Community Redevelopment Agency - Regular Meeting

If you could please find your seat. Okay.

Yep.

And there's a story.

All right. All right. Good morning, everyone. Today is 04/06/2026. We are here for a regular community redevelopment agency meeting here in the city of Hollywood. Welcome to City Hall for those of you that that are visiting. We will rise for the pledge of allegiance followed by roll call. Thank you. Roll call, please.

Board Member Shuham. Here. Board Member Hernandez.

Here.

Board Member Gruber.

Here.

Board Member Biedemann. Board Member Ken Turner.

Here.

Vice Chair Kalari. Chair Levy.

Here. All right. Would like to entertain a motion to excuse Vice Mayor's absence. She is out of the country.

Motion to excuse.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, show the motion passes unanimously, five-zero. Commissioner Biederman, just for the record, is here. He'll step in, then we'll recognize his attendance. Alright. On to conflict disclosures. I don't anticipate any. Moving on to 9AM citizens' comments. Any speaker cards today, clerk? Bob Glickman, come on up.

Good morning, Bob Glickman, Hollywood Beach. Welcome to Raelin. Good morning, everybody. I just want to bring a few things to your attention. They're in the process of installing dunes on Hollywood Beach. The dunes were not supposed to be any higher than the knee wall. They're already higher than the knee wall. In North Central Beach, so I'll say from Scott or Liberty Street heading north, they're also taking up about 40% of the sandy beach. That strip of the beach down there is kind of narrow. So there's really no beach for people to sit.

And they're also encompassing the trees that are there. So any shade that we did have, no longer we have. So I wonder if something can be done about this before they move forward. They haven't done any plantings yet. But they put these they were going to put rope and sticks up there.

But those poles are about five or six feet high. So if they're anticipating the dunes to go that high, we're going to have a real problem with the tourist industry that we rely on here on Hollywood Beach. So I just wanted to bring that to your attention. At the last meeting, you talked about the beach master plan. But one of the things in that was to do something about having a truck ordinance along A1A delivery times and truck sizes. And we haven't done that yet also. Maybe we can do that. And also a beach residential parking program. The rest of the city has one. Beach residents need one as well.

So we'd appreciate if you can do something. The parking garages remain mostly empty most of the time. You can drive by there. They're 50% empty. This is not good. They're parking on the streets instead of into the garages. You need the garages to be full. This is where you're going to make your money, not on the streets. Mid block crossings again, we asked staff to come up with an analysis for the mid block crossings instead of putting these traffic lights up there. I haven't seen them come back with this analysis yet.

They just keep talking about traffic signals, traffic lights, intersection lights, whatever you want to call them. And we hear nothing about the mid block crossings. Mid block crossing costs approximately $100,000 to $200,000 We're putting up these traffic lights with the arms and everything. You're looking at $1,000,000 1,300,000.0 So you can put up many mid block crossings as opposed to one traffic light. So I don't understand why we're getting pushback on that for those of us that live there and want that.

We don't want it. We actually need it to safely cross the street. And also, we heard from our stormwater people. They finally agreed with me about raising the dips in the streets at the beach ends. And we need to do something about that. I just want to bring it up so it's not forgotten. Even though you're putting in those flap gates in those beach in the basins, the water is still GREGORY sitting there. You have a couple of feet of water, and you can't pass by.

Thank D. A Appreciate it. All right. On the consent agenda today, these are items five through nine. Are there any speaker cards on five through nine?

No speaker cards.

Just before we move ahead, I want to recognize that board member Biederman is on the dais for attendance purposes. So there are no cards on the consent items five through nine. Is there a motion or a pull from the dais?

Motion to approve. Second.

All right. We have a motion and second to approve items on consent. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, those items carry unanimously. All right. On to hour 09:15, time certain item with it's 09:16, so we're making perfect timing. See that, Steve? We're cognizant of of your schedule. Thanks to everybody here from, FDOT, district four, including, secretary Steve Braun and and, all of the the team. Now I'd like to invite the executive director or Susan Goldberg, the deputy director of CRA, and discuss these partnership opportunities and how we fund and advance resiliency and flood management on A1A and beyond. Susan, welcome.

Good morning, Mr. Chair, Vice Chair, and Board members. For the record, Susan SUSAN Goldberg, Deputy Director, Hollywood CRA. The CRA board directed CRA and public utility staff to work collaboratively with FDOT to identify resource sharing strategies to advance short and long term resiliency goals along A1A. The board requested that we invite the FDOT District Force Secretary, Steve Braun, to attend the CRA board meeting and provide a drainage improvement summary, as well as address future collaboration on stormwater pump stations and maintenance of critical infrastructure.

I'd like to introduce mister Steve Braun, district force secretary. James Poole is also here, the FDOT district drainage engineer. And I'd like to mention Tony Castro, who is the FDOT district maintenance engineer, who was not able to join us today. So Steve?

Welcome, Steve. I feel like there should be a round of applause for you walking today. That's because we love you.

I love Hollywood, too. So good morning, everyone. Steve Braun, four Secretary. Thank you, Susan. I'll go by first name here with Susan, because we worked together for a long time. One of the things Susan mentioned is collaboration. So as I was walking up here, maybe I'll take a moment, really, just to share some anecdotes about myself. So I've been in this position going on two and a half years. I've been with the department over thirty years. And I was reflecting driving here about almost thirty years ago, so I'm dating myself.

I had an opportunity to present at a statewide meeting. It was our annual design conference. I was an entry level engineer with the department. And I was asked and I was honored and humbled at the time to present a project that I did in Hollywood, State Road A1A, which was my first project with the DOT thirty plus years ago. It started as a simple resurfacing project.

And through the coordination with the city, collaboration with the community, we did some things on that project that were beyond the scope of a traditional resurfacing. I've got some battle scars from that. Some of you may remember, we actually, part of that resurfacing, converted some of those streets to the one ways that are out there today. From a safety perspective, that was important for us to do in collaboration with the city. And I remember kind of being this young engineer and presenting at a statewide conference, and I presented the three Cs collaboration, communication, and community.

And that was thirty years ago. And subsequent to that, years later, people said, yeah, I remember your 3C presentation at that design conference. And I thought I'd reflect on that, because that has held true to me, especially in coordination with the CRA, with the City of Hollywood, over the last thirty years. Collaboration, right? We talk about those opportunities to collaborate, to do something special for our communities.

Communication, I think, is key, right? Whether it's a candid conversation, whether it's a CRA board member, staff, city staff, or a resident of the community, really feeling open enough to communicate with us. And sometimes, that's kind of what pushes us to do more. And it all hinges on our communities. And we understand and I personally understand the importance of Hollywood, of State Route A1A to Hollywood and to your community.

So although I'm not a Hollywood resident, I frequent Hollywood quite often. Just this past weekend, I did what I have become known as the family tradition, an annual picnic at Hollywood Beach over the spring. And I remember when my kids were younger, ad nauseam, I think my wife and kids kind of got tired of it when I made that turn on Sheridan Street onto A1A. And I tell them, this was my first project at DOT. And now, thirty years later, the kids were home from college.

And we still did the picnic at Hollywood Beach. So Hollywood Beach truly does have a soft spot in my heart. But more importantly, I've challenged our team, really, just to work collaboratively with the city, with the CRA, to look at the drainage in Hollywood Beach. And we understand, right, quality of life and safety of our communities is key. So that's really been the focus going back twenty years now.

And I'm going to introduce James Poole, our district drainage engineer. And as Susan mentioned, Tony Castro is our district maintenance engineer. So these are department head cost center managers that have been intimately involved in working with the CRA and the city staff on this. So I'm going to really hand off to James to talk about some of the history of the infrastructure investment we've made. And when I say we, the collective we the department, the city of Hollywood, the CRA, and even partners at Broward County over the last twenty years.

And I go back to that original resurfacing project. The one way streets, I think, is what got attention. But we added the median islands. But I remember, even back then, thirty years ago, part of that scope of that resurfacing was really to clean up the drainage system. Even back then, we understood the importance of maintaining that drainage system as part of that project. And that was a big investment made then. So James is really going to talk about some of the other investments we've made. In some capacity, hard infrastructure investments and others related to maintenance and efforts that really add to the resiliency of the infrastructure that's out there. So with that, I'm going to ask James to really get into this presentation. But again, I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to be here.

I think Susan said, my calendar has been a challenge to get me here. But I think the timing is great for me to be here this morning, really just to share what we've done and some of the things we have coming up in the future. So thank you.

Morning. The slides here will be past, present, and future. I didn't know we were going to get an anecdote from like the '90s. So when I go to the past, early 2000s is as far back as we're going here in my slides. And this isn't an extensive list, but it's all the major highlights, the things that were on my radar, at least.

So in the early 2000s, completed in 2003, we had a project that included some flap gate installation locations, five of them. And then there was this project with some slight roadway elevation raising between Sheridan and Cambridge completed in 2008. And it also included some more flap gates and some shoreline stabilization. And then we called this one the Ross Flap Gate Valve Installation Project. This was coordinated a lot with the city.

Geetu Patel is the name you guys may recognize. He had a big part in this one. Cleese as well. So this is dating us, right, to name these guys who are gone? But we also included a bunch of pipelining in this project.

At the time, the more fashionable device for backflow prevention was the Ross flap gate. And it was specifically requested by the city. And I wanted to note that today, there are currently no basins that are completely reliant upon a Ross device. Although you may find a few of them out there, we at least have a redundant inline device for every system. Then there was a resurfacing project between Monroe And Sheridan Street completed in 2020.

And it had 18 of the inline devices in the pipes. And there was a bunch of pipelining as well with that job. And then this one wasn't a part of the DOT's normal work program. It was unique. We partnered with the city.

You procured the actual devices that were placed by a contractor working for DOT. And these are the locations where they were placed. And there's a photo of that installation. This is the one over at the Trafalgar Condominiums. But still, even after all of those efforts, the king tides, we have to admit, are impacting traffic.

So as you might recall, in 2019, we had a particularly bad year. I think it was the worst on record at the time. And there was a pivotal meeting held with Commissioner Beamfur and others. Doctor. Herrado from the county was there.

And it prompted a study that DOT completed with consultants working for me directly. And it was primarily done in the year 2020. But they were getting started already immediately after that meeting on November 1839. There was extensive data collection, field reviews, and hydrologic modeling. They used this high resolution LiDAR data for the entire barrier island to inform that model.

And it led to the creation of this alternatives report that recommended solutions to address the king tide flooding. And it led us to the pumps and seawalls that are under construction now. If you've been out there, you couldn't miss it. They'll be out there for many more months. And detours and everything are ahead, as I'm sure you're well acquainted with.

We have the project manager from construction here if he had any specific questions for how things are going. So we utilized we wanted to highlight here the innovative project funding partnership that was based on the contributing areas that produce runoff and are served by the storm sewer networks. So the county was involved because of all the county parks along the corridor, of course, the city of Hollywood and the Broward MPO and DOT. And that allowed us to keep the project on a very aggressive schedule and get it to construction. We commend everyone for the partnership there.

It took a lot of work, a lot of coordination. And the pump stations are aimed at targeting the most vulnerable roadway segments where the evacuation corridor would be at risk. And there are seawalls as well, Sherman Street to Sheridan and Palm Street to Walnut. This is just highlighting those contributing drainage areas that are benefited from the pumps. This is the southernmost one.

And working up the corridor, this is just south of Hollywood Boulevard. This is around Sheridan. And then this is the northernmost part of the work. Franklin Street is the location of the pump station. And then on the maintenance side, this is one of the more hot topics.

We do regular video inspection and repairs based on what they find in the video inspections. And then we do twice a year backflow preventer inspections. And then they do barnacle removal, whatever it takes to get them back functioning properly. Vegetation and other debris can get in there and hold them open. So that's why we have them twice a year visiting all the devices and capturing photos to document the maintenance that was completed.

