City Commission - Regular Meeting

GREGORY To the Pembroke Pines City Commission meeting of Wednesday, 02/18/2026. What a beautiful day it was today. And Mr. Clark, if you would, please call the roll.

Commissioner Good. I'm here. Vice Mayor Hernandez.

I'm here.

Commissioner Rodriguez. Commissioner Schwartz? Here. Mayor Castillo? Here. City manager Dodge?

I'm here.

Assistant city manager Bonilla? Here. City attorney Goren? I'm here. We have a quorum.

Thank you so very, very much. We will now have the pleasure of being led in the Pledge of Allegiance by Jenna Channing, who is a sixth grader at American Heritage. Jenna is involved with the Relay for Life at Pembroke Pines in Cooper City. And she will also be singing the national anthem. Will you all please rise? Jenna, whenever you're ready.

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.

Oh, say, can you see by the darts early light? What so proudly we hailed at its twilight's last leaving. Whose broad stripes, sad bright stars, through the perilous fight,

Wow. Jenna Channing, sixth grade. Makes you wonder what she'll be like in seventh grade. Tell you Oh, she's in seventh now? Well, eighth grade is coming, then you're straight off to high school. Congratulations. Thank you so very, very much. That was beautiful. Friends, we passing had of a civil rights icon. Reverend Jesse Jackson passed away at the age of 85.

And I have to tell you that he inspired many. And from his early days marching with Doctor. King, he learned his trade from the best. And he's gone now. And he'll never be forgotten. And if we could just have a moment of silence, please. Thank you very, very much. On a personal note, I also lament the passing of Robert Duvall. What a great actor he was. I don't think there was one role that he ever played that I didn't enjoy watching.

There was just something very special about him. But if you've never seen the great Santini, I encourage you to go for it. I think it's $3 on Netflix now. But it was a long, long time ago that he did that film. But his portrayal there, in my opinion, was his best. But he consider it his best. But in my opinion, it's his best. And we're very, very sorry to hear that news again. On a positive note, Commissioner Goode and I had the opportunity to meet with the restaurants in Pembroke Pines. We've seen some restaurants close.

Some restaurants have been suffering. I want to thank Commissioner Good for joining me in that discussion. It was an important conversation about what we can all do together to have a better embrace of our restaurant community, how we can get the word out about what they are and what they serve, how good they are, where they are, that they are. And we had a great discussion. A whole bunch of suggestions were made together with Miramar Pembroke Pines, the chamber of commerce, assistant city manager.

Stan was present. And we all took very careful notes. It was a working meeting. They had an opportunity to workshop about what the issues were within the restaurant community, the challenges that they face, and how we can work together as a team within a city that is famous for teamwork to help deal with that issue. And commissioners, I will be bringing an item soon once we're better organized on what can be done in the different parts of not just the city, but in our community, in the chamber, to help bolster our restaurants and make visiting them even more delicious.

So I want to thank you, Commissioner Good, for joining me on that. Okay. Today, I have are there items to be pulled from the agenda?

Presentation number one has been pulled.

Presentation number one has been pulled. And presentation number one is not on my list here. So which one is that? Is that the one for It

was the Natalie Belmonte.

But Natalie Belmonte is being pulled again? Okay. So then the other presentations are here. Is the group that's going to be receiving the Shen Yun performance. Are they here?

You're here? Okay. So we'll do presentations. While I get ready to do this presentation, I want to wish city manager Dodge and Vice Mayor Hernandez a speedy recovery from this flu that's been going around, which you can still hear in my voice. But I'm a lot better than I was before.

It takes about two weeks to get this out of your system, and I'm almost there. So please stay safe. Stay healthy. Okay. This is a proclamation.

