Regular City Commission Meeting - Regular Meeting

Every nation, every flag. Join the world right here in downtown Hollywood where the world plays. Watch the games and let the celebration take over. Saturday, June 27th, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. downtown Hollywood. Every nation, every flag. Join the world right here in downtown Hollywood where the world plays. Watch the games and let the celebration take over. Saturday, June 27th, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. downtown Hollywood. Every nation, every flag. Join the world right here in downtown Hollywood. Where the world plays, watch the games, and let the celebration take over. Saturday, June 27th, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. downtown Hollywood.

Test, test, testing, one, two, three, test, test.

Every nation, every flag. Join the world right here in downtown Hollywood, where the world plays. Watch the games and let the celebration take over. Saturday, June 27th, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., downtown Hollywood. Every nation, every flag. Join the world right here in downtown Hollywood where the world plays. Watch the games and let the celebration take over. Saturday, June 27th, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. downtown Hollywood.

Welcome, everyone. Welcome to City Hall here in the city of Hollywood. We have a regular city commission meeting today. But don't take the regular word too seriously, because it's never regular. There's always interesting and exciting items on the agenda that are meaningful. And today is no different. And so welcome. At the start of each meeting, we begin with a moment of silence. So if you want to think about anybody who you might have lost or has a special place in your heart, please think of them as we rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. At the start of each meeting, we also take an important moment to recognize U.S. veterans, active service personnel, and their families. So if you are in the U.S. Armed Forces, a U.S. veteran, or a family member of a service member, please rise. We'd like to recognize you. Thank you all. For those adults that are in the room, you might be seeing a bunch of eighth graders here. Tomorrow is their last day of school. They are here from Browser Maimonides Academy, and they're excited to learn about city government today. Big thanks to the teaching staff, Mr. Fryer, Ms. Rothenberg, and the staff. for having the kids here. We're going to be recognizing you guys in just a moment, but a little bit of City Commission business before we get to you. Let's go ahead with roll call, please.

Vice Mayor Kaleri?

Here.

Commissioner Gruber?

Here.

Commissioner Biederman? Commissioner Quintana? Here. Commissioner Shuham? Here. Commissioner Hernandez?

Here.

Mayor Levy?

Here. All right. Thank you so much. Today's consent agenda includes items 5 through 26. These are items that don't usually require individual discussion. However, if there is a speaker card on any of these items or a request from one of the commissioners, we're happy to remove an item for later discussion. Pat, are there any speaker cards on 5 through 26?

No cards.

Motion to approve. Back in.

We have a motion from Vice Mayor Kaleri and a second from Commissioner Quintana to approve items 5 through 26 on consent. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, those items carry unanimously. Now we have an opportunity for presentations, proclamations, and awards. And before we get to recognize the eighth grade students at Browser Maimonides Academy, let's go ahead and ask Commissioner Biederman to present a proclamation recognizing National Gun Violence Awareness Day, which is June 5, 2026. And with us, we have our school board member, Debbie Hickson, who also is a Hollywood resident. And she's here to accept the proclamation. And she's got a few people here with her with the Wear Orange initiative. Welcome, everyone. Welcome, School Board Member Hickson. Good to see you. I will now turn it over to Commissioner Biederman.

Thank you, Mayor. Proclamation for the City of Hollywood, Florida, in recognition of National Gun Violence Awareness Day, June 5, 2026. Whereas National Gun Violence Awareness Day was established to honor and remember all victims and survivors of gun violence and did to declare that we as a country must do more to reduce gun violence. And whereas every day 125 Americans are killed by gun violence and more than 200 shot and wounded, with an average of more than 14,741 gun homicides every year, Americans are 26 times more likely to die by gun homicide than people in other developed countries, and whereas in Florida, 3,172 people die by guns in an average year with a rate of 13.7 deaths per 100,000 people. Florida has the 29th highest rate of gun deaths in the United States, and whereas to honor Hadiyah Pendleton, and victims whose lives were cut short, as well as survivors injured by shootings, a national coalition of organizations designated the first Friday in June as National Gun Violence Awareness Day. And whereas gun violence prevention is more important than ever as we see an increase in firearm homicides, non-fatal shootings across the country, increased calls to domestic violence hotlines, as well as an increase in city gun violence, and whereas the public is encouraged to join this campaign by pledging to wear orange on the first Friday in June 2026 to help raise awareness about gun violence in the United States and to honor the lives of gun violence victims and survivors, and whereas the City of Hollywood renews its commitment to reduce gun violence and pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the wrong hands, encourage responsible gun ownership, and urge all residents to support their local communities' efforts to prevent the tragic effects of gun violence for the safety of our children and to honor the value of human lives. Now, therefore, Josh Levy, Mayor of the City of Hollywood, Florida, and the Hollywood City Commission hereby proclaim June 5th, 2026 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

There you go. Thank you very much. And so I have with me Jessica Palomino and AJ Palomino. And we're very happy. Happy is not the right word. But we appreciate very much that you continue to recognize Gun Violence Awareness Month in June. We appreciate so much that you do this proclamation. You've done it the last few years. And it's important to the community to understand there are things that they can do to be responsible gun firearm owners. And one of the things that they asked me to just make sure everyone knows is outside today, there are some gun safety locks that the city of Hollywood is providing. They're free, so you can just pick them up. Also, if you're not here today and you're listening, they will be giving them out at the police station. And that's one way to make sure that you lock up your firearms, especially when we're coming to the summer. It's really important. Students, kids will be home more. So if you do own a firearm, it's really important that you make sure that you have it locked away and that your kids or their friends don't have access to it. Because it's often ways that we lose children to gun violence is because they get curious and they find an unsecured firearm, and then tragedy happens. So thank you again very much for recognizing it. And on behalf of the Hickson family, we would like to thank you for continuing to support us as we were, as you know, victims of gun violence in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shootings. Thank you so much.

Well, thank you very much, school board member Hickson. It is always great to have you here. And I want to thank our law enforcement, Hollywood Police Department, for always participating and furthering the awareness about gun violence and also about responsible firearm ownership, as you mentioned. Kids, of course, as you heard the school board member mention, You know that firearms are dangerous, deadly weapons, and you should not play around with them. Even if they belong to a family member, you know that you shouldn't be messing around with guns, right? Because there's tragedies that happen when a child messes with a gun and plays with it, and it goes off accidentally. possibly kill yourself or kill someone else that's with you. So please be responsible. And these are some of the things that we do at the City Commission. We recognize important initiatives, and we help expand awareness of certain things that the community should be aware of for our own safety and the community's well-being. So if you could please come up for a photo, that'd be great. We'd love to spread the news about this. Next proclamation we have is recognition of the eighth grade students at Browser Maimonides Academy. I'd like to invite Commissioner Gruber to present the proclamation. And accepting it, I think we'd like to ask Mr. Fryer, please come on up. And how about some students? I heard that you all had a final exam or a final project where you had to identify some value in US government or some initiative of US government that you thought was important to you. So, yeah. Let's have a couple who want to speak about the subject of their project.

I know what I wrote about. I know what I wrote about.

I thought we'd get hard to get to, but look at all these kids. All right, good.

I know.

Okay.

I thought they were shy.

All right.

Commissioner Gruber.

Oh. Let's listen in. Thank you. Proclamation, City of Hollywood, Florida, in recognition of the eighth grade students of Browser-May-Montedes Academy, June, 2026. Whereas the eighth grade students of Browser-May-Montedes Academy have successfully completed their civics curriculum demonstrating a strong commitment to learning about the foundations of American government, civic responsibility, and the democratic process. And whereas these students have shown exemplary dedication to becoming informed and engaged citizens, recognizing the importance of civic education in shaping the future of our community and our nation. And whereas, as part of their educational journey, the students are attending Hollywood City Commission meeting to witness firsthand the workings of local government and observe public service in action. And whereas the City Commission commends the educators and staff of Browser Maimonides Academy for their continued efforts to cultivate a new generation of civic-minded individuals and recognizes the eighth grade students of Browser Maimonides Academy for their academic accomplishments in civics and their interest in the democratic process. Now, therefore, Josh Levy, Mayor of the City of Hollywood, Florida, and the Hollywood City Commission do hereby honor and recognize the eighth grade students of Browser Maimonides Academy and encourage each student to continue participating in civic life, knowing that informed and engaged citizens are the cornerstone of a strong and vibrant democracy. Just to add to that, Avi Fryer, I want to thank you for all you do for your students, but all you do for the community. You've been a pillar of the community for such a long time. Proud to call you a friend. A decent amount of time.

We're getting white hair now.

You should be 26. What year of leadership, Hollywood? 26. 26. Oh, yeah. 29. There you go. And kids, you should be happy to have him and welcome. And we're happy that you were here to participate and wishing you guys a great summer.

Thank you. Thank you. Students, please. Do you want to hear from someone? Yeah, let's hear from a couple. Yeah. Yeah, just hear from the entrepreneur. What did you write about? What was your?

Segregation.

OK. Yeah. Tell us why you chose that subject.

What? Oh.

Why did you choose it?

Because I thought that it was very important to, like, everyone's equal and, like, I don't know.

Yeah. You said you knew what you were doing.

I do, but stop. Okay.

And how important it is to people.

People should all be equal, and I think that it's wrong to choose that, like, Can you find my assignment?

Look, obviously, we understand that subject.

It's great that you chose that.

you know, to express how that is such a critical, you know, obviously achievement that the country overcame, obviously a history of racism and the abolition of segregation and ending segregation was to make sure that everybody was treated equally and fair under the law. And the country's obviously become a lot better, you know, because of that and since that time. So thank you for choosing that. All right.

One more person.

What did you write about?

I chose Bill of Rights. I chose it because it's like every single day somebody uses one of those rights, even if they don't realize it.

True, true, true. Sometimes we take it for granted, right? And until that was passed, we didn't have those rights. How about a third student?

Go ahead. Becoming a citizen, it's really important. You can have new people join communities, and we have more people to join and help more and provide to the country and their community.

All right. Thank you. Thank you.

All right.

One more.

I do the First Amendment because it's basically everything you do in your daily life. Talking, protesting, especially with things going on that you disagree with. People say that you can't hold a protest, you can't have something at a park, but you can because you're allowed to as long as you're not being disrespectful or causing damage to the public property.

There we go. And some of these things are unique to the United States, everybody. Every country has its own laws. And let's realize that in America, we have this collection of laws that is unique. And we enjoy these freedoms. But we also realize that we need to act responsibly while exercising those freedoms and also thinking ahead on the country's future. And if we ever needed to expand law, that's part of what we do here in Hollywood, is we build on these foundational federal laws and make sure that in the city of Hollywood, people feel like they can have a successful life, students can grow and learn, and families can be successful. So all of that amounts to a safe and nurturing country that helps us grow as people in a uniform way. So thank you all for being here. I love having you. And why don't we invite all the students to come on up now for a photo so you guys can remember this when you're older and say, look, when we had local government day, look what we did.

Thank you. Oh, nice. The smaller kids are in the back. Speaking for short people, hello. All right, I'm getting some of you guys back here so we can, all the kids. Don't take food. No food. The rest of you guys can just back up a little bit. And you get it. I'm sure one's behind you, Adam. Okay, right here, everybody. Yeah, don't go in there now.

All right, students, if you'll have a quick seat, I do want you to stay for this upcoming presentation. I think you'll find it meaningful. You all know and you guys learned today that one of the responsibilities, the main responsibilities of local government of the city of Hollywood is provide public safety, police, fire, and paramedics, right? When you call 911, it's the people who are employed by the city of Hollywood that respond to your call for emergency help. And so at this point, I'd like to invite our fire chief, Jeffrey Levy. Chief, come on up. He'd like to recognize the recipients of the Second Chance Point Award. And he's going to tell you guys and all of us all about it. And you'll probably hear a very special story about the person who is now earning this award. Chief.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, City Manager and staff. I'm Jeff Levy, Fire Chief for the City of Hollywood. Today, I'm proud to recognize some of our members again. It's... with a second chance coin. What that means is they gave somebody a second chance of life. And I'm going to read you a little bit about that. So it's the crew from Rescue 40 and Engine 40, which is stationed on the beach. On February 12, 2026, the crew responded alongside a Hollywood police department to a 62-year-old male who was found unresponsive by family members at a hotel on the beach. This person was a tourist. Bystander CPR was already in progress. Upon arrival, personnel confirmed the patient was pulseless which means their heart wasn't beating, and they weren't breathing. Upon arrival, they confirmed that the patient was in a heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation, where the heart isn't beating properly, which identified that that rhythm is a rhythm that can be defibrillated. So if you haven't learned about it, we'll come to your school and teach you about it. But defibrillation can be done with our cardiac monitors or an automated external device that can be done by the public. Crews performed high-performance CPR. They also recognized the patient was in this rhythm, and they established an airway, continued CPR. Despite multiple attempts of medication therapy, they identified that the patient was what's called refractory ventricular fibrillation. The patient received what we just learned, our crews just learned back in January of 2026, is a new life-saving procedure, which is called double sequential defibrillation. Basically, what we've been taught in the past was use one cardiac monitor to defibrillate a person and get them into their normal heart rate. What science has proven is that using two cardiac monitors or two defibrillators double sequentially at the same time will cause a better chance of outcome. So in January 2026, your Hollywood Fire Department learned this technique. This was the first time that this was actually done on a real call in the city of Hollywood, in the first documented incident. This patient was transported to Memorial Hospital, Memorial Regional Hospital, went to the cardiac cath lab, and is now home free of any deficits. So we want to recognize the crew from Rescue Engine 40. I want to bring up Captain Rafael Fuentes, Lieutenant Alex Pellicer. Mind you, Lieutenant Pellicer's father is a district chief for Danny Beach BSO Fire Rescue. He's in the back of the room for his support. And his older brother, Brandon, is one of our other lieutenants who has been receiving multiple lifesaving awards as well, is here to support him. Rita Chevaniel.

Did I pronounce it right, Rita?

I didn't. Luis Gutierrez and Mike Gullo. Please come on up, receive your second chance award and your certificate. Thank you, guys. And Justin Garcia.

Sorry, missed the name on here.

Go up there and take a picture.

Yeah, please. Just another day saving a life at work, but thank you all so much. Thank you so much. Just before we get to presentations, we have three additional presentations, and then we'll take up some ordinances. I do want to point out that item 40 has additional information on the dais, and item 41, city attorney, is withdrawing. Go ahead.

That's correct. Thank you, Mayor. The city attorney's office is withdrawing item 41 as due to further research, we've realized that it is not necessary.

Okay, great. Thank you. Let's go ahead now to item 30, a presentation by, and by the way, Mr. Fryer, are you able to stay, or do you kids need to go, or? If you'd like us to do that sooner, let me see if it's time, if it's time, let me see if it's time certain. Where am I? Item, item 33. I'm certain at 1.15. Yeah, we could do that. So let's jump real quick to item 33 for an ordinance. Yeah, an ordinance. It's an ordinance of the City of Hollywood, Florida, meaning a law of the City of Hollywood, Florida, amending ordinance numbers O-2017-13 and O-2020-06, which created the Emerald Hills Safety Enhancement District, amending Section 13, which is the sunset provision to extend the date on which the district shall automatically sunset unless again extended, amending Section 6, the financing of the district, and to increase the annual non-advalorum assessment maximum per property per year and providing for an effective date. This is an ordinance on second reading advertised as a public hearing in conformance with state statutes and city codes. No changes since the first reading from the Office of the City Clerk. I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. Are there any speaker cards, Madam Clerk? No cards. Public hearing is now closed. We have a motion from Vice Mayor Kaleri and a second from Commissioner Gruber to approve the ordinance on second reading. I will now just invite Commissioner Gruber to say a few words.

Go ahead. So BMA students, what we just approved is basically, and this is kind of democracy in action. Many, many years ago, well, 10 or 15 years ago, a group of residents in Emerald Hills that lived between 46th Avenue and 56th Avenue reached out to the community and decided they wanted to tax themselves to add an extra patrol officer off duty and possibly pay for some extra safety features for that neighborhood. So they went out. They got a vote of the residents as to who would be willing to pay extra taxes to have this service. They got an overwhelming majority. And that's been in effect for quite some time now. And that was about to sunset and come to an end. So they re-advertised to the residents and said, hey, do you guys want to continue doing this service? If so, we need to increase the amount because costs have gone up. And we'd like to do it for a certain amount of time. That poll came back. Those of you who live between 46 and 56, between Sheridan and Sterling, your parents probably mailed in something for that. It came back overwhelmingly in favor. And now we have read it twice, once at a different meeting, and now it just passed. That was what that was all about.

As soon as the city attorney reads the ordinance and we call the roll call vote. Right. Go ahead, city attorney.

An ordinance of the City of Hollywood, Florida, amending ordinance numbers O2017-13 and O2020-06, which created the Emerald Hill Safety Enhancement District, amending Section 13, sunset provision to extend the date on which the district shall automatically sunset unless again extended, amending Section 6, financing of the district to increase the annual non-advalorum assessment maximum per property per year and providing for an effective date. Vice Mayor Kaleri. Yes.

Oops, hold on. Sorry, my bad. Activating all mics. Go ahead.

Commissioner Gruber.

Yes.

Commissioner Biederman.

Yes.

Commissioner Quintana. Yes. Commissioner Shuham. Yes. Commissioner Hernandez.

Yes.

Mayor Levy.