And then for the king tide events, we coordinate with the city and make available to them portable pumps to be deployed just south of Hollywood Boulevard. This has happened a number of times. And then, of course, the portable message boards will go up to warn the traveling public about the risk of the King tide flooding. And then the big effort underway that's resulted in numerous meetings and impacts to traffic and all with the work by our contractors and their subs. The city undertook some massive storm sewer inspection by a number of contractors to inform us of locations where there's infiltration, where there's potential issues with the system that hadn't been on our radar before.

These are challenging. They're best performed when the king tides are up. So if you do it at low tide, you may not find all the infiltration points. And it's a hassle, though, doing these inspections during king tides because it means you have to do more dewatering. But we commend you and thank you for this huge effort. It's very tedious. But it led to phase one, we're calling it. There were 45 completed inspections. We reviewed all the videos and concurred with the recommendations and have been completing them. As I'm sure you've noticed, there was a bunch of pipelining.

We had committed to getting the first phase completed this spring. And on the March 3, they finished the first phase repairs, all the lining and correcting of the locations where there was infiltration. The estimated repair costs were $353,000 But that was just phase one. Next comes phase two, another eight basins. You can see all the side streets that were involved.

The review of all the videos from phase two were completed March 11. And we have the work assigned to a contractor. They're starting very soon and expect to finish this summer. And 210,000 is the estimate for the repairs for phase two. And in addition to the contractors that we already have working, we're going to procure two more contractor teams to do drainage repairs.

One will be starting in May and another in June. And we'll be focusing on lining the pipes that aren't already lined. And we'll be coordinating with the city for the locations of future pump project locations. We know that you already have a couple segments that you're targeting. They look good. So we're ready to partner with you guys. And we appreciate the fact that we've already been through this once already. And we can apply lessons learned. The shared funding based on drainage areas seem very logical and like a fair approach.

So we

anticipate perhaps using the same strategy. It makes sense. It's very logical. And then FDOT would also like to highlight the fact that the county and the Broward MPO have been a great support in the past as well. There may be less county parks in the segments upcoming, though. And with that, we'll leave it for questions and answers.

Thank you so much. Do we have any speaker cards real quick? We do have one public speaker card. Let's go ahead and hear the public speaker, and then we'll go ahead to questions and answers. Bob Glickman, please come on up.

Good morning, Bob Glickman. Thank you for coming today. We appreciate it. It's been a long time wait for us. A couple of things. We've heard repeatedly in the past that they were not doing the inspections of the flap gates twice a year. And now they're saying they are doing them. So there's a little bit confusion from the residents' point of view. You all may have more information on it than the rest of us. But we've heard that they haven't been doing it. We've also heard that they haven't been inspecting the underground drainage system on A1A either. That they do have a person that goes around. He goes around to all the cities. But rarely do they come here. So there's a little bit of confusion about that.

And perhaps you can ask and clear that up. Because I think it's imperative, whatever they do, if there's no ongoing maintenance program that's taking place, that this is going to happen time and time again. And it gets to such a point where everything breaks at one time. And then it's really hard to fix it. It needs to be done routinely.

So somehow, we need to get on that schedule, that routine schedule of having them come out there and be verified, I guess, from the city point of view. And the other thing that concerns me is one of the things said that contractors break through the lines. Well, need to put up a program together where any contractor is working on A1A, they have to be reported to the city. The city has to know what they're doing and where they're doing it. So when they break through the drainage system, or any other system that we have, that they can be held responsible.

I think it's very important. You need to put a program in place. We need to know what's going on. Right now, from the residents' perspective, I'll say my perspective, we don't know what's going on. We don't know who's working there. Right now, they're doing road work up by just south of Sheridan Street, where they're doing the pump station. They're doing this, that, and the other thing. They're not repairing the roads properly at that time. They're putting these metal plates in the ground. They're not pegging them into the ground. They're not sloping them with blacktop pavements so you can move over there. It's tying up traffic tremendously because the roads are not being repaired properly. Yes, they have to break them up again. But repair it properly. It's slowing traffic down and backing it up.

Over the weekend, traffic was backed up on Sheridan Street all the way to Westlake Park. That's almost 1.3 miles. So the traffic is not able to get through because the roadway is broken up. It's not that because people are working. It's just the roads are so bad that people are afraid to go more than one mile an hour over these broken roadways. And where the metal plates are coming up, lifting up as people drive over them. It's a serious problem that somebody needs to address. But you all need to know who's working out there so this doesn't happen again. Thank you.

Thank you, Bob. So if I could, James, if you could, or the team from FDOT, let's talk about the maintenance agreement a little bit because that's been a subject of discussion. I know that the agreement, I think, calls for a county wide, twice a year type maintenance, as far as I understand. And we'd like to kind of know your impression about how the maintenance contractor has done with regards to the twice a year maintenance requirement that your contract with them, I guess, calls for. Maybe you can elaborate a little bit on that and what the successes and failures perhaps and what could be done better in the future.

What have you coordinated with city staff to result in a coordinated inspection and maybe a timely one right before spring tide king tide and the fall king tides because, you know, obviously the sensitivities here are more tidal flooding than they are rainwater flooding and storm water.

Well, I'll qualify my answer a bit. Because I work in the design unit, I don't oversee the contractors that do maintenance. But I do have personal knowledge from the last couple of years. Because of the heightened interest in the outfalls and the performance of the valves, they are doing these inspections twice a year. And I see the evidence because they generate a report. And the report has a photo of every outfall that they've looked at. And if they've missed one, there's follow-up. There's accountability. So these inspections are happening. Again, because I'm the district drainage engineer, I've seen these inspections. But otherwise, normally, I wouldn't be so intimately familiar with what's going on down in maintenance.

So let's talk about the drainage real quick. Obviously, I'm thankful, Steve and James and team, that you're doing pipelining, that you've completed a certain segment over the past few weeks, and that there are more anticipated for this summer. That's great. James, to what degree do you attribute the sunny day flooding situation that we have, where the water stays above the surface until the tide comes down. And it's a repetitive cycle for many days out of the tide flooding seasons.

So obviously, you're lining pipes, and that'll help with and then eliminate, hopefully, the infiltration issue. But then, of course, there's the backflow issue. That's the obvious flow of the water with the tide. And on our next agenda item, we have we're funding the installation of 30 Wapro valves. So that'll, I think, help a lot with, obviously, with the resiliency and the opportunity to avoid and minimize the tidal flooding to begin with.

But since you're the drainage guru here, how do you attribute the solution from a percentage standpoint of Waypro valves can accomplish x percentage of solving the problem versus the lining? And have you looked at where we are putting in 30 backflow preventers and weight pro valves aligned with your lining project? And are we doing everything that we can to improve the to prevent the backflow issue? Because drainage typically is water starts at the top. It needs to go somewhere.

But here, have water coming, obviously, from the intercoastal and then coming up. So obviously, we're trying to stop the water with the backflows and at the same time prevent inflows and infiltration. So tell us, are we doing it right? And are we all doing it right? As Steve said, we is all of us. So go ahead.

I believe so. You're doing everything that would be within reason. You could look to raze the entire road, but there are impacts to all the adjacent properties. It wouldn't be reasonable. People couldn't have driveways that function. So I think that you're using the right approach. It's tedious though, these inspections. It's a Herculean effort.

So between lining and backflow preventing, that's basically aside from maybe having a telescopic butt out of the actual outfall pipe as it meets the intercoastal to prevent the water from coming in in the first place, we're doing everything possible with regards to preventing backflow that can be done, right? And in addition to the pumps, obviously, that's another segment of all this.

Right. And many of us have seen the locations where the water it just comes up through the groundwater through cracks in the pavement. There, it's not getting onto the road through the storm sewer network. It's just the ground.

Well, that's a minimal situation compared to the problem that we have with regards to the backflow issue.

I hope so.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it seems to be. Alright. What can you tell us about the the twice a year maintenance agreement? And is that enough? And do you think it could be managed in a better way? Is there Susan, don't know if you've worked with FDOT or Vin with regards to future, let's just call it coordination and awareness of when the maintenance is taking place. Do we want to have a Hollywood utilities person there with the contractor just know and observe ourselves what's being done and to track it from a city perspective because we are, let's just call it, the customers of where this system lives. Steve, I don't know if you want to touch on that.

So I will. James, thank you for the presentation. Mayor, I'm glad you called in then, because even though I took an anecdotal journey down memory lane to the '90s, In my opening remarks, I did want to mention, really, some of the organizational structure that we put in place between the department, the CRA, and city staff. We have what I'll call a technical working group. So James, the head of our drainage section Tony, the head of our maintenance office as well as some of their staff, meet in on a regular basis with city and CRA staff.

And the structure Vin and I put in place several months ago was that technical working group, exchange notes, subject matter experts on, to your question, what is the best approach on this multi pronged approach? Or do we stay that course? We set up a structure where there's kind of an executive briefing from that technical working group. So they're coordinating the timing of some of these activities and then presenting to kind of an executive level. So I've been in some of those executive briefings, as well as my two direct report directors.

So I think at a director level, it's, I think, encouraged staff really to brief us, but also empowered those technical working groups to kind of work through that. So I should have mentioned that at the beginning. So I think, to that point, we can certainly, if we haven't done so already, which I think we have, at least share with that technical working group the frequency of these inspections and the results of those. So I think that has been a key topic of that working group. James mentioned kind of the partnership where the city went ahead, did these inspections.

I'm talking holistic inspections. And then that translated into those phase one and phase two recommendations and then the implementation. So I think a lot of that communication is happening at that working group level. So we can regroup and really have that team say, are there other elements that are important to share and exchange there so they can brief the elected officials and this board?

So Steve, a question for you real quick, and then I'll happy to have my colleagues ask any questions. But considering that A1A in this stretch is low lying and that it has a multitude of outfalls and we have the backflow situation, but yet we are in the next minutes after your presentation here, we'll have an opportunity to approve installation of 30 waypro valves. So we're making headway. But do you feel and maybe we want to solicit feedback from the working group and technical group. And it'll obviously change once these backflow preventers are installed, the 30.

But the question is, if the standard for twice a year inspection throughout the county is the standard and sufficient, is that really sufficient for this stretch of A1A? And maybe there ought to be a more frequent inspection frequency for this stretch of A1A. Maybe twice a year is not enough. So I leave that with you and the technical group to decide and maybe multiply that effort in coordination with utilities and have it be more effective and be able to troubleshoot and respond more quickly rather than six months intervals. And then we experience what we experienced.

And if we would have had awareness ahead of time, we could have prevented Sunday day flooding during the two seasons of the year in a more effective manner. Right. Yep. Okay. All right. Let me ask our board members here if they'd like to ask any questions or make any comments. Board Member Schuhem, go ahead.

Thank you, chair. First, I just want to say thank you, secretary, to you and your team. James is amazing to work with. And really, the whole FDOT team has been great.

I

think Bob and the mayor are getting close to what I think the issue is. What I understand listening to James, it's not twice a year inspections. It's twice a year cleaning of the backflow preventers. Is that correct?

So go ahead, James. Well, I'll say it, then he'll correct me. My understanding, right, at the time of the inspection, right, we have the dive team there inspecting. If there are elements that can be removed as part of that inspection at the backflow preventer, they handle that on-site at the time.

JULIE But the inspection there's not a system inspection happening twice a year. It's just

at No. The correct Exactly. The twice a year inspection is at the backflow preventers. The barnacle, some of the debris that's caught in there. If we've mobilized a dive team to go there and inspect under the water, essentially, they can remove some of that debris at that time. But that's different to the more, what I call, holistic inspection of the actual drainage system, which did occur last summer, which resulted in these phase one and phase two repairs and lining of the drainage system.

Okay. So let's talk about that. What I heard James say is that we do this twice a year, backflow view and, if necessary, cleaning. And then we have an ongoing inspection and maintenance contract. That's what I heard. Is that correct?

So the question is an ongoing inspection of the actual drainage pipe system.

It sounded like there is a twice a year review and cleaning as necessary of the backflow preventers with a diver and barnacles and the whole bit. And then what I heard you say is you have regular inspections and repairs on an ongoing basis as needed.

Emphasis on the as needed.

So That is where we're having a problem.

Yeah.

