Regular City Commission Meeting - Regular Meeting

Everyone, it is 6.59. Today is Wednesday, July 8th. I'm going to call this regular city commission meeting to order. Please rise for a moment of silence in the pledge, and I'm going to call up our pledge leaders. We have three today. Autumn, Allison, and Charlie, come on up. Stand right over there by the podium. And when I let you know, you can go ahead and start the pledge. All right, go ahead.

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

And I'm going to bring you something, but before I come down, for those of you who have kids and you know how hectic things can be, I walked out of the house with my Crocs on, and I didn't realize it until I got here, so I'm busted. And we'll take a picture. We're going to go over here. We're going to do roll call. Please call the roll.

Commissioner Schwartz? Here. Commissioner Simone? Here. Commissioner Rosano? Here. Vice Mayor Caggiano? Present. Mayor Serrio?

I am here. Now, I know that presentations is the first item. Normally, we would do that, but our city attorney has advised for the fire assessment topic that is a special notice, and it's time certain at 7 o'clock. We must go to that first. So as soon as we're done with the fire assessment, we're going to do the presentation for the 4th of July prairie winners. City attorney.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. David Tulsa, City Attorney. We have item 6A, which is a resolution of the City of Margate, Florida, relating to the provision of fire rescue services, facilities, and programs in the City of Margate, Florida, providing authority, definitions, and interpretation, reimposing fire rescue assessments against assessed property located within the City of Margate for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026, confirming the preliminary rate resolution, approving the rate of assessment, approving the assessment role, providing for collection, providing for application of assessment proceeds,

providing for effect severability conflicts and providing for an effective date this resolution before you for your consideration a public hearing has been scheduled at this time city attorney anything or no this uh resolution manager no um so you you all set the preliminary rate um at your june 3rd meeting um at 305. you can lower it from there but you cannot go any higher than that what is the wish of the commission just out of curiosity what happens if that doesn't pass then you won't have a fire assessment at all that would equate to a ten million dollar reduction in revenue for fire services as well is there a second

second all right any input that would also equate to possibly losing a man on every engine possibly a ten million dollar hit would be quite two more than that okay then you don't vote against your own self-interest so the motion is

Right, to approve with a $5 increase. Correct. I believe it was originally proposed to be like $350.

No, it was proposed to be no more than, and it could have been anywhere between $300 and $350.

During that discussion, what was initially discussed with the commission, it came down considerably.

Right. I brought forth a recommendation of increasing it to $350. At the meeting, the commission approved a maximum rate of $305. Right.

I was not a fan of raising it that high. I do want to continue to, we need to fund public safety, which we are. It would come out of the general anyways. The residents are offsetting it here. But instead of not raising it for three, four, five years and then drastically raising it, I've always said just raise it $3, $5 each year so that we continue to fund at adequate levels. But at the same time, people don't feel the hit when they're struggling to pay bills with inflation and everything else. And it was pretty well perceived. And probably some of my biggest critics, who very rarely agree with me, said on the record they agreed with me on that. And I believe that's how we got to this point.

So then tell me why it was that I had to be the one to move it while all of you sat here deaf, dumb, and blind.

Because I can't make the motion as the chair.

Well, you can. You just pass over the gavel. But yes. All right. Just curious.

And i'm not a fan of going any higher than that you can't you can't. Okay, I see no comments from the Commission public. This is on increasing the fire assessment $5.

Tracy Van Winkle. Didn't we just approve our firemen to have an extra guy on every truck? Yes. So you're going to say, okay, here, you can have an extra guy on every truck, but we may be, we may be having to take three back. That makes no sense.

Isn't it in the contract? No, nobody is saying we have to take that back. I believe Commissioner Schwartz asked a hypothetical question if this didn't pass and we didn't adopt a fire assessment this year, that that would result in a loss of revenue of over $10 million.

So you're talking about the money that is on our water bill?

No, this is an assessment that is on your tax bill.

So everybody gets taxed? Everybody pays the majority of them are in within their mortgage because their taxes are within their mortgage. So you're probably not really going to see that $5 anyway. So I say go the $5 we need it. And with all these buildings and apartments that are going up in our city, you're going to need our fire rescue even more. You're going to have more people living in our cities. We have accidents like on every other corner. Now you're going to need our fire. Instead of pushing our fire guys out of Margate, let's keep them here because we got some damn good fire people. Let's don't lose them. Give them that $5. And I mean, the way I look at it is if $5 is going to break somebody, they can move out of Margate and pay higher somewhere else.

Good evening, Elsa Sanchez, Margate resident. Actually, I wanted it to be more than the $5 because our fire department is the best, and we want to keep them here. And I think $5 is a ridiculous amount. It's just going to be wasted in maybe some mailing, not really useful what is supposed to be used. I think our fire department is getting bigger, needs to be getting bigger. They're getting new equipment. Everything is being paid. And where are we going to get? Like Tracy said, we're going to start losing people because we are not paying them enough. And they're going to move on to somewhere else. I don't think that an increase of $5 is going to... do the what it's supposed to do is going to pay for everything that has to be paid so i i'm against it only because i want it to be more not because i don't want it to be none at all thank you commissioner rosano your light is lit yeah i just want to say thank you for the two speakers but tracy exactly what you said was what the mayor was referring to it's it's not a big hit it could have went up 50 and the mayor did propose years ago going up in small increments

which I thought was a great idea. So this year, $5, maybe next year, $5, but we're still going to have to fund the fire department somehow, some way. So don't get scared. We have the best fire department, and you have a board here that will do everything they can to keep them here. So I just want to say that.

