City Commission - Regular Meeting

There you go.

Madam Mayor, it's 934 and we are live.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Thursday, June 11th, 2026 City Commission Budget Workshop number one. May I have the roll call, please?

Mayor Betty Rash? Here. Vice Mayor Mimi May. Ready. Commissioner Sarah Maliga. Present. Commissioner Christopher McVoy.

Ready.

Commissioner Anthony Segrich.

Present.

Be ready for a day of thrills and spills. Okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag it's a short but but lengthy agenda okay so um we have a uh schedule here of the we have a schedule here the different departments um we're going to first start out with budget overview

Good morning, Madam Mayor, City Commissioners. I will let Ms. Dale take over. Thank you.

Good morning. Can you hear me? Okay. Good morning, Madam Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Candace Dale. I am the Senior Budget Analyst here in the Finance Department. Thank you for the opportunity for allowing me to present the City of Lake Rose Beach Fiscal Year 2027 Proposed Operating Budget. I will provide a high level overview of the city's overall revenue and expenditure position, followed by a fund by fund review highlighting any significant changes within the budget. Following the city's presentation, our partner Stantec will present their financial analysis of the general fund, enterprise fund and special revenue funds. Before we begin, I would like to extend my appreciation to Interim City Manager, Mr. Troy Perry and Interim Assistant City Manager, Mrs. Deanna McKay, also Jamie Brown and Shona Smith for their leadership, guidance and preparation for today's budget workshop. I also would like to recognize our budget team, including Finance Director Yannick Ninjahayo, Senior Budget Analyst Hector Vargas and my colleagues within the Finance Department Lucy, Sylvia, and William. In addition, I would like to thank all city departments for their collaboration throughout the budget process. Now I will go over today's agenda, which you have here in front of you. I already went through the intro and the acknowledgments. From 9.30 to 3.45, there will be presentations. I kick it off with my budget overview, followed by the departments who will present their supplementals and answer any questions that you may have for their respective departments. We will break for lunch from 1230 to 115. Reconvene, continue with the department presentations. We have a 15-minute break from 345 to 4. And then Stantec will come on and present their financial analysis and forecast. And we will also answer any questions that you may have. I have a spot holder for a preliminary review of the fiscal year 2027 CIP, but before we get to that, we would like to get consensus on the supplementals and also the stormwater rates and the refuse residential rates. And the preliminary review of the CIP, we're going to provide you with a list of the projects for 2027. And we just want to make sure that the needs of the commission are being met. And if they're not, we'll take whatever direction you give us. We'll have a meeting with the departments and we'll make those updates for budget workshop number two. And then 445 to five for other further direction from commission and preparation for budget workshop number two.

I'm not a question.

I'm sorry, Madam Mayor, your mic's not on.

I know.

It's very annoying.

And do you hear that? Use your breath. Okay. Thank you.

Okay, so this slide here represents the city's year-round budget process. Staff begins with budget development early in the calendar year. We conduct detailed departmental reviews analysis in the spring, engage with commission through budget workshops during the summer, and we finalize the adoption through the statutory public hearing process in September. Those dates are already set. September 10th is the first public hearing, and September 24th is the second and final hearing. Before proceeding, I will respectfully ask that you allow me to complete the budget overview presentation, as many questions may be addressed throughout the presentation or later during the departmental discussions. And please note that the expenditure figures being presented this morning does not include the supplemental requests. Also, I would like to highlight several key budget drivers that impact multiple funds throughout the organization. Those include reductions in IT costs, the implementation of a revised budget allocation, an updated pension contribution calculation, and adjustments to property and liability insurance allocations. And that's resulted in a more equitable distribution of costs. and then debt service reductions resulting from scheduled debt amortization. As we move through the presentation, you will notice that these items are recurring factors contributing to expenditure reductions across several funds unless otherwise noted. With that, I will begin with the city's overall revenue and expenditure position. This slide provides a summary of revenues across all city funds. Total revenues are projected at approximately $223 million, representing an increase of about $1.4 million, and that's 0.64% over fiscal year 26. The largest revenue growth is occurring within the enterprise funds. And despite the fluctuations you may see among the individual funds, the city's revenue position remains stable. The next slide are the city's overall expenditures. Total expenditures are proposed at approximately $197 million, a decrease of approximately $18 million, which is 8.4% less compared to last year. Now we'll start with the individual funds. The general fund revenues are projected to decrease by approximately 2.3 million. That is 4.3% less compared to last year, and that's primarily due to the elimination of prior year's use of fund balance. Expenditures are projected to decrease by approximately 6.7 million. That's 12.4% less than last year's budget. And the primary driver of this reduction was a decrease of approximately 4.9 million in the required pension and contribution from both the police and the fire.

Can you slow down? Yeah.

I'm sorry.

Because you guys have practiced this 87 times. This is the first time we're hearing it. So it's hard to take notes when you're already on page nine. If you go back to page eight, could you review what you said at the end? What was the primary driver of the revenue decrease?

It's used to the elimination of prior years use of fund balance. So we're not using fund balance to balance the funds.

At all?

At all. Right now.

And that- Did we use it this year?

For 26, yes. If you look, we used 2.1 million.

No, I know it was in the adopted, but did we actually use it?

Oh, as of, I'm not sure.

Isn't that on the next?

We'll have to wait till the end of the fiscal year to see where we end up. So if the expenses exceed the revenues, obviously we'll have to dip in our fund balance. But so far- Right. We're ahead. We're ahead. I don't think we'll touch it. Yes. Yes. And if you if you don't mind, so that we can get through our presentation and just if it's okay with you guys, if we can, I can you not leave, I just got a message that this is not streaming on YouTube.

Okay, thank you.

Yes. Yes.

So go through that. But I mean, if we fly through it, we're gonna have to go through it again anyway. So just We need to be able to write down a few little things. So you said that we're not using fund balance. And then you said for our revenues, I mean, our expenditures, we're decreasing the expenditures based on what criteria?

That is the reduction of the police and fire pension contribution. Okay. Thank you.

Because those are all expiring. No, I get it. I just want, she was. No, no, no. I've heard.

Yeah.

Yeah.

okay i apologize thank you um before we continue can you speak up a little bit more candace um i people are saying it's a little hard to hear you yeah breathe from your gut i'm trying not to yeah is this better much better okay be careful much better okay my apologies you're an important woman

Okay, moving along with the building fun revenues are projected to decrease by approximately 284,000 which is 12.5% lower compared to fiscal year 2026 and that's primarily due to the elimination of prior year use of fund balance. Building fund expenditures are projected to decrease by approximately 326,000, and that's largely driven by savings and salaries and benefits. Please note that this does not reflect any revised numbers within the legislation that will affect the building fund, but the department director will speak on that later today.

Now, do those figures account for the fact, do they fill the, if we had every position filled, or are they as is right now?

As is.

Okay, so it looks like less, but we really need more people. Okay.

The cold remediation funds, as we discussed in previous meetings, this one is not self supporting and will require Commission direction regarding is long term funding strategy expenditures exceed revenues by approximately 128,000 which would require additional use of fund balance. Moving on to the beach funds.

You want to come in?

Beach Fund revenues decreased by approximately $357,000. That is 6% lower compared to last year, and that's primarily due to the elimination of the use of prior year's fund balance as a funding source. Beach Fund expenditures decreased by $357,000 from the prior year, and that's also 6% lower. And the reduction is primarily attributable to lower debt service payments for the amortization schedule. Moving on to the golf funds. Golf fund revenues remain consistent with prior year. They have an increase of about 35,000 and that's approximately 2% higher than last year. Expenditures remain consistent with prior year as well. Now we're on information technology funds. IT revenues decreased by approximately 530,000. That's 14% lower compared to last year. And that's mainly due to budget cuts, which did not require the same contributions as last year from the respective departments. Expenses were also reduced to that respective budget cut across the board by 616,000. Looking at the self-insurance fund, revenues in the self-insurance fund decreased by $948,000. That's approximately 14% lower compared to last year. The 14% reduction in revenues reflects a recalibration of departmental charges to more closely match projected expenditures and the operational needs of the self-insurance funds. And as you can see, the expenditures remain consistent with prior year. looking at the benefit fund revenues and the benefit fund are projected to decrease by 1.3 million that is approximately 19 percent lower than last year and the decrease is primarily attributable to revised benefits allocation methodology that is more accurately aligned with departmental contributions with actual budget costs Expenditures are projected to decrease by 809,000. That is 13% lower than last year. Staff has aligned the budget with current spending trends and known budget costs pending receipt of updated premium projections from the city's benefits broker. Moving on to the garage fund revenues and the garage decrease by 127,000 that's about 7% less due to cuts and garage Labor costs and based on historical trends expenditures decrease by approximately 157,000 and that's 9% lower compared to last year. The debt service fund there's really no significant changes and debt service and we have approximately about 22 years left to pay on the gold bonds 2048. 2048. Moving on to the electric fund, revenues are projected to increase by approximately 4.5 million, and that's 6.66% higher compared to the prior year. And that's primarily due to the changes in the PCA costs. And for the expenditures, let me try to break this down for you because what is shown in the budget book, we noticed that there was an error. So it looks as if there's a $9 million decrease, but that is not the case. It's approximately 4.7 million. And we do have printed handouts to provide you so you can see that. Hector has them here. Do you want the handout first or do you want me to go ahead and explain? Yeah. Okay. And also you was you can follow me on page 297 in your budget book.