Now we're zeroing in on the gap, Okay? In my opinion. In my opinion, the gap is that we don't have an ongoing or standard time for someone to come out and do that inspection. And as a result, not of the backflow preventers, but of the system as a whole. And so, as a result, we are ending up, as Mr.

Glickman said, in the situation that we were in, where it got to a point where we weren't getting inspections or maintenance on the piping. And the city and the CRA then did this amazing job. And that's what, in my opinion, has to be addressed. We need a twice a year pipe inspection system. We have to be proactive to look at these for these cracks and situations.

And maybe we do it at King Tie twice a year. But this is an FDOT responsibility. And it just didn't happen for years unless it was a catastrophic situation. And so it built up and built up and built up, as I understand it, to where we are today. So what I wanted to get from this meeting, and it sounds like you're getting there with the working group, is how are the pipes going to be inspected?

We, you know, it's a very rough environmental situation. And so what I would feel more comfortable with is something proactive, like you're doing with the backflow preventers, but with respect to the system as a whole. And I know it's expensive. But to not do it is not the answer, because we end up with this massive amount of work at the same time, which shouldn't be. So that's my question. And it may be for James, I don't know. Do we have an answer? Or is this a protocol that we can expect to see out of this working group? It should be a scheduled protocol.

So I'd like to take that back to the working group in the context that you just framed it, which I appreciate. I'll say it just because I'm here. So the working group really have to see what makes sense. I'm not convinced it's twice a year, respectfully. But let's look at what our normal protocol is.

I think a lot of times, will do that thorough inspection when we have a project coming through. But we can't necessarily wait years or decades between those projects. So I think certain things, the asset maintenance contractor or our field personnel is reactive to your point. They see something, Okay, is this an inlet that's blocked? Or is it a collapsed pipe? And it's reactive. So I think that's your request, to see what makes sense from a proactive inspection of the system. I know we spent a lot of time talking about the backflow preventer inspection. So I appreciate the clarity on that.

That is exactly my request. And I'm fine sending it back to the we don't have to resolve it today, but it has to be resolved. We have to be able to have someone from the city say, hey, James, it's June. This hasn't happened. And then what do we do? Right now we have a situation where you guys are paying for a maintenance contractor who's not maintaining. That's how it's perceived. And so somewhere in the system of FDOT, there needs to be some checks and balances to make sure that that maintenance company and we thought the FDOT maintenance person would be here today. Because that's really the heart of the problem, you know? So much of what's happening out there is due to lack of maintenance.

And you know, it's not inexpensive to do the maintenance, but it's got to be less expensive than to be reacting the way it's happening now. So I appreciate the response. I would request from Susan that we schedule a follow-up meeting. I know you are so busy. But have your team come back with that resolved protocol for this inspection work. And ongoing maintenance. You know, in the past when we've had this discussion at these meetings, my request was, is there a way and you're not going to like this but is there a way for the city to tap into your maintenance contract? Because we're here. We see it. We have residents calling us saying, you know, X happened.

Vin's team is out there. It's a mess. What can we do? And then, you know, it becomes kind of a long process. So that would be something else that I would ask that working group to look at. Is there there a way and you know, we're happy to be the guinea pig on something like this. Is there a way to have a city agent that has the ability, with a quick review by your maintenance guy, to actually coordinate with your maintenance contractor? It would streamline things tremendously. You guys can't be everywhere. You're trying to maintain A1A up and down this beach. We're not the only city, although we are the lowest city. But we know we're not the only ones with these problems. And if there could be kind of an agency relationship for this specific purpose, I think it would really expedite these repairs.

Yeah, and those conversations we've been having with the CRA and with Okay, cities great.

So those are two things I would like to see in some sort of written protocol or policy that that group develops. And then, you know, I really only had three things. That was the biggest, this maintenance concept. The other was financing for these pumps. That sounds like you're getting there and you don't really need our input on that. But if you want to speak to that, please, Susan.

Sorry. So as part of the 2020 alternative report that FDOT Consultants Scalar issued, four of the pumps that were identified that we do have partnership agreements are under construction. However, there are two pumps that are crucial in the South, one for the 123 Basin at Jefferson Street, which is a large basin. That's approximately $13,000,000 cost for that pump. And then there's the pump south at Foxglove Terrace, which is approximately $8,000,000 The CRA has already spent about $450,000 in design.

It's in permitting right now on that pump. But those two pumps, having the juxtaposition of those four pumps, which would be Van Buren, Jefferson Street, Azalea, which is under construction, and at Foxglove And Daffodil, that creates a complete system, which CDM Smith, our consultant who's actually here today, recommended at the last CRA board meeting that that would create an effective system not to have gaps for those two pumps to be added. So the total cost, approximate cost again, of those two pumps is $22,500,000

And should I ask you or the secretary where we are in terms of negotiating an agreement for FDOT to reimburse the city for those costs?

I think that's the question today for the secretary.

Susan did ask me if I brought my checkbook today. We're continuing those conversations. James touched on it maybe pretty subtly, as the drainage engineer. So the pump stations that are being installed now I'll use your term respectfully guinea pig. This was a pilot project.

I mean, this collaboration, just to get this project, which I think is north of $30,000,000 project, took all parties really working towards that funding agreement, the methodology on how you split that funding. So we'll continue to work with Susan and the team on this $22,000,000 for the additional two pumps. James mentioned it, the NPO and you're an NPO board member think plays a role in that, too, continuing to prioritize that as a project as well. And what we're seeing under construction now was originally envisioned as a pilot project. And it truly is a pilot in the sense of the partnership, but also the effectiveness.

Going back to the mayor's point, multi pronged approach here, The success of these pumps, I think, is important, too. I know the CRA I think there's some timelines we're working with on that. But I'd like to continue those conversations. But part of it, at the time was, right, limited resources, let's go for these locations, get these installed, and see how they operate. This is first of its kind in the district and in the state, I'd venture to say.

Okay. Well, thank you. I hope those conversations continue towards their logical conclusion. Before I get to my third, I just want you to touch on the other thing that Mr. Glickman mentioned, which is and this may be James, also raising the low spots at those street ends. I don't know, Bob, who you've spoken to. Is this something that FDOT oh, James? I just want to understand where you are with that.

JAMES Are we talking about locations in DOTs right away, or are they on the side streets?

I think that you're talking about the end of the side streets. Is that correct, Bob? And is it an FDOT drain or a city drain? Or Susan, you want to answer that.

This references the presentation that we did last month. So the drainage structures might be in some within the DOT or the city right of way. However, the low points are on the city right of way streets.

Okay. So if the drain is in the DOT right of way, you'll coordinate with them if it's something that needs to be repaired by DOT?

Well, if there's funding available to raise those streets, then yes, it would be a coordination between the low lying points, where the drainage structure is, and what has to be done to that. Because at the end of the day, we have to meet the elevations on A1A.

Okay. All right. So that requires some further research, it sounds like. And then lastly is just a it's more than a nuisance. It's the contractors and this is very specific, James. The contractors that are out there, their MOTs, need work. We're just getting through spring break. It has been just a kind of a chronic struggle. The other night, I believe it was the FDO2 contractor. It was very late at night, very dark.

The traffic lights were working perfectly at Sheridan and A1A. But for some reason, there was a guy, a construction guy out there in a vest, like waving traffic. I thought someone was going to get killed. So I just think that we need to work more closely together on the MOTs that these contractors are using. There were so many opportunities to make it better.

And it just didn't happen. And so I just leave you with that, to please, when they're working along A1A, it is busy. The weekends are insane. And you know, when they're working during the week and it's construction, rush hour. There were times at A1A in Sheridan where you had to wait eight cycles to get through that light while the contractor's there.

It just should not be. And so, like I said, it's a very specific ask. But it seemed to be an ask that had several logical solutions. And I just couldn't get there. So I know between you and James and whoever's overseeing these contractors, if you could just give them a push, they have to do better.

Thank you. So I made a note when Mr. Glickman mentioned that the seal plates, the maintenance of traffic, the signal timing, really and we have folks here from our construction team that's overseeing that project.

Okay. Thank you.

We'll work through that.

So appreciate you being here.

Thank you. All right. Thank you. Let's get to Board Member Hernandez.

Good morning, Mr. Secretary. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you Good for being here.

Thank you.

You started the conversation by saying communication, collaboration, and community. I'll start on the bottom. The community on the beach are really wondering if we're doing anything regarding the flooding. I guess we are, but they don't feel that we're doing enough. The review or inspection that you do at the flap gates doesn't go through the system, how often do you actually inspect the system? Do you only do it before you do construction work, if I may?

So typically, a major inspection would be prior to a project. In this case, we understood the importance of inspecting the system. When I say we, the department and the city, so we appreciate the partnership on that. The asset maintenance contractor, they would do an inspection. I would put in the category of reactionary. If they see pavement depression, flooding, a blocked inlet, then they would inspect there. To my understanding, it would be reactive. So I think where you're going is, I think, similar to the previous comments on reaction versus proactive inspection.

Thank you. The proactive part is what's missing. And I'd like to ask the board to consider something. The fact that the CRA is involved and that the department is involved, I would ask if we could bifurcate the administrative part, which is the financing part from the CRA, versus the mechanical part from the department. So that you work directly with the department rather than through the CRA.

And then just work out the kink, the financial stuff with the department so that we don't lose anything in translation. This way, technical would work with technical and finances would work with finances. Because a lot of times, what we're doing is we're spinning the wheel and we're basically churning the water and it's not getting clear. And if you guys are willing to work with our department, which believe that the inspections that were just done was done by the department, even though the CRA paid for it, just to bifurcate both. Not necessarily isolate them, but just work directly with inform the other one so that we can get the information rather than you being the conduit of the information.

If that's okay. I don't know how the board feels about that. This way, we don't lose anything. In experience, whenever you work with technical and technical, they get along better and they're able to facilitate things that you can't do otherwise. Vin, I don't know if you want to talk about that or not.

Certainly. Commissioner, I just wanted to let you know that the Department of Public Utilities does lead the coordination. We lead the monthly meetings. Actually, we meet the technical group meets a minimum of monthly, sometimes as frequently as every two weeks, and the executive team every three or four weeks, depending

We can't hear you.

The Department of Public Utilities leads the coordination efforts with FDOT. We invite the CRA so they're fully aware of what's going on. And we take the notes. We published a quarterly update, which you've seen, or at least, at least initially, I sent to the mayor and the commissioner of District 1. So we're very much involved.

Do me a favor, if you don't mind, when you send it to the mayor and the commission of District one, send it to the rest of us.

We I think the last quarterly report we sent to

I everyone. Saw that. I hadn't seen anything before. And my point is, rather than have the CRA be the person to report on this, since the department works for the commission as well as the CRA. If you're able to bring it towards us and report directly rather than to go through the middle person, that would be appreciated from some of us that are under technical background when it comes to this.

That would be great. And the other question that I have, Mr. Secretary, is we were trying to see if we can come up with an interlocal agreement where if we identify a depression on the road or a system that it's overflowing because we're there on a more frequent basis, if we could actually get reimbursed for that inspection and provide those results directly to you from the department as to what we find. Because we notice that the FDOT is vast and sometimes we don't get the attention that some of our residents feel that we should. So is that a possibility to be, we won't charge anymore or any less.

We will probably go buy you contract as to what the contract is. And if there's any more that we have to pay because of the speediness of what we're asking for, that will probably be on us. We're just looking for reimbursement with an ILA. Is that a possibility?

So that's in line with, I think, some of the ongoing conversation. And there were two parts, tapping into our contract, where the city would have direct line to our contract. Or in this case, option B, not necessarily in that order, would be city or CRA goes ahead, does the work per our contract or our pricing. So those, I think, are the two options we're continuing to discuss.

JOSHUA Correct. What are the possibilities of that happening? And I know that you're discussing it. And the reason I'm asking is because we have so much work. If we're willing to do something like that, we will certainly ask for permission prior to do it to make sure it's Okay with the FDOT for us to perform that work. But we may be able to have a shorter lead way, if you would, if we ask a contractor that it's nearby, whether they're doing work or that have a relationship with a department, rather than have a contractor that has so much work lined up that may not be able to do it in time.