Yes, public discussion is still open.

Nina Culver, Margate resident. I was having a conversation with Commissioner Casciano, 4th of July night, and he had mentioned even after the $5, there would be a little bit of a deficit. Do you remember the conversation?

There's going to be a big funding out of the general fund after the increase of $1.2 million, I believe it was, for the extra firemen.

Plus another 1.2 million in increase in salaries We're gonna be taking it out of our savings yes, right so it's gonna have so what he meant and I meant was is that it was gonna be You know added on to the budget which already may be strained next year. I do agree with Elsa I don't think the $5 enough

have you guys considered even you know hitting a middle mark of 750 we can't anymore oh you can't anymore because that's what they said it at and i i get it it's a catch-22 because i actually don't think five dollars is enough but i know people are struggling and i know that if this commission raised it five dollars every year for the last five years that'd be the 25 or whatever it was that we proposed increasing in the past so Okay, $5 it should but I know I thank you.

Thank you.

All valid points. Any other member of the public? Seeing none. Okay. Um, let's go ahead and call the roll.

Mr. Schwartz. Unfortunately, yes. Commissioner Simone. Yes. Commissioner Rosano. Yes. Vice Mayor Casciano.

Unfortunately, yes.

Mayor Serio.

Yes. Okay, now we're going to go to presentations. Presentation 1A.

I invite Parks and Rec Director Mike Jones up here to make some presentations to our wonderful 4th of July parade winners.

No. The light's not on, so I don't think it's on.

all right good evening commission public uh here today to present the winners of our fourth of july parade um and just so everyone knows we have criteria that's broken down into a scoring rubric but we grab the judges right out of the audience so they're not predetermined my staff literally just walks down margaret boulevard asks for volunteers to be judges so there's no bias everybody's just randomly selected out of the audience um and so we're going to start our and i would have to say it was a great parade Thank you to everybody who participated. Thank you for everybody who supported it. Thank you to the weather that held off for us to finish. And we had a great day. But we're going to start our presentation with the private business category, and that would be Striker Tees. Please come forward.

All right. Yay! Yay! Yay!

Okay, so first of all, I want to say I grew up in Margate. I went to Margate Middle, and this has been my town since I was like eight years old. I've always been part of the parade as, you know, Watching and I said one day. I'm just gonna join. I don't know what I'm gonna do But now that I have my own business here and on Margate Boulevard actually literally on Margate Boulevard I decided I want to you know show be out there support Margate. It's been my home It's my kids home, and I just want to say this is an honor. I am truly grateful for everyone that was there, everybody who was cheering us on and who's always there to just support. And as a small business that I just started two years ago, this is like a big deal to me. And I just want to thank all of you for that. Thank you so much.

While you have the opportunity, why don't you tell everybody what your small business is?

Yes, thank you. Well, me and my husband and my family, I have three boys, and we came together and decided to do something from home where we design custom apparel. We do custom work. We design shirts. And now since we've been very blessed to put our name out there, we've been doing flyers, business cards, banners, Anything with for branding for marketing other small businesses and that's really what we want to aim for is to help other small businesses in Margate and around our community and Help them carry their brand and show their work as well Thank you. Thank you. Thank you

Come on, come on. Take your time. Take your time. This is a big day. Come on in.

His nickname is based on, you know, the business is his nickname, Striker. He's the CEO of the company.

All right.

That's it.

He's also the public information officer for the company.

And Striker Tees will be giving you a call when we have some branding, printing. Absolutely. And moving on to our next category, our non-profit category, Fellowship Living, RCO.

So good evening, mayor, vice mayor and commissioners. Um, as I stand before you, uh, it is truly an honor.

Your name please.

Oh, I'm sorry. Sarah Barkley. I'm the CEO of fellowship. So it is truly an honor to have been chosen this year for the nonprofit. This is actually our second year, uh, winning. Um, it is truly, I just have to say, um, Margate is not just a location for our organization. This is where our participants live. This is where our participants grow. They're the fabric of the city of Margate. And we are so grateful that you continue to support us, that you continue to see us. And on behalf of Fellowship, RCO, all of our participants, all of our staff, we are grateful for this honor. I have to share with you that we work with human beings on a daily basis. And sometimes I wonder if our staff has more fun getting on the float and participating and going down Margate Boulevard. It is truly one of our favorite events to be a part of. So thank you so much for recognizing us. Do you want to say anything?

Come on. Hi, Commissioners. My name is Kyle Pollack. I'm the Chief Operating Officer at Fellowship RCO. I'm also a resident here in the city of Margate. Margate has been my home since I came to Florida just over 11 years ago. I love this city. You guys do an amazing job at supporting us in recovery. This event has been so significant for the participants who are in our program because they get to be a part of something greater than themselves. They get to be a part of their community. They get to be surrounded by people who are acknowledging them for their recovery process, for their journey. And it's really tremendously impactful for them in their process. And I cannot tell you the impact that it has when we go back to our community and they're sharing amongst one another about what we did on that float on Margate Boulevard with all the people in our community, people who are in recovery, people who are not in recovery, people who are just out there to have a good time. And it is so amazing to have our small town so supportive of people in recovery. So thank you guys, the residents of Margate. Thank you so much for everything that you guys do for us.