Just look at this.

So this is going to replace in the presentation or in the book?

In the book for the next budget workshop. It will be updated then. Okay.

Careful. budget casual.

Is it okay for me to see. Yes, okay so on page 297 in your budget book we noticed the operated expenditures for purchase power should have been 16.1 million instead of 11.3 million, and this was mainly driven by the reclass of PCA related expenditures. So i'm going to list out those three GL accounts. The first one. is FP&L transmission costs of $3,496,157. The second one is the Purchase Power Stanton PCA. That's $648,555. And the last one is Purchase Power FAMPA Solar II, and that's $644,984. Do you want me to go over those numbers again?

No, I don't just don't know what numbers you're reading.

On page 297.

Yeah, we're there.

We don't see those numbers. In the variance column, it says 3,496,157. Yes. That's FP&L transmission calls. Yes.

Right here.

so if excuse me if i could jump in just a little bit so i could clarify this for you uh do you all see where the 11.3 million is for purchase power that number should have been 16.1 million correct correct and the reason for that is because you right right below it uh you see those significant decreases those should have been reclassed over to the 11 point should have been added over to the 11.3 million. Correct.

Would you explain the reclassification?

So meaning it should have, the PCA cost purchase power should have been 16.1, meaning if you add up the 3.4, the 648,000, and the 644,000, that add up to approximately 4.7, that should have been added to the 11.3 because it's still purchase power. It's just a different line item. That's what I mean by reclass.

So it's not 11, it's 16.

Correct.

Cause it's all the 16, you cross out the, now, you know, longer have the 3.4, the three 20. Right. This is the only way down. Right. Those are not additional. Those are inclusive.

Yes. They're all inclusive.

And what about the eight?

The eight is fine. The eight is fine. Yes. So if you flip through, if you flip at the very page three zero four, three or four. At the very bottom, that decrease of 9 million should really be 4.7. It should be 4.7.

What does that do to the percent?

I would say six. It's almost half. I'll say six point something. Yeah, about half of it.

but then adding to that other line wouldn't it just zero out okay cool

right now it's not that that 4.7 is not part of the it's not added to the 11 million on this item got it yes and you can see on the board so if that for that 64 million needs to be 68 yes so if you look at uh the screen so if that 9 million goes down to 4.7 it's corresponding to the pca increase uh on the revenues so it's more in line with with the PCA revenues increase.

I hope we're not doing 64 million at the beach.

I believe that's the capital improvements CIP schedule. That's the CIP schedule, right? Is that?

yeah it's the same number as the word as as the budget says 64. so that will go that will go up to 68.

Okay, any questions? Thank you.

On the electric one, the expenditures went from 74 to proposed 64 million?

That changed that. Is that the one that changed?

Right. Okay, we just checked that. Yeah.

That's the exact thing.

No, no. Shouldn't the 64 be 68? Yes. Yeah.

on this additional sheet that you gave us expenditures by division um this one that you just passed out i guess it's page 340 control um i'm all right if you on your budget on your 340

On your budget book?

No, he just passed this out. It was attached to this sheet.

Right, because on your budget book, if you turn into 339. Correct, yes, there's no 349. So that details the non-departmental. When we printed these books, we noticed that the non-departmental detail was not included, so we're providing that.

Questions when we're looking at bond, I would like to, I don't know if I have consensus, but where it says notes, if we can have the balance of those bonds on the notes on the bonds that we're paying into, how much is left and our expiration date.

We could do that.

That would be helpful.

Sure.

And the sheets that they just passed out, there was a one that says page 340 on the bottom. Yeah. At the top, it says expenditure by division. Yeah. And it's got all the bonds listed out, but it doesn't have the balance or when those bonds are up to be paid off. Got it. Thank you.

All terms.

So with this, do you still have the wrong numbers?

You mean the 68?

This has the 64 and the 9 million.

Yeah, so this will need to be updated as well.

So the whole thing you just handed to us, Chuckett? No, that's just .

But we corrected it.

But this is corrected, or this is not?

Yes. So is the rest of it. The rest is not good.

Page 200, it's got 64 and 9 million. Vice Mayor, can you speak into your mic, please?

sorry the second one is no just the one that says electric keep the second sheet let's make a pile of garbage or we could throw it over the cliff yeah okay all right go ahead

Okay, so we're moving on to the Electric Utilities Storm Fund.

What page is it slides?

That is slide number 18. I'm sorry, 19. 19. so electric utility storm funds revenues are projected at approximately 1.6 million and that's consistent with last year's adopted budget year to date revenues total approximately 3 million 3 million now yes so 3 million now plus the 1.68 for next year correct so we're more than halfway to our goal which is pretty good Next, we have the water fund their revenues are projected to increase by approximately 715,000 and that's due to a rate adjustment increase of about 4% which will be further explained in the standard model later on today. Expenditures are projected to decrease by 534,000 that's approximately 2.72% lower than last year and that's primarily due to reductions and administrative allocations and debt related costs. Moving on to the local sewer funds. Local sewer fund revenues increased by $689,000. That's 5% higher than last year, primarily due to an increase in rates, which will later be explained by Stantec later on today as well. Expenditures slightly went down by 2.2%, and that's primarily due to operational efficiencies and expenditure adjustments. The regional sewer board has not yet finalized their budget, I believe they have a meeting coming up in June so once they finalize the budget will get that information and have it updated by budget workshop number two Thank you welcome.

in second oh mr sagridge thank you just really quick question um in the the fund balance sheet that you gave us at the uh the last meeting um there's a regional sewer fund in there do we are we holding like all of the money for our regional interlocal partnership is that what or do we have 19 million dollars sitting in a fund

regional sewer uh yes we are holding uh whatever contributions that they have on there so there's there's three reserve there's one for uh capital projects there's another one full um catastrophe fund that just started recently yes it's all it's all included in there the reason why you see such a big fund balance is because we have a large invest our portion of investment in the ecr is pretty large so it's about like 40 million now so that's why you see such a big fund balance

Moving on to stormwater. I'm sorry, Ms. Lega has a question.

Thank you. I just, I'm going to throw this out there, not for our conversation now, but looking at the storm fund and for the sewer fund, I think that we should create another storm fund for those because the storm fund that we have now is a storm for electrical. And I think that we should have a policy conversation coming forward in regards to a storm fund for those two. For what? For water and sewer. An emergency storm fund.

because currently we're getting five dollars from every account but that's going to the electrical storm fund okay miss miss me um i remember earlier in the year the water department was going to do a rate study was that done but i believe it's in progress how can we change rates if we don't have that results from that study

We'll get back to you on that one. Thank you. Yes.

Off goes Valentina. As in off goes Valentina. She does all purchasing. Okay.

Okay. Stormwater fund revenues remain consistent to prior year at 3.2 million. That's a slight increase of roughly 1.2%. Stormwater fund expenditures slightly went down by 61,000 and that's roughly down 2% compared to last year. Moving on to the refuse funds revenues are projected at approximately 8.5 million and that's representing a decrease of 8.9% compared to last year and the decrease is mainly driven by a reduction and prior years use of some balance which declined for 1.5 million to 139,000. Expenditures are projected at approximately $8.6 million, and that's representing a decrease of $839,000, 8.9% lower than last year. And the reduction is driven by prior year transfer of CIP in an amount of about $500,000 for the purchase of the bucket truck.

Mr. Segwitch has a question.

uh thank you i saw in both of these funds we we basically relabeled to special assessment about a large amount what was the reason that we reclassified that like that oh we were going by the uniform um

A county guidance, state of Florida, so that it doesn't get confused with charges for services, that it will just be like special assessment from the county. So it's just a reclassification.

