City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You're not the innovators and thinkers of tomorrow.

This proves that you are the innovators of today.

So if you don't mind, if you want to introduce your administrators who are here and each of the kids and talk about the accomplishments, I think we have a little video to show after that.

Hi, my name is Sean Warren. I'm the engineering and robotics teacher at Southgate High School. I'm joined by my principal, Mr. Jonathan Britton, my assistant principal, And there's a couple more that obviously weren't able to come today, but what we do is we participate in a program called First Robotics. Every year they give a game that's released January 1st. We have no idea what it is. The kids get about eight weeks, give or take, to build, come up with a concept and build it, create it, test it. We're extremely fortunate with an amazing group of kids. We did really well. The first trip we went to Orlando. We placed, well, we got into the semifinals. And then when we got to South Florida, they got into the semifinals again. But they also earned an award called the Industrial Design Award. And what that does is recognizes their build process and the mechanisms that they created and all of their hard work. They documented it, presented it really well. And that qualified us for the World In Homestead, we were extremely grateful for the support, and it got to take these kids. Many of them never flew on a plane before. We got to see Texas. We competed with 600 teams from all over the world in front of 55,000 people. And it was an incredible experience. I get chills just thinking about it. So thank you very much. Would you guys like to tell them, explain how the robot works? So the way some of the things I'll talk about while they're getting prepared is the nature of the game. into a basket that is about six feet up in the air. It's a polycarbonate basket. So this is an automated camera and they track things called April tags that look like QR codes. And what it does is when it sees the QR code, it automatically aligns the robot. And then through the miracle of coding and all this amazing stuff that they have learned, it changes the velocity of the shooter rollers. It changes the angle of the hood and making the trajectory so the ball scores into the basket. For us this year, that was a huge accomplishment for us to get a robot to actually automatically point at something.

It's a big step forward.

It might be us. It could be the robot. It runs on a Wi-Fi signal, so it is wireless attached to a computer system. And they're going to show you a couple of things that it does. It may be a little loud. Don't worry if it makes a noise where it opens up. It has an intake system that deploys. And there's what we call an expandable hopper, because it has to start in a configuration that is that square. And then it can expand into a bigger size to carry more fuel. And our goal was to try to carry like 40 or 50 fuels so that we could score faster. So that's what it will do. Actually, let me hold one of the fuels so I can show. All right. And then it also has these things called swerve drives. So the robot can actually drive like a drone. It can go forward and backward, but it can also slide left and right. It can rotate in place, which makes it a little bit more agile in sort of an athletic type competition. Some of the other things that we do in class, we use SOLIDWORKS to make a CAD design.

So all of this is designed, it's probably the radio.

We could be probably causing that problem. Because the radio has its own Wi-Fi signal, so it's probably causing an issue.

So we'll go ahead and show it how it works, okay? Let's put the intake to the front.

All right, go ahead.

We'll turn it around, because otherwise it'll shoot the wrong way. We're going to go that direction. We'll try. We'll try. We'll give it a shot. All right.

So when we go ahead and deploy our intake, you'll see that it expands.

Okay.

So this system down here has roller guides in it. So you can go ahead and roll it, and it'll pick the ball up and capture it into the box.

It drives over a whole bunch of them at one time. It can load up about, what, 40 balls in about two seconds maybe because he drives really fast.

Now let's go ahead and turn it around. And we'll see if we can aim this where we're not going to shoot it far or I'll block it. Okay, because it shoots a lot of balls at once, so we're going to probably close it down a little bit. Just go one time and see how it shoots. Yeah. Okay, that's good. There we go. So it shoots kind of fast. You can see here, can you make the hood move? Okay, so this is the actual hood that actuates when they don't put them inside the hopper. Go ahead. Yeah, sure. There you go. Okay, that was perfect, actually. He wants to see you shoot, so let's go ahead and put two, we'll drop two balls in there. There you go. Perfect, perfect. So, you know, a lot of testing and tuning went into this to make it work. They got... a really long way. They've done a lot of amazing things and I'm just super proud of them and really honored to have had them represent our community on a world stage.

And so we are extremely grateful for that.

Thank you. I know that you all did well at the competition and I understand well enough to pick up a sponsor for

listen to their process they were they get to speak to the united states navy

From the Buccaneers. your score and the blue alliance is gonna take this one home for 87 to 381. four ranking points for your blue alliance three for the win one alliance or one ranking point per alliance for energizing their hub wall 27 up next

The talent right here in our own community.

So our next item is the presentation of the proclamation for National Public Works Week.

And, you know, about public works, if you think the roads and the water and the power is not great now,

full week or a day or two or a few hours without our public works employees. So a quick confirmation as public works professionals plan, build, maintain, and operate the infrastructure, facilities, and services that are essential to the health, safety, and quality of life of the residents of the city of Homestead. Many public works services operate behind the scenes, yet they are fundamental to protecting National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association rooted in service powered by Thank you. Join me at the podium.

Gosh, I wish I had prepared something to say. So good evening, mayor and council members. As we celebrate National Public Works Week, I want to recognize the incredible team serving our community. Public Works is often thankless, invisible work until something goes wrong. But every single day, our field crews show up with deep dedication, hard work, and a true sense of ownership over our city's infrastructure they keep our water flowing our roads safe and our facilities running smoothly but tonight because we recognize other days other things tonight i want to shine a special light on the team members you don't typically see i want to give thanks and special acknowledgement to our office support and administrative staff They work tirelessly in the background handling the paperwork, customer calls, budgets, and scheduling. Put simply, without them, nothing would get done. To our entire public works team, both in the front lines and in the office, thank you so very much for your exceptional service to our residents. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. and during her childhood, her family relocated to Naranja, Florida, experience, faith, hard work, and dedication to her family and community. Through every season of her life, she demonstrated strength, resilience, and the determination to continue growing and achieving her goals. In addition to her seven children, she is blessed to have 29 grandchildren, 73 great-grandchildren, and seven great-great-grandchildren.

Ms. Verity Wade and her family, if they can bring her forward.

She can take her time. And while she is coming to the podium, we'll read the proclamation. Whereas Older Americans Month was established in 1963 to honor the countless contributions of older adults and to highlight the important role they play in our communities. Since its founding, it has served as a time to recognize the achievements This annual observance reminds us of the value of respecting and celebrating aging as a vital stage of life. And whereas older Americans have helped build and sustain our nation through decades of hard work, leadership, and civic engagement, their life stories offer lessons in perseverance, responsibility, and community connection. And by sharing their knowledge, they help preserve traditions and foster intergenerational understanding. And whereas it is essential to recognize and support and whereas communities thrive when people allows individuals to remain in familiar surroundings. This approach fosters stability, comfort and continued engagement in daily life. Whereas caregivers Quite a blessed individual, if I can say myself. What a beautiful family. When you're quite a celebrity, we'd like to give you an opportunity to say something. Anybody? Would you like to say something?

Thanks. What's the secret?

To beauty and long life.

Amen. Thank you so much.

Congratulations. We were on her house I want to say three years ago with Miss Mallory here for our Mother's Day Mother's Day drop off events. I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Miss Mallory she is a very long standing amazing member of the Southwest Advisory Committee, we have kind of assigned some of these wonderful board members to specialize in something that they're great at and she has done such a good job of helping us take care of our seniors especially in the southwest thank you

All right, we are going to be recognizing Ms. Letessa with Eagle Source Foundation. If you can please come on up. She is leading this charge. And it's because of her and her mission with the Richard P. Hall Foundation, Eagle Source Foundation. And gratefully, she has issued four. She promised two, and she gave us four scholarships for students in the city of Homestead. So we're going to hand it over to you, and we'll get to you.

Very good. Thank you, Councilwoman Avila, for championing the great work that we are doing here in the city of Homestead. And we are just honored to be able to come and celebrate some amazing, young, innovator, aerospace healthcare technology and other industries as well so mark your calendar december 11th and 12th more to come okay so today i really am just honored as she mentioned our commitment was to two one thousand dollar scholarships after we went through the application process we came across 12 amazing applicants our team interviewed them and was like can't we that have received our $1,000 STEM scholarship that we would like to acknowledge this evening. So our first is a student who is a senior at the School and a senior class vice president with over 500 community service hours really which speaks to not just her academic brilliance but also her compassion and her heart for serving and giving back to the community beyonce is an active member of multiple stem honor societies and is soaring as a leader and also an innovator Beyonce is a first-generation college student, which again is amazing, and we're grateful that she can now catapult, not just for her, but her family, her neighborhood, and her community, as an example that, yes, you can. And so today, please welcome to me, welcome, and also let me just also share with you that she will advance her studies at Columbia University, pursuing her bachelor's Reaching high because she has the capacity.

And so without further ado, Beyonce, please join me here at the stadium.

I mean, at the podium.

Is Mr. Morales, is he also here?

No. The CAP advisor? No, he's not.

Thank you, guys. Impressive young lady.

Our second recipient. I'm sorry. Our second recipient is Chase Collins.

Hailing from Homestead, she is going to be heading to the University of South Florida, Tampa campus, to pursue a bachelor of science degree in microbiology. And her goal is to obtain her doctorate degree in epidemiology. And so tonight we certainly would like to ask Chase Collins also to join. Next, I had the opportunity to participate in her high school graduation. And so they call her Sophie, they call her CP, you will be proud of what they're going to continue to accomplish as they pursue their academic career. Another first generation student who will again set a precedence for many others to follow. and pursuing a pre-dental track, because he's going to be a dentist. And so, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our fourth recipient, Tony LaForse.

Hello, everyone. I'm just truly grateful for the community of Homestead and truly to my family that have gotten me here. I've been in Homestead for a while, but I was born in Tallahassee, and this community and the opportunities that I've been here, they've been truly amazing. Thank you, guys.

We'll do a group picture right after the addition of our Art Walk Presents scholarships mentioned by Vice Mayor Bailey.

Thank you, Councilwoman. So every year for Art Walk Homestead, we like to pick some organizations that we see doing great things in the community.

I want to say congratulations to you students.

It's typically youth related, but this year we did something a little different. one of the scholarships because she helped us create an additional piece where she is helping this last art walk and she guided them in the art of curating a gallery so she's not able to be here today but our second recipient is a tall amount of story right here in our backyard they are constantly doing amazing things that are stem related and we wanted to give them something to acknowledge all of their hard work And third and final one is a new thing that we absolutely love this year. It is called Bake It on Wheels. And students come in, or youth come in, adults came in as well. And you learn how to make, bake, and decorate cupcakes. And it was just a really cute thing celebrating the art of food. So if I have any reps from Atala or Bake It on Wheels, please come up and join us.

Well, thank you to everybody for allowing us to be here. Atala Montessori has been serving the community for over 16 years now. And we are a K-8 school. We're a Montessori school. And our mission is to nurture independent, curious, and compassionate learners. We are proud to be the only American

of Florida, and we probably participate

We offer that so that we accept it so that all of our community members can come to our school and not have to worry about tuition. We are more than a school. We're a place where children are encouraged to think, create, lead, and discover who they are. We're grateful to be part of this community and look forward to continuing to serve Homestead families with heart, purpose, and excellence. So thank you again.

so while we prepare for the group picture i just want to celebrate that your city of homestead and mayor and and council we we support we foster education and this is just a small example many of us donate annually of Homestead South Dade and many others that provide scholarships to youth and to businesses in the community. So congratulations to these, recognize here and a bright future for Homestead is in these hands. Thank you.

I got it.

The button says on, so it's pretty easy.

Well, good evening, everyone. I'm actually surprised to see so many people here. Usually by this time at night, there's nobody here. So thank you all for sticking around for all these large presentations we've had tonight.

I would like to invite my Mayor's Youth Council to join me up here, please.

We're going to show you a short little video of some of the things they were able to participate in throughout the year.

And I don't think they know, but I wore a red tie tonight in honor of their red shirts.

Go ahead and play that video, please.

So if we get the big jobs and we make the big money. As we go on, we remember all the times we had together. And as our lives change, come whatever, we will still be friends forever.

So as you can see, they had a very full, I call it nine months, because we don't do anything during the summertime. And we're losing four great kids today. And as you guys saw, Homestead's full of great kids, great talent. And they're just an amazing group.

So I'd like to invite outgoing mayor, Brooke Marsili, to come up front. And they're going to be excused right after this because they've got to go up and vote because tonight's the night they vote.

The new people in. And who's going to be the mayor, vice mayor, clerk, and treasurer for the church? Social media person. So let me give it to you. She says she's shy.

When I texted her this afternoon, I said, you got a speech prepared, right? She goes, well, Jasmine said I didn't have to say anything.

And I didn't expect that to come out of you. So that's what leadership is all about. Congratulations for working your way up to become mayor. The guys that are leaving, congratulations, Ray, Layla, One of our city employees. You have a very great daughter here. Thank you. And that's all I got. So let's take a picture. You guys want to come down and join them?

You want to stand up behind them and show them this there? Come this way.

Hold on. I'm going to bring one person down. Come on, Lisa. Come on down. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. She chaperones every year. I can't do it all by myself. Can you imagine me with 12 kids in a foreign land by myself? It just doesn't work out that way.

Thank you, guys. Good luck to all of you.

You know how to get in touch with me if you need anything in the future.

be done earlier this month on one of those cross-wired miscommunications. Many of you are aware of the witness when we celebrated at the beginning of May the Autism Acceptance Month, and we proudly flew that flag for autism acceptance out on our plaza, and we wanted to recognize another individual

Thank you. Through the implementation of the innovative Rivera methodology, Oscar Mews has created a unique environment that focuses on the factual, visual, and auditory development of young athletes, ensuring that every child can not only participate, but thrive.

And his commitment to the community goes beyond the field, aiming to impact one million lives

So, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor of the City Homestead and joined by the City Council, do hereby proclaim, this was slated for May 8th, May 2026, as Autism Soccer Foundation.

Thank you.

That concludes the presentation agenda for this evening.

And what an incredible showcase of all of the depth of talent and commitment and effort that permeates our community.

So this will conclude the presentation agenda.

We're going to take a few minutes while they reboot the audio for the broadcast on some of the internet platforms.

programming note i know there are a lot of folks here who have signed up or who wish to speak under public comment at our council meeting we have a community redevelopment agency meeting and a really quick local planning agency meeting next and then we will get into the council meeting where we will have public comment and discuss some of those items that you have signed up to address so get comfortable go wait in the lobby go to the bar across the street So we'll take a maybe five-minute break to let our IT guys get things rebooted so folks can sit at home or wherever and join these proceedings. Thank you all. Good night.

Thank you. Touch, touch, touch. Touch, one, two.

Touching, touching. Touch, touch, touch. One, two, one, two. Touching, touching. One, two, three. One, two, three, four. Five, six, seven.

Testing, one, two, three, one, two, three, test, test, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, oh no, one, two, testing, one, two, three, four, five, six.

Welcome.

Enter your participant.

The meeting as a panelist attendees can now hear you speak.

Testing one, two.

Councilwoman? Well, good evening everyone and welcome. I'd like to call the City of Homestead Community Redevelopment Agency meeting to order. For the record, today is May 20th, 2026, and it is now 626 PM. Madam Clerk, could you please call the roll?

Board Member Roth? Here. Board Member Fletcher? Here. Board Member Cannaval? Here. Board Member Karnski? Here. Board Member Avila? Here. Vice Chairwoman Bailey? Here. Chairman Lawson?

Here. Mr. Beck, are there any deletions and or deferrals from this agenda?

No, Chair, there are not. Thank you. All right, move into tab one, which is card number 5013. And this is a response received for a 163 notice regarding the Chrome Marketplace. Mr. Peck?

