Regular City Commission Meeting - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. We're going to start. Okay, we're going to start the meeting. It's, we'll say, 7.03. Today is Wednesday, June 17, 2026. City Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Schwartz? Here. Commissioner Simone? Here. Commissioner Rosano?

Here.

Vice Mayor Caggiano. Mayor Serio.

I'm here and the Vice Mayor, it's my understanding, is representing the city down at a chamber event and he will be here a little bit later this evening. Now let's stand for a moment of silence and then the pledge. All right. First up, we have presentations. I'm going to turn it over to the city manager for employee recognition. All right.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everybody. We've got a few employees to recognize here tonight. First is Bean Mani, a canal maintenance technician in public works celebrating 20 years of service. We have Thomas Vaughn, chief plumbing inspector in the building department with 20 years of service. George Chamarian, an IT specialist with 10 years of service. And Olivia Harris, Athletic Coordinator, Parks and Rec with five years of service. And we do have two employees here tonight to recognize. And first, I'd like to invite up Chief Lorenzo. We recognized Manny Sanchez, Fire Captain, celebrating his 20th year of service. Chief?

Doesn't want to? Perfect. Okay, great. Thank you, City Manager, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, thank you for being here tonight. I'd like to call up Captain Manny Sanchez, please. So, a little bit about Manny. Boy, he's had quite a distinguished career. Before he came here 20 years ago to Margate, he served for the country. He served in the United States Army for eight years, where he attained the rank of platoon sergeant. Very, very distinguished. Thank you. And really, with that energy, that's really infiltrated the fire department that we see today. So again, Manny was hired here as a firefighter paramedic. And again, he's currently one of our captains at Station 58, the new fire station that's out there. Manny has sat in many different roles within this organization. He sat in the lieutenant seat, the driver engineer seat throughout his career. But I would say the most, the top several items that he's really recognized for is really revamping the honor guard. He worked quite a bit with our fire department members to make sure that they are constantly training, constantly outfitting, and working with the police department for all the city events. And he's currently still a member, still active after 20 years within the department. Also, Manny was part of our ALS team. which is award-winning for the last 20-some-odd years, and they certainly won a lot. In international third place. And a lot of times they thought they won first place, and the other team took it. But Manny has always represented with high integrity, not only here in Margate, but abroad and throughout Broward County and the state of Florida. Now, one of the things that you might not hear quite a bit about Manny is the creative ways that he helps train his guys at Station 5-8. It's not just normal to go through the regular training of search and rescue, but he makes it entertaining for the guys. Right? They exercise in gear. They're on air. They're doing very different and creative training methods within the closed bay doors there. And really, he just brings a lot of cohesiveness and collaboration at a station. And he's definitely recognized for that. And he's certainly sought out from other new hires and new members in the department to learn from. So Manny, thank you very much for 20 years, and we're looking forward to seeing what the future holds for you, man. Thank you very much. So I have a plaque here. Yes. So we have a plaque here, a certificate of recognition on this date for Manny Sanchez, 20 years of service as a city employee, signed by the vice mayor, mayor, vice mayor, and all the commissioners. And we have a fantastic pin here for you to wear with great pride. Did you want to say a few words, Manny?

Thank you very much.

Yes, and some of the things I just want to remind everybody is, you know, we work a 24-48 hour shift, right? So his time away from home is really handled by his family and his closest friends here. So if we can get them up here also, because, you know, a third of his life is spent here with this fire department, but it's the people at home that really, you know, support him during these, you know, great and more challenging times. So congratulations, Manny.

All right, and last but not least, I'd like to invite Development Services Director Liz Taschero. We're going to recognize the wonderful Paul Robinson, Business Development Coordinator, celebrating 10 years of service.

Hello. Thank you, Mr. City Manager, Mayor, and Commissioners. I'm very happy to acknowledge Paul with this 10 years of service with the city. We've had the opportunity to work together, and what I can say about Paul, is I think he has the biggest scissors in the city. Yes. But one thing I really admire about Paul, he has extreme patience with our customers, regardless of their level of anything. He can just sit there and walk them through all of the data entry, everything that they need to do in order to get their local business tax receipts or their grants. And so I find that very admirable. I try to be, I thought I was very patient, but once I met Paul, extremely patient. So thank you, Paul. And he's been working with our development services department and also helping with planning and zoning and LBTR. And of course the grants with the CRA, which are very, very helpful. So thank you, Paul. And did you want to say something?

Just, it's always a pleasure to work with everyone. I just appreciate it. Thank you.

Here is your plaque for 10 years of service as a business development coordinator.

Thank you. Thank you. That's it, Mayor. Thank you.

All right, next up is a presentation that's going to be Proclamations B, Armature Radio Week. Do I have, is Ben here?

Good. It's good to see you. You too.

I see some familiar faces. So I'm going to read the proclamation for Armature Radio Week. But for those that don't know, with Armature Radio, while many see it as a hobby, they also play a critical role during disasters. It's my understanding that you guys volunteer with the Broward EOC and potentially the state during natural disasters, especially after hurricanes, for communication, lines of communication. And they're having an event. If you want to mention the dates. Field day is the last weekend of June. Last weekend of June, they're having their field day?

The 27th and the 28th of June will be our field day, and it'll be at Quiet Waters Park at 401 South Power Line.

And I've been to that the last couple of years, and it's pretty neat. They actually, through radios, can communicate with people across the world if the weather and everything lines up correctly. So I will try to be there on Sunday. to stop by and see you guys. And I know that Tom Savoka is also involved. He had work tonight. He couldn't be here for those that are wondering where Tom is. So now I'll read the proclamation. Whereas armature radio operators are celebrating over a century of the miracle of the human voice broadcast over the airwaves, and whereas amateur radio has continued to provide a bridge between peoples, societies, and countries by creating friendships and the sharing of ideas. And whereas amateur radio operators have also provided countless hours of community service, both in emergencies and to other local organizations throughout these decades. And whereas these amateur radio services are provided wholly uncompensated, and whereas the state also recognizes the services amateur radio's people also provide to our many emergency response organizations and whereas the city of Margate recognizes and appreciates the diligence of these hams who also serve as weather spotters in the Sky Warn program of the National Weather Service and whereas ARRL is the National Association for Armature Radio in the USA. And whereas the ARRL amateur radio field day exercise will take place on June 27th to 28th, 2026, and is a 24 hour emergency preparedness exercise and demonstration of the radio amateur skills and readiness to provide self-supporting communications without further infrastructure being required. And now, in a moment, I will present to you the plaque with the city seal signed by myself, the mayor, and the commissioners. And I'll read the rest. Signed by the mayor, the commissioners, and Armature Radio Week. And we appreciate everything that you do for the community, especially in times of need.

We need to squish.

I can't see that gentleman.

And Elsa's going to get a picture too.

These are also all sort members.

Thanks again. OK, next up is public discussion. You have three minutes to speak about anything that's not on the agenda.

