any questions.

So just for the purpose of today's discussion, I don't think we need to talk about the downtown countdown because that's a year away from now. Why don't we just focus on fourth of July? And by focusing on fourth of July, we could see and we can measure the success of what a drone show would be like so we can then make a decision regarding the downtown countdown. Does that make sense to everybody? If we could just focus on fourth of July, any opportunities to get a sponsorship for any of these for this event?

As it relates to drones?

As it relates to drones.

So there may be some possibilities. So like I said, for summer jams, this was sponsored by the actual drone show company. They were looking for marketing exposure. They typically look for that in their non peak seasons. So we're there is another event in the pipeline. It hasn't been finalized yet, but we're looking he's looking to sponsor Carter Park Jams.

Right. But that's fine, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about for fourth of July. Are there any opportunities

for If we would find a company to sponsor event, yes, but we don't have any currently.

Right. I understand that. So but are there is there a suggestion perhaps that, like for example, the developers that work in our community, writing a check for 25,000 or $50,000 may not be so difficult for them. And a combination of that would allow us to produce a really great this is the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the country, and we need to buy into this. And have we talked with the county?

What are they doing for fourth of July? Do they want to participate in the Fort Lauderdale fourth of July spectacular? I'm just saying that it might behoove us to reach out to some of these folks that have deeper pockets in the city and be able to contribute and maybe do instead of 400 to 500 drones, maybe do 400 to 5,000 drones. We've seen on the Internet some of these very spectacular drone shows around the world. There's no reason why the city of Fort Lauderdale can't participate in the same measure if we can get some contributions from folks that do business in our city that would like to show Fort Lauderdale off in a very grand and spectacular way.

We're going to be competing with a lot of cities around the country on July 4 this year, and I'd love for Fort Lauderdale to be able to stand out in this regard. So something to talk about, something to think about.

No, those are great points. And I did want to also add that we have a solicitation out currently seeking a consultant for sponsorships. Anyone else have any questions?

Yes, Mayor. Go ahead, presentation. Have you done any, analysis of the environmental impact that fireworks have?

So outside of the basic, noise pollution and air pollution, as as it relates to combustion, so there's debris. With our offshore fireworks, there's less debris impact to the actual events, more in terms of

offshore. Yep. Mhmm. Thank you. So Mayor, I think for many reasons, I think drone only for the July 4 makes a lot of sense.

It's the research that I've done that shows, to your point, of the debris that falls from fireworks, there's metals, microplastics, other components that fall into the ocean and for our show, it's an example. So drones are cleaner, quieter, being a pet owner, dogs, other pets, it really impacts them. Safety, much safer, in my view, the drone than others than the fireworks. And I think there's also an upside from the weather. Drones can operate in slightly different weather when there's a little bit of drizzle and so forth, have a little bit greater flexibility for that.

And I think from a cost savings standpoint for the July 4, this would save us money as well. Mayor?

Well, what's the possibility of fourth of July is about celebration, and this would be like seeing a silent movie. And that's not how I want to see Fort Lauderdale celebrate. Can we can there be musical accompaniment? So we have speakers up and down the beach that project music that complement what they're seeing in the air because just seeing drones is really boring, okay? You're sitting there and you're seeing a very like a quiet as quiet images in the sky and it doesn't have the same punch as fireworks.

And I think that's what the Parks and Recreation Board members were suggesting. Now obviously, we all got that letter from the ASPCA that Commissioner Sorensen was reciting all their bullet points, and they're all well said. And well, we've been doing fireworks for dozens of years as have cities around the world. But yes, maybe we could take an opportunity here and be a good stewards of the earth and not be polluting it with air pollution and debris and noise for the pets. But I don't want to take away from the feeling of fourth of July.

So when you do your research, think about how you could combine it with music or other kinds of images that give people a moment of excitement to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the country?

Mayor, given that we have a concert that typically happens at that time, I think pairing the drones with music shouldn't be significant challenge. I have experienced drone shows with a musical accompaniment. So I think it's something that's possible if that's the desire and direction of the commission.

If I could, though. Yes, what do you want? Yes, Faiza. So a couple of thoughts. So let me address that one first. So that's only if you're right there. So when I go to if I'm watching the fireworks show, I don't go to the beach to watch it because I don't feel like fighting my way all to the beach. Closer in town. So I don't have to be at the beach to watch the fireworks show. Can watch it from anywhere in the city. Whereas if I want to listen to the music, I have to be at the beach. So I think that's a mitigating factor to the music aspect of it. Mayor, you brought up something I think is very important. This is the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our country and I don't think this is the year to experiment with it. Back to the founding of this country, we have been celebrating with fire works.

This is a tradition that goes back to our very first July 4. I think it's important to honor that. I'm open to experimenting with this going forward, but I don't think this is the year to do that. I've also done a lot of research on this. And when we look at the environmental aspects of it, what I've read in my research is that the air contamination is basically the equivalent of one hour of traffic in an urban area. It dissipates over the ocean very, very rapidly. I don't think it's a significant issue. I think this is an important event that brings the community together. I think this is the way that we celebrate. We honor our country.

We honor our founding of our country. And I think it's something that brings a lot of people great joy. I think there's a reason that Disney has a fireworks show every single night. It's because it's something that people celebrate, people enjoy. I think it would be a mistake, especially this year, to not do it. If we want to do this going forward, I'm open to experimenting with it, seeing how people react to it, but I don't think this is the year to try that. I think this would be probably the worst year to try and change it up. It's just my thought.

Combination. Mayor, if if I may, because I I have thank you. I have been hearing from a lot

of folks haven't heard from District 2 yet.

And and the July 4, actually, I think, happens in District 2. So I I would like Everything happens in District 2. Well

Is what

you is that what you try to tell us?

No. I don't.

Okay.

So here's the deal, and this is what I've been hearing. I've been hearing pro and con about this, and I just wanna tell you some of the things I'm hearing. There are many people in the boating community who feel that the drone show will not be helpful to them. You know, we have a lot of boaters, they go out on the ocean, they watch the fireworks. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not an expert on this, but drone shows are directional. In other words, if you do a drone show over the beach or a tenth of a mile offshore, people from the beach area will see that, but people that are further east in boats will see nothing. Right? I mean, because it is a directional program.

Correct. So how our event is currently laid out, we would probably do the drone show off the beach facing west. So if the boat was directly behind the drone show, they will be seeing a mirrored version of the drone show. So, basically, if we had an American flag on display, they'll be seeing an inverted flag.

The reverse. So when you

say facing west, you mean instead of looking out over the ocean, you'd be looking downtown?

No. No. No. So so the drone show would be would be facing west to

the I see. Yes.

The okay.

Facing a one a, essentially. So if the boaters are on the boat, they will be seeing a mirrored version of the

do we have to do it over the ocean? Why don't we just do it over the city?

We can. We can do it over the city facing east.

Well, then would everyone from the city east see it? Yeah. If you look up. Well, thank you. Really?

Unless you're holding a mirror below you. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, these are I

I well Oh, go ahead.

Go ahead.

A lot of boaters that were concerned when they read

it because they said we they said

we won't see the show. That's what I'm saying if if you do it further in inland.