You can come forward. This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, Shenyun Performing Arts, where Shenyun Performing Arts, the world's premier classic Chinese dance and music company, was founded in New York in 2006 with the mission of preserving and reviving the rich traditions of ancient Chinese culture. And where Shen Yun draws inspiration from five thousand years of Chinese civilization presenting artistic works rooted in virtue, faith, and moral values through classical Chinese dance, live orchestral music, and storytelling that reflects Buddhist and Taoist philosophies. And whereas Shen Yun performing arts has become an international cultural phenomenon touring approximately a 180 cities worldwide each year and captivating more than 1,000,000 in audience members annually with performances that celebrate history, legends, and universal human values. And whereas Shen Yong Performing Arts will be returning to South Florida with performances at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts at Fort Lauderdale on February 2026, offering residents and visitors an opportunity to experience this extraordinary celebration of culture and artistic excellence.

Now therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, along with the city commission, do hereby proclaim 02/18/2026, a Shen Yong Performing Arts Day and encourage all residents to recognize and appreciate the company's dedication to cultural preservation, artistic freedom, and the enrichment of our community through the performing arts. Congratulations.

Thank you. I appreciate it, mayor. Shen Yun's mission is to restore the traditional Chinese culture, has been oppressed in China by the communist regime. And we're working to go town to town and just show people what beauty there is in traditional culture and the morals and values that go along with it. And we appreciate everything that our local cities have done to provide to us.

Me and my wife are residents of Pembroke Pines. And we appreciate when the troop comes every year to Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach. And we are just happy to see everybody come out and see the show. So thank you.

Thank you very much for all you do. Thank you. Thank you both. Okay. Now I have American Heart Month.

How are you? Good. So this is a proclamation in the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, American Heart Month, whereas cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death worldwide with more than three hundred and fifty thousand out hospital out of hospital cardiac cases cardiac arrest occurring annually in The United States. And only about ten percent of those affected are surviving. And whereas approximately seventy percent of out hospital care cardiac arrest occur in the home, making their family members and bystanders the first and most critical link in the chain of survival.

Yet only forty one percent of victims receive immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and fewer than twelve percent receive assistance from an automated external defibrillator, AEDs, before advanced medical help arrives. Whereas immediate CPR can double or triple a person's chances of survival. With hands on CPR recommended for adults and teens while infants and children require CPR with rescue breaths. And each year, more than twenty three thousand children experience cardiac arrest outside of the hospital, including cases reported related to sports participation and sudden unexpected infant deaths. And whereas studies shown that women are less likely than men to receive bystander CPR due to fear of causing harm.

And whereas Memorial Health Care System, including Memorial Hospital West located in Pembroke Pines, plays an vital role in providing life saving cardiac care and emergency services to our residents and the community. And the city of Pembroke Pines deeply appreciates the dedication and expertise and compassionate service provided by Memorial to those in need. Now, therefore, I am Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city Of Pembroke Pines, together with the city commission, to hereby proclaim February 26 as American Heart Month in the city of Pembroke Pines to encourage all residents to learn CPR, promote awareness of cardiac arrest, emergency response, and join the effort to build a nation of lifesavers, ensuring that every person everywhere is prepared to act in a cardiac emergency. Thank you for all you do.

To mayor Castillo, vice mayor Hernandez, all of our Pembroke Pines city commissioners, other elected officials present, friends, neighbors, and Pembroke Pines residents, good evening. I am doctor Tadra Anderson Rhodes, a very proud Pembroke Pines resident and the chief medical officer at Memorial Hospital West here in our amazing city of Pembroke Pines. On behalf of our South Broward Hospital District Board of Commissioners led by Chairwoman Elizabeth Justin, our interim CEO at Memorial Health Care System, Mr. Shane Strum, our hospital CEO, Joe Stacinski our nurses, staff, physicians, and the entire team at Memorial Hospital West. We thank you for this wonderful recognition and proclamation during heart health month.