So if I'm reading that correctly, we don't actually charge for any services for stormwater. It's purely all special assessment.

Not all of it. We also have commercial, I believe, on there.

Well, sorry, what?

There's a commercial portion of it, right?

Oh, okay.

Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, for the special assessments, both commercial and residential.

It's residential only.

Refuse is only, correct.

Okay, so refuse to special assessments are residential and the charges of service are commercial? Yes. Yes.

I would say that the charges of services are when we have dumping picked up. That's a charge of service as well?

I have two. Yes.

No, what I'm asking is the charges of services, does that include when we pick up dumping on a lot? That's the bill that we send them as well?

That's right.

Okay, thank you.

That's a big decrease in charge of services.

That's a big decrease. It just got relabeled. Okay, got it.

Three plus four is seven. Thank you. That I understand.

I know. I'm making it for you. Yeah, before we change the rate.

What? Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay.

Okay.

Oh, that's great.

Last but not least, beautification funds. No significant changes are proposed for the beautification fund. Revenues and expenditures remain consistent with prior year's budget. But I would like to address something and I think I this is what Mr. Segrich was pointing out to in the handouts for the beach funds, the handout that we provided, we noticed in the book that the table was pointing to the wrong chart. So we had to update that. And that's why we reprinted that section. So what you have in your hand is will be different from the book because that is accurate information.

So replace the pages in the book with these.

Correct.

Yes. 185 through one some 92.

the beautification fund does that where does that come from i'm like who i don't know what we've done with that i have no or might recommend any anything coming out of that i know that we have a tree fund i don't see a tree fund in here that so the beautification should actually be tree fund or is it we're just that is where we get the tree i thought we had 75 000 in there i thought we had more than Or is the tree fund with the money we're using from sustainability? Or is this a different fund? I think developed this. Didn't she feel like downtown beautification when she was here?

No, it's been there for a while. I believe that's the tree fund. It's always been called beautification fund.

By you.

No, not by me.

By someone other than us. We've been calling it the tree fund for a long time. Yes.

I don't think it's sustained.

It should have. Yeah, it should have.

So I think it's a different fund.

If we could just do it, not right now, but if we could earmark that for a discussion to come forward. Okay. Beautification versus tree. I don't know what we've used beautification fund for personally. I don't remember ever a budget amendment or a transfer. Mr. Segrich?

If you look at your fund balance sheets that they give us the other week, it's listed as the tree beautification fund, and there's $51,000 in the fund balance. Yes.

I knew it was for trees. Yes.

It's page 11 in your budget book. We have a copy of that on page 11. I'm sorry, page 10, and then if you cross over, page 11 will show you the balance.

but in here it's showing, oh, it doesn't show the balance at all.

This is the fund balance.

No, I got it. So we didn't, we used fund balance, we're wanting to use fund balance of 22.4 this year, or 12,400 for the coming year?

Correct.

Where we use 22.4 for this year?

Correct.

Okay, so this has to have the word tree in front of it. Yeah.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

We'll fix it.

that's on page 11 of your book oh that's not on the sheet yeah we just learned that

Mr. Seck, Mr. Seck.

Thank you. And I wanted to say that this format and how we started this presentation, there's only being my second time, but this has gone a lot smoother. And I think we got through a lot of information. And I thank you guys for that. It's been been great to go through it. My only one ask, and I don't know if my colleagues would agree, is when we have this overview like this, i think it would be great to see the fund balance and the allocated and then the available so basically okay three columns from this sheet right um essentially what i asked for on the bonds yes yeah and because then then we don't have to go flipping back and forth in it and it would have answered the question that we just had but minor ask but um kudos to you guys this is a lot easier to go through and

We'll work with Hector to see if we can get that for the next presentation. Yes, I just wanted to point out, speaking of fund balance, on your budget book, we have a fund balance analysis from page 10 through 13. it's kind of like a summary because we couldn't fix all those we couldn't include all those columns in there so it's kind of like summarizes that that big long fund balance analysis on there just for your reference so the reason that we're negative 23 million on the electric is uh Right, that's how much more we need to increase our fund balance to get to the six months target line. Yes. Yes.

One more question on that. So under required working capital?

Yes.

that's what we're required in the one next to what we have. So essentially we need to increase both of those. What, Pedro?

Right, so what we currently have, what we're anticipating to have by the end of this fiscal year is 13.4, and that's a very conservative number, but are required based on the, are required, should be 36.8, give or take. So we have 23 million more to go.

So whereas the water fund is, Yes. Almost 3 million.

Correct. It has access funds.

Access funds. Yes. You don't get in trouble for that, correct?

No. So we use that access funds for emergencies maybe, or if you have an additional capital project, we could always use that. It gives us a little bit more flexibility to use those funds.

So the local sewer, the regional sewer is one that we just talked about.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions?

Any other questions from commissioners? I don't see any right now. OK. We will now transition to the departmental presentations, which consists of supplemental requests. Each department has been allowed approximately 30 minutes to present their requests and address any questions from the commission. And with that, we'll begin with city commission and city manager's office.

We can turn this down.

Other people might not be seeing that.

See there in the officer phone. Yeah.

She went to get her.

No, she went to come. It blocks him. That's your giant water bottle. Sometimes I can't see Anthony's light. This is a giant water bottle.

You know, I've been thinking, we're trying to get more water.

That's my call. Water? He just absorbs it from the atmosphere because he knows, water knows that he is their friend. So it just pumps to him naturally. It just sucks right in. Boy, there was an ambulance flying up Dixie just a little while ago.

They need water. They can't drink water.

Not a lot, though.

They can do one little lick of their eye.

Like a bromeliad. Oh.

Madam Mayor, when you're ready. Good morning. Troy Perry, the city manager's office. I'll be presenting the city managers and the city commission's supplemental requests. For this year, the city manager's office did not have any supplemental requests. But for the city commission's office, we did have a request. As you know, we held the Palm Beach County League of Cities Luncheon this year, which was a success. it was great it was great definitely thanks i would like to have that as we do that once a year okay miss thank miss smith for the hard work so she put together an item for us who did that miss smith johnson yeah so what we're requesting we were able to reallocate funds to cover a portion of it and most of the cost probably was The majority was paid through the city manager's office this year. So what we're requesting is an additional $5,000 in account for the contractual service.

How much did it cost to do it?

I believe she said it was close to $11,000 last year. So we're asking for an additional $5,000 this year and to transfer it to the commission's budget.

Mr. Segrich and Mr. McVoy.

I know there's a lot of cities in the League of Cities. How many of them host the luncheons?

This is the first time we've ever done it in all the years.

Almost everybody hosts it. Yeah. I think that it's us, like Ocean Ridge doesn't host. The smaller, tiny ones don't. But we are the biggest city that has never hosted before.

Yeah.

But if there's 39 municipalities and three people each come from each municipality, you've got at least 117 attendees. Yeah.

but and they do these monthly once a year once a year no no but the luncheons yes no so yeah but this yeah this is always a good so 12 out of the 39 municipalities host them presumably okay well pohoki does a big barbecue yeah delray beach is doing one next week yep we're in delray next week mr mcgoy

um just a minor one i support the additional request uh we did receive i believe all of the commission but i don't remember um did receive a comment after that luncheon from a resident who's on staff in some other city i believe um and they encouraged us strongly to set an example of using recyclable and i got an email as well um you know be a little more conscious we we used it was pretty much all single use stuff and i think you know especially since it's at the beach and people are concerned about microplastics yeah let's let's do a little a little more in that direction on this one therefore we'll pass that information on we'll take it back and we can thank you you know how much you know stuff made from the sugar the sugar stock leftovers

That concludes the request from the city commission's office. I could not hear you, Mr. That concludes the request from the city.

Oh, so you just need consensus from us?

Well, you can do it two ways. You can give consensus or you can hear the entire, you know, office of departments and decide.

I think we should consent at a time. Yeah, I consent to this one.

Okay. Consent with the recommendation. Thank you.

Consent with bagasse. Mr. Segrich?

Just given what's coming down the pipeline, I just want to weigh the importance of doing some of these things. I understand it's a small line item, but for me, I'd rather put this money towards roads or infrastructure out of our budget if we're going to be losing money. So I don't consent.

And you've not been involved with any of the Florida League of Cities activities, which I think those of us that do find them very helpful.

They're the ones who fight against the bad bills. They're the ones who bring the money. And learning about leadership.

I understand. I don't really.

And if we can't, if we have to cut it one year, we cut it.

Yeah. No, I just feel that right now we should focus on infrastructure. And this is extra.