I'll answer your main question, right? Is it possible? Yes, it's possible. I'd like to really talk through the team on the type of work. I'd like to at least set parameters on the type of work, what that framework would look like, and really how that would be managed. James did mention, right, we're bringing on board additional contractors. So from a resource perspective, in addition to our asset maintenance team, will have access this summer to additional contractors. And to my opening points, we've prioritized this corridor. So I don't want backlog to be the constraint. I do understand your point.

And some of the board members have made the same point. You're closer to the situation. How do we streamline that communication? But if we've got contractors on board that are expected to perform this work, we're committed to getting the work done. I don't want this to be a workaround for us saying we don't have the resources to do it.

Okay. And can you work directly with our department? And the reason that I say that is because time is of the essence here when it comes to being able to identify something, being able to line it up to be work and then to execute the work. Those are the things that we're trying to do. That's the collaboration part that you mentioned.

The communication part is getting that message back and forth as to if we can actually do the work. In other words, if we come to an understanding that your contractor charges X, our contractors charges X, Y and Z. If the baseline is X and we're willing to pay the X, Y and Z because we're looking to prioritize that, that would be on us. In other words, we don't want to hold up the process because you have a price that is based on a much larger scope of work throughout the state versus what we're looking to do locally. And so if we're looking to expedite that, I think it should be on us.

Whether it's your system or our system, it's to our benefit to expedite that. And that's the reason that the CRA is in place. And that's the reason that I keep saying to bifurcate the process and the finances because the finances comes to us. The process, the technical part is the department that says, this needs to be done. This is what we can do to do it.

This is what it costs. This is what the DOT budget is for something like this. This is the extra part that we're willing, or we would have to pay. I think that part needs to come to us, dissect it in order for us to be able to make a decision, a conscious decision based on a budget that we have and respecting that you also have a budget that you got to have for your statewide funding. So, that's the part of the interlocal.

I'm sorry that I'm getting into the details as to what I would like to see on that interlocal agreement, but I want it to be fair for you. But at the same, I want to make sure that our community realizes that we're willing to do what it takes in order to take care of them. And that's the collaboration part that I would ask if you would consider.

Thank you. Understood.

Okay. Basically thank you for being here. It has been a clear understanding now that what happens twice a year is basically looking at the outflow gate, not necessarily the system. We were told that we get two inspections every year regarding the system. Now we're clear that that only happens whenever there's a project coming up in order to see if there are any further work that needs to be done for that project. Is that correct?

Or an identified issue.

Unidentified issue. Which we haven't have you heard of any identified issue in the A1A corridor as of late?

Yes.

Okay. Well, and the reason why is because we did the study and doing that now, we're just looking at the funding. And we're not asking you to bring the checkbook with us. We're just asking you to work with us and says, we're willing to do this if you're willing to do that. At the end of the day, the collaboration part is to our benefit. I know that it's, you used the word guinea pig. It's a pilot program, but it seems to be working. And it appears that it would be working if it's a complete system rather than a partial. I don't know if James you're a professional engineer. You know that if you only do part of a job and the other part is still there, people only see the bad part.

And right now, we're trying to see if we can do something that's collaborative in nature. We're spending a lot of money when it comes to the sea level rises on some of the other key points along the lakes. It has nothing to do with A1A, but everything helps. It's the neighborhood, it's the community that we're trying to get on board for them to realize that we're doing everything possible. And again, thank you for being here. And I don't know if I'm going to have any resolution regarding some of the things that I'm looking for. Dorelene looks like she wants to

Board member, I just wanted to point out that we will bring back the results of the working group discussion for you and that we've heard you in terms of the way that you would think that this might be resolved in terms of setting the policy and then figuring out the expedited service or some of those kinds of things. So we will bring that back for you all and have a discussion once the working group has come up with the final recommendations with the guidance that we're getting today.

And the reason that I said, again, I'm not trying to get the CRA out of the issue, but I want the professionals to work directly from department to department so they can iron out what the cost would be and then bring it back through the CRA for us to see what our funding is going to be regarding that. But I don't want the CRA to be the conduit that goes back and forth when they can actually speak directly to one another. And it's a matter of just working out the kinks.

Thank you. Just to Commissioner Hernandez's point, with regards to the funding side of things, Mr. Secretary, there's the working group that will handle the technical things. And then there is the outlook on future funding of pumps and funding and how does that work within FDOT and the district? Does the funding wait to hear from the working group?

Or do you forecast anticipated funding that we need to be speaking with certain funding folks that a are different group? Or what leads the future planning in terms of lining up funds for the discussions of additional pump stations? And on the maintenance side, I imagine the working group can handle all that's needed and that you have some ad hoc opportunity to implement these lining projects. And at those dollar levels, it seems to be like it's pretty nimble because you've shown it. But on the larger funding requests and partnerships, I don't imagine that all of them need to flow through the MPO, for example, with some of these pump stations, correct me if I'm wrong.

But what do we need to be doing to get those lined up for the future?

So I think the back does stop at me, preferably. So we develop our work program annually. So we'll look at district priorities, obviously the statewide priorities, and then really see what partnership opportunities there are for that district allocated funds. I do believe that the MPO process can help. We've spoken about that in the past.

I think the fact that they prioritize a resiliency study originally for this area allowed us really to leverage some of the resources through that process. So I don't want to necessarily dismiss that, but that is at our purview when we develop the work program. And I think timing wise, every year we go through a work program development cycle. We would look to program new construction projects in the fifth year based on available resources. So this will be on our ledger sheet as far as the district allocated funds.

I'm not sure if you were maybe hinting towards statewide programs or things like that. But think statewide, we continue to emphasize resiliency in community. So I think this is right in line with that.

Great. Great. Well, look, just to I don't have any other requests for other board members to speak. I think those that spoke certainly communicated to you some of our pressures that we're feeling here with regards to the outcome of what's happening on the ground and with water on A1A. But we have this collaborative opportunity to continue working together.

And like you said, you're intimately aware of A1A in Hollywood over the past thirty years. And mind you, with the higher tides that we're experiencing and the aging of the system, things like the lining and things like the backflow and the spot treating things and maintaining, to use that word, and supplementing is certainly something that we all are doing. And I'm happy to, with James' presentation, see that we have this lining project that is underway. It shows that there is the working group and the collaboration is yielding actionable work. Yeah.

And I think once we get the confidence that the maintenance agreement and the maintenance side of things is sufficient, I think that'll go a long way. And with the next item where we're installing 30 additional WAPRO valves, I don't know that there are many of the classic flap gates left. I think James you mentioned. But maybe on the FDOT side, separate from what Hollywood is doing, you know, at the structure points to install WAPROs, maybe FDOT ought to be installing an additional or replacing some of the legacy flap gates with WayPros. I think you might have said there could be some or none.

I don't know. But to the extent we can do beyond lining on the FDOT side of the ledger while we're all here, then, you know, we'd love to see that happen. I know Secretary Braun would love to sign the check because he wants, you know, the result to be best as it could be for the State Road A1A.

Yeah. There's no system solely dependent on a Ross valve at this point. So there are in line devices everywhere.

Okay. All right. Good. Good. So we're making a lot of headway. Executive director, I don't think that there's anything less anything else on your end of things, on the staff level?

No. I think this was a really beneficial discussion. We certainly appreciate the time of the district secretary and staff coming here today to talk through this and to address the concerns. And I think what we're seeing is that there has been a tremendous amount of investment in the system overall. And we know that there will need to be a tremendous amount more as we continue to deal MACHT: with sea level rise.

And exactly on to our next item as well. Commissioner Hernandez, do have anything before we secretary go?

Actually, it's for us as a group. I don't know if I need to ask support for the department to work directly with the DOT, the technical part of it, so that we don't continue to do the same thing and have to go through that?

Why don't we discuss that during our comments? Okay. But thank you so much, FDOT team. Thank you, Secretary Braun. We'll continue to work hand in hand together. Thank you so much. All right. Well, a good segue right on to item 11, everyone. This is a resolution of the CRA approving and authorizing the CRA to execute an agreement with Southeastern engineering contractors for the installation of backflow preventers along 30 East West Streets from Hollyo Boulevard to Sheridan Street in an amount up to $1,016,000 with an additional 30% contingency in accordance with our procurement code. Staff, did you want to present anything?

Or I think we all have we have seen it, all the board members. But with regards to a public sharing of the project, do you want to just briefly describe it so folks listening in know this massively effective work that's about to be undertaken.

So last month, when we brought the findings that had been requested by the board, which was to look into putting in the backflow preventers at the intersection of the East West Streets and A1A, as well as looking at what would be entailed in terms of raising the East West Streets that were very low lying in harmonization, and in accordance with the recommendations from the Department of Public Utilities and Jonathan Goldman from CGM Smith, the direction was that there would be a good and effective result for the king tides by installing the WAPROs. We had a cost estimate done for the previous meeting. And the direction from the board was to bring it forth for approval at this board meeting. And that's what's before you today for your consideration.

Thank you so much. Are there any speaker cards on item 11?

JON No speaker cards.

JON I'd like to invite, if I could, Executive Director John with CDM Smith. If he'd like to maybe John, you just heard the conversation with FDOT with regards to how can we best prevent the backflow. Obviously, this is the best, most cost effective, quick way to prevent backflow together with lining. So from the discussion you just heard and the approach that we're taking right here, did we miss anything? Did you were you eager say something during the FDOT discussion that maybe you knew to think about that we didn't? No. Was there anything left out that No.

It's a great start. There's a great partnership going on. The first four pump stations were selected in those areas for certain reasons. There are more that need to go in, obviously. It will be worked with FDOT and others for the funding on that and CRA and those other areas and continuing to, with the redundant backflow preventers at those low streets, buys you sometimes. Remember, they are redundant, right? Main backflow preventers should be doing that. But with leaks and stuff, this gives you that ability to not have water coming out of your grates on areas that already have backflow prevention. So it's a small they're smaller pipes. It's a good investment for now. And it's a great start to a program.

Great. Executive director or team? What is the anticipated work schedule once this is approved today? We have to procure the Waypro valves. And what do you anticipate in terms of installation vis a vis the upcoming and future king tide seasons?

JULIE Right. So we actually have a representative here today from the company. But it's going I mean, once we sign, it'll be as I think the idea is to order the Way Pros, and as they become delivered, to be able to install them.

We have a fellow from Southeastern Engineering Contractors.

Hi. I'm Javier from Southeastern. Hey, good morning, all. I'm Javier from Southeastern Engineering, a contractor in. We are trying to start next month, if we can. Our plan is we have an average for in southeast valve around four days per valve.

We

expect to finish with from four months to six months. All the ferry bulbs along the A1A.

All right. That's great. Now, Susan, I will tell you just in terms of which streets do we guide them to select first. Maybe those could be the most painful streets that are prone to the most flooding. Maybe can be maybe there could be a sequence in accordance with what we know is the condition of the flooding.

And then to Board Member Schuham's point with regards to MOT, while I don't want to complicate things, let's just make sure that the model in which they block off their workspace, to the extent it's going to take any of the roadway or the corners or the sidewalk, that there is and I'm sure there probably already is a way to direct pedestrians, direct cars, and the work folks in the most safe manner and organized fashion to not impact and not go beyond what's necessary for that work, but at the same time to keep it flowing, moving with as much harmony to the people that use the area as possible. And so just wanted to make those two points with regard to sequence and MOT and workspace management, however you will do that as a team.

We will work closely with them for that, yes.

All right. Love to accept a motion from any member of the board here. We have a motion from commissioner, Bob Schuham, second from board member, Gruber, to approve item 11. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none. That's an important investment for Central Hollywood Beach. Thank you. Alright. Let's go on now to s Davis and Associates, item 12, regarding our 2025 annual financial report and fiscal year audit.

Good morning. Thank you for this time to present the results of the audit this morning. I'll just jump right in. You all have the audited financial statements, the ACFA annual comprehensive financial report. So we're just going to hit on some thank you hit on some highlights, just big picture type of items.