So chair and board members, following our January presentation on an unsolicited proposal for the potential acquisition of 204, 220, and 230 North Chrome Avenue, as well as the adjacent parking lots by the bear atlantic group rehabilitation as a entertainment and restaurant destination the board had directed us to issue the 163 notice for that we have issued that the proposal period or window period had spanned appropriate time and the one submittal that we did receive was from the bear atlantic group so following your direction to issue the request and the subsequent proposal what i would like to do is invite a couple of the representatives from the bear atlantic group to give you an overview on the general proposal they have. I know you've all received the memos from me. You had briefings and the opportunity to discuss with them, so I'd like to share, or have them rather, share any other items with you and use this as an opportunity for your discussion.

Can you all hear him okay? Move the mic closer.

Hello, hello.

There we go.

Okay. So good afternoon, Mr. Mayor and council members. I'm gonna really glide over the presentation. I know that you all have an opportunity to see it and discuss it before. And then I'll remain on the side to answer any questions that you may have. But the site is not far from this location, and it's an interesting site because it's a historical location, you know, in North Chrome Avenue. And there are three properties, adjoining properties, that at the moment are underused or not in use, and they're being adjoined and renovated to create the marketplace. We think it's very exciting. what's happening in downtown. And we want to infuse really the essence of Homestead in this project. That means a history of agriculture, a history of farm to table, restaurants and spaces that really talk about the history and also provide opportunities for the future, such as cooking and chefs. space. So a couple of images here, inspirations, you'll recognize the fruits of the flowers and the colors and the textures, and then we get inspired with that and we bring this joyful and thoughtful materials to infuse the design and the project. And it's also a marketplace. day activity with breakfast we have a bakery but we also have a market conditions and we have restaurants and actually one important point is really bringing the outside in and the inside out so as you can see in this image we are kind of a really really opening that facade so so that the light from inside is and the activity and the life is gets used, people start to enjoy it, and they want to stay here for lunch, for after hours, happy hour, whatever that might be. And we are lucky because it's a corner, and so of course this will help activate, like I say, this corner condition, and hopefully will be a catalyst for other development that will happen in the near future. some inspiration images that we've rendered here on the inside. The location can accommodate up to seven food concepts with a central dining area. The central dining area and the landscape and the vegetation that we're bringing in can be movable. So we envision this for events, gathering, even weddings that can happen inside and celebrations as well. more inspiration images. On the left, the bar and seating areas. And this is perhaps, some of you will recognize this, the floor plan. As I said, in the perimeter you see up to seven one has a back of house, food prep area and front counter to attend the public. The central has a circulation and the seating that can be accommodated and on the right you have a bar. This is actually, when I say that we think about this space active in the morning, active at lunch, active in the evening, these are the different areas that get activated throughout the day. And in fact, the bar is tied to allow We will dematerialize that boundary so people can come in and out and maybe even sit outside during the good time of the year when we can do so. Inspiration here, a little drawing, an architectural drawing of how that starts to look like. And I think there's some points that we want to make about the investment and the revitalization and the improvement of the property. Of course, everything will be code compliant. We have to upgrade the utilities, the HVAC. Everything has to be new in order to comply with the current codes and with the program that we are intending to use. And so it's a major investment for this site. And these improvements, for the downtown assets here in Homestead. And it's built for stability. Cave-In has a group of partners that are bringing here and also commitments for the different food establishments that want to be here. So I think it's a model that can be sustainable and used on the long run. And having said that, I want to thank you and pass it back to you.

Thank you. Let me make a few points real quickly, and I think it's important to say, and it's going to be part of the conversation anyways. My firm is not a traditional restaurateur. This investment for us is really as a need basis. You guys already know I'm building another $140 development that's 15 blocks north. Residents of Homestead should know this now. project really is to serve not just the homestead need but my own need a few blocks away because we have residents coming online and a 40-minute trek north to the closest urban core is untenable at this stage. So what we're looking to do is really invest in the urban core to which I really see Chrome Avenue being very similar to what Green Street is in Coconut Grove. You can revitalize um downtown naranja which is you know 30 blocks north of homestead city limits they can never have your walkability in this chrome avenue corridor while they're building the high rises you know 15 stories 12 stories um all those lanes are essentially you know four lanes going north It's the equivalent of what we see in the Aventura of walkability. So this urban core requires an investment from the city, a development, and because of the cost of infrastructure, because of the cost of long-term individual retail restaurants, it's unsustainable. individual restaurants to step in. And instead of a restaurant having to work about grease traps, permitting, we're essentially enabling seven to eight businesses to walk in at a turnkey service. And restaurants will essentially come in with cash registers, with built-in refrigerators, grease traps, and ovens. So the process for onboarding potential taxpaying tenants is much easier for the city. And we'll open up the days for the questions.

Council, who would like to start? Board? I'd like to kick off the conversation. Mr. Beck, anything to add while my colleagues are gathering their thoughts?

You know, I think that you all have certainly seen quite a lot in what we have drafted in our summary review and the overall proposal. So I would leave it to your questions at this time, unless there's anything in particular that you would like for me in the interim. Oh, okay.

So for me to start with, unless anyone else would like to jump in. Go ahead, Councilman Roth.

So I know you sent an email in reference to some of the costs associated with building out the project because the $11 million seems awfully high for that location, and I didn't get to review what you sent. Can you give us an overall view of what this will build out and why it's going to be $11 million? Yes.

So I will be glad to share with you the general overview in terms of what I sent based on the assessment that the CRA had had completed. That did not factor in a complete, fully finished build out. As I've talked with the folks from Bear Atlantic on their cost estimate, which is more than what we had on the estimate that we had prepared. You'll note that they had made substantial modifications to the building and the walls between the buildings, the skylights, other major factors. What we had provided for you all in that second attachment yesterday was based on the cost generally related to working within the existing buildings and their configuration. electrical, the plumbing, the grease traps, the AV, any demolition, drywall, and basically creating the warm shell. That was what we had prepared, and that was what came in at that approximate 3.6 million number. Again, I'll leave it to Kaven or the folks from Bear Atlantic to opine on some of those greater costs, but that is what we had provided yesterday.

Yeah, so that's really the variance here. from the city perspective was initial shell so you can lease out to a third-party company to come and build out our our perspective is the cost of building out a restaurant or sustainable business with the cost of interest um our approach is we're gonna you know a concluded appliances furniture and essentially everything turnkey for the individual uh to come in so the cost assumptions is restaurants within the space so the cost is to be more um compared to what the city's assumption on 3.6 million is because it's a 40 turnkey retail so i don't know if we've gotten that far to get to the financial structure of who's paying for what are we at that point yet

Well, I would say that if, following the discussion tonight, the board would like to continue to proceed, we would get to that at the next level. I think what we would do then is start to articulate specifically who would be paying for what. Now, I would add in the parameters that anything the CRA would fund in any development partnership would be restricted to permanent elements with the building, and our dollars are always going to be the , things like that. if the board does want to proceed after this then i think we would look at bear atlantic in terms of articulating what that cost estimate is where is is there perhaps opportunity for adjustments and then outline more specifically what any cra funds would go towards okay that's all for now thank you thank you uh borrower ross and director beck so just you know

so that I'm sure that I have a clear understanding of what the proposed transaction would be. Got a lot of folks in the public here thinking, wow, these are all nice, pretty pictures. This would be a really nice thing to have. But is the essence of the proposal that the city would, either under some sort of lease, license agreement, operating agreement, hand you the keys to the existing property plus $2.5 million, and you or someone you contract with would operate this marketplace. And at no time in the future would there be any rent paid to the city for its investment. Is that accurate? No. So at what point would rent be paid?

was to purchase all three buildings and i'm investing 10 million dollars regardless of the case there's an opportunity for the city to also invest in parallel to that that's one half million because i see hospitality space like everyone else in the rest of the market hospitality has a you know 90 percent fell rate i'm asking the city to participate in additional and the rental investment into the city. And regardless of the case, for sustainability, we have eight businesses that can't afford to build up restaurants on their own. We're making that investment. We're asking the city in parallel to join us in that investment. So that is my perspective on this. And to also counter that same point, And this is kind of the process of why, in my perspective, of why Chrome Avenue has not developed over the long term. Chrome Avenue, the cost of revitalization, the cost of liquor licenses, the cost of FFME and employment, small mom and pop businesses can't support the absorption rate and sustainability of that cost, unless you spread the cost across. The reason why we, we also looked at this building and saying, okay, what if we just did one restaurant and one bar? The true cost of building that one, one single tenant can absorb the $45 square foot. You can go across the street and you look at why the rest of the corridor has not developed. It's the same problem. So our perspective is we want to revitalize the corridor and the way to spread the risk is to create a mechanism of eight tenants that can reduce their cost per square foot under $25. because if not you're asking one tenant to come in by building a leasing building and then also invest for 10 to 12 staff back of the house and then in parallel um uh absorb a cost of a restaurant that has a 90 felt rate Mathematically, if I'm in one restaurant, and that's what the larger development groups won't tell you, if you're in one restaurant, that's $65 a foot. Comparatively, if I'm spending $65 a foot for social costs and cost of interest today, I'm going to go to downtown, I'm going to Brickle, and have free foot traffic. Me, I have to invest because I have residentials in this community. So this is, to me, the win-win for the city. And then same time, you're essentially in a full desert that has, there's one liquor license, comparatively, on Crum Avenue, there's one liquor license active in that entire corridor. You have a population of 200,000 people and no other incentive business. So we're looking at it, not just a linear fracture, but we're looking at it on how we compound. And as residents come online, Naranja has another 2,000 units coming online, 30 blocks from other view. Within the city, you have another 1,000 coming online, and there's zero restaurants and zero food and beverage. At some point, the city has to make an investment for the quality of life of the people outside of the doors, larger businesses. At the same time, I have a consulting business. If I wanted to move my entire firm over here with 20 employees and say, I'm going to invest $10 million for office spaces, the first question I have as a business owner is okay where my kids want to go to school and then after work where am I going to go eat if I have to walk out of my house and then drive 45 minutes north why am I going with my business here so I'm looking at this as a as a nexus or engine to enable the city to work towards it and so I think we we align in terms of city and private partnership

So, and I hope I haven't missed this. I know you and I have met privately at least twice, been through this package several times, I don't know, a couple weeks ago. I think the CRA director and I talked generally about this. I don't recall hearing or seeing that this was going to be cast as a purchase. I think that concept and that number, would stand out to me because in addition to the... Let me clarify.

So this meeting is to allow me to go into negotiations. I haven't even been afforded an opportunity to enter into appraisals. I haven't done my independent personal. The next step is to negotiate.

But nowhere in the package does it talk about a purchase. Irrespective of that, From the beginning, I have believed that your construction costs are highly inflated. And one thing that caught my attention was the legal consulting and advisory of $1.3 million, which was in addition to a category you called Professional fees. So I appreciate that. Is that some kind of slush fund? Is it a developer fee as as you might receive on your your other project that you have pending on? The outskirts of I appreciate the concern.

But again, that is my cost of what I have to pay my contractor. It's not a city that's going to pay my lawyers. So that's the cost I'm burning.

It's relevant to me because you're asking me to assist you with two and a half million dollars. And I'm having a hard time coming to grips with that line item being a legit And for me, this concept of purchase is something new to my ears. Maybe I hit a milestone birthday and I've lost my memory, but I've always conceptualized this in terms of a lease situation. So that's something new, but irrespective of that, My personal fear is, irrespective of whether we assist you with nothing, something, or what you're asking for here, that we would have to drill down and get deeper into your numbers to justify that. And certainly the numbers that were circulated to us for the amounts that we already have in this project, including the parking lot, are far more than, and I'll admit that I was mentally keeping track of. So I'm having a hard time supporting going forward when I don't trust the numbers that are in front of me, because it's all about numbers. So I'll be glad to listen.

We haven't been afforded opportunity to present the numbers yet. We haven't been afforded opportunity to present the numbers to the city yet. The only thing we've done is our initial estimates. I got third party quotes. This meeting here is to present the opportunity to the city.

I appreciate that. Now, and for some of you here in the audience, I know you hear about another project that this Bear Atlantic has going on. Just so you know, that is the proposed high-rise, high-density, subsidized apartments that are proposed to be put on that five-acre church property that's right behind Winn-Dixie, adjacent to a single-family neighborhood. I want you all, if you're questioning and wanting to know what's going on, that's really the kind of developer we're being asked to get into bed with here.

Board members?

Yeah, I was going to suggest that we not move forward, I don't think there's enough information there yet for us to make a solid decision, or do we move forward, let them negotiate, and see where it ends up? Instead of debating everything right now, which is gonna take up a lot of time for us to do, I think maybe we move it forward, let staff do their job, bring us back the relevant information, and then we can decide do we wanna do that deal or not. But I think if we debate it tonight, it's just gonna take way too much time.

No, no, no, I agree and I, you know, for me any debate tonight was do we just kill these discussions or do we let them go forward? Now, to your, to your point, Board Member Roth, if we were to direct them to more fully develop the numbers and go negotiate and bring something back to us, we're going to have to have a deadline. This can't go on forever, whether it be 60, 75, or 95 days. I think we need to set a, a date certain for bringing something back, whether it be the August CRA meeting. That's a little more than 90 days from today.

Yeah, but I don't think it needs to take that long, to be honest with you. I think they can get to points within 30 days. Jared, what do you think? At least the important points, right? Because if we can't get past those, there's no reason to go forward.

No, I can support that.

So we could do it whenever a CRA is in late June, early July.

As soon as they're ready. Okay. Within that time frame.

Yeah, Board Member Roskoski.

Oh, okay.

I'm sorry.

Okay. So, I believe that Vice Chair Bailey is moving that we direct that more detailed negotiations and more numbers be developed and come back to us for consideration not later than a July CRA meeting.

yes and go ahead board member thank you chair i will second the motion to negotiate uh with regards to the project which is outside the city limits but close to us and affecting many of the the friends and residents of homestead i don't support that monster project in our backyard but i do respect and really look forward to seeing this concept come to our downtown homestead. I think that if you look at the numbers provided by our CRA director, not including the acquisition costs for the building and the acquisition costs for the, or perhaps maybe that was, how much did we pay for the parking lot, Jared?

I was included in the 4.2.

OK, perfect. So not including the acquisition.

But we spent a lot of money to develop the parking lot. Right.

We've got $1 million in principal and interest to the bank for the loan. We've got $1.3 million that we've already invested in renovations. We've got $2,400 a year for electrical, $22,000 for insurance a year to carry the property. So if we continue to maintain this property on our list of dead weight it's going to continue to be a burden to the taxpayers of the city and it's going to be just one more empty building and to have the possibility of eight new businesses coming to our downtown and being supported in this capacity and this type of farm to table This is I am all about this type of Food and beverage experience for our homestead and downtown area, but it has to be done Responsibly in the sense of how we're how we're negotiating our numbers that's going to be big But we also have to be considerate of how much we've already invested the cost and the cost of carrying this It's not like we haven't already gone out to market multiple times trying to get a vendor to come in and take this project off our hands. And I had always understood that it would be a purchase scenario, but that there was interest for us to hear about a lease option. And I guess that'll come out of negotiations. So I look forward to that. Thank you.

Thank you, Board Member.

Anyone else? You know, and look, you know, I appreciate these, this would be a beautiful project and hopefully successful, but it's got to make business sense for the city of Homestead and our redevelopment agency.

Board Member Roth. I would also consider the selling of that property. Absolutely. There's no reason for us to hold on to it so long as we can recapture what we've spent on the building. I doubt that. There's ways to make those things happen. We can hold some of the financing as well. Let them figure that part out. going down the road.

The elimination of the debt on that building is a big deal. So I think we have a motion and a second.

direct further negotiation to bring something back to us not later than the july community redevelopment agency meeting correct and what i do want to also then in terms of setting expectations and clarifying what we're bringing back in our presentation or the presentation that was made in january the discussion at the time was both to consider a potential longer-term lease as well as a potential for sale so part of the aim then when we come back is to have a a agreement on what that will look like. As everyone has mentioned, we've invested heavily in the building. We need to be mindful then of where that is. We do want to continue to, if there's an opportunity, to explore what that lease option might look like in a later buyback, as we've talked about some of the debt service we have on the And then we'd like to look at more articulation in terms of where those dollars, the projected dollars based on the summary I sent you and the proposal, where that aligns to and how all of these can come together. So with that as the understanding, we support the motion and bring this back in July.