Yes. All right, let's show the ordinance passing unanimously on second reading. All right, well, that vote, students, just authorized what Commissioner Gruber had explained, this continuation of the safety enhancement district, additional police for that neighborhood, additional security cameras, and that's how it's done. Advertising, noticing, public input, and decision up here. Thank you all so much for being here. Have a great and safe summer, students, okay? Be safe, and we'll see you soon.

Yeah, you did. People are willing to tax themselves. Yeah.

Yeah, that don't happen every day.

Should probably open the second floor doors there so they can just all go down the stairs outside. But that's OK. It's a lot of elevators.

Then you never know who might come in. Slytherin.

That's true. You never know.

That was an interesting word.

Keith Catrotti, right? I love Keith. Oh, I didn't know that.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, thank you all. Thank you, Allison, for hosting the students again. Let's give a round of applause to Allison Sapfold. She does a great job, the whole team, with the community affairs here. All right. Let's go ahead. We've got three presentations, annual reports of certain advisory boards, ladies and gentlemen. Let's begin with Community Development Advisory Board. Mitch Anton, the chair is here. Item 30. Mitch, welcome.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor.

If you have any members of your board that are here, please introduce them. I'll introduce them in a second.

I was going to introduce them.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, Madam Vice Mayor, Commissioner, City Manager, and staff, I am Mitch Anton, for the record. I'm Mitch Anton, the chair of the CDAB, as we call it, Community Development Advisory Board. And actually, the department now has been changed. So now it's the Office of Housing and Community Development, because they've expanded their role. It's been a pleasure to have been on this board for about eight years now. Commissioner Shuham's husband was the chairman. It seems like yesterday, but it was seven or eight years ago. Donna, the mother of our committee, has forewarned me that this better not be more than five minutes in the interest of time. I'm already into it. As you know, we used to have these meetings privately for an hour. But I appreciate what you do for us, giving us the autonomy to do what we do. And then you approve the spending. I think in the eight, nine years I've been on board, never have you denied the request that we have for the money. I think we have two of our members here that I want to introduce, Erin Morboste and Odalis Delgado. Please, I thank them for their time, too. We take our job seriously. I can make a valid argument that as far as I'm concerned, in the city of Hollywood, the department and the board are the most important boards and departments this city has. Why? Because we deal with the fundamental needs of the citizens of our community. People don't understand that we have areas called LMI. You know it. low to moderate income. These are established by federal government of houses, have so much money. A lot of these houses, and if you go on the map of the city, you'll see all the different red, all around the city, some more than others. And we deal with a lot of these groups and individuals that live in these areas. And my particular group, my board, we get federal money, which is separate from the city money, separate from the state. They're called BG Block Grant, Community Development Block Grant money. And this year, and I'm going to go into it in about two minutes, who gets money, how much, not specifically how much, but it's an interesting concept. I'm not going to read what's up there because you see it. And our fundamental goal each year for us, we do a lot of things, but as I just said, it's to distribute, recommend to you, the city commissioners, who gets the money, how much, which is an interesting process. The whole situation and how we do it is interesting, and I'll get to it in the middle, in a minute. What we do many times is meet publicly. We have the public come. The public presents to us what they want, what they need, et cetera. And we try to establish ourselves as we're not the answer to all, and we don't have as much money as we'd like to have. But what we do is we sit down three, four times a year. But it's interesting. And I wish you would participate in this. I think you would find it interesting because this year more than ever, we took two hours about a month ago. And it got to be heated. He did it in a good way, because we had eight different organizations, or nine organizations that came to us for money. And if you take a pie, a pizza pie, and you divide it up, and then all of us had a difference of opinion as to what group should get more money, and this, that, and the other. And at the end of the day, after two hours, we compromise. And some groups that I wanted to disamount, we were always within a certain percent of each other. And we walked away with our heads held high. And you'll find out, not tonight, it's not the proper time for it, who we are giving the money to and how much. And we appreciate it, because the money is needed badly. Next one, Donna. We got some extra money. I'm going to go back, but you leave it there. I want to just discuss really for two minutes those organizations that participate. So when I say that we address the fundamental needs of the community, I'm going to just name the organizations so you'll understand. For example. CEC, Community Enhancement. That's Nadine. Everyone knows Nadine. That's a food bank. I visited another food bank this past Friday. 250 people are in line to get food. And I don't care if it's the LES, which is, we know, from Liberia. These are people that, they don't have the money for food. And when you see them in line, who they are, it doesn't matter what political area, what political party they have, or what color of their skin, or how old they are. They need money. They need food. Everyone in the room here, we don't have that problem, but they do. And you see that, and your heart goes out to them. Heart goes out when you see these people. Goodman Jewish Family Services, they give money out to people who can't pay their mortgage, can't pay their rent, or move money for food, for shelter. These are people that are going to be on the streets if they didn't get the money. Now, we're not the only ones who give money. Don't get me wrong. When we get an application, it's a seven, eight page application, it says who else gives the money. So we know who else gives the money. We also know how many Holly residents. So that's important to us. It's our money, the money that the government gives the city of Hollywood. So it's important to us that we're serving residents of Hollywood. Russell Life Skills, Twan Russell, former All-American in the University of Miami. He's got children coming from the elementary school to four different centers after school every day, at McNichol, at MLK, at Winston, Western Park. I'm missing one, Donna. Who's the fourth? I forget them. Anyway, these are kids that come just after school. Where other kids are going to play, they're learning. They're learning by certified teachers in the public education system go to these centers. And we have 100% of these kids go to the next grade. That's how strong this is. And the last one would be women in distress. It's always going to be my top of the list. And we help the women, the battered women who have nowhere to go. So I'm saying that's where our money goes. Next one.

And that's what our main job is.

This year, Ryan and Donna found an extra quarter of a million dollars to give to Teen Center. Teen Center has an area in the Teen Center that's been unused because it was never built out. They're now building it out. So teens now have somewhere to go. We'll have somewhere to go. And they never were just before.

Mitch, I really want to thank you. I know you wanted to talk about homeless prevention. Go ahead.

That's it. That's it. Homeless prevention. It is what it is. The homeless in this city is now less than it's ever been. I know Duane was there before, and we all know Duane, who helps us with the homeless and his crew. It's sad, and we do what we can to help them out.

So I really want to thank, on behalf of the city commission and the whole community, your advisory board members, yourself as chair, and Ryan and Donna and the community development staff, housing and community development staff, for the effort of carefully evaluating how to disperse and allocate these dollars. I know they're limited. And I know you'd love to fund these organizations and even all nine that came before you, for example, at even a higher level. But we are using and leveraging the dollars that we do have and get allocated. And so we're grateful to the federal government, the state government for the funds they share with us and for us to have the ability to have volunteers like you who help us designate where it ought to go. So thank you so much. I know we'll continue doing good work with the board. It only keeps getting better. And we just hope that we can allocate more and more dollars as the years continue. So thank you so much. Thank you. Next time, you guys got to give Mitch 10 minutes, OK? Let's go to Octavia Mills. Octavia, please come on up. She's the chair of the Hollywood Housing Authority, and she'd like to present the report for the HHA. I think we do have some exciting opportunity in the year ahead that's in motion, but let's go ahead. Octavia, Ms. Mills.

Hi, good afternoon. I'd like to say hi, good afternoon to the mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, staff members. My name is Octavia Mills. I'm the chair for the Hollywood Housing Authority Board. Here with me is the vice chair, Erin Marvoste. We also have the executive director, Mr. Tony Gutierrez. And we're here to present the 2025 Hollywood Housing Authority annual plan. OK. OK, so to begin, Apollo Terrace is designated a family complex that consists of 33 bedroom units. The Charlie apartment consists of 41 bedroom units, and the HHA has a partnership with the Henderson Behavioral Health Clinic, providing housing for the formerly homeless individuals. This is a HUD-funded program through the Single Room Occupancy Program. The HHA still administers 90 project-based vouchers for Driftwood Terrace as part of the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program, also known as RAC. HUD has strongly encouraged the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program to help public housing authorities address billions in deferred maintenance. It enables the PHA to convert public housing subsidies into long-term, stable Section 8 project-based contracts, allowing them to leverage private and public capital to preserve and modernize affordable housing. At this time, I'm going to be turning it over to Erin to finish.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Chair. Driftwood Terrace is an existing 90-unit, one-bedroom, one-bath senior development which is currently undergoing renovations. These renovations include a full kitchen remodel, bathroom updates, new flooring, windows, and roof replacement. We are also executing elevator modernization, stucco and structural repairs, addressing all ADA compliance in the units and common areas, and adding additional parking spaces for our residents. Moving on to our new footprint, Hollywood Vista will deliver an eight-story building spanning 110,586 square feet, which includes a brand-new office space for the HHA. The development will provide 118 modern, resilient, and high-quality housing units, which is 89 more units than the previous building on the site. In terms of affordability, a minimum of 29 units will be set aside at 50% AMI, and the remaining 89 units will be a mix of 30%, 60%, and 80% AMI. This is truly a win for the city, as accommodating a 30% AMI income threshold can be very difficult. In addition, through this development partnership, we have secured a minimum of 30 years of guaranteed affordability. The HHA has partnered with HTG and is working in conjunction with the city to move forward with this project. I would like to make mention. I would like to highlight that our agency was officially designated by HUD as a high performer housing authority, scoring an elite 96% on our federal CMAP certification. Furthermore, our independent comprehensive financial audit for the past year came back completely clean with absolutely zero findings or issues. This demonstrates a total administrative and fiscal integrity across all of our active programs, And I would like to personally thank our director, Tony. And Samira's not here with us. They run an amazing job. So thank you both.

TONY LEVINE JR.: All right. We love to see the initiatives here, and especially with Hollywood Vista, how you're leveraging an older property and giving it new life to provide new housing for people, and the administration of the housing authority's units to the best way possible that can get people a safe roof over their heads and to help people move forward in life. So thank you all so much. We look forward to Hollywood Vista coming before the applicable boards and the city commission for final approval as soon as they complete their I believe the community outreach meetings are ongoing right now, so it's moving forward. So thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next, let's invite Andrew Miranda. Andrew Miranda, he is the chair of the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee regarding the annual report for the advisory board. Andrew, welcome.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon, mayor, city commissioners, staff, and colleagues. My name is Andrew Miranda, and I serve as the chair of the City of Hollywood's Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, also known as AHEC. And thank you for the opportunity to present today. So what is AHEC? Section 420.9072 of the Florida Statutes requires each eligible municipality to participate in the State Housing Initiatives Partnership, or SHIP, program to establish an affordable housing advisory committee. We are a statutory committee comprised of a diverse group of industry professionals representing key sectors of housing and community development. Our mission is to advise the Commission on policies, incentives, and strategies that advance affordable housing. As you can see, the AHAC is comprised of a myriad of industry professionals who volunteer to dedicate their time to help the city move affordable and workforce housing initiatives forward. The primary purpose of AHAC is to recommend actions and initiatives that promote and support the development of affordable housing while maintaining long-term property value appreciation. The committee reviews and evaluates the city's housing programs, policies, procedures, land development regulations, and comprehensive plan to assess their impact on affordable housing production. Based on this review, the AHAC develops recommendations for the city commission to improve housing strategies and encourage affordable housing development. Once approved by a majority vote, the AHAC report is submitted to the city commission. While the SHIP statute requires certain incentives such as expedited permitting and ongoing review, it does not require adoption of all recommendations. If recommendations are adopted, the local housing assistance plan must be amended within 90 days to include the approved incentives and the updated plan is then submitted to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation for approval. The continuation of state SHIP funding for housing programs is contingent upon receipt of the annual committee report. So here are a few of AHAC's action items. We reviewed and evaluated local housing policies, procedures, land development regulations, and the comprehensive plan for their impact on affordable housing production. We considered affordable housing incentives outlined in Section 420.9076, subsection 4, paragraphs A through K of the Florida statutes. We held public meetings and advertised a public hearing to solicit public comments, produced the final annual report that was submitted to the City Commission and the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, and lastly discussed potential amendments and technical revisions to the local housing assistance plan. So I wanted to give you a picture of Broward County's housing challenges. There's three key facts that we need to keep in mind. Broward County reports a shortage of affordable and workforce housing units. Many service sector and middle-income workers struggle to qualify for market-rate housing, and housing costs have risen dramatically faster than wages in South Florida. So as a result, many households fall into what's called the missing middle. where they earn too much for subsidies, but they earn too little to comfortably afford market-rate apartments. Additionally, there's an increased demand pressure for LIHTC developments. As it stands today, Broward County ranks 67th among all 67 Florida counties in providing affordable rental units for families and individuals earning 60% of area median income, with less than 25 units provided for every 100 households in need. So I mentioned area median income on the previous slide. What is that? AMI, or area median income, is calculated by the federal government through HUD. Affordable and workforce housing rents are based on the percentages of area median income. As you can see, there are four housing categories, extremely low income, which caters to households earning 30% of the area median income or less, very low income, which are for households earning up to 50% of the AMI, affordable housing, which is for households earning 60% to 80% of the AMI, and workforce housing, which is for households earning 80% to 120% of the AMI. And this is a very important slide. I want to take a little bit of time to clarify an important distinction between income-based affordability and AMI-based affordability. So many people are familiar with what's commonly called the 30% rule, where a household pays approximately 30% of its annual income towards housing costs. That's the model used in programs like housing choice vouchers and public housing. Because rent is tied directly to the household income, it adjusts as income changes. Those programs are designed to provide a deep, deep level of subsidy and assistance to individual households. Most affordable housing developed today operates a little differently. Affordable housing developments, including low-income housing tax credit properties and many workforce housing programs typically use area median income or the AMI framework. Under this approach, rents are established based on income benchmarks, such as 50%, 60%, 80%, 100%, or 120% AMI. And the affordability is attached to the unit itself rather than continuously adjusting to the income of the tenants after they move in. So while both approaches address housing affordability, they do so in different ways. Income-based programs focus on providing direct assistance to individual households based on their actual income. And AMI-based affordable housing focuses on creating and preserving a supply of housing units that remain affordable to households within targeted income ranges. The key takeaway is that when we discuss affordable housing in the context of development policy, land use, incentives, or workforce housing, we're generally referring to the AMI-based model shown on the right of the slide. Lastly, I want to share that the Office of Housing Community Development worked in coordination with the city's planning team to enter into an agreement with a qualified consultant using federal home investment partnership program funding to complete a comprehensive housing needs study specific to the city of Hollywood. The study, which includes data and public feedback, is being completed in three phases and will be presented to the city commission upon completion. The final report will be also incorporated into the city's updated comprehensive plan to support long-term housing policy and planning decisions. And we anticipate that it will be ready by the end of September. That concludes the presentation of AHAC's annual report. And with that, I'm happy to open the floor to any questions.

Thank you so much. Andrew, really impressive. Thank you for breaking all that down. We've got some commissioners who would like to address you real quick. Let's go with Commissioner Shuham.

Thanks, Andrew. That was great. Just a quick question practically. What happens if someone is in an AMI-based unit and they get a big raise or they come into an inheritance? Is it just an annual recertification by the tenant?

Yeah, it's based on the income. So if they get a big raise, then if they are in a 60% housing unit and they increase to a 70% housing unit, they will have to seek a 70% unit.

So they'd have to move?

In that specific situation, it's also up to the property managers. They might be able to work with the tenant to keep them in the unit. They certainly don't want to dishouse them. But with specific situations, we are happy to have an extra meeting where Ryan and Donna can help us. George?

Good afternoon, Commission. Ryan Cooke, Community Development and Housing, I'm sorry, Housing and Community Development Director. In a situation like that, if the household becomes over income for the unit, they have to find another, if there is one in the building that they can move to because of the structure, the way it's set up right now. The structure is based on the AMI, and like Andrew said, the AMI stays with the unit. So if you've become over income, now there are the opportunities, situations where they may already be in a unit where they're already beyond the threshold, as most people are, right? For the most part, Andrew broke down that slide that showed you the 30% and the 60 to 80 to 120. For the most part, people who are at 30%, these are people that need tremendous subsidies to remain in their unit. People who are the other spectrum, they're typically people who are able to have the capacity, rather, to increase their income. So a lot of times, they're already in units. that they're really not qualified for. So when they do get an increase, a lot of times they get to stay in that unit. Now, on the chance that they over-income, they would have to move from the unit because the unit is tied to the AMI.

Yeah, and that makes sense. But I guess one question I have, is it like, does it happen at the time of lease renewal? Is that what, is it like just a one-year lease all the time and each year they certify their income?

Correct. Every year, somebody's income is renewed. In affordable housing developments, you do an annual income certification. Based on that income certification, if that person over-income, if they over-qualify for that unit, the AMI tied to that unit, that person would then be given time to either identify a unit within that building, and if not, a unit outside that building.

And what did you mean, Ryan, when you say they're probably overcompensated when they moved in? What does that mean? Repeat the question, please. I thought you said something like they're probably already overpaid.

So the vast majority of Broward County residents right now are living in units right now that they may be at 60%, but they're at an 80% unit. And the reason why is because those people have the wherewithal and the capacity to earn more. So they're not going to turn us

So they're intentionally putting them in an agency.

They have to because that's where they have to live. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

OK. Pay a little more. Yes.

Yeah. Hopefully I answered your question, Commissioner.

I think so. Thank you. I was always curious about that. So when you are in that situation, I mean, I guess I'm curious. People always want to be moving up and making more money. But at some point, you could be challenging your housing.