And moving on to our final category, which was our family category, I'm proud to present the winners, Donnie Waters and the Silverson family.

Okay, I'm not a big talker, but good evening. I'm a resident of Margate for 40 years and I will tell you, Oh, I'm sorry, Donna Casey and I live right on Margate Boulevard. We've been watching this parade for 40 years. Every single one of these kids here were born and raised here. I was tickled pink when I found out we were going to be in it. I did not know we were going to win it. I didn't even know you guys was having a category. so that was a treat and i'm really proud of the kids we had a great time next year we hope our float's going to look better so thank you

Thank you. And I guess thank you again for a great parade and we'll see you next year.

Thank you.

Okay. Um, city manager for recognition, employee recognition, years of service.

Thank you, mayor. Just a couple of names to read into the record tonight. Um, first is Terry Bart, uh, Barnett, uh, police Sergeant police department with 20 years of service. Eric Womer police officer with 20 years of service, Thomasina Wilkins city receptionist, uh, with 10 years of service and Hunter Browning, um, hitting his five years of service as a maintenance worker with parks and recreation. Congratulations.

Next up is going to be public discussion. As I lay the rules for every single one, there's no personal attacks. If you want to say how great or criticize, that's fine. That's our job, to be criticized and critiqued. But no personal attacks, no campaigning, no screaming out from the crowd. You may be subject to immediate removal. With that, public discussion is open. You have three minutes.

Good evening, Tracy Van Winkle, Margate resident. First off tonight, I just want to thank the commissioners that reached out to me and also the state representative, Christine Hunchowski, I never say her name right, I'm sorry, for telling me that they didn't feel it was fair that the mayor kicked me out of the last meeting and not kick Nina Colliver out. If you were in school, both people would be kicked out of school. Anyway, to move on, J&J Towing, hopefully we will keep them in the city as we do realize that we've had a contract with them since 1998. If this is true, that we should have been doing bids all along, why haven't we did them until now, 28 years later? I understand that we'll be losing $28,000 if this transaction happens. I would ask you to withdraw those bids and give the donations back to Westway. Not a good move if you ask me. Also, since I didn't get to speak at the last meeting, the soccer fields, I would like to say that those are the residents' soccer fields. Leave them as they are. They're for our children. Please stop trying to make these decisions without the residents being involved. And I already know that you're having a workshop, but stop letting money like a $5,000 donation into your campaigns make decisions or help you make decisions for that. I know that you'll go ahead and rebuttal after I sit down because that's what you do best because I can't respond once I sit down. So you can say whatever you want, that's fine. Just know that we, the people, are not stupid. We know what's going on. Thank you and have a good night.

Any other members of the public?

Lauren Baraka, Margate resident. I'm not gonna repeat what Tracy said, but I agree with every single thing that she said. My reason for coming up tonight is the signs, okay? During the parade, there were signs in the swell. And I think everybody knows there's not supposed to be signs in the soil. They were there for a while. And surprisingly, nobody had picked them up. They were from, excuse me, they were from outside, outside people running for office. However, As we know, as far as commission is a concern, we have seven people that are running for office. Three people already have signs and banners up That's five months ahead of the election. Plus, we have primaries that are going on and very disrespectful to the people in the primaries. It's going to be a confusing election with all the district changing and stuff like that. And we have signs up for Margate candidates now on property, on the big banners and stuff like that. how is it that anybody could say as a commissioner that they care about the residents and you're talking about so each place can have five signs seven people running yes i know it's in the paperwork that says um you could put the signs up ahead but just because something says you can do it doesn't mean that you have to do it. So I think it's very unfair. very unfair to be trashing the city now five months five months ahead of time and quickly there was something that was brought up the last two meetings by somebody that I usually don't agree with and that was the CRA and I see it's not on the agenda today either so I don't know if you have a

Good evening, Elsa Sanchez, Margate resident. Firstly, I want to start with something really positive. It was a really great parade. It was enjoyable. It was patriotic. I enjoyed the whole parade. I'm sorry I cannot walk with anybody, but I just enjoy seeing all the positive and all the happiness and the kids, and it was really wonderful. In the evening, the fireworks were amazing. They were very colorful and wonderful. It was really a great... There was food trucks. It was a great celebration for our city. So I wanna thank Mike Jones and his staff because all the work that they did, it was incredible. All those tables and chairs and not only setting up but cleaning up afterwards it must have been a hard work so really really thank you we i really appreciate that and thank you for the cra for supporting that for supporting that event um and um it the i kind of agree with lauren uh when she said about the signs i think five months before election having signs all over the city

is a disgrace. I think it is very not, it just looks ugly to have all those signs all over the place for such a long time. I understand, like, a month to six weeks before, two months before, but since now, it is really sad that we have to put up with that. And I want to finish what she started to say, and I happen to agree with her, and we were talking about it before, about agreeing with somebody that we don't really agree with too much. It's about the CRA chair, and I think it should change every year.