And certainly, you know, in a sale situation, it's going to have to have plenty of safeguards in place that we don't get, you know,

I'm not accusing you. We've had some baits and switches lately on, on projects.

I feel that we're not going to wake up one day and say and hear thank you for the building. We're going to demolish this and do eight stories of high density live local subsidized apartment units. That's not what this is intended to be or, or will be. So Expect that we're going to need a lot of safeguards and milestones in place on a sale transaction, which I would prefer.

And we've said that previously, Chair.

Okay, so let's have a roll call then, Madam Clerk.

Board Member Ross? Yes. Board Member Konski? Yes. Board Member Cannavale? Yes. Board Member Avila? Yes. Board Member Fletcher? Yes. Vice Chairwoman Bailey? Yes. Chairman Lassner?

Yes.

The motion carries.

Okay, so next item is we have before us the minutes of the meeting of Tuesday, March 3rd, moved by Ross, seconded by Board Member Fletcher. All in favor? Any opposed? And then the next item is tab

three three two back so board members this is also a submittal or response rather to a 163 notice that was issued at the director of the board based on a march presentation for the potential acquisition of two vacant lots the cra owns fronting southwest fourth street between fifth and sixth You've all been briefed by me. I believe met with the proposer. And so in the spirit of time efficiency, I'd like to ask them to make a brief presentation and then enter into discussion with the board.

Thank you. Hey, good evening. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, and council members. My name is Robert Rubin. I am here on behalf of Homestead Narrative 1, LLC. And I'm with Jerry Proctor, our legal counsel. And we're here to talk about the park at West Homestead. So, about a year and a half ago, we, the CRA and city owned some property that were contiguous to our land. And we approached them about purchasing that land and building more density. The came to us and said, why don't you consider doing something for the community and your neighborhood? And we thought about it and came up with we've had many iterate iterations. But here, here we are today with what we've come to the council with. And essentially it is to buy the CRA land and convert it or into a park at our cost and our to maintain the cost and the amount we're paying for it will be including the improvements will exceed or at least equal or exceed the appraised value of the land. and it actually will allow the CRA property to be put to good use. Let me give you some perspective. The land is the one in the center there that's vacant. On the top portion, that's 4th Street that runs east-west, and the north-south streets are 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue, to give you perspective. And of course, as I said, the proposed use is a public community park. It's not gated. It's not going to be gated. It'll be open. And the price that we're proposing, including improvements will equal the appraised value or exceeded. It allows us to create a unified development. These are some points. There really are no other parks in the vicinity there. So we think that's a big added and I'll explain why in a minute it activates under utilize land. And we believe that it aligns with the CRA redevelopment mission. And we bear all the costs of the land. And as I said a couple of times, we're paying the fair value. So we've designed, this is a sketch of the property. We're using native trees, of course. We have a children's play zone. A little free library is one of the benefits. Ergonomic seating so that it's not used as a place to sleep. And ADA pathways, et cetera. So, you know, parks are good for a community. It actually enhances the value of the surrounding properties. It's good for, say, place for kids to play as well. And it also can be used or will be used as a place for runoff for water if we should have a hurricane or something that causes, could impact the neighborhood as well. And parks can contribute to civic pride and there's a lot of benefits to to parts, including increasing the value of the neighborhood. So we believe well, I just want to add this. This is not part of today's mission or discussion, but wanted to give you an idea of the project that we have been working on that. We did not enhance the units. It's 30 units, two stories, 1,450 square feet, two floors. And we're hoping to have that completed in about a year and a half. And the Homeowners Association will take responsibility for the maintenance of the park. um this is just a site plan uh give you an idea and and this is the um sketch but um just a couple points here um i think a park like this can cause um especially in west um uh west part of homestead can cause um it can be a catalyst or snowball effect for other developers and for community to purchase or rent in that neighborhood. So we think it has a lot of public benefits, attracting other private investment as well. And this is workforce housing, we believe. So we think we'll draw a really good quality community around this park and our community as well. So that's essentially what we have proposed. And I think Mr Proctor has a few comments.

Thank you, Robert. Mr. Mayor, Council, Mr. City Manager, Madam Clerk, Sherry Proctor, Attorney, pleased to be here with Mr. Rubin. This is a proposal for purchase of two very small lots owned by the CRA right on 4th Street for a total of $30,000. The appraised value of the property is much higher. However, the one of the conditions of the approval through your CRA staff is that we put an equal or greater amount of improvements into the park than the appraised value. And I would say to you that the appraised value is based on the highest and best use, which is commercial. And we're not only not developing commercial on the land. We're not even developing residential. We're developing a park. Our development next door will be residential. Very modest. It's 30 units on about 1.6 acres. It is really smaller in scope than a development that was approved on the same property back about six or so years ago. So the appraised value is based on something we're not doing and we're committed to putting in the ground, in the park, in terms of landscaping, playgrounds, vegetable gardens, and really whatever we work out with the CRA staff. It's not really set in stone, but whatever we work out with them, has to equal or exceed the appraised value so that's that's the benefit in addition to the the benefits of that mr rubin mentioned um just a couple of other details there's a 14-foot alley running north and south a public alley that was part of the plat for this area many many years ago we've asked for the city's help to take the lead to close that alley so that we can use it as a park it doesn't make sense to use it as a street and we've asked for the city's help as part of our agreement to do that and we'll obviously provide whatever help the city needs to accomplish that The development that Mr Rubin showed you is going to be filed very shortly with the staff for administrative approval. And we're hoping to get that approval in the next few months. And proceed quickly to development with that. I. I appreciate your time and Mr. Rubin appreciates it and we're certainly here to answer questions if you have. Thank you.

Thank you. Before we do that, let's have Mr. White read this by title into the record, the resolution.

This is a resolution of the Board of Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Homestead, Florida, accepting the proposal submitted by Equipath for the acquisition and redevelopment of certain CRA-owned property located on Southwest 4th Street, folio number 1078130370450 and 1078130370440. as a publicly accessible neighborhood park authorizing the executive director to negotiate and execute a purchase and development agreement subject to conditions providing for implementation, providing for conflicts, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. And real quick, just for the benefit of the public, there are covenants built into this resolution that it will be dedicated in perpetuity as a public park. The developer will always maintain it. Those will be enforceable covenants against the successors in ownership, if any, by the city. So we're not just selling at a very advantageous price this piece of property. There is a lot of strings attached. Oh, yes.

Thank you, Chair. I will be supporting this item tonight under very strict conditions. We have spoken already, and as I mentioned in my briefing, I would like to make sure there's a reverter clause so that in the event that this is not brought forward and does not come to fruition, that the property does return back to the CRA. Secondly, it's really important to me that the agreement specifies, that there's specificity in there with regards to how the HOA is going to curate programming. It's really important that this is not just land that's improved and it's open air and dead space for whoever wants to use it, but more so an activation for As you mentioned, the vegetable gardens, co-ops, learning activities, having that community engagement. I saw that American flag there. Beautiful. I really appreciate that gesture. That's an opportunity for local Boys and Girls Scouts to form and be more engaged and to bring it to half staff or to do retirements to those flags. So the HOA would have to be very involved and willing to make themselves available, to have tables accessible to them. We may not want to put picnic benches and tables permanently there for different reasons. But if you wanted to put that in the plan, I'd like to see how that looks or just at a minimum, make sure there's a plan in place to have access to tables to be able to activate the spaces and that that's already understood. So that 1520 years from now, this generation of council isn't here, there's not this ambiguity as as to how involved the HOA is meant to be engaged with the community. So it is a very cheap price to sell land for in that area. A commercial development could be very profitable for a company. I'm willing to support this item to you if there's that commitment to make it a community pearl. Thank you.

Yes. Vice Chair Bailey.

Thank you, Chair. All my questions have been answered. It was magical. It was like one, two, three, one, two, three. The answers came. The maintenance is key. Those libraries, if they're not kept up, then it's just a complete waste of beautiful books and space. The garden, I think, is going to be an amazing addition. I would encourage also to consider planting some mango avocado trees. I know there's a little more upkeep with them, but again, in an area that we just heard about these food insecurities, it is a big help for some. So please consider. If we can add that into the mix. As far as the gardening is concerned, that's going to come along with the programming. It doesn't need to be elaborate, but it needs to be well thought out. Seasonal, the flag with the With the Scouts, I think that's an amazing piece. So as soon as you have somebody that is interested in helping with that programming, I know at least a couple of us up here would love to help put some of those things together. And you do something simple. It's something that is repeated yearly that we know that maybe around 4th of July, the Scouts, or the month of July, the Scouts are invited to come and do something at the park. Just thinking those things out. It really helps it. Helps the community know what to expect there and helps you be able to to continue doing something that's consistent.

Yeah, my comment is that these are all great suggestions and it's a public private partnership and on my eyes and so any input we get, it's a it's a collaborative effort. So.

Thank you.

Mr. Perl, do you need any formal amendments for the resolution?

I was going to ask for at least one. I heard Councilwoman Avila suggest that she would like a reverter in case the park doesn't come to fruition, which is not expressly in the resolution, so I'd like an amendment for the reverter. With respect to programming, it's something that we can try to work into the development agreement for. Okay.

Very good. So, do we have a motion on the table yet?

Go ahead, I'll second. Is it the board's will to include some avocado and mango trees as well? Yes, fruit-bearing trees.

I'd like to include that. Mr. Perl just said that would be in the development agreement. OK. That would be.

Also, they're going to be coming back. You're going to have the opportunity pursuant to what's in the resolution now to look at their site plan and approve it. So you'll see that at some point before they proceed. So this is not your last bite at that apple. A specific covenant. You will look at that.

We'll see again.

But in terms of the conditions on the transfer itself, if I can have a motion to amend the resolution to include the reverter and then we'll take the rest from there. Okay.

Yes, to include the reverter and my motion, so this is not coming back to us at all to review the development agreement, correct?

Yes.

You're authorizing the manager to enter into the development agreement.

If you'd like to bring it back, we can bring that back along with the... Could it be circulated in briefings and if there's an objection for them to have the authorization to execute, then we bring it back to council?

I think we can do that. So for the resolution purposes, we just need to include the perverter. So that's your motion? Well, let the district representative make that motion. So moved and seconded. All right, is there any further board input? Is there any public comment on this item? So I'll close the public comment and ask for a roll call vote on this item.

Board Member Roth? Yes. Board Member Fletcher? Yes. Board Member Canabale? Yes. Board Member Koski? Yes. Board Member Avila? Yes. Vice Chairwoman Bailey? Yes. Chairman Lawsman?

Yes.

The motion carries.

OK, I believe that concludes the CRA agenda. So do we have anything else? Thank you. We have a motion to adjourn the CRA meeting. It's been seconded. All in favor? Aye. A couple of minutes to recalibrate and move into the lpa meeting and then believe it or not sometime tonight we will get to the regular council meeting and public comments and the pledge of allegiance and the invocation and all of those things Order for the City of Homestead, still May 20th, 2026, and it is now 7.15 PM. Madam Clerk, can we have a roll call, please?

Board Member Ross? Here. Board Member Konski? Here. Board Member Fletcher? Here. Board Member Cannavale? Board Member Avila?

Yes, here.

Chairwoman Bailey? Chairwoman Bailey? Here. Chairman LaHosna? Here. Ex-officio Lawrence Ventura?

Not here.

Okay.

All right. Director Storch, do we have any additions, deletions, or deferrals from this agenda? No.

No.

No, no.

No, okay.

No additions, deletions, or deferrals. So first we have the minutes of February 18th before us, moved and seconded, all in favor? And also the April 22nd minutes, moved and seconded, all in favor? All right, Mr. White.

All right, please be advised the following items on the agenda are Quasi-judicial in nature. If you wish to comment on any of these items, please indicate the item number you would like to address when the announcement regarding the Quasi-judicial item is made. An opportunity for persons to speak on each item will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item. Swearing in, all testimony, including public testimony and evidence, will be made under oath or affirmation. Additionally, each person who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination. If you do not wish to either be cross-examined or sworn, your testimony will be given in stewie. The general public will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, but the public may request the local planning agency to ask questions of staff or witnesses on their behalf. Full agenda packet on each item is hereby entered into the record. Persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for the organization, and further details of the quasi-adjustment procedures may be obtained from the clerk. In accordance with Code Section 2-590, any lobbyists must register before addressing the local planning agency. on any of the following items. At this time, I'd ask the LPA members to disclose any ex parte communications concerning the items on the seating's agenda.

None here.

Okay. So, then at this time, I'd ask anyone in the audience who's wishing to speak, On tab to this evening to please stand, raise your right hand to be sworn by the clerk at this time.

You hereby swear a firm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. So help me God. Thank you.

You may be seated.

Mayor council members. Yes. Tab 2, Tab 3, and Tab 4 are all related items dealing with the same property, same project. Tab 2 is quasi. Tab 3 and 4 are legislative matters. I can read each one to the record, introduce each one. You can have a collective conversation. However, before voting on Tab 2, you'll need to vote on the legislative matters first. before the actual rezoning.

Okay, so let's go in that manner.

All right, so tab two, card number 5022. It's an ordinance of the City of Homestead, Florida approving the rezoning requested by Blue Nut Towers Common of an approximately 10-acre parcel of land from retail commercial B2 zoning district to multiple apartment R3 zoning district for property generally located southwest 8th Street, Lucy Street, and east of Southwest 192nd Avenue, Tower Road, as legally described in Exhibit A and providing for an effective date. Card number 50-21, which is tab 3, is an ordinance of the City of Homestead, Florida, amending the comprehensive plan future land use map designation as requested Blue net tower comments and approximately twenty point three three acre parcel of land from technology mixed use to medium density residential use for property generally located south of Southwest history, east of Southwest one ninety second Avenue. As we will describe an exhibit a providing for severability inclusion, the city's comprehensive plan and providing for an effective date. And finally, tab four, card number 5038. It's an ordinance of the City of Homestead, Florida, amending the City of Homestead Comprehensive Plan by amending the text of the medium density residential use future land use category contained in objective two, policy 2.1, to permit density up to 15 dwelling units per acre for properties containing an invested rights determination, providing for conflict, severability, inclusion in the city's comprehensive plan, and providing for an effective date. These are all first reading.

Okay.

So.

Mayor? Yes. Do we need to discuss these now or can we push them on to the council meeting?

We could do that. We could just vote to push them on and have a more full comprehensive discussion at the regular council meeting.

I think I'd rather do that and we can get some of these other people to.

Right. But we still have to do it in the order. Got it. So that would be tab. So. Yeah.

With regards to the text amendments to the future land use text amendments, it's required to be heard by the LPA. And you all should take some public comment.

OK.

Sorry to tell you that.

All right. So we're going to open. So we I think we've all been briefed. We understand what what this is about with respect to tab four. So let's open the public hearing for any public comment or You know, if the applicant wishes to come forward, I understand we'll have a more comprehensive discussion at the council meeting. Let me open the public comment on this item on tab four. If you wish to speak, come on down. Give us your name and address for the record. Try to position the microphone where we can hear you.

Hi, can you hear me?

We certainly can.