100%. Right now, you're in a situation where the AMI in Broward County right now is $102,500. That's what it is right now, the latest report that came out. You're showing income levels at between 60 and 120, which is low to moderate to workforce. You're showing rent units that are extremely high. There are a lot of people in our community right now that are in units that are a little bit above the threshold. But because they have the capacity to earn more, they can sometimes qualify for these units. Now, on the odd chance that somebody who may be in a 30% unit which is heavily subsidized, right? So they're getting a lot of federal dollars or state or whatever it is dollars to stay in that unit. If they then become over income, they have to either find someplace else or move. And the chance that somebody who's already in a LMI, the left slide, the slide that Angie showed you, they're in that unit, they're probably more than likely already in a unit that may be a little bit above their ability, but they're able to maintain that unit. And if they get more money, they should theoretically be able to stay in the unit. If not, they would have to find someplace else. Got it. Thank you very much.

Let's go to Commissioner Quintana.

Thank you so much. say how much I appreciate both the presentations that were just given. I think so much of the time people don't know what we mean when we say AMI. And I think so often at our meetings, government meetings, we tend to talk to each other and not necessarily really take the opportunity to make sure that the residents who are not day to day working with these terms and understanding what they mean, to use this as an opportunity to answer those questions and lay it out in a simple way that people will understand. So I mean, personally, I'm going to recommend to everybody that they watch this section of the meeting. because it may generate more questions for folks as they see it, but I think it was an excellent use of this time and this medium to help perhaps clear up some misunderstandings about what we mean when we say affordable housing, and I think both of these presentations really did that well. So I just want to appreciate that.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Thank you so much.

Commissioner Gruber? Just real quick. Andrew, great presentation. Ryan, as always, you do a great job. And just to touch on what you were talking about, Commissioner Shum, so at the 120%, we'll just take that example, is the max that somebody could make. So pretty much nobody is moving into that 120 that's at the max, because if they get a 2% inflation rate, it's typically people at 110, 115, even a little below. And that 30% is the goal of what you want for your housing costs. But really, you could technically go up to 37%, I think, HUD allows or whatever. So that's where the fluctuation is. So if they get a little bit of a raise, they typically stay in there. And I really appreciate it, because after the last meeting, I had mentioned something about that a teacher and a police officer could move into an apartment for 120% AMI. And I mean, you would have thought people wanted to murder me on Facebook for making such a comment. But in fact, your presentation just shows, you know, a starting police officer makes about $65,000 a year. Starting public school teacher makes $51,000 a year. It comes to $115,000, $116,000. That's the exact couple that would be able to move in to 120% AMI. just to clear up what I'd said in the last meeting with the confusion that happened on social media. And I appreciate all you do. Thank you.

Great presentation. Thank you all so much. Commissioner Quintana wants to follow up.

I just wanted to add one more thing that we know that in Broward County, one out of every two people, 50% of the people who live here are spending more than 30% of their income on housing alone. So one out of every two people you meet in Broward County is what they call cost burden. They are not making enough money to pay for their housing and all their other bills. One out of every two people you meet in Broward County is struggling with housing. So I just wanted to make sure I made that point. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Appreciate it, Andrew.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next item on the agenda is item 34. IT'S AN ORDINANCE PO 202613A. IT'S AN ORDINANCE ON SECOND READING, ADVERTISES A PUBLIC HEARING AND INFORMATION OF STATE STATUTES AND CITY CODES. NO CHANGES SINCE THE FIRST READING. I'M GOING TO PASS THE GABBLE TO VICE MAYOR COLLERY AND ABSTAIN FROM VOTING ON THE ITEM BECAUSE PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE SECTION 112, I'M ABSTAINING FROM VOTING ON THE ITEM BECAUSE THE APPLICANT PURCHASED ADJACENT PROPERTY FROM MY FAMILY, CREATING A CONFLICT REQUIRING MY ABSTENTION. file the requisite Form 8B with the city clerk. So at this time, I'll step off of the dais and pass the gavel to Vice Mayor Kaleri to introduce the item. Thank you.

Pass the seat to... Good afternoon. Item 34, an ordinance of the City of Hollywood, Florida, vacating a portion of the platted Fletcher Street lying within the plat of the Third Amendment, platted a portion of Hollywood Pines, plat book 19, page 3, and more specifically described in exhibit A, attached here to and incorporated herein, providing a severability clause, a repealer provision, and an effective date. This is the second reading, advertised public hearing. Are there any speaker cards?

No cards.

Does it have to be read, or can we just say all in favor?

Excuse me. We couldn't hear down here who made the motion.

Commissioner Shuham made the motion. Commissioner Hernandez seconded.

Thank you very much.

I'll read.

City attorney.

An ordinance of the city of Hollywood, Florida, vacating a portion of the platted Fletcher Street lying within the plat of third amended plat of portion of Hollywood Pines, plat book 19, page 3, and more specifically described in exhibit A, attached here to and incorporated herein, providing a severability clause, a repealer provision, and an effective date. Thank you.

Vice Mayor Kaleri?

Yes.

Commissioner Gruber? Yes. Commissioner Biederman? Yes. Commissioner Quintana? Yes. Commissioner Shuham? Yes. Commissioner Hernandez? Yes. Mayor Levy?

Motion passes 6-0. Thank you.

I was able to pick up the World Cup watch party posters while I was out. All right. Thank you so much. taking the gavel back. Item 35 is a 2 PM time certain item. It's a little bit past 2 o'clock. It's a resolution of the city commission authorizing the appropriate city officials to execute a concert agreement with the Rhythm Foundation for producer services for the jazz festival concerts at Arts Park in an amount up to $250,000 in accordance with our procurement code as a best interest item. I'll go ahead and ask, is it Ricky? Are you coming up? I know we have James and Adam here from Rhythm Foundation. I know there's been some community outreach since our last discussion, so let's hear all about it and how we've tweaked things. Thank you.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Commission, City Manager, City Attorney, Rick Engel, Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Arts Director. Since the last meeting two weeks ago, we went back and met with the Downtown Business Association. Both city staff and the Rhythm Foundation came along as well. And we have a short presentation of some of the changes we've made since the last meeting are suggesting. So the vision of the real jazz festival now would be to incorporate the main event at Arts Park, but then have pre and post events downtown having a stage. So we would incorporate the downtown with the Arts Park with the jazz festival. OK. Rhythm Foundation is proposing. These are the three artists they're proposing, as would be the headliners. So these would be the artists that would be performing at Arts Park. If you'd like more information on them, I'd turn it over to Adam, and he can talk a little bit more about that if you'd like. Chris. OK, so the idea now is to cultivate the jazz festival with the downtown and actually have a wine, almost like a jazz and wine festival, where the businesses would participate with wine tasting. So people would be able to come out in the afternoon, either have a late lunch or early dinner, have jazz music playing downtown. have wine tasting going on at the same time. And at a certain point, we haven't finalized all the times, but at a certain point, then the crowd would move over to Arts Park for the headline acts at Arts Park. And then following the headline acts, they would move back to downtown where they would have additional jazz artists playing after the event downtown. So the concept is to draw people back and forth from downtown to Arts Park and back to downtown. And there would be very little food and drink at Arts Park. It would just be basic drinks so that people are there for a couple of hours, have something they can drink, and maybe some snacks. But the concept of food would be to get the people to go to the restaurants downtown to have their dinner or lunch at the downtown area. And that's just what I was talking about. And I... Thanks. Okay. That's pretty much it. I'm sorry? Sure. Commissioner Gruber.

Okay.

I just wanted to see that picture.

Yep. So Rick, if you can explain, I see on the map a street closure of Hollywood Boulevard from 19th to 20th. That's where jazz and wine stages will be activated by participating businesses, it shows. During the community meeting with the DHBA, we talked about the wine idea and restaurants just for the benefit of the commission, restaurants talked about featuring wines that are relevant to either their food type, for example, Greek wine or Irish wine or different international wines in a way that they could integrate with the jazz festival to make it active and appealing.

And there was also a discussion about not closing off Harrison Street, but actually having some street artists on Harrison Street so that we actually invite people to go to Harrison Street and enjoy those restaurants as well. And hopefully they would participate with the wine tasting as part of the event.

Yeah. So I think the nice thing is we have time between now and then to really coordinate with all the businesses. kind of, you know, engage them and get them to participate and really make it a huge festival on the streets as well.

Yeah, and because the Rhythm Foundation has been doing a lot of work and they're not even on a contract, so I appreciate all the help that they've been giving us. So once, if the commission chooses to approve this, then once they're on board, then we would tighten up all the schedules and continue to meet with downtown businesses.

Commissioner Gruber.

You're next.

Yeah. You go first. All right. Vice mayor is a motion to approve. Second by Commissioner Shuham. Let's go. We do have speaker cards. Go ahead, Commissioner Gruber.

Our budget for this is what?

Up to $250,000.

Doesn't mean we have to spend all of it. The budget that the commission had approved about a year ago was $200,000 of city funds. And we anticipate receiving a $50,000 grant from the county. So that would give us up to $250,000. We also have submitted for a state grant. We won't hear about that until the budget is finalized to know if those funds are approved in the budget and then whether those grants will be awarded or not. But we did submit for an additional grant.

So I would support it. I just think given what we're dealing with right now and how much we're about to lose, maybe we can sharpen the pencil and not make it $250,000 max and change that ceiling. We'll let Adam speak. Yeah, Adam. So I know, James, we spoke earlier, and maybe if we can – so if it was $250,000, it would be $200,000 from the city and then a $50,000 grant. If we can cap that at – 200 or even 150, and we could still do a great festival. I mean, we're going to have to start diving into every agenda item and figuring out a way to knock it down when we get, what, $25 million off our revenue a year from now. So we may as well, sorry, start with you guys. So Adam, what do you say? Can we pull off something magnificent if we nibble it down a little bit?

Yes. And hi, this is Adam Gnuza from the Rhythm Foundation for them. For the record, yes, we, after our conversations with the businesses and with the commission, understanding the circumstances that we're here under, we are able to pull this off a fantastic event that incorporates the arts park and the downtown for $150,000. And so if that's all inclusive, so if the application for county funding is successful for $50,000, that would bring the city's contribution to $100,000, ultimately.

They mean that they can produce the event, a quality event, for $150,000. For a max of $150,000 instead of $250,000. Yeah. Right. And remember, we just pulled the number $250,000 really out of thin air and said, let's spend $250,000. But the producer is telling us $150,000 covers it.

And that's with these artists that we just saw in the presentation? Yes.

So what that would... Well, we just put out the number.

So go ahead. Could have added another headliner, you know?

If I can explain a little bit on the budget, when we were tasked with going out to prepare to plan for a jazz festival, we had asked the Rhythm Foundation over a year ago to give us a ballpark figure of what it would take to put on a good jazz festival, whether it was one day or two days. They gave us an estimate for one day around $200,000. I think for a two-day it was $300,000 to $400,000. So the amount depends on the quality of artists. I mean, we could go bigger than the names that were shown up there if we went with a bigger jazz act. I mean, we would spend more than what they're proposing because the bigger the name, the bigger the cost is to bring them in. And it's not just the cost of their work. performance. They also have riders, so a lot of times their rider is more expensive than their actual fee for performing. So it just depends on the level of artists. There are a lot of good local jazz artists that they'll be able to incorporate at lower costs, so that's why I think we can make this happen.

Can I amend the motion? Or can I recommend for you to amend it just for it to be capped up to $150,000? But we already have the $50,000 grant from the county. We're just looking for more? Well, no.

We would have, let me clarify, we would be providing here under your proposed amendment an amount up to $150,000. And whether the city is successful or not, for attracting county funds that would effectively make the cities out of pocket $100,000 or $150,000, depending on whether or not the county grant was procured.

So we're max out of pocket $150,000. If we get the grant, we're max out of pocket $100,000. And now we've adjusted this, that the activations are downtown. So we're bringing people to our businesses. So I'm OK if we could amend it to do that.

So that's a motion to amend with adjusting the up to amount. Is there a second, please? I will second that if it's $100,000 from the city. I'm sorry. Let me activate your mic, Peter. Hold on. Go ahead.

Thank you. I would second that if it's $100,000 from the city and $50,000 from the county, so up to $100,000 from the city, if that works for the maker of the motion.

So yes, then.

I'm OK with that. But so then let's just say if we don't get the grant from the county.

Peter wants our max to be $100,000. And no one else was willing to second your motion. So you either take it or you lose it.

I'll take it.

All right. He takes it. All right. We have an amendment on the floor to max this out at $150,000 inclusive of the county grant, and if not successful, at $100,000. Discussion on the amendment, please. Let's go. I have two folks in the queue. Commissioner Shuham, then Vice Mayor Kaleri. Commissioner Shuham, go ahead.

So first of all, I want to say that I want to also express thanks to the Rhythm Foundation and to Ricky and his staff. We've come a long way without even having a contract yet. And of course, to the members of the community that have been helping with this. My first comment is I think the logo, I don't know where that came from, but that's really nice. And I think it's adorable that it has that play button built into it, so that's cute. I was okay at the 150, and then if we got the 50 from the county, it would be up to two. And here was my thinking, that it's not to exceed, right? And this is going to be the first year we do this, and the goal, as I thought, was kind of to make this the South Florida Jazz Festival. Like Art Basel is in Miami or different big events around the region, this is going to be our thing. And so I think it's important to do a really good job the first year, not only because we are trying to create something, but also I thought that we were trying to inspire sponsors. Like the last time that James was here, he mentioned SiriusXM was already interested. So what I could foresee over the years is that if we put a good foot forward, and obviously the impacts to the budget in future years are going to be significant, but it does not kick in until 27, is that correct?

Fiscal year 28.

28. So. Fiscal year 28. Fiscal year 28, so 27. So I just want to make sure that we are, and you know, whether it's a $50,000 difference isn't really, going to make or break it. But it's just the future vision of what we have here. For me, this is not a one-time thing. This is the first year of something that we hope people will start talking about. And I'm going to go to Hollywood in November every year to go to Jazz Fest. My husband and I used to go to New Orleans every year for Jazz Fest. You know what I'm saying? People go to Art Basel every year, to Miami every year. That's kind of what I want to make sure the goal is. And so with that in mind, I guess, Adam, are you comfortable at the 100, if it's just 100? I mean, I've seen Warren Wolf. He's pretty great.

Yeah, the artists proposed are fantastic. If the total budget was 100, that does change the scale that's made possible with the event, which means we probably wouldn't have the budget to be able to close the street. And so activity downtown would still be possible, but you would have impacts in like not being able to create a whole kind of pedestrian plaza type effect.

Right. And that was what was so important to our downtown businesses. So I just don't want to cut off our nose to spite our face. I don't know how to say it. So for me, I appreciate the fact that the Rhythm Foundation and staff has said we can do it for less. I think that's an important fiscal I don't want to do it to the point that we undo the commitments that we've just made to downtown businesses. And it's a not to exceed. So I don't know. It's your amendment. But where I thought you were going was 150 plus if we can get the second 50. But to not be able to do what we're committing for the downtown businesses, You know, I think if we're going to do it today, we should do it at 150 plus the grant of the 50 if we can get it. Because with the 150, as I understand, then you feel more comfortable that we can do what's envisioned on this screen.

All right. Thank you. Let's get to now Vice Chair Kaleri, Vice Mayor Kaleri.

So you have the three highlighted things. Individuals to sing. Yes, who's going to be in the downtown afterwards and beforehand?

Those would be locally based artists and are those an additional cost? Yes, and that's that's included as factored in here.

Yeah, so So just so everyone knows originally, you know that we talked about this and and I definitely Was on the fence as far as the initial jazz fest because of the cost that was placed on it and Then we migrated to what was presented at the last commission meeting where we had a lot of back and forth, including the downtown, because the whole point is bringing in clientele to not only go to our arts park, but to also utilize our downtown. And you've come up with, it seems like, a positive plan. I agree. I know everybody, hold on to your seats. I agree with Commissioner Shoham's statement. If we're going to do something, we should do it right. Do I agree that we should be spending the amount of money? But everyone knows I've said that from the get-go. But we're in it this far, and we did agree that we were going to do something. And if I can recall, the last meeting was to go out to the businesses to see if they had participation and they were involved. To me, this is a win-win. It sounds like it. And I believe you were there as well. So it creates the synergy that's required. It does promote the downtown, which was my main concern. And I think a couple of others up here, but I'll let them speak for themselves. But to me, this is what we all asked to see happen. And you're providing that. What bothers me, though, is your statement where we had this max amount, but you're saying you could do it for less. So I just don't know how the dollars and cents works together, and that's my concerning part. But I do agree that if we're going to do it, we should do it right. So I'm going to make an amendment to the motion.

Amendment to the amendment?

Amendment to the amendment.

I think we have to vote on the current amendment that's...

Can he withdraw his amendment?

He can withdraw his amendment.

So then I'll make an amendment to my motion.

So we're back to the main motion, and we now have Vice Mayor Kaleri.

Make an amendment, and hopefully the second will address it.

Yep.

I'm concerned about the money, which we all should be, and I've stated that from the get-go. But the proof is in the pudding here that you're presenting, and you did what we asked. So I would say... 150 with the $50,000 grant, max, no more than that.

With or without the grant, 150.