Okay. Well, these are just things to consider. And also if you're downwind or upwind, the same thing. You're gonna run into a problem with this. I've also been hearing from people I've definitely heard the environmental argument that they think it's cleaner and something to pursue, but I've also, as you will express, you, vice mayor, this is the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the country, and is this the year to do away with fireworks? I'm not so sure. But maybe we do some sort of hybrid where you we keep our fireworks show. And by the way, even that should be really spectacular this year. But maybe there's just a drone that says, happy fourth of July, Fort Lauderdale. One one sign in the sky that lasts the whole way.

I don't know how that works. But I I I'm open to some sort of hybrid approach. But from what I'm hearing from people, they are just concerned, as the vice mayor said, that that maybe this is not the year to change it up. That maybe the year after that is when we really look at changing it up.

Okay. So like if we tapped into the hotel business improvement district, okay, try to get a grant from them because this will if we publicize this as being an amazing spectacle of drone fireworks or whatever, it might draw people to the beach. It might draw people to take hotel rooms to want to see what's going to happen in Fort Lauderdale Beach. I mean, we have six months to do something really great, So I really think that don't look to compromise on quality and on impact. I think that there's so much in technology now that has been brought into the drone arena that I think let us all, maybe as all of us commissioners, contact some of our people that we know that have been generous in the past and see if they'd contribute to a fund that would help us really put together an amazing drone show and or fireworks show.

And I think we really could do something really great. But you're right, we're competing with other cities, so we got to work fast, right?

Yes, already missed We probably already missed the boat on that.

And one thing to consider is that, you know, we're currently in the holding stage before we actually put this out to bid. And so what I'm hearing from commission is that we kind of have both, and then we can kind of pick and choose from there. But the idea is that we need to go out to bid so that we can obtain a vendor to provide this service, and then we can make adjustments at that time in consultation with the city manager.

And I think we have to be aggressive for finding sponsors, I really do. Even if it just means that while an incredible spectacular fireworks show is going on, that those sponsors' names are on drones in the sky, like, know, just keep going. But maybe we can just sell that. I I think that people might be willing to buy into that because of the nature of the 200 of the country. I just think we could get some sponsorship.

I agree with you 100%.

Okay.

Alright. Great.

We'll move in that direction. Thank you. Thank

Maybe one of those messages can be fix it FTL, you know, because apparently nobody knows that app exists.

Okay, Business three, City of Fort Lauderdale's Financial Integrity Principles and Policies Update. City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor. So we want to have a discussion with the commission on how we can refine and memorialize some of our policies and procedures surrounding our financial policies. So I want to invite Laura Rees, our OMB director. And looks like Keith Farrell is joining her.

Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayors, commissioners. Laura Rees, director of office of management budget. Happy New Year. We're here with you today to talk about with my colleague, Keith Farrell, to talk about the city's financial integrity principles and policies and updates that we're proposing to them.

This iPad is new.

All right. Today, we'll be discussing with you the reasons why financial policies and principles matter, the focus on the working group updates and an overview of the financial principles and the emergency management reserve program and suggestions for its use. Adopting strong financial principles and policies is central to a strategic long term approach to financial management. They're recommended by the government finance officers, and they're a fundamental part of each review that's conducted by our credit rating agencies when they come to visit. So some examples of the priorities are to strengthen the city's credit rating, to clarify and communicate our strategic intent, encourage long term financial forecasting and decision making, and to establish clear boundaries, that the city puts in place while also fostering innovation.

And so GFOA periodically updates their best practices around policies and principles, and that's what we're integrating into our updates. The city first approved its financial integrity principles over ten years ago in 2014, and the goals have largely stayed the same. And although a periodic review is still warranted, to this end, a working group was created over the summer to review and incorporate the new emergency preparedness reserve fund that the city manager recommended as part of her budget and as well as to review and refresh existing principles. This has been done in partnership with the budget advisory board. You heard chair Brown speak about that, who requested a role in the review process during budget development at one of your joint meetings.

The working group that reviewed and updated the policies included the members listed, Yvette Matthews, assistant city manager from the city manager's office, as well as Susan Grant. From the office of management and budget, was myself and Keith Farrell, who actually led us through the process and took the lead role in this initiative. He'll be talking more to you about that soon. In the finance department, Linda Loganshore, the director Laura Garcia and Alicia Sheffield were key to the process. And then the budget advisory board played a role in making recommendations during budget development. And then in December at their meeting reviewing and making a recommendation. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Keith, who is going to walk you through the principles and the changes we are recommending.

Keith, I don't think you've ever spoken before us, have you? This is my second time. Oh, second time. Okay. I tried to avoid

it, Mayor.

How many years have you known us?

Not that you're counting.

Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. Keith Ferrell, assistant budget manager. When the working group convened this summer, we wanted to do a comprehensive and systematic review of the integrity principles. But as you'll see here, the framework remains unchanged from what you all adopted ten years ago. The four principles remain sound budgeting practices, prudent fiscal management, cost effective operations and long term financial planning.

For the good of the public here today, I'm just going to go over the four principles very briefly, and then we'll close by talking about the proposed amendments that the working group is bringing before you today. Principle one is sound budgeting practices, and it states that the city is committed to maintaining a structurally balanced budget to support high quality services to our neighbors consistent with the needs of the city. And this principle is guided by sound budgeting practices that are listed here, including the Revenue Estimating Conference Committee, cost recovery, interfund borrowing, proprietary funds, fund balance, structurally balanced budget, budget transfers, budget amendments and allocation of overhead costs. These components are all detailed, in the exhibit, which we will be bringing forward to you all in a couple of weeks for adoption. This principle is also where we're, incorporating language around the emergency reserve fund, which I'll be speaking about here in a moment.

Principle two, prudent fiscal management. This principle states that the city is committed to best practices in revenue collection, expenditure disbursements, asset maintenance and recordkeeping for ensuring the optimal performance and integrity of public funds and resources. This principle contains detailed policies associated with how staff handle revenue collections, purchasing fixed assets, P Cards, risk management, cash management and financial oversight and reporting. Principle three, cost effective operations. This states that the city is accountable to stakeholders through transparent and fiscally responsible decisions in order to deliver high quality services in the most effective and efficient manner possible.

This principle has four components associated with it, which is performance management, financial transparency, business continuity preparedness and travel policy. And then last but not least, our fourth principle is around long term financial planning, and it states that the city shall be dedicated to investing future and enhancing the quality of life through public private partnerships, cooperative decision making, community engagement and smart strategic investments, while using debt in a responsible manner and striving for the highest level of government bond ratings available. And the components associated with this principle include investments, our Citi's multiyear CIP, the multiyear financial forecast, which is our STANTech model, debt management and capital maintenance renewal and replacement. So those are the four principles. And now I'm going do an overview of the proposed amendments to you all.

The most significant one is a section dedicated to the emergency reserve fund. And as you all will recall, during budget development, there was support for this fund from from you all in the dais as well as from the Budget Advisory Board. But there was a request to establish some guardrails for this fund, some parameters and some city policies for how this fund operates. So when the working group convened this summer, we took that request, seriously, and the establishment of some guardrails. And we centered our discussions really on two questions.