My name is Susan Sanchez. My address is 30961 Southwest 195 Avenue Homestead 33030. I really wish before you do all of this building, 15 units is a lot per acre for that area and our infrastructure. It's horrible. Horrible, tiny, tiny two-lane farming roads, basically, is what we have in Homestead. And recently, even at all these little four-way stops on 197th Avenue, backed up. It's incredible how it has changed. And the potholes don't even get me started on that. We just don't have the water, the power infrastructure, or the roads to support this. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Let me just say, you know, it's great to have an audience that's paying attention. Understand that as the property is currently zoned, And this conversion would be up to 15 units per acre. And it's from what I understand that this property owner has come in with site plan approval for townhouses, not apartments, even though the category is our three apartments. The site plan that has been submitted that we've not seen yet is with respect to townhouses. You may have heard of the state statutes that were enacted a few years ago generally called live local. These properties currently enjoy a business zoning. Under the State Live Local Act, a property owner has the right to come in and in this case, if they can do it without any variances, build high rise apartments of up to 31 units per acre with no public hearing and no public input. So as perverted as it sounds, this is minimizing the top end of what could under state law that ties our hands here from saying no, what could be. I just, I want everybody to understand that nuance there, that Tallahassee, and this is not just unique to Homestead, the actions of the state legislature three years ago, really preempted as we call it legally tied the hands of municipalities from denying certain uses that if they could figure out a way to put 31 apartments per acre on this 20 acres they have the right under state law to do that so if it's any consolation if this is approved We're reducing from the exposure of 31 down to 15 in terms of townhouses. I don't think any one of us up here disagree with you about the road infrastructure. Some of that is out of our control. Those are our county roads. We've solved the wastewater problem. The first step of this project was taken almost three years ago now, and because of sewer issues, has not been able to go forward. We, the city has the water capacity and it also now has the sewer capacity. Road issues are somewhat of a county issue. They pay impact fees and we have a good dialogue going right now with our District 8 Commissioner about recouping some 60 million dollars that were paid by developments in Homestead to Miami-Dade County for road work. So I just, I, I just wanted everybody to understand that, you know, that's a more backdrop here than we're potentially popping down 15 units per acre in what used to be farm fields. So is there anyone else from the public wishing to speak on this matter? So I'll close the public hearing. And again, this will go for more, you know, full discussion on the council agenda later this evening. Um, we need a motion on tab three first? Four? Tab four.

Yeah, we need a motion on tab four.

Right, the text amendment first. Right, okay, then two. Okay, so I need a motion on tab four, which is the comp plan text amendment. Okay. Moved by Vice Mayor Bailey. Second. Second by Councilman Fletcher. Any final questions or comments from, I guess we're still board, we're not council members yet. We'll change those hats at the next meeting. All right, so let's have a roll call vote on tab four.

Board Member Cannavale? Yes. Board Member Roth? Yes. Board Member Fletcher? Yes. Board Member Avila?

Yes.

Board Member Kansky?

Yes.

Vice Chairwoman Bailey? Yes. Chairman Lawson?

Reluctantly, yes.

The motion carries.

Now we need to go to tab three. Move by Vice Chair Bailey. Seconded by Board Member Fletcher. Right.

Board Member Roth. Yes. Board Member Kansky. Yes. Board Member Avila. Yes. Board Member Campbell. Yes. Board Member Fletcher. Yes. Vice Chairwoman Bailey. Yes. Chairman Lozano.

Yes.

The motion carries.

And in tab two. Moved by Vice Chair Bailey, second by Board Member Fletcher. Let's have a roll call Madam Clerk.

Member Fletcher? Yes. Member Roth? Yes. Board Member Canabale?

Yes.

Board Member Karnski?

Yes.

Board Member Avila? Yes. Chair, Vice Chairwoman Bailey? Yes. Chairman Lozner?

Yes.

The motion carries.

So, question for Mr. Pearl. This was the rezoning, the underlying rezoning, which would be a second reading, correct? Are there any second readings on these? And we can tie site plan approval. Right.

This is first reading.

The rezoning will require a second reading. Everything will require two readings. And can we hold these until we have the final site plan so that they're all tied together rather than just a naked rezoning? We can place them on the agenda together. Okay. Let's do that. I know it's in process. Okay. Very good. Thank you. All right. So, anything further, Ms. Storch? That's it? Okay. Mr. Attorney? Attorneys? All right. So that concludes the LPA. So I need a motion to adjourn. That's been moved and seconded. All in favor? Any opposed? All right, we will finally convene the regular council meeting in just a couple of minutes. All right, if we can all make our way to our appointed stations, we'll try to get the show on the road. Coffee and dessert will be served at 8.15. I hear the camp upstairs was good. I kept away from it.

Thank you.

It's east of 192nd Avenue, which is also known as Powell Road and South Presley.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard, I heard, I heard. I didn't know what to say. I knew you were coming, but I didn't know what to say.

Thank you. Okay. Yeah, but let's talk before. Please, mic on the mic. You wanna, let's go one minute, okay? Okay.

I want to talk to you first.

Jared, do you want? Why don't you and I talk?

Yeah.

Yeah, all right.

So send me an invite when I talk to you.

And then... Ready?

All right. Good evening, everyone, and welcome. I'd like to call the City of Homestead City Council meeting to order. Today is May 20th, 2026, and it is only 741 p.m. The invocation this evening will be given by Pastor Amelia Lavillas of Embassy Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Councilwoman Avila and the Homestead Police Explorers. We all rise, please. The pastor here.

Thank you. Let's pray together. Our God, we thank you for all the leaders and everyone that are here tonight that have willingly stepped forward to lead our city of Homestead and guide it forward. We pray for our mayor and our vice mayor. We pray for every council member, every city employee, every community leader represented here tonight. Would you give them wisdom in every discussion and clarity in every decision that is made? And we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.

On your marks, left, left, left, right. Left, left, left, right. Left, left, left, right. On your marks, halt. Right face. Present arms.

Please join me in the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Order on. Left face. Forward march. Left, left, left, right. Left, left, left, right.

Please be seated. Madam Clerk, will you call the roll, please?

Councilwoman Aguilar?

Here.

Councilman Roth? Here. Councilman Fletcher? Here. Councilwoman Karnski?

Here.

Councilman Cannibal? Here. Vice Mayor Bailey? Here.

Mayor Lawsman? I'm here also. Okay, the next item on our agenda is public comments and I know several of you have registered to speak with respect to a specific item. We will give you the opportunity to speak When we bring that item forward, we're going to take a portion of the agenda out of order so that that later item that you're here for is dealt with at the front of the agenda. So having said that, I would like to now invite any member of the public who would like to speak on any matter to come forward. And please limit your comments to three minutes. The floor is now open. And as I said, with respect to the spay and neuter clinic issue, we'll have specific opportunity there. So is there anyone wishing to speak on any other matter? Please come forward and give us your name and address for the record.

Good evening Thomas fryer here about 42 through 56 Northwest history. I'd like to thank the mayor and the council people that were able to make the meeting that we had this week on the access to my property that we have a problem with. Just to let all the other council people know what is going on. We have a problem with the access to my property as far as the dumpster being dumped. I've worked with the city manager. And he's come up with a resolution as far as putting the dumpster in front of the building. And that takes care of the dumpster problem. The other problem is access for the tenants. It wasn't an issue until the veterinary clinic developed on the old property and put a fence up down the alleyway because our cars, as they used to be able to exit, used to be able to go over on the property a foot or two to make the turn. The long and short history of this property is I've owned it for 34 years. 32 years ago when they built Pioneer Village, I was approached by Hero and they came to me and wanted me to support the closing of the alleyway to the west in return for permanent access, paid access to my property, which the main concern came about two years ago. when a for sale sign went up on the vacant lot that's behind me and my concern is if that gets developed and a fence goes up there it would be very difficult for the tenants to get in and out of the parking lot so i'm just trying to find a resolution to where we have reasonable access to my parking lot council

Thank you, Mayor. This item was probably more appropriately discussed under the CRA, but that opened and closed rather quickly as we're trying to get through our heavy agenda. But what I'd like to do tonight is to just give general direction to staff to work with our CRA director as it will ultimately be probably facilitated through the CRA for evaluation study and to bring back some ideas with regards to the vacant parcel. at the rear of his building for future consideration but in general we did have a site visit some of us multiple times and we have been trying to find a solution which there was brainstorming that was conducted and so those discussion items would come at the cra meeting as well but i'll rest that thank you thank you mr fryer thank you for your time staff and most of council is aware of the issue and

I think we want to fairly resolve it.

Thank you very much. Y'all have a good evening. Thank you.

Anyone else? Okay. Last chance. So I will close the public comments section of the agenda and ask Mr. Manager and Council, are there any additions, deletions, or deferrals from the printed agenda?

Yes, Ms. Mayor. Good evening, Mayor and Council. The administration, with the support and the direction of Councilman Aguilar, would like to defer tab number 29, car item number 5042, which is the Interfaith Advisory Board. That item is going to be rescheduled till June council meeting.

OK.

Very good. So do we have a motion to defer that item to the June council meeting? All right, it's been moved and second moved by the sponsor, seconded by Councilman Roth. Do we need a roll call on a deferral, Mr. Perl? All right, all in favor of the deferral? Any opposed? Does that conclude the additions, deletions, or deferrals?

Let's go ahead, Mr. Mayor.

Okay. So, I know we have quite a few folks in the audience for maybe a couple of, of items. And if there are no objections, I'd like to now put before us tab number, item number 35. But before we go forward, Mr. Manager, I'd like to ask, I guess, your Public Works Director, would that be appropriate to to give some background and to kind of put this in the posture of why we might be here and why our folks might be with us here tonight. Thank you, Cairo.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. This is a very exciting project and proposal that was brought forth to the city, and we are super supportive of the bringing this mobile unit to the city. But I believe that there may be some misconception as to what it is that we're trying to advocate for. The main topic here is the preservation of the well field. We only have two well fields that we can draw our potable water from. and we have to protect them. So I also wanted to bring to the attention of council before I move forward that in 2011, prior council put it as part of the comp plan, a restriction to prohibit the location of industrial and commercial activities, which utilize hazardous materials within the immediate cone of influence of the city's public well fields. so if council decides that this is where they want to place any such type item again it doesn't say fixed it just says industrial and commercial then the council is more than welcome to go ahead and amend the comprehensive plan but we have a much better idea we have a much better proposal and one that's even better than the proposed location and faster By faster, we mean tomorrow. You are correct. Thank you for that. We currently have a park in the city is Roscoe Warren Park that is within the city. And it is, I believe, the perfect locations for a couple of reasons. First, let's go back to the web. The wellfield. The wellfield collects water from the Biscayne aquifer, and that aquifer runs in a southeasternly direction. So anything that we want to place that could have hazardous material like biohazards or whatnot, if we place it downstream, that'll be safer in case, in the event that there's any emergency. And again, I will touch upon that a little bit later. But not only is it downstream from the aquifer, but it also has ample parking. It's a park that doesn't have fields, so it doesn't regularly get activated by our city's pros department for, you know, soccer or whatnot. And it also has two dog parks. So imagine going to drop off a little furry friend, and I have a furry baby. Who doesn't? and uh being able to let them lose to their business and uh that's none of my business and then go back and get picked up again so i think that location can definitely get activated tomorrow we still comply with the comp plan and not only that we make sure that we preserve our well fields so i said i would go back to that we have two well fields one in whitcomb park and one in harris park Harris Field. This is literally where we get the water that we drink. So the probability of any accidents, let's say, of contamination is very low. I would not say zero because as an engineer, I will never say that. Let's say three to five percent. The issue, if it were to happen, is catastrophic. There is no water. If the well field is contaminated, the city of Homestead will not have water. That's just the reality. So when we say, well, it's mobile, but it's being stored at night without supervision at all times. So that in case of an event, let's say there's a fuel leak because of this unit is self-contained and they're able to do operations there so it has a sizable fuel tank if there's a fuel leak it gets addressed immediately because you know you call us and we go do it if it were a mobile operation that would be a fine location but storing it overnight without supervision and over the weekend to me is is problematic but again we have such a an excellent location in the other park that i don't see why we would even consider harrisfield

Yeah. Is that right? Right. And to put it in perspective, this is a mobile, a county operated mobile spay and neuter clinic.

Correct. So, Mr. Mayor and Council, Cairo Public Works Director, question. There was an original operation at this Harris Field for years. The city never experienced any of these technical challenges. And there are toilets, toilets in the well field. Correct. And there has not been any challenge. There has not been any concern. There has not been any spill. So I'm still struggling to understand why this would pose the level of hazardous exposure that you just alluded to.

That is a very good question. First, the installation was due to be removed. And Durham does have restrictions on permanent installations, which apparently they don't on mobile because I don't think they have encountered something like this where it's mobile, but it's permanent. So although we didn't encounter anything in the past with that installation, that installation is fully connected to the system. whereas a mobile unit or let's say a motorhome or what have you those have to contain biological hazardous material and by that i mean you know feces blood whatever for a certain amount of time and also like i said my main concern with anything like this is always going to be the fuel because fuel is if there is a leak and you're on the paved parking lot or wherever in the field, you will run off into an inlet. That's a given. And if that happens overnight and the whole tank dumps into that inlet, that is French string that goes straight into the aquifer. By the time you wake up the next day, there's really nothing you can do. So again, the likelihood, small. The consequences, pretty dire.

So is it possible to reach out to the regulatory agency and approve this subject to their concurrence? Because I still feel the exposure is already there. It exists. We have toilets there.

Well, we don't need their concurrence. They don't have any objection whatsoever. In the field, in Harris Field, I mean. They don't have a regulation. I don't think they have considered this regulation. situation before because for them mobile is mobile and permanent is permanent they do have one for permanent even though there is no hazard with a permanent installation because it's fully piped so but somehow they didn't consider it in when they were writing their rules and regulation so we don't need any concurrency but but if it's the will of the council to have it ultimately at harris field that will take legislative action to amend the comp plan

if we wish to do that but that would not prevent that being opened literally tomorrow at roscoe warren park pending the comp plan change uh correct yeah there is nothing on the comp plan regarding any other location other than protection of the well fields okay yeah thank you all right appreciate you probably want to stand by councilwoman this was your item

Thank you, yes, you can have a seat, but I appreciate the information. We do have members of the Miami-Dade County Spare and Neuter Clinic here to provide a presentation on this item to speak about the history of it and to provide some facts as related to the need for this at this location. While they're getting to the podium, there is a permanent location being proffered, being in the works for just right outside our city limits in the northwest area. So it is my intention that whichever one comes first, whether the redevelopment of Harris Field or the opening of that new location in the Northwest area for at that point in time for it to transition to the Roscoe Warren Park. But for in the meantime, for it to serve as a as a restoration of very essential needed services in this area for for our um you know residents in the northwest and in the redland area to which we you know hear constantly about abandoned animals and the need for for that access to return soon so while i appreciate THE DILIGENCE INVOLVED IN MAKING SURE WE'RE FOLLOWING RULES AND REGULATIONS. I DID REACH OUT TO MAYOR OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, THE DERM DIRECTOR, THE VARIOUS OTHER AGENCIES THAT WERE BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION OF CONCERN. I HAVE NOT RECEIVED ONE OBJECTION YET. I HAVE IN WRITING THAT DERM HAS CLEARED THIS MOBILE FULLY CONTAINED BUS WHICH IS SIMILAR TO THE LE JARDIN BUSES THAT ARE USED AT THEIR PROPERTY IN THE SENSE THAT IT'S ONE OF THOSE LARGE RV you know, facility-type buses. And, I mean, my goodness, what would they say about the rodeo with all the cars and all the RVs and all the horse manure and all the urine and everything else that we do at Harrisfield Park? So, you know, there's a certain level of fear-mongering that can go only so far. I think that when you look at this from a common sense perspective, let's restore services to our community that are badly needed, let's support the agencies that are telling us we have these services, and yes, we have proven concept at this location, and then we can Move it to a location that does not have access to those services as well, but now we'll have balance. And so I do think that this process and this, this, uh, proposal as is, is fair. It's been thought through thoroughly, and I appreciate the manager support of trying to make it happen. And so we would like to, um, to hear the presentation of this time.

Thank you.