I don't think it should stay for one person. And I do agree that I would like to be, and it should be, Commissioner Schwartz. I don't think Commissioner Zimone can do it because this is her last year. She should have been given the chance and the opportunity before. But I think, Commissioner, if she is willing to- 30 seconds. If she is willing, and she's very able, but if she is willing, Commissioner Schwartz should do it next year. Thank you.

We still have 19 seconds.

Jonathan Crowe, Jake Margaret resident. On the topic of signs, I hope that this election cycle, the code is enforced for non-residential districts commercial property where the maximum amount of time the signs could be displayed are no more than 60 days prior to an election and that signs shall be removed within 48 hours of election and that there must be a permit given to the city and letter of authorization as that wasn't done previous years as the attorney had sent a memo internally in 2022 ordering to not enforce the sign code for duration and requiring a permit so i hope this year that the code is actually enforced unless this memo is still active with the city would like to know that Another thing is that if you're going to follow the sign code, you should also follow the charter. And I hope that all you will hold accountable anyone who violates the charter, particularly Section 2-8 for political campaigns, where it shall be unlawful for any elected official to utilize city resources in any political campaign. And city resources shall be defined as... city property supplies purchases or any other tangible or intangible thing owned by the city thank you any other member of the public okay seeing none

always fun to follow the public.

i want to thank mike jones and his staff for a great day in general besides the the parade there was also the hot dogs afterwards there was the calypso cove uh one to three o'clock pool event and then of course that's the only time you can blow up fifty thousand dollars worth of money and people enjoy it which is the 19 minutes that the uh the fireworks took but they were really very nicely done and how many people came up and enjoyed the event. I am sorry that the 250th anniversary and birthday of this country wound up with so much political stuff going on during the parade because it might not have been a lot of other people otherwise. I appreciate people being involved, but I've never seen as many people running for office show up at one time. from the United States House of Representatives on down. So I guess, and I did see us for about 10 minutes, 10 seconds rather, on Channel 10. And apparently they had different parts of it because I saw the fellowship at one time. Someone else told me they saw something else. Apparently the animals were on there as well at some point. And then there was someone who told me that they flipped it on just to the point when I was waving at them.

which I never knew I was captured.

So I thank you for the work you did and how quickly you cleaned up afterwards and all of your people because there were a ton of chairs and stuff. Some of us got to hear fireworks till three in the morning. That part was unfortunate. And I would just like to remind everyone, kids are home. People are walking with carriages. Please stop parking over the city sidewalk. It's illegal and I would love to see code do something about it.

And with that in mind, that's all. Thank you. Happy Fourth of July. Thank you. Thank you to Parks and Rec for a wonderful July 4th. As always, you guys do a phenomenal job. The parade was absolutely... A blast. I know it was a blast for me this year. I had a little five-year-old helper who just was so excited and so happy to be passing out the dog bones and the candy when the parade was over. She wanted to do it all over again. And she had walked the entire way from Rock Island all the way down to the end of the parade. at five years and she was crossing the street back and forth. So she, this is something that she'll never forget. She just had the time of her life. So that was fun to watch her. I don't know if it's more fun for the participants in the parade or for those who are watching. I think it may be Ty. but I think we all had a great day and thank you to all the residents who came out and supported the parade. I'd also like to say, I don't know what her name is, the driver of the car that I had, but she was absolutely phenomenal. A wonderful employee, very pleasant, very kind, watched us make sure that we were safe the whole entire time. So Mike, if you can thank her again for me, I greatly appreciate it, but she's a tremendous employee. And with that, that's it for this evening. Thank you.

Commissioner Rosano.

Yeah, good afternoon. Good evening, everyone. First, I want to say happy birthday to my daughter, Alina. She'll be 24. Thank you, Alina. Oh, my gosh.

Wow.

Poor kids, you kind of forget. What else do I got? Oh, the parade. The parade was awesome, guys. And you know, it's funny because is it political? Yes. You know, you walk down and people are handing out stuff, but you know what? If those people weren't in the parade, the parade probably would be half of what it is. And you know, I was thinking about it because people were saying, you know, it's Tommy, it's very political. And then I started to thinking, you know, Arlene, you might correct me on this, but my world history, I think I was taught years ago in fifth grade that there was about 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence and American history. Oh, it's going over to England a little bit, so. So, basically, they signed a death warrant. Their names were on it, basically saying, we're going against you guys, so this is it. John Hancock wrote his name, the biggest, hence the name, you're signing your John Hancock. But they were basically signing a death warrant. And they were very successful men. A lot of them died because of that. But it goes back to what our country is about, freedom of speech. So when I think about the parade and is the political signs good? But what is it really all about? It's about your First Amendment, freedom of speech. So I don't mind the political signs, I mean the political handouts or whatever. I do mind the signs though. So David, I'm going to ask you a question. If there's a sign that is on city property that is illegal, can a city employee remove it? You're talking about a campaign sign? Correct.

Any sign or any sign any sign should be any sign on the side.

So that's my opinion signs. But I'll say any sign. So if there's a sign that's in the city swell or not pressure washing painting.