The first question is, when could these funds be utilized? And the second question was, what is the target fund size? The first question, when could they be utilized? The group reached consensus pretty quickly, and we're proposing that these funds can be utilized upon a formal declaration of an emergency, by a a governmental authority or agency, and that the funds would be used for recovery efforts, specifically general fund recovery efforts, and in most cases, hopefully as a match for anticipated federal or state disaster recovery funds. The second question, what is the target fund size?

This was a more difficult question to answer. And what you have to keep in mind in the development of financial policies is that it's more of an art than a science. But we did staff did quite a bit of reading and research over the summer. GFOA actually a few years ago released a white paper of sorts on rethinking reserves. And it differentiated between fund balance and reserves, and it stated that the perennial question around reserves is how much is enough.

The answer they provided you might not find very satisfactory. It was that it depends. And it really depends on what your risks are as a municipality. And they included a risk assessment. And probably no surprise to you all, the city's major risks are hurricanes and other major weather related events.

So what we did was we looked at what the city was we looked at historical events and what the city had paid previously for the '20 twenty three April flood as well as Hurricane Irma. And we looked at those financials, and that was one element that we kept in mind. We also looked to see if other municipalities around the country were establishing a similar fund, and we did find some examples. One that I like is from Denver, Colorado. They established a contingency reserve separate from their fund balance, and they set it at a minimum target of 2% of their general fund operating expenses.

So that research we brought to the working group over the summer. And what we're proposing as an answer to this question is that staff aims to maintain a minimum reserve equal to 1% of general fund operating expenses. That's excluding pass through funds. And then in addition to that, if the reserve exceeds 5% of the general fund's operating budget, that those excess funds can be transferred back to the general fund and used for onetime expenses, such as, CIP projects. In addition to the did you want

to Yes. Say So what is remind us again what is the source of revenue that would be put into this emergency fund?

So we for fiscal year twenty twenty six budget, we used a portion of the PFAS funding and we put in million into this reserve. And the hope is that we won't have to use that reserve and a portion of it can be invested and those earned pool investments will keep it at approximately 1%.

So that's just a onetime allocation that you feel would be and we don't have to it's not an annual thing that we have to continue to feed this fund until, of course, we have to use Until we have to use it. I get it. All right. Thank you.

Okay.

Other I'm sorry, just to be on a record, I didn't support this last time, I don't support it this time. I just want to be really clear about this. We don't need an emergency reserve. We have more than adequate reserves in our current fund balance. We're over policy. We take way too much of the tax payers' money and hang on to it ourselves. So I just I can't support that.

The other proposed changes of note to the policies that I wanted to bring to your attention. And a lot of these proposed changes, as Laura mentioned, are to align with updated best practices, and they also are to align with just how we're operating as an organization today. The first section is an update to the cost recovery component, which is related to Principal one, and it's under Section B. Cost recovery is how we establish fees for services provided to the community. And so when we're doing the analysis of what the rate should be, we added a requirement to consider rates charged by neighboring municipalities, and we added a requirement to incorporate analysis of overhead and other indirect costs that might not be immediately incorporated or obvious incorporate.

The second amendment here is for general fund.

Let me pause you on that. Is that going to be based on an approved cost allocation plan? How are you going to do that? Because we've run into this problem before. So what's the basis of your overhead in indirect cost? It used to be the 87 cost plan, now it's the Circular 200. So just tell me how you're getting there.

Hi, Commissioner Herpes. So each year we allocate costs through admin overhead through a cost allocation process. And so that would be considered like for HR, budget. But then in addition to that, when we're developing fees for like parks and recreation, we would account for other costs like the administrative function if you're doing a recreational program.

Who's cost doing allocation study is what I want to know.

So we have an active contract with Matrix, which is our cost allocation consultant. It's good for another one or two years, I believe. We're working on an update right now, but that would be how we do the cost allocation for HR, the auditor's office, all of those overhead functions. But in addition, when we work with departments like, DSD to develop their fees, we ask that they include the administrative portion of their operating budget as well.

And that's consistent with OMB's guidance?

So we don't necessarily have to meet the OMB guidance for unless we're doing grant related activities.

But

if we are going to charge something related to a grant, we would make sure we're following the OMB guidance.

I guess that's my question though. Is the report consistent with OMB's guidance?

So we typically Circular 200, would do two reports.

Right. So There's we the A87 and there's a full cost there. What used to be the A87 plan and the full cost allocation plan?

Yes. So for the plan that Matrix does, there's two. There's a full cost allocation plan and then there's an OMB compliant one, which is based on actuals. And so we use the full cost allocation for most situations. In the case where we're charging the airport or a grant related expense, then we have to use the OMB compliant model. It subtracts out the cost of lobbying and things

Yes. Okay. We're good. Thank you. Appreciate it. The

second proposed amendment here is in the section related to general fund balance, which is Principal One's Section G. And really, just added some language Can

we go I'm sorry, we just lost the screen out there. We went back. There we

go. And Thank we updated the language to communicate the commission's commitment to a target fund balance of equal to three months of operating expenses. The important thing here is that this is really additive. We kept the language previously that talked about the minimum target of a or the minimum of a two months. And so now the principal talks about the minimum target as well as the three month target.

So let me ask you, has

the GFOA changed the standards from two months to three months? It has not. So that this is a city, decision to Okay.

So so best practice is two months, but we're going to three months.

Yep. Commissioner Harps. So GFOA's best practice is that a minimum of two and that is based on risk. So what the city has historically done and we've been doing in our models is we do set that minimum at two months. We target three months based on risk and based on bond ratings. So our target's higher than the minimum that GFO recommends.

You know my feeling on this. We've never ever once needed it, but that's okay.

But we have AAA bond ratings. So it's

And we also know that the bond ratings are not based simply on having that. They're based more on a willingness to raise taxes than they are on reserves. I know because I've been up there and I've talked to Standard and Poor's and Moody's and Fitch's. I've done the presentations on Wall Street. I know we're not we're to agree not on this one.

Yes. And I'm not meaning to be argumentative, but that's all part of the reason behind the target. I'm just trying to explain. Thank you.

Well, I can interject here that the Commission's willingness to raise taxes has been pretty small as we've not raised taxes in nineteen years. So that, too, would be an indicator of how we need other indicators to present to the bond markets of our financial solvency. So doing three months makes a lot of sense since we're not planning to raise taxes, at least not as far as I'm concerned, not during my tenure and I hope in the years ahead. But anyway, that's another subject for another time.

Go ahead. The third proposed change listed here is for the financial oversight and reporting section. This is under Principle two, Section G. There's really two, significant edits here. The first is that we have updated the city's deadlines for recurring financial reports, including the ACFR.

We've updated the deadlines to align with state statute requirements. In the current version of the financial integrity policies, some of the city's deadlines are a little bit, more aggressive than that, unnecessarily so. And then finally, what we have also done is we've replaced the requirement listed for staff to compile monthly financial reports, with quarterly projection reports. And an important note here is that quarterly projection reports still have the same information of monthly financial reports. It has those year to date actuals.

