Regular City Commission Meeting - Regular Meeting

All right, good evening, everyone. Today is June 10 2026. This is the city redevelopment agency meeting. The time is 601pm.

Please call the roll. Board Member Schwartz here. Or member of stereo here. Or member Simone here. Vice Chair Rosano?

Here.

Chair Caggiano?

Present. All right, please, let's stand for a moment of silence and the pledge. Thank you. Minutes for approval?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. You have the approval of the minutes from the April 8, 2026 regular market CRA meeting.

What's the wish of the board?

So moved to approve. Second.

Please call the roll.

Board Member Schwartz?

Yes.

Board Member Serrio?

Yes.

Board Member Simone? Yes. Vice Chair Rosano?

Yes.

Chair Caggiano?

Yes. Public discussion. Anyone who wants to speak on something that's not on the agenda? You have three minutes to do it. Anyone want to speak? Okay. Public discussion closed. Oh, if you wanted to come up, come on up. You got the clock.

Good afternoon, everyone. Your name? My name is Pastor Carlos Pierre. I represent the family of God Ministries. the church down the street. As I think that you guys were aware of the situation, but before I go any further, I want to thank you for the opportunity that we had to occupy the building after we sold it. It was a very hard situation for the church. As you all know about construction and dealing with the city and everything, because we were dealing with Tamarack City. It was very, very critical. But most important, we had about $100,000 deposit to you guys for when we move that, we can reoccupy that money based on the time that we moved out. But after so long, In the building, we were there for more than six months. I think it was seven months that we were paying $10,000 every month for that building. But it seems like there is a miscalculation. When I called the lawyer, David, he told me I have to come here because they only deposit $18,700 to the church account. So... To my knowledge, if we count it right, seven months multiplied by 10, that's about $70,000. So the church was supposed to get $30,000 back. And he told me I have to come here and explain the situation. But back on August, I have emailed Jim, and I'm very grateful to him, to you guys, for the time that we were in the building. Jim was very cooperative, and he was in the middle of everything. So he knows the situation about the construction, the reason that we had to take so long to get the whole thing going. But the thing is... I am just here to, because he said, I have to come here and explain to you guys based on what you said, then he will take it from there. Meaning David.

Well, why don't we let Kat, why don't we let the director tell us what his thoughts,

All right, thank you, sir.

Sure. So, and David, you can fill in any gaps that I missed. So what Pastor Carlos is speaking to is we sold, or we bought the property from the church and we entered into a post-occupancy agreement. We held $100,000 in escrow to ensure that they vacated the property by a certain timeframe. The provisions of that provided that if they weren't out by a certain date, that we would charge $10,000 a month until they vacated the property, and that $10,000 would be taken from the $100,000 that we had in escrow. The provisions of that agreement didn't provide for a final month of prorating the number of days. And I think that's where this calculation difference is coming from. And so in addition to the rent that was charged, we recovered costs that we incurred to clean up the property a few times, dumpster cleaning and other mitigating activities that we had to take. And so I believe it really comes down to the terms of the agreement that provided $10,000 a month. The church vacated, I want to say, I don't know if it was eight or nine days into. Sir? I don't remember, but a number of days into the, do you have the?

Yeah. Okay.

I'll turn it over to David to give you the details of when they vacated and how that was calculated. Okay.

David Tolstice, attorney for the Margate CRA. So the agreement to pay the rent started in September of 2025. I think they were supposed to be out sooner, they weren't, so then it was like, okay, we have $100,000 in escrow, so we're gonna start charging $10,000 a month rent. So we deducted eight months rent, which is $80,000, which covered from September 2025 through April 2026. plus $1,700 for cleanup maintenance. The balance of $18,300 was returned to the church in May. The issue is that they were in the property as of April 1st through the 6th. And the post-occupancy agreement said that the CRA is entitled to $10,000 for every month that they're there or any portion thereof. So the fact that they were there for six days entitled the CRA to recover the $10,000 for the month of April. So the question that the pastor raised me was, well, why did you do that? We didn't stay the whole month. You should have only charged us a portion of the month. And I told them, I said, this is what the agreement provided for and that I couldn't make that decision. So I suggested that he come here. So they received 18,300. I think the question is, the proration for the 24 days of April at $10,000 a month. So that's the question, is do you want to return any of those funds back to the church, or pursuant to the agreement, I believe you're in your right to retain the $10,000.

And I know there's no question about the amount of money that we had to pay to clean up the area because we've had people coming in complaining about how much there was a mess there over and over and over again. So I think this whole conversation should be literally limited to proration. As you're saying, David, is that we have the right to take the whole 10,000. Yes, we did. So the question is, do we want to give back?

It's $333.33 a day. So if we multiply that by 24 for the remaining 24 days in April, that'd be $8,000. Okay. Right. Okay. All right. So... So that's where we are. Vice Chair? It's not on your agenda, but if you want to take any action, provide direction to either myself or the Executive Director to meet with the pastor and take care of that, we could do that.

Okay. Vice Chair?

Thank you. Pastor, thank you for coming in. I remember this came up and the building was deemed unsafe by the inspector, instructional inspector, whoever that may be, but the building is still standing. I remember we gave them a date, we extended it, and if the pastor's looking for some sort of, I don't want to say reimbursement, but whatever that number is, I don't have a problem with it. I think they were great tenants. The building was basically passed down to them as a second tenant, and they did the best they could. They preached. I don't have a problem with that, and I would love to see the board just waive the fee and make him happy and be on his way to his next house of worship. So I wish you the best, and I hope we can get two other commissioners just to appease you so you can move on. Thank you for being a Margate, and thank you for what you do.