And if it has to go, it'll go. Yep. Good to take advantage of. Okay.

Clark, are we ready?

Okay. I know.

Good morning.

Good morning.

If I might just say for the Palm Beach clerks, we take turns also hosting our meetings, and sometimes they combine, municipalities combine to co-host. Just a suggestion. Okay, so for fiscal year 27, the clerk's office only has one supplemental request. We're requesting an additional $3,500 to our travel and training program. account to um support tuition reimbursement which is part of um the contract city um contract with per article 26 of the peu contract we provide up to five thousand dollars annually for higher education so in order to meet the five thousand dollars we're requesting an additional 3500 as we normally budget 2500 for that so on top of the 2500 or the total so the total would be six thousand so yes so um 3500 on top because that would still allow us to because we have to attend conferences to keep up our ceus and et cetera uh miss may and then miss maliga just a quick question are we going to continue to have two city clerks you mean a city clerk and a deputy city clerk yes

Okay. No, I just didn't know because we, so you're looking to hire the deputy. Right, right, right.

Shayla is the deputy in Shayla's state.

Oh, good. Well, hello. Somebody could have told us that.

Sorry, we just walk around. Is she here? She's running. She's downstairs. We're we're tag teaming. Hey, we're tag teaming. So she's doing it. Yes. So she's staying. Otherwise, I would not have had a supplemental.

That's kind of what I was like. Wait a second. If we're losing her, why do we have to?

Yeah, we would. We're not.

OK, then I'm good. This is a good question. Where do I find the fund balance again for these supplementals? available funds that are that are for the request and are we using fund balance are we just increasing the budget for next year okay the mic isn't on um

not a mayor yes ma'am so if you look it says that we are um reducing a line item to help cover i understand that but i still won't ask okay if you go to page eight of your budget book it shows what the net revenues are and that does not include any supplementals thank you that's all i needed to have a comparison while we're going through it so um of course i always love to support education

My question is if we do give somebody education, tuition reimbursement, is there a lock or a guarantee for how long they stayed with the city and how long is that?

Yes. So they are required to stay for at least two years. And if not, they have to pay the city back.

And then I will hope that HR or finance tracks that. Correct.

Absolutely. And also they have to have certain grades to get the full $5,000. Okay.

Thank you. I'm in support.

Mr. Zagridge.

Thank you. Just kind of one general question. As we're going through these supplementals, is this also our time to be asking about the overall budget line items? Or are we just purely looking at supplementals and we're going to come back to the full budget for each department?

You can ask for the overall budget as well.

Okay. So just for my own education, the employees in the city clerk's office are members of the PEU?

No, they're not. But there was a resolution passed that everybody in the city would follow those guidelines, follow that contract.

The increases in salary.

Right. So everything that PEU got, all employees were eligible for.

might be slightly off topic, but just on that, it seems as most of the union employees fall into the enterprise funds. We're potentially looking at issues with the property tax and so on. At a future date, we may want to consider looking at merit-based incentives for city employees. I'm just, you don't have to shake your head. You can disagree with me. no i'm not yeah okay well i'm just saying it might warrant it if we were suddenly faced with having to find five million dollars well it's something to consider um the i.t expenditures 86 000 for five people seems very very high um what is in there is there some special software that that makes that up or do you guys have special computer equipment

we don't have anything special, but we do have, um, software particular only to our office. Also we share in the costs. So, um, it provides that we don't. So, you know, I provide information to it about what the software costs, um, because the first year we, uh, the first year the department covers it and thereafter it covers it. So,

So what was so um from a permission on page forty-six of the budget book.

Does that include like the Youtube cost, the channel of the Youtube for all of the meetings?

that come on to the to the city clerk's office as well uh i would for hrpb planning and zoning can i say something i'm sorry you don't mind no nelly will be coming up do you want to wait and so we correct or do you want to ask as we go along i'm just asking mr mayor the intent of this hopefully you will allow us to uh go through this process we're going to go through the supplement

so once we go through supplemental forms we'll take that information back okay and some of the items might change in terms of priority so i don't think the departments would rather really be prepared today to go either that's we want to be prepared when are we going to do the deep dive so but how do we know how to compare the amount of the supplementals to the amount of the fund

If you look on page eight of your budget book, page eight of your budget book shows the net revenues for each month and then on your the supplemental book that you have there is a page that subtotals these for all the supplemental so like for the general fund if you go to page two it is approximately 627 000 and it shows what the remaining balance will be once those supplementals are applied okay but where's the it's hard when there's so many references to different i see so page one and page two don't they just tell me how much they want no if if you look at page can i ma'am please yeah please we need help

I got it. Page eight of our book is General Fund Net Revenue. I got it. Okay.

All right, thank you.

Oh, OK. Thank you.

Revenue balance. So it's not the time to go through the detailed budget. That's going to be next meeting? OK. So the only other question I have, and I'll probably ask it of every department, are you adequately staffed?

Yes, we are adequately staffed, for sure. I mean, we have a lot to do, but we're getting it done.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

I consent for this item. Okay, me too. Mr. Sayridge? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Professional Services Legal City Attorney. Who's going to speak for the city attorney?

Madam Mayor. Yes. Provided by the legal department, we are requesting an additional $26,000 a year, $6,000 towards the IW, ongoing litigation expenses.

What page are you on?

Where are you? Page number 590, 190. 190? When you say litigation? Huh? Negotiations, that's correct.

Negotiations. That's how much it cost us to negotiate the union contract. Additional. They need additional funding. But I'm saying for the whole year to negotiate the contract, it's $694,000?

No. No.

Well, that's why I was, I'm like, say that again, because the way you said that, I was like, what is happening?

No, it's just, they're asking for $6,000 more.

Oh, this is a total for everything. I'm sorry.

And on page number 6190, additional charges for litigation filing for reporting services. Yeah. And they're asking $20,000 for that. I consent. Mr. McCoy? Reluctantly, but I don't see the alternative.

What are the biggest lawyers? I consent. Ms. May.

Ms. May.

Yeah, it looks like we've been paying it anyway, and now we're just making it a line item. Mr. Stigrich?

I consent. Thank you. I just have... Never mind.

All right. That was... Anger was more anger. Okay. CEBS certification, human resources.

uh no the next one the court reporting i think if we follow the agenda oh finance is next yes so what page finance is starting on page 24. yes that's what they do they just

It's a growing insurance policy. Right. 24. 24.

Yes. So requesting a 5% education certification increase. That's for the CGFOA. That's a certified government finance officer certification that I'm going to be pursuing. and in accordance with the incentive programs. And that also comes with the one-time payment of 2,500. So, yes.

So you get paid to get the course and then you get- Right, the one-time. For getting the course?

Yes.

That would be nice indeed.

For passing it, for passing it. It's a one-time payment. Yes, once you pass, once I pass, you get the, according to our incentive program, we get the one-time payment of $2,500 for that certification.

But it's also an increase of $1,000, 5% salary.

Right.

We're a little confused. I brought this up during the union conversation.

Yeah, I don't know that we should give bonuses just for getting the... It's part of their contract. Not we're talking about this year.

I understand.

It's part of, if you look at the, if you look at the employee handbook, it's part of the Senate probe. I can just go to a school and I keep getting more money and, but, and you pay for my school. It's in your contract. Here comes Lauren and you pay for my school. Do I have a requirement to stay?

Hi, Lauren Sladen, Director for Human Resources. This is a policy that was negotiated with the PEU Union, and it was also passed by the City Commission by you. I don't remember. I'm sorry, can you not hear?

Previous Commission.

no it came before you i believe in january i can't remember when it came forward i'll double check the date and i'll resend it to you so this is a tiered program and it's geared towards keeping employees and you know building them as they go so for just a general certification for like a low certification it's built into their compensation package for instance the code officer they have certain levels that yeah So once they pass one certification, they get a 5% raise. Keep in mind, code officers don't make that much money. So 5% of not much money is not much money. But we stagger that into their compensation program. But then we realize that people that are going for higher degrees, we're getting the same perk. for working a lot harder. So we built a tiered program where for somebody maybe possibly getting a bachelor's degree, we get a little bit more. So they get the 5% and they get a one-time bump to reward them for that. They have to sign up. The same thing, we do a promissory note. They have to stay for a certain level of time. Well, it has to be approved in the budget, which is in this process right now. The funding has to be approved. And then they have to show the proof of it and sign a promissory note. Then there's a third level for an advanced degree. This is your CPA. This is your GFOA. Because we want our employees... To have these degrees, we want these people to stay. They can make a lot more in the private sector. So we know that we can't really give them the huge bump on their salary. So rather than increase the percentage, we give them one time bumped to reward them for doing that.