But in addition to that, it's also they're also forward looking. They're prescriptive and they're more actionable, so they add an additional value for staff in maintaining the city's financial integrity.

So let me back you up on that. If I remember correctly, and I could be wrong on this, it's been a while since I looked at it, the state's requirement is what, nine months after the end of the fiscal year? For the ACFR? Right. Correct. And we were shooting for six months after the end of the fiscal year, which by the way in the private sector is absolutely unheard of, right? And we've struggled for the last, what, ten years to actually meet our six month deadline, so we no longer qualify for the certificate of achievement, right? So we're constantly missing our deadlines.

That's more of a question for the finance department.

And sorry for beating you up, Linda. But, yes, I think it is irresponsible for us to say that it's going to take us nine months to close our books. By the time the financial report comes out, it's useless. So there are certain principles for financial reporting. One of the most important ones is timeliness. A year old financial report is worthless. And so, to say that we're going to do the bare minimum of nine months after the end of the fiscal year again, if we were private sector, we'd be laughed at.

Yvette Matthews, Assistant City Manager. So commissioner, we wholeheartedly agree with you. We're taking a lot of efforts to make sure that we are hitting those benchmarks. The first one is implementing a new, ACFR software, which will allow us to quickly close our books and ensure that we're compliant. Under these principles, what we were attempting to do was align the dates that are included in our principles with the state statute.

It was something that we heard during our discussions, both with the Budget Advisory Board, making sure that everything was aligned with state statute. And so we agree. We're not targeting nine months as our goal. Nine months should be the last resort. But what we are saying is that the state dictates that within nine months, we hit those targets, and we wanna make sure that we outline that in our policies as well.

So I'll back you up. So software is never an answer. You have a broken process. You don't have broken software. When we put our ERP system in years back, that was supposed to fix the problem that we had ten years ago. Guess what? Didn't fix the problem. Exasperated it. Every software implementation we have ever done in the past two decades that I've been here always designed to fix a process problem, never fixed a process problem. You can't fix a broken process with new software.

Absolutely. And every time we've tried to do this, it's not the ACR, it is a process problem. And so you're never going to fix that with software. I've done ERP implementations, they don't fix process. So by merely saying we're going to move the bar back, you're essentially embracing the fact that we fail. That's a wrong way to do it. You're accepting mediocrity. Let's not do that.

And the software is not the only I agree with you 100%. We are making sure that we are striving for a quicker resolution of our financial statements and

Then we move the deadline up. It should be three months, not nine months. We're going in the wrong direction. Okay? Absolutely. Stretch goals don't go backwards.

They come forward. We hear you. Thank you so much, commissioner.

Beyond

the ones listed up here, if if you did read closely and compare to the previous version, you would notice that under Principal three, there was a section called full cost of service. We did remove that section because we felt it was already fully covered under the cost recovery component, so we felt that it was an unnecessary duplication. And then beyond that, there are just really minor edits. For instance, the uniformly accepted acronym for the annual report is now the ACFR, so we have replaced that in our integrity policies. And we've also just added some clarifying language that delineates the role between the Office of Management and Budget from the finance department so it's clear who is responsible for what.

And we've added a little bit more detail, to the Revenue Estimating Conference Committee and their role in the budgeting process. And with that, next steps is what we're hoping is that at the first regular meeting in February is that we will bring these amendments, to you for consideration and hopefully adoption. And, with that, I'll turn it over for any discussion and feedback. Great.

Thank you so much. Did you want to add to that, Laura? Okay. Any member of the commission have any additional questions to ask?

Yes, Mayor. Thanks. Yes, go ahead. Thank you for your presentation. What was in this past year, what how timely of a submission of our the ACFR and other reports.

And while Yvette is coming up, I'll just say Commissioner and to the full commission, this is something that I've recognized as a challenge for us and the organization very quickly, and I've been working with the team that has been in place and the team currently in place to ensure that we have new procedures so that we can mitigate these challenges because it is something of concern to me and obviously for you as well.

Absolutely. So this last year actually, the last two years, we actually have not meet the nine month, trajectory for the release of our financial statements. So that is why we have one focus on upscaling, we focus on the process, we focus on the software. We're putting all efforts into this to make sure that this year is the year that we're back on track.

And what's your expectation for this year's submission?

This year, it is, something that the manager really, made sure that we were aware of both in our performance organizational goals that we will hit that benchmark this year.

Okay.

Meaning within nine months?

Within nine months. And where

have we been just interested as a city historically? Have we for years and years always been beyond the nine months?

I see, Commissioner, go ahead.

Thank you. Once upon a time, we used to get it done by the due date, which is March 31, which is when you submit to the GFOA for the certificate of achievement. We haven't hit that since probably around 2012, give or take, if recollection is right. I'm getting old, so dates are all starting to run together in my mind, but it's been probably since about 2012, I think. It's been a while, yes.

Okay, thirteen, fourteen years.

But we used to get it done within six months.

Okay. So it's been thirteen, fourteen years of delayed submissions.

And one of the strategies we've implemented this year is through personnel. We've augmented staffing in the finance department at somewhat at the request of the director, but also based on additional observations. So with the commission support, we have applied resources to that department to help in this fashion.

Great. And Raquel, if I'm understanding it right, just because there's an alignment of deadlines does not infer that you will wait you're aiming to wait to submit to that deadline. In other words, my what I'm understanding is your aim is to submit well within the nine months. Is that

That's correct. And there are performance evaluations that speak to that.

Yes. And what's your goal, Raquel? How many months out would be

I would love for us to be at that March 31 date. But I believe that I think we need to be realistic and I think we need to take progressive steps toward excellence. And so I'm hoping that we can get to June and then ultimately get to March. But it's going to take a little bit of time for us to course correct.

Great. And is it fair to say that this alignment of deadlines, there's kind of two deadlines. There's a kind of procedural deadline that we aim for and then there's your own internal deadline that you're striving for. And it sounds like your internal one is much more timely than the state one that we would say hourly align with.

Absolutely. We just wanted to have some sort of cushion the principles would be adopted by the commission, but we're always striving to beat the minimum standard.

Great. Thank you. Thanks.

Okay. Any other questions?

Yes. Mayor, I'd like to get your feedback

I'd

like to get your feedback on these proposed changes, any feedback. Thank you.

Keith, we'll see you in another year.

I went over them with Yvette and we just heavily discussed at the BAB meeting. For me, as far as the general fund, I'm more conservative. I like the three months better than the two months. There's always some emergency that could be more, and you gotta remember with hurricane type of things, you know, in past, FEMA may give you a draw, but initially when there's an emergency, you have to pay first and wait for reimbursement, which can be a long time. So that's why I like the cash flow point of having three months.

Far as the financial reporting, I mean, like the nine months. It's always been, think, that way for a long time by the state to have nine months. It gives you a little leeway, of course, so you'd like to make it in six months if you could, but I think that leeway is good because then you don't have to deal with, requesting additional time with the state, and you can get additional time, but I think nine months is a better way to have it in our policy.

Great, thank you. Thanks, Mayor.

Any other questions or comments? All right. There being none, thank you so much. Moving on to business four.