Donna Fellow's more game, isn't it? For six more months. Yay. But I just wanted to find out something. I haven't been here for a while due to circumstances. And I just wanted to ask if the fair owner has paid up. I've been wanting to ask this, but I haven't been here.

It's an item on the agenda tonight. However, it's my understanding he has paid in full plus interest.

Yes. Okay. So now I hope the ones that have voted for it has learned their lessons because the residents have been trying to tell you this, that Obviously, if he didn't pay the first time the $100,000 and finally came up with it because he was putting in another thing. I hope you all have learned your lessons because the residents have been talking to you, but obviously you are ignoring residents. You're not listening to the residents when they're speaking. So to me, this is a disgrace. For the ones who are running again or who are running against people or running for it, I hope that you do not follow in these footsteps that have been already done. Because of the fact that if you are, you're just going to be losing a lot of people. So I think that it's best that maybe you all think about what you're doing and start listening to your residents and what your residents really want and what they are really saying to you in reference to this. Because I know I have spoke to a lot of you in reference to this carnival thing and him doing this and why are we keep bringing him back here for it, which almost led us into litigation against him. Which would have cost the residents more money because we're having to pay for the attorneys to go there and represent the city, which is wrong. Listen to your residents when they say no, it's no. If it's only one resident telling you this, but it's not just one resident. I know there's a few residents that have been saying it. And this is really ridiculous. Listen to your residents and take it from them. Don't just do it to line your own pockets for your campaign money of whatever it was, $1,000, $1,500 he used to give you, and Josh Rydell. Josh Rydell stood up at this podium here and lied to you, saying he would never do that again. Well, he did it to us again, and look, we finally got it.

Time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, Jonathan Crouch, Margaret President. Public trust in government is at a historic low, including at the local level, according to research by Pew and Gallup. Trust is not built through words alone. It's built through actions. When elected officials promise one thing and do another, public trust suffers. When tactics are used to avoid transparency, the Sunshine Law, and the creation of public records, trust suffers. When an ordinance is passed to later not be adhered to by giving support and promoting an individual who is in clear violation of that said ordinance, trust suffers. When a commission adopts rules of procedure but does not consistently follow those same rules while expecting residents to do so, trust suffers. And when the city manager and city attorney appear more focused on satisfying the commission rather than serving the residents, trust suffers. If we want residents to trust the government, then government must demonstrate trustworthiness by honoring its commitments, following its own rules, and upholding the oath of office. As trust in government declines, it is natural that residents will seek to petition their government and voice their concerns. The First Amendment protects that right. Unfortunately, city halls across Florida and the nation have increasingly become battlegrounds over public participation, and Margate is no exception. The current mayor has continuously suppressed free speech and public participation at meetings by discontinuing Zoom public comment, starting when he was last mayor in 2022. and for Zoom only to be brought back by the following mayor. And then again, this mayor took away the public's ability to comment using Zoom once he got back in a rain this year. It's as though public comment is perceived as a threat. In 2022, the mayor removed the public's ability to have three minutes to comment on the consent agenda as a whole, only for it to never be brought back since. The mayor's latest attack on public comment came this year when both of the two required monthly commission meetings are held on the same night. This mayor no longer recognizes public comment for the first of the two meetings, although, once again, it's in the rules of procedure that this commission adopted, which states the second item of each commission meeting shall be public comment. Limiting opportunities for public participation weakens public confidence in government if this commission truly wants to restore trust it should lead by example follow its own rules expand opportunities for public comment and demonstrate the resident voices are valued rather than viewed as an inconvenience thank you

Good evening, Elsa Sanchez, Margate resident. At the last meeting, there were different opinions about the proposed idea of making changes and removing property taxes and what the consequences could be. Comments were made about reviewing the city budget and maybe making some cuts. I hope the change does not happen because I do not know what the city would be able to do as far as keeping up services and real expenses. But if there are going to be cuts in the city budget, I would like to suggest that the $600 car allowance that four of the commissioners receive every month could be one of them. You will know that I have been against this from the beginning because I think it's an abuse of power since you proposed it, voted, and approved it yourselves. And just to that point, I know that the vice mayor attends events by bicycle. So I don't know if he does for health reasons or if he does not have a car. So I'm wondering about that too. Does he still get the $600 car allowance? Does he have a car? I would like an answer to that. Another thing that happened at the last meeting was what I considered to be childish, unprofessional, and embarrassing behavior. when from the day as commissioners attack each other, bring up past issues and subjects about each other. I have seen that happen here quite often, and I will continue to call it out to try to see if we can stop that or if it can change. I really am embarrassed about it. Yes, you have the right to disagree and discuss issues, but just because someone disagrees or you're not getting what you want, there should not be this immature, unprofessional, and embarrassing behavior. But I want to end with a positive comment. I want to thank City Manager Kel Curtis, Parks and Recreation Mike Jones, Public Works Dio, and all the city staff that are doing such a beautiful job sprucing up the city for the 4th of July celebration. And they are not doing that just for the 4th of July. They always do that. So thank you. I appreciate you. Thank you.

Hello, Mindy W. Lee, 27-year resident of Margate. I have two things I want to discuss. The first one is just a point of clarification. At the last meeting, Commissioner Arcerio brought something up, and I just wanted to clarify it, and I'm not campaigning, but he had said that I had ran for the city commission in the past. He encouraged all the residents to Google the Sun Sentinel to see the horrible things that they wrote about me. I'm guessing here, Arcerio, you must have been 14 or 15 when I ran the first time, so you probably did not know that the Sun Sentinel actually endorsed me when I ran. For those of you that don't know what that means, it means that they chose me as the best candidate when I was running way back then. So that's the first thing I'd like to point out. Now, why I'm here tonight is very important. I would like all five of you to vote in a moratorium for six months on any development deals that are possibly going to be signed into contract this year. Why? Because of what she just said. The property tax amendment is on the ballot in November. If that passes, we are going to lose a ton of revenue. We will not be able to operate the city without that tax revenue. That money can no longer be spent on fire, police, maintenance, building, landscape, even city salaries cannot be used on the money that we're getting from the property taxes. And we're about to sign away millions of dollars worth of real estate that we as taxpayers helped you buy. The deal that you're putting into place right now, a 99-year lease worth of developer, that is not what the city wants. 2,000 residents signed a petition to tell you that they are against the development deals that are going on right now. Listen to the people of Margate. You don't have five votes up there to decide what our future is going to be regarding that land. And we right now need that land in case we can't operate the budget come 2027. If the worst case scenario is, we could sell the land, take some of those millions, and pay for the services that we need. And I don't think any of you are taking that into consideration. So Rosano, I'm looking at you, sir. like for you to make a motion i would like you to second the motion and bring it before the commission tonight and i hope that one of you has it in your heart to listen to the residents and think about the future of margate because if we lose that tax revenue come the end of the year the city i don't care who's sitting up on that board will not be able to run this city last meeting he city manager said We needed 1.6 million dollars to pay for the firefighters that we have in place right now. If we do all of this development, how are we going to pay for the firefighters and the police and all the other things that we need when we don't have the revenue from the property? So we need to take that into consideration right now. The future of Margate and all the residents are in your hands. So please, tonight, pass a moratorium. Six months isn't going to make or break any development negotiation that you're dealing with right now, but it could possibly break the city, break the home that we've all decided to live here with. 20 seconds. That's all I have to say. Please do the right thing. Make the motion. Second it. I'm begging Arlene, pass it. Please, tonight, guys, give us six months till we see what the city holds with the property tax bill. That's my time. Thank you.