What was the... Pastor, thank you for bringing this to our attention. I remember us having a few conversations about this. Like you said, Vice Chair, there was a post-occupancy agreement that started to come to an end. They needed more time, and so... There was even talk about not extending it. And so we came to the conclusion of the $10,000 a month. And it's agreed by both parties. It's a common tool used in real estate. I'm not a fan of post-occupancy agreements because there's always an issue that comes back, no matter what, commercial or residential. So I like to stick to the terms of the agreement. However, The last portion, at least, yes, it was agreed by both, but it's kind of a gotcha. I have no problem with the proration so that they just pay for the days of the month, the last month they were here. Nothing more, nothing less. As far as the cleanup fees and stuff like that, all that stands, all the rent we collected stands. But again, I don't have a problem just prorating those couple of days that they were there. And what month is it that they were in question?

It was for April of 2026.

I have no problem prorating for April and reimbursing them or returning it back. Board Member Schwartz.

I will tell you that on a daily basis, Pastor, I got complaints about the fact that your garbage fees weren't being paid, the garbage wasn't being cleaned up, that people were feeding cats, and that there was all kinds of issues over there, until you left. Never once did you show up here to talk to us, and quite frankly, that first letter you sent us was pretty nasty. where whoever in the congregation first sent us the letter telling us what was intended to happen, but never once did you hold the city of Tamarack responsible for the fact that the city of Margate was bending over backwards. So to be honest, I know that it's a standard thing that if you stick around one or two days, even if it's an apartment longer, you don't get the money back. I don't think we give all the money back.

No, we're not. I'm just saying the six...

Well, it's 8,000 out of 10.

Right. Right, because they were only there a couple days into that month.

But would you do that if you had a tenant and you were renting an apartment to them?

Depends on the situation. I mean, if you had someone trying to take occupancy immediately after, I would, yeah, it's used as a tool to get them out. But being that no one else is occupying the building or- Well, we would have tightened it down.

It would not be there anymore because it was deemed- Listen, you have valid points. I can tell you.

And I get why you want to stick to it. I just don't have a problem doing it.

And I'm not trying to talk you into it.

You have a very valid point.

I'm going to ask Cal a question. Did we wind up paying the garbage fees for the extra dumpsters and stuff? Because I know we had to constantly call because they didn't pay it.

Right. Any cost that we had to empty the dumpsters or clean up the property, we've taken out of that escrow. So we've recovered our costs.

But we really shouldn't have to do that. Okay. That's all. I just wanted to know about that.

Board Member Simone. Board Member Simone.

Yes. I don't have a problem prorating it. I wish him the best in Tamarack. Everything has been paid up to date as far as the garbage and all that was left. It shouldn't have happened, but it did. He's been charged for it. So for just a few days in April, I just can't see charging him any extra past what he stayed.

All right, then I'm going to ask this. I'm going to go down the row. Arlene, prorate or not prorate?

I'll go with the rest of you. It's just that I felt that for the group that was there, we were treated very unfairly. Jim was treated unfairly. The city. You want to do it? Fine.

Antonio? Yes. Joanne?

Yes.

Tommy?

Yes, and good luck.

That's it. You have your connection?

Yeah, we'll take it as consensus and we'll work on getting, work with the pastor to get his money.

Okay.

Thank you.

No problem. Item is 3A.

He's unclear about something. Can you just ask?

We've already made a decision, but go ahead. You got to come to the mic, sir.

every consideration. But I want to point that out. We are Christian. If you would have received any letter, it would have been from me. I don't know who wrote, who did.

We did receive a letter.

But it's not coming from the church.

You did receive a letter. It doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't matter. But we did receive a letter.

And I really appreciate it. Like I explained to Jen, we've been through a lot. But we really appreciate the consideration. May God bless you all.

You as well.

Thank you.

All right. So items 3A is on sponsorship for the National Night Out. Yes. Go ahead, Cal. Do you want to start it off?

Sure. This is just an annual request from the police department looking for sponsorship up to not to exceed $15,000 to support the hospitality tent at our annual National Night Out.

All right. All in? No problem. Antonio? Antonio?

Of course, I just want to point out that... Of course, no problem, or of course... No, of course, yes, I would like to support it. I'm sorry, I've got to make the motion.

Because this is a discussion.

I'll make a motion. I'll second for discussion. I just wanted to point out that basically our cost is $15,000 from the CRA. Yes, the city approved some trust funds to be used from the Law Enforcement Trust. But I know I saw some comments online, people talking about wasting tax dollars. One, this is for public safety. Also, it came from recovery funds. So when they recover funds from drug dealers, money launderers, when they seize assets, that's where this money comes from. So it's really the criminals paying for this event, not directly from taxpayer dollars. Yes, we look after those funds, but they're regulated. They can only be used in law enforcement and crime prevention. So it's not really costing the city that much money to do this. Cool. So I have no problem sponsoring it. Public?

Call the roll.

Board Member Schwartz?

Yes.

Board Member Serio? Yes. Board Member Simone?

Yes.

Vice Chair Marzano?

Yes.

Chair Caggiano?

Yes. Next item is 5D.

3D. I'm sorry, 3D. Proposal from the Tri-County Discount Liquors to purchase either lot located directly on the northwest corner of US 441 and Park Drive or the parcel land located at 891 North State Road 7.

Do we have a motion?

I know, Kel, you want to?

Hold on.