So I just want to make sure do you have what you need, Raquel, for

We will come back the commission to formally adopt.

Okay. Great. Thanks. Thanks, Mara.

So let's talk about the exciting subject of sewer lateral connections. Thank you. Yes.

We have Albert Carvin, Utility Services Director. This is another item that came out of commission reports on October 23, and so we're just following up on that request.

Yeah. Good afternoon, mayor, city commission. Yes. Tonight or this afternoon I should say, we're going to talk, close, start the discussion or continue the discussion on the Chapter 28 revisions to the code, which is the water, wastewater and stormwater chapter in the code. And we're just going to really specifically talk about sewer lateral connections.

Let's go forward. There we go. Just a brief thing about what the presentation is going to be about, the ownerships and the responsibilities and ultimately the little short code changes. Typical allows for connection. This is the focus of what we're going to talk about in a very simple diagram.

We're going start from the home, what the homeowner's responsibility is, all the fixtures within the house, the sewer line below the house, the sewer line going through the property, and do a comparison about your water meter. So your water meter is usually on the property line. It's on the city side of the property line. So the owner's responsibility ends at the property line. Whether that clean out is there or not, it's usually the on the the property owner's side, but that's where the property owner's responsibility would would say.

And then the city's responsibility would be for the sewer line going into the the lateral going into the main line. There are some nuances of whether you're going to need a replacement or fix that sewer line, that sewer lateral going into the city's main. So we're going to get into the city code chapter updates. We've added some definitions, modified or added definitions having to do with the house sewer and the connections, really defining to make sure this house connection is the responsibility of the property owner to construct and maintain. Again, that's and then the second one is the service lateral.

That's the city's responsibility. That's the lateral that goes from the city main going up and down the streets, parallel to the street, then perpendicular to the street going into that that termination at the property line, city takes that. And then the maintenance of that is the is the owner's responsibility. Again, that that definition about the sanitary serve service, the house connection on their property. Some of the, let me go back to this, some of the nuances about what you really need to know is about if the sewer line if the property owner requests the sewer line to be relocated, that would be at the expense of the property owner and would be similar to additional tapping charge on our water service that we ask that we will give them a cost estimate on what that would go gonna cost.

It's very variable depending on where that sewer line is in in the street and how deep it is in the street. Also, if you're the a property owner wants to go from a single family to a duplex, duplex to a fourplex, that they need an additional sewer lateral y, we only allow one y off a lateral so they would have to, again, request us or the city to install an additional sewer lateral from the main line. Okay. And then that's really the the gist of the changes. With the code changes, we're presenting we'll bring back in the 2026.

Feedback tonight, we draft ordinance changes and then we go back with first reading, second reading, the second reading would be a public hearing. I'm available for any questions.

Thanks Al for your work on this. Appreciate it. And one of the ways to just kind of simplify or boil this down in my mind is the emphasis of hey, city pipes, city is responsible, homeowner pipes, homeowners responsible, using the property line as a differentiating point. Is that fair?

City property, city right of way, city's responsibility, private property, private side, property property. Exactly.

And as you and I have talked about, there were we've had some issues where there were some lack of clarity around if homeowners would be responsible for some of the work that goes underneath the right of way. And so I thank you for clarifying that and work on that and love to see this coming back as soon as possible. Thanks. Thanks, Mayor.

Any other questions or comments? I have a question. This is not directly on this issue, but relates to the infrastructure underground. At one point, a couple of years ago, we were given a report regarding the infill and infiltration rehabilitation of our system. Are we going to get a report at some point as to where we are with regard rehabilitation of the of the underground pipes that regarding infill and infiltration.

There's two items going on on that, mayor, that city has a consultant working on a report. I've I've heard one presentation since I've been back. That report is having to do with the evaluation of the system and then making recommendations on prioritizing which sewer basins to that would be most would benefit from the from an I and I reduction using different techniques that they've come up with between the city and that. And the second is the consent order that we've we've written some report or some letters to the commission about regarding negotiations with FDEP about amendment two to the sewer, consent order, and that's pending still negotiations with FDEP and will come plan to come back to commission sometime in the spring this spring twenty twenty six.

So is there no ongoing work with regard to the rehabilitation of the sewer pipes?

There are some minor work that my staff does, some engineering work, but substantial focus in on basin by basin. No. But there is some lining of individual lines if they are leaking, stuff like that, little

Well, project it's the stuff like that I'm concerned about because several years ago, we were given a report that we were about 52% we've achieved about 52% of the rehabilitation of the sewer pipes because the issue is when it rains and it storms and it soaks up into the ground, it goes into these old pipes and it overflows our water treatment plant, which is a waste of facility capacity when we're trying to maintain the integrity of the plant. So how can we just stop all of a sudden when we thought we were actually continuing with that effort to rehabilitate these underground pipes?

We have not stopped. We

just said we're just doing it here

and there. We've engaged to try to make sure that where we're spending the money, we're spending it wisely, and that's the evaluation that's going on now. How So we are

long has that evaluation been going on?

It's getting ready to be complete. We have funding to identify some funding in 2026. We have funding in the CIP, the five year plan.

Right. But how long has that study been going on? I'm not sure. You're saying it's about to be done in the spring, but I thought that I mean, this is a real concern, okay, especially because we're under consent order. By ignoring the issue and just studying it to death, we're not accomplishing anything. God forbid, we should ever have the type of sewer breaks that we suffered in 2018 and 2019. So can we have a report on that sooner than later?

At the January 13 goal setting meeting, the Commission will have a discussion on this as being proposed by staff. So we're preparing some information now so that we can have a more thorough discussion during that time.

Okay. But it's not just talk. We want to see where we are with regard to the efforts. If nothing is being done, we're just studying it, that's how we got into the problem last time. We had a lot of studies on the shelf that were sitting there, and we weren't funding any of it.

And I've been under the impression since I would say in the last five years that we were told that there's continuing effort to realign pipes to rehabilitate the underground sewer system so that we don't overwhelm the George Loeomire sewer plant when it rains, when we have flooding situations so that it doesn't stress our capacity. And if you're telling me all we're doing is studying it still, I thought the studies were done years ago. I know you're new, so I'm not putting any expectations on you. When we do have our goal setting session, I would hope that we would have a little bit more to report on than just saying, oh, we're going to have a study in another few months completed.

All right. That's We will all

have more of an update

Okay, at that great. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? There being none, thank you so much. All right.

On to, Business five, presentation of the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

That one, Mayor, that one was removed. I didn't hear you. It was removed from the agenda.

Okay. I'm sorry. I didn't get that memo. All right. Wow. Commission reports. Vice mayor. None. Okay. Commissioner Beasley Pittman. You've been busy the last couple weeks. Oh. Talk to us.

Oh, I was I was I was thinking about bypassing just to kinda

You wanna bypass?