Yes, if I may prior to, uh, I'm more than supportive this type of, uh, installation, but. Could we not just put restriction and make them install engineered barriers, the plastic barriers underneath the bus that would prevent the fuel leakage? It's pretty simple. You know, there's tasks we can take to make this work.

So just to give you a quick response to that, you can have a secondary containment, which is more like a plastic under, or you can also have the vehicle come in, provide services at the end of the service. Since it's not going to be manned overnight, move to a safe location and come back in the morning. So there are several options. That's why I don't have any strong objection to this.

Thank you, Mayor and council members. Yes, thank you. My name's Viviana Andrade. I am the clinical manager for Miami-Dade Animal Services. And here with me is Jerry Estevez. He is also the live release manager for Miami-Dade Animal Services. We created a small Mac mobile event PowerPoint to showcase some information for the Mac mobile and its successes that could be done in the homestead city. So pretty much in bringing the MacMobile here to Homestead, it's gonna go ahead and reduce the intake of wand litters. Perfect example is just yesterday, we had a small litter of eight puppies come in without a mother. Thank goodness for our foster department, we were able to foster them out. But in providing surgical services down south, we can be able to reduce the orphan litters coming into the shelter. Another big thing is to go ahead and we'll be able to structure all the appointments via our Calendly application. So we'll be readily accessible to the constituents of the city of Homestead. And as well as lower the strain of, once again, in shelter housing and bringing the dogs all the way to Doral and being able to unite them with their respectful owners. We're proposing a three-day operation of Tuesday through Wednesday. Tuesday being cat-only days, we're proposing to possibly do 40 surgeries, and on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 25 surgeries each day. Our operational workflow will include one veterinarian, two veterinary technicians, and one clerk, and it will run from 7.30 a.m. to 4 p.m., In doing this on a weekly basis, we'll be able to sterilize about 40 cats and 50 dogs a week. Appointments will also be walk in basis based on surgical capacity and it will all be inside the surgical unit. So everything will be contained at the end of the day. We can't be able to. have the disposable, the bags, the biohazard bags will be transported to our community center in Cutler Bay where we have the appropriate bins to be able to dispose of them. All in all, this project will be able to sterilize on a weekly basis on 90 surgeries in a week, 360 surgeries in a month, 4,320 surgeries annually. And most importantly, they'll be able to reduce 10,000 plus litters that can potentially end up in the shelters. Thank you.

Thank you, Femi. Can you give us some details about the planned permanent location that's set to open next summer?

The Miami day, the new homestead location, um, well, they call it homestead, but it's out outside the city of just to clarify. Oh, I'm so sorry.

Um, I can transfer to 96 in us 1. correct? I believe so.

Um, we haven't released any of that plan information to us at this level. They had us basically do this as a focus.

So the conversation I had with Annette, the director, she said it was already slated to open in July of 2027. Are there any changes to that plan?

So far, I think that's on schedule to be.

That's for the renovated trailer that used to exist fully hooked up to Harrisfield. That is what's going to be transferred to there in lieu of it coming back to Harrisfield. Yes. Okay. And I encourage more questions for our presenters, but I do want to clarify that, you know, I believe that distance to accessing services is a barrier and it creates, you know, difficulty for people who need these services to get them. So, you know, I really want, I'm advocating for it to be centrally located for a reason. And I do, you know, while I agree that there's doggy parks Set up at Roscoe. They're not going to be using the doggie park after they just get their Surgeries done. So, you know, I appreciate the recommendation, but that is not for me a reason to Not support this item tonight and I don't see why this would not be able to be activated immediately June 1st and for us to get it going when the county regulates these this this entity the service and is not requiring anything except for us to approve and enter into an agreement for them to exist, to simply exist and park on the parking lot. There will be no onsite disposal, correct? No onsite disposal. You will be fully and 100% accountable of any waste that would occur?

Yes.

Correct, Councilwoman. I also want to add that I have already pre-scheduled and we have a veterinarian and a team eager to begin in the MAC effective next Tuesday.

Thank you. And the whole comp plan thing, when a council member reaches out to the Miami-Dade County mayor to get to the bottom of answers and that doesn't work out the way that supposedly it was attempted to deter this item from moving forward, now we have surprisingly a comp plan issue which apparently didn't exist when this facility was permanently placed at Harris Field. You know, I say we move forward, we move forward in good faith, and then if we receive a letter from an agency that says you need to shut down and move immediately, then so be it. But let that be the reason why. Thank you.

So if I might, let me ask you, it was represented that you would give us some justification as to why this needed to return to Harris Field, and I didn't see that.

I apologize um so we do have a lot of rescues down in South Miami that are in need to help sterilize pets that have been dumped throughout chrome chrome is a very big dumping ground for dogs unfortunately. And they are helping us in helping sterilizing these pets and finding them forever homes. The only barrier to be able to find these pets a forever loving home is intake such as vaccinations, microchipping. So this wouldn't happen again. And the main thing is sterilization. So we don't find the litters of these pets that have already previously been dumped to be dumped again. So we're trying to end the cycle there.

I get that. And I don't think you'll find anyone up here who is opposed to the services that you provide. No one is asserting that they're not needed. No one is asserting that it shouldn't come back. I'm not, you didn't quite answer my question. I think my question was locational. Yeah, the difference between Harris field and somewhere else within the city of homestead.

Oh, I apologize. So Harris field pretty much has everything that is needed for the Mac mobile. We do need a room to be able to house. Drugs that are used for surgical services, like a secure room to be able to house the drugs for end of day end of day storage as well as bathroom facilities, not only for our staff, but for the constituents coming to receive these services.

So, it's more than just. an agreement to park the mobile unit, it's going to include agreement to use lockable and restroom facilities where?

Within the area of where the mobile unit will be stationed.

Is it the FOP locked? They've been brought here and I think that this is a manufactured political circus. This is a manufactured crisis pulling at the heartstrings of dog people who work hard and faithfully every day. you're you're in charge of this facility tell me where is it going to be the bathrooms at the pavilion are you going to ask us to amend our agreement with the fraternal order of police and use that building as well what what are we talking about because as we talk there's more to it than meets the eye

So we did a recent site visit and it's the restroom facilities adjacent to where we would be parking the truck and trailer.

And I'd like to add to the clarification of that, Mayor. That was recommended to us by the city manager during his site visit. So the original proffer and suggestion was for it to be in the area in front of FOP and for us to work with the FOP for the minimal access to contain the refrigerator, the locked refrigerator that they would need for those three days a week, which they would only need to access it and put it away at the end of the beginning of the shift. So that is negotiable.

So on the record right now, that's contemplated to be the FOP building.

It was offered to do the FOP and then there was a better recommendation, which has the better bathroom facilities for the pavilion. So it could be either or, but it would be fully supervised and it would be held to the highest of standards is the expectation. And the focus of the discussion tonight was intended to be on the location, but I do agree that that was an oversight of my part to mention the access to the uh to the bathroom and the and the refrigerator under lock and key so for those reasons as well at the roscoe we haven't identified where the refrigerator would go but that could be organized um you know in the future during the transition well and that's that's a very fair assessment and you know and by that metric although we're short of parking it could be parked at the community center we recommended that as well when we were doing our site visit and there were some objections to that as well but

Either way, no place is perfect. Now, to the point, Councilwoman, that you made a minute ago is why is the comp plan an issue now? I think it's very simple. That this issue spotting by our staff reflects an educated and professional staff that plays by the rules and knows the rules. If you knew the personalities that were involved when the mobile unit was first put on Harris Field, you would know that the wife of my last elected predecessor was first and foremost an animal lover, and I'm not criticizing that. And knowing how things worked in City Hall, it was probably a request of the city manager to allow that office trailer to be parked at Harris Field with no thought given to the issues. You know, we like to talk about that the city has to follow the same sign ordinances that everybody else does. The city has to follow its own rules. And I don't think that this imposition of the comp plan change is intended to be a roadblock. It's, it's just, it's issue spotting. And I agree, you know, the, the, the chance of a spill is very remote, extremely remote. but there's Murphy's Law that once we talk about it and we accept that risk, something's probably going to happen. Now we talk about that this is only a temporary facility, a part-time temporary facility until the new facility is built. And we're talking about it opening a year from now. We're sitting here today at almost June 1st. And this is a county project. And you're telling me realistically it's going to be up and running in a year? To me, that stretches credibility. And not you, just the concept in general that we may have this for some very long period of time. And I don't want to lock us into, look, That trailer was supposed to be replaced and put back at Harris Field over two years ago. It was promised, and it wasn't. So how do I know it's not going to be another two years? And as we begin to reimagine and redesign Harris Field, I don't want that to be an interference either.

I don't suspect that it would be an interference because I would not hold up the master plan and redesign of Harris Field for something like this. This is about facilitating access now to and the absence of the services in bringing it close to Humpstead and restoring what was already existing and a proven fact. And I want to clarify, I didn't conjure this up, okay? The community came to me and asked me to advocate for a the return of the trailer the permanent trailer and so in investigating that i had learned that there was there was a pushback you know with regard for a permanent facility to come back and we looked for alternatives and so this is where we're at with alternatives and in hearing that there would be objection about location i looked into those other options we looked at community center I considered Roscoe. It's just not the right fit and I think that a an agreement that could be revoked at any time would be a simple solution to start and to see how it goes.

But to clarify, the county, you know, until you went asking questions, and I don't mean that in a critical way, there was no immediate plan to bring that temper, that mobile unit back to Homestead.

The immediate plan was to bring the permanent facility back, and they were met with objection from our public works department. And so that's what I was investigating.

Is that true, Mr. Manager? And when you talk about permanent facility, do you mean the trailer that was formally there? Correct. So I don't really consider that permanent. It might be full-time, but it's not.

My understanding is that was connected to some type of sewer, either septic or sewer, but it was fully operational, full-time and connected, whereas this is opposite.

Is that accurate, Cairo, Mr. Conga? At any time, either prior or now. We never said to the county, that's what I'm trying to get at. Did we ever say to the county, you can't bring the trailer back to Harris Field? Recently? No. No, we did not. No.

And we can explore that to get to the bottom of where that stands as to if you think that getting the, if they promised to bring back the permanent trailer and they didn't bring it and that's something that's potentially still on the table, we can look into that. But I don't even think that that's necessary if we have something mobile and not permanent that we can, have in the meantime to help transition between our current park and the master planning and to bring these services and to relocate them, maybe to the community center if you think that's a better fit. But parking tends to be a better fit.

I was going to ask Mr. White.

I'm sorry, Mr. Pearl, not Pearly and White. Anyway, Mr. Pearl. If we directed a master plan, a comp plan change tonight, how long would it take to accomplish?

Well, I don't think, I mean, from what I'm hearing, that's not where I would suggest that we go because both Cairo, Cairo's concern was that this remains overnight. The manager had offered several suggestions, one about conditioning this on a protective layer and another where it's moved to another location within the city. So I think there are practical alternatives that have been presented by staff already that could help address this issue. So if we wanted to let's say condition any license agreement for the placement we can we can stipulate to the things that staff had suggested if the county was amenable and have them operate in accordance with those suggestions. Okay.

So here's my suggestion. Having something is much better than having nothing. Is there a way that we can live on a short-term basis at the community center while we sort out the Harris Field issues? for the mobile unit?

I don't have an objection to that, but I think it's important that we understand logistically how this has to work, okay? The reason why the Harris Field also was a good option was because it's like an RV. If you've ever traveled in an RV, you have to secure everything before you move it. So this idea of, okay, opening for service on Tuesday, closing at the end of the day, and relocating it to a different spot, and then coming back, that's not going to work.

But we don't have those issues at the community center.

Maybe not, but... As long as they can stay in a position for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, where they can close up on Thursday and move it out of the way for an event, which was the planet Harris field. So it's not blocking parking at the pavilion or anything like that. Then they could. move it back into position and reopen and set up for those three days. That should be fine. Now where that weekend parking when they're not in service is going to be, what's the suggestion? Because what we were going to do at Average Field was just park it in the rear of FOP, which has already been cleared by the FOP president. So we had Their position in front of the pavilion for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday on the side and then moving it for the weekend when it's not in use out of the way. So at the community center, if we can accommodate that. And I'd love to hear from public comment as to whether or not they have any objection to that. I don't see why I could why I would be objective, you know, objecting to that option.

And let me let me ask you this to the public works director. What's the cone of influence? How far away? And forget for a moment we have a parking lot, that we have horse manure, that we have bathrooms that probably shouldn't be there. Let's forget about that for a minute. In a perfect world, what would be the setback from our well field?

I need to call a friend.

Phone a friend.

Okay. It is the entire park, and usually, I believe, it's about a quarter mile away, but it's not as large. Remember, the cone of influence is where the pumps are at. Right. So, it's not the park is in the cone of influence, but it's where the wells are tapping into. So, just because it's a distance away doesn't mean that it's from the extent of Harris Field all the way around.

So, locating this unit where the trailer was formerly located does not solve the problem, either.

No, no. And in fact, that one is a lot closer to well, number five. So, okay. And I believe that, um, Pedro. It has some information regarding the permanent.

Yeah, regarding the comment about our public works department telling them no. Of replacing their current trailer, it was actually the county's Durham department that told them no. Because I was involved with the meeting, and that's why we were asking them, hey, why is the trailer shut down? And it's because they were in the process of permitting their new replacement trailer at Harris Field, and the county's Durham department told them no. So I just wanted to clarify that.

That was what I meant when I spoke earlier, that they do have regulations for permanent conditions that are, in my mind, a lot safer. But they don't have any for this type of condition that they, I don't think, imagined would exist. During our discussions initially in the walkthrough, when we talked about it being immobile, there's absolutely no objection whatsoever from anyone. It was, I believe, after about half an hour when you informed that it would have to stay overnight, overnight. And then over the weekend, that's what raised the alarms because the weekend move would have put it even closer to well number seven that we are trying to hopefully get installed. It's in that area of the park. so that that's what raised the alarm not the mobile unit per se whatsoever you just think the storage location when it's not being used Yeah, yeah, just when it's not being used. Vandalism, whatever, like that kind of stuff. Or accidents, someone just does whatever.

I already provide a solution to this, which is very practical. Have the truck there, operate at the location. If there's concern about accidental spill, have a secondary containment under the truck, When it's not in use, we move it to the fleet where we park all city vehicles because it's not going to be supervised at Harrisfield.

So anything can happen.

We just move it on off-site and come back the next day. That's a practical solution. We're sort of trying to extend the narrative and the commentary.

I would just like to add that the county does have a facility nearby as well that they will be able to use by the Air Force, I believe. It's one that they just recently activated.

Yeah, but that's too far away from Harrisfield. No, no, I'm saying for storage, no. Yeah, the fleet side is just less than a quarter of a mile from there.

Okay, so let me go to the Vice Mayor and then we'll come back.

Thank me, I think if we can condition some of these issues with the additional storage another huge benefit of keeping it at Harris field, I think, is that that is where it has always been right so it's easier for people to get to easier for people to find. easier for us to help get those campaigns going again, because I live in a neighborhood where code compliance comes or animal control comes in and out of. And what I have seen in population growth with animals in my neighborhood is astronomical. So if this can be done where we're sure that it's safe, let's Keep it at Harris Field. It worked before. You know where you're going. And we can get the show back on the road and help these little furry friends, as Cairo said. So if we can get information from staff to make sure that that protection is underneath it, I would gladly second that this happen. So thank you.

Let me get some quick clarification, because I don't think this concern came from you all. The manager has proffered that we have the containment cradle, like you have for fuel, and that, and I believe his proposal is, is at the end of every day, you take the unit to our fleet lockup area, which is in very close proximity, and then bring it back each day. Is that unworkable? given the securing of the interior that needs to be done?

Yes, unfortunately, there isn't a stop. So we have we have a dive a little deeper than that.

We have three transport.