So just start the discussion off. So a couple weeks ago, I received a proposal from Tri-County Discount Liquor Store to purchase one of two CRA lots. Since then, I've spoken to, I mean, he's withdrawn his request to purchase the lot on the northwest corner of 441 and Park Drive. Um, he would still like to pursue the, um, parcel that's further south, uh, identified as 891 North State Road 7. Um, the intent is to, um, construct a, uh, new beverage store, um, on site and secure their future here, um, in the city. Um, If you're ready for my recommendation, it's in the backup. I'm suggesting that we hold off on selling any more parcels until we get further along in city center planning and development. He is here tonight. He certainly would like an opportunity to address the board. And I turn it back over to you, Chair.

You're not saying no, you're saying not at the moment. We have other things on the plate to look at first.

Essentially, yes.

Vice Chair.

Did you ask the developer their opinion on this?

I did. And they certainly would be opposed to the property on northwest corner of 441 and Park Drive that's contiguous to Chevy Chase, the property further south, that they've got much less of a concern about it.

Okay. Because in order for this were to happen, we'd have to get their approval, correct? Okay. Okay. You're going to do a presentation. I think I saw one of the pictures. I think it's a great idea. I'm just really upset that we've already went into a developer's agreement halfway. So hopefully we can see your presentation, go for it, and let the city be the owner of the property, continue to be the owner of the property, and continue to receive 100% of the rent rather than some unknown rate by some developer that's potentially coming in. So looking forward to it.

Now it's impossible.

Members, thank you for putting the offer on the agenda in the first place. So I want to make this presentation. If you guys would please let me wait till the end for any questions. It's about seven to 10 minutes at the max. And yeah, definitely open to all the questions at the end, please.

Sorry, Mona, if you could just introduce yourself.

Yeah, my name is Mona Ringham. We've been operating in that store and the strip mall over there since, I'd say 1989. I was about a year old. Pretty sure we're familiar with all of you guys. I've seen many of your faces in our store through the years, our events, parties, and so on and so forth. We'd like to continue our partnership with you guys. You guys can see all this on your... We're trying. Okay. Yeah, it's a little hard for me to read from here as well.

Well, you see, turning that that way just killed it for the rest of us. No, it doesn't work always like that.

I'm waiting.

Like I said, we opened 1989. My father opened. So this is I'm taking over now. And hopefully this is something that we'd like to continue passed on to our children, which we brought. I tried twice. Can you guys see it? Okay. I'd like you guys to read along too. So, you know, so all that's being said, this is our life's work. I've been here, you know, working alongside my father since I was pretty much able to. And going forward, this is what I would like to continue to do. This has been something that I'm very passionate about. I've developed a great relationship with the community. I love what I'm doing. I would love to continue to do this for as long as possible in the city. Um, so the benefits that we've gotten from you guys in the CRA, um, we've been getting below market rent as we, you know, it's been brought up many times on premise management with Jimmy has been spectacular. All the issues are always addressed. We don't have any problems and, uh, we're, you know, smack dab right across from the city center, which has been very beneficial. Um, From our side, we feel like we've contributed almost, I believe, from the numbers that we did, around a million dollars in rent since we've been there. Actually, since you guys have taken over, I think for about 20 years now, I think the CRA has held the property, I believe.

26 years.

Yeah.

Actually, 30. I take it back. 30 years.

I can't say the rent that we were paying to the previous owners, but since the CRA has been taken over. And, you know, we've stayed there. We have never been late on the rent. We have, you know, if you guys didn't have to go through ever finding, replacing tenants over and over through the years like we had with some of the other places in the plaza. And, you know, as I saw in the MCRA agenda, business retention, job growth, and, you know, I feel like we are a very unique, not run-of-the-mill liquor store, like something you would see in Walgreens Publix, something like that. I feel like we offer a very unique boutique style. I myself go all the way up to Kentucky to pick barrels for our customers. I try to differentiate ourselves, just like any other business should. I feel like our store brings a very unique aspect to the city versus any of the other offerings here. So like I put in there, 20 plus years as a CRA tenant, I feel like we are a strong stakeholder in the redevelopment. And we would like to graduate from being a tenant and eventually into owners. So, you know, I'm going to read this up. We, you know, we understand that, you know, the CRAs engage with the developer, like you said earlier, to design and build the city centers in the specified area, which is, so far it seems like you guys only have plans or interest in phase one and phase two, and the rest of them haven't truly been decided yet. So, like we were saying, the stuff to the west hasn't been fully, you know, As far as I know, there hasn't even been a design rendered yet for the west side, right?

There hasn't been a design rendered for any side.

Yes.

We're in the beginning stages.