As you've heard from the statistics, they are quite alarming. However, at Memorial Health Care System and Memorial Hospital West, we are poised to continue to do our part in combating these statistics by successfully treating patients with heart conditions here in our community with compassion, innovation, minimally invasive techniques and technology, and expertise to provide world class quality, safety, and service excellence right here in our community in a patient and family centered way. We're also aligned with you, mister mayor, and our commissioners, and other community partners to prevent heart disease and the detrimental effects through programs which promote healthy lifestyle changes and choices, like our integrative medicine services and through collaborations like Better Together with our neighboring hospital district, as well as the One City at a Time program initiative to ensure that all of our residents have access to outstanding primary care and specialty care, like general cardiology, electrophysiology, advanced heart failure teams, and more, all with superior outcomes. For almost thirty four years now, May 1992, Memorial Hospital West, with the entire Memorial Health Care System, has been passionate about partnering with you all and the city of Pembroke Pines to make sure that our community is healthy, that it stays healthy, or is nurtured back from illness to the best health possible.

We want to say thank you for trusting us with your heart care and your everyday health care. We will continue to grow and to continue to serve this community as it deserves every day, every month, including this Heart Health Month in February, to continue to live up to our mission, which is to heal the mind, the body, and the spirit of those we touch. Thank you so much on behalf of Memorial Health Care System and Memorial Hospital West. We appreciate you, and we are honored. Thank

you, doctor. Doctor, I just wanted to say that recently we had Mayor Bogan here from Broward County, Mark Bogan. He was talking to us about a program that Broward County has for CT scans for the heart. And to honor heart month, I went and I got it done. And I got my results yesterday. And it says good, which is a little I mean, you all have to work on your adjectives. But it's a good, good, good. And I'm very, very happy. It was painless, folks. Painless.

They give you a shot for contrast, which makes you feel a little warm for just a couple seconds. Just a little warm. And they put you into the MRI. And it takes photos of every angle of your heart. And you walk out with a CD of it so that you could play it at home you know, and give it to your physician. They also give you a report. And it was painless, and it was free. Free. The county pays for it. It didn't cost me anything more because I had recent labs.

Otherwise, if I didn't have recent labs, it would have cost more. So I encourage you to learn about this program. Go to the Broward County website, and you will find there under the HEART program, or call Commissioner Bogan's office, and they will refer you. It's free. Get it done. It's important. Thank you so very, very much. Yes, it was good. It was good. Okay.

So that's for presentations. Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, it's always a pleasure to have our property appraiser Marty Care in the house with us. He represents an entire county. I think Marty was we're the seventeenth largest county in America, something along those lines. Broward?

And our property appraiser covers the entire county, but he's from Pembroke Pines.

And

it just goes to show you that we're still still making headlines in the right ways. So Mr. Property Appraiser, the floor is yours. There's a button there if you could press it.

It on?

It's on.

Nice. Actually, went to Pasadena Lakes Elementary School a long, long time ago. It's a fantastic city. And thank you, Mr. Mayor, for the great work that you do for the people of Pembroke Pines. You know, it's kind of amazing, and you all know this, we have 31 cities in Broward County. And the second largest city now is Pembroke Pines. And it's a humongous economic engine. I also want to let you all know I love this complex that you all built. It is really cool. The people love it. You can go to the restaurants. They're great. It's just really awesome. You can work out at the UFit place. It's super cool. And I want to thank everybody up here that serves up here because you all work so hard for the people of Pembroke Pines. They're very, very lucky to have you all represent them. And I was going to say, Charlie got a little bit younger over here. But with that said, Mr.

Mayor, what I was hoping to talk about today was really what's going on in Tallahassee with regard to property taxes. And I appreciate so much you all inviting me today because whatever the legislature has put on the ballot is going to be by far the most consequential vote any of them will ever take Because anything that's put up there can potentially change things dramatically for every single city, every single county, and every single person that lives within the state of Florida and that visits Florida. And so what I was hoping to talk about for the rest is just quickly the history of how we got here. I also wanted to quickly talk about just some conversations I had in the legislature over the past couple weeks with people in the leadership in both the House and the Senate to kind of give you an idea and a perspective of what they're looking at. And then I was hoping just to break down the only proposals that are out there right now, which are the House's proposals that went through a 37 member select committee.