Our fieldwork was significantly completed by March 11. And our auditors reports and the ACRA was issued and dated March 18. So it doesn't get lost towards the end, I do want to take this time to thank CRA staff and management and city finance staff, because without them, we could not have gotten to this point by those dates. The audit of the financial statements was conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and government auditing standards and the provisions of 10.55 rules of the auditor general that covers local governments. We audited the governmental activities for each major fund as of and for the fiscal year ended 09/30/2025.

And those fund financial statements roll up to the government wide financial statements, which combines both of the funds and also adds some accrual type activities that you don't see on the fund financial statements. We issued an unmodified or a clean opinion, which, as you all know, is the best type of opinion you can get. We did look at internal controls. We do not opine on internal controls, however. We review internal controls to determine the nature and extent of our financial audit testing.

If anything, however, does come to our attention regarding controls that we need to bring to your attention, we do make note of it. This year, there are no internal control matters to be disclosed. There were also no matters of noncompliance that needed to be disclosed. We also perform a financial conditions assessment as required by the state. And the CRA did not meet any of the conditions that indicate a potential state of financial emergency or other deficiency.

Just jumping into the numbers very quickly, total assets increased from about $143,000,000 to approximately $173,000,000 primarily due to your capital improvements, your construction in progress and completed construction and improvements. Total liabilities increased from $4,500,000 to $6,500,000 Your net position, which is your equity basis, I guess, in the CRA, increased from $138,000,000 to $167,000,000 Of that $167,000,000 for this year, dollars 91,000,000 is net investment in capital assets. And the remaining $76,000,000 is restricted for future community development. Any questions on the assets or net position or even the liabilities? That's small for us.

Do you have any insights? Obviously, it seems like our obviously, our liabilities are very low. The assets are high. And while you're not opining on the financial health and then giving it a business analysis, you're auditing, I think, for the state required annual report. Any particular insights that you might want to share here?

In terms of your liabilities being low and your assets being high, your assets are almost 1,000 times greater than your liabilities, which puts you in a great, great position. Those liabilities include your accounts payable, your compensated absences, and any other liabilities that you may have. We opine on the financial information. And we opine on certain areas of noncompliance. We do not opine on internal control.

And that is normal in any audit. Opining on internal control is typically a separate engagement. I think the CRA is doing very, very well. You all know better than we know during the course of the year all of the improvements streetscape, the parks, underwater underwater underground utilities. So there's a lot of construction going on for improvements to the beach district and the downtown district. Did I answer your question well enough? Okay.

Thank you. And I'll call on board member Hernandez. You had finished the report?

JULIE I do have to go over we are required to go over communications to you all as a governing body. MELISSA: I can No, answer any do.

And then we'll call on board members.

JULIE Okay.

So I believe you all have received the letter to governance, just to point out a couple of the key items in that. Your responsibilities and plan scope and timing are in the engagement letter that was dated November 7. Significant accounting policies are in note one to your financial statements. The significant disclosures are primarily in note 11 of the financial statements related to the tax abatement and the sunsetting of the districts. The Beach District sunsets June 2027.

And the Downtown District on or before September 2041, there were no corrected or uncorrected entries to be made. So no adjusting journal entries were made as a course of the audit. No significant difficulties in dealing with CRA staff or management. No disagreements with them. And we also need to note that limited procedures were applied to the management's discussion and analysis portion of the financial statements you received and to the required supplementary information. That concludes our report.

Thank you. Board Member Hernandez. Thank you, mayor. Good morning, Tanya.

Good morning.

The 76,000,000 restricted funds that you talked about, is that from the BEAT CRA, or is that from both districts?

That's from both districts.

Both districts. Yes. Do we have a list of those projects?

I DAY: don't have a list

those Maybe some of this we can ask Some for. Are in

on page 37 of your ACFR.

Okay.

That was it. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Well, this is a presentation. Thank you so much. We certainly applaud the staff and yourselves for reviewing the 2025 annual financials. And it's always it's been a good streak to have a good, clean report with no findings here with the CRA. We know there's been a lot of commitment to good financial reporting, financial record keeping, and management. And so I thank the CRA staff. Thank you, the city finance staff, for all that you do to make sure that we account for and report the finances in an accurate and consistent manner throughout the years as we have. And thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, item 13, moving right along, an authorization by the CRA to execute an amendment to the phase four project guaranteed maximum price with Burkhart Construction for the installation of security bollards in an amount up to $352,000 and change, which includes the direct purchase of the construction materials by the CRA in the estimated amount of $124,000 in change, which will increase the total cost of the phase four project GMP from $76,100,000 in change to $76,400,000 in change. I'll take a motion to approve item 13. We have motion from board member Quintana.

Is there a second at this time? Second from board member Gruber. Discussion on the motion? Board member Hernandez.

Thank you, mayor. Are these are the boulders on the downtown? Or these are the boulders on the

The beach. The beach. Some street ends that were the phase four project is taking place. These would be the security implementations of those ends and kind of rolling them into this project for efficiency. Go ahead, Susan.

Yes, these are specifically for the beach CRA for all of the streets south of Hollywood Boulevard at the street ends.

JOSHUA And we're spending $76,000,000

No. The $76,000,000 the original contract was for the East West Streets at $48,000,000 The second amendment was the $26,000,000 for State Road A1A. There was a third amendment for the Keating Park, and this is the next amendment to that.

This is $352,000 in a change for the security aspects.

Correct.

All right. Have motion and a second to approve the security bollard installation. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the item carries unanimously. On to item 14, resolution appointing Raelynn Storey, our city manager, as the executive director of the CRA. We have a motion from board member Biederman, second from board member Schuham to approve the appointment. All those in favor, aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Hearing none. The item carries unanimously, and the job follows unanimously. Raylan, you can give us a quick outlook. I know we haven't had a chance to talk about this, but we just had the financial report and the reminder of the looming sunset of the beach CRA.

So just really not asking for comments, but just I think whenever you find it's appropriate to come back to the CRA and give us a status report and a plan for how that's sunsetting, any remaining projects. Obviously, there's a time in years that state law allows for projects to complete. So to kind of give a sort of a last fiscal year update on where we are and making sure that we take advantage of the funding that's been awarded to the CRA and contributed by the county and the city for all these years.

Absolutely. Those meetings, as it relates to the sunsetting of the Beach District of the CRA, are underway. Of course, you all are moving into the budget planning process, as is staff. And so we have a fiscal retreat coming up. The CRA budget will be discussed as part of that retreat as well.

But it is important to note that we're very cognizant of the funds that are available and making sure that all of that funding is allocated appropriately before that sunset date. So those conversations have begun and are being led by assistant city manager Adam Reisbach with budget staff. And budget staff now is working completely in tandem with the CRA. There is a budget analyst that is designated, or will be designated specifically for the CRA, now that Yvette has left us. And so we're working very closely on all of those matters and happy to give you a full report as part of the budget process.

Great. Thank you. On to informational reports. Any updates on CRA Beach and downtown activities for the previous month?

JAMES At the board's request, you all had asked the report is attached, of course, and has a lot of information in it. But at the board's request, you all had asked for updates regarding cinema paradiso and the art and culture center of Hollywood's management of the facility. And so Jennifer Homan is here. And if you would like her to give you that update, she is available to do so.

Board members? Sure. Jennifer, thank you for being here. We don't want you to leave without having to share a few words about all that's happening.

Yeah, I really appreciate the time and the support of the cinema. As you see with the reports, we average anywhere from 800 to 1,000. It's still quite low. We want to double that number, similar to what we've done at the Art and Culture Center over the last two years. Started around 40,000 when I took over in January. And we're on track to be around 65,000 this year. We're planning to do the same with the cinema. If you look at kind of the rich data that is in those reports, the different things we're doing, we are definitely bringing people. It's not about exposure. It's literally bringing people downtown.

And we are going to be working on some surveys to get some information from those folks. What did they do while they were downtown in addition to their cinema visits, right? Did they go to a restaurant and get some information about that as well? Not just like a geo tracking. They were in this space for this long, but real specific hard data.

And as you saw, we get great press. So we work on press releases. I will say the cinema, more than anything that we do, gets more regional and national. And as you saw when we did the Alef Festival, international. So we were in the Israeli times, the Jerusalem times, so Aleph was the international Hebrew language day celebration.

And there's a lot of different things. We're working with some of the leaders in the film community down here. Sandy Leiterman, who heads up Film Lauderdale, as well as Film Florida. There was just the South Florida Film Forum, just that MAD hosted this, not this best weekend obviously, but the weekend before, and White Elephant Group and Filmgate and all the groups down here. And so we're talking with them about what kind of original film festival that we can create of our own. We host a ton of them. Obviously, just had Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. We still run six days of programming for them. Flow Film Festival, Popcorn Price, I can name like a dozen, Hollywood Film Festival. How can we work with them?

We're working with different funders as well, looking at a comprehensive programming to, again, similar to what we did at the center, doubling the numbers or at least getting there significantly. But there's a lot of great things that we're doing in terms of just arts, not just about ROI and boots on the ground traffic, but from a cultural perspective. That's why we make some notations that there's a premier for an independent filmmaker. Where would they do these things if not with us? And so that is really key.

There's not very many of us left. You have O Cinema and you have Gables and you have Savor. But we're a dying breed and not because there isn't interest. It's not going to always be the, we've seen that not just us, AMC, Regal. You're seeing the traffic changing, but there is a resurgence of people understanding getting back in person and the experience is such a different thing than just streaming at home.

But the biggest thing that we can do is bring different types of film programs that will not be run at AMC, that will not be run at Regal. And that helps solidify the film industry both here locally, but also regionally, statewide and nationally. So again, we're putting together what we're calling our film salon and it's some of the best and brightest that are already working down here. We're not here to duplicate what people are doing. We're here to do needs gap and we're really looking at next year creating some kind of festival that's multifaceted.

If anybody's familiar with South by Southwest, where you have multiple arts in terms of film, music, and visual arts. So, doing something really dynamic and really interesting, not just from like a local perspective, but something that will appeal beyond the age. So, I really appreciate the support of this and we are going to be including some folks, local folks as well, to make sure that our programming is representative of our citizenry. Trust me, I get emails. I'm sure just like you all, I get, we have an info and every day or multiple times a day, I get inquiries from people and suggestions and we take them very seriously.

In addition to the surveys that we send out. So, just really appreciate the support and we do some really great things and there's some really interesting things happening right now. Have Mjars number three. It's a German language film with subtitles. I know everybody doesn't like subtitles, but there's some amazing, I'm sure when you see streaming right now, you're watching a lot of these dubbed shows. How amazing they are. There's great work coming from all over. We're going to be working on a Hollywood Bollywood Festival that will include both film as well as music, dance and art. Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world. So these are things that we can showcase here and bring it to people.

Not everybody can go to India. You know, not everybody can go to these other places. We get to bring people to these different places all over the world through film and through some of the other programming. So, we're doing a Peruvian Film Festival as well. And there's a really wonderful group in New York that's managing that. They have different film channels. So again, Hollywood will be spotlighted in New York and other places as a destination. So, I've included, you know, articles in the Sun Sentinel and things like that beyond that this is one area that will get you more promotion, both locally and regionally and nationally and internationally, than anything else that we do.

Well, sounds, Jennifer, like you've really embraced the cultural aspect of this theater, of facility, and that you're really I can see your own passion with regards to, you know, film as an art form and what it can contribute to, you know, cultural visitation and its contribution to, of course, the downtown. But it seems like from the arts perspective that you've really embraced this. I know this was something that I think the CRA had actually asked you to look at when the previous operator was not pulling its weight. So how maybe you can reflect a little bit on where Cinema Paradiso fits in to all of the center's doing now. It sounds like you're already, wow, we can do so much, and this is exciting.

But maybe you can reflect on that a little bit.

Yeah. In general, I just want to appreciate the sport of the city as a whole with what we're doing. Anybody who's been coming out to our main campus, so now we have multiple campuses, right? Our main campus, which obviously has the new Hollywood Arts Hub and the galleries and the artists in residence and then operating Hollywood Central Performing Arts Center and now the cinema, we get to touch everything. So right now, we have an exhibition that's called River of Grass.