So that's for this reason we kind of narrowed our request instead of the two properties to go to just one. It was always an either or, but to stay farther out of the way and make it more of a convenience and maybe an easier decision, we picked something out of the core development to the far side. Here's the property in question on the corner. Also another point to make is I believe that all the property surrounding it minus the property behind that one small parcel behind it has still yet to be acquired or still owned by private entities. So our offer to purchase was at 301. That was based on a ratio that I got from a previous contract that was or agreement that you guys made before with Ace Hardware. So it was just the proposal. And that is tax assessed. I know that you guys bought it for $795, but it is assessed by BCPA for the removal of that building at $430,000. So once that bill, I know that it was, sorry, 675 that you guys purchased at the time. So once the removal of the building happened immediately in 2020, you can see that, I'm sorry, in 2019, the subsequent year, it brought the value of that property down to 244, according to public records from the BCPA, the tax appraiser office. So Over the years, it did rise up to currently at 430. So the offset of our offer is only 129,000 from the BCPA's offerings. I mean, assessment, sorry. So as far as I know, the land currently is not generating any type of taxes, revenue, or only incurring expenses. for the city at the moment. So, you know, you guys are still, I think the MCRA got cleared all the way to 2047. You know, we'd like to go forward and start generating, you know, revenue for the city and also for ourselves. This is a rendering that of the inside that we'd like to achieve with something similar to that we have now with, you know, with the new space, we can expand on that. The building we're looking forward to is a LEED design, like energy efficient. I guess the term that they like to use in the industry is like leadership and energy environment and design. To use eco build-outs, like I guess recycled materials, like more natural lighting versus electric. EV parking and curbside access are all ideas that we'd like to integrate if we would be going forward with this. The property tax that we estimate every year would be like 60 to 75 K sales tax that we pay to the city. I'm sorry to the state and the city county is around 102, 190,000 to 210,000 every year, which the CRA, I'm not exactly sure on the portions, but I know it does receive some of it from the state tax. What about property tax?

Whatever the legislature is going to decide. Yes, whatever the legislature decides their taxes will be, yeah, but nothing else.

You guys receive anything from property tax?

No, we will get from whatever your property taxes, but nothing else.

But the, oh.

Nothing else.

Okay, where does the CRA money come from?

Okay, I'm gonna explain this. For the first 30 years, the CRA got back money that normally the Broward County would have gotten, that possibly the hospital district, but that sunsetted in March of 2026. The county allowed us to continue the CRA. It's our money. That's our tax dollars generated from the regular budget. So now that's the people's budget to that. But it's all the city's money just divided into two different places. We get nothing from anywhere else anymore, which is why the county was nice enough to let us continue since they're giving us nothing.

Understood. Understood. So this is the investment that we're proposing to make to buy the land for 301. The build-out is, from our estimates, is anywhere from $1.5 to $1.8 million. The interior build-out is going to be anywhere between $500,000 to $800,000. And so we're assuming that the total would be $2.3 to $2.9 without taking into consideration future inflation, which seems to be happening at a pretty fast rate. With the new build-out, we're expected to employ about 9 to 12 people here. Obviously, our store has been thriving for a long time. We offer great deals, services. We ship to all 50 states from here. Not many of you know that. And we also do host many events for the first responders. We're doing our Father's Day event. I mean, we do all types of community engagement and education programs. And we also, when we do those events, most importantly, we're attracting a lot of people from outside of the city. Like the last first responder event that we had for Memorial Day brought about 30 to 40, officers actually from Palm Beach County so that a big significant portion of that their department came and visited us and supported and actually spent a good amount of money and you know we don't have to point out that we have a great following with the local community here so you know this is our request if you guys could it's probably best you guys read that off of the um for your prompters, but this is what we would like to see going forward to advance the land sale, like negotiate a timeline, finalize like a time for the closing and actually finish through with the close. This is where you guys could ask.

The chair to step out for a second, but just a couple of questions I had. First, great presentation. You look great. I'm sure mom and dad are proud of you. You did very well.

It's not my specialty, but I tried my best.

It's not easy, so you did a great job. Is this something you plan on doing right away if this were to happen, or this is in lieu of if something were to happen to the building?

There's points to be considered, like why we would go forward immediately or we wouldn't mind waiting. Really, in my opinion, from what I thought about it, would be the scope of the construction and how it's going to affect us. If the construction is going to choke us out, kind of like what's happening right now, which I know is very temporary with the roundabout and the Margate Boulevard and the adjacent streets, if it's going to be something like that, it would be in our best interest to accelerate the build and move out of there as soon as possible. I'm going to assume that it's going to be something pretty grand on the scale of construction versus, you know, when they're building all of that, I think there's going to be a road closure, stuff like that. And it becomes kind of detrimental because only the very hyper local customers know how to get to our plaza. You know, like even my sales reps that live in Coral Springs are, you know, calling me and asking me how to find the store, you know, the detours. I don't know if somebody messed with the detour signs or there wasn't a good coordination between them, but it was leading them to dead ends or wrong turns or, So I think if we would stay during construction, it would affect us negatively, so I prefer for us to move forward.

You said something that really hit home. You said graduate it, so you're going to go from there to there. The whole time I was involved with the CRA, it was basically, when we talked about the properties over there, being incubators for what would be on the other side of the street. So I think it's great that you and another one of your tenants is looking you know for the future for some sort of a parachute or a safety net so i think it's great um i don't know many of businesses that would invest local small businesses that would invest up to three million dollars into a property so i give you a lot of props for that i think that's it's great what you guys are presenting i heard at the beginning of the meeting the developer didn't really have that much of a problem with this piece of property To me, I think it's a no-brainer. I think we have to take our empty properties and put them on the tax roll. I'm not a big fan of the apartments, as everybody knows, but when you can take a business and put it on the tax rolls, I think it's something great and what the CRA is supposed to do. So I think your presentation was great. I think your numbers need to be tweaked. You know, you're talking, you're offering $300,000. Somewhere it was a $400,000 difference. Maybe you donate in a contribution to the city. $2,000 a year for 30 years. Something just something we're open to discussion. Something's just, you know, just so when people say, well, would they pay for the property? Well, over 30 years, this is what they're paying for it. But I think the presentation was great. I love the building. I think it's, it's a great idea.

I'd like to add that we would still like to go forward regardless if the development happens now or it gets postponed or whatever reasons. We're not like the other businesses that are only coming if there's a downtown being built. We are ready to move forward and build out there on our own without an attachment to development or based on what the development is going to have and how many units. We will move out there with or without a development.