I guess she forgot about rentals.

Before I start talking, just a question. Richard Zucchini, Lakewood Circle. Before I start talking, stop, stop, stop the button. Item 7A, will the public be able to speak on item 7A, yes or no, tonight? Yeah, yeah, of course. I thought it was going to be postponed.

Are you referring to 6A?

Oh, I'm sorry, 6A. 6A. Development agreement.

It still has to come up.

It still has to come up, yes. But if you're going to table it, then the public doesn't have the chance to speak about it.

You'll have the opportunity to speak about it when it comes back up. You want me to start your clock?

Yes, please. More than likely, I won't be able to speak about it tonight.

Okay. A couple questions.

You know, we need a better quality of candidates running for commission that know what they're talking about. It's just absurd. On the one hand, you talk about the loss of revenue. possible for homestead exemption. And on the other hand, you say stop development, which is exactly what is needed to generate the revenue. So it makes no sense when these candidates come up and they don't know what they're talking about. They don't know what the Brownfields Act is. They don't know what the Live Local Act is. They don't know what the Infill Development Act is. And they come up out of ignorance. And they think they know what they're talking about. It's just amazing. We hired Ron Book as our lobbyist. And he came up in a previous meeting and presented and said, hey, city, be aware. We are losing our home rule. So any time we can do a development, and have input to the development, we should grab it. Because very soon, we're not going to have that ability. Like tonight with the golf course. They can come back and they could say, we want you to declare it brownfield. And they would have every right to do that. It was a golf course. It is a brownfield. Then they would build whatever they want to build, and they wouldn't have to come back before you for permission. including the infield act. So, you know, the people that are coming up and think that they're campaigning and appealing to people by saying no, no development, that's exactly what we need to generate revenue to make up for likely what's going to pass, and that is the homestead exemption. The other issue is CRA. You know, again, it's just so disappointing. We have nominated a developer. We don't call them in to have workshop meetings in front of the public, in front of all five board members on the CRA to discuss what they have in mind. What's going to happen is you're setting them up for failure again. They're going to come up with a plan, and you're going to say, oh, no, no, I don't like it. They can't read your mind. You don't give them a chance to present and have interaction with you so that the board can come to a consensus. And I think it's about time, like Mr. Rosano said some many years ago, that we should have a new CRA chair every year. So I'm going to nominate Arlene Schwartz. I think she should be the new CRA chair. And maybe the vice chair should be Joanne Simone. We've had seven years of Rosano as chair, and we didn't get anything accomplished. So please, let's put that on the agenda, the new CRA chair. Yeah, no, no, lift it up. Make sure I'm on camera.

Anybody else? Okay.

Lauren Baraka, Margate resident. The first thing I wanted to say is I found out at the last meeting geo a lifesaver if any awards are given out for anything he should definitely be nominated he probably would have been good running for commissioner because you call him you text him and within 24 hours he takes he he comes up with a solution. And he has made it so much easier of being a representative of a community when you have somebody like Gio that, I mean, out of the ordinary. So I really would like to say that. And then, of course, Mayor, you always say I have something negative to say, so here we go. I think it's very unfair. Kajani, you're shaking your head at me.

I don't, I don't, I'm not. Okay.

So anyway, what happens is that when we get up to speak, we have people that are making faces at us, rolling their eyes. I'm an eye roller, but I'm up here for that. And it's very disrespectful to have that happen because some of us, it's hard for us to come up and speak like myself. And so when I see that going on, you know, it really is unfair. And then we go and we sit down and then we're pretty much attacked by by the person that doesn't like what we're saying. So I think it's very unfair that residents get to speak, voice our feelings about what's going on, and then get attacked afterwards. Thank you.

Nina Culver, Margate resident. Um, I was actually shocked when they got their awards today, um, that I knew everybody that, that had gotten them. Manny from fire is always been a tremendous community partner. Um, I can remember the first time I met Paul, he was extremely helpful over at the building department. I couldn't find my way or how to process papers. And he was just, he was amazing. Um, geo is always great, but I just wanted, uh, to come up and say that, you know, the last meeting was a bit of a circus. It really was. But other than the normal few crazy comments, you guys did very well. So I just wanted to give props. Have a good night.

Please no outbursts from the crowd. Thank you. You may be asked to leave if you do it again. I can wait. Okay, public discussion's closed. Commission comments? Commissioner Schwartz, go ahead.

Mrs. Baraka, Gio has a better job. He's got job security. Sitting up here, you don't have that. So I'm sure he's happier exactly where he is. With that in mind, I want to remind, well, actually, I was going to remind you about hurricane supplies, but since the vice mayor is here, I'll let him do that. I am going to remind you that children are out of school. It would be great if people stopped parking over the sidewalk. Kids are out of school. People are pushing strollers. People are in wheelchairs. It's an ADA violation. That's a national policy. but you cannot obstruct the sidewalk. It would be great if one day in this city people stopped doing it. Having said that, apparently when it comes time to vote, we're gonna have a new school board member to vote for because Nora Rupert chose at the last minute, I guess, not to qualify. So pay attention to whoever that may be who's running because right now I have no clue. And actually that might be a good thing because Margate has issues and perhaps someone new will pay attention to them. With that, happy Father's Day. On June 21st, I wish everyone who is a father, has the role of a father, is about to be a father, or is just a good guy to some kid, happy Father's Day. I wish you all an absolutely sunny, great day to take advantage of it. And that's all from me, thank you.

And Gio, he turned a beautiful shade of red.

Commissioner Simone.

Yes, I'd also like to congratulate our employees for the great service they do for the city. Our fire department is the best in the county. We're very proud of them. Each and every one of them is extremely proficient in what they do and very helpful to the residents. So, Manny, that was well deserved. And Liz from our development services director, she was absolutely correct in what she said about Paul. At grand openings, all we hear is accolades for Paul, how helpful he was and what a great asset to the community and to the businesses that he was. So that was well deserved. So thank you, Paul, for what you do. The sign that's in the works for Paradise Gardens looks awesome. Yeah, it's in the early stages. But if you haven't seen it, it looks really nice. I'm sure it is going to be beautiful when it's done. So great job on that. Mentioning children, you know that summer is here. It's extremely warm outside. So if your child does not know how to swim, please take advantage of the Swim Central voucher. You can apply for a voucher. It's free to apply. It's $55. Worth has a net value of $55. You can bring it to Calypso Cove and it will defer the cost of what Calypso Cove charges for swim lessons. So it's well worth it. Please take advantage of that. We hear all the time how many drownings there are of children over the summer. So take advantage. And lastly, I implore you to if fireworks are not banned from the governor this year because of the drought, please take advantage of going to a professional fireworks display and not do them in your own backyard. It's very disturbing to the veterans. It's very disturbing to pets. It's very disturbing to your neighbors who get up in the morning and see the soot and the ash on their cars, have a fear that night that the roof may be burned from the fireworks landing on their roof, and also the harm that it causes dogs not only that night, but also the following day when you take your dog out and they see the paper and the rolls with the, materials still inside that dogs are curious, they put it in their mouth, and it's deadly to them. So please think about your neighbors. Be courteous. Be a good neighbor. Don't light fireworks at your house. It's for your own safety as well. And with that, I think that's it. Thank you.