And if anybody's read Marjorie Stoneman Douglas's book, River of Grass, it's based upon that. And it's a Miami Fiver Artists Foundation that has put that together of 21 different artists. We're also then, on May 17, we'll be screening. There's a documentary film made that's in the same name, River of Grass, and it's all about the conservation of the Everglades. And things like you all are talking about sea level and all these different rise of our local ecosystems.

So that's something that we're able to do instead of just play it in some random space that isn't really equipped for that. We actually get to do it in a cinematic experience. So we're trying to do that wherever we can, where we cross promote our different facilities and things that are going on in different areas. And that's kind of like what we're talking about with that festival where we're looking at next year, where we can activate all the spaces. And not just our spaces, but additional spaces in the community as well, from businesses to public spaces.

I'll just leave it with just a suggestion, you haven't already begun. Phil Dunlop with the broader cultural divisions is a great guy. I think he's had a lot of exposure to Hollywood. And he loves what we're doing, whether it's Art Park or the center. I know the whole Cultural Council was at the center some weeks ago for their own fiftieth celebration of the arts in Broward.

So to the extent we can leverage perhaps funding and grant requests, specifically for the theater aspect of things with the Cultural Council and the county budget for that. I know there's obviously a lot that competes to get those grant awards, but I would encourage you to continue efforts with Phil. I was appointed recently to serve on the Cultural Council, So happy to discuss that with you as well. And Jill Weisberg is the chair. So we have a good Hollywood presence there, other folks as well. And so to the extent we can help, please be in touch.

Yeah, and we're looking, the film commission has additional funding. And just a other little note, you saw that. So we were approached and we're community minded and we're team players always. It's how we operate. When we look at the center, we look at ourselves more operating more of a community center than a museum.

We use high level museum cultural institutional programming, but we want it to have that more accessibility that you would think at the local community center so people aren't intimidated to come through the doors. But we were approached, Mike Wharton, through the Parks Division was looking for space for the downtown police group because they're sitting in their cars. That's where they have their lunch, their dinner. They're doing their reports. If they have to use the restroom, they have to go into every place and ask, can I use your restroom?

So we have given them keys and access to our space because we have an upstairs office that doesn't really get utilized very often because our staff is downstairs dealing with guest relations. So they have access to that 20 fourseven. So that was something there's no cost. We're not getting any cost from that. It's just we have a space and the city is investing in us and we're certainly willing to do whatever our part is always and we always will.

Thank you. Commissioner Board Member Shuham.

Thank you, Chair. I just want to say thank you, Jennifer. I know it's a big lift. And I feel that we're very fortunate to have you in this space right now. There's so many exciting things.

But I just I don't know if all of you know it, but there's movie nights where Jennifer is actually at the movie theater, whether she's behind the counter or whatever. But the personal dedication that you've shown to all of these facilities is mind blowing. I love the description of South by Southwest, where you're utilizing these venues in multifaceted events. And it just made me think from here that the and you're mentioning working with Mike Wharton and things like that. There's things that the city is doing, events that the city is putting on, that you could have tangential events.

And one thing that comes to my mind is Salsa Fest. You could have salsa dance lessons or something like that. We are planning a big jazz fest for November. So I'm thinking you can have music documentaries playing that whole weekend at the theater. Just things like that. So you're not on your own. You can take a look at the city calendar and pluck some fun things that are happening there. But I think it's very exciting. For me, you know, we have a very unique downtown. We've all struggled and struggled to make it vibrant.

And this institution is one of the things that is just unique to Hollywood. I mean, even Savour is not right downtown like this is. So to have this theater there, to have control of its programming, is really exciting. And I'm just grateful that you're in the space that you're in. Thanks.

Thank you. Board Member Biederman.

Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Jennifer, for being here. And I appreciate it. I also appreciate your taking to heart our original conversations about expanding the reach. And the programming that you're doing at Boulevard Heights is amazing, partnering with not just the city but with Memorial Hospital's program, which brings me to my other suggestion.

We also have senior programming at Fred Lippman Center. Maybe and they used to I don't know that they do it anymore when or Parks and Rec senior programming used to do field trips and they'd take these seniors out to Fort Myers and these day trips. Maybe we could do day trips to Cinema Paradiso when you're not open to the public necessarily, but you could do like matinees for our senior programming. It might be a good idea. It just gives more expansion.

It gives more use of the facility that we're paying rent on twenty four hours a day, air conditioning on, electric on, and stuff like that. Just more and more people that can experience the programming that you have there, which also maybe you could partner with Broward County Schools and bring in school field trips and stuff like that, too, just to create more activity.

Definitely the seniors were on that because they're looking for activities that aren't super strenuous, that don't have a weather component as well. So that is the fact that you bring that up is absolutely something. We're looking at the school programming. They don't really look at films as educational unless there is a specific documentary thing that ties into some of their things. But obviously, they do come to the center as a whole for other purposes from the arts education. But absolutely, seniors are all over that.

And I know you're already doing some foreign films. But with the diversity we have here in Hollywood, the majority of our population is Latin American, Hispanic at a Maybe we can do Spanish filming or reach out and get some Latin America, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, stuff like that films from there that we could show here. We have a huge Ukrainian Russian population now. Maybe we could do some Eastern European filming nights. Just so many different ideas that your team can facilitate, I think, would be great.

We did host the Colombian Film Festival, and we will do so again. And we have been doing, it's around every other month, Russian speaking films. So we have somebody that's helping to coordinate that from the community as well. So absolutely everything you're saying. And like I said, it's not even just about those people who speak those languages.

Like if anybody saw there's just so much like Secret Agent was one of the best films of the year. It won so many awards, both in non international, but more the typical things, because it was a fantastic film. Like, yes, you had to follow along with the Brazilian, because it's in Portuguese. It's a Brazilian film, but it's an amazing piece of work. And there's so many things like that that we're able activate. So I just really appreciate the support. And we're going to continue to do all the things that you all are talking about to connect with people that are both live here as well as people that are visiting here. And the big draw is bringing people from outside the area here specifically for these types of programming.

And I know that some of the downtown merchants are working on the World Cup and having some exposure in bringing people out. That might be something to tie into, too. If there's any soccer based documentaries or anything like that, that might be an opportunity also to fill some seats.

It's a good idea.

Alright. Lots of ideas. Let's get to board member Gruber.

Thank you. Great idea, Commissioner Biederman, on on the seniors going to the movies. Also camps. I remember I was a director of a camp and AMC used to do I don't remember if it was free or dollar movies. But when you take a camp to a big movie theater, you know, they're constantly eyes around for safety of the kids. To have one camp go to this facility that it's closed is is a much safer option, you know, operationally. So maybe to look into camps. I'm really happy that you mentioned all the the independent and foreign films. Are we still doing first run movies?

Yes. So we do a mix of it, right? Because not everybody I love foreign language films. Not everybody is like, right now, we're running Project Hail Mary, the number one film in the country. And May, we'll do Devil Wears Prada two.

But in between, we're also concurrently running a German language film. So we do a balance of everything, from independent to foreign language, as well as first run, because we're trying to connect with the entire population, not just people that are a niche of our house programming. We are downtown and while we're not going to, and same thing, this is how we look at the center as a whole. We may not connect with everybody every day or even every month, but throughout the year, we should appeal to almost everybody in something that we're doing.

Right. I like the mix. Last time you came before us, I was reluctant to funding because there was a lot of talk about that. It was first run movies, and it almost seemed like that was most of what we were doing. You know? And I I I personally if we could just do Indian four in there, I'd be happy with that. I'd choose that over the first run. But now that you mentioned the mix and that other people can come, I'm happy with the mix. I definitely want to keep Andy and the foreign films going there.

That's the majority of

what we The award Good.

If it is first run, they're either award winning or projected to be award winning. So not just like, we don't, we're not the Fast and the Furious.

We're

not doing that. But we are going to be doing programming where this film we're running right now. Now, Devil Wears Prada probably won't be in the awards running. Maybe Meryl she gets nominated for everything. But it's also about fashion. And so that's something in the art world, so it's something related. So we do really think about this when we're choosing, because we have one screen. And a lot of times when you're licensing these screens, especially first runs, you have to have a clean run for two weeks. You can't really offer anything else. Now we plug in because we commit to doing like at least two screenings per day.

So like we run this Centennial video. We're running mirrors in between Project Hail Mary. So we kind of get away with it a little bit, but in general, there's a lot of limitations to running the first run films.

Got it,

got it. Thank you. Board member Quintana.

Jennifer, I'm so happy to see you here and to hear all the great things that are going on. You're doing a fabulous job. I love the holistic approach that you're taking to the cinema and its operations. I've always thought, since I moved to South Florida, that we have such a rich variety of cultures here that we really should be highlighting and celebrating back home in Chicago. It was so much a part of everything that we did.

So you're actually doing something that I've always kind of longed for here in Hollywood by bringing in all the different cultures. I have to say that I'd love to see you reach out Or maybe I'll see if I can put a bug in somebody's ear at the school board because I know the students who study film and media would probably really benefit from knowing what's being offered at Cinema Paradiso. And also, similar to what board member Shuhem said, I know several Peruvian restaurants in my district. So although not downtown, I think that their customers would really want to know about your Peruvian Film Festival, for example. And so how to kind of bridge that gap so that they could help cross promote and bring some of the locals that are here downtown to experience the arts that you're offering.

So figuring out a way to do that, Hugo, maybe you can help.

They're already all over that. The festival organizers, they have reached out to many of them. They actually do a Peruvian culture like podcast based out Of New York. And so this is not the first time they've done this festival.

Okay.

And they do have some relationships. So exactly like that. And then we are actually hosting in our New Arts Auditorium some dance and some other cultural performance as well that will precede the film schedule as well. So again, using multiple spaces to promote not just the festival, local businesses. I know there's like four different restaurants that they are working to partner with on that. But that's what we're looking to do as well.

Okay, great. Thank you.

Well, so many good things. Just real quick on the promotional side of things. And I know Commissioner Hernandez is leading an effort with C Med to make sure that people who live, the new residents of downtown, people who live downtown, are aware of the programming, including Cinno Paradisos. And mind you, for a lot of these different cultural endeavors that you have, there are restaurants in Hollywood that really cater to those cultures. Sometimes you can tell who lives in a city by the restaurants that are in a city.

And we have a lot of dynamic, whether it's Colombian, Peruvian, Israeli, you name it. Even the Ukrainian is a growing group of cluster of restaurants downtown to create posters when these events are happening so that people who don't consume in your average way of being able to get the word out and see things on the street and hand them out of the different mail rooms or the different buildings or what have you. Let's make sure that we have a good, you know, old school, you know, sort of like a poster and and and kind of communication effort that, because we have an active downtown, when people can learn us something at their local coffee shop, it's that local independent sort of promotional opportunity that can only help to serve things further.

We have a new art director who started a couple months ago and we have new RAC cards and posters or something that we can add to that mix as well. Same thing, I agree with you. We also do some hard mailings, because nobody does hard mailings anymore. So if you do a few that make sense and then the rack cards that will get distributed in multiple places with the businesses. So we're really excited about this.

We have a new website that's opening, that's launching this week that's really taking things to the next level. That's very AI focused as well. The SEO is built within the website. So there's like a lot of advancements that have happened in a short period of time and works excited to continue to grow this. I just film is a totally different art form and it's something that appeals to a lot more people than sometimes the visual and performing arts. Film is something that everybody is familiar with. So, I appreciate all your suggestions and it's great because our little film forum has kind of come up with some of these ideas as well. So I think we're all on the same page.

Great, Board Member Hernandez.

Thank you, Mayor. Jennifer, I got a goofy question for you. Since one of the things that, I guess, we're looking for the center in cinema paradiso is marketing and promotion at this point, would it be Okay if we actually produce we're looking at a three question survey, if you would. Maybe we can have a QR code where it promotes this from the people that actually go there as to what they would like to see in their building if we actually get any new residents from the building to come to the center, and versus what they would like to see in the downtown area. And the three basic questions, if we could do that with a QR code on the screen in between films or beginning or after or something like that, would be greatly appreciated.