No. I I think gonna give a little bit. I won't give all that stuff you saw that I was doing. You're right. I've been very productive, but I'm just gonna share some of the highlights. Just wanna thank the commission for agreeing and and voting to rename 23rd Avenue to reverend doctor C W Bell Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, District 3, of course. Wonderful outcome participation. I'd like to give thanks also to Stratcom for all of their work that they did to make that happen for us. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Also, would like to congratulate fire rescue class 25 dash two for their, batch, ceremony. I wasn't able to attend, but I'm always excited when we, learn that we have these candidates are coming up to the next level to serve and protect our community. So thank you very much for your, dedication and your passion to be a member of the city of Fort Lauderdale fire rescue. Rescue. Also, on December 20, Smitty's Restaurant celebrated their fifth anniversary, and that's a big come on. Let's give them a clap for being yeah.

Come on now. Yeah. Come on.

New business in the city. Five years, and we know a lot of times it's a challenge for new businesses to survive. So I'm really excited that they were able to continue what they're doing. Also, doing that acknowledgment, we the Smitty's owners, they did dedicate the building to, Desiree Giles Smith, which is the wife of Chris Smith. They're co owners, and it was a very, very moving afternoon and dedication for her. Also, want to share, let's see, I'm gonna stop stop there. There. I'm I'm gonna gonna stop there. Yes. Alright.

And because what's gonna happen, we all were at so many of the same events where it I'll you all acknowledge that I was there as well, but I wanted to pause to share those That's how I know you were busy. We were hanging out. We were really sick. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the time.

Alright. Commissioner Lassner.

Yes. Thank you, mayor. First, if I could request that this evening we do a moment of silence for Harry Stewart, who passed away Yes.

We will.

Night, that would be great. Thank you so much Long for serving attorney for the city of Fort Lauderdale, so thank you very much for that. December 17, we had a great ceremony topping off of the ocean rescue. Thank you to all of those incredible people who serve such a valuable, important part of our city. It was really nicely attended, and I wanted to thank everyone who was involved in doing that.

Going to that facility is always so amazing, and this is going to be a really integral part of that peninsula. That evening was also the Flagler Village Civic Association Holiday Party, maybe that was perhaps the last of the holiday parties, at least in District 2, maybe in the entire city. December 19, several of us were at the Omni ribbon cutting in our city. It's such a beautiful venue. It's really incredible how our tourist industry has stepped it up.

When you think of 17th Street Bridge and you think the bookends of the Pier 66 at one end and then now the Omni Hotel on the other, it really makes for an amazing travel experience, and I'm sure we're going to see good numbers coming out of that. That coupled with when you look out at the convention center that we attended, that new opening of that facility, and you look at what's happening in the port and all of the brand new ships that are coming to Fort Lauderdale, it makes for a very optimistic revenue source for our future. So congratulations to everyone involved in that. Coming up January 8, we have history makers this Thursday from the Historical Society honoring War Memorial and also the Florida Panthers. As we know, on the thirteenth, we'll be sitting down together for our goal setting workshop, always a very valuable exercise.

Visit Lauderdale will do its annual report on January 14 at the Broward County Convention Center at that luncheon, always very interesting. Those facts and figures are very important to us as well in our city. January 15, we have Arcadian ribbon cutting, quite an important building development in the CRA. We look forward to the Arcadian ribbon cutting. And also that evening, the Fort Lauderdale Police Union FOP twenty twenty five Police Officers Awards Banquet, at War Memorial, which is also a really well attended, event, and we look forward to everyone who's going to be honored that evening.

A couple of comments, Mayor. I've been trying to get through a lot of information that we've been seeing. Number one, I did want to talk about something that's been happening in our city as of late. We had bad experience in Himishi Entertainment District, and we also had a bad experience at Beach Place on the beach New Year's Eve. So I want the city manager to assure me that we are going to get serious.

I know that not so much Beach Place and the beach, although that's been historically problematic over the years, but the Himishi Entertainment District, we've been talking about it. I've been going to charrettes and workshops workshops for at least five years in terms of how do we restore this area to what it needs to be, what it once was, how do we activate it in a very different way, and how do we clamp down on the bad actors, whether it's at businesses that are not doing enough or just how are we going to deal with the fact that we have so many people coming to these places that are really just causing problems? I want to see us get as aggressive as we possibly can. I want I know that we have an item tonight on the beach with regards to significant impact events, but I would like to see that actually translate into other entertainment districts. I would like to see us look at things like curfews.

I would like to see us really be able to figure out a way that we don't have to, within two weeks, see shootings, some resulting in death in our entertainment districts, whether it be the beach

let's talk about water You said entertainment district. So I know we visited the entertainment district concept a while back, and maybe it's time to revisit it again because I think that entertainment districts, because of the late hour that they're open, I think it creates an environment of indulgence and people just think it's a place but to act out on whatever it may be. In this particular case, Him or She and also on Beach Place, obviously, were inside events. It wasn't just random shooting. These people all knew each other.

They were fulfilling goals that trying to get at each other, and they chose those locations to do it. And why do they choose those locations? I personally feel that when you have an entertainment district where you have open carry, you have late night entertainment. A lot of it suggests and invites people to come there and to do things that they wouldn't otherwise do in other locations. I think we need to look again at what the parameters of an entertainment district should be and perhaps even restrict the hours that we have allowed in the past, certainly get rid of open containers.

And we saw at someone sent me an e mail, I believe you may have all gotten an e mail, one of the bars on Him or She was serving underage kids. This guy sent me this gentleman sent me an email saying that his 15 year old child was served at one of the bars on Him or She, and he wanted to report it. So first of all, why is he allowing his child to go out on him or she when they're 15 years old? But I guess Good luck with that.

Yes,

know. That can't always be controlled. But we can control some of the things, and not having availability out there is one of the things that I think we as a city should be more responsible for. So I think your point is extremely well taken. And we've tried our best to impress upon bar owners, taking out more responsibility. That didn't go anywhere. So I think that the city needs to revisit its entertainment district concept. Ocean Drive did a more draconian approach to this. I don't think we need to go as far as they did. But certainly, I see there's creeping activity that we've never seen before.

And I don't want that kind of migration of people's thinking that Fort Lauderdale is now a new staging ground for acting out their personal vengeances. So at some point, maybe city manager, we need to put this down as a conference I

would also just say that we did have a fairly robust discussion of this not that long ago. About a year ago. And I thought we actually came to some conclusions that I had not really seen in force. By the way, would also direct everyone's attention, we did receive a very good email today from the Himachy Working Group, which is comprised of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Museum of Discovery and Science, the History of Fort Lauderdale, and also the DDA. Take a look at that because and I agree with them.

I think that we should immediately prohibit off premises and outdoor consumption of alcoholic beverages in this district, and we have to make sure that we step up the enforcement. It's as simple as that. I agree with everything that they said in the letter. As I said, it's just been too many years of listening and talking but not doing anything, and I think we are at that crucial point now where we really have to step it up.

And we are doing something. And on December 24, we did share with the commission a letter to the commission on some of the comprehensive steps that we've been taking toward approaching this district. And we unfortunately saw the incident that we saw, and our police department has been diligent about how we are managing enforcement in our downtown. I'm going to ask Chris Cooper, our deputy city manager, to come and give us an update. I do know that as directed by the commission, we have been working on an amendment intend to bring that forward in February.