That's good afternoon. Good evening, everyone. Gio, you got a lot of props tonight. Good job. But there's a guy sitting here. Is he here? I don't even know if he's here. Kurt, you here? Is Kurt here?

Yes, he is, in the back.

Kael, can you just refresh everybody about the letter you sent us this week that involved Kurt with the water department?

With the... Oh, um... Yeah, put me on the spot.

You're going to save that? I'll let you think about it, and then when it comes to you.

No, just real quick. So I got an email from Kurt, which was authored by Marta Resko, who's the assistant director for the water plant over there. And as you all know, we have a $100 million bond project in the works, a lot of design and planning going on. And we're dealing with a lot of aging infrastructure over there that has become obsolete. But through the collective efforts of department staff, their hard work, their ingenuity, they were able to bring back to life one of the older systems that we have and get some extra life out of it and do that in-house with in-house labor. And so a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. And the details of that email tell the story much better than what I'm telling right now. But what... What I close the email off with you and what I genuinely feel is that we are in great hands when it comes to using these bond dollars for the system, that we have the right people in place with the right mindset, the right work ethic that will utilize these funds and get the most bang for our buck and set the city up for the next 40 years. That's the story. Thank you.

I appreciate that, Kurt. And Gio, I'm not comparing you guys or anything, but you guys all do a great job. You know, we heard about the fire chief tonight, the public works and these guys do an incredible job. And I just want to say thank you. And when the residents come up and say it, it means even more to us. So great job, guys. Keep doing it. July 4th, the 4th of July parade. Don't miss it. Starts at 9, I think. 9. On July 4th. Oh, the little dolls. So check. Each one of the commissioners has a little, it's not a bobblehead. I don't even know what it is.

It's not a name. What is it? Funko Pop. What is it? So you'll see them around. They're Funko Pops. They're little cartoon caricatures, and they're caricatures, but they're sold. There's a brand name of them, Funko Pops. And so these were 3D printed by our assistant parks director. Of course. Parks and Rec, Parks and Rec team, they got photos of us, loaded it into an AI software, and had our pictures turned into these Funko Pops. And then they loaded that image into a 3D printer, which produced these images. you know, customized, uh, caricatures of, of you all. Um, and then, um, Ben and his, uh, spare time, um, hand painted all of these and, and they all have little individual details that, that reflect you all. And so, um, he surprised me with them, um, earlier this week. And so we've surprised you with them here today. Ben, thank you.

And it's funny when you mentioned Ben, he always says it's not Ben, it's public, I mean, public works and Stuck on Gio. It's a parks and rec. Ben's a humble guy, and you guys do a great job. And Mike Jones, everybody from there down, you do a great job. Mayor, the golf course item, we're going to be able to talk about that tonight? Or are we just, if there's a motion to table it? Because I just had a couple questions when it comes up.

Yeah, I believe, yeah, I mean, as far as reviewing the hearing that they were going to have, they are postponing that. So they're not going to be here. But if there's some housekeeping things that we want to talk about.

That's all. And I appreciate it. That's it, guys. Thank you. God bless. And thank you. Take care.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Ben. It's so cool.

Thank you.

I talk about it often every meeting, whether it's CRA meeting or commission meeting. I talk about June 1st being the start of hurricane season. And anyone who opens up the news this morning saw that the first storm of the season hit today in the panhandle, Tropical Storm Arthur, causing dangerous flooding. I don't care what you want to call it, global warming, warming, cow farts, climate change, whatever it is, the storms are coming faster and harder, and I'm going to say it over and over and over again. Start preparing now. Start preparing now. Buy a little extra food. Buy some canned stuff. Go out and get a jug for gasoline for your generator. Get it now before they're all gone. Do it now a little bit at a time because when a storm hits and the stores are empty, you're not going to be able to get what you need. So I'm going to say what I say all the time. Prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare. And I hope to see all of you at the Fourth of July. Just be safe. Thank you.

All right. Good evening, everyone. City Council Chambers, As mentioned, the fourth or fourth of July is fast approaching and we have a day full of festivities 9am is the parade, I believe, from one to four is going to be a pool party at calypso cove and then starting at five o'clock to about nine o'clock the evening event and fireworks so come out for that and. while i'm on the other side of commissioner simone on fourth of july and fireworks because i know there's going to be people that will light them off i i personally am someone that likes to light fireworks but what i will agree with her is you need to be considerate and pick up after yourselves i know our neighbors the next morning we're up bright and early cleaning the street off picking stuff up because you don't want a dog or something to pick it up so We do have a show or child. We do have a show. It's great. Come out and see it. If you are going to light them off, just be a good neighbor and clean up your mess when you're done. Something that's coming up, which I'm kind of surprised by now, we don't recognize it. But Juneteenth, I know in the past year, two years when the calendar gets approved for the city days off, I've asked for it to be a holiday. I don't believe it is yet. City Council Chambers, But I would like to see it, it is a federal holiday, I know it's a new federal holiday but it's something that we should be observing here in the city and i'd also like consideration on for next year, some sort of. City Council Chambers, event or celebration or ceremony for. City Council Chambers, I know, most of the other cities are doing it. City Council Chambers, We can look into that for next year does anyone have an issue with it being holiday with the city.

I don't have a problem with it. I just would rather have a take a look at it and see what would it entail.

Okay. I know the downtown came up a few times tonight. I have not seen any of the new reiterations of it. I, to be clear myself and Commissioner Rosano voted no on it. I'm not against the development of a downtown, but it was a lot of units. And it's a piece of one of the few pieces of property left in the city that we can control we don't have control on most of the 441 corridor and now golf courses. So I was really adamant about making sure we get a proper balance in there, but myself and rosanna voted no on that I have not seen the reader. renderings and the drawings since then. I do hope that we can get with the CRA executive director to find out when we're gonna have our next round of discussions with them.

I'll give you an update on it. So I had a meeting with Brookfield this morning and the development agreement provides for a schedule and so that the next process is for them to come before the CRA board with the initial or the preliminary design. Per the meeting that we had this morning, it looks like that is going to be our next CRA meeting. So that'll be, I think it's July 9th, where they will present to you their, if it's preliminary or initial design and get feedback from you and the public.