Yeah, we have a city employee remove it. So this the city employee pursuant to city code if they're, you know, I don't know who's the authorized employee. But assuming that the sign doesn't, you know, doesn't comply with city's code. Yes, they can remove it. The reason why I asked because I am a city employee.

And I drive by illegal signs. I drove by one on 441. I was about to rip it down because it shouldn't have been there. So at what point do we say, you know, we're going to start fining you guys? You've got to hit them where it hurts. You've got to do something because it's really not fair.

So what I would suggest to you and your fellow members of the City Commission, if you see a sign that you feel is not in a proper location, or is exceeding any regulation that you reach out to the city manager and let the city staff handle it.

So being a city employee, I can't remove it from the city property? It's not fair. I'm driving past an illegal sign. I mean, I drove up to the parade looking at 25 illegal signs, and I told the person that was with me, I'm going to rip these damn signs out. And I'm going to tell you, if I see a sign that's illegal, I'm ripping it out.

I would just say that to the extent that you're a city commissioner with certain duties and responsibilities and that there are other city employees whose duties and responsibilities are to deal with issues such as signs, that you leave it to them to do that. While I understand your intent to make sure that the city swales and city property are free of illegal signs, it would be best if you left it to the city employees who are charged With that responsibility to handle.

Okay. If I report, if it's not gone in 24 hours, it will be gone. Okay. Cause it's not fair. All these signs are up illegally and the city's not doing nothing about it. And I don't mean that. And it's just in a general way, but it's just, it's horrible. People are just abusing our city. Why? Cause we allow it. So I say, we don't allow it. We give them a fine, start with the fine and see what happens. If they don't want to pay it, say, Hey, this person doesn't want to pay the fine. They put a legal sign on our property and they don't want to pay it. But that's the only way to stop them because, like the resident said, it's going to get totally worse. And it's not the Margate people. I'm going to tell you that right now. There's going to be signs all over for every position out there. I saw one today in Margate. It wasn't even for a city official in Margate. It wasn't even for a representative of Margate. But people could put the sign up. And I get it. You can do it. But when you're going to put it on public property and it shouldn't be there, get rid of it.

May I add for you that someone should take a look at the sign that's on the, I don't know if it's city property or it belongs to the Winn-Dixie Shopping Center, but it certainly is not five feet from the sidewalk. And it is a four by eight by someone running for the United States House of Representatives.

It should be gone. By the time this meeting is over, it should be gone. That's all. Not much more. Guys, thank you. Great holiday. We won't see you till the... basically the end of August. So there's like a month break besides the C. R. A. Meeting tomorrow. So God bless. Have a good evening and have a great summer. Stay cool.

Vice mayor.

Fourth of July parade was amazing. Um, as it was said from the parade to the Calypso Cove, people who were doing the character choose we're doing just beautiful and people lined up for him it's just and then the fireworks it's just a joy to see all these people smiling I mean that's that's what it's all about is smiling and these people were just and we had just which is the day of smiles stay hydrated please it's brutally hot out there stay hydrated we all say thank you to parks and recs for the fourth of july but i want to thank every department that had anything to do with it because i'm sure there was a whole bunch of people from a whole bunch of different departments making sure that the streets were clean and the flags were up and everything was done to make the city look beautiful i want to make sure none of them get short shrift on it they did a great job and like joanne said my driver was amazing also So that person, please make sure that they get a good word said because they kept me moving. They kept me paced. And she was really nice, really polite. And that's it. Just stay safe and prepare for hurricane season. Just prepare. It's July, folks. Good evening, everyone.

Let's keep continuing with the parade and the festivities for the day. The parade was incredible. It was so nice to see all the kids out there smiling, the families. The crowd's big every year, rain or shine, but this year there wasn't any rain, so the crowd was even bigger. And it was so well put together. One of the things that I thought was incredible was not just the execution before and during, but the stuff you don't see when everyone leaves. I had a large group with me. I had to make several trips back and forth between City Hall and the staging area. And within a half an hour of the parade being over, the barricades were gone. Every sign that everyone's complaining about was gone. There was no litter. It's like the parade never happened. And I just thought that was a testament to our city staff and the parks and whoever else was involved with that. It really blew me away. When I when I went down market boulevard and it was like what even happened today. The fireworks I wasn't there for the fireworks, but I heard they were incredible I was at the I was at calypso cove. With with my family and with our neighbors and the kids had a blast they had the DJ there with the music going it seemed like a lot of first timers, which is always good. And so it was all around just an incredible day. As far as the campaigning during the parade, like you said, Commissioner Rosano, it's the 4th of July. We're celebrating our independence. It's about our freedoms. It's about being able to criticize and compliment. And I thought it was great that there were three other people out there to give people a choice to whatever, eeny, meeny, miny, moe. But be careful what you ask for, because If you want to stop the campaigning, I'll be the first to vote to stop the campaigning at the parade. But you're not going to stop the current elected officials from being in their official capacity. So if Marty Kerr, if the commissioners, the mayor, we still have our title on that right. So if you want to go that route and get rid of campaigning, I'll be glad to get rid of campaigning. But be careful what you ask for. I think it's about our freedom. I'm fine with it the way it is. But if everybody wants to get rid of the campaigning during the parade, I'll make a motion. I'll give consensus right now. I've got my newsletter I'm getting ready to send out in a couple of days. If anyone does not get it and they want to receive it, aarserio at margatefl.com. I send it out every month, every couple of months, depending on what's going on. There's information on there, mosquito control, water safety classes for your children, all of our key parks information, what's going on in the news with Margate. So if you want to get the newsletter, it's going out soon. and then I noticed we didn't do it this year yet um but in times past we whether it's the city or the CRA typically sends out a mailer for like Fourth of July Fall Festival um we've got National Night Out so I don't know the next events and who's if it's City or CRA but are we gonna do that again this year um yeah um funds budget I don't know if it's City budget or Sierra budget I'll check that and I'll get with our marketing team Okay. All right. And that's all I have. City Attorney?