I'm sorry. We have three transport operators that do multiple things throughout the day. So having one bring it there, we're approximately an hour and change away from the shelter. So to do that every single day and then have someone at the end of the day, come back and move it. It's just not feasible. it's a lot of extra movements with limited stuff.

Just on that, just on that particular topic, the fleet suggestion, which I appreciate, because it's just another option to consider. The challenge that would be is that it would require also a two man operation to drive the person, follow them with the car, drop off the RV, come back, or drop off the clinic and then come back together to get in the car. So I mean, the parking lot at Harris field is so vast, That finding, I proffered the spaces behind FOP because it was out of the way. If it's too close to the well field, then get it closer to the old YMCA. It's still going to be out of the way. The goal was to have it not impact the pavilion weekend activities that get activated. So all of us, thank you.

Councilor Roth. Thank you. Couple of things. One, if the well fields are that important, can we get a diagram and locations of all of the well fields so we know what we're talking about when it comes to well fields? Because you said the well fields stretch out a quarter to a half a mile. from the location, and that concerns me because there's a gas station within that range, right? There's apartment complexes within that range that have toilets and all those things, right, that may be hooked up to a system that we don't go and check that could be leaking into the aquifer as well, right?

Well, we do check, and ever since I started working here, that has been one of my number one concerns for issues that we have experienced. So what we are planning on is to fully line those lines, even though because of the county's requirements for SSCS, which I'm sure you guys are all aware.

SSCS, I mentioned that multiple times last year.

One of the requirements is to video and inspect on a regular basis the lines over eight inches in diameter that are near the well fields or over the well fields. I just call it over the well fields for short. And ensure that those are seal tight.

You're talking about city-owned lines or private-owned lines?

city and also through that exercise we have to investigate into the laterals that may provide some sort of contamination so we are fairly sure at this point in time maybe not five years ago but i can tell you as of now that we do not have any sewer gravity right any gravity sewer or manhole within the well-filled area of influence that is currently causing any sort of contamination whatsoever.

And this also to me sounds kind of like selective enforcement because you've got RVs sitting on that property right now overnight that are not supervised.

So the one the one I am, unfortunately, I'm not PD, so I cannot enforce these things. But what I am made aware of is that if there is an RV there is because someone lives in that RV. So if someone comes in drunk at night and crashes into them, then emergency is on the way.

If there is an RV that is you're saying that somebody is living in the RVs on leisure on our property.

If there's an the RV that I'm referring to is the one on the road, the rodeos that I was mentioned during the walkthrough. I don't know of any other RV RV sits on that property. Look into that. Yeah.

It sounds like selective enforcement.

When things are grandfathered, we are not able to retract that information that is unfortunately, just public policy, we cannot go back and enforce those items that council has approved in the past.

We had never approved RVs parking on Harris Hill property for long durations of time.

I can't speak to that. I'm sorry. I don't know. I don't know.

So what's stopping us from putting this RV on Harris Hill property tomorrow?

No one. You guys vote on modifying the component.

So I make a motion we put the RV on the property starting tomorrow.

No one.

So we... By the passage of this, we're violating our own code of ordinances.

We're not because it's, it's not part of the code with the mobile piece.

No, I'm talking about the comp plan doesn't permit that use. Yeah, there are other, there are other uses that we're going to have to deal with. That is, Lay Hardeen or whether or not somebody from the rodeo has, has an RV or a motorhome parked, parked behind the announcer stand. I don't know anything about that.

I believe there's precedence that we're not doing anything outside of the norm. We're allowing public services to have access. And they're not connecting. There is no permanent request for physical placement. It is just access to a public space with the exception of the refrigerator. I'd love to hear public comment at this point.

Oh, that's fine. We know what the public comment is going to be. But again, our public works, there has been testimony from our staff that we did not roadblock anything.

I will take the blame.

There's a motion and a second. Can we get a roll call? Just get it over with, please.

No, there's still time for discussion. This is a political stunt. This could have been taken care of behind the scenes and not burning up an hour and motivating these men and women who work very hard every day to rescue and help dogs, cats, and everything else in between. One final question. In your punch list, you made the representation that this could be a drop-off point for abandoned litters. That it takes the burden off of rescue services. How so? You're not boarding those litters there overnight, are you? You're just an intake. You've got to pass them off to somebody.

Foster, she said a foster company takes them. They are spaying and neutering so that there's not an additional litter. That is what she said.

Right? Yes, it is. She did at the end. At the beginning, I think, if you go back through your presentation, that you are an intake facility for litters.

We are an intake facility for dogs, cats, and that includes litters of abandoned animals, yeah.

But you're not warning them there?

Well, if we do not have an outcome for them, such as a rescue plea, transport or a foster, we do have to house them there. We are right now over 119% over capacity.

I get that and that's a whole other county issue. So again, there's a new element. We're housing elements in the unit.

The only activity is I need you to clarify that was never brought to my attention. Are you housing any animals overnight in your facility? That's what I'm talking about shelter.

Sorry, I think I see what the confusion was. You said facility. So when we say facility, we mean our main shelter. Does the mobile unit consider a facility? It's just it's just a trailer.

So there was a comment made earlier about how South Miami, there's a lot of drop-offs with Chrome. So that's where I think he's getting his comment from. And it was a little ambiguous to me as well. How is this mobile clinic going to support that or clarify what you meant by any housing?

Yeah, because if you go back through your presentation, it was on the first couple of pages. That you're an intake facility and you reduce the burden.

And that could be stipulated in an agreement. I'm not aware of that, and I'm not advocating for that.

Yeah, this is strictly going to be a surgical unit. That's all it is.

And that's what I understood it to be until your presentation.

Yeah, we were talking about how sterilizing pets stops them from coming to the main shelter. We sterilize them there.

That's all it was. Your end result. Yes. And we're all for that. Yes.

To clarify, it's microchipping as well as immunizations and the rabies vaccination to the in addition to the sterilization.

Yes, it's actually so if you want to buy two seconds to walk you through it. So it's actually low impact. And again, there was some comments made about like dogs, possibly peeing or pooping on the property. The drop off is actually really simple. The person comes in, they check in and they hand over the pet. uh cats are gonna be kept in carriers uh the puppies are the dogs also are gonna be handed over put in the unit they're not gonna be taken back out until the owner comes and picks them up and at that point it's less than likely of any of our pets contaminating any of the land or grounds that we're on so councilman what what what was your ask here on this item on town 35.

I'm sorry, I'm a little delirious after this conversation, but the ask was to, I want to hear the public specify, because this is, listen, I have a dog and a cat and a couple fish, okay? And they're all spayed and neutered. I'm not in the trenches like you guys are, and I want to make sure you have your time on the air to speak for yourselves as to why this is important to you. I brought the item forward. I believe in it. That's why I'm sponsoring it. And the request essentially is to authorize staff to enter into an access agreement for the parking of the vehicle and the storage of the refrigerator. at Harrisfield Park. And you have my full commitment when it's time to go into the master planning or if the north location gets activated that we move it so that we have something on the southeast side, which I will advocate for as well. Thank you.

Would anyone here like to speak? You've kind of endured the last couple hours. Just get in line and come on up.

And if I may, and you have the right to speak, but if, you know, if one person can say a summary of what everybody's thinking, that's great too.

Let me just say, I've seen and heard about some of the social media posts that are way off base. They're not accurate. There's no basis in fact. On this page? On, by and on this is for the dog's social media page, the hysterics that are out there that we don't, well, you should. You should know what's out there. Okay. Hi, Barbara, welcome.

All right, hello. Barbara St. Aubin, 19441 Southwest 308th Street. First of all, I want to thank Erica Avila for being the champion on this effort because... and all the support from the council as well, to bring the Homestead spay-neuter clinic back to Harrisfield. That's what the issue is. So I'm hearing a lot of different things now bringing to this topic. So I'm president of This is a Dog. It's 501 since 2008, serving this community. The impact that the clinic has had at Harrisfield since 2016 Actually, my volunteers made this for me back then. There's a ribbon cutting. It was a grand event for this city. I'm sorry, Major Lozner, you weren't there. But anyway, yeah. Yes. The impact that the clinic, the Homestead Clinic at Harris Field has had over the last 10 years is undeniable. Last year, 2025, I'm giving you some numbers here, the Spain Neuter Clinic provided 3,028 surgeries, accessible, affordable surgeries for this community. That means over 3,000 times a local family found affordable, accessible care they needed for their pets right here in Homestead at Harris Field. It was open for only nine months, closing in October for repairs, Services stopped and never resumed. So I'm with you, Mayor Lozner. Something is better than nothing. Bringing that mobile clinic, the MAC, the mobile animal clinic, would work, but we want the trailer back. And what I'm hearing, it can come back. It will do, so the statistics for this year, zero. Zero spay-neuter surgeries for this community. We want the trailer back. It will do dogs over 30 pounds. The MAC will not. There's a lot of dogs out there that are big, that have large litters, and that populate this community. Great leadership does not only manage a crisis, it provides a solution. This clinic directly improves the quality of life for every single one of us. So we need to bring the trailer back to that Harris Field location. Thank you.

What's the practical difference between having it at 312th Street and US 1 and 296th Street? Because that's what's contemplated right now by the county, correct? The same trailer is coming back to Avocado versus Campbell. Is that correct?

So the new facility that's supposed to open, through my conversations with Annette Jose, the Director of Animal Services, in 2027, We don't foresee that happening in 2027. I'm just going to take a guess. I agree.

Okay.

So from now to then, there are no services offered to our community residents that are pet owners. But for the mobile unit, there's no services right now in the city of homestead.

No, I know. But if we had nothing until they bring that trailer somewhere, the mobile unit will fill that gap.

It will for dogs up to 30 pounds. Right. SO IT'S LIMITED. THE NUMBER THAT THEY CAN DO IS LIMITED AS WELL BECAUSE OF RECOVERY SPACE.

NOT TO INTERRUPT, BUT I MEAN, ADDITIONAL VISION SESSIONS CAN OCCUR WITH OTHER IMPROVEMENTS AROUND THE CITY. IT'S NEVER IN MY MIND, YOU KNOW, WE'RE NOT FORECLOSING A TRAILER EVER COMING BACK TO HOMESTEAD, THE CITY OF HOMESTEAD, BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT'S ON THE TABLE TODAY. RIGHT NOW IT'S AN OPTION, IT'S A SOLUTION TO PROVIDE SOMETHING BETTER THAN NOTHING. getting it to the Roscoe Warren Park if the permanent facility does in fact open. But we do have redevelopment plans for Harris Field. So that would interrupt any permanent structure anyway. So we have to keep that in mind.

Yeah, we'll take the community.

We can incorporate that in the long term plans.

The success of the clinic, I mean, it's undeniable with these numbers. i mean and people know it's there the residents know it's there we get emails and communications you know all day long you know when is the clinic going to reopen we've tried we thought we were told the trailer was going to come back after the repairs and we're still waiting so we're counting on you guys to bring us something for this community thank you yeah we need big dog you know surgeries done

thank you very much for this opportunity my name is newton i go by junior five years ago i opened a little shelter here in the red land but i served the homestead community and our doors is always open for the community we had events together we tried to do a great job For the past year and a half, I've been working very close with the county and I'm seeing their effort to make a difference and helping our community here. The problem is not only having stray dogs is much bigger than that. Today I have to be rushing 17 puppies that was dropped in my gate to the federal prison. We understand the shelters over capacity. We are over capacity and I called the captain and he's housing dogs for us. A federal prison is helping this community. My biggest plea. Now, we understand that the geography we are between 2 national parks with a bunch of farmers with different culture. Okay, so what's going on is just more than straight. It's a very different kind of dog we have. Dogs that are being raised by themselves in the Everglades. When we trap them, we are crazy trap dogs. When you trap them, they are not domesticated anymore and generated extra work for the shelter, for the county, because those dogs are not adoptable. Okay, they're very difficult to work with and we have time and money that we need to considerate it. Okay, and I do believe that Homestead, the city of Homestead is growing beautifully. Saying that, this battle is much bigger than us. The city of Homestead probably could be stepping up for finding a different location. Okay, for the past year and a half, we bring outside foundations to be helping our community. We are bringing other foundations out of the states that's putting money over here to be helping us. Okay, and that it's almost a shame we can do this here. Okay, so maybe the city of the homestead can be open. We also, I'm sure the mrs andrade representing the the shelter she's going to be helping us founding a redland dog sanctuary will help us this is the dog will help us we do have some funds that we can put in the pact as well and we just need to help for the city to be doing a little better because what we're seeing very soon those dogs that's being raised in the wild they're killing horses they're killing goats Oh, yes, and we have pictures of horses. So I'm sorry. It's very frustrating because we're trying to make the difference. All the funds that we have is private funds. We don't use any federal money. We do everything on our own. And I wish the city of Homestead can help us a little stronger. We are growing and our community deserves. Thank you very much.

I WANT TO JUST ASK THAT WE HAVE A COMMITMENT FROM THE PEOPLE HERE TO COME TO A SECONDARY MEETING THAT I WILL HOLD WITH STAFF, WITH OUR CITY MANAGER SO THAT WE CAN BRAINSTORM ON WHAT IT IS THAT WE NEED. BECAUSE WHAT I'M HEARING HERE, OKAY, AND I LOVE LEARNING, IS THAT THIS RESOLUTION HERE ON THE TABLE IS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG AS TO THE NEEDS THAT THIS COMMUNITY NEEDS. this advocacy needs for for solving or creating a a real solution to the bigger issues so while i do support this item moving forward tonight the conversation is not over okay we have a very lengthy agenda tonight specifically to your support for passing this item or objecting to this item please make your your your statements tonight If you want to help with bringing forward bigger, better solutions, that conversation will continue, and I will ask our city manager to assist me in championing that effort as well. So with respect to the very lengthy agenda we have tonight, please continue to have your comments. You have the right to do so, but just keep that in mind.

I'll be brief. My name is Susan Sanchez, and I work extensively trapping and sterilizing stray and community animals in Homestead. For a long time, the Miami-Dade Animal Services trailer here in Homestead gave residents a realistic way to access affordable space and neuter. Community members could sign up locally, transport their own animals, and actually participate in helping reduce the stray population. Now that the service has been gone for months, and the people who need it most are effectively shut out. Most residents in these neighborhoods, including many in the surrounding unincorporated areas of South Dade, cannot drive all the way to Cutler Bay. We do have a small facility there. At this point, Homestead and Florida City together are approaching 100,000 residents, and that does not even include the large number of people living in the surrounding unincorporated communities who also depend on these services. The population continues to grow rapidly along with a number of stray and abandoned animals. We do not need fewer services. We need more. We also know the new permanent Miami-Dade Animal Service facility at 296th Street will not be open in 2027. It will probably be late 2028, 2029. That means this community could be left without accessible services for years unless this trailer program is resolved. And frankly, the proposed location near Roscoe Warren Park is also concerning because many residents consider that area unsafe and inaccessible. Yes, it is. I live near there. If you're serious about making services available to the public, the location needs to be practical and safe. Putting it back at Harris Field, everybody knows that it's there. All we have to do is say it's reopened. Residents here pay taxes too, and they deserve access to the same essential county services as everyone else. Right now, this community is being underserved and the animals are paying the price for it. Please work with Miami-Dade Animal Services to reopen this trailer program as soon as possible. Thank you.

Thank you. So I'll make one point that I want to be real clear. We did not end the services. The county did.

okay you know the the tenor here is is that somehow we were responsible for that we are not your enemy no and we can have disagreements i know that city of homestead was not responsible it was a derm permit thing that happened um but we really just need a resolution and we need your help

Thank you. And that's what I'm hearing is that we have the burden of trying to figure out a solution to this problem, right? So we're the thinkers of the day is here and they need a permanent trailer location. And if the county isn't serious about their timeline, then then maybe we need to come up with some better ideas.