Okay.

All right, thank you. Calypso Cove, do we know when the pump is going to be back and running again?

Ben, do you have an update on that? It is in the process of being installed mid-day today.

We're starting it back up tomorrow.

Okay. So it should be back up by the weekend.

So for the record, it's being installed as of now. It should be back up and running by the weekend.

Okay, perfect. Yeah, because I know a lot of residents have been asking about it. We've had some bad luck recently. I know it was shut down a few weeks ago for a similar issue. It's my understanding talking with the parks director that we are going to be getting a second pump to have so when one fails for redundancy, we can while that one's being serviced, put the new one on.

That is correct. So the pump that's coming out, it will be refurbished. That'll go on the shelf. New pump will be in. And so we will have a backup that is ready to go in case we find ourselves in this situation again.

Perfect. And then just kind of a quick comment. Wanted to thank Cale. I know, not thanking you for the hiring freeze, but I know there's a hiring freeze in anticipation for any potential tax implications. City Council Chambers, I know with that sometimes you can't foresee everything so there may be a position here there that we may deem critical or that we need to second review, I know something was brought to my attention with fire and a chiefs training position. City Council Chambers, And so I know a meeting was was set up with the Union and and the chief and yourself and you guys are working through that so just thank you for being open and and you know. City Council Chambers, Sometimes there's you know things need to be adjusted or exceptions made so. I don't know the final outcome of that, but I know that you guys are working on a solution.

Yes, sir. That's correct.

All right. And that's all I have. City attorney?

Thank you, Alan Gabriel, for David Tulsa. He sends his regards and wishes everyone a happy day. And he's obviously not here. I am. And happy to be here with you. Thank you.

City manager?

Nothing further to add tonight. Thanks. City clerk?

Go ahead.

since it has been brought up and you said that the next time we see something from brookfield will be at our next cra meeting and there are certain things scheduled and that the public can get up and speak is there a possibility that there will be city workshops so the public actually gets to see something in advance and then gets up to question

Yes, the possibility for that is there. What I would suggest is we have this initial presentation, and based on feedback from the board, you may need to solicit further public input. You may want to provide further input yourself, but I think we get the initial reaction from you as the board and from the public at that meeting, and then we'll know where to go from there.

okay because i will suggest that then we have workshops afterwards this is for the future of the city one way or the other the good the bad so thank you uh commissioner rosano yeah i just want to say this the one thing i'm totally against with this whole downtown project is the 99 year lease when i had mentioned your months ago meetings ago whatever about a 99 year lease i was talking about the city renting to businesses to come in for a 99-year lease. That would be the incentive to get them here. So when people hear about the 99-year lease, there's no way in hell I would ever vote for a 99-year lease to give a developer a piece of property where we're never going to do anything. We have no say on it for 99 years. So to me, that's the worst part of the whole deal, the 99-year lease. What they're going to develop, who knows what it's going to be. But if there's going to be something that we want, I know Donna and I want a steakhouse. If we want a steakhouse, That money to get them here, it's going to come out of the money that the city is going to receive. So I can tell you this. Whatever we want, we're going to get charged for it. So looking at the projected numbers that we're supposed to get, they're all just numbers. It's just, as we were told earlier, placeholders years ago. We're just placeholders there. But a 99-year lease is totally crazy to give a developer. We're better off selling the property and putting restrictions on what we want there. That's all. Thank you.

Okay. Commission comments is closed. City manager report.

Nothing. Nothing further. Thank you.

Okay. Consent agenda.

And there's one item on the consent agenda it's resolution 2026 155 a resolution of the city of margate florida approving a revocable license agreement with broward county and tcmc margate apartments loc and assigns for the maintenance of landscaping and related improvements within the coconut creek parkways whale adjacent to 5205-5231 coconut creek parkway and providing for an effective date what is the wish of the commission

I'll second that he's called the role.

We sure shorts, yes, we sure Simone, yes, we sure is on a yes.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, now we have public hearings 6 a I believe the applicant has requested a continuance to September, but city attorney, I believe we saw a reading yes, yes, sir.

This is resolution 2026 dash 1, 5, 4 resolution of the city of margie florida approving a development agreement pursuant to florida statute section 1, 6, 3 point 3, 2, 2, 0 dash 1, 6, 3 point 3, 2, 4, 3 known as the florida local government development agreement act to govern the development of the approximately 143.5 acres located north of royal palm boulevard south of west sample road east of holiday springs boulevard and west of north rock island road. at 3011 North Rock Island Road, providing for proposed development of 540 townhouses at a maximum density of 10 units per acre, not exceeding 35 feet in height, maximum of 30,000 square feet of commercial space, not exceeding 40 feet in height, and not less than 65.3 acres of open space, providing for an effective date. This is a matter that is continuous, is going to be considered, and I think it's a motion.

I'll make a motion to table.

As long as he doesn't get a second, yes.

Go ahead, Commissioner.

Thank you for allowing me to speak on it before we table it. First of all, I don't even think this should be tabled. I think this should be voted down. The property out there, and I mean, there's no hiding it. I don't like it. The residents don't like it. We went from apartments being out there to now townhomes being out there, and people kind of think that that's a win. To me, it's not a win. For this project to be voted down, take a step back, that would be a win. But the way I look at it is we're not getting anything for this property. I know Arlene is kind of like, I don't know where she is on it, but I heard her say at the meeting that maybe she's not in favor of it as well. So, Joanna, I'm going to ask you when this comes down.

Tommy, I thought you and I, since we constantly hear who has voted against the downtown, you and I have voted against this project. Yes, I didn't want to put words in your mouth.

I just said it.

No, I voted against it.

Okay. So, hopefully, Joanna, I'm going to ask you, when this does come back, maybe you can possibly fight for that building or something that the city is going to get. Because today I heard that there's possibly going to be residential homes on there, which is all new to me. And then I also got a call from a resident saying that they're out there working on the lakes, measuring them, checking them. And now they're talking about filling them in, which is all new to me. So there's a lot of people out there that don't really know what's going on. I don't know what's going on out there. I would love to see this thing stopped, not get approved. I think the owner of the property has driven this place into a nightmare for eight years. Not only the property, but the residents living out there. He was holding out for something that he was hoping to get from the commission, and he's already got his three votes to move on to the second reading. But to me, this is a horrible project. It should not move forward. And something should have been done years ago about it. There should have been fines all over that property. Residents get a fine for a blade of grass dead or something like that. This property just keeps on going and going. Complaints, it doesn't really matter. Private property. You know what? The owner out there has been horrible to us and the residents. I'm not going to vote for this. I hope nobody else will vote for it. Let's just end it and let them go back to the drawing board and let them work with the city and the residents. I don't think this is a good proposal. I heard from residents tonight, listen to your residents, listen to your people. So I support the people on this, and there's no way I'm going to vote on this. Thank you.

it's my understanding that actually they would that the city would like us to vote yes to postpone this but I read it all so my question more is since there are changes in Does that go back before development review and start all over again with the DRC, since it's not what was originally proposed? And so I'll tell you exactly what the changes are. It's getting rid of the commercial property and building either more townhouses or single family homes, because I read all of it. So it's a change from what was originally brought to us, whether you voted for it or you didn't vote for it. so my question becomes do they start the process all over again because this was not what was originally proposed whether whether i voted for it or not i i don't think they start from square one but there will be reviews by drc for any site plan changes any site plans yes So I think, Tommy, that the city would prefer that you do vote to table it, or whatever this is right now, so that it is still postponed and we at least get to see what the changes.