I just want to say I think it's a great proposal. I don't have a problem with it. I hope we can get other commissioners just to look into it, but just to say no right now, because who knows what's going to happen with the developer even. Exactly. I've been hearing stuff from up north about what's going on, what they're doing to retain funds for this potential project.

What? Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, my dad liked that, that we were operating for the last two years as the number one rated store in the city and also this side of the county. North Broward County, out of like 700 stores almost.

That's awesome. You guys are great. Every time I go in there, I usually go in on a Friday. It's happy hour for my employees at that time. So you guys are great. You're always crowded, and I like that. Everybody knows you, and you guys are a staple business in the city, and I would love to see you guys be on the main road. A building like that, to me, it's a no-brainer. Get it on the tax rolls, get it going. So I wish you the best.

Thank you.

Is there a motion on here? If I could, much like with the Ace Hardware, what we're looking for is direction to go back and negotiate. We probably have to get an appraisal as well of the property and negotiate an agreement. And then we could bring that back to you. So we're not asking necessarily to approve anything tonight.

I think I told you how I felt, so I'm all for moving forward with something. I just like the fact that they're ready to go. Whereas Ace with Noor, he was basically waiting on what's gonna happen over at the building. Where you guys are ready to go, I think it's great. Board Member Schwartz.

I guess I have then, I didn't hear you say you were necessarily ready to go this moment. You said you weren't sure one way or the other. I think they all have to hear that right now, you're not sure one way or the other, and there's nothing wrong with not being sure one way or the other, but that's, he didn't say he's this minute. He said he could, or he might not.

Well, my response to that was, when would you like to go? I mean, if we were able to go immediately, we would go, or I mean, there's.

All right. But my question then is to the city manager, your suggestion that we hold off and wait was also about this parcel?

It was about considering any proposals from anybody going forward. I would like to see us get a presentation of at least phase one from our development partner. So we have an idea, a better idea of where East side buildings are going, how that may influence West side building and whatnot. I think it's, In my opinion, I would just like to let a little more time go by and see how we move along with our development.

And I would have to say that I agree with you that at least before you do anything or that you come and spend a ton of money in a very pretty building, that we at least see what a concept looks like so that aesthetics, whether or not it fits in or not, or whether he's overbuilding or whatever it is. And since there's no particular rush to sell this, and certainly he has the first right of approval, Because years ago, we said that anybody who was going to move out of any of the shopping centers, we would give first, actually first right of denial, whatever it was, an opportunity to decide if there were a spot where they wanted to go. I would agree with you to wait because there would be no right. We're certainly not going to sell it to anybody else at this moment. But I would suggest that we also wait till at least we see a concept of what's going to go there.

There's some more images, I believe. Is there any?

I don't mean your images. I meant the person who's supposed to develop the city center. I get what you want to build.

Oh, okay, okay. No, I don't mean yours.

No, I mean the concept of what they want to put, what we're supposedly going to see over there because there is nothing drawn yet.

For the developer center.

The city center.

Yeah. Well, this second property is outside of that.

You're close enough that 9-11, you're very close to what there's going to be. You might as well see what it's all going to look like to see if that's what you want your concept to look like at the time. Okay. Because it is aesthetically pleasing for use of a term. So I would go with Kale's suggestion that we just hold off and wait. We're not going to sell it to anybody at this moment, otherwise, we need to just hold off and wait to see at least what the picture looks like of what the city center is going to look like.

I may ask, would you be in favor of first right of approval? I'm a refusal, sorry.

Well, that was originally, see, I have a really good memory. So when the CRA was in effect, that was what was promised to everyone.

Yeah, I remember that, yes.

They may not know that because they weren't here then, but I know that. So at this point,

Yes, sir. So we have an agreement with our developer that includes those properties. So we don't have any first rights of refusal for any of our tenants. There may have been discussions that they would be given opportunities to participate in the city center project. But at this point in time, just like with the Ace Hardware, in order to move forward with any sale of any properties that are under that development agreement, we have to get their consent.

Okay. I've been schooled.

And even if we get their consent, Brookfield could still walk away. And so could we. So that's my concern. I don't think the city manager is saying no to the store. And I'm in the same position as you. I'm not saying no to that. I don't think we should be making any long-term commitments, whether it's selling property.

Just for a moment. Board Member Schwartz, are you done?

Yes. Okay. I knew you were next.

I just wanted to make sure that... Board Member Schwartz was done before you.

I don't think we should be selling any properties. I don't think we should be entering into long-term leases that are locking people into things without an out. Because we just don't know about the downtown. I mean, I know that the vice chair and myself voted against it. Um, so it's teetering. If one of the three commissioners changed their mind, I heard some of their plans don't look like the pretty pictures they showed us the first time. So maybe one of you changes your mind on it, but I haven't either, but I've heard, I've heard that there was nothing near what, what was initially shown. Um, but the point is, is we, we, we just don't know. I think you even mentioned yourself depending when you move dependent on construction and road closures, um, We don't even know what the picture is. We don't even know what the design is going to look like at this point. So I would just like to hold off, per the executive director's recommendation, on any long-term commitments. Now, make no mistake. Do I think that the current businesses there should have opportunities? Sure. Realistically, are all of them going to be able to transition over? Probably not. I do think that the liquor store is a very compatible business with the downtown. I think that the video game center is going to be a great fit for our downtown. I think the barbershop would be a great fit. So I definitely want to see Brookfield try to work with these businesses. But until that happens, I just think it's a little...