With or without the grant, 150. And with that being said, though, there's no extras. That has to be everything, the stage, the performers within the downtown, and promotion for the downtown as well as the arts park. Now, I will go back to my original statement, though. In addition to the cost, we put the fence for charging of seeing a great

TICKETED SHOW. TICKETED SHOW, RIGHT.

TICKETED SHOW, RIGHT. AND HERE WE'RE NOT UTILIZING IT. AND HERE WE'RE NOT UTILIZING IT. SO TO KIND OF, I GUESS, MAYBE, I SO TO KIND OF, I GUESS, MAYBE, I MEAN, THIS COULD BE OUR LAST MEAN, THIS COULD BE OUR LAST FARAGUE. FARAGUE. I ADMIRE THE FACT THAT I ADMIRE THE FACT THAT COMMISSIONER SHULHAM IS LIKE, THIS COMMISSIONER SHULHAM IS LIKE, THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF FOREVER OF IS THE BEGINNING OF FOREVER OF GREAT THINGS, BUT BASED ON WHAT WE GREAT THINGS, BUT BASED ON WHAT WE ARE PRESENTED WITH AND HOW WE ARE PRESENTED WITH AND HOW WE MANAGE OUR FINANCES MOVING MANAGE OUR FINANCES whether it's through additional funds from however we become creative as a city or sponsorship and such, this gives us a platform to be able to move forward with that. But this is not a guarantee for the future. But if we do it right, it may create some type of positiveness that people will want it to come back or maybe pivot from a jazz fest to something else. But as long as we We're globally looking at it as a downtown and the Arts Park. So I would like to make that motion, which is 150 plus 50 from the grant.

All right. We have a motion. How about a second? Second from Commissioner Shuham and Commissioner Gruber and Commissioner Quintana. All right. So let's go ahead down the queue.

And at some point, if you want to keep your comments short, then we'll go to a motion on the amendment and a motion on the main.

Commissioner Quintana.

Thank you, Mayor. So I was thinking this through and doing some research on some world-famous jazz festivals in small towns. There's the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, which has been happening on an annual basis since 1954. That's funded through private and corporate dollars at the tourist and yachting town. There's the Montreux Festival in Switzerland. It's the second largest jazz fest after Montreal. And it's a small little municipality in the Swiss Alps. We do have other places in Florida that have jazz festivals. My feeling is, especially because we're looking at having to look at different ways to fund programs that have to do with art and culture in the future. If we want to attract any kind of private funding, we want to have some success to point to. And I think it's important for this to be everything, really, the city does moving forward. We have to step up our game because we are going to need to demonstrate that high quality everything is what we're seeking. And we may need to get it funded in other ways. So my feeling is that we should try to make this, if we want it to have a future, to try to make this the best it can be this one time so that we can attract funding in the future. Thank you. That's it.

Thank you, Commissioner. Let's go to Commissioner Biederman.

So I might agree with that. I have a couple of questions that really need to be answered, though. And while I agree that this could be the beginning of something great and that we shouldn't go on the cheap, because then we would be creating our own destiny sometimes, there are concerns. If this bill passes, We can't use taxpayer money to pay for a festival like this.

Well, not property tax, maybe.

Regardless, it's one of our largest incomes. So I think we have to take that into mind. And while we were talking about the $100 and the $50, nobody followed up on the state grant that we're working on. How much is that going to be, and how much benefit would that be if we get it? Somebody?

Ricky, anything? I don't know what you're referring to, Commissioner.

So I heard that there's a state grant that we're applying for.

Commissioner, I'm sorry. I've been working with Tamira on that. I don't know what the amount is, so I'd have to get back to you on that.

OK. The other thing is the county is a cultural arts grant. It's not tourist development dollars. Correct. Right? So there's an opportunity there to get tourist development dollars. The other issue is we've got to think about this. We're looking at $200,000 for a one-night event that might attract how many people are we talking about? Do we have an idea how many people?

Adam, any estimate on what you're hoping, expecting, estimating?

The expectation is in the thousands. 1,000, 2,000, 10,000? In the best case scenario, we're probably talking about 5,000, 6,000 people over the course of the day.

It's high expectations. How likely is that 5,000 as opposed to maybe 1,000?

My honest guess would be over the course of the day that we would end up somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000. OK.

So that's not that bad.

That's my conservative guess.

So that's $100 a person we're spending. that they're going to spend maybe $15 for a box lunch. Is that what I heard? No, it's not happening. OK. We get 5,000 people or 8,000 people to Salsa Fest, and that costs us, what, $50,000 tops? So you've got to really weigh all these things and what we get for our money. Does this $200,000 or $150,000, whatever it might be, does this include the police officers and our firefighters that we're going to have to pay for those details for that day?

Yes, that's factored into the .

Out of the money that we're paying for 150, it's going to include all your off-duty detail costs. Total production costs plus.

Total production costs, street closures, all the technical staff, security staff.

I just don't want a surprise bill for $15,000 for the police department for extra security. Here's the foundation. Final question. Final question. How much is Sirius paying for the rights to air the Hollywood Jazz Festival?

As part of our agreement with them, given that it is a new festival, there's no cash being exchanged here. What they're bringing to this is the value of their pre-show coverage and for the broadcast itself.

In-kind type of partner sponsor.

So it's an in-kind contribution as a media sponsor.

There's no cash.

And that's how we were able to draw their attention.

But that's a one-year deal.

It is a one-year deal.

So theoretically, if we invest $100,000 or $150,000, next year we could charge $100 a person to get in, and we could charge Sirius Satellite $50,000 to air it, something like that.

If the city wanted to make the decision that it is an event that we want to sell tickets to, then that would be, that would, sure.

All right. So this is an investment kind of like a drug dealer giving out free drugs and then charging for them later.

Thanks for saying what we were thinking, Kevin. You can always count on me.

That being said, you know, I'll pass the mic.

I do think that it is worth noting that We definitely recognize and believe that for this festival to become sustainable in the long term, that it cannot rely on city funding exclusively year after year. That's just not going to work. We do need to consider bringing in cash sponsors into the event and things like media sponsors and potentially creating tiered structures where there is, you know, that people will pay for to buy tickets or for certain specific kind of experiences. Like that necessarily needs to happen for this thing to become sustainable in the long term.

All right, so just one last comment. Our whole economics in this country are based on influencers now. So it might benefit the notoriety of the new Hollywood Jazz Festival to attract some reality TV kind of thing so that maybe one of these reality TV groups is going to come to Hollywood, Florida for the Jazz Festival and we'll get nationwide, if not worldwide, notoriety.

Yeah, there's got to be some jazz influencers on Instagram and what have you.

So we will make sure to give extra emphasis to the influencer side of our marketing plan. was weighted very heavily towards outdoor media, but scaling things back, that also means we'd have to, that's where principally the big cut would have to come to make this work.

I have a few hotel rooms for reality TV stars or something.

Yeah, for the real housewives or whomever, yes.

There's a hotel on Harrison Street called the Harrison.

They'd probably be able to do a rate. So we work with the Harrison Hotel. We put all of our, that's where all the artists and all the folks involved here, they all end up staying at the Harrison Hotel. Good deal. Or the diplomat for the.

Upper scale ones?

Of higher scale, yeah.

The ones with the packages they want?

So like Kool from Kool and the Gang stays at the Diplomat.

And all the roadies stay in the house?

Yes, exactly.

Thank you.

All right, thank you. I do have two speaker cards, but let's go ahead with Commissioner Hernandez, and then we'll call the speaker cards.

Thank you, Mayor. Look, we're all having fun out here, and we think making light of this. But this is why the reason that the state is doing what they're doing, because they don't think that we're actually being fiscally responsible with our money. The purpose of my complaint last go around was because this festival did not bring anybody into the downtown to spend money. That's number one. Number two, we're doing the same thing. Now we're paying $100 or close to $200 per person to come to the festival. And the odds of them spending any money in the downtown is very low. I will continue to object to what it is that we're doing. And at the end of the day, just compare it with the attendance to other festivals. There was the salsa fest. When they had 3,500 people in it, they shut it down. They actually reached out to some of us so that we could talk to the PD. So there's no possible way that this festival is going to be bringing the numbers that the Salsa Fest brought in. And the Salsa Fest, they went to the downtown and spent some money. And some of them even got their car towed, which we got the complaint. We spent a lot of money for the people of the downtown to open their doors. And now we're helping them to close their doors. So you guys go ahead and vote for this. There's no possible way that I can support this. And I'm just trying to go right to the point rather than to belay to the point and belay to the point. This is the message that we're sending to our restaurants in the downtown. This is the message that we send in to the people that actually see what we do with our money. I think that we made a mistake trying to bring them in to do the jazz festival and bring it back up. It failed at one point. Now, to compare this festival with some of the cities that are billionaires to Newport, for example, that's just not fair. We're trying to bring people to the downtown. We're trying to be responsible for the budget that we're doing. When you look at the return on the money of the people that come to the downtown, that we're paying to bring them. We're paying $100 apiece. Give the money to the businesses if that's what you're going to do.

So thank you, Commissioner. I just do want to point out that I did do the math. At $150,000, if we didn't get the county grant, and I believe we will, but if we don't, at $150,000 divided by 3,000 people, that's $50. cost per spectator, so to speak. And that's not anything to sneeze at. That's a substantial cost per person on a production cost for the event. And if they spend $50 a head downtown, then you could say we created that economic opportunity for the restaurants. I'm not suggesting that I have any data to say they will spend $50 a head on food and drink and on different things downtown. But, you know, we do spend dollars for cultural, you know, cultural events. This is that. It's also economic development. I understand where you're coming from, Commissioner Hernandez. And it's just obviously a, you know, a weighing of the balancing all the factors here. All right. Let's get to two public speakers. Please come on up. Claire Garrett and then Michael Seltzer. Ricky.

Just real quick while they're coming up. To answer the grant on the state grant, we're applied for $75,000. It's a match. We would have to match the $75,000 if we were to receive it.

For specifically this festival or for just cultural in general? For this festival. OK, great. That'll cut our costs as well. Claire.

Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. Once again, I'm here to speak in support of approval of the Jazz Festival Agreement with the Rhythm Foundation. There has been misguided opposition along the lines that the price tag is far too high for just another concert at the Arts Park. What those critics do not understand that this is just not another concert. We would be penny wise and pound foolish. to measure its budget against local events that have been staged for less money, or to pull back from it because of the property tax bombshell that dropped yesterday. Besides multiple performances to be enjoyed by our residents over Friday evening, not one day, Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, The resurrection of the famous Hollywood Jazz Festival that ran for nearly 20 years at Young Circle Park and closed only because of demolition of the park to transform to the Arts Park, which was intended for festivals like this in the future. More importantly, the Hollywood Jazz Festival is a national branding opportunity for the city. Even before having a signed agreement, the Rhythm Foundation has done an incredible amount of work, not only lining up headliners with national and international recognition and appeal, but successfully courting the worldwide Sirius XM radio to promote and broadcast live from Hollywood Real Jazz Festival. Money can't buy this type of PR. We can't afford it. But those with limited vision would have you throw away this opportunity and start out small this year with one concert at the Performing Arts Center or entirely abandon bringing back the Hollywood Jazz Festival. I have been around long enough to know to recall when one of our commissioners was known to urge, go big or go home. Well, now it's the time to go big and finally get this agreement executed so that the Rhythm Foundation can move forward to lock in the talent. Some of you may remember Bertha Henry, the longtime county administrator. Well, now she's retired and she serves like I do on the Broward Cultural Council. When we were discussing the county's cultural festival grant, she reminded us the purpose of this type of grant is to, quote, unquote, put heads in beds to promote cultural tourism, which is an important economic engine for our county. And it goes without saying that this is good for our city as well. This event will put Hollywood, Florida on the national map for jazz enthusiasts to visit here specifically for the jazz festival. They'll come for the festival, stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, shop in our local stores. This type of marketing and economic benefit to the city is priceless. So I'm encouraging the city to seize the opportunity. And the Rhythm Foundation is the right partner to resurrect our jazz festival.

Let's go ahead. Michael Seltzer, please come on up.

First, I want to say I know nothing about jazz. However, I did have somebody call me from the organization, and I talked to him about several ideas, and he was supposed to call me back and include me. I never got a call back. And I told him that if we're going to... You hear me? And I told him that if you're going to do this, you have to do it properly. And we have to make the restaurants downtown busy, or else we're all losing focus. And I told him that they have to get a headliner. Because when I was in the restaurant business in Montreal, I was busy 51 weeks a year. The week I wasn't busy was a sucking sound from downtown where they had the jazz festival. And they sucked all my customers downtown. And the restaurants were packed. And I told him to do two shows a night in that whatever, that circle.

Amphitheater, yeah.

Yes. and get seats and see if you could sell tickets with reserved seats for x amount of dollars with reserved parking and a meal at a restaurant. And you could do a 6 o'clock show, and then they can eat at 8. And an 8 o'clock show, and they could eat at 6. And each restaurant would sell so many tickets, or they would sell so many tickets for each restaurant. And that would ensure these people a meal, front row seat at the festival, and even free parking. And there we made these restaurants busy. And anything else that they would sell would be extras. And I would do it two nights at those times. And someone mentioned a hotel room. And if we got a really big headliner, and I don't know anything about jazz, maybe we can include a hotel room and charge a little bit more. But I learned in my young age of 76 and doing this for a living for 50 years, if you bring in people with no names, you're going to get exactly what you paid for, zero. And it's going to be a flop. So you're either going to do it properly or I tell you don't do it at all and take it for someone who lost not thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars because I did it once wrong, but I made it up. I did it many times right. Thank you.

Thank you, Michael. So that prompts me to ask Adam a question. Adam from Rhythm Foundation. Adam, I'm going to put you on the spot and say, are these artists enough to bring people or not?

These artists are names that jazz enthusiasts would be very enthusiastic about.

OK.

All right, listen, we brought you on, and we rely on you to bring in artists that will draw a crowd. And I think we have over 10 years of experience with Rhythm Foundation to know that when you bring in the different Arts Park Experience artists that I've never heard of, and I see 3,000 people, you all know the market, and you know world music. And hopefully jazz, you know, my only hesitation is that I just wonder if jazz has enough appeal. I know that if we're, and we spoke about this, if this were country music, there would be an easy, a lot easier way to say I can estimate 3,000 to 5,000, right? It's just a bigger market, right? If it was Latin music, you can bring in some names with all the Latin music aficionados that we have in South Florida. You maybe can get 10,000 if the name is big enough because there's a ton of population that knows the music and will be excited. So my only concern is that the niche might be too narrow to have the economic boom that we'd want. I can appreciate the jazz and wine aspect, but let's just admit jazz can be a lounge-type act. where you're listening to the instrumentals and you're in a lounge type setting. And that's typically jazz. Although I say that because I'm not familiar with jazz festivals and I've never been to one. So I don't look at it as just what I know. That's why we're relying on you and those that are excited about jazz to give everything a shot. So do you feel any concern with the fact that we've tasked you with making our largest investment in a free concert really in our time here and we've said do jazz to you? Are you a little worried about that? If you were to do it yourself, you wouldn't have picked jazz. If we wanted to give, hey, produce a show for us, we want this to be a huge downtown, bring five plus thousand people, you wouldn't have chosen jazz. And I don't want to be a buzzkill here, but I just want your feedback, because we do want it to succeed, and we don't want it to fail and then have cold feet on year two.

Yeah, I understand your perspective. main stage, it focuses on the straight ahead jazz tradition, which was part of the brief that was received to us. That doesn't necessarily, that doesn't mean that the ancillary performers around downtown have to fulfill that same, stay within that same straight ahead jazz tradition. Lane. And so we do have the opportunities to, for instance, to put more Latin jazz-styled music at the main downtown stage, because that's more like dancing, more upbeat. be more dancing music. We can have big bands. We'll have smaller scale performers. It's basically one or two people playing in a self-contained fashion. So one thing that you see when you look at jazz festivals throughout the country and throughout the world is that The label jazz ends up having fuzzy edges around it in terms of what fits within that particular genre. For instance, at the Montreux Jazz Miami Festival a couple months ago, the headlining act was Chic, or Nile Rodgers from the band Chic and Toto. which nobody would necessarily classify that music as jazz music. It's kind of 80s rock. But it kind of falls... Yes, and that would also be really big money to get TOTO as well. So that's the balance here that we're playing with.

All right, thank you. Let's have some final comments before we vote on that amended motion or the amendment first. Let's go to Vice Mayor Kaleri.

Thank you, Mayor. So I think this just goes back to the original. I just put in my little device here. What's the number one jazz singer in today's times? And it's Samara Joy. Is she coming? That's where you get the big bucks.

Yeah.

similar to what was just mentioned. So I guess music is in the eye of the beholder as well. I would say if you're going to bring jazz, bring FJK. I mean, it's amazing. That's my kind of jazz. It's kind of like an R&B jazz. It's amazing, amazing music. So as long as there is a A niche for everyone with jazz. I think that that would be an important sell factor. I do like the idea, since we already are talking about the bringing in the downtown and such, selling the tickets for a restaurant dinner before or lunch before, dinner after. You know, the downtown business, I wasn't there for the meeting. I don't know who attended it. You, Mayor, and who else?

I was there.

Commissioner Hernandez, did you go to that one?

No, he wasn't there. No, ma'am.

Oh. So I don't know what the feedback is. And I reached out to our famous Mark Rowe, who always gives feedback.