But the one the one time bump is twenty five hundred.

or it's like three levels. So one's 5%, one's I can't remember, like 1,000, 1,500, and the other one is 2,500.

But there's also an increase to the salary.

Yes, it's 5% increase. But this is also for somebody getting a GFOA that they work years for. You have to have a certain number of years in your career to do this you can't even apply to take these has to be a proctored exam and it's something that is above and beyond so this is your cpa your mba your advanced degrees so does that eleven thousand dollars reflect the five percent increase is that what that is um i i didn't i didn't i did i did not prepare this one so i don't know i would assume so

So it's not like he gets, I don't know. I would assume so. Third person, $11,000 for going on the trip.

No.

Okay. It's 2,500 for going on the trip.

Well, the, no, he he's in the GFO is, is, is a prestigious award, especially.

I'm not pushing that at all. I think it's wonderful to do it. It is. Yeah.

And we want our employees to have these because this is our finance department and this is who are in charge of our budget.

So it's true. 100%, I agree on education and increase of knowledge. Yes. And not that we need more certificates hanging on, but we need more knowledge.

No, we need the knowledge. We want it to stay here.

And I agree with that. My only concern, and just hear me out, is when we have 5% increase for you being a rock star and going and getting a certification and improving your knowledge. And then they get another increase for doing something else. And then there's another increase for doing something else. And we know that we had this problem a couple of years ago that the auditor brought to us. And I'm concerned about that because we don't have an internal auditor right now. So I'm going to vote in favor of this, but I want to make sure that this is why we have internal auditors to make sure that There's a checks and balances system. I'm not going to say there's nobody to take advantage of because when you further your education, that's a great thing across the board. But when you go 5% plus 5% plus 5%, now all of a sudden that inequality again that we had before the cuffs and class study starts to get the scales become unbalanced again. So I just want us to be mindful going forward that we don't have an internal auditor to make sure that we're not overstepping certain things. Right. And there's a lot of

i mean other public mr jobs where you don't get paid for your education

i understand but this is our policy and i will support this and i'm thankful because we got yannick back and our finance department is blowing it out of the water you guys are doing fantastic i just think that going forward we need to be mindful of some of the policies and things that can happen yeah agreed and just and just be just because maybe everybody doesn't do this doesn't mean they shouldn't and also keep in mind like some of these degrees like an mba or cpa or some of the things

they could go somewhere else and make a lot more. So we're just trying to give them some kind of little incentive to stay. And really, in the big screen of schemes, if they went to the private sector, they could make a lot more. So we're trying to keep these people here.

Understood.

And I will gladly resend you that policy so you can review it on our lunch break. I will resend that to you.

And for one who's been here for many, many, many years before, turnover in the city is too high.

yes and we're trying and we're trying to reduce that and make it a good place to work uh thank you so the raise kicks in upon completion and passing this certification correct yes and then so does the 2500 the one time yeah so it's a one time and it does not add to their base so it doesn't and when are you scheduled to to to do this it's going to happen to 27 okay yeah so so in there and then um the last quote well not the rest but it again we said that this scaling up program the incentive program was because we wanted parody with the union contracts for this yes and this is a resolution that was passed by you and i'll report to you yes we're trying to do it for all employees to make it open i completely understand again i would just voice you know you guys already started saying hey look at this this could become a problem If we treat every type of employee the same from an incentive program, that's how you get into those troublesome areas, especially since if you just apply it blanketly to everybody, a lineman out in the field

has very different incentive needs than someone is there a problem that no no I agree with you but I think like Mr for that for your example and I don't disagree with you you know but I so I think it'll like some of the electric department wouldn't be asking or wouldn't be approved by his supervisor to take a homex home

yeah it has to it has to be approved by the manager it has to be submitted for the budget i understand that but then you look at somebody who's in the professional office field there's many many many more certification um opportunities and so on and it can quickly become imbalanced as commissioner malega was was referring to um are we paying for the certification yes

Yes. And when you're talking about somebody in, like, say, the IBW, your troubleman, your lineman, they're very well compensated. So your low level, comparing like an administrative assistant to a troubleman, the salary ranges are very different. I wasn't. I was comparing the director. I'm sorry.

So they're probably similar to compensated.

But it has to be managed by the department, the department head.

I understand. I'm trying to just ask a few questions. Okay.

Trying to answer them.

How much does the certification cost? You have no idea? Okay.

Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul parks. Good. Follow up.

Yeah. And realize I'm just asking these questions now.

I'm sorry on it. Can you speak into the mic, please?

I am. I'm not asking these questions in particular to you just more to educate myself on the program and just understand where we're at. So I am I am all for this kind of a program. I actually love this kind of a program. I just want to make sure that I understand it. So thank you for again.

For those that didn't hear me, it's approximately, I would say, $1,000, but I can give you a more accurate number.

Yeah, no, I was just concerned because in other industries, some of these problems are $10,000, $20,000, $30,000. Yes. Why not?

If we need it, right? All right, thank you.

Mr. McVoy?

yeah i just um i i hear the concern that commissioner segrets raises of you know if you reward blanket across then you're not rewarding you know out of the ordinary i'm i'm hearing a background like a recording or whatever well could we turn that off or use an earphone or something that's disturbing and we've never had that before when pvso has been here so see if you can do something about that um uh i just want to say that it's a real challenge as a small city to retain and attract you know quality preaching to the choir no i'm not at all well yes um i just want to say i i really appreciate that the difficulty of trying within the constraints of not a very luxurious budget not an ability to have a luxurious budget of trying to find imaginative ways to build a program that does that and i appreciate the work that you've done on that with the comps and things and various ones so um yes i do hear that there might be a concern that if somebody does five certifications in there you know but i think there's probably a certain amount of of governors built into that so it doesn't get out of hand so i really appreciate the work that you're doing on that thank you commissioner right so you know it's not the wild west here it's you know trying to keep

it gives people something to to strive for yeah so how many can they do a year five percent bumps can they do a year uh it's supposed to be one anything more than one has to be approved at the city manager level

yeah um and it looks it reflects good on the city to have certified certified clerks yeah yeah and it and it really helps with our retention because our employees know that they can work for something they have to earn it you have to stick around yawning all right short time okay so do we have did we do consensus on this consent consent consent thank you

Can our commission be eligible?

I don't know what kind of certifications. But my supplements are all certifications. So in addition to mine, if you turn to page 25, we have a purchasing agent who's going to be pursuing the Florida Certified Contract Manager. No, that's a purchasing agent, one who works on the Valentina. Valentina, do you want to speak on it?

Good morning, Valentina Susteda, Assistant Finance Director, Purchasing. So this is the certification for our purchasing agent that is managing contracts. This is a Florida state certification. It does not cost the city anything to actually go through the program. It requires probably about a year of studying and then taking a couple of days of intense program and then it takes an exam. So we are not paying for anything except basically this program that would be $2,500 plus the 5% increase. Our purchasing agent manages and she drafts and works with the city attorney for about probably 300 to 400 contracts a year.

How long has she been with us?

She has been with us. Now it's going to be the second year.

Okay.

Ms. May? Just a quick question, and I do want to go on record that I obviously appreciate education. This is just a whole new policy for me that I know that Lauren said that we approved it, but I guess I didn't really understand the consequences of it. So this one is a year-long program. So she's gonna go into this and she's gonna go for a whole year long and she's going to get 5% on her salary and 2,500. Do we take into account the number of hours course, because it sounds like in this, let's pretend this has nothing to do with you, Yannick. One course had six months of work and one has a whole year of work and they're getting the same bonus.

I think that Lauren has explained that there are different tiers for someone to actually pass this. I went through this one myself, so it was a little bit, it is a difficult, so this is an advanced.

I'm not arguing the difficulty of it. I'm arguing, are the tiers based on the number of hours per course, the level of the employee?

They're based on certain criteria. And I will send you that. I don't have the policy in front of me. It's usually based on, does it require that you have a certain number of years experience in your field first? Is it a proctored exam? Does it require continuing education credits? course may be longer shorter depending on the field but for the the difficulty of attaining it and the work that comes in behind it that's what we put into the criteria and we could if you want to look at that criteria you think that we could tweak it i'm open we we were trying to work understand it yeah i will absolutely send it to you and then by by all means we can go over it together and like i said i'm very open to tweaking

And some days, sometimes it's 3 days, the 3 day intense 3 day course, and I go to sales that are right.

I'm just trying to. Yeah, I just a 3 day course would not give you a 2500 dollar bonus.