And they're actually going to pass through the Florida House of Representatives. It's just very important to note, as I go through them, it's very possible that they may make the ballot. It's also possible they may not make the ballot. It's possible something else can be on the ballot. But when you break down the numbers, you can really see of what anything that hits the ballot, what kind of impact it will have for you all and also when it comes to savings for the residents.

But with that said, for the residents, about a year ago, you may recall that a random person, I believe, in North Florida tweeted that property taxes are terrible. And when he did that, the governor actually saw the tweet and the governor retweeted it. And when the governor retweets something, it kind of brings a lot of conversation to a topic. And so that's really what started the entire property tax issue. And when the governor retweeted that property taxes should be eliminated that would be all property taxes, whether it's homestead, residential, commercial all property taxes the Florida Policy Institute, which is a very important nonprofit think tank in Tallahassee that's also nonpartisan, decided to do a study.

And they said, Okay, if we eliminate all property taxes in the state of Florida commercial, residential, all property taxes what does that mean? Well, it would mean that local governments would lose right about $55 to $60,000,000,000 That funds everything that's very, very important, from schools to police to roads to bridges to parks, everything that we know and love that our local governments provide. And then they said, Okay, well, if you eliminate all property taxes, you still have to have those very important things. So what do you have to do to replace that revenue? And they basically determined that you would have to raise the sales tax to possibly 12% or 13%, most likely 14%, 15% in the South Florida area, which is a pretty significant number.

And then after they did that, they decided to poll all the people of Florida that are likely to vote in the November. Because as you know, the only way to change our system as it is, it has to be a ballot initiative that amends the Constitution to basically do away with property taxes or to change the property tax structure. And so the people of Florida that are voting in 2026 would vote for or against it. And if it gets more than 60% of the vote, it amends the constitution. If it's below 60% of the vote, it doesn't.

And so they actually polled the likely voters that will likely be voting in November 2026. And they said, do you agree with eliminating all property taxes homestead, commercial, residential, everything you could think of, and increasing the sales tax to at least 12% and higher in some other areas. And overwhelmingly, the electorate said, no, it's a bad idea. About 70 some odd percent of those polled said it was a bad idea. All political parties said it was a bad idea.

All areas of the state said it was a very bad idea. And after that happened, the conversation changed a little bit up in Tallahassee from eliminating all property taxes to focusing on homestead property taxes only. And so right now, the three most powerful people in the legislature are the governor, the Senate president, and the Speaker of the House. And they all seem to be on somewhat different pages as to how to approach this. The governor hasn't yet come out with a plan except to say that he believes that all homestead property taxes should be eliminated.

But to his defense, he doesn't have to come out with a plan because he has no say as to what makes the ballot. He has a voice, but he doesn't veto it and he doesn't sign into law. Whatever makes the ballot is up to the legislature. And so the Senate hasn't really come out with anything just yet. The Senate president, though, constantly says he wants to take a measured approach.

And he wants to make sure that they can provide property tax relief, but make sure that ambulances can come still get you when you call 911 and local governments and services aren't diminished. I did meet with the person that's in charge right now of crafting the Senate's proposal on property taxes. And he basically said, I can't tell you too much, but I can tell you a couple of things. He said, just like the House, we're going to focusing on homestead property taxes only, And we have to hold fiscally constrained counties hold. And what's important about that, he also said that in order to hold fiscally constrained counties hold, you have to pass a budget for this year.

And right now, they're kind of fighting over the budget up until last year. They're disagreeing, I guess, a little bit. And the only way you can hold fish that can train counties hold is if you actually pass a budget and you address it in the budget. So it's very possible that whatever passes is not going to be done in a special session. It still may be done in this session, but a session that's extended in order to pass the budget.