Well, I was there. I can give you the feedback. So Mark and Jimmy were there and one or two other business owners. But they stressed, I think, their desire to have the show spill into downtown. And we talked about how to do that. We came up with the wine aspect of the restaurants featuring curbside wine and being able to integrate that. And so we started kind of like they started brainstorming on how that could be done successfully. Now, will I tell you they... love the spend, and do they think that if we gave them the spend, they could produce shows that really bring people downtown? Sure, as they always do. So they know that it's the city's initiative, and they want to work with it, I think. They want to make it the best that it could be for their businesses, for the downtown, and for the endeavor. In the end, it's up to us to decide here.

Well, I think it's just the, again, eye in the behold. You know, music is in the eye of the beholder and what their taste of music is and what type of clientele it will bring in. I'm sure we all have our own favorites. So it's challenging because of the funding, right? But I'm kind of, and I'll be honest, everyone knows I'm very vocal and honest, the go big or go home. So it's good for some things, and I guess it's not good for others. I'm all about go big or go home. And that's why I'm speaking about it today. If we're going to do something, we have to do it right. We have to go all in, and we have to make sure that every box is checked. And we have to make sure that our downtown benefits from it, which has been what we're all concerned about, especially with the amount of money and what the mayor just said. We can give $200,000 to the Downtown Business Association, and they can come up with something brilliant, make a lot of money, and it will be successful. But this is something from the past that wanted to be resurrected and brought. Just like many times I've talked about the Wing Ding. Resurrect it. Bring it back. That doesn't get any bite. But for some reason, we have a bite on jazz because of our 100th anniversary and so forth and so on. So I think that it is important if we're going to do it, we do it right. And to me, doing it right is making sure that the business is profit from the downtown. So my motion still stands. I think that, you know, whoever's going to speak is going to speak. But I think it is something that we either are going to learn from, it's going to be a big flop, or it's going to be successful and then we're going to be able to move forward. I'm just concerned about the money that we're spending. So really that's all going to fall on Rhythm Foundation. And if you guys can't come through, that's going to be a big problem for you guys if it passes today.

Hey, no pressure, Adam, no pressure. But no, they've been doing wonderful work for us for over 10 years now. And so I trust that you all will produce a great show. And it's on you to select the artists that you think will pull people and just put the whole package together and promote it sufficiently to make it happen. I do think that the jazz and wine aspect might be really a strong aspect that really will pull people who like wine. We have the vintage. We have other wine bars in the city. Corral all of their customer base. Let them get around it and all the bars. It could be a wine festival too, and that will bring in people who maybe are coming for the wine more so than the jazz, but it'll all work together. So there's ways to make this happen. So let's go to Commissioners Quintana, Hernandez, and then we'll take a vote. Commissioner Quintana.

Thank you, Mayor. I actually was just thinking about how wonderful it is that this is happening on the 250th anniversary of the existence of our country because, let's see, it says, though the history of jazz music is complicated and often debated, the one point historians reliably agree on is that Geography of Jazz Origins. Jazz is a uniquely American sound. Jazz started in the United States. It is an American music. So it's really quite wonderful that we're having a 250th year. It's forged in the melting pot of cultures in the South, particularly New Orleans. The port city was a blend of Creole culture and African traditions peppered with European influences. So I think that that's fabulous. And I was just kind of curious, Adam, about the slide that had... I saw something about... workshops or clinics with some of the musicians. That really intrigued me and I can think of a number of people I know who would be really interested in having that. So I just wanted to make sure that doesn't get lost because I think that could also draw people here to have an opportunity for musicians to participate in something with these artists. So definitely, I'm in support. And then I know people were telling me, oh, Jazz in the Gardens is very popular, Miami Gardens. And I went and looked at what those acts are. And they're definitely not acts that I would have identified as jazz acts.

That's evolved to hip hop.

Yeah, but there was, let me see if I can find it in my notes, this year in Pompano, they had a jazz festival in April. In Jacksonville, they had a jazz festival Memorial Day weekend. South Beach had something in January. Clearwater had something in November. So, I mean, there is an audience for it, for those who think that nobody's going to want to come out and see jazz. Obviously, there's other places in Florida that are doing it. And so I agree with Vice Mayor Kalari about if we're going to do it, do it well, or don't do it at all. That's my feeling. Thank you.

Thank you. Last comments by Commissioner Hernandez. Go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm not going to make any friends. Why don't we just vote to spend a million dollars and do it right? If you want to go big, go big or go home. Otherwise, we're just giving money to the Rhythm Foundation to do this thing. Let's do some math. And I'm not upset. I'm just looking at the level that we're talking about here, one side, and then we do something different, and then we expect people to believe us. So I talked to... And by the way, you can ask for the public records request if you like. I asked him, how much are you getting for the FIFA from the city? He said $50,000 with $35,000 for police and fire per event. I get $30,000 for St. Patty's Day and $15,000 for Mardi Gras and Hollow Weird. So these are events that pack the downtown. And we nickel and dime them to death. So go big or go home. What are we doing here? These are the people that we got to see every day. These are the businesses that I represent. So if you guys see that I'm upset, these are the people that I represent. And they're telling me, what are you guys doing? And this is what I got to tell them. I'm only one vote. I don't see them here, but I don't see any other restaurants or any other business person from the downtown saying, please do this event. This is going to help us. If we want to do this event because you want to resuscitate the jazz festival, get the sponsorship on the private sector, which comes from those people that Commissioner Quintana is bringing up. It's not public money that funds those things. It's private entities that actually give the money because they want to see those artists, and they're willing to put their money up because their businesses can't afford the write-off. So that's how it gets done. But for us to actually bring an event for 1,000 people to 2,000 people, even the event promoter says it's not going to be more than 2,000 people. Mayor, you said 3,000, 5,000. No, I'm just saying, however many we have, This is not going to bring business to the downtown businesses. That's what I'm talking about. So for the money that we're spending, we get better bunk for another buck. Is it the jazz? Is it the country festival? Is it Latin music? The way I'm looking at it, I am representing the businesses in the downtown. They're the people that need the help. They're the people that need the business to walk in their door. this event is not going to bring that for them. It didn't bring them last time, and we spent $50,000 or $75,000. It brought 1,000 people. It's not going to bring it this time with another $150,000, $200,000, or $250,000. If you guys really want to put your money where your mouth is, let's spend a million dollars. I'll go along with that. Let's spend a million dollars and get it. No, get a title name that it's sure that it's going to do that. And I like to see in writing from XFM that they're going to do what they say they're going to do. Otherwise, there's no way I can support this. This is counterproductive to what we've been doing for the downtown. And everybody seems to be okay with it. I'm sorry, I'm not.

Thank you. Commissioner Gruber, you asked to speak before we go ahead.

One last time, just confirming the numbers. We're at a max of $150,000 for this production, correct? Correct. If we get the county grant, that's $50,000. That would be a max of $100,000 from the city. If we get the state grant, that's $75,000. That would be a max of $25,000 for the city. Yeah, we have to match it. Okay. So then it would be $75,000 from the city. Ideally, would I want to launch something doing jazz? My goal here is, like you, Commissioner Hernandez, the bang for the buck to bring the most amount of people downtown to spend money at our businesses and also to come there and see what's there so they can come back. We tasked Rhythm Foundation to do this, though, a long time ago. And they came back with this. And then we said, well, we don't like what you're doing because it's not going to bring people downtown. So we tasked them to go back and redo the production completely to figure out a way to get those boots on the ground downtown. And we're trusting them or I'm trusting them as our partner to I've spoken to James several times on the phone saying this type of spend and what we're doing. We need people in our downtown to see our businesses, spend money there. And we have a whole new production that's going to have activations downtown. So I support it for that reason.

Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Gruber. Let's go to Commissioner Biederman.

So just for point of reference, this morning we approved $44,000 for security for a year of five-night-a-week concerts at the band shell that Margaritaville pays $250,000 for, for a year of five nights a week. And we're ready to spend that for... OK, now it's two nights. Two nights of entertainment. So it really doesn't make a lot of sense to me. No, they said Friday nights too. So it's just Saturday. It's not Friday night as lead up to it?

So Friday night is the tree lighting ceremony. And we are going to have jazz artists play at the tree lighting ceremony. Most likely, it'll be Dillard and their high school jazz band and stuff. But it'll be kind of like a kickoff just to, you know, it ties into the next day.

How much do we have to pay the high school?

It's very, very small. It's just like transportation to get them there.

And uniform cleaning, right? I'm not sure on that. So when do we find out about the state grant? Because this all hinges, for me, on a state grant.

I don't think we can know.

And I get it. She's not here tonight.

No. So commissioner, that would depend on the governor signing the budget. So we're in the budget? The grant program is in the budget. So if the governor signs the budget that includes the funding for the grant, then as long as we, and I will confirm where we ranked, but as long as the grant is funded, then there's a chance that we would get the funding for that. Because it's not a line item veto detail for the governor. It's just a program, whether he funds the program or not.

So which state legislator proposed the budget for the program?

Because I think that means a lot in these cases. Well, no, no, no. This was not an appropriation request. This was a grant through the granting agency, not agency budget. Correct. It's through the agency budget of the state.

OK. So chances are it's going to get approved. Historically, it's been approved.

It's a Saturday before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving being a Thursday the 26th, and this is the 21st, right? Yeah. That's a festive holiday time. I think it'll be...

I think it's worth a gamble, kind of. It's your reputation that is put on the line for this one. Challenge accepted. If this doesn't work out... I would be sitting in your seat speaking at that microphone against the Rhythm Foundation.

That's a little rough. That's a little rough.

No, listen.

Listen, they've been an amazing partner for over 10 years. But we've also had plenty of shows that have not been packed.

And there's plenty of criticism out there. You know, we get criticized for a lot of stuff. There's plenty of criticism out there to go around for a lot of the spending and a lot of the organizations and a lot of the ways we spend it. So... If this doesn't work out, I mean, listen. All right. There's got to be a lot on the line for this kind of money. There's got to be a lot on the line. We tasked city staff the same thing for our centennial. Make it good or there's going to be an issue. And who brought cool in the gang and packed it all? Rhythm Foundation. Well, I don't know. Was it the Rhythm Foundation? Yeah. Their idea was cool. All right. We're in. You said it on your own. Listen, you're only as good as your last failure.

Adam, you can smile. It's OK. I know you're taking it personally. But it's OK. I know we're a little rough.

I feel for you. I take a lot of stuff personally from many people that are sitting out there right now. And I'm still agreeing with some of them.

All right. We have an amendment that we're going to take a vote on to authorize the item, an amount up to $150,000. That's inclusive of the county grant as discussed. All those in favor on the amendment say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. Amendment passes 6-1. And now on the main motion to fund the resolution as amended. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. Motion carries 6-1. Thank you. Looking forward to it. Excited about the promotion. Now that we're passed, we're all in, guys. We're all positive. The negativity and the questioning is over. We're all in the same boat to make this the best jazz festival it could be. We're all partners in this now.

And if the state grant comes through, it just puts a few more hundred dollars for advertising. If the tourist development tax, if they decide to kick in some money, it'll make things a little better, too.

All right, Joanne, just another thing for CMET to help promote. She wants more money, everybody. Raelynn, she wants agency budget. Look at that. Next week at the budget meeting, we can talk about CMET. Raelynn, add that to a budget item.

Everybody's got their hand out.

Listen, we all want to do things that we're excited about. It's a natural thing, and it's a balancing act for all of it. Sometimes it's the hardscape, and sometimes it's the softscape. All right, regular agenda, ladies and gentlemen. Item 36 is a resolution of the city commission authorizing the city to execute a Fourth Amendment to renew the license agreement with MVHF LLC and the Hollywood Community Redevelopment Agency for five years, an option to renew. This, of course, is to renew the Margaritaville agreement for the Johnson Street parcel by the Office of Marketing and Economic Development. This is the city's component of what we discussed in the morning and approved at the CRA. Commissioner Shuham?

Motion to approve.

Second from Commissioner Gruber. All those in favor? All those in favor speak of cards on 36. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, item carries unanimously. All right. To the folks that have been here regarding Water Works 2050, welcome Vin. A resolution of the City Commission approving and adopting the Department of Public Utilities Water and Wastewater Master Plans. Pretty big binder there, Vin. Big master plan, multi-decade outlook. Please take us through this executive summary.

This binder here is just all the agenda items I had today. So the water and wastewater master plans, this is just a formal adoption of the 25-year water and wastewater master plan, CIP. It does a couple of things. It allows us to, with the adoption of the master plan, it allows us to bring forward projects without having to do a separate resolution saying that it is not part of our master plan. So it eliminates that. It also authorizes us to apply for various grants and loans and appropriations.

Thank you, Vin. Did you not plan on running through the executive summary for the master plan?

I have a presentation, just a very brief one.

It would be good for the public to see.

What? So there's been a number of workshops and one-on-ones. I just prepared a very brief high-level summary of the master plan. The entire master plan, both water and wastewater, is over $2.7 billion over the 25-year program. $1.46 billion of that is the water and wastewater projects themselves. And a breakout component of that, or a subset of that, is the contemplated septic to sewer program, which is $1.3 billion. We've discussed in some detail the plan going forward for the immediate five to seven years. That's represented as the orange line at the top, which are all the core infrastructure projects that we've discussed that we have to get done. They include many of the treatment plant projects, as well as key force mains and pump station projects to maintain the city's sewer and water system reliably and with the capacity necessary for development and population growth. The stormwater plan is not part of this adoption. That's already been adopted, but we represent it here as an ongoing program that's working concurrently in the same five to seven year period. And then we've broken out the SEPTA-SOR program just to show that effort independently. This is a slide from our previous presentation where we break out in some detail the high level of the projects that are done for the water plan in the next five to seven years, including the PFAS removal project, which is nearly $95 million of a $222 million core plan. And on the wastewater side, the $560 million in projects that are necessary to address consent order, regulatory compliance, as well as risk mitigation for other critical projects and to avoid failures. And that is.

So then just with regards to wastewater and the plant upgrades, and just in the context of an adopted master plan, while this master plan basically authorizes the direction that we're endeavoring for the next 25 years, If during further review in the months ahead, you learn of opportunities that might be an advantage from a tactical standpoint on how to replace or how to upgrade particular wastewater components or the entire plant, obviously, by adopting the master plan, we're not necessarily pigeonholing you into a specific upgrade that's listed here. But if you find a better way, a more cost-effective way, in every respect, whether water or wastewater, you have the flexibility under this master plan, ultimately you'll be coming with particular projects coming forward. But do you feel this master plan gives you enough flexibility to navigate that as time goes on and as opportunities might arise?

I do. That is correct.

Like, for example, we've talked about design-build, all those minutiae. That's secondary to the general vision, correct?

Right. Those would be part of the execution. That's not what we're approving today. What you're approving is the strategic overall CIP for the next 25 years. The things such as delivery methods, such as design build, or even the priority of projects, depending on changing regulatory landscapes or anything, any opportunities become available, that we have the complete flexibility to move projects up and back and scale up or scale down, depending on the circumstance.

The only thing I'll say with regards to the septic and sewer component, and while we all want to see that happen, being cognizant, we've talked at length about the affordability to the ratepayers on some of this and how we end up financing it. I just want to put it out there that, to me, the water and wastewater necessary upgrades are important. I deem them to be a need. And septic sewer is kind of secondary to those critical services and functions and systems at the water and wastewater plant. And I know that in the next five years, according to the graph you just showed, obviously you're prioritizing those water and wastewater upgrades that I've just mentioned through the spend that we're looking at. But again, to me, septic sewer, even though we all want it, it's a way second. And so even though we're authorizing that direction here, and just sharing with the city commission, if that has to fall by the wayside because of some limitation of affordability, then that's what I believe might happen or might need to happen. And so I just wanted to mention that up here. Do you feel like this at all limits you from that? Are we forcing you into something? No, right?

No, and in fact, that's why we show them as two separate components, because they can move at independent speeds from one another.

Right, okay. Let's go to Commissioner Biederman.

Can you point me to the area in the book that talks about the timeline of septic to sewer? Is it in this book?

No, sir. That's something sad. We didn't even include that.

You didn't put all 700 pages here, did you?

There's a lot on here. I can bring Hazen and Sawyer up, and they can speak to the degree that it addresses that.

I would just like to have it, because I just got a random text from a resident, not even knowing we're talking about it right now, asking the timeline. They're talking about replacing drain fields, and they don't want to spend $10,000 to replace a drain field and it be invalid. Well, over and above. Nothing's happening in the next five years anyway.

Well, over and above what's been done in the master plan itself, as you've seen in workshops and as you'll see I believe July 7th commission meeting when we bring forward, we'll show you the phased plan. We have the Water Works 2050 25-year program. And we regrouped the sanitary basins in five-year increments, five-phase, five-year increments. And so we mapped that all out and prioritized that. But it's not here today with me.

We spoke about it the other day. You showed me on a Zoom call it. So I assumed it was going to be in this book also.

It's not in the... Do we have a slide in your background?

Phil Cook from Hazen & Sawyer will elaborate on what's in the book. Is this the end of your presentation?

Yeah, I just made a quick presentation as we've had so many workshops on it. I didn't know if you wanted to get into this.

All good.