I think it's too early. Yeah, I agree.

That's it. Member small.

Yes, I agree with my other two board members and with the director. I think it's a little bit too early to jump in. I do like your design. I think it's beautiful. The inside looks great, looks very inviting. But I just think for right now it's too early. But I'd like to see you move over and have something nice when the time is correct.

I do think they're a good fit. whatever the end product is. Public.

Thank you. Thank you for your presentation.

Richard Kinney, Lakewood Circle. I got to say this. The history of this board has been a failure and you're continuing to fail. Board member Rosano, I mean, you're out encouraging like getting tenants to come in to carve out pieces of our CRA land that was purchased with money. We had the cost of money that we've been holding onto it. We have the future potential rent. You want to give away the residents' money, sell the land at well below market value to people that may or may not build consistent with our development plan. Why aren't we moving along with the development plan first? We shouldn't entertain anything. But yet, I am sure board members, this is the second time, board member Rosano, you are incentivizing people to do this. And it's a mistake. It's the residents' money that you are giving away, that you're selling property well under market value that we paid for. We wait until the development plan is done. Stop trying to carve out pieces of it and throw a monkey wrench into the development plan, which is exactly what you're trying to do. You know, we had seven years of chairmanship, plenty of time for workshop meetings, plenty of time to get five members of the board to discuss amongst yourselves to get a consensus, to get a direction. None of that was ever done. You had all those years, seven, now plus one, eight years, and all that time we could have had tenants coming up making proposals. No. What do we do? We wait until we sign a contract with a developer, and now we try to throw a monkey wrench into that agreement. It's too late. Let's work on the development plan. Listen, I have kindred feelings for our long-term tenants. They've been great. But remember, they've been great and they've been successful because we were charging them rent well below market value, not even close to retail value. They're paying rent less than they would pay for a warehouse. I am I celebrate their success and we should continue that relationship so that when we develop city center, we do something like a percentage lease so that we can accommodate our long term tenants and then take advantage of the location along 441 and be able to make significant changes. increases in their exposure and sales. But this is ridiculous, trying to throw a monkey wrench in the development plan and trying to carve out property that the residents' money has purchased at good prices, and you want to sell it below market value. It's totally ridiculous.

Nina Culver, Margate resident. So I actually just have a couple of questions. So the property that they're talking about, is that next to Satis?

Yes.

It is? It's the empty field next to it? Yes. Okay. How long has that been sitting empty for like that?

We bought it, CRA bought it in 2018.

Is that when the building was torn down? or the parking lot was torn down?

No, not when the building was torn down. Yes.

2019.

Okay, so the developer, if you don't, you can't call out from the audience.

So the developers agreement, does that cover every CRA property between Margate Boulevard and Atlantic? Yes, they signed for the entire thing. Instead of just, did they come up with any kind of layout plan for the entire property or just the downtown areas? Because I didn't see anything over there.

The conceptual renderings, I don't know if they had buildings up, but they called out for like little boutique grocery stores or something of that nature.

That would be amazing. Because they could also double or add on a side to that with milk and bread and all of those little things that people need. I honestly think it would be a really good idea to have it there. I would hope that the developer would agree to this and I wish you luck.

All right.

Um, I'm gonna, I don't know. There's no necessarily vote needed here tonight. Again, as the CRA attorney suggested, this is on there for direction. If the board wants to consider selling this parcel or entertaining the proposal that we received, then the attorney and I would then negotiate a purchase and sale agreement and development agreement to effectuate this transaction. If there is

desire to do so you can take a motion and vote on it if there is not I'm looking at it right now and I'm looking at at least the first three saying wait so I think that's enough direction that that's all we need at this moment just to wait I mean because that's that's the reading I got and unless I'm reading it wrong that's the reading I got so okay so next is tenant updates

Just real quick. The presentation, you've got my number. We'll keep in touch, and I'll keep you updated as to progress of developments. All right. City update. So Margate Boulevard, we are moving along as fast as we possibly can. They just completed the final crosswalk pouring and those are curing. Our goal is to have the roadway in a in decent enough shape so we can have our 4th of July parade. And I believe we are on track to do so, although weather is certainly a factor here.

construction and in the paving but we're moving along um chevy chase yes sir it'd be correct so anybody who's watching and listening to this understands that every time it rains it pushes us back because uh the rain messes up our schedule and the ability for things to dry so that they can move so they can move forward yes okay thank you

Chevy Chase, we've completed the resealing of the parking lot, and now we are getting the final improvements to the lot will be painting of the building and the sidewalks out there. The sports complex turf upgrades, we are in our final negotiations with the highest qualified bidder, and we hope to have an agreement presented back before you in July.

How much is that?

As it sits right now, yes, you asked how much it is? As it sits right now, 4.7 million.

Is that really the most important thing we need to do with our money right now, considering what the state has decided? Is that really?

The state has, yes, has thrown a wrench in a lot of our plans.

Would it be so terrible if kids played on grass rather than AstroTurf to the tune of $4.7 million?

Why don't we hold off on that?

I'm just giving an update where we're at. This is something that will come back before you. Yeah, we could probably.

The only reason I'm asking is you're negotiating a contract. So maybe we can save you time if nobody thinks that's a great thing to do at this particular moment. Because most contracts have a certain.

This is baseball fields at Banks Field. It's converting all three fields to artificial turf.

Which get really hot, and this has been one hot year.