We've been working with C Med to do something like that to actually give to the people that are actually moving into the new buildings. But it would be good also to have a QR code, particularly for you cinema PRD. So this way, number one, we track the people that are coming in. And number two, we track what they're looking for when they come to the downtown, which is the goal of what we're trying to do. So if we can fill up some of the empty spaces. If we could do that, that would be great. Thank you so much.

All right. Well, director, you phoned me about some of the funding issues that were the board had left off before. So please go ahead and solicit us for whatever, however we left off last time.

Thank you, Chair. So you'll recall that there is funding support in the form of some advertising dollars that C Med had allocated with the CRA. These are CRA dollars to support cinema paradeso. And there's an ad that plays. The survey can also then be added to that.

You all had asked at that point in time that Jennifer come back and provide a report on a quarterly basis and that the funding then be released on a quarterly basis. So I'm hearing a lot of support. I just want to confirm that we are good to release the next quarter of funding. And that would $15,000 So on a quarterly basis, Jennifer will give us this report. And we'll do this. This is part of the overall advertising buy of the CRA. And this is just a small component of it. But it was important to So keep these updates do

it in motion form, it's on the record. Commissioner Gruber? Board member Gruber, you have the floor.

Go ahead.

I'll second that. I just want to go on record that I'm okay. I'll second that and release it. But I would like to, sometime in the very near future, have that not come out of the line item of marketing. Like like, I I I want I I don't the ROI on the marketing doesn't really make sense, but I do want to fund the cinema. So I'm good to release it now. But like in the near future, can we take that funding and pull it from somewhere else?

Maybe it's a cultural arts Does

that make you following what I'm saying?

Yes. Understand.

Yeah. Yeah. I want to fund the cinema. I don't want to put that amount from our marketing budget to what we're getting. So we'll release it now. But if we can work on moving forward, that funding comes from somewhere else.

I've got some other board members who want to just add a discussion on that second. Sounds like there's support. Board Member Biederman?

So I kind of agree, but I think that there's a marketing aspect of supporting Cinema Paradiso. And especially when it's coming from the CRA, we can't, as a CRA, market certain things tied to funding. But we can support so it's I don't want to get in trouble by saying how I really feel. But it's kind of like supplying money to the art and culture center so that the art and culture center can market the downtown.

Is that what I'm saying? Yeah, I get that. I get that. But that amount of money towards marketing to bring people downtown can be spent that amount of money in a different way to get more ROI, still give some money from the marketing. But that full funding that is needed, I'd like it to come from a different line.

All right. Well, I think executive director can.

We're losing out on that marketing aspect, unless it's a clear understanding that we're supporting the cinema parodiso so that they can help to market the downtown.

Right. We'll still give some money in the marketing budget, but a lesser amount, and then fund the rest not from the marketing budget. Okay. I think that's what I would like to do.

I think they can sort that out

as far as part

which bucket it comes from. There's Parks Rec and Cultural Arts. There's different things. I think loud and clear executive director in terms of issues of, is this the best fit in the marketing budget? Or should it be in a different funding source? So let's go

to A mix or a mix.

Board Member Hernandez, and then we'll take a vote.

Thank you, Mayor. I think one of the things we can do is find a budget item that actually fits, that has a better description of what it is that they're doing, and maybe ask him for some PSAs when it comes to the cinema parody so that we can put some of the events that are happening in maybe a survey or whatever the city may want to put out at that point, which is a public service announcement.

We do run it before every film. So there's a wonderful PSA that CRA had designed. And we ran that two twenty eight times in the last quarter.

And my point is the PSAs change. There's different things that are taking place. Boulevard Heights, whether we do something at Fred Lippman Multipurpose Center, the parking, the garages

Upcoming events.

Upcoming events. So these are the things that we could do as far as marketing in the downtown area. And we can do it in a way of PSA as long as we find you funding from somewhere else. I support that. I don't have a problem with that. But I also agree with board member Gruber that we need to be able to identify that we're getting our bang for our buck when it comes to marketing and advertising for the Not against the Center for Funding. I want to make sure you get the funding. At the same time, I want to make sure that we get what we need from the PSA type.

All right. Let's give Board Murchin Tana the last word, and then we'll take a vote on this authorization. Go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. I just want to, for the record, say I have some concerns about the money coming from Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Arts, because I have a lot of interest in expanding the cultural arts in our city areas outside of downtown. And I wouldn't want that to then be compromised.

I got you. All All those in favor of the motion say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the item carries unanimously six-zero. Thank you, everybody.

All

right. That concludes that aspect of the informational report. Ray Lynn, anything else on the informational report?

Nothing further.

How about Chris on the Dune project?

I'm sorry. Did you want I didn't realize you wanted to do that.

If I

could, yeah. Yes. So we are, of course, underway on a project that Broward County is implementing on Hollywood Beach, the North portion of Central Beach, and then the South Portion of Central Beach, with the main chunk of the Central Beach business area excluded. That Dune project is well underway and slated to wrap up later this month. And so Chris Roschuk is our Chief Resiliency Officer. And he's been overseeing that project with the county. Even though it is a county project, we are out there almost daily, I think. And Chris is going to come up and give you a little update on some of the issues that you had asked about.

All right, Chris, come on up. Tell us how it's going. Certainly, any time you alter the landscape, it impacts a lot of people because it's a lot of passersby and a big, huge public space. So how's it going?

It is. And as Raylan said, it has been a lot of effort from our standpoint. Even though the county is managing it with their contract and their contractor, I've personally been involved in making sure that we're getting what we want in Hollywood. There's been a lot of eyes and ears on it from all departments. Think, obviously, the beach is our focal point in the city.

We all enjoy the beach. I mean, all of you do in your personal lives as well. So it really has been a big effort. And I've been coordinating with, in particular, with fire rescue to make sure we have safety access for the lifeguards and if there ever is a rescue out on the beach where they can get their equipment on and off and get beach gores on and off if there ever was a rescue, working with public works with our beach maintenance staff to making sure we have access. And one of the big issues has been the walkways at the street, in particular around the Broadwalk, to making sure those openings are at a low enough elevation where folks can get on and off the beach.

Pedestrians can get on if you're carrying a cooler or your beach chairs and all those things. Because initially, the county's design was to keep that continuous dune without the breaks for the walkways. And we've been working through that issue. Finally, I think we're at the point where that's more satisfactory for everyone.

SPEAKER Gotcha. Bob Wickham made a comment about his perception that the dune in the North end of the Broadwalk was taking up 40% of the beach. But we're following the onethree dune, twothree sandy beach ratio that was called for by the Dune master plan and I think in the agreement, correct?

That's correct. So those are some of the questions I received. And I've actually followed up on that one in particular. Because depending on the day of the beach and depending on the tide, it can appear to be taking up more space than just the onethree dune to twothree open beach. So the way that the county design was implemented is that ratio is based on the total width of the beach from the landward side to the mean high waterline.

So that mean waterline changes can change by tide, by time of year. So we're keeping an eye on that. And one of the controls that are in place as well is that once the contractor finishes his work, they submit their post construction surveys to the county and the county's engineer. And I've asked them to share those with us, too. And then we're sharing those with our consultant, Moffett and Nickel, to making sure we have all those checks and balances in place to make sure that it's not taking up more than that space.

CHRIS I admit I haven't walked the north part of the Broadwalk to see what the appearance that was mentioned by Bob is of the post and rope and how high those posts are. I think people understand that dunes are you don't walk on them. You don't set up shop on the dunes. So that's kind of like common sense, I think. And I don't know that the I know now projects are already authorized as it is.

But I just want you to look out for whether it's the height of the posts that ought to be sensible and not higher than needed. Or even if it ought to switch to maybe after the plantings have taken root, we ought to talk to the county about removing the rope and just leaving a couple posts that say, you know, have a little sign that says, you know, Dune area, don't, you know, don't don't don't walk on them or whatever whatever it is he would say, rather than having a mile of rope and post on both sides of the dune. It might be overkill. And maybe sometimes you only realize that after something's in the ground. And it's like, hey, wait a second.

This is overkill, not necessary, and otherwise impacts the landscape too much. So any reflection on the post and rope issue?

Yeah. So I think once we we saw all the plans, obviously, and with the design. But once you see that from paper come to fruition, some of those same questions came up for me, too, And regarding the height of the post, so that was something I saw, too, that they're taller than what we have for our existing dunes. So the detail that the county has, it's a six foot tall post set two and onetwo feet at least two and onetwo feet in the ground. So it's about three to three and onetwo feet above ground. I brought this issue up with our consultant as well, Moffett and Nickel. And I think the rationale for that is that over time, the dunes will grow in height, will grow slowly. So that if you set the post too low initially, then they may be buried by the sand. Or if we have a beach renourishment project, those posts could

Three feet be sounds reasonable. The impression is at the North Beach Park area. And it seems like it's way higher than three feet above ground. So keep an eye on that.

Something will continue to

change. Yeah, they should be no taller than three and onetwo for sure, I think, at the outset. Mean, because otherwise, it becomes a problem. And it's just not necessary to be that high, I don't think.

Right. And you mentioned the rope, too. So we'll double check all of that. And one of the issues that fire rescue and the police have seen, especially in the North Beach, is we had spring break for the last couple of weeks, as you know. And we had a lot of people from out of town that didn't really know what the dunes were. And they saw people sitting even on the newly planted dunes. So I think right now, it's good to have the rope up. And we're working with Public Works to actually install more signs as well to notify folks that these are protected dunes and the reason why they should stay off. But it's been a lot, especially the last two weeks. Been very busy, as you know.

So if you could just real quick elaborate, since it's been probably the most frequent email that I get is the pedestrian crossover and the senior citizen crossover. So where did that land? Moby mats, non Moby mats, elevation? You said that there's kind of like a solution that's been an understanding. What is it?

Yes. So for each of the pedestrian walkways and I worked with Jose on this I think we counted 61 total from the entire project. So the original design was a little bit unclear, if you look in the detail sheets, that it basically showed kind of a continuous dune. And then there are certain areas where we have existing MobiMats already existing on the beach. So the solution that we came up with after a lot of discussion is that we are lowering those elevations of the walkways so that pedestrians can get access to the beach.

We had reports from fire rescue and the lifeguards where they were seeing some people falling or not being able to get over that, basically, hump or ramp of where the dunes were, where the sand was placed. So we're lowering those. We're working with some of that work has actually been done by our staff because the county has now progressed down to South Beach. And they're now mobilizing in Hallandale. So we're helping in the north area to help lower some of those. And then their contractor is completing the rest in the southern portion of the beach. But each of those walkways and I can send some photos after I was out on-site. When we did the first one, which was done at Thomas Street right by the Positano. So that was right at the north part of the broad walk. It turned out great.

So we're going to make sure that each one of those are accessible for the public. And then there will be wider openings around the lifeguard stands as well for their access.

Generally speaking, how many inches would the let's just call it the crossover path be, like above the typical grade of the sand?

They're really bringing it down to what was existing prior to I gotcha. They're really right down. So basically flat.

I gotcha. Okay. All right. Board member Gruber, then Shuham.

Thank you. Yeah. I'm glad Bob brought it up because I actually, on March 21 at 07:42PM, I was walking Right. And in front of Hollywood Towers. And it, like, I looked and saw, wow. The beach is almost gone. So I I actually took a video. I'll send it. Mhmm. It was 16 steps from the water to get to the dune. Basically, almost like no beach, like, maybe for a line of of one people.

Right.

And I was I don't think that's what we intended from it. I mean, that may just be in certain areas. And in in thinking about it, the diplomat has less of a beach. So I know we haven't hit that yet, but I can see it from my balcony. So that if we it almost looks like if we put that same dune there, they're gonna have zero beach. So I don't know if maybe we can take a look at what what Bob had mentioned in front of Hollywood Towers at high tide and just see if we're kinda way over that threshold that we discussed and maybe get ahead of it and take a look at the diplomat and see if we're going to get rid of their whole beach. I mean, that could be an issue. I don't know if there's much we can do about it. But I was surprised to see how much of the beach it took up. And I'll send you the video.