I'm just... So I see the gentleman here from Hazen & Sawyer. Phil, right? Phil, good to see you. Good afternoon. Phil, I think you heard our discussion about the jazz festival and how we're careful about dollars. And mind you, it's a cultural item. And so it's not as essential service as water and wastewater service. But I want you to know and Hazen to know that the cost pressures that we're going to feel with property tax reform I think need to also be felt in the end by our consultants as well. And so for future contracts, when you look into the line items of your agreements and you all are presenting and basing your agreements based on a an hourly rate in accordance with the different professional that might be working on a project for us. I think the whole consulting community needs to realize that if this passes, there's going to be a haircut that everyone needs to take and share because of the way city's funding might be cut. And so while you're here, I just want you to kind of be cognizant of that and share in our endeavor to do more with less in future years if the voters decide to pass this legislation. And even if not, I just want to always, some folks say, oh, Hazen is good, but they're also the most expensive. So I just want you to realize we're not the most affluent city. And so when you guys propose future contracts for us, please take it back to your team to be cognizant of the rate and the cost to the city of Hollywood. We're happy to have you as a long-time consultant who knows our wastewater plant as good as our own team, but please be aware that we've got a lot of expense, and you guys may be a big part of it, but we need you to be cost-sensitive as well for us, okay?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This harkens back to the time back in 2008 when we did work with the city and did exactly what you're saying when we were all feeling the pain from the economic downturn. To answer Commissioner Biederman's question, I forget the exact chapter number, but it is included in the master plan under the collection and transmission system section. I believe it's with respect to the hydraulic modeling. So we did, we have done numerous prioritizations of the septic to sewer program over the years. It has evolved since what is put in the master plan. The main point of doing that in the master plan was to be able to plan for the infrastructure over time and the addition of the additional wastewater expected to be transmitted to the plant and treated over time. So the master plan goes to the year 2045. I believe now we have evolved to the Water Works 2050 program. So there have been some evolution of that prioritization. So it's included in there, but to answer your question, you would get better, more specific, updated information from a future presentation or going back to the previous presentations that we've given recently.

Okay, no problem. Vin, can you email us the timeline of the septic to sewer project?

Absolutely.

Thank you very much.

Just to elaborate on what I was saying is the master plan did all the modeling, identified all of the projects and the various elements and we've actually gone a step beyond and that's what you're seeing in the presentation is overlaying all of these different elements and so we have a more advanced model in the PowerPoints and we'll send that to you. Thank you.

All right. Are there any speaker cards on item 37? Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. Second. Motion from Commissioner Biederman, second from Vice Mayor Kaleri to approve item 37, adopting our Water Works 2050 Water and Wastewater Master Plan. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. Motion carries 6-1. Thank you. Do you care to share, Peter? I'd like to know.

Go ahead. If you really want to know, I just can't believe that we're doubling the prices of our watery and septic users. And yet, in my view, we're actually throwing away a couple hundred thousand dollars. So that's the reason why I'm doing this in protest. And by the way, item 36 changed my vote to a no as well. At the end of the day, if we're not willing to listen to the people that we spend millions of dollars and they're sweating to try to make it into downtown, there's no way I can support some of this other stuff. With all due respect.

All right, noted. Thank you. I just wanted to know. All right, so Pat, you have that? No for Commissioner Nunes on 36 and 37. Item 38 is a resolution of the City Commission approving and authorizing the city to renew the unit price contract for construction services related to on-call and emergency water and sewer utility repairs with Southeastern engineering contractors in an amount up to $1.5 million, up to $1.5 million by the Department of Public Utilities. Pat, are there speaker cards on 38? No. Vin, any introduction for the benefit of the public?

This is simply a second extension of the contract that we use to repair emergency brakes and things like that.

All right, any discussion? If not, I'll accept the motion. Commissioner Hernandez? Motion to approve. Second. Motion for Commissioner Hernandez, second for Commissioner Hsu. And to approve item 38, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, item carries unanimously. Onto item 39, a resolution of the City Commission awarding invitation for bid for the Lakes Neighborhood Exfiltration phase one to mancon approving authorizing the city to execute a contract with mancon for construction services related to the hollywood lakes neighborhood exfiltration phase one project in an amount up to 4.5 million and change from the department of public utilities vin why don't you tell us this is uh you know obviously a drainage uh project so tell us um give us some highlights uh authorizing these kind of dollars we want to feel good about what we're achieving

Sure thing. This is a major project that's going to offer significant flood mitigation. We have a presentation, and I've brought along John Goldman from CDM Smith to walk you through the scope, scale, and effect of the project.

Good afternoon, Commission. John Goldman, CDM Smith, your stormwater program manager. This is the Hollywood Lakes exfiltration phase one. We'll go to the next slide. This is exfiltration improvements that were identified very early on in the master plan process. This is a good meeting we're having today because we're done analyzing and we're putting stuff in the ground. This is one of the early out projects. It's in an area. If you go to the next slide, I'll show you. It's a drainage system for the Hollywood Lake CIP. It adds a lot of needed water quality. and water quantity mitigation for not only its area, but the areas surrounding it. And it takes advantage of a grant match fund that was given from Florida to do the resilient environment grant. So we always said we were going to be flexible. This was very early on in the master plan. We saw the grant come out. It was a full grant match. We jumped on that. We found a project to immediately implement. It went to Stantec to put in design, and now it's been successfully bid and put in the ground. You can go to the next one. It's $3.25 million is the grant match on that one, by the way. So what you're seeing here is the topographic map that we always show from the digital elevation model out of our stormwater model. The red is high. And then the yellow is a little bit lower. It goes all the way down to the blue there. And the area is very susceptible to overland flow coming off of that ridge you see in red. And it flows through these neighborhoods. It floods those neighborhoods and then passes on and accumulates down in the areas of blue where we know we have the significant flooding. So what we do with exfiltration trenches is we put them uphill in areas that you wouldn't think you would put them in, but it captures the water before it gets down there and accumulates. You can see where we have the project area and some flooding areas circled there. And more importantly, You're getting credits here with Broward County because a lot of the things that we're doing further to the east is too low for exfiltration and water quality, and we're going to be pumping a lot out into the lakes, and we're going to be pumping a lot more. So they're always asking, well, where is your water quality? Well, this is an offset. Not only is it helping here, but this is going to be needed later.

You can go to the next slide.

You can see the flooding in blue there in the circled area. That's where we're putting in the exfiltration trenches there. And we'll go one more slide. And this is what's going in, just so you can get a picture of what's happening. The rainfall falls down, goes into those inlets. And then there's a picture on the right. It's basically a trench that's in the very porous aquifer. And the water, instead of running down the streets very fast and accumulating, goes into the ground. goes out laterally and recharges the aquifer. You have some saltwater intrusion in that area, so the fresh water goes in there. They're not easy to put in, mainly because you need sufficient driving heads. So you have to be high enough above the groundwater to have it push in. can't have any contamination in the area to move, no portable water well fields nearby, and acceptable geology. And this was an area that was meeting all those criteria from Florida's DEP. So we jumped on this one. And like I said, Stantec did the design. You approved the construction management on consent today. So this is the actual contract from ManCon, who was the lowest responsible responsive bidder on this. And just why is it called phase one? There's two more as we go south along this same ridge. In the green areas there, we're going to be putting in additional phages, which also do the same thing, trap it from going down for the central area and for the South Lake area. So it's three separate projects. As funding becomes available from the stormwater utility, we'll be putting in the next phases and moving those forward and continuing to put in stormwater infrastructure projects.

Thank you, John. So the nice thing is, and correct me if I'm wrong, but this exfiltration trench project will intercept water that would otherwise run off east and contribute to the flooding of 15th and 14th, et cetera. Correct. And so kind of the same logic that we're going to be doing in the South Basin as well to prevent that eastward runoff. Correct. Okay. All right. Well, I just applaud the team for, you know, jumping on that grant and getting substantial dollars from the state. I don't think this was ranked as a do-first hotspot. No. But I guess this was what would qualify for this grant, and that's why it was selected and it was more easy to put together. Is that why you chose this?

It was rapidly implementable because it's basically something that just needs to be done.

Simpler design?

Simpler design. It can be, it met all the DEP's criteria for the grant. Something that has to go in anyway. If someone's going to help you pay for it, we move everything around. We shuffle priorities and we make sure we put those in first.

I got you. What does the timeline look like from here on out if we were to approve it?

I think they're out here for about a year and a half to two years in this area. There's some areas where you have to move existing utilities from water and sewer underneath to get the proper amount of trenches in.

When would you anticipate a star construction? What was my question?

I think within a couple months after the approval today.

I got you. Okay. Commissioner Biederman?

So this is great. I have a question. We talked about a similar situation where 70th Way between Fillmore and Buchanan is at the bottom of a bowl, and we're going to create these exfiltration trenches around the perimeter of that, the edge of the bowl. Do we know, is that something similar can be applied for the same kind of a grant?

This grant actually had a lot of title influence and other things into it, resiliency. So it's to prevent flood water intrusion also? Yeah, and the further you go west, it's a little, but there are other grants, the CGPD House, there's other grants that we're continually looking at to help for that. All right, what's this grant, 50-50 or? So the whole thing was 4.5 and you're getting 3.25, I think is what it said, yeah. Can't argue with that. No, you can't.

Thank you. Thank you. Is that a motion to approve, Commissioner Biederman? So moved. Second. We have a second from Commissioner Hernandez. Any speaker cards on 38? I'm sorry, 39? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the item carries unanimously. Thank you, John. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Vin.

Let's go, go, go. All right. Item 40 is the last item on our agenda. It's a resolution of the City Commission, approving and authorizing the appropriate city officials to execute all required documents for the sale, transfer, or other disposition of approximately 1.41 acres of city-owned real property. with a parcel ID specified in the item located off North Surf Road adjacent to Dr. Von Meisel and Julia Johnson State Park to Broward County for preservation subject to approval by the electorate at a referendum to be held November 3rd, 2026 and providing for the effective date. City managers, inviting you to kind of for public understanding, tell us what Broward County's goals and needs are and what we're doing to help them.

Sure thing. So I do have a presentation. I think that that may actually be helpful in this case. So we'll go ahead and have staff bring that up. So the background on this is that Broward County has been working for a while on a many, many years, decades in fact, on a project to deepen and widen the port. They have many projects and a very robust master plan at the port. And as part of all of those projects, they do require mitigation. And so we've been in discussions for some period of time about this particular property. And recently, they reached out and said, you know what? We really would like to move forward. We've been in conversations with the State Department of Environmental Protection, and they would like to have us use this land for mitigation. And it could become then part of the Von Meisel Johnson State Park, which you all know is completely located within the city of Hollywood's boundaries. We'll take a quick look at where this parcel is. You see the green area that you're seeing on the map there are essentially the City of Hollywood boundaries. So you see the section. of the city that extends all the way through the state park north of the Dania Beach section of the beach and the Dania Pier. That little red square there is exactly where this parcel is. And here is the close up of it. It is a 1.41 acre parcel that's located north of the Dania Pier adjacent to the state park within the municipal boundaries of the city of Hollywood. We acquired this property from Broward County, ironically enough, back in 2004. The county had done a bond referendum in 2000 with the sole purpose of generating funds throughout the county that they could acquire lands for conservation. They acquired this parcel in 2002 and then deeded it to the city of Hollywood, since it was located in Hollywood, and with a provision that it be an easement, a conservation easement, that it be conserved. And then we also have taken on all of the maintenance responsibility for this parcel over time. This is the conservation easement that the property is under. And it spells out that the purpose of the easement is to retain the land and water of the property in their natural, vegetative, hydrologic, scenic, open, agricultural, or wooded condition, and to retain such areas as suitable habitat for fish, plants, or wildlife. This is the conservation easement that was on all of the different lands. that were acquired during this process. The ballot question that we are proposing is to have this referendum approve the sale or transfer of this beachfront property located off of North Searth Road adjacent to the state park from the city of Hollywood to Broward County. The property is subject to a conservation easement, and it is intended to become part of the state park. And should the city transfer the property to Broward County, under the terms set forth above. We are recommending that you approve this resolution authorizing the sale or transfer of the property subject to the approval of the voters.

So, Raelynn, you'll remember that I proposed and we, City Commission supported, and we've put a little bit of work into conceptualizing a walking path that can connect people to, and if you go back to the aerial image, people will see that there's basically a trail already that begins at the state park just north of this parcel. Sorry. Go back down. Yeah, so you can see where there's a basically like a like a let's just call it. It looks like a dirt road But you see that basically it ends at the beach just north of this parcel the concept is is that if through the through the vegetation There would be basically a sandy you know a sandy visible identifiable trail so to speak then you'd have the opportunity even to bicycle or walk from hollywood beach proper through dania beach and continue walking because that foot trail that exists there that you can see actually goes through the park all the way to the inlet so um I just want to make sure that I know we've spoken to the county about that if we were to transfer this we would want at minimum whether I think they would participate in facilitating wouldn't even be that we would need an easement but what can you tell me about their commitments to and how we plan on facilitating this transfer subject to the potential opportunity to have a connecting trail to, and mind you, there's a private property to the south that we would still need to sort of overcome that hurdle. Go ahead.

Right. So the county has requested all of the documentation from that appropriation that we were requesting for that. They've already been speaking with FDEP about that. There is a recreational trails program that FDEP and the State Parks Division manages. And they are supportive of that. And I think it would actually help to move that project forward to have- And we would need their buy-in anyway to connect.

So we're all in this game together kind of thing.

Exactly. So everyone believes that that could be a very beneficial and attractive feature that would not negatively impact either State Park or this particular parcel. As you see on the map, there is a parcel south of the parcel that we own that is still privately held and has been not something that has been able to be overcome.

All right. Let's go to questions, comments by the city commission on this item. Let's go to Commissioner Hernandez.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm never in support of giving up beachfront property, but I get what the needs are from the city and I get what the needs are from the county. And my question is, and I believe what you were looking for, Mayor, is a nature trail type setting.

Yeah, just an identified path. A recreational trail is really what we're talking about, connecting to the trail to the north. My endeavor is to connect the trail to the Dania Pier area, and then people can identifiably walk all the way to the inlet and back, which is a huge recreational opportunity. Right now, they have no idea that the trail begins north of our parcel.

No, and I'm supportive of something like that. So the question would be is the purpose for the county is in order for them to have mitigations against a project that they're currently doing. Is that correct? Yep. But are we giving up our opportunity to be able to use that property as mitigation for any project that we may have that we don't currently have? And 1.4 acres is quite a bit of land for mitigation purposes. That's a concern that I have. I just need to put it out there that we may be trading off the parcel when, in fact, we may very well need it. That's number one. So once it goes, it doesn't come back. And then the other question is, can we put a deed restriction on the parcel that if in fact is not needed for them for that particular project, for it to come back to us? And if that's OK with you guys, I'd like to do something like that. Because I like to support it, because I think that what we're trying to do is important. But at the same time, we don't want to hurt ourselves in the process. And when you give up 1.4 acres of land that you can use for mitigation, that's a lot of land.

So it's the city attorney. I mean, it's like a reversion kind of clause, but go ahead.

Yes, we could include a reverter clause to include that in the transfer if that's what the commission seeks.

Okay. We're talking among ourselves, so I'd like to open it up for you guys, not just for that, but the fact that we may wind up needing, especially with all the stormwater work that we're doing, that we may need to go into some sensitive areas where we may need to mitigate. It's just, as we said earlier, food for thought. And I'll revert to the city manager when it comes to that.

So I want to be clear. We can do a reversionary clause. If, for some reason, Broward County does not transfer the parcel to the state park, then it would revert back to the city of Hollywood.

Actually, no. If it goes with a deed, it would be a deed restriction that we stay with the land all along.

There will be a deed restriction, a conservation easement or deed restrictive covenant on the property restricting it to some type of open space recreational use property. This will be worked out. It will have to be in line with the acquisition funding and the mitigation requirements at the state. So that will... that will be there. That is different than a reverter clause.

Well, if the county is looking for the land to give it to the state park, is that what you're saying?

That is what I'm saying.

Then how is that... goes along with what you started saying, that they need it for mitigation purposes. Because if they're giving it to the state, it doesn't serve a mitigation purpose for the county. Or does it? It does.

It does. So this is an FDEP requirement. What they have indicated is that they would be getting those mitigation credits by making it part of the state park.

And how mitigation credit for what project, the benefits of City Hall?

This is the deepening and widening project at Port Everglades.

Okay. And that's the one that's actually currently?

That is the one that they're working on currently. And they do need to have a complete mitigation plan. to get that project approved.

OK, then let's see if we can do the reverter clause in case that the Army Corps of Engineers decides to stop the project, which right now is being challenged. And if that happens and they don't use it for that purpose, I want it to come back to us. Look, I'm being protective here. And that only because once we give it away, if we don't have a way of getting it back, if it's not used for the intended purpose, it goes away and we don't get it back. And so if we could do something like that, because with a single idea that it's for this purpose and this purpose only, and if it doesn't fall under that purpose, it needs to come back for us. I'm willing to go along with that if we can make that work.

Okay, thank you. You put it for discussion, fair point. I think we get the concept. Let's go down the queue. I've got Commissioner Shuham, then Biederman. Commissioner Shuham.

I don't have any problem with that concept that if the property is not needed by the county for its mitigation for the deepening and widening, then it reverts back to us. Is that what you're saying?

Go ahead, Peter. Exactly. If for whatever reason the Army Corps of Engineers changes their mind and that does not go through with what they're supposed to be doing, or they don't need it for this particular project, then it reverts back to us. And that's only being safe. It serves their purpose if the project goes through, and if the project does not go through, it reverts back to us because that was the intended purpose of this. I'm just trying to be cognizant.