And well, that's what I'm asking. Yes. You know, number of course, you take 180 hour course.

it's not ours it's not necessarily the hours of the court it's the amount of like the the criteria behind it and the experience behind it so you're we're not giving people um a five percent increase for cpr that kind of stuff got it okay thank you yeah it's not a participation award oh no i don't think it was it looks like it's gonna be hard this girl's got to go to school for a whole year for this she got to study yes yeah okay thanks thank you

Okay, up next.

Sorry, one more quick question on it. With these courses, if somebody had to, let's say, go for an intensive week, are they taking PTO to go to that week, or are we paying them while they're at that course?

some of these are very intense so so for this one we do pay um this is going to take a three days of the online uh state provides the online uh the course they have a break uh and then after that is an exam so we do give them a pay them for their time for that so the state does not charge us for this but the employees do get paid for that

eight hours yeah but let's say for the the courses that we do pay for let's say we're paying a thousand dollars for the course and someone has to go away for three days is it our general policy that if you're taking one of these courses you're also getting paid while you're doing that well she just said she just said for this three-day course they do get paid while they're taking it what's the answer because so i mean i wouldn't say that you have to take vacation time if you want to increase your

No, like for myself, if I study on my own, I don't take days off. That's either a study before. Yeah, it depends on the program. I'm just saying, what's your policy?

No, our policy is if they're attending a work-related course that we mandated that they attend, they get paid for it.

that they're mandated, but an optional one that they're trying.

An optional one, but if it's for their career advancement, it is approved by management, absolutely, we pay for their time. Yes, we don't pay overtime for it, but they'll get paid their regular schedule.

Just understand, just because I'm asking a question doesn't mean I'm trying to refute it.

I know, I'm just trying to explain it thoroughly.

Someone just gives a yes or a no.

Okay. Mr. McCoy?

Yeah, I'd just like to remind us all in this whole supplemental discussion, if I remember, if I'm reading it right, on page two of the budget supplementals book, it says, if I understand it right, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, that if we approve every one of these requests, we still have 3.7 million available funds. Correct. So we are not spending ourselves into the basement by any means, even if we approve everything.

That is correct.

We could even double of it and still be okay. I'm not saying we should do that, but just to keep some overall perspective, if I'm correct.

That is correct.

I'm sorry, before you all continue, the 15 minutes has elapsed, and I just wanted to make sure on the last certification for the purchasing agent, there was a 5-0 for consensus.

Yes. Okay. Just wanted to make sure.

Next up, Candice.

Yes. My last one for finance is this is a one-time lump sum performance payment. So for these, it's for three of our staff, on account two, senior budget analyst, Ms. Dale.

Is that three?

Yes.

Because that's breaking so basically two employees will receive a CG oh and then one employee will be receiving their.

So the 5% was our increase was already approved last year, so this, but we did not incorporate the 2500 lump sum, so this is just a one time. lump sum payment yes.

So you can chance consent. Okay.

Is it two or three people getting three people? Yes. Two plus one is three.

Thank you. Five to zero, five to zero consent on the, uh, canvas Dale accounting course.

Thank you.

Supplemental. Okay.

So next will be HR.

Lauren, you're up. Really? Next up Lauren Slayton. Hello. He's bad. Yep.

There you go.

Hear me now? Yeah. Okay.

Okay.

This is for one of my employees. She's been here three years. No, this is Susie. So Jenny is my assistant director, who luckily for her is at a family reunion and not here today. But she's on a beach while we're here. But no, this is one of my employees. She was hired about three years ago as a generalist, as an HR journalist. She has her master's degree. She's going for one of her certifications, and I would like to promote her.

And this insurance certification is something that she obviously, I'm asking, she uses day to day in her job.

Oh, actually, I apologize. I'm looking at the wrong one. This is for, this is, I've got three. So this is for Unique. This is the girl who handles our benefits. I think everybody has probably met. What? I'm sorry? I am on page seven of the supplementals. Okay. I don't have the, I don't have the budget book. So, and I am blind as a bat. Okay. So welcome to my old age guys. I apologize. So this is for, um, unique Royal. She has been with the city for about seven years. She's been with me for four. She started as administrative assistant in public works where I stole her. And, um, Jamie forgave me after about a year. She's done a fabulous job taking over our benefits. She has taken our wellness program to all new levels, bringing us to a platinum level for the mental health. I could not be prouder of her. And so she's been seeking her CEAPS, her Certified Employee Benefit Specialist certification. It takes a couple of years to do it, which actually it takes a lot of people four. And I think she's going to do it in two, which is incredible. So I would like her to get this certification paid.

Any questions, Ms. Malaga? I have a question because I was on the other one as well, age 27, I think it was, as well. And I see that each one of these women in HR is only getting a $1,500 versus the ones we just talked about in finance are getting $2,500.

Because those are more advanced degrees. yeah yeah it goes through the years of experience behind it and it you know and I'll send you those tears yeah okay because I do see there's a logic behind it yes there is yes there is because it's against the employees who are listening I want them to know that we want to know what the logic is behind it to make sure that it's equitable for everybody that's all yes yes it's not that you don't like June oh I love you oh are you kidding I don't know what I would do without Jenny I love Jenny this

my question is and and i know it's policy always that it's a five percent they previously it was there's five percent for everything five percent for everything but then we then we changed the policy to include the tears okay but my question is and then so we just talked about um you know negotiating for a race right and we were talking about x amount so if i'm an employee and i'm and i'm i just got my three percent raise because that's what the union negotiated and somebody else takes a course and gets a five percent raise you get both okay but what about positions that don't have courses they get the regular whatever they're whatever whatever whatever we decide the cost of living increase will be they get the cost of living increased

But we encourage all employees to do this if they can.

So most of the employee positions have opportunities for continuing education?

Yes.

In the administrative? In administrative or in all departments?

In all departments. Some positions, maybe not so much. So maybe, you know, like the linemen, the troublemen, once they are licensed and they get through their apprentice program, that's kind of their career path.

right and they've maxed out this is how much they're going to make and they make more on overtime and exactly rodeos what about leisure services like what about people in parks and rec like do they have an opportunity yes for other certifications yes there are recreational there's all sorts of that was my question yeah just wondering we're getting into yes and you know i mean and my other thing was thinking well it's fun five percent on every year so we're not really considering is this a lean year or is this a fat year you know what i mean where we're looking at the weight again no no i'm just looking at the if you're negotiating raises each year and this is always five percent i don't know i've got to earn an extra five yeah this is something that we incorporate into the budget process no and i get it and i suppose that i'm just looking at you know if we have to go ahead and future in the future maybe is the five percent like a state state set or in the future could we say okay because we need to decrease blah blah blah we could give three percent something like that for it for the union positions we would have to negotiate that the ones that we set for the for the non-bargaining yes you could change it okay i mean i don't want to but i'm just thinking ahead because we're going to have to be creative

yes question do we provide that information to all departments if they have the opportunity to take the certification as available yes and i worked with the departments when we created the policy and we looked i tried to first include every single certification but there's so many i just said okay so i added criteria instead of actually listing them but yes we work with the departments the emails that say hey you need to go to iemo one two leadership we do that for all of our staff if there's something available yes okay thank you for telling me

i'm not i consent no i think it's a good idea i just wanted to learn more about it thank you all righty next up i'm sorry can i say something she has a couple of more supplementals to go through yeah do you want to consent after each one or do you want her to go through on each one it's much less confusing page 27 now or eight no eight eight

Okay, this is Susie Sanchez, and this is who I was talking about earlier. I apologize. Susie's been with us three years. She has a master's degree. She's really taken on a lot of the projects for us. She took on the evaluation system, automating that, and creating a new one for us, which we rolled out to the department heads and assistant department heads, and we'll be rolling out to all the other employees on October 1st. um she has taken over the recruiting and brought to all new levels um this generation is so much more tech savvy than me so she's really been instrumental in creating you know and automating a lot of the process and streamlining them and um she's been she's really taken up leadership roles and i couldn't be prouder of her so i'd like to promote her consent consent what'd you get her masters in human resources makes sense yes veterinary studies that's the perfect answer

All right. What about this one? Promotional activities.

This one is we were hoping to build a program to reward our employees and recognize them on their milestone anniversaries and when they retire. We don't really have a budget for that right now. We really haven't done much when people retire. Maybe give them a plaque. so and also for we've had employees who have been here over 30 years and they get maybe a thank you from their department right now so we're hoping to maybe give you know some kind of like milestone achievement you know thank you for being here five years ten years twenty thirty you're asking for six thousand dollars additional yes yes yes okay and you may want to bump it up a little bit yes well take it as it comes baby steps baby steps

Consent. I just had a quick question on the last one because I just flipped the page and saw the backup. In your letter, it's saying the impact was 6,703.36, but in the impact, it was 8,408. What page are you on? Page 8 versus page 10.