This would be a motion to continue the public hearing September 2, 2026.

Well, it doesn't appease us because number one, if it's housing that isn't going to give us any tax money, it's not appeasing us. But that's what my understanding was, that at this point it would serve us better to just let this go for the next couple of months and then see what the next step is. Thank you. That was it for me.

I will second the motion to table. Continue. Continue.

Continue to December 2nd was what was recommended. September 2nd. September?

September 2nd.

September 2nd.

Please call the roll.

Commissioner Schwartz? Yes. Commissioner Simone? Yes. Commissioner Rosano? No. Vice Mayor Caggiano? Yes. Mayor Serrio?

Yes. Okay. 7A, resolutions.

This is a resolution for 2026-158, a resolution of the City of Margate, Florida, approving change order number one to the agreement with MBR Construction for RFQ 2025-010, Centennial Park improvements awarded under resolution number 26-026, providing for a not to exceed increase of $532,350 for conversion of a current Sentinel Park basketball court to one tennis

pickleball and one basketball court providing for an effective date this is the change order to MBR construction for Centennial Park so if you recall a couple meetings ago the board authorized an agreement with MBR construction to make improvements at Centennial Park A component of those improvements were replacing the existing basketball court with a multi-purpose tennis court structure that could be used as tennis or the nets could be configured so that it could be used as pickleball. Since that approval, we got some resident feedback that they did not want to eliminate the basketball court and petition this board to have us look into getting pricing. to redesign so that we can have basketball, pickleball, and tennis at that court. So this is the requested change order, change of design, and cost of construction for completing that project with the three components, the pickleball courts, tennis court, and basketball. It would be a half court. It wouldn't be a full court basketball court.

Yeah, you're still up.

Okay, first off, I think a half a million dollars is absolutely ridiculous. When this came about, I think there was a resident that came up and went on TikTok about why are we taking out basketball courts. I agreed. I don't want to take out the basketball courts. So when I saw the line items in there for, I don't know if it wasn't specifically about removing of the basketball court. That's the question. It was, I think, $130,000. Don't quote me on this.

About $130,000. Because the residents asked at the time, when we first went through this, that we not have basketball courts and lights on and kids playing late in the evening.

If you go way back when this was proposed, it was proposed as a bigger park with a lot more amenities, a lot more money. And they didn't want it. So we tapered it back. So when this came out, it was a design build. Let's remember that. It's a design build. There's nothing in writing. There's no drawing that we're going by. So there's nothing basically to build by. It's just what we want and how much it's going to cost and who's going to build it. So it came back as a design build. The NBR got it. A couple of residents came up and said, why are we taking out the basketball courts? Even my kids said, why are we taking it out? I read from the city that they did a poll in the neighborhood. Some residents want a tennis courts. I don't know who wants tennis courts. I'd rather have a basketball than a tennis court. But these are parks that are not specifically for residents in that area. As much as people don't want to hear that, I know it is in Royal Spring South. However, it's being paid for by all the residents in the city. OK, so when I look at this, I talk to the city manager after the meeting and I said, what kind of credit can we get if we leave the basketball court? You're not taking it out. So we're saving $130,000. So ask the general contractor what kind of a credit we're going to get. It's a comeback with an increase of $530,000 just blew me away. Supposedly, from what I'm hearing, is because it's redesigning the property for the stormwater.

Am I correct on that? It's not just that, but we can't leave the basketball court the way it is. It is 20 plus years old. It is full of cracks. And if we are investing in putting in a new park out there, we would have a new basketball court. And the way we were doing this before is we were taking out the surface of the basketball court and using that area, that sub base, for the installation of a tennis court. And so now if we are looking at adding additional square footage out there, additional blacktop, additional earth removal, additional sub base putting in. And yes, there is an accounting that goes into that for stormwater retention, water displacement or whatnot. This is the price that the contractors come back to us for that.

Okay, and I think it's absolutely ridiculous. I wouldn't mind seeing a 20 by 20 concrete slab with a basketball hoop. So I don't know for half a million dollars what kind of basketball court we're getting. And I understand it's a lot of us going towards the stormwater. So my question is, because I've been in that neighborhood, It floods out all the time. Is the stormwater connected to the lake out there?

Just curious. I don't know.

Because I think more of an issue of improving the park would probably be fixing the stormwater. In case you're familiar with that area, there's a lake probably about a couple hundred yards away. I don't know what it's used for. If it's not used for stormwater, for retaining water or overflow of the water on that property, why are we going to put all this money to a park that's still going to have a flooding issue? So I don't think This proposal for $530,000 is actually, I don't know, substantial. I think it's crazy, to be honest with you. But more than all, I've heard that the stormwater is going to be the problem or the cost. So it just made me think that maybe the stormwater system in that area is flawed.

I wouldn't say it's the stormwater system or that it's a flooding issue out there, but you have the basketball court and then you have, you know, it's all grass field. And so it's all impervious. And right. And so now we're looking at adding more asphalt into that area and displacing that. grass. And so we have to account for that impervious area now. And so the stormwater retention becomes on the site, not necessarily tying into stormwater lines. It's not a flooding issue in that area. I don't disagree with you. You know, it's, it's, you know, it's saddening to see the cost of these construction projects and how much everything is coming in. You know, we've, we've gone back and forth on this project for years. And, you know, the original design was a very grand type of project and the community came out and said they didn't want that. So we went back to the drawing board and we spoke to the community out there and they told us that they wanted, you know, tennis courts. And they wanted a very minimal improvements to that park. And I certainly understand what you're saying, that this is not their exclusive neighborhood park. This is a citywide that anybody that lives here in the city is paying for and can use that. And we heard from residents in that area and outside of that area saying that they wanted basketball as well. And so we're trying to appease the desires of many different users of that park out there. And we have a price from our contractor to do that. And we can... you know, agree, you know, or disagree with that pricing. But that's what it's come back at.

That neighborhood definitely has a history of being divided. Is that the same neighborhood with the speed bumps? Correct, yes. They wanted speed bumps. They went through the process. The HOA voted on it, yes. And then a whole half of residents that all of a sudden found out now don't want speed bumps, and they're bombarding the city.

So it's kind of a history with that neighborhood.

I understand that.

I remember the night that it came up with the basketball, and I was in favor of keeping the basketball court, and I don't even mind paying some money to create a new court or whatever additions that are necessary. But for $500,000 and you being a contractor and saying that is outrageous, I'll take your expertise on that.