We also have Chief Schultz here, and I think Assistant Chief Greenlaw is still here, and they're available to talk about our new approach to policing in the area. And And we also have some strategic opportunities within our police department and staffing and how we look at the scheduling and how that can impact police visibility in those areas and across our

Yeah. Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. So as the as commissioner Glassman alluded to, there were a series of Charetz and meetings on how to redefine and revision the Hammarshee District in particular. And in September 2024, that came to commission, and the commission accepted that vision plan of sorts that kind of laid the road map out for how we could go about proposing changes not only to the entertainment district itself and the rules that surround that as well as the the our land development regulations in the area and some other streetscape issues and things like that. So what the what staff did was in May or June 2025, we brought a conference presentation to the commission about the about the entertainment district specifically.

We received feedback. There was a lot of stakeholder input during that meeting as well. And what we what we were directed to do from that meeting was to look at some amendments to the special entertainment district ordinance, especially as pertains to the Hemershee District, and bring those back for the commission for their consideration and hopefully adoption. So those amendments included creating a different way to participate in the district. Prior to that, it was based on common control, common ownership of the businesses within the district.

What the commission directed us to look at was something that contemplated more of a permit system so that individual businesses could opt in, opt out of entertainment district, but also have some entity that had control and responsibility over making sure those permitted entities were operating within the parameters of the special entertainment district code requirements. Two of the big things that have been mentioned were also directed to staff to bring back, which is the removal of the outdoor sales and the open container provision within the Special Entertainment District. So from that meeting, staff has been working with stakeholders, but also with our internal staff to draft those code amendments. We are at a place where we are prepared to bring those back to you, and we believe we can have those to you for a first reading in February. So unless the commission has any thoughts or input on changes to what was contemplated back in May, June 2025, those are the amendments that we would be prepared to bring back to the commission for consideration.

Could you outline those?

Sure. So currently in the special entertainment district ordinance to be an entertainment district, there needs to be some common control or common ownership element over the establishments that are part of the district. So what the amendment contemplates is that rather than that element, there would be an ability for a district like Hemershee in particular to continue special entertainment district, but more so under a process by which individual businesses could opt in or opt out by way of a permit. But instead of that common controller, common ownership element, there is a entity that's established to be the overseer of the district to make sure that the requirements of the district are being abided by. That includes things like a security plan, outlines individual establishments, reliance on either police details or some other security measure, as well as the participation in an overall security plan for the district.

So that would be things like street details. It also contemplates who manages and oversees the maintenance of the district. So there's requirements requirements for things like power washing sidewalks and making sure the district is maintained in a clean and sanitary manner. So that entity would also be responsible for making sure that the participants are also abiding by those requirements as well.

I'm sorry, Chris, I apologize. I want to focus a little bit more on just the open container and hours of operation aspect. The others are more aesthetic in nature.

I'm thinking more safety Absolutely. Apologies.

No, it's okay. I wasn't clear.

The code of ordinances right now allows for entertainment districts to have some benefits. I think the primary benefit and one that we don't talk about much is the ability to be within a closer distance to each other than the code normally allows. So right now, establishments licensed to sell alcohol are required to be separated by a certain distance. If you're within the district, you can have establishments selling alcohol bars and that sort of thing right up against each other by right. The other thing is enhanced noise levels.

So this came out during the conversation about our noise ordinance when the commission amended that about a year ago. These districts are allowed to have an increased decibel limit over what other areas of the city are allowed to have. The other, privileges are the ability to, have an open container in the district. So walk from bar to bar that's within the district outside in the street, sidewalk with your beverage, as well as outdoor sales.

The other I think that's what the vice mayor

Right.

So those are

the two things that the commission directed us to bring back in ordinance that removes as a privilege within the special district.

Okay.

The other item is the hours of operation. So right now throughout the city of Fort Lauderdale, an establishment selling alcohol can operate throughout the week, from Sunday to Thursday from, I believe, it's 7AM till 2AM and get started early. And then on the weekend, so Friday night into early Sunday morning, they can operate from that early start time to 3AM. In the special entertainment district, the establishments are able to sell alcohol until 4AM at any day of the week. So they get an extra hour on the weekends and then an extra two hours during the rest of week.

So so let me ask my colleagues, do we think that still makes sense? I I know I I was never really comfortable with that. I mean, I think the 2AM is Nothing good happens after midnight. You know, I I I have long subscribed to that, mayor, and I recognize that I'm not a 20 year old anymore, and I'm not trying to party till dawn anymore, so I'm an old fogey.

Well, even young people, at some point, it just becomes I don't really think there's a benefit. Now some of the bar owners came back and said, No, you're going put us out of business and so forth. I just think it creates a culture that we don't want to foster, and I think we need to revisit that.

One of the things that I've seen happening through the years and talking to some folks that are still young enough to go out down there is you've got people showing up at around 11:30, 12:00 who've already been drinking, and they're not showing up to come out and start their night. They're coming out there now having already showing up inebriated and standing around in the street. They're not patronizing a lot of the establishments. There's crowds just gathering in the street out there of folks who are already drunk and just looking for sort of a, what I'll call a Bourbon Street type atmosphere of New Orleans. It's just people congregating in the street looking for a carnival type atmosphere, and I don't think that's what we're trying to encourage down there.

So just my observations from people that are going down there, that are patronizing the area is that there's an earlier crowd, there's a later crowd. The later crowd are not people who are going into the bars. They're not spending money. They're coming down there again, having already gotten their drink on and just looking for the party. And that's when I think we're seeing more of the activity that we're concerned about starting to happen. People again who are already showing up, already drunk, this is when we're having more fights breaking out and things of that nature.

Chris, where are we with regards organization that always was in place back in the day when that agreement first was signed by the businesses and the district was created? And all of those responsibilities are laid out. There have been amendments to that. Everyone had to buy into that. That sort of has fallen by the wayside. I know there was a little bit of movement maybe last year to try and get that going again. But where are we in working with those businesses so that we are showing them that this is their responsibility as well?

Yes. So the common control element, which oversaw the Hemershey District, did seem to dissolve. And while we brought this to the commission back in 2025, we did have that conversation that from what we have found and what we were able to uncover, we didn't feel like that common control element was still in place, which would potentially invalidate the district and led to the conversation of to come up with a process or a program by which they could reestablish and we could have that level of common control, again, within the businesses that participate in the Hamershee District. So for all intents and purposes, we believe that prior entity has moved on. There was some conversation about who would take on the responsibility to be that entity that oversees these businesses in the district.

I think they're waiting a lot on what the code amendment does to implement that program, but I do know they've been coordinating and having conversations about what that group might look like and who might lead that group.

Okay. Have you been finding that the businesses have been cooperative with you?

Yes. We've had multiple stakeholder meetings with the businesses. So I think there was the expectation that what the commission had decided on would be the path forward in terms of repealing the open container, open sales of alcohol primarily. And the things that we focused on was the crafting of this program that would allow for some permit to participate in the district and then who would oversee it and kind of the more specific details of that program.

And this is coming back to us in February? Yes. Okay.

The intent is to have this in place before spring break.

Yes. I was going to say that's coming really quickly. We need to do that not just for the beach but for the Himachee as well. May I ask how are we doing with regards to those incidents in Himachee and also the beach in terms of arrests or investigations?