That's me counting the 16 steps.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay. So I'll take a look at the Hollywood Tower. As you may recall, during the approval of the agenda item, so we had some special consideration for the Marriott and for the diplomat. So in those areas, we're only placing sand. They're not planting or putting the post and rope by the diplomat. So that because that area is, we know, the narrowest part of the beach.

Got it. Got it. Okay. Thank you.

Board Member Schuham. I'm sorry.

Thank you, chair. First, I just want to thank you, Chris, for your attention to this and express thanks to Public Works for assisting in backtracking on those walkways. It looks great. And I was going to say exactly what you said. You would think that people would know to stay off of it with the rope and post.

But there are people on those dunes. It's crazy. So I think you have a good handle on the situation. The only thing I would ask is, the areas in North Beach where they've planted it, I know when Adopt a Dune or Lee Gottlieb does it, he puts in the hole a material that holds water for a length of time to allow the baby plants to stay hydrated while they're rooting. And that definitely does not seem to be happening here.

Because we've had a lot of rain, but still it just looks like they're not thriving at all. So do you know what's going on? I understand the plants are warranted for a year or something. But that would be crazy if the contractor has to come back and redo everything. It seems like there should be a better planting process that allows the plants to have water retained in the hole. What's going on with that?

So I will have them clarify their watering plan. Like you said, they do have a one year warranty. So if those plants die, they do have to come back and replace them.

They already have to come back.

Right. So Okay. I'll follow-up with the county.

They should definitely touch base with Lee, because this does not happen when he does it.

Okay. So we'll make sure, like Raylan said, have until the end of the month. So all these issues, I'm staying on top of so that we can get a resolution. DAY: Because the worst thing could happen is we get past April 30,

and then they're restricted for two seat

Right. And it would just be a shame for them to continue to do it the way they've done it, which is not working.

Okay. All right.

Thank you.

All right. Well, you so much. Thank you, Chris. Thank Thank you, executive director. I guess that concludes informational reports. All right. If there are any comments by the board members, general counsel executive director, let's begin with board member Shuham.

Thank you, chair. Well, first, I want to welcome our new director, Raelyn Story. Very exciting. I got an email this morning, Susan, that the streetlight at Crocus has been out for a very long time. I'm assuming it's because of the construction. But the residents there would like to know when the street light will be back in service. So maybe get with Clarissa or figure out what's happening there. Also, just wanted to ask that you guys come back, not an emergency, but maybe at the next meeting, with the status of a play area at the new Keating Park. Just wanted to know what was happening with that. Just a thank you to public works again.

We had the street lights were completely out along A1A, again, of the FDOT contractor. But the new lighting team and public works got out there and got it fixed. So a lot of great work by staff. But with all of these projects going on on the beach, we really have to focus on MOTs, traffic patterns, and just making sure that pedestrians and cars continue to have smooth access through there. I mean, there's a lot of tourists in town right now and a lot of construction.

Difficult situation. And I don't know, Chris, maybe this is you that's overseeing this whole thing. But it just needs eyes on it. And HPD has been wonderful. But they really need to alert the contractors when there's these hang ups in traffic. Because like I've said, when FDOT was here, there's such simple fixes, but there's just nobody enacting them. So maybe making sure there's communication between HPD, public works, and FDOT so that these bottlenecks can be more quickly addressed. And that's it. Thanks, Chair.

Thank you. Let's go to Board Member Hernandez.

Thank you, Mayor. Bollards in the downtown area, we're getting complaints. And I've spoke with the executive director. By the way, welcome, even though you've been here for a while. But it's the first day on the job.

Some of the bowlers that are being placed in the downtown are basically encroaching into the area where those restaurants have the ability to put tables. And so I'm being told that it was because the design that the police department required for them to be crash rating. There's got to be other ways of doing it than just gobbling up whatever sidewalk and area that we have for the restaurants to be able to have tables. Otherwise, they're not going to have any place to be able to have the tables and the people to come by. So we need to readdress that going forward.

I don't know if we can do anything retroactively, because not I don't sign of taking it apart. But this is something that we don't have the ability to redo the downtown time and time again. And it's counterproductive for the long term goal of the downtown for this to continue to happen. I've spoken with the executive director regarding the street ends, the sidewalk ends on where it meets the street. And my understanding is that we're going to be addressing those when we do the one way on the avenues on 19th And 20th Avenue.

But then we need to figure out how we're going to address those on the North Side. So that's something that is going on. Street lights, we hit those really hard at the beginning. Some of the street lights are starting to come back out again. There are some poles that need to be replaced.

I'd like to have an update as to where we are when it comes to that. And if we need to go back and do a survey with PD or something like that as to some of those corners. I know in particular where the hospital is on the downtown on 19th Avenue, there is one street light that has been out forever. And I'm just not sure if it's on the private side of it or our side. And then to look at some of the ADA compliance issues that some of our poles are creating for people not being able to go through with a wheelchair because it doesn't have the 36 inches or the 32 that's a minimum required.

Parking. We had a meeting with one of the gentlemen that was complaining from the Regents Department regarding parking. He sent out an email saying that we had come to an agreement. We have not come to an agreement. The parking department was there. Jovan was there as well. I was there. And we told him that there is a premium parking permit that runs for $110 a month. We asked them what they could afford. And they said that they could afford $75 for the premium parking.

And we told them that the parking department will review that. We'll bring it up to the commission. And based on that, they will make a recommendation whether we could do something like that or not. One of the issues that are happening in the downtown is in flex regarding construction for some new buildings. And what we told them was that whatever we do for your building, we'd have to do for every building.

And that they didn't care so much about. They just worried about their building and their parking spot. And there was some inference of a particular individual getting preference. And we showed them that that individual had received citations as well and that they actually paid them. So it's in flex because it's more than one apartment building that is looking for extra parking on that block that they don't qualify for.

So we need to try to come up with some way of providing that, but at the same time that it balances out. I believe that the beach from what Bob Blickman brought up has similar issues. So it's not just the downtown that it's in need of parking. It's anywhere where parking is thought after and they have more than one vehicle, which is the require, which is something else that we may need to look at if 1.5 or 1.25 parking requirement per unit is enough. So there's a lot of inference when it comes to that, what we can do.

But from our meeting, we were able to have a meeting where we said, look, we will review that and we will bring it back to the commission for approval when it comes to that, depending on what the parking department thinks it's proper.

I could Board Member Hernandez, let me just add just for the while the parking department's here. I mean, I support the idea of a solution because I think specifically on Van Buren and maybe in the 19th Avenue vicinity right there by the Regency Park, I think is the name of the building, It's probably a situation where our visitorship parking is not utilizing the spaces during the week too often. And so my view is that if the space is going to be empty as a metered space, we might as well allow permitted parking there because it'll at least be utilized. I don't want spaces to be sitting as empty metered spaces if it's in an area of downtown that's not utilizing the metered space because of demand and people's awareness that you can park there. So just Jevon and team and Roger, again, I think if it's sitting unused as a metered space, then there's no harm in allowing the permit opportunity, I think.

And again, the permit opportunity is first come, first serve. You can have a permit, and there may not be an open space. And that's just the way it is. But I don't mind giving the opportunity for multi car households that don't have enough parking within the building that was built many years ago to have a way to park that's not hourly. I mean, that's kind of like how else are they going to live. So, you know, I agree. Balance, but the balance means if there's not like a utilization by visitorship, then the balance tilts a little bit toward the meter end toward the permit side.

And that, in particular, on Jackson Street, currently, it's an RPP only, which means even if you want to pay, you're not allowed to park there. And that's one of the considerations that we're looking at to see if we can open that up for parking for anyone who's looking to pay in order to do that. On the other side of Hollywood Boulevard, we have the Centerville apartment condos. That they also are looking for the same thing. And so it's not just one particular street.

It's the whole downtown area that we're looking at. And that's one of the things that I've spoken with the parking department is, if the RPP, if you gauge it where there's so many empty spaces and we can open it up for parking availability for somebody who's willing to pay by the hour or is willing to pay through a premium permit, then we're good with that. The last thing that we'd want is to encourage people they have parking at their building

Right. To not use those.

To not use those and then clog up the parking that it's on the street. Because that's what's happening right now. These same people that are complaining about not being able to park on the street, they actually have They're not They using their own have available parking. And they tell you right out, I don't want to park there because it's inconvenient for me. And so the choice is, okay, then let's make those parking that you don't like available to the residents or anybody else that comes in.

But they don't want to do that either. So this is where we are. We're not trying to play hardball, but we're trying to balance their needs with everybody else's needs as well. And it's just like I said, there's more construction taking place and there's going to be more and more thought after for those parking spaces. So it's a work in progress. We're taking a realistic look at it and we're trying to come up with numbers that make sense for them. Like I said, the email that we sent out was that we agreed on $75 we did not. And this person did not even want to pay the $2 a day. And then we also bounced, would you pay $3 a day? And so on and so on.

The more they negotiate, the higher the price went because there's more demand for it. So we'll report back

to you as to We'll you working on that.

Thank you, sir.

All right. Let's get to board member Gruber for any comments today on CRA.

In the spirit of Passover, you can pass over.

How about father of the bride, board member Biederman?

I actually like the way Commissioner Gruber brought it up, so he can pass over me too.

All right. Right, board member Quintana, you have the opportunity to press on your Passover side today, but go ahead.

I'll pass.

Oh, wow. I was going to say something, but I'm going to hold it.

Be nice. Be nice.

I know. Was going to be just another religious thing, but I don't know if it would be inappropriate or not. Yeah. I'll keep it. So Real quick, just for me, Ray Lynn and team well, Ray Lynn, welcome as executive director. But team, one thing that we've talked about, the CRA is endeavored and maybe going back to the thirty years that Steve Brown reflected on was the A1A Bridge at Hollywood Boulevard. I know years passed way before our time, the CRA had mocked up an opportunity to get rid of the circular off ramp and do the T. Maybe we need to more formally reengage FDOT. I mean, I would like the CRA board to support the reengagement with FDOT and maybe MPO with regards to that. Because project or no project with regards to Hollywood Beach Hotel anytime soon hopefully soon.

But regardless, I think we all agree that that circular ramp is not the best solution for that property and just for the beach. So is there support for us to kind of reengage with F.

I'll support that. Yeah. Yep.

I will too. Okay.

You missed the opportunity when they were here.

I didn't wanna, you know, bring up a second subject and just drop it on there. But if if we direct staff to go ahead and and start reengaging and maybe reviving that last design, and I know there's other designs that have been worked on in years past, we can start the ball rolling. This takes a decade to to take to take shape, so let's reengage. Spring tides, king tides are coming up. I hopefully, the forecast I haven't looked.

Utilities team, CRA team is gonna be not too excessive for the spring tides, but just a heads up executive director on our awareness of the spring tide, king tide season and maybe either, at the very least, observation, but at the best, again, to to observe and and react with regards to sequencing and things and projects. I wanna thank Hollywood Police Department for managing spring break on the beach. I know I had contacted the chief at one time or another, and there were over 60 officers there to manage the high school spring break that seems to be the most rowdy of crowds that we see on Hollywood Beach. But it came and gone. I think we had a few days of rain, so that helped manage the size of the crowds as well.

Last, we did talk about as a CRA board over the past couple of years about the permit expediting for downtown. So I didn't want that to be forgotten and going to want to report executive director at some point on what the process is for downtown build out permits and who is the designated person that can help with when we get contacted by property owners, how should we route those? What can we tell them about their point of contact for downtown's success there and building out spaces? And that's it. General Counsel, anything today?

No, I can be passed over as well.

All right. Executive Director.

JULIE I just wanted to quickly say thank you very much for your confidence in me. And we look forward to working collaboratively with the board on the upcoming items that we have before us as a CRA.

Thank you. And with that, this meeting is adjourned. Let's see you all at 01:00.