Well, I'm just saying, if we were going to offer the amenity, I'd rather have basketball over tennis. But to come back with a half a million dollars, I would just like to see a 20 by 20 concrete slab with a basketball hoop so the kids can continue playing basketball. Not to mention, they do make asphalt now out of basketball. Of course, you use asphalt. That is pervious. So there would be no drainage issue, no problem with the stormwater. But when I see this, I don't know, it drives me nuts. And just for those that don't know, once you take on a job as a contractor, anything you want on that property, it has to go through that contractor. So in other words, if we're doing this park and we say, hey, we wanna add a flagpole, the contractor doing the job has to do the flagpole and you have to basically use his price or wait till he closes out the permit and then you gotta go pay to have it done. So it's one of these catch 22s where honestly, I didn't think tennis was that big I've only read one letter of somebody that wanted tennis, but I hate to give up the basketball court, but to see this price, half a million dollars.

Because the neighborhood, and you have a good point, it's a city park. The neighborhood treats it like their own exclusive club, and they didn't want people, all these cars and coming in, but yet they want pickleball that's going to be binging a ball back and forth, making noise.

No, it doesn't.

It's going to be one that I would rather see basketball than the pickleball. And I know pickleball is probably more popular right now, but based on the history of that neighborhood and them not wanting all of this attention and noise, it kind of baffles me that they would want pickleball.

And that's where I agree with you. You know, I believe that this park is being funded by every taxpayer. So everybody in the city of Margate can go there. But yet, Some people in there want tennis courts, and we're putting tennis courts in. That's the way I feel about it. Pickleball is way more popular. Joanne, I congratulate you for bringing up pickleball when you first got here. I didn't think it was going to be so popular. It's huge. But to have pickleball there, you're going to have more people than playing basketball. And if they don't want basketball, it just doesn't make sense. Just the way I feel about it. That's all. Thank you.

Is there a motion?

How about my number?

Go ahead, sorry, Commissioner Schwartz.

We built the dog park for $499,999. Just thought I'd remind you. I will tell you my conversation with the city manager. This is a city park, and I said to him, I'd like a sign out there so that people actually know where it is because it is treated as a community park. They didn't want the walkways. They didn't want the bathrooms. They didn't want originally the basketball because they didn't want the lights. We have redone this two or three times, and each time the price goes up. So I agree with you. If 20 by 20 does it, and we have to close out the permit and then bring it back with somebody else doing it at a normal price, but for a basketball court to cost as much as the dog parks did is ridiculous. and and to be honest if there was a petition i never saw it for this for basketball i heard the person who came up and asked for it but again those people would like this to remain their park it's a city park funded by city dollars i want a city sign out there that says centennial park so people can find it because that doesn't exist right now to add to your comment i made the suggestion a long time ago because

first term i was here i didn't even know i didn't even know it existed and i live at that intersection i'm there all the time lower the hedge right hedge you've got the neighborhood fence and then that pot of carpus hedge it's so tall and unless you know the park is back in there you do not see it in 40 years i've never had a reason to go in there but now it's a city park funded it is it's a city park people should know it existed but if indeed we don't have to spend a half a million dollars

put in a basketball court and maybe we ought to find another way to do that even if it means that MBR who happens to do all of our parks and all of our stuff doesn't get to do that and that we do it after market when that's finished with a different way with a different vendor so city manager if do we already have a contract executed I guess what I'm getting at is if this

doesn't pass or it seems like it's not even going to get a motion, what happens with the project?

It doesn't pass and it doesn't get a motion. We will move forward with the contract that you have approved, which is for an upgrade to the playground. It would be replacing the basketball court with a tennis court. Now, if this board wants us to not do that and keep the basketball court there, we can That is probably a much easier thing to do. I don't know if there's going to be a cost change of that, just changing out the basketball hoops and whatnot. That all needs to be upgraded. But I think that would be substantially less.

I would rather do that. And if the people really want tennis.

There are other city parks. Or they could justify $500,000.

I like the suggestion of just leaving the basketball court. And that's the way I can do it, right? No, you have to fix it. Yes, resurface it, repaint it, the nets, the hoops, whatever.

But to dig out the... We wouldn't be adding any more asphalt out there. We would be using the existing area. We'd be replacing the existing asphalt out there. What that use would be, whether it's tennis and pickleball or basketball, you know, i think that should be very interchangeable within this contract not a substantial cost of any but i don't know that without going back and speaking with the contractor and if it's such a big deal then instead of two pickleball do one tennis and one pick raise the net i mean that's substantially the whole difference there right and so you know that's that's what we were doing with the The initial project was to put in a tennis court-sized piece of asphalt where the existing basketball court was. And then on one tennis court, you can get two pickleball courts going sideways. And so we were going to put the nets in there. So it was just using that same existing space. This change expands that footprint so you have basketball and the tennis and pickleball courts.

Do we have any park besides Firefighters Park that has that much going on in it?

um coral gate park has basketball it has tennis and it has pickleball and it has playground yeah bigger areas so if this doesn't pass um i would certainly like direction from the board tonight if you want us to revisit taking out the basketball court and leaving in um

we've refurbished refurbishing the basketball court and leaving the basketball court and getting going away from putting in tennis courts eliminating the basketball court so let me do this is there first the first half of the puzzle is is there a motion for this seeing no motion so this fails right so now i think the city manager as he just said is looking for direction it's As far as do you want to remove the basketball court and move forward with the original agreement or to keep it a basketball court? So any comment on keeping it a basketball court? Commissioner Schwartz, you're first.

No, I'm sorry. I'll cancel that.

Commissioner Rosano.

I mean, like it's been said, we've been going back and forth with this for a long time. I would just like to see the pickleball courts, the tennis court, and a basketball area. It doesn't have to be a full, blown-out basketball court. And my next question is, is there contingency money in this project?

Always.

Yeah, I believe there is. I don't have what that is in front of me. No, it's always 20%. It's never 10%.

It's always 20%.

It's a lot.

It's always 20%. And it's amazing how it always hits that.

It's more than that. It's more than that. So is it possible we can ask him what a concrete slab would be for a future purpose use? Just to make everybody happy with the basketball, the tennis, and just come back and put a hoop there or whatever? I mean, I have a feeling if we cancel the tennis, those two or three residents are going to ask why we did that. I don't think converting tennis courts to pickleball courts makes sense, though. I'd rather have just strict pickleball courts.

It's just a matter of the height of the, uh, no, no, no.

It's gotta be a restriped and oh yes, it is.

It's not ideal to have pickleball courts on a tennis court. It's different. Striping, you know, would really just be for, you know, people practicing out there. You wouldn't be able to host a, you know, a legitimate game or tournament style thing.