Again, I'm asking Chief Schultz to come forward and provide an update. Thank you.

Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. Bill Schulz, chief of police, for the two incidents regarding the New Year's Eve shooting at Beach Place. We have developed leads in the case. There is no arrest as of yet, but it is very confident in our review of the case thus far that this was not a crime that was committed by individuals who did not know each other. We believe they did know each other. So we're developing leads in that case. Reference the Hemershey area. An arrest warrant has been issued for Beach Place. Reference the Hemershey area, that's the area where we're looking at a car that was involved, a vehicle. We have located that vehicle.

We are developing suspect leads in that case. Neither case has had an arrest yet, so one suspect identified in the Beach Place incident. Do we have

a handle on where these folks are coming from in terms of both populating the Embassy District and also Beach Place? Where are these folks coming from?

Over the years, and it depends on the time of year. You mentioned spring break. That's an off flyer. But a lot of these incidents have involved individuals who are not residents of Fort Lauderdale. We believe they've over the years, they've come from the Pompano Beach area, further north, further south. We've had incidents as far south as individuals as far south as South Miami Dade. So it really is an area where we have gatherings of individuals from all over South Florida.

And do we have any intelligence before events like New Year's Eve or any weekend in Himachal? Do we know what to possibly anticipate? Do we know when there is trouble on the horizon? Do we have that kind of intelligence?

There is sometimes intelligence given to us. And a lot of times, we will gather that from social media posts. Sometimes even parents will let us know when they've heard something that's going to be developing. And of course, our partners, the Broward Sheriff's Office works very closely with us, and they have a stood up real time crime center, which is of great assistance in getting us intelligence. But sometimes, these groups will gather, very quickly with very little notice and not really posting it, so we don't have that notice. But sometimes we do, and more than often we do.

Do you feel that we have adequate police presence and staffing in him or she and also on the beach on regular occasions, like just weekends and obviously also on special occasions, like when we had

the shooting on New Year's Eve at Beach Place? So we'll handle Beach Place first. We did have two officers stationary at Beach Place, and that's an instance, as you noted, where the groups gathered very quickly. And the officer noted it and called for even more officers who were on their way when that shooting occurred. So the beach does have normal staffing, both on duty patrol, and it has a number of businesses with off duty detail officers as well.

We can always supplement when we know there's big events. If one of the bars or hotels has a large event, we do supplement out on the beach, and that's both with more off duty and with overtime or redeploying resources. So the beach, we always try to keep we do keep officers on the beach at all times because of the drawbridges. So there's a minimum level of officers who are always on the beach at that time. Beach Place has its own private security as well.

Their hours are varying. They don't always have security there. But we do always have officers out there. Hammershe. Downtown, right now, we have initiated a plan where we've pulled resources both on duty and over time.

We pulled them in later than normally staffed down there. So they'll stay around least until four usually until five until the streets are completely clear. We have an action plan going on right now for the next two weeks, but then mid January, January 18, we switch our staffing schedules, and it's going to put an ample amount of individuals on staff that we don't normally have. And I'm happy to report we are now down to just three vacancies in the police department, which is going to assist as well.

No. That's excellent. And thank you for your work, thank you for the department for the work. I am definitely in favor of increased police presence in these entertainment districts. I just think that we have to have a physical presence where people see it, and people just know that we're just going to enforce what we have to enforce because this behaviour just can't go on anymore. I mean, I just can't see this happening. When I get calls from folks down in the Sailboat Bend area or the Historic District, or when I get calls from the beach, it's just shocking to hear what people are having to experience, especially on New Year's Eve and, you know, just any weekend in general. So I I really appreciate the effort, and I'm really looking forward to a coordination between you and the city manager to really beef this up because this this just cannot cannot continue.

And we already have, Commissioner, and it's something that I take very seriously as does our Police Chief, and we have discussed opportunities for improvement and to modify our approach. We're taking steps to actively improve the area on multiple fronts.

Excellent. Well, thank you for that. I appreciate it. Thank you, Chief.

No, thank you.

Commissioner, could I add in on that? Go ahead. Thanks. Okay, I'd like to talk to bring Chris back up. Thanks, Chief. Okay. Chris, so it's I think we have five special entertainment districts in the city. Is that right?

That's right.

Okay. Is the proposed ordinance that you'll be bringing back to us in February, is it for all five or is it individual?

Yes. So the open container, open sales is all, but the part where the program would change to allow for Himanshu to continue on with a different oversight method would be just for Himanshu.

Okay. So the no open container would apply to all five?

Yes.

Great. How about the hours of operation?

So we don't have a we weren't directed and we don't have a proposed change for the hours of operation. So if the commission wanted to have that conversation, we'd seek input from you and then we'd have to check with legal and talk about the way we treat these districts one way or another if we were to contemplate how we adjust the hours of operation for the districts.

Thanks. City Attorney, can we treat in respect to hours, can we treat special entertainment districts differently?

We're looking into that this week. We have been drafting some options to consider. We are working with the manager's office. And with regard to that specifically, we are going to make that determination understanding that that's likely what we would have to do.

Okay. Yes. Commissioner Glassman, I'm interested in both of those, the no open container and the hours at minimum, Commissioner Glassman, I'm interested in the special entertainment districts where we're having these challenges

of adjusting hours. That okay? A doubt, we

have to show that we're serious. We have to deal with the loitering. That's big, big issue. And everything else we've explained today, I think those are all really crucial.

Okay. And is there any way to bring this forward? I mean, is February the soonest we can bring this forward? Is that your house?

We certainly wanted to incorporate any feedback provided by the commission today. We could work to expedite. I'm not sure if the city attorney would agree with that, but I want to make sure at a minimum we're before you at the first meeting in February.

Okay. Because this would be two readings. Is that right? Okay. Yes, mean if at all possible, I'd love to see this at the next meeting in January if possible.

We're confident that we can do this in February, but we're focusing on trying to get it to you in January.

Okay, great.

So if I could, Commissioner, we could bifurcate this effort if the intent is to expedite the amendments to address the benefits in repealing some of those benefits to the districts. I think that could be done much faster, and we could check with advertising and see if that could be done, obviously, in coordination with the attorney's office. I think the item about the district structure, that's what we need a few more a little bit more time on to get it in February. So that's an option that we could pursue, and we'd certainly work with the attorney. And if that changes, we could communicate back to the commission, but that may be a way to expedite some of those other items.

Yes. I mean, possible, I'd love to do that.

Yes, definitely. The quicker the better. Chris, are we going to also discuss items like a curfew? I mean, we heard tonight about underage drinking, which is obviously happening. Can we have something like a curfew that if you're if you're 18, you better be with an adult. If not, you know, we're gonna enforce that.

So we have an item on the agenda this this evening to talk about high impact areas for the beach. And one of the provisions is to allow for a curfew for those 18 so that we can manage that population more effectively. If this is something that the commission would like to see broadened and if the high impact ordinance should be applied to other areas of the city, that provision could also be incorporated there.

As I said earlier, I'm in favor of extending what we're doing tonight when we discuss the high impact area on the Barrier Island. I'm in favor of extending those issues to the other entertainment districts. Those