They're different one. No, no, no. It's the same one. I don't the same. You go to eight and then 910.

I don't have your budget book, so it's not a supplemental book.

Right. Okay. So this is how

What some of the salaries you have some people that are allocated amongst various departments. So what you're looking at is that total 8,408 is the total increase across all departments. So she split between. Understood.

I'm comparing that to the line on page 10, which says total budget supplement across all, which says 6,703.

In the last part of your letter fiscal impact.

I'm sorry, that should have been updated to 8,408. That's what that number should be.

Yes, the correct number is on page eight of the supplemental package.

Yeah, it is. Thank you. And Hector just pointed out, that's just holding the salary.

It's not including the FICA taxes or the pension contributions.

So that's what that 6,703 is. There's always some reason. Okay, next.

Are you sure that math's out?

i see he he's a genius and he's with the numbers hector is a human calculator so we trust him okay where are we look at 1676 times four and that's the total salaries and that's when you should get that number at

no i was talking the difference between the eight and the 6700 but anyway splitting hairs all right okay um wait wait wait don't we have we have one on page 27 the insurance of certification for human resources

That's what I thought.

Yeah.

Page 27. Yeah, 27.

We were doing it first. Okay. Oh, this is the same thing? No, it's not.

This is a different certification for a different employee. This is for Therese Hall Poitier. She's been with the city, I think, 10 years, and she has been with me for about six. Another one that I stole from Million Waters. It takes them a year to forgive me. But she's just taken on our risk program and taken to all different levels. She was here being recognized as, and she's going to kill me for as a risk professional of the year. Oh, nice. She does not like the spotlight, but she's really, she's taken our safety committee to all new levels. We have such great participation. She takes it seriously whenever there's an accident. She's the first one out there taking pictures. She's really implemented a lot of safety programs. I can't rave about her enough. So this is another certification.

$2,000.

what's that yeah two thousand dollars yeah consent yeah definitely it's eight thousand dollars but conditional additional is two thousand additional requests total fiscal impact eight thousand dollars budget for they're asking for an additional two thousand dollars they already budgeted for part of it yep got it i've had some supplement

Do you want me to explain the breakout? Maybe that's where the confusion is coming from.

Actually, yeah. No, it is a total of 8,000. It's just on this particular fund, it's only 2,000 out of this fund. Right. But the total impact's 8,000.

So we should have this thing come up again somewhere else where we'll see 4,000 and somewhere else where we'll see 2,000. Yeah.

And the HR department, we're spread out over different funds and all my employees do everything, even though they specialize in risk or benefits. If you go down there and Teresa isn't there, somebody else can help you too.

So for the sake of time, do we just want to say that we approve it across the board? Yeah. I don't think we're not going to prove it in the other funds.

We don't try, but yes, commissioners. So HR has a state and she has different funds. And if you look at the agenda, this was there's a general fund and then she's going to go to the benefit fund and the self-insurance fund is that that's what we have on the agenda. So she will cover those.

Are they the same people? it's the same time we've already approved that we approve it in all funds as long as it's the same people in the same person yes it's not that big a department no so i think we're good there do you guys agree yes yes get that the same people the same this yeah same people in the same courses correct everything yeah yeah you guys yeah don't go over it again okay go on get your degrees great thank you good does that mean we have time to go to the ladies room

Let's take a break. Okay.

Okay. Or the men's room or the gentle, neutral bathroom.

I'm sorry.

No problem, no problem.

Are we ready to resume? Are we ready to resume? i was asking were we ready to resume well yeah she's perfect shine just shy moment sorry you guys were muted for a minute oh my god madam mayor it is 11 26 and we have reconvened thank you very much mr waters you're up

Good morning, William Waters, Community Sustainability Director. I want to preface some of the comments on the supplemental with the fact that my team and I are spending the next few years in a valid attempt to create a succession plan because I will be retiring at some point. in the foreseeable future. And my goal is to have a team that can take over and respond to all the things that are necessary in the Community Sustainability Department by division, depending on how the budget picture goes, because this department is heavily reliant on generating fees and providing services, but at the same time, it's quite an expensive department. So the first one you have before you is the promotion of My budget manager, office person who's been with us, the city over six years, but has nearly 30 years of public service. She has two master's degrees. And I would like the other three divisions that are the bigger ones in the department have an assistant director who is in charge of them. And I would like to promote this person to be an assistant director for the administrative and the business license division.

So it's currently 90 and you want to bump it to 96.

Yes, ma'am. But it does cross over two different funding sources, the general fund and the building fund.

That is my question. Why is it general fund if she's in community sustainability and she's building?

Most of my department is in the general fund. We have six divisions in the community sustainability. Only one that's the building fund is the building fund. And then there's two additional funds, which is the beautification fund we do some work with, as well as the coder mediation fund. But those are not set up as separate divisions. They're not set up as separate divisions. how many empty positions do you have right now I know I knew the number until Friday we have two other we have one person in the process of being going to a different department uh one two three four five six seven eight eight or nine empty position yes and that includes code planning Wikipedia includes co-compliance planning and preservation the building fund uh and then We are, I hate to jinx it, but the other divisions business licenses and administration customer service is okay right now.

But you have a lot of vacancies. Yes. And the proposed budget is with those vacancies.

So it includes funding all the funding. Yes, ma'am. That is a challenge that we have, especially in the planning and preservation division and the building division. Both of those are extremely difficult to fill the positions with co compliance. We have a lot of interested applicants. uh we don't have that many qualified applicants and they do find it challenging working in Lake Worth Beach because traditional co-compliance uh operates a little differently here because we are such a non-conforming city and we're lesser affluent so the issues and concerns they have to embrace are rather complicated so we have a burnout rate it's pretty high yeah then I drive around gaining communities

Okay. Any questions about the $6,000 from Mr. Segenschein?

I don't have much of an issue with the monetary of it. But so skill set wise, going from budget office manager to director of administration, and then being in charge of oversight of the ERP system implementation, walk me through the skill set leap there.

Well, she's already been through a transition of an ERP system before with another entity, and she's serving as well as the next supplemental increase as the sort of subject matter expert to organize how our various divisions then have their own subject matter experts with the ERP implementation. And they have been attending every single meeting, which is a one to one and a half hour meeting for each one of the divisions every week. And we are Thank you, Nellie and her pressure. We made a huge monumental step forward this week.

Oh, good.

I think she deserves a part. She's over there. But anyway, we made yesterday. We had the best meeting that I've attended since this all started.

That sounds great.

I'm not promising we're going to get there real quick.

And that maybe as an idea, exploring a certification in process management, Six Sigma or something like that for an individual like this, because I consider... in the future you know if we're looking at how do we reduce budgets and and gain efficiencies it's going to be process management um it's going to be leveraging our erp system so you know if this individual has those skill sets and the desire that might be a good educational um path to pursue for them we will look look at toward that for fy28 okay so it's a six okay so uh miss malega agrees yeah but i do have a quick question i didn't see you like i didn't on the bottom i don't see where

There's 2 account numbers, 1 for retirement, 401 K, or 418 of 7884. And the other 1 says retirement defined benefit plan negative 13,012. Why is there a savings? Can you explain that?

Yes, because her current pay, she is part of the general defined pension plan. But if she is promoted to assistant director, that's when the 401A will take over. You have an additional benefit. Yeah, she would be removed from that one and then.

Which is a savings.

Correct. Thank you. You're welcome.

Thank you. Ms. May? Mr. Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. McCoy.

Oh, you mentioned something about the ERP union.

Commissioner McVoy, can you speak into your mic, please?

I am, but I'll turn it on, which will make it work better. You mentioned ERP and Commissioner Segrich's emphasis on process. I would just add to that, hopefully this person is well involved with the suggestions that were worked out by the internal auditor. as far as he had a whole report on how, yeah. And I hope that, cause that looked like pretty good ideas.

that person as well as the representatives from the building division are heavily involved. And we did impart much of that direction and request to the ERP representatives back last June when we met with them for an entire week and went over what our expectations were in terms of customer service, interface on the website, improving understanding of how we get through various systems. So that's all on the plate. Thank you. The plate's really full and hadn't broken yet, but it's very full. It's a good plate. In tandem with her position, I'm sorry.