Hi, my name is Susan Perkins and, um, good evening council members and mayor. Um, this is going to kind of this is kind of kind of sum it all up again, but I've been here and I just we just need to say it's just it's just. It's just not working the way it is right now. My name is Susan patrons. I volunteer with this is the dog here in homestead and I am tonight here to respectfully ask to approve the reopening of our local spay neuter clinic. Homestead has a serious overpopulation problem and unfortunately, it continues to grow every day. Prevention is the only real solution. We cannot adopt our way out of this problem. Many of you probably have driven through our city and see what I see regularly. The mother dog walking down dangerously close to traffic with puppies following behind her or kittens born in the bushes behind the shopping centers like Walmart because of an unspayed stray. These animals are not born because somebody wanted them or planned for them. Most of them are unwanted from the moment they enter the world. Every litter that is prevented saves resources, time, taxpayer burden, and in the long run. Our community desperately needs an affordable, accessible spay-neuter clinic here in Homestead. Many residents cannot travel all the way to Cutler Bay and Doral for these services. As Homestead continues to grow, the annual population grows alongside it. And we need access to these services. It's more critical. And not long ago, a friend of mine was driving through homestead on our way to the keys. She looks around and she says, my goodness. You must stay incredibly busy in the rescue work. I can't believe how many loose and stray animals I see driving through this town. Not a long ago. Um, uh, the statement stayed with me because. That should not be what people remember about our city. Homestead is an opportunity to. To be known as a community that cares a city taking real action to solve the overpopulation crisis throughout. Prevention, compassion and responsible leadership. I would like to end with the story called the answer and I'll do this really quick. A little girl sees a kitten drowning in a stream. So she jumps in and she saves it. But moments later, another kitten comes floating by down the stream. Another 1 and another 1 getting exhausted from jumping in to save them all. She finally climbs out. and starts running upstream. People shout to her, where are you going? She calls back, I can't keep pulling drowning kittens from the stream. I need to find out where they're coming from and stop it. That's exactly why we need this clinic. Please approve the reopening. We need it now. We need the trailer now. We can't wait a year. We can't wait, you know, and we're talking about trailers. What about all the trailers that are in Homestead? I mean, what about all the trailers in the backyards of people's houses? So no, we need to have it now. We need the system now. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Susan. Okay, can we just get a couple more and we can go ahead and move forward with this, if you don't mind.

I will be very quick, I'm sorry. My name is Chloe. I'm a veterinary assisting student at John A. Ferguson Senior High School. I had this whole ordeal planned out, but a lot of my peers already said what I wanted to say today. all i want to say is i have lived and i'm sure a lot of you have lived in homestead very much longer than me but i am very much an animal person and i have lived in homestead my whole life i'm 16 years old and i've lived in my beautiful house i love homestead but one thing that is you know going downhill is a lot of the animals on the side of the roads A lot of cars drive by. We have a lot of people running the stop signs, and they hit dogs because they're strays, right? And to reduce the stray population, we could spay and neuter them. A lot of people don't understand and don't comprehend that dogs have babies. Dogs go out, have puppies. This is where you're buying your puppies from. And it... It comes to a point where we need to have them sepated and neutered. Sorry, I'm very nervous. And this is my first time doing this, guys. I'm so sorry. Yeah, I just, we need to stay new to them. It's like the point where, why we're here and I feel like we should have it at Harris Field because Harris Field for me is in the middle. Like I pass by Harris Fields when I want to go to BJ's, when I want to go to the Sunglass Hut to buy sunglasses. I pass by Harris Fields when I go to the rodeo. I've been there all my life and I was just talking to a friend today about this, actually. And she was like, yes, I've been there so many times. I didn't know that they had shut it down. That's where I would go to get all of the cats that I found and all the dogs that I found spayed and neutered. And it's not there anymore. So now all of those cats and all of those dogs, they're having to go to a private clinic, which costs a lot of extra money. And some people don't have that. So it's easier for people to just go to a... a local community clinic that won't charge as much and that's affordable for everybody. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is I know a fatal 1049 Northeast 35th Avenue. I would like to thank everyone here. You are correct. Mayor. You guys are not our enemy. We are aware of that. We appreciate you knowing what it's like in the trenches. I'd like to leave you with a thought before I continue. Being in rescue is like, trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. I'll repeat that again. Being in rescue is like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. One of my volunteers also mentioned that the spay-neuter clinic, we need something for bigger dogs. Big dogs give us the big litters. Please keep that in mind when you come to a solution. We'll be more than happy to meet again, and thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Did we read the, I don't think, Mr. Pearl, okay.

I just have one thing to say. I don't know if this might help your decision in the Roscoe Warren Park versus Harris Field, but we had a case where a lady had reached out to us about cats, and she used to catch cats in her community near Harris Field. She didn't have a vehicle, so she would push them in the traps in a shopping cart to Harris Field to TNR them, and that's why Harris Field for us is a much more central location for those who may not have that kind of transportation. Gotcha. Thanks.

I know where you can get about 400 chickens. Mr. Mayor. Oh, there too? Mr. Mayor. Those two neighborhoods directly east of Lakeshore are full of chickens. Yes, Council Fletcher.

Just real quickly and again, we all really agree with you, but please make sure you're also emailing Mayor Cava

Our Commissioner Cohen-Higgins and our Commissioner Daniel and Keone McGee.

We have to get them. And if you bomb their email inboxes, they got to respond at some point.

And maybe we can give you numbers for them that you don't have. And I know you have no problem doing that. So, this is my second rescue beagle in 15 years.

she'd probably be too big to go to the trailer but she came to us spayed and neutered already hi thank you for the opportunity and i will respectfully not apologize for how long we are taking to speak to you because i really hope that this annoyance of us saying it over and over and over again sits in your mind as it sits in all of our inboxes i am a teacher at johnny ferguson high school i'm chloe's teacher And every single day, I get text messages. All of these amazing people get text messages. At this point, it is not about dogs and cats. As Jocko Wilson said, as leaders, you have to take extreme ownership of what is occurring right now. I know we've talked about who said no, who denied it. At this point, it doesn't matter. The homestead residents need services. It's not about puppies and kittens anymore. It's about providing the services that we need. say yes, take ownership of the issue you guys are all a part of, right? Being a leader is taking ownership of that. And so I ask you to look beyond the political orchestration of puppies and cats and to simply provide the services that are needed. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Hi.

Hi, I'm Angelina Carrier and I'm 370 Northeast 12th Street. in Homestead, and I come to you today because I am a trapper, I am a feeder, and I do volunteer with many different organizations within the community. I love Homestead. I moved here in 2013, but the closing of this clinic in Harris Field has been devastating. I had an outlet before where I could pick up these dogs, especially big ones. That's what we need. We need help with these bigger dogs. I used to be able to pick them up and animal services would turn us away because they're full. Imagine having a female dog, especially a special breed that everybody loves to swing around names of different breeds. And it's not the breed, it's the community. It's the people in the community that are the problem. And all we can do is try to readjust everyone right now and look for a solution to get this clinic open as soon as possible because I have no outlet and when Miami-Dade turns me away and I have a female dog that's getting ganged by three, four dogs on a corner and I see it, Harris Field was very, very good at helping me and the people there were really good at helping me to sterilize the community pets that had nobody. I was their voice. And I was a frequent flyer at Harris field. I volunteered there a few times and I don't mind volunteering again, but I'm just asking you, even if you don't put it at Harris field, we need some kind of outlet because it's getting out of control. Imagine the 4,000 pets that we didn't fix this year. three or four thousand pets imagine all of them pets out there running around continuing to to breed it's just not something that we need our community is slowly developing it's it's the numbers are growing and i myself have driven dogs all the way to west palm beach to darpster foundation just for spay and neuter i sat there all day on my saturday mornings Just so that I can spay and neuter pets that aren't even mine. None of them are mine. This is community pets. And our resources are being slowly depleted. And the only one that can bring those resources back are you guys. And I know each and every one of you care about homestead and you guys are homegrown rooted here. And you see the problem. You drive on the same streets that I drive every day. You see the dogs in the road. You see the litters of puppies. You see the cats. Cats are like 15 cats at one time. Like we have thousands everywhere. So we're just asking you today to invest a little bit of, time and money into this project because we need it and we need all of you. We need you to keep this community going and thriving. So that's why I'm here today. Thank you.

No, we all understand that. Many of us know many of you and know what you do from the heart as just an incredible labor of love. Again, I understand we've got a couple of people online that would like to weigh in. Is that? Yes, Mayor. We have Brandi Ramirez. Go ahead, Ms. Ramirez.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Brandi Ramirez, 2231 South East 1st Street. I first want to acknowledge and thank all the communities that have attended tonight. With their love and support, this is all a strong testament I have faith that our mayor is coming tonight, but they will vote and push this forward. These are the voters speaking. This is our community, all of us living tonight on this battle. And I ask tonight for Fletcher and for Lawson, who have always done in the past going to county, and they have fought for us. I have witnessed them take the train and fight at the commission. And so I ask them to support and put pressure on the county commissioners. Let's work with the county.

Let's make it happen for our community.

We are united tonight for a strong homestead. And I will be right there to support you guys at the county as well. Thank you very much. Thanks, Councilman Harris. Have a good evening.

Thank you. We have another. Yes, we have Ram. Ram, go ahead, please.

Hello, Mayor and Council. This is Romero Orta, 2040 Southeast 19th Street. I'm also here on behalf of True Homestead. I just want to acknowledge all of the community that is in attendance. I want to acknowledge you guys for stepping up and requesting that the council assist you in this process. And that's the way you do it. And if you got to go to the next meeting, keep doing it until you get your resolution. But I also want to bring some awareness. In Keys Gate, I've been seeing like a lot of stray dogs. I'm not sure if Keys Gate is turning into the new Redlands, but I've been seeing a lot of stray dogs that is a little concerning. and maybe this is why the there's there's more coyotes out here because they also see that there's more um stray dogs and what have you but we need to control this and if there's anything that the that the city can do temporarily to to service this community i mean that would be great and especially on in keys gate where the issue is getting very very bad So I ask council to go ahead and consider this, approve this, and work with the community that's trying to bring a quick resolution to the issue. And for the community in attendance, I have a platform, if you guys want to leverage it, where you guys can reach the commissioners, the senators, and the state reps, let me know, and I'm here to help you. Thank you.

Thank you. Good night. Appreciate it.

Mayor, if I may? Yes. Sorry, I forgot to mention that we did have discussion and we can further clarify it for the public, but when the clinic is not open for service at Harris Field, those weekends that would potentially be stored at the location, they will they could activate it and do events at communities so at keys gate at waterstone and aldo bay and different clubhouses we could activate it around the city when when we're not doing the tuesday through thursday so we can look into that thank you sure thank you let me have the attorney read the resolution into the record

Well, there's a little technicalities we have to say.

Tab 35 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute a license agreement with Miami-Dade County and through Miami-Dade County Animal Services for the temporary placement and operation of a mobile spay and neuter unit within a portion of the parking lot serving Harris Field and the FOP Lodge on a schedule to be mutually agreed upon authorizing implementation providing for an effective date. Before we move forward, I just want to clarify, because some things came up tonight. If we're going to move forward with this, I'd like an amendment to authorize the manager to include the bathroom facility or the storage at the, I believe I heard two locations, either the FOP lodge or the pavilion, just to, you know, delegate the authority.

Include that in the negotiations authority.

Yeah. Just a second. Just a second. And the containment.

Yes, for the medicine in the FOP Lodge. Right.

Okay. Yeah, the FOP Lodge is actually close to the well.

Okay. Or whatever the appropriate location is.

Okay, thank you. And real quick before I forget, Councilman Roth, you have a good point and I agree with you. I think we've recently had a comprehensive survey done of Harris Field in connection with the potential reimagining. That can show us where those wells are actually located. I haven't seen it either, but I think that we recently had that done.

Okay, so we have a motion and a second.

Let's have a roll call.

Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilman Canabal? Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lawson?

Yes.

The motion carries.

All right. Thank you all. Appreciate it. All right. The next thing we need is a motion to extend the meeting till 10 p.m. Moved by Councilman Fletcher. I'll second it. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. we continue tomorrow sure we might have to there's going to come a point where there might not be four yeses for any more extensions i'd like to jump now to tab at the request of councilman avala to tab number 32 yes

while we're tapping turning our tabs and getting to uh the nefty program oh it's a whole different book guys yeah so while we're doing that let's have mr pearl read it by title

tab 32 is a resolution of the city council the city of homestead florida expressing support for the network for teaching entrepreneurship summer youth entrepreneurship program to be conducted in homestead recognizing the program's purpose of expanding entrepreneurship education mentorship career readiness and economic opportunity for homestead youth directing city staff to promote the program through the city's official communication channels providing for sponsorship providing for implementation and providing for an effective date

Thank you. So NEFTI is a nonprofit organization. They've been working with students in the entrepreneurial education field for 40 years. And this program is intended to expand access to entrepreneurial education, mentorship, technology-focused business development, career readiness, financial literacy, and economic opportunity for homestead youth. You may recall this item I brought a couple meetings ago that we were looking for a location. And I thank staff for providing some options. I'm happy to report that we found a home for the NFD program, and it is going to be held this summer at Keithgate Charter School. So that's taken care of. And they have grants and funding and whatnot, but this resolution will proffer to echo support for the entity, for its programming, and also allocate just $2,000 to help funding their camp shirts, which is not part of their grant budget now, as well as any difference of the funds to go towards equipment like their headphones to facilitate one-on-one sessions with their counselors, as well as additional equipment. supplemental for their prize money that they do get when they compete, et cetera. So we do have a brief presentation, right? Some Q&A, and we do have a life example to share as well. Thank you.

All right, welcome.

Thank you. Thank you for having me this evening, especially to Councilwoman Avila for being a champion for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship and opportunities provided for youth here in the city of Homestead. My name is Victor Martinez. I'm the program manager for the Southeast region at the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, or as we call it, NFTY. I am honored to be here today and tell you more about our programs and highlight several young people who have gone through the NFTY program here in Homestead. Nifty is nearly 40 years old, a nonprofit that provides entrepreneurship education in schools, districts, and community partners in 24 US states and 31 communities globally. Since our founding, we have been committed to ensuring that young people don't just receive classroom lessons on entrepreneurship, but gain true real world application to own their own futures. Since 1987, we have served 1.4 million students, a large portion of which have been in the state of Florida, thanks to dedicated decision makers like you all today. Entrepreneurship education builds a mindset, not just a skill set. It teaches young people to think creatively, solve problems, adapt to change, and see opportunities where others see obstacles. It brings learning to life by letting students create real ideas, test them, and pitch them, making education engaging, practical, and deeply memorable. Programs like NIFTY are leading the way, reaching young people around the world with a proven model that combines hands-on learning, mentorship, and real-world relevance. NIFTY specifically focuses on expanding economic mobility, ensuring that students from under-resourced communities gain access to the tools, networks, and confidence they need to succeed in future economies. The result is powerful. Students don't just learn about business. They gain confidence, voice, and a belief in their ability to shape their own futures and their communities. Here in Homestead, we utilize our best camp model over the last eight years. We deliver in a compact incubator style format. This creates momentum and excitement. Students stay highly engaged and there's a clear beginning to end with starting with an idea and ending with a pitch competition. BizCamp succeeds because it's engaging, relevant, and transformational, equipping young people not to just learn business knowledge, but with the mindset, skills, and confidence to navigate and shape the future economy. I'd like to highlight a few of our homestead youth who have participated in our programs. I'll start with Logan Cox. He is the creator of PlastaWave Solutions, a company that offers an innovative chemical product that specifically dissolves PET plastic and helping reduce the nearly 11 million tons of plastic that enter our oceans every year. Logan developed this idea while participating in our program at just 12 years old during the summer of 2024. Logan, in that same year, qualified to pitch at the 10X Pitch Off hosted by the Grant Cardone Foundation, where he earned first place and $6,000 to continue to build on his entrepreneurial journey. Logan today has also been crowned as the Miami-Dade Spelling Bee winner in February and will be representing not only Miami-Dade, but the city of Homestead in Washington, D.C. at the national competition starting this weekend. With me today is also Anthony Arias, the creator of Arias Express, a trusted car service for youth that will help them get from point A to point B with minimal worries from their families and themselves. Youth just like him. He participated in our program this past summer before entering sixth grade. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, his passion for entrepreneurship was evident to the point that even while he was out of town for his birthday celebration, he met with me every morning from 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. for at least an hour just so that he didn't miss the lessons for the day. Now, we don't know many students that do that over the summer. And lastly, Mia Gonzalez, similar to Anthony, joined us this last summer as a rising sixth grader. Mia created Pinball Paint, but known today as Tacky Off Golf, an app that helps golfers at all levels not only track their balls while they're out on the golf course, but also helping them track their swing and improving their overall performance. Mia took home second place last summer at our final BizCamp competition, competing against 200 other students, and advanced to the 10X Pitch Off, where she earned $2,000 to continue to build her business idea. Over the past year, she has improved her business concept, and her hard work paid off as she took home first place two weeks ago during Nifty Southeast Investor Pitch Competition, which is our advanced competition for youth. I'm also proud to share that we have been in so many of our youth in the city of Homestead have been with us, just like Logan, Anthony, and Mia, who started just as rising sixth graders and have attended our camp every summer until they have graduated high school. And these three amazing young entrepreneurs I highlighted today will also be returning this summer for their third and second summer with us in just a few weeks. Today, we ask for your support in building awareness of our program and providing financial support to successfully implement the program throughout the use of our resources and technology that will allow City of Homestead youth to continue their entrepreneurial journey. We look forward to continuing to work with the City of Homestead for many years to come. Thank you.