It's expensive. There is, and we're quantifying it, but there is annual maintenance and cost reductions to that in terms of cutting grass and lining fields and fertilization, all of that, you know, all of that. maintenance and field preparation goes away. I don't have the number quantified yet, but when it comes back before you, you will have those numbers.

Yeah, because then if you can show me that it's a $3 million offset, maybe then it's not a big deal. It just sounds like a very large amount of money.

I would suggest letting us continue these negotiations. There's a large allowance in that price for unanticipated dewatering efforts that may be needed. We don't know what that is. So we're working with our engineers to understand what that is. And if you don't know what dewatering is, when you dig a hole, the water table there is very shallow.

Oh, I know about that because I remember the batting cages and the fact that the water level was higher than the ground.

So for them to be able to put in their material... There's going to be areas that they have to install small pumps that pull out the water. And then they put down their fabric and whatnot.

The way we would put in pumps underneath and bury it, then put asters. Pumps don't stay there. And if there's a problem, dig up our asters.

They need to have it dry to be able to put.

Grass is sounding so much better to me. I understand.

This is a project that the board approved in budget, gave us direction to put out to bid and bring back prices on. And if the board decides they don't want to do it and it's too costly, completely understand. You know where we're at in the process.

I remember when the batting cages were being done and National Night Out was coming and we had to hide what it looked like because the water table was flooding. Am I right, Tommy? The batting cages flooded. He's nodding his head yes. So I remember the water table being too high there. Now I'm hearing it just.

We are doing everything we can to engineer this thing to get the price down. And we're looking at a variety of different ways of doing so. And yes, it's more than I think I anticipated. in terms of construction. I can tell you the fields at Vincent Park, the turf fields there are widely accepted. They're widely loved. We will have a rainstorm, a deluge at 5 o'clock, and they're playing baseball at 6 o'clock.

Well, I'm not saying no. I'm just simply saying it's a large amount of money when grass has worked for the 70 years that this city is sitting here.

Again, I think it's important to see what annual savings there will be in terms of the maintenance of it. It's certainly not going to offset $4 million, but there will be a cost savings to that through the city.

I look forward to seeing the two figures, especially around budget time.

Yeah, I don't mind keeping things open, but at the same time, let's be cautious about some of these big purchases. I know this is the CRA. It's separate from the city coffers, but there's so many unknowns with the property taxes. I know voters have some decisions to make there. Certainly not saying to vote for it or against it, but if it does pass, there probably will be cuts. But I think that, I know that we've got some interesting sport proposals in that may benefit the city as well. So maybe that, you know, there's some offerings there. So I don't think it hurts. Just like the last item that came up, maybe we wait a little bit.

Might I say something?

But if the money, if we can get the cost down and... things with property taxes don't hurt us too bad and things like that, I am a fan of improving our parks and continuing these improvements that we've made over the years.

That's a good point. While the CRA funding is tax dollars, and we are looking at the potential for a large reduction in tax revenue to the city, this would be an approved CRA expense that would lower annual costs for the city.

Okay.

But That will be coming up in a future meeting where we will have much better numbers. I was just giving you an update as to where we stood. And that's all I have tonight. Thank you, sir.

I don't have anything to add.

Good evening, Board. Jim Nardi, Advanced Asset Management. As far as tenant updates go, we have three tenants that owe rent for June. It was updated just prior to the meeting. Fiona was able to help me out with that. So we're pursuing those three tenants for collections as normal.

As usual.

Correct. TBT from the Chevy Chase Plaza.

I just don't understand that.

A bunch of people who love paying late fees. That's it. Okay. Anything else you'd like to add?

No, sir. All right. Thank you, Jim. Thank you. All right.

And board member comments. I'm going to ask to go first because I got to leave. Happy Fourth of July. Hurricane preparedness. And I apologize for having to.

You got it. All right. All right. Take care. All right. Board member comments, board member Schwartz.

You go back to something the executive director said, or that was said before, right now, since March, C.R.A. money is city of Margate taxpayer money, period. Nobody else is contributing. It's taking from one pocket and putting it in the other pocket because before it was money that was being paid to other sources that came back to the city. This is now all So when you spend money or sell something, you are now directly spending taxpayer dollars because that's all that money is. Now, I understand there is money still left over from when we did collect from other sources, but the bottom line now is it's all the tax dollars that belong to the residents of the city. And so it's, you know, taking from Peter to pay Paul, but it's still now all city money. So when we look at some of these expenditures, we have to also look at the fact that they can offset what may happen depending on a vote that will take place. So if some of these things are nice but not necessary, then we have to look at it now with a whole different eye because we're not getting from the county. We're not getting from the hospital district. I've seen that even the Children's Services Council is running ads on TV explaining the things they do with the money. And you're getting people like 2-1-1 Broward saying how many people from the city of Margate they've served because now it becomes far more important because they're not protected and they're not gonna be getting any of the tax dollars. They're probably gonna be off the tax form when we get it. So it's just that now it's suddenly the things that were nice may have to wait because they're no longer all that necessary. And with that, that's it. And I do not understand, Jim, what that same group of people who ride around in the new DeLorean, whatever you call that thing, Can't pay on time.

Cybertruck.

You're showing your age with the DeLorean.

Cybertruck.

Well, to me, it's always going to be a DeLorean. Back to the future is coming back again. It's always going to be a DeLorean when I look at it. And quite frankly, the DeLorean was better looking.

It was. It was. Trust me.

I even knew someone who owned one. But I cannot understand how they would rather rack up late fees than just pay on time. and have this whole conversation every single time. I just don't get it.