So, so it's kind of like two folded here because if they don't want people there, go with the tennis courts. You know what I'm saying? If you want people to enjoy their parks since they're paying for them, put the pickleball courts, put the basketball and possibly a tennis court. But if you go by Firefighters Park, I don't think the tennis courts are being used that much. The pickleball courts are packed. So common sense would say go with the one that's more popular. But that's not what the residents want. They want something that isn't going to draw people in. And we've seen that because of the first – Proposal we had it was beautiful, but that's not what they wanted So I'm gonna leave it up to you guys and I'll just go with you guys on this one I got a text a look a little while back saying that on the basketball court with the issues that stare

that you can put an epoxy down on the old asphalt and make it level and make it look like a brand new surface for only a little bit of money. I'm not sure. I don't know the product, but I'll find out the product. But I'm told that there's an epoxy that you can use that would make it look almost brand new again for a little bit of money.

So you can, right, you can resurface, repaint. You know, there's stuff out there for it. But we've got, you know, lifting of asphalt and, you know, you can't.

So the asphalt itself is falling apart.

It is 25, 30 years old. It is due for replacement, regardless of whether it's tennis or basketball. We're putting money into, you know, we're improving our park. And we've heard for a number of years that we don't want to, you know, shortcut things. We want a park to be done nice and new. And if we're investing, you know, parks bond dollars in there, it doesn't mean we, you know, We're frivolous, but, you know.

But, Cal, this half a million dollars.

I agree. Would come from the general fund. Would come from a combination of rec trust funds and general fund, yes.

Okay. Not the bond anymore.

We would be over that money.

We're finished with that.

Correct. Right.

So we're not interested in spending money out of those two parts.

The original project. The original agreement was for 2.3 million. We have $1.3 million of parks bond dollars left. In that agenda item, we got authorization to use up to a million dollars of park and rec trust funds. If you approve this change order, you can authorize the park and rec trust funds for it, which would ultimately deplete those park and rec trust funds or general fund.

Right. Neither of them are good. Neither to me are good options. Right.

I'm done. Commissioner Simone.

So because this is such a controversy and going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, I think we should have a workshop on it. and get the residents to come out and voice their opinion and let us know one way or another what they would like and be done with this.

And hear how much it costs, right? Right.

And let them know how much it costs, yeah. So I think this calls for a workshop.

I would agree with that. Because how many times, this is the third change.

Correct.

And every time we change, the price goes up or less.

And it will continue to do that. And I don't want to pressure the board into doing one thing or the other. But we are way past due on using these bond funds to have a workshop. I think we've heard, we've got a community survey that showed we wanted. We've heard from social media about other things that they want. We've gotten emails about it. Again, I don't want to pressure the board. If you want to have a workshop, we certainly can. But I think we have enough information. We don't like the cost, and that's the difficult part of this. I don't think you can, in the community, find out whether or not they approve of spending that additional dollar. I think the basketball folks are going to say they want basketball and spend the money. I don't think either side will back off on saying what they want. You know, one thing that we could do is we can leave the original design in there, finish that project, and come back in the future and look at putting in a pad for a basketball court on our own.

Maybe it's not a bad idea.

See how the community reacts to this project being completed. It won't be done with a basketball court. We can say we, you know, we're deferring that to future years. Let's see how property taxes, you know, roll out. Evaluate, you know, feedback that we get from residents. It's asking where the basketball court went. It's not ideal to do that, but It's somewhat reactionary, but in my opinion, I think we've heard from the neighborhood out there, it's not a overwhelming majority of people that decided on this, but the majority did. So we can continue to try to get more and more feedback, but I think we'll find ourselves in the same boat.

Okay.

My suggestion, my recommendation at this point is to not move forward with this change order. Let's complete the project, and we can evaluate expanding it in the future and adding in a basketball court or pickleball courts as trends change.

Cal, I'll go with that.

I don't mind doing that, but I would like to see that contingency money moved out for a concrete slab. I know it's over $100,000. So rather than see it get used up on frivolous stuff, maybe put a tag on it and cut the contingency down to 5%, it's still going to be over $100,000. I think it's $160,000. I think. No, no, no, the contingency. And every job we do, the contractors eat up the contingency, always. So at least we could say, hey, listen, we're going to add a line item of $50,000 for the slab, reducing the contingency. But at least we're going to be able to have a slab.

future put that money in the savings account for the slab later on by taking it out of contingency or or line item it line item it instead of contingency being so high then he has to do it well they would have to do it correct do we want them having to do it when they're making up prices like you're thinking out of thin air well he needs to go back and look at the real numbers i mean if you need a contractor if

Give a concrete number.

I'm listening to what you're saying, and if what you're saying is correct, that they'll find a way to spend whatever money is available, then we should remove that money, not give them the opportunity to spend it, and then later on go to somebody else and say, this is the money we have, and that's what we want to spend.

Listen, the reason why I'm saying that, yes, 100%, the reason why I'm saying that, because supposedly what I've been heard is the contingency money is for future lights. So if these people don't want...

They don't want lights.

If they don't want people there, they're not going to want lights.

They told us they don't want lights.

So take that 100 and whatever it is, 1,000. I wish we knew the number.

I'm looking it up.

And use that towards the possibility of a basketball area. It doesn't have to be a full blown out court.

No, it could be a half court.

Exactly. Just something.

I don't disagree with you. I just think that we should not only pull the money out, we should pull the money out and not leave it anywhere where it can be touched.

But I think we've already approved the contract, if I'm not mistaken.

Yes, you've approved the base contract.

So the base contract has a lump sum in it with a contingency, which we know is going to get eaten up. So why not draw some of that money back out, put a line item as the basketball area, and go from there?

I don't care how you do it, Cal. If you can get it done, get it done. I mean, I don't disagree with you. Obviously, I'm on the same page with you. I just want him to have an opportunity to do it.

Mm-hmm.

However, he thinks he can do it and get away with it within the contract parameters. That's that works for me.

I honestly think it's doable with the contingency money there. Okay. And if we're not going to do, I hope you're right.

Well, how about the reminder that NPR has been doing all of our stuff and that they owe us a little bit for that. You know, sometimes goodwill should work. I've done every park they've done. Every, I don't even think anybody bids against them anymore.

What you're saying is they should work with us.

They should work with us. I got you.

Don't get complacent. That's right.

Because I think getting a check mark and an excellent rating from us might help them when they go to other cities.

All right. All right, so. there's no motion there's no second so this this change order fails what i'm hearing for direction is to move forward with the existing design as it is um with the tennis and pickleball courts and using um when i identify what the contingency is or allowance is finding a way to put in a some sort of a pad for basketball and i will see what we can do there um i will report back good thank you all right and then i think last item

discussion and possible action 8a it's been withdrawn it needs to formally be withdrawn from the agenda okay so it's we're done yeah but just so that the public knows if it wasn't it was mentioned during public comment but since the item is here the the reason why we're not discussing it is there's no need for litigation because person in question paid in full plus interest correct so that defeats the purpose of us having today that that's right but today but the item was if we're going to sue them or not we don't know no but i'm just saying today meeting is adjourned