I'm good with that. Yeah, I think the deepening and widening project is beneficial to the city of Hollywood. And we don't want to get in the way. But if it doesn't happen, I think it's a great point. My question was on slide five, the wording of the ballot language. Yeah. So just as someone who lives in North Beach, it's a little confusing for people who don't understand that Hollywood owns property north of Dania. So do we have enough words left, Damaris, to say, well, I mean, it does say adjacent to Don Mazzola Johnson State Park. But if it could say north of Dania,

Located north of the Dania Pier?

Yeah, something like that.

Instead of North Surf Road?

I mean, North Surf Road is a little... Yeah, instead of North Surf Road, located north of the city of Dania, or something like that, so people realize this is currently not adjacent to Hollywood proper.

Well, the answer is I believe that this particular ballot question has... 60 in the high 60s words, which gives us six words to play with. So it would mean redrafting to make sure that it fell within the 75.

The words North Surf Road really don't mean anything because there is no North Surf Road there. So you could kind of take that out and instead, to the mayor's point, just say north of the Dania Beach Pier or something like that. I think that would be more.

It helps to identify the location in someone's mind in a more clear fashion.

It's not North Surf Road. So that would be my only request. And with that and with, do we have a motion already?

No.

Excuse me. Just for further clarification. No, we don't.

To answer your question, no, we don't yet have a motion on the floor.

Okay. So I would make a motion to accept Commissioner Hernandez's suggestion and add language, take out the North Surf Road and in lieu thereof, so people don't confuse it with North Surf Road, in lieu thereof, say north of Dania Beach or of Dania Beach Pier. That's my motion.

All right, we have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Second. Let's go ahead for discussion on the motion. Commissioner Biederman.

So I have several questions, one of which is, how much did the county pay for this when they bought it? Do we know?

Approximately $220,000.

OK. And are they in negotiation to try and buy that land south of this property? I mean, to have a continual piece? Or is that just going to remain in private hands paying taxes to, I hope, us and the county in perpetuity?

I know that they have made efforts. We have also made efforts to reach out to that property owner not to necessarily purchase the property. But for an access easement, at the moment, it does not appear that that property owner is wanting to sell. And so I don't know that the county is having much luck, but I am sure that they would like to obtain that property.

OK. Two final questions. They're using, they want this so that they could trade it dirt for dirt, basically, so that they could turn some of their land into deepening and widening.

So the reason, the exact reason is because part of the widening of the channel requires them to remove and cut the land area that is where the Coast Guard station is because it butts out into the channel. They need to widen it for the ships to go through. So they have to replace like for like property.

That's what I thought. okay i just want to clarify and really just to clarify we're only voting on putting this on the ballot we're not voting to transfer this to the county that has to come back for another vote and approval of the language of the deed transfer right that's a separate and apart

I mean, we could style the resolution in that manner where this basically provides the authorization for the sale, and we would have the opportunity at the city commission at the future meeting to approve the agreement. This is just permission to sell it. That's what I thought. If that's the way we want it, then that's the way it could be. Is that okay?

Absolutely. It's fine. The way that it was worded was that you were authorizing us to, based on the direction received today with a restrictive covenant, a reverter clause, to move forward with executing it. But if you would prefer that it come back so that you can see the reverter clause and see all of those details, then that's absolutely fine.

I don't know how everybody else feels. I think that's fine. just separate issues.

I like the idea of getting the authorization from the voters to sell it, and then having been authorized, come to us with an agreement to actually sell it to the county. And that gives us time to work with the county and iron out their agreement on the reversion, work out language, negotiate somewhat. The question is, does that change the wording on the ballot?

Okay.

I think it should start, instead of saying approve the sale or transfer, is that the city proposes to sell or transfer, do you agree and do you authorize? In a previous, and if you look at the charter language, it says if the city proposes to sell property, so you would start this and say the city proposes to sell or transfer beachfront property, et cetera, et cetera. The property subject to conservation isn't. And then the question would be, You know, do you accept the city's proposal to transfer the property under the terms set forth above?

It would really just be providing the authorization for. It would be similar to the general obligation bond referendum language where we were authorized to issue the bonds, but we didn't necessarily have an obligation to.

So put the word authorized instead of the word approve. That's all. Yes. Yeah. All right. So Commissioner Biedermann, Commissioner Hsu, accepts that change. So let's go ahead now to, we do have one speaker card. So before we go round two, let's hear from Ann Ralston,

Thank you. The confusing part to me on this question, because you're talking about the sale or transfer, you're talking about selling it to the property. But the question that's going to ask for me to put yes or no says, should we transfer? It doesn't say sale or transfer. It only says transfer. So that throws out that top concept to me. No, but that's not what the question itself. At the bottom, it only says transfer. So it's telling me up top, but at the bottom it doesn't. say the same thing. It just says transfer. So it can be very confusing to somebody that may not be sitting here or understand. So if you're selling it, that should be very clear to the voter, because it doesn't have a cost, or what are you selling it for? Appraisals need to be done. All of that stuff that the voter is not going to know to approve or disapprove. And the other thing that I haven't heard is what happens if the voters say no? Then what happens? Yeah, so I mean, I don't know. That might be a county question, but that was my main concern on that ballot question. Thank you.

Thank you. So Damaris, why do we have to say sale or transfer? I think if their intention is to purchase it and own it, then why is or transfer there in the first place? Does it need to be?

We can form it however it's most clear. The reason why it was like this is just because we thought that it was clear. But if it is more clear to the voters to put sale or transfer, then that's possible.

It's probably helpful to go ahead. The charter provision that requires this references a sale, transfer, or other disposition of the property. And so our goal is to have the voters authorize a sale, transfer, or other disposition of the property. At this moment in time, we do not have the terms of this disposition of the property clearly delineated with the county. Clearly, they purchased the property and gave it to the city of Hollywood at no cost. They are not necessarily looking to spend a tremendous amount of money acquiring it. The appraisal that we did have done on it because of the conservation easement, the lack of access, does value the property at approximately $10,000. All right.

Well, I think the language could be, you know, tweaked somewhat. And so what is the deadline for this item to go to the SOE?

It has to be submitted to the SOE by June 8th, and it needs to be translated before that happens into both Creole and Spanish.

June 8th. Okay. So I would suggest this. I would suggest that we... move on to citizen comments or comments by the city commission, city attorney, city manager. Just give me a second, Peter. I'll say what I'm suggesting, and then we can talk about that. The idea is I think this language needs to be tweaked, and maybe city attorney's office, while we continue with other items on this agenda, bring back cleaned up language so we can properly authorize this if we decide to say yes, later in the meeting. Because I do think that we need to, for proper form, have the actual language and approve the language today at this meeting if we're going to make the deadline. So I think we should do that rather than not have clear language that we're authorizing today. So that's what I had to say. Let's go, Commissioner Hernandez. Go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. Actually, I like the language the way that it is. And just to answer your question, Annie, we're not planning on selling it to the county. We're just planning on transferring to the county. And that's the reason why it doesn't have the word sale. That's the intent. The intent is to give it back to them so they can use it as a conservation easement, which is the mitigation that they're using for the project that it's taken on. So all those things are already done. I like the language the way it is. Come on up. I address you, so please come on up.

Thank you.

But as you're having your discussions, it keeps saying the sale, to sell it. So that's my confusion. If you're only going to transfer it, then it should clearly state this is transferred, not for money. I understand. Okay. That's why I got the sale part.

Okay. Well, I'm trying to explain it to you. It doesn't make a difference. It has to say those things because that's what our ordinance says. But our intent is just to transfer it to them. So we're covering the legal aspect of it by putting everything on top, whether it's a sell or a transfer. And then we're just letting the voters know that we're just going to transfer it to them.

I get that. I understand that. But I'm listening to people up here say, selling the property. We're not selling the property. So that's all I'm saying. If it's just a straight transfer, then it's not a problem to go back to the county.

And that's what it is. We're not looking.

We're not getting any money for, well, we could be getting a dollar's consideration. I mean, it's going to be, if they need to own fee simple, I mean, there needs to be consideration from what I remember. But go ahead. Well, but it could take other forms. But go ahead, Damaris.

Right. If we leave open the possibility of sale that leaves open and put that in the ballot measure, that leaves open the most possibility for how we decide to dispose of the property when it comes back to you all.

OK, if that's the case, I got a half a dozen people that will give you a heck of a lot more than $10,000. So my point is, the intent, from what I understand from speaking with city staff, with the city manager, was for this property to be able to use as mitigation for some of the projects that are benefiting us. And we're not trying to be Indian givers. And they're not trying to be Indian givers. They're just saying, you benefited from the project. We gave you the land. We'd like to be able to use the land at that. And that's my understanding of it. And I'm OK with this. And I like the mayor's idea of having the language come over here. But I do not want to convolute the language. There is 74 words. I counted them one by one, not high 60s. There's 74 words on what's presented in front of me right now without anything else. So you don't have but one word to put in there.

this would have to be reworked. There's no way to simply add a word.

But my point is, I don't have an issue with the way it is. But I do like the idea of bringing it back to make sure that we have the reverter clause in there, because that's not part of this. but that will be part of the agreement that we would get with the county. But that's for another day, and that is if the voters pass it. So I'm okay with the way it is so that we don't go back and forth because the last time, no disrespect to our city attorney, last time I gave the group, the charter review gave the city attorney the authority to draft the language. It didn't go well. So I like the language that it's here because I know it was a new – I like the languages here. It's concise. And if people get confused, they can always ask us. But at the end of the day, if you look at the top, it says one thing. And then on the bottom, it said, should the city transfer this property to Broward County under the terms set forth above? And the terms above says, this referendum will approve the sale or transfer of beachfront property located off North Surf Road adjacent to Dr. Von Mitzel Eula Johnson State Park with ID number. And it says the ID number. And anybody who looks at the ID number has an iPhone. They can see where it goes from the city of Hollywood to Broward County. The property is subject to a conservation easement and is intended to become part of the state park. So it's very clear. It's concise. It goes to the point. And it lets us. If the people say, okay, give it to the county, it lets us work out the terms with the county. It gives us the freedom. If we need to have some compensation for or swap it for something, it gives us the ability to do that. And it also gives us the ability to transfer to them without anything. And we still open as to the revert or claw. If they don't like the revert or claw, we don't have to do it. So I don't know if the revert or claw has to be part of here, but I just want to make clear that what I'm supportive is to make sure, and that's what the maker of the motion said, it's part of the reverter clause. How can we do that if people say, let's say people say yes, and the county doesn't accept the reverter clause? What happens then?

Well, I do believe that the ballot language is clear that this is intended to become part of the state park. The intention of the city is clear in putting this ballot language forth. The reverter clause, to me, follows from the idea that it's intended to become part of the state.

That's not what the intent is. The intent is for this to be used for mitigation for projects that benefit the city of Hollywood. Then you know what? I'm going along with what the mayor says. I want to see the language before I approve this.

Absolutely.

I would love clarification. Because otherwise, you just turned it back around and said that this was for the state park, which means we don't have the proper authority to get it reverted if it doesn't go. If they kill the project, then it still has to go to the state park. I don't want that. So I wanted to make sure that it's clear.

Very happy to bring back the language. I would like clarification on what exactly you guys would see so that when...

So if I could, the changes would be that instead of the referendum approving the sale or transfer, it would be the city proposes to authorize the sale. So authorization instead of approval, meaning we get permission by voters, and then we consummate an agreement by the county to be determined. once we get authorization. And we can work on the agreement terms in the meantime to save time for everyone. I like the idea of instead of located off Surf Road to reference north of Dania Pier, I think that helps geographically picture where the property is better than North Surf Road. That's my opinion, everybody. And that's really the rest of it. And then sale or transfer and how the question should be in terms of sale, transfer, or otherwise dispose of. I'll leave for your discretion to decide. Maybe you want to look at that provision in the charter and mimic the words that it uses, because I think it says if the city proposes to sell, you know, transfer or otherwise dispose of property, I would kind of copy the whole propose the city proposes to and then go from there is how I would do it. I don't think I left anything out. The reverter clause is just something that we'll have in the agreement, and that's at the discretion of the city when it wants to propose a sale agreement and accept one for the county. So I would leave this as broad as possible. In the end, just have authorization of the voters to dispose of it. And that's it. I mean, I think the conservation easement language expresses the intent of preserving the property as a natural space. So I think that would give reassurance to voters to somehow say that. And that's my feeling. Anybody else? No.

If that's the case, then the state park part of it may not need to be. I agree completely. OK. So that would be something that would make sure that.

So simply leaving the property is subject to a conservation easement period?

to a conservation easement that would benefit us. And I don't know how you would word that, but I think that's the intent.

For the property to remain in its natural state type thing.

Just bring a couple of versions so that we can go over that. All right. And at this point, I would make a motion to table the... Second. All right.

We have a motion from Commissioner Nye and a second from Commissioner Schumann to table the item to come back later in the meeting with more finite language. And if any language in the resolution needs to be changed because of this ballot language change, if any, then go ahead and fix that too when it comes back. I imagine your staff and your land use person is listening. All right. So all of the discussion on the motion to table. Vice Mayor, go ahead.

So I just have two questions. One, why wouldn't we be, instead of with the county, why wouldn't we work with Army Corps Engineer since they're the requestee? Why does it have to be through the county if it's a state park? Just out of curiosity.

Well, the county wants this so that it could use it for mitigation. The transfer to the state park is a later thing by the county. That's between the county and the state park. But right now, for the deepening and widening project, the county needs to have title so that it could say, here is my property that I'm allowing to be counted as like-kind mitigation for the land that we're losing because of the widening. So the county has to own it to be able to use it for mitigation. So this is transferring it or selling it to the county so they can own it and then use it as mitigation. Whether or not they then have intentions to transfer it to the state park, if that's what they told you, Ray Lynn, and that's...

So I'm not comfortable with the whole thing. Just not comfortable with it, period. And the reason why we're doing the proposed ballot is because of our self-inflicted pain that we did as far as selling land and property?

Or is it the charter because of the beach? No, this is the charter already and 13.01 of the charter. That language already exists. This is not subject to the ordinance.

So I like Commissioner Hernández's suggestion. The problem is, is that It's a what if. They don't know if they're going to need it. And so I don't understand why we have to do it.

99.9, they need it. They need it. They totally need it. And it's for the port.

If they need it, then why do we have to have the revert clause then? If they are definitely going to need it.

In case something happens and somehow they don't. I don't think the chance of that revert clause happening is likely, but it is a protection, as Commissioner Renata said. Just in case.

Well, hold on. You can, but let me finish. So the referendum would approve the sale or transfer of beachfront property adjacent. That takes off one, two, three, four, five words. To the Don State Park. So adjacent has to be touching, if I'm not mistaken. So it's not going to affect North Beach as concerns that were brought up. It has to be touching. So it is very clear, especially with that parcel number there. So that gives you one, two, three, four property adjacent. So one, two, three, four, five words have just been removed off of there. Make it simple and easy, and then it goes to the voters, and they'll make the decision. If that helps any, it just takes off those words. It's very matter of fact, and we move forward on it. Now, I don't know where Commissioner Hernandez went, but he can explain.

But no, so we have a motion to table on the floor. And this will come back for additional language and revised language. All those in favor to table this item to later in the meeting, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, 6-0. All right. Yeah, go ahead.

I think Commissioner Hernandez had a good idea, but it doesn't really belong here. That's for when it comes back to us. We're just authorizing it so that the voter piece of it is done, and then all the details will come back to us. Got it. Okay. Thank you.

Yep. All right. Thank you. Let's go ahead to, it's not 5 p.m. yet. Let's go ahead to comments by the city commission, city attorney, city manager, unless you guys want to recess and come back. No? Let's go. OK. All right. Let's come back to Commissioner Hernandez when he comes back in. Vice Mayor Kaleri for any comments today. Go ahead.

Yes, I do. Probably not popular again, but here we go. So please indulge me for a minute. Don't say, oh, God. Anyways, difficult decisions, even when unpopular, are made up on this dais. For example, the 1301 Project. It's an example and is our future of Hollywood. Yes, the so-called corrupt elected officials that sit up here that make the decisions have no clue of what yesterday's decision or the future holds. And I'm reading from my paper again, so... go ahead and put it all over social media, for municipalities. But we, the majority of us, had the wherewithal to make sure that our city prospers. Not to mention, this includes preserving green space, addressing parking, and creating an amazing community to be determined center on the beach. But most importantly, it generates revenue to address imposing threats and addressing major obligations and needs if the property tax

motion or ballot question passes.

I would like to address the poor door statement, which is being fueled and used as a political distraction and created further division amongst not only us, but amongst our community, which has created anger and unnecessary distrust. When at the end of the day, we, the commission, have the final say of what goes on that property, meaning 1301. We are listening to our residents. We are listening to our business owners and our visitors. And we always have, or at least I always have. Back to the politicians lining their pockets. And frankly, I think that this is just insulting and downright wrong. I am willing today to make a motion that if the property tax law passes, we, the elected officials of Hollywood, should take back any measures in reducing our salary increases for the past two years.

It's the haircut you were talking about, Mayor.