Nothing other than to say it was a great 4th of July parade. Enjoyed seeing everyone, celebrating with everyone, and it's always great to be here in the City of Margate. Thank you very much.

City Manager?

Thank you, Mayor. Just want to echo all the compliments for Parks and Rec staff for just a job well done on an excellent 4th of July event, and then support staff, police, fire that's out there, everybody working together to put on a great event for The city, it's a very exciting day and a lot of hard work, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that go on behind the scenes. So just compliments to all your staffs. And then working with Parks and Rec Director, we are going to, or Mike is going to host a town hall style meeting for the soccer community here in Margate so that we can gather input, hear from residents of the community about what their vision is for soccer in Margate so that we're better prepared to provide this board a... Can I make a comment on that?

Sure. my only concern because i think this should be a fair process i don't think anybody that is putting in a bid or has the potential to put a bid to be giving input at that meeting it's for volunteer coaches potentially it's for residents of the city of margate if there's another group that's interested or a current group that's right i don't think that The input should be taken from them at this point until after the bids, because then it becomes an unsafe where you let this one in and talk and not, this should be fair. It should be about the residents. And I don't think outside influence should be, I don't disagree with you because you don't add a workshop. You don't have to have public comment.

Correct.

And, and so as the chair, that's the lean direction I would like to lean. I don't know if I can do that legally, but I think that there should be some ground rules or an understanding. that this is for the residents to give their input.

Right. And I can work with Mike. And that's the intent as well. This is intended to be for the moms and dads of Margate who have kids playing recreational soccer, who may want to elevate and go to a competitive club or whatnot. We want to hear from them. What is important to the people who live and work here in Margate on the use of those fields? And that is it. Thank you.

All right. Consent agenda. None. Great. Public hearing we did. 7A. First reading.

Item 7a is an ordinance of the City of Margate, Florida, providing for a 12-month moratorium on the issuance of any new pet store, pet shop, and live animal display permit approvals or development orders. Directing the review and development of appropriate amendments to the City of Margate Comprehensive Plan, Land Development Code, zoning, and other regulations related to pet stores and animal displays. Providing for appeal, providing for severability, providing for an effective date. This ordinance be for you for first reading this evening for your consideration.

What is the wish of the commission? Motion to approve. Second. I'm sorry, I didn't have the mic lit up.

Motion to approve. Joanne seconded it.

I'm not going to vote for this for many reasons. I don't want to get accused of bullying, so I have to give a trigger warning here. But Commissioner Simone, six, seven, eight months ago, threw her hands up and said, I'm done approving things on the spot. I'm not gonna do that, we do this too much and it's bitten me before, something to that effect. Then says things that we are discussing, moving too fast, at the last meeting of soccer, moving too fast. Well, you know what, this is moving too fast. And she says these things, but then she goes and does it, just like we were making money for the phones, but then we found out she was getting a phone paid for by the city. these twisted truths, and it's moving too fast. And so that's the first reason why I can't vote for this. The second reason why I can't vote for this is I got emails from other animal rights organizations saying that this could be problematic for current businesses, including fish stores and things like that. And the third reason is I think that this is targeting against one person. And I'll leave it at that, but I am not gonna punish an entire industry, small businesses that wanna sell fish and other things from someone targeting one specific person. So I will not be voting for this. May I ask a question?

Go ahead.

How could this affect the fish people? It's a long email.

All right, because I just want to know if they're already in business.

It's very long to read. But it's from Pet Advocacy Network, the Director of Government Affairs. So, I mean, at the very least, if you guys want to table this, but I can't vote for this. And it was, I don't know, I'm going to see right now if it was sent to all of you or just. Okay, Commissioner Schwartz has it. I have it here. It just shows my name, so I didn't see who else received it. Do you want to read it? I can call on someone else while you read it. Commissioner Simone.

Yes, first of all, I'd just like to thank my commissioners for allowing this to be on the agenda and for your past support of animal issues. This is just another tool in the toolbox for the protection of animals. I'm not gonna debate the issue tonight and turn this into a personal attack. I know how you feel. I know how I feel. And if you want it, you vote yes. If you don't want it, you vote no. The email that you receive from the Pet Advocacy Network, just to let you know, they operate as a registered lobbying organization and trade association.

I'm just curious why everything has to be an attack when you're referencing me. literally referencing things you're doing in your official capacity as a city commissioner. So don't try to look all innocent and say, oh, I'm attacking you. I'm not attacking you. I'm talking facts based on your official capacity as a city commissioner. And I'd appreciate you always stop saying, oh, I'm attacking you because I'm not. Commissioner Rosano.