I think my question is very similar to Mr. McVoy's where we were working at customer service and clarity and transparency. And I don't know what your other positions are, but do you have somebody who's in charge of that, of customer service?

This position is that okay.

So if, I mean, now that we're on the training mode here, if there is a leadership position to help, um, train for customer service, they should take this.

The city has provided several opportunities for that in house. And there actually is an educational opportunity that I would like for this position for next fiscal year.

Okay. Good.

I don't wanna dump too much on them all at one time, cuz rolling out the new ERP, which will cross over fiscal years. and taking on the additional challenges here is a lot. And then FY28 will probably be coming back for testing.

The holes in the air can see where we need to supplement with humans, right? Yes. Yeah. Okay.

Thank you. You're in. Mr. Segrist? I already consented. Okay. So that's consent.

In tandem to that, on page 15 is a promotion in recognition of my only legacy employee that I have who's been with us since I arrived here, Ashley Easterday. She's got 20 years of experience with the city. I want some redundancy in supervisory and management skill. And Ashley's really stepped up to the plate. She's also an expert on Novoline and is really being very instrumental in identifying how to ensure the new ERP system includes what we have now and improving it better. So I would like to promote her to be the backup to Alicia because Alicia will need to have a succession plan in 10 or so years. And we've also encouraged, and Ashley does seem to be embracing it, that she'd like to get a higher education degree. And that'll probably be an FY28 as well.

She's in the front desk, Ashley and Tiffany. In terms of customer service, those two are wonderful.

Thank you. You may be getting an email about one of them in a couple of days.

Oh, no.

No, for the fact that they're very good.

Oh, okay.

They're very entertaining, too.

Yeah. Oh, actually, they're good.

And this position does cost over two funds, half general fund, half building fund. Okay.

Mr. McVoy?

Yes.

Ms. May. Mr. Segridge.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. It's 5-0 for that one.

those are the only two that are related to like um promotions or reclassifications um did you want to go on to the are we doing the other parts of the supplementals on page 28 okay um on page 28 is a certification for myself uh unlike many communities my position is probably equivalent to a deputy or assistant city administrator and i'm called upon to provide expertise or some knowledge in a whole variety of areas that many cities rely on consultants. There is no other person in the county with a position like me that has an architectural degree. I can serve as a building official. I'm also our economic development contact. We lost that position a while ago. And so there are two certifications. I'm still waiting which one is better for the city. One is under sustainable business practices and one is economic leader for the public sector. and so um that's the proposal here and i think i cross over six different funds uh my salary and benefits which um is somewhat explained here so currently it's 91. yes how how many years are you going to be with us until you retire uh four and a half or five

unless you kick me out um i'm in favor of this but i just think that for optics in the future that your superiors should be coming for us i think for any director it should be their bosses that should be coming to us for this this is just again for the optics i think that when the public is listening and looking i mean i would like to stand up here and say we all deserve a raise but at the bottom line is i think the city manager for all directors across the board Just like you advocate for your assistance and yours, you know, people below you on your team. I think that the city manager or the assistant city manager should be in the future coming forward with these requests. Just my opinion, but I haven't paid her department had began some of the department director coming in saying, Hey, I'm gonna go get the certificate, and I think I deserve it. And I think that this is, I just think it for the optics of the residents and the business owners across the board is a policy. i think that that should be a policy for the city that if it's a director if lauren were standing before us asking us for something i would say well what does your boss think yeah that's what i would like to hear from their boss is the city manager interim city manager assistant city manager i just as a policy i think that's something we should discuss going forward um for the future of the city and the way the city looks i do support it i'm in favor um and again just looking out in the future but the total that i'm sorry is 95 000.

up that's what it's going to say that's what hits the general fund oh okay there are five other funds that are hit that's fine um consensus from the um city manager regarding what sarah said i mean is this something that makes sense for william to go do

Or just ask. I think your issue is putting the employee in position.

I just think it looks bad. It does look bad.

It does look bad. And I don't know if it has been cleared with, like everybody else has been cleared.

Well, I'm sure he's cleared. They've all had their budget meetings. I know they cleared it. I just think for presentations factor, whoever's sitting up here in the future may be a little unkind. And I think that it's good for them.

Oh, I can take it.

Yeah, but maybe someone else.

It's a good point. It's the manager. You come for your employees and he comes for you. Correct. And it should be across all directors.

That's why we could change that process.

But as for now, any of the directors, so for this budget hearing, any of the directors that come up and ask for something for themselves, it has been cleared and covered by you guys. Okay, then I just want to have that on the record.

Right.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

It was awkward. Ms. May, did you have a question? No, that was it.

Mr. Segrich? thank you and and i i hear the the arguments on optics and i would agree and it's not for me it's not just about the optics of it it's about understanding the the justification and what's the plan right um where so this certificate where are we going to see the benefit at the city level

Well, part of it gets to what you were mentioning about AI and tackling better integration of AI and other elements in the public sector, because the certification does include looking at how to be a leader in the emerging, evolving technology of how we do our business. It's actually a program through Cornell University. 14 weeks. I do it all my own time. I don't do them during the city time. The classes are all at night. And so, and we, what I found in the previous ones that I've done, you meet people from all over the world and you share experiences that you have. And many of them have been quite beneficial. And we've, we, the city have shared quite a bit with Cornell. I will give you an example is that we shared our carbon neutrality element for the comp plan. which we can't adopt here anymore, but it was shared with them and it was the first time they'd seen such a thing. And so, Our name as a city is out there a lot, being ahead of the curve on so many things. We haven't been able to adopt all of those things, but people have been very generous in recognizing us and borrowing what we've been able to achieve. And so I look forward to that. It's a combination of things. And then I'm encouraging my staff to look at the various opportunities. They have like 75 different tracks of education you can look at and how we run the public sector government is evolving quickly and most of us don't necessarily get out of our bubble and this is a really good opportunity to get out of the bubble then bring things back

And I think there's a real value to that sort of thing, no matter who it is, whether it's elected officials or employees. I think there's a real value to getting out there in the field and hearing it and talking, getting new ideas and coming back with some new ideas and a different perspective. And also, I think you have some great reputation. We talked about it quite often talks about the reputation.

so um in a positive way um so understanding that you are retiring four to five years succession planning uh 45 to 4. 45 I'll be here and mummified well that's the agreement right if you get the certification you're here for 45 years yeah um I got a signature for the year do we have identified who's the next person where like for example this certification would be be good for you know do we have that person next in line because understanding you go and do this it takes you 14 months it's a year year and a half by the time it happens the city is only going to benefit for about two years from from this so do you have in mind a succession plan for 14 weeks

is the class okay so 14 weeks sorry you should have at least a benefit of like three and a half four years okay but you know do you have somebody in mind who would kind of follow in this path i have a position in mind i don't necessarily create or think in the future necessarily based on a person because i have experienced over and over and the mayor is very well aware of this lots of good planning person gets a better opportunity they're gone so i'm trying to create the ladder of succession so they could take it take part of that but also identify in working with the city manager's office a position that can embrace all the things that i'm asked to do at the city which is far more than what it involves and just running the DCS Department more of the economic development well I do also marketing I created part of your logo stuff and all that that was pulled in from the economic development sign yes so thank you and I consent okay great thank you thank you yeah speaking about out of the bubble On 29, we're asking for a bit more money so that the planning and preservation staff have a greater opportunity to go to at least a statewide conference. And there are eight positions there, and we don't have money for everybody to at least go to something. And then on page 30, that's the additional funds that go along with that because there's travel and per diem as well as registrations for the training.

Consent.

Consent.

Consent.

Ms. May?

Yep, 5-0. On page 31, there are requests that many of our staff be members of professional organizations. We're asking that they all have an opportunity to do that. This one might be affected by what's going into effect July 1st as to what the state will allow us to pay for or not. But I would like to have the money here so that once we work out that everybody hopefully can be a member of APA or um we've had all the staff do some sustainability um uh work and how have um certifications in green globes emerging professionals which also combines a lot of attention to lead and so some of we'd like to have this whether we're going to be able to have all the memberships we would want based on the state i don't know and you used what was budgeted for uh 2026. We did a lot of it, but remember, there were three, four vacancies in 26. We've actually filled two of them, and then we still have two that we are interviewing for one, and we have an offer out for the other one.

I do know that some of these programs have increased their prices.

They've gotten insane.

Mr. McVoy?

I consent.

I consent. Ms. May? Yep.

Mr. McVoy? I consent.

Thank you.

Before we continue, Madam Mayor, 15 minutes has elapsed. Thank you.