Thank you.

May I just add something real quick? I want to thank Albert and his family for bringing this program to my attention. The initial concern was that their location, where they had been serving, was no longer available. And so that's where I came in to try to find something. And I do want to also expand a thank you to Keysgate Charter High School and the principal, Daniel Verdeer, for facilitating the laptops that were also needed to make this program a success. LOCATION HAS BEEN SECURED FOR FREE, LAPTOP SECURED FOR FREE, THE GRANT PROGRAM IS GOING TO FUND THE COMPETITION, THE TRAVELING, YOU CAN EXPAND ON THAT AS WELL, VICTOR, AND THE CAMP SHIRTS WILL HOST OUR LOGO FOR BRANDING AND BANNERS, ET CETERA, SO WE WILL BE GETTING RECOGNITION AS WELL.

Good evening, my name is Anthony Adas. I'm 11 years old. I was a part of the NFTY summer camp last year. It is a great program because kids learn how to start a small business. We create a business plan. We learn to budget and solve problems. We also practice our presentation skills. At the end of the camp, everyone that finishes the program has the opportunity to get money towards the business. Kids get to compete with other kids at the district level. THE WINNERS OF THE CONTEST GET TO GO TO NEW YORK TO COMPETE AT A NATIONAL LEVEL. I WANT TO THANK COUNCILWOMAN ERICA VILLA, MAYOR STEVE LOSSNER, AND THE REST OF THE CITY COUNCIL FOR SUPPORTING THE CHILDREN OF HOMESTEAD AND THE NIFTY PROGRAM. THANK YOU.

Questions from council?

Sir?

Councilman Rohn? Oh, I just said you had one. Sir, I appreciate you coming down. So, I understand from our our packet that there is about 20 kids per summer in the program. Is it max out already? Are you fully enrolled for this summer?

So we just secured the location last about a week ago. So we just started that the recruitment process for the location as of today. We are halfway through. Through the enrollment process, and so we're about 1213 students there, but we are excited. We always have about a waiting list here. So every year it continues to grow. But our goal is to meet that 20 with a, with an opportunity to surpass that 20. if the demand is there from our, from the city community.

I APPRECIATE IT IF I MAY CLARIFY IN OUR MEETING WITH THE PRINCIPAL IT WAS DETERMINED THAT WE WOULD BE ABLE TO ACCOMMODATE 40 STUDENTS AS THE GOAL BUT AT A MINIMUM 20 AND WE DON'T THINK THERE'S GOING TO BE ANY PROBLEM WITH FILLING THOSE SEATS SO

I appreciate that. And with your presentation and what I've done some independent research and some recommendations of parents whose children have gone through a program, it is stellar. It's much needed. So where did the $2,000 amount come from? What was the genesis of that?

That was my recommendation for us to support, to have a financial support aspect, but to make sure that they get the camp shirts and an opportunity for us to get branding on the shirts. And any leftover funding would also support the headphone equipment purchase, which can tend to be a challenge according to the program director, and then also to supplement any prize money for the finalists.

So there's no support for that from the organization from the nifty organization at all.

So we are funded through other grants, but other grants are already covering the cost of our of our meals, as well as the staffing and interns that facilitate the program and other operational components of it.

The reason I ask, and I'm not singling this out, I, you know, when I can, I kind of vet and look at the form 990s that have been filed for these different not-for-profits. And what they need to be teaching these kids is to form a not-for-profit. Here's what I found on the NIFTY website. For 2024, their CEO salary was $688,000 a year His benefit package was about $63,000 a year. The top three most highly paid officers, the CEO, the CFO, the Executive Vice President, were north of a million and a half dollars in compensation, just based compensation, while student expenses were just a hair over a million dollars, and teacher expenses We're at $197,000 and travel at $426,000. So the cash on hand at the end of 24 was $6.1 million. They're not operating on a shoestring. And you can't get funding for t-shirts.

So that is an opportunity for brand awareness within the city of Homestead. It's an opportunity for that as well, but also an opportunity for our students to be able to be proud of being part of a community and a network of entrepreneurs, not only like themselves, but also being able to showcase that when they go on field trips into different parts of the city of Miami.

And again, I want to be very clear, very valuable lessons are taught. But I have to look at the financial situation of an organization and the need. I understand that you lost your prior home because there was, I think, no willingness to pay any kind of rent or use fee. And thank goodness for Keys Gate High that they were able to accommodate that. But when I look at these numbers, I really, and it's not about the amount. For me, it's about the principle. I really have to question when the top three officers of a not-for-profit with $6.1 million cash on hand have base salaries of over a million and a half dollars, and come and hat in hand here to us for 2000, I have a philosophical problem with that. That's just me. I have a fiduciary obligation here to know where taxpayer money is going. And typically the ask wouldn't be from a general fund. Typically it would be to go to individual council members and ask each of us to pitch in, but go ahead.

thank you mayor when in reviewing this initiative i asked what parts of your programming are you currently having a gap for funding and that's where we disclose that it was disclosed that the camp shirts have not been funded yet and i found that to be an opportunity for branding for us to showcase the program and to be able to have ownership with the program so i want to I think there should be some grace given to him when I'm the one that brought the program forward for our consideration. And I proffered the $2,000 to cover the camp shirts for the 40 students and to also escalate that towards equipment that they would end up keeping and also escalated to prize money that the city of Humpstead residents would end up keeping. So these $2,000 would not essentially go towards the pockets of the people that you're mentioning valid points.

They should be, the organization should be funding this. Valid points.

I agree. Valid points. And you know what? Maybe that's something that we should question, right? You know, for the NFTY, I would like to hear their answer to this type of questioning. I'm sure that they might have already had to answer it before. So I would, I am interested in hearing how they respond to these types of analysis. But the proof is in the pudding. The kids are being served. And for right here, right now, I think it's important that we foster that love of entrepreneurship and help advocate for these programs to continue in our city where if they didn't do it here, they'd do it somewhere else, and our kids end up getting left out regardless of the political and the financial oversight that is going on, apparently.

Are there any...

safeguards that it would only be homestead residents children involved i asked him he he had he had clarified that they are uh historically the for the programming it's all been vetted that they're from the high schools that they but that doesn't mean they're homestead residents i mean he can answer to that

So I mean, in the application process, we do ask them for for that information for their address, the schools that they attend, and, and part of it. So something I did not mention in the presentation is that the campus free for them to participate, there is no cost to the families for them to participate. So it is something that the families can put their students in something that is educational, but also allows them to grow in a way that maybe they don't grow in the currently in school.

Just so you know, in case you don't, a homestead address does not mean you live in the city of Homestead any more than our manager's driver's license that says Miami means he lives in the city of Miami. And we're working toward that resolution, yes.

It would be very, it would be an important analysis for me to be able to support this item for next year to be able to see the roster and to be able to identify the ratio of resident city of Homestead versus non-resident. So I would.

And we can easily identify that by address.

Exactly. So, you know, I would just make you aware to highlight and try to prioritize those registrations.

Absolutely. So any other questions? Councilman Fletcher.

Yeah, thank you. And I appreciate you bringing up the point of our financial stewardship. Again, this is taxpayer funds that we're going to outweigh, which is going to benefit some citizens' homestead, no doubt about it. But I would ask the manager and the staff, is there a way we could create our own not-for-profit that we have companies that come do business in the city of Homestead, donate to, and we use those funds for projects like these rather than taxpayer funds. I don't know if that's something we wanna go after or not, but I think it's important that somebody needs to go after that where we don't have those high overhead expenses to pay for CEOs and CFOs to help run this thing at a media level.

Councilman, if I may, in our parks presentation, there was discussion about the creation of a nonprofit for parks, but for parks. So I can't see why something similar, which I had already advocated and asked for legal counsel to work on trying to create a fund specific to educational so that we could. whether it's funded by private parties, community benefit packages from developers, donations, et cetera, but to have something that we could advertise to have a fund.

I appreciate that. A lot of different communities have, for lack of a better term, a sugar daddy to pay for some of these things. We don't. We do not. You go to Miami, you have the Trish and Dan Bell Foundation that gives millions of dollars to the city of Miami. We don't have that here. It's up to us to go find it, but at the same time, I don't know if it's something that we can do internally to be cost effective or do we have to hire another person to run it at a cost. So I think it's something that staff needs to look into and give us an answer back in the next month or so, if possible. Thank you.

GOOD EVENING. THANK YOU MAYOR AND COUNCIL FOR HAVING US HERE TODAY. COUNCILMAN FLETCHER BRINGS UP A GOOD POINT. AFTER DISCUSSING WITH MY TEAM AND EVERYTHING, SOUTH FLORIDA BARBER SCHOOLS AND MIAMI CLIVERS WOULD LIKE TO DONATE $500 TOWARDS THE 2000. to cover the cost and if maybe the city of Homestead can cover the rest, that would be much appreciated. Because the future of Homestead does live here. As you guys just saw, it's a great program. They teach you how to balance a checkbook, financial literacy, put a presentation together, and they compete with other nifty programs across the state and across the country. So think of it like Toastmasters, how you compete with each other across the country. It's a great program for the children. And I think that all the residents from the city of Homestead will benefit. A lot of the children from the city of employees and so forth. So it'll be appreciated if you guys can support whatever needs to be done for that program. And we will cover a $500 donation.

So in light of that, the motion would be for $1,500.

and i really hope that we have a problem next year and that there's like a hundred kids wanting to to go into this program i i'd like for that to be um the discussion is how do we make this a bigger impact in our city and and these are valid concerns and questions you know not non-profit work is is uh ruthless and for those who do it voluntarily and don't get paid for it you know That's a lot of money that the guy's collecting as a salary. Yep. But, you know, I can understand on a national level where the right person who's creating a successful, impactful, truly life-changing program, I mean, hey, they deserve a salary if that's what they're doing full-time. But I'd like for answers to be brought back for mayor and council on that item. Thank you.

Okay. Did we read this into the record, Mr. White, or Pearl?

Yes.

Okay. All right. So do we have a, do we have a motion at 1500? I second. By Avila, seconded by Canabal. Any further comment? All right. So let's have, let's have a roll call vote on that.

Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilwoman Koenske? Yes. Councilwoman Aguilar? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilman Canabal? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lawson?

No, on principle.

The motion carries.

Okay. Um, Councilwoman, I know you had requested that we move the Safe Roads, I think. No? Okay, that's, that's fine, because we, we have a request to do the NSP properties now. 27 and 28, and then go to 20, or no, go to 26, and then do 27 and 28. No, no, no, no, no, no. That if we're not gonna go forward with 34 at this point, which is your item of the Safe Roads Initiative, let's go to 26, 27, and 28. All right, Mr. Perl.

Tab 26 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, enacting revised comprehensive council meeting and agenda procedures, superseding resolutions on the same subject, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. I know we've all been briefed on this, and this is kind of something I think we've all talked around for a long time about having two real council meetings a month. It allows us not to get hung up in land use items all in one night. This provides a lot more flexibility. Question.

Thank you, Mayor. I did voice a concern that I like having a COW and the opportunity to digest information and to vote on it at a later council meeting. And I was proposing that we keep the COW and just add a third development services focused council meeting. So I'd like for that to be considered. And if it's really late in the agenda and I get that, if we can just defer it to next

for a special call or something or let's see how this works and and i think the some of the my early conversations were that in effect that one council meeting could be a cow you call it a council meeting so that you can have two land use meetings and go ahead and enact things but there could be things on the agenda that are carried over to the next okay and is that the only change in this resolution for legal

I want a clarification. Other than the addition of another council meeting, is there any changes to current practice?

You would adopt a council calendar in September to set forth your meeting dates. It would give you the flexibility to take some time off if you wanted to take a month off, whenever you establish your calendar. And the only other minor change was on occasion when we have meetings not that dissimilar from this evening. where you have excessive public comments that we can shorten as needed from three minutes down to a minute.

Down to a minute or two minutes, depending upon the flavor of the night as the need arises? Yes.

Okay, thank you.

And then in connection with this, I understand, Mr. Manager, you had some proposed dates that, that we might skip in, in the interim between the, between now and, and when we would adopt this for the, the coming fiscal year. I think we're talking the second regular, what would be the second regular meeting in June. You know, staff's going to be tied up with the 4th of July and, and some other things and rather than having them pulled away to do council meetings and perhaps a discussion about taking at least one of the August meetings off. There's been some discussion about the second June meeting.

So on the August meeting, I had mentioned to I believe staff as well as the city attorney, that in most jurisdictions, council usually takes the month of August off so that council can schedule whatever the council related activities, travels, And also some cities also have one meeting in March to allow council members who are interested in doing a spring break to also have a break in March. Instead of having two meetings in March, you have one meeting in March. Then take the entire August off. And also some cities also have December, only one meeting in December because of the holiday period. And specific to June, if I recall correctly, there is also the thinking that perhaps this particular month of June we could do only one meeting in June just for this year.

I think the June 5th meeting. Yeah. Right. And then we'd have one in early July.

Thank you, Mayor. And just if I can get confirmation from you, Mayor, because, you know, there's no red line because it's a resolution. So I know that there's prior, you know, prior council policy or procedures, just prior council procedures in place. And this is going to essentially wipe out and replace that.

But most of those are incorporated here other than the additions that the attorney described about we set. You know, in the run up to the new fiscal year, we set our calendar. Right, so just for example. There's no change in special call ability.

Right, so just for another example, like for here it says no more than two presentations for each member. That's current practice.

That's always been there.

Right, so.

Maybe after tonight we ought to rethink that.

But, okay, so that's my main concern that I didn't.

No, there's no bombs, no hidden, no hidden.

I appreciate that, thank you, okay.

Okay, so while we're at it, if we would incorporate that we would have the early June meeting and not the late June meeting. Do we want to go ahead and address skipping one or both of the August meetings? This June. This June and this August. Because we wouldn't adopt the following year schedule until probably September.

So the August meetings, usually on a yearly basis, you have the entire month of August off for meetings.

But for this August, we're probably not going to have adopted the 12 month calendar. So we should go ahead and incorporate that into this. Okay. As well as, I think, the June 20th this year? No, it's going to be 17th. Is it? What's the June? It's June 17th. 17th. And then we have early July.