Yeah, this was brought up last meeting and it somehow miraculously appeared on this meeting. I gotta tell you, there was no issue with this until the sloth guy Larry came around. So this was definitely going after one person and it was even mentioned last meeting about the sloths and the kangaroos and stuff like that. So I honestly don't think, and I said it at the last meeting, we shouldn't interfere with business. Growing up, when I told you about my world history, growing up in fifth grade, we used to have an animal come in. I don't know who it was, but they would bring in an animal to the school. They'd tell us all about the animal. There was no problems back then. Now everybody wants to create problems. I don't see any problem with kids learning or even people learning about animals that you don't interact with every day. And I'm going to say it, years ago, thousands of years ago, dogs were in the wild. became domesticated people took him in butterflies those are wild animals look at our neighbor across the street they got cages where they're in so you know you got to be careful with this because you can't go after one person and you don't like them or whatever you're gonna petition their story you're gonna do this you're gonna do that and try to hurt everybody I have no problem with kids learning about animals I have no problem with I was told autistic kids love the animals I don't have a problem with this but this is going way too far and It's targeting somebody, and I just don't agree with it. And I don't know how the city works so fast. One week they had this up and running. So I don't agree with it. I'm not going to vote for it, and I don't think anybody up here should vote for it. That's the way I feel.

Go ahead. The city attorney has something.

Just for reference, the last meeting, the city commission, through consensus, directed us to bring this back to your next meeting. So we worked with city staff to make sure that we comply with the city commission's directions.

Commissioner, go ahead.

We have already rules in place for this. And then when I sit here last meeting and I hear, well, does he have an application in and can it be retroactive? That's horrible. Can you imagine somebody applying for a business and then finding out they have a DUI or something and say, you know what? We don't want them in our city because they had a past whatever. That's exactly what happened last week. And it was horrible and it shouldn't happen. And the way this whole thing came about, it's personal and it shouldn't be.

Commissioner Schwartz.

All I was going to say is I had received that email. I'm not familiar necessarily with the Pet Advocacy Network. I read what it said there, and it just seems to me that If we're going to judge people by others, then maybe the actual person that this may be written for should at least come in and tell us what he intended to do. So I would just suggest that we maybe look into some of this in advance because based on some of the stuff it says here, it does talk about aquariums. It does talk about dogs and cats and other people and being able to move from one location to another. So I think maybe, and I appreciate the fact that you did it in a week or two, because that's quite amazing, but I think maybe we need to look into it just a little bit more for unintended consequences. I have no problem with protecting the pet industry, but on the other hand, I don't want to hurt anybody who's already, it talks about rabbits and hamsters and birds and fish. I don't know if it's true or not, but because I don't know, I'm not sure I'm all that comfortable right now putting this into effect until I understand better. And I rarely say I want more time to understand, but I don't know what to do with this.

That's all.

Thank you.

Public?

Pauline. that's what you want then you should make an emotion to the table well yeah i mean go ahead sir my name is ron roberts i'm a resident of the city of margate you know it's not often that you get the opportunity to do something because it's moral ethical and right We know what is going on in this city right now. Someone was invited in, bringing wild animals who should not be domesticated, should not be used for fake education because there's nothing educational about bringing in a wild animal completely out of their natural environment and basically just exploiting them for profit. We have very weak laws in this country and state protecting animals. We have very lax enforcement, mainly on the federal and state level. And people take advantage of that. And people use these animals, destroy their lives. And originally, remember that every single one of these animals that come into this country are brought in after someone goes into the jungle. Generally, they kill the mother and take the babies because you can't bring an adult animal from the wild and have that animal be tame. So basically, whenever anything like that happens, you are encouraging people to continue that kind of behavior. You right now have the opportunity to do the right thing. And the right thing is to not allow any kind of a store that's going to bring wild animals into this city. So look at your conscience, think about right and wrong. This is an opportunity for you to vote for something moral, something good, and something that will benefit everybody. The best way to educate people about these animals and their lives are to actually show Documentaries, pictures of them in their natural environment being explained by people who are experts, who understand their lives and their needs. So I implore you to vote for this, do the right thing, and give these animals a break. Make sure that there is no one to encourage going out into the jungle and stealing them and destroying their lives. So thank you for your consideration, and I hope that you will vote for compassion and mercy. Thank you.

I'm Judith Weir. I live in Oakland Park. but this concerns me very much. Animals sold in pet stores are mass bred in horrific conditions. It's very well documented. I can provide all kinds of documentation about the horrific conditions that they are in. It is not educational to see an animal in a cage in their Restricted from all their natural behaviors. It's just totally cruel. I wasn't prepared to say anything. I thought this would pass. I'm totally shocked that anyone would be against this. In Oakland Park, we fought against a pet store that wanted to open. We have two already. And we We brought our information to the commissioners, and they let the store open, but they could not sell animals or have animals on site. They finally left, thank goodness. They were exploiting animals, bringing in children, acting like it was educational. It wasn't educational. Those little animals that are brought up and bred in horrific conditions, stuck in cages, So I strongly support this movement. You're going with the general in the country. Many places are stopping this kind of horrific treatment of animals. Thank you.