Anyway, thanks. They have a monthly spending bonus on their credit card. I don't know. I mean, I don't know.

I just don't get it. I do not get it.

I paid my taxes in January instead of November because the $20 I was going to save, I got so much more in points just to wait. But, you know, everyone's got a method to their madness.

If you use the credit card, which means they taxed you extra to do it if you got points.

But the points equaled more than the money I was saving by paying in November versus January, so.

That's the difference in generations. Points arbitrage.

Thank you.

Board Member Rosario.

I just want to wish everyone a happy 4th of July. I know the city's got a bunch of events planned throughout the day. We do an incredible firework show at the end of the night. I believe this year we included extra... Nice little extra grand finale for the 250th anniversary. So I hope everyone comes out to that. And that's it.

Board Member Simone.

I know the carnival still owes us quite a bit of money, $55,900 and something. What are we doing to collect that?

There will be an agenda item on the next city commission meeting asking for direction and authorization to pursue a court claim to force payment.

Force payment.

Didn't we withhold money in escrow?

We got a deposit, but their detailed payment succeeded that deposit. Okay.

So the relationship that hasn't been paid is between the city and the amusement provider. So that's why we have to have the city commission authorize that.

Thank you. I'm glad to see that we're doing something and not just waiting any longer. I understand that the governor may ban actually fireworks this year due to the drought. So I don't know if that is actually coming or what have you. But if you do fireworks at your home, which I hope you do not do, Please be considerate of your neighbors. Nobody, including I think yourself, wants to wake up in the morning with soot and ash all over your car, trash, the used paper from the fireworks all over your lawns, and also all the trash that accumulates on your roof that could possibly cause a fire. So please. consider not lighting off fireworks at your home and going to the city fireworks if it is not banned. You need to think about your neighbors, not just yourself and the fun that you want to have. But I'm sure that if tides were turned, that you would not want your property trashed by your neighbors and have the cleanup, as well as the petrified dogs and the veterans that are affected by the noise. So I'm asking you to please, please reconsider lighting off fireworks at your homes. And that's all I have this evening. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm just looking at the picture on the TV. That's nice. Is that new?

No. No?

Looks really good. Okay, just a couple things. Arlene, you brought up the turf. I totally agree with you. You know, turf, I bought it today. I bought turf, and it's so cheap to buy. I don't know why that number's so high. But when you throw in a dewatering, an engineer, things go up. Probably an extra zero. I'm going to grab into my toolbox and grab another mucking wrench. So a while ago, I was speaking to a... a studio company down in Miami who was looking for about 100,000 square feet building to do movies. They do a lot of movies on Netflix. They've won awards from what I was told. And I finally got a call today from them that they want to move forward with it. They want to move forward in the city of Margate. I don't know why, but maybe it's the location because of the turnpike, sawgrass, maybe what's around here. But they're looking for at least 100,000 square foot building. They were inquiring about the ones that were in Creek that were down the street, but I told them they're already taken. So if you guys don't mind, I'm going to take the monkey wrench and give it to the assistant. No, it's not you. To the CRA director to look at it and just see if it's something that maybe, I mean, I would love to have a movie production company come here. You know, the people that they could bring in the, you know, the outsourcing of the food shopping and all that, I think it would be great for the city, you know, filmed in Margate. I mean, I think that would be awesome, but right now I think they're in Miami and Hallandale, I think, but they're older studios and they're looking for something. I don't know how it would work, but I was just, they asked me, because I've been asking them. So they finally called me back today and said that they would like to talk to somebody who's in charge. So I'll give you the number. See what you can do. I forgot my glasses. I can't even read. Oh, guys, 4th of July. The parade is going to be awesome. Make sure you show up. I got a bunch of businesses. I'm going to have banners on there, help the city, whatever I could do. And I might even have something hopping down the street. Don't worry, it won't be a kangaroo. It'll be my wife. I just wanted to throw that in. I know she's watching at home. And Kel, the seal coating you talked about, I know that one day it created a lot of fumes and maybe a couple of the restaurants had to close. If there's something that you and Jim can work out, because I heard that they had to close because of the smell of the seal coating. It was so horrible that the restaurants couldn't stay open for a day or something. So if there's anything that can be done, it would be appreciated. Other than that, I can't read anything else. So you guys are all done? Good. I'll see you guys at the fourth. And be considerate with the fireworks. And I never realized, but when I was growing up, I never realized my dogs were afraid of fireworks. But now I see the dog. Every dog I've had actually hides from the fireworks. And I feel sorry for him, I really do.

Every veteran, every person that's ever served, anybody who's ever had an experience with gunfire. And you can also, actually trees will catch on fire too because it's so dry.

Can I say something real quick?

Yeah, go ahead. As someone who loves lighting off fireworks and does a lot of them, be considerate though. Commissioner Simone is correct. My neighbors and I, we do them every year. And that night we clean up. And then in the morning, the three of us are out there with rakes, blowers, trash can. You know, our board members thanked us. They're like, wow, I can't believe you're cleaning up. But it's just being a good neighbor. So for those that are going to do them, pick your stuff up. Walk your neighbor's yard the next morning. And just, you know, be courteous. Because, yes, they do land everywhere. And people, pets and stuff pick them up. So I'm glad you brought up being courteous. Being courteous.

All right. So don't be there for the 4th of July. Don't miss it. Happy birthday to the United States of America. Happy birthday to anybody's birthday today, tomorrow, the next day. Love you. Anything else? We good? All right. God bless. Have a good evening. Thank you. Meeting adjourned.