Our salary increases that were done within the last two and a half years. This is the haircut. We expect it from our consultants, we expect it from our residents, and we should expect it from ourselves. Granted, our job isn't easy and we work like son of a guns, but we are all in it together. We don't do it for the money. Prior to the last two and a half years, the salary that I obtained from this dais was an increase of 2%, a very minimal amount. I did it because I wanted to be a commissioner to make this city better. And I think that that's why each and every one of us are up here. We have realized that it is a commitment. It is time-consuming. I've missed the growth and events of my children. And at the time, the first time around, I voted against it, not because I was being reelected. I wasn't. I just didn't think that it was right because of a statement made that regular people can't do this job. I'm a nurse. I work the night shift, and I come and work the day shift. I did it because I wanted to do it. But at some point in time, after you get ridiculed, beaten, and you're spending every waking minute missing certain events, You think, hey, we should be compensated, especially for what we deal with. And that's why I voted for it the second time around. It's been our focus on protecting long-term financial stability for the city's services, adopting infrastructure needs, and ensuring that Hollywood remains a place of comfort, keeps everyone safe, and that we can meet the demands and needs. And when I say demands, I mean demands of our residents. Affordable housing is the future. We have to find a way to accommodate seniors, young adults, and everyone that moves into the city because we are an amazing city. I support exploring reasonable revenue generating opportunities such as 1301. And we have other projects on the horizon that have yet to hit ground that will bring in funding if the property tax passes. And if it doesn't pass, that makes us that much stronger and that much better of a city to be able to meet the rising cost of septic to sewer, stormwater drainage, and so forth. The haircut mayor, I think, was a perfect example of what is expected from every single person in this city. And the only way to unite us is to make sure that we do the same. In addition, Commissioner Hernandez, I respect you for your commitment to the downtown. I would like to make an additional motion to allow additional funding, because every year, even though you're the commissioner of downtown, we have friends throughout the entire city. And I hear the same concerns. The city nickels and dimes us. The city doesn't want to help us put off amazing events that bring 17,000 participants to our downtown. If we don't initiate some type of funding source for the downtown, it will die again. So I am making a motion, one, for us to consider if the property tax bill passes, we as a commission go back to where we were prior to the both salary increases. Can I speak on that? Hold on. You can. This is just my comment. I'm making a motion for it. And number two. I'M MAKING TWO MOTIONS. ONE IS FOR THAT AND THE SECOND ONE IS FOR FUNDING TO THE DOWNTOWN COMMISSIONER HANDERS. I LOVE YOU TO DEATH BUT YOU CANNOT CONTINUALLY INTERRUPT. IT'S JUST NOT RIGHT. I DON'T INTERRUPT WHEN YOU'RE SPEAKING.

YOU CAN'T DO IT TO ME. ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Anyways, I am suggesting the second motion is to provide funding for the downtown, for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Hollyweird, the Mardi Gras, and whatever else brings in an exuberant amount of participants so that our downtown can grow. Those are my motions, and I would like for support. You either go big or go home. Throw it back in my face, that's fine, but let's bring everybody back together again.

AND IT FAILS. BY THE WAY, I'M NOT SECONDING MOTIONS BECAUSE I WOULD RATHER THAT THIS COME BACK SO THAT YOU ONLY NEED FOUR VOTES. SO IF YOU'RE ASKING FOR SUPPORT FOR IT TO COME BACK AS A RESOLUTION, I SUPPORT THAT. IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE ASKING FOR OR ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE A MOTION SO YOU CAN GET FIVE-SEVENTH VOTE HERE? AND THAT'S WHAT I WAS TRYING TO ASK YOU BEFORE.

SO WHAT I'M TRYING TO DO IS, ONE,

You have support to bring it back.

What is the most disgusting part of being up here is the fighting, the political nonsense. whether it's a resolution, whether it's a 5-7 vote, and we're being slimy and going behind the residents' voices, and as Claire Garrett so eloquently said, that we're being slick ricks, that we're lining our pockets. We're not doing any of it. But we're all in this together, and it's scary times. So if it's a resolution and you want to do it by a 4-3 or a majority, I don't care. But what I want is... The nonsense to stop. And I don't want people coming in here because I will tell you the first time, Commissioner Hernandez, that the suggestion was made for our salaries to be increased and that the mayor and I were the only two who voted against it was because you couldn't get qualified individuals to come up here and work.

We're all qualified, and we gave ourselves a raise, and now we're coming against every time. So however you guys want to do it, I think it is.

My question was, I believe you have support. If you were one person, and I believe Kevin Biederman, Commissioner Biederman said he would support something like this, I would support that. Then that's three. Then it would come back, and then we would revisit and talk that, and then we can pass that if that's what it takes. I don't have a problem with that. By the way, I do think that the city of Hollywood, and I'm okay with that. So is that what you're looking for, support? Sure. Sure. Okay, I will support that. Is there anybody else? Okay, so that will be come back, and then we can address it as a resolution. One more was, are you looking for support to increase the funding for the downtown businesses and their events? You have three. You have, believe what you need. Yeah, you got three. Hers, yours, and mine. That's three. I don't believe you need a majority. It's a total of three, if I remember correctly. So she has it. And then it come back. And then at that point, then we can discuss it. And then people can vote. They're conscious. And I'm OK with that. Because if we're looking to do something, we have to lead by example. And I'm OK with that. I don't have an issue when it comes to that. The other motion that you made is that you're making that in a way of support to get more funding for the downtown, for the businesses that bring extraordinary amount of people. Are you looking for support for that?

Funding for them.

Yes, but are you looking for support?

They're constantly nickel and diming it so we can make our downtown prosper.

Are you looking for support to bring back as a resolution?

Basically a set budget for those events so that there's not...

So that we don't have to nickel and dim. Because she's correct. Every time we've got to come up, they've got to fight. And then we've got to figure out how much we've got to pay the police, how much we've got to pay the fires. And then you always get a bill at the last minute. It's just the stress of them putting the event together is enough. without them having to go to the extra thing.

I certainly support that. Let me just clarify. I don't know how it works right now with the way in which those, I guess you could say, nonprofit-organized produced events have to ask and receive dollars. Is it just within the city manager's authorization and they ask? And is it an argument? Are they chasing us? Or is this... How does it work right now?

We give Parks and Recs a budget, and they get money out of that budget, and that's how they fund it. But if we give a directive to put X amount of money for those particular events, Parks and Recs can always manage that, but then we set the budget.

I'm good with it being a formal process that we, through a resolution, authorize and clarify. All right. I'm being asked to move the queue along. That's not a bad idea. Thank you. Yeah, well, I have Quintana, and then I have Biederman. Go ahead, Commissioner Quintana.

Thank you. One of the things that keeps ringing in my mind over and over again is it's not just about what we do, but it's about how we do it. And so I can certainly support the idea that we revisit our salaries. I'm concerned about all of our small businesses in Hollywood, not just those that are in the downtown. We have struggling small businesses throughout. So I would just, if we're going to look at how to support small business in Hollywood, then I want to do that, not just for the downtown.

I think this specifically, though, was about these special events that are organized by the nonprofits, that they don't really have a set dollar figure that is authorized. And I guess it becomes a negotiation every year. you know, with escalating costs. And I think what Commissioner Kaleri and Commissioner Hernandez wanted was a set authorization for those identified events so that it's not a chasing game, you know.

Would that apply then to the Johnson Street Business District and the Party on the Jay and any future events that they might want to do?

Yeah, I would say the same.

OK.

I mean, if that's privately produced, I would say yes. I mean, we'll basically be allocating a budget for all of these things set in stone so that it's not an issue of argument. Yeah, I think it makes sense. Let's go to Commissioner Bierman.

So the issue is, while I support The items that you brought up, we can't commit future commissions based on a resolution. But I think that what you're talking about, and I believe we all support, WHAT THE VICE MAYOR SAID. IT'S JUST A BUDGET ITEM. SO I THINK THAT IT WOULD BE HELPFUL IF WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE BUDGET NEXT THURSDAY, THAT THERE IS A LINE ITEM OF PARKS AND REC BUDGET ON WHICH EVENTS THAT WE'RE SUPPORTING SO THAT WHEN WE APPROVE THE BUDGET, We know this event is getting this, and the Hollyweird is getting this, and St. Patrick's Day is getting this, and Johnson Street Party on Jay is getting this, and the Hollywood West Concert Series is getting this, so that it's clear that we could approve all these items in one... Salsa Fest. The Swoop thing? Yeah, Salsa Fest. So that we see it clear in the budget, and we know what we're approving, and the public knows that we're approving it.

And the promoters don't have to feel like they have to come to us because it's

That's exactly what I was going to suggest, is that next Thursday is a great opportunity to have that conversation, and we can certainly show you where we are with that, and then we can discuss that as part of the presentation.

And just to follow up, if Parks and Rec can make sure it's clear, and fire can make sure it's clear, that there's no surprises five days before an event, that we need X number of firefighters at this event, and it's going to cost you an extra $2,500, or whatever the number was for Salsa Fest. or any other festival. And that's why I asked, when we were talking about Jazz Fest, is this inclusive of police and fire? Because then I don't want them to come back and say, hey, listen, we're a week out, and yeah, you approved $150,000, but we need another $5,000 for a police officer, whatever the thing may be. So we have it on record that they know what it's going to be, and that's inclusive.

And I also want the staff, as we're thinking about the cost of even our own produced events, we do have police officers on duty during the downtown during these times. And so I don't know that every public safety enhancement for the event needs to be a cost borne on by the promoter as opposed to It's just our people working as we assign. On that given day, that's the need of the city, if it's a city-produced or a city-funded event. So I don't know why it needs to be this outside situation. So that's for you, city manager and team, to kind of contemplate if the way we've been doing it is the right way, because oftentimes it's a panic situation by the promoter saying, oh, no, I've been asked for another $10,000 for public safety two weeks ahead, and it kills their budget. And then we ask and appeal to the public safety departments to try to help. There's got to be a better way for that not to have happened. So that's the general problem. And you guys can decide what the medicine is for the illness.

Pride had the same problem.

And Pride, he's saying, had the same. So there's got to be a better way. All right. Well, that concludes that. Let's go ahead. Commissioner Hernandez, go ahead for your comments. Thank you, Mayor.

I'm looking forward to see what comes back from the language that we talked about from the park, because I had to step away. But look, just similar to what I spoke this morning regarding the CRA and the lighting in the downtown at the same thing that's happening west of Sheridan Street on 26th Avenue at the entrance of Oakwood Plaza. I've spoken with the public works director. He tells me that that is not our lights. There's somebody else. And we've done everything in our power to light that street. We need to send a demand letter at some point or find them. culpable to some degree for keeping that street dark. We need to be able to work with our partners. But we need to be able to do it in a way that they just said they can't pass the buck anymore. We've done everything that we can. We need to be able to light our street. I'm hoping that in the budget, even though we may be restricted to some degree, that we come up with a budget for trimming the trees, particularly around the lights, not necessarily The new FPNL lights that they put out there, the LEDs, do not light the area as well as the Older lights that we used to have, they don't go as far. They're very good at the smaller area that they light, but they don't go out any farther than that. So we need to be able to trim the trees to make sure they have it. I've spoken with Public Works. They have a plan to be able to bring another tree trimming crew that we're talking about too. I ask them that may be too ambitious. We may only try one first and then a second one after that so that we have three crews. do things in an implementing way. We were successful in bringing in the concrete work for the sidewalks for the residents not to have to pay. At the same time, whenever we see, and we can see that through code, that the individual that owns a house or that's renting the house is actually breaking the sidewalks because they're bringing in trucks or something. And I've been in the trucking business. And we always had, we're not responsible for damage beyond the curb line. But the owner of the property is the one who's getting the convenience. And the owner of the property is the one should not be relying on us coming in and fixing their mess, because they chose to do that. So we need to be working with code at the same time when this is happening. Having said that, I'm also looking at a great deal of areas in the swell that are concave from the grapple truck picking up the material. And because of that, the sidewalks are breaking. We need to talk to our partners with WastePro and says, look, whenever we see something like this, highlight it to us in order for us to address it, and then for us to mark that we fixed that area so if it happens again, then we can tell them this is happening. Quality control. We need to be able to tighten our belt because if it passes, we're going to have an issue when it comes to budget. And if it doesn't pass, it's a clear message to the municipalities and to the county that we need to work lean and mean. And then I think that's a message. And that's the reason why I was supportive of Vice Mayor Kaleri's issue coming back as a resolution. Because if we expect that from our employees, we need to lead and let them know that we're willing to do that ourselves. I'm not looking to cut anybody's salaries or lose any jobs. But we were doing some quick number at the meeting that we had with the city manager and the administration. And if we need to cut $40 million out of our budget on the next two years, it equates to 400 jobs. I don't think that's accurate. Adam, I know we're all looking to suggest that the impact of property tax reform, if it is passed, the extra homes... Mayor, with all due respect, I didn't interrupt anybody, and you say it's not accurate, but if you figure $100,000 for employed, including benefits and pension and everything else, it takes 400 of them to come up with $40 million. It's easy math. I'm not looking to be exact. I'm just sending a message. And the message is we need to be very cognizant of every dollar we spend because other people are putting a magnifying glass on us to see how we're doing it. And that's my point. My point is I'm willing to do our part. I think the rest of us are willing to do theirs. It's not done, number one, but there are other counties north of us that they benefit from something like this because the only thing that they provide is garbage. And I don't mean that they provide garbage. Garbage pickup. No, because they do. The only thing that they provide is garbage pickup. And they have it dumped in order to do it. So they don't have the expenses that the local municipalities have. So my point is, and then we're also looking to increase the water rates and the sewer rates because we have infrastructure needs. We need to be able to be prudent with our money. That's the only message I have. Thank you.

Yeah, that's a fair message, Prudence, with the dollars. The impact of the year two property tax reform is roughly $28 million. And that's what I wanted to clarify. And yes, that would take the city manager looking at the budget and deciding how to trim things if need be. And it does roll us back about... It does roll us back about three years. So I just want to keep things in perspective. There's no reason to kind of like knee-jerk react on what happens if this passes. The city is still in a much better place than it was in a handful of years ago. Yes, this would be you know, detrimental to the city, but it's not a calamity. So I don't want that to be in the ether. I don't want our employees to think there are, you know, looming significant pay cuts. That's not the message at all here. So I don't want to mention that. So Commissioner Clary.

Listen, let me just clarify. And in the beginning of the message, it was we have to make the hard decisions to the residents who come up here and damn us to death. And those are decisions like 1301. My discussion was the beginning of we opened up an opportunity that's going to prosper the city. And we have several other opportunities that we need to look at. But we're putting questions on the ballot that we supported. No doom and gloom. The city's strong. We want to keep it that way. And the only way to do that is A, to lead. And two, leading is tough decisions. We had no idea that this was coming down the path. But thank God we had the wherewithal, majority of us, to vote in favor of 1301. And now we're in a battle with some residents saying that you can't do that. And guess what? Now we have other opportunities that are coming down the pipeline that will generate funding. And if I mentioned it the last time when I spoke, about the 1301 and putting affordable housing, because we have to get it on the books. And it had nothing to do with the property taxes, which is going to be a huge hit. It had to do with stormwater drainage at a $2 billion price, and it had to do with what we just passed today and septic to sewer. We have major problems. infrastructure and bills coming down the pipeline. And the only way they're going to get done is generating funding or taxing the hell out of our residents.

Economic development.

It's economic development. And we have proven that we are moving forward. So the whole initial deliberation of my comments was to say, we have choices to make and we make the hard choices. And we have to continue to make those hard choices. And the commission coming in has to make those hard choices. But you also have to find that common ground. And that common ground starts with us. And we constantly are getting the kickback of how we've increased our salary. I mean, kickback, like, you know, that we're villainized and we're, I mean, if I could use my street language, it would be so not appropriate. But what I'm saying is we have to make tough decisions up here.

Thank you, Commissioner. All right, done. Thank you. Commissioner Gruber, you usually like to bring good light into the room, good karma. Go ahead. Tell us a joke, please. I got a lot to say to you people.

Just a couple of things. I want to thank Allison for putting together that program with Browser Maimonides Academy today. Really well done. I know you put a lot into it, and thank you so much. We really appreciate that. Just one other thing. I think we've kicked around a lot of topics today, so this is just something off. Another thing with Playland Estates, I was at the – Plainland State Civic Association meeting with Rick Meidinger, and he was discussing the speed bumps there. And I'll tell you, when I first got elected, one of my first association meetings I went to was there, and we were discussing speed bumps and getting them there. And he had mentioned, I guess, the study's done. and we know where it's approved to get them but that we just didn't know where the money was coming from. I know they've been waiting for a long time and they're all in favor of it as opposed to I get complaints that some people got speed bumps and don't, Never wanted them. So I don't know how we can find the funding to get the, I think it's like a handful of speed bumps on two roads. I'm looking at you, Jose, because he said I think you're in charge of the project. So if we can push that along, they've been trying to get this since long before I got elected. So I know now we had that phase of the traffic calming that they were included. I think it's Farragut and Raleigh, if I remember correctly. So it sounded like it was a long ways away the way it was presented to the association there. So if we can make it not a long ways away, that would be great. And that's all I have.

Thank you, Commissioner Gruber. I think I was going to say something funny, but I won't. All right. Let's get to Commissioner Biederman.

Well, I'll comply with the joke request. When I do career day in schools, and they ask me what commissioners do, and I tell them, how many commissioners does it take to change a light bulb? And the answer is, in Hollywood, four out of seven. Boom. All right.