Elsa Sanchez, Margate resident. Thank you, Commissioner Simone, for all the information, all the facts that you gave us at the last meeting. I think it is important for us to know the facts and to see what is going on. I thank city staff for their movement. As they were asked to do, they presented this And I don't see a problem with putting a moratorium for 12 months while you investigate what this can be. I want to see if this is done properly. I want to make sure that this is done legally. And I want to make sure that the person that is doing it is the right person. I think that, I don't think it's a learning experience for a sloth to be brought to a school and for the kids to touch it. That's not, the kids are not learning. That's cruel to the animal. And that's what we have to be, we for teaching a group of kids going to torture this animal and put him through stress that has actually killed other sloths in other parts? No, I think it's wrong. I think we have to make sure that we are fair with animals, and I think we have to make sure that the teaching is done the proper way, not just bringing an animal and carrying him and making all this stress and sad things about it. I think this is correct to do. I think it is great to put a moratorium for one year and you do investigation and you do the research and you do make sure that it's going to be done the proper way, not just because somebody wants it, I get it. No, it's not right. So please go through with this moratorium and help our animals because they deserve our for us to fight for them. Thank you.

Any other member of the public? Okay, public discussion's closed. Commissioner Rosano.

Yeah, I just want to say, again, I'm against the moratorium, and I'm going to tell you why. If there's a problem with the person doing the business, which has been said that the person's no good, the person's doing illegal, put that into a code in the city of Margate. But don't punish everybody because of one person that you think is doing wrong. He was accused of everything you could possibly do, and I didn't see anything produced. I didn't see anything. So this person came here, got blamed for everything, torturing animals, doing this, doing that. And because of that, cities decided, hey, let's put out a moratorium where this can't be done. And just to let people know, you can go buy a sloth. you just buy a 50 license you go buy a sloth my understanding we may face litigation because of this i'm sure we would why wouldn't you you basically went after somebody and then you said you want to put a moratorium because of that person so i don't think it's the right thing to do if you don't like the person then put something in our code where you have to pass it a test a background test which i think is ridiculous But this whole thing, it's horrible the way it's being done. And like I said, let free business do itself. If it fails, it fails. If you don't want to go, don't go. People are going to go order a hamburger and then bitch about a frigging animal being in a cage. I don't get it, man. I really don't. If you can't do it, you can't do it. The state says you can do it. It's got the license. It wants to come to Margate. What's the problem? Is he breaking any rules?

I'm just listening to you. I'm sorry.

But it's like ridiculous. It's like you want to go after one person because of why? I don't know. And it's just horrible. And if it was you doing that business, and I keep hearing, oh, he's doing it for money, doing it for money. Did he present a business plan that says this is what it's going to be? I don't know. I've never seen it. So everybody's assuming this and assuming that. We don't even know what he wants to do. But I think this moratorium is being specific, going after one person. It's horrible. and i don't think it should pass i don't even think it should be considered honestly that's it commissioner schwartz

i think considering that i have heard so much about wrongdoing about one person but nobody's ever asked that one person if it's true or not i rather than kill this bill i would rather table it to our next meeting so that if there is indeed a counterpoint that we hear it because i don't want to see anyone on this commission or for that matter, this commission sued because it looks like we're specifically targeting and going after one person. And so I would make a motion to table right now to a date certain.

And your next commission meeting is August 19th.

By that time, I would hope we have whatever backup we need and can make an honest decision because, you know, I am familiar with who the person is. I'm not sure I want to condemn someone on the words of other people who came up without handing me something that I could read that showed me because I already know he has a license. I already know he's got a valid license and I would not expect that to be given to him if indeed he had done all those other things. Do what you want with it. I would suggest that you table it.

Commissioner Rosano.

And the city has a process. If there's a sniff test and it doesn't pass, then it doesn't pass. But to sit here and make a specific moratorium because of somebody is absolutely ridiculous. And I don't know, Arlene, what other information you want. I mean, he was accused of not having a license, which he does.

Well, my feeling is that if he does, then the city ought to get that stuff so that it counters the other stuff that we have heard. I think when you put somebody on trial, you hear both sides.

Exactly.

We only heard one side. We reacted to the one side because it sounded horrific.

But I don't know if it's true or not. Even if we remove this individual from the equation, we're still harming businesses.

Well, this letter says it is, but so we are.

You know, we're talking about, you know, if a PetSmart wanted to close the doors in Coral Springs and move across the street to Margate, we're not going to let them? Correct. Right, and that's the problem that I have. On top of the fact that this is targeted towards one person. But there is a motion. Is there a second at the table? Okay, there's no second at the table.

I'll second that because if it passed first ordinance, it would have to come back in August for a second reading anyway. So, huh? Yeah, you're right.

Correct. Passed tonight, it would come back. Right. But now, this being tabled, it'll be still a first reading in August 19th now. Correct. Second reading would be next meeting after that. If it passes.

I will second the table.

Okay. Please call the roll.

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

Yes.

Mayor Serrio? No.

So the motion passes 3-2 to table this item to August 19th at your regular city commission meeting.

All right. And with that looks like a shorter meeting tonight. Meeting adjourned.