The House has actually come out with a number of different proposals. And the speaker would like to put a whole bunch of proposals on the ballot for the people to choose from to vote for or against. And those are all pretty much making their way through the House. And that's kind of what I have here today. I want to just kind of break these down because even though these may be on the ballot, they may not be on the ballot, they kind of give you an idea of whatever makes the ballot, what kind of impact it will have for the residents and for local taxing authorities. The first one and let's see if I can do this. I did it. I'm going to go to page four. And the first one is the biggest one. And this basically is House Joint Resolution two zero one.

And what this would do, it would eliminate all homestead property taxes for all taxing authorities except for the school portion of the tax bill. It also requires that police are held harmless and firefighters are held harmless, which is very, very important because you know that 50% of your budget pretty much goes to paying for police and fire. What we did was I looked at that proposal. And I said, if it were one thing that's also very important, there are no implementing bills that the legislature is passing this year. That's very important because any time a constitutional amendment passes, the legislature passes an implementing bill saying this is how it's implemented.

So we don't know if they're going to raise the sales tax or try to replace revenue or what they're going to do to actually implement this if it passes. So what I did was I looked at this and I said, Okay, there's no implementing bills. If this were in effect for 2025, what would the impact be for Broward County and also Pembroke Pines? So for Broward County, as you can see, there are 424,899 homesteaded properties in Broward County. The average savings per property owner, if this were in effect, would be right about $3,387 The median savings will be about $2,421 The median savings is a much better number than the average because it's kind of right down the middle.

The average takes into account the mega properties on the intercoastal. There's a 70,000 square foot property in Southwest Ranches, stuff that's like the out liers. So it kind of skews that number. But the median's right down the middle. So the median property owner, if this were to pass, would save about $2,421 countywide. Conversely, though, it's a big loss of revenue to local government. So as you can see, Broward County Commission levied $1,800,000,000 of property taxes last year. If this were in effect, they would lose about $624,000,000 which would be about 34.6% of their actual property taxes that they collect. They have to hold police and fire harmless, which is 50% of their budget. So it doesn't really leave a whole lot of money left over to be able to pay for all the other services that we know and love.

And that's very important just to note. The next page is how it would impact Pembroke Pines. Pembroke Pines, as you know, has a lot of homesteaded properties. It has about 10% of the homesteaded properties all throughout Broward County. That's a big number.

And right now, there are 41,367 homesteaded properties here in the city of Pembroke Pines. The average savings per property owner will be about $2,676 the median, about $2,412 But as you can see, the loss of revenue to the city of Pembroke Pines, if this were to pass, was pretty significant. Last year, levied about $118,000,000 in property taxes. If this were in effect, you would lose right about $53,000,000 which would be a 44.6 percent decrease in what you collect in property taxes. That's if this one were to pass, which would eliminate all property taxes except for the school portion of the tax bill for homesteaded properties.

The next page that I just want to kind of bring your attention to is just a page that kind of puts things in perspective a little bit and shows the difference between how this would impact all the different cities. The cities are impacted based on how many residential properties they have, how many commercial properties they have, and how many homesteaded properties they have, and the value of those properties. So the two that I just want to highlight are Pembroke Park and Parkland. They are the complete opposites. Pembroke Park, the hit is very minimal. They have very few homesteaded properties, almost all mobile home communities. It's almost all commercial, very little residential. So they would only lose about a little over 1% of what they actually collect in property taxes. Parkland, however, is the complete other side of spectrum. They're a bedroom community.

They're almost all homesteaded property taxes. So as you can see, the savings for property owners is pretty enormous, which would be right about $6,900 But they will lose about 75% of what they collect in property taxes. And for Parkland, a city like that, if there's no increase in revenue, if you have to hold police and fire harmless, which is about 50% of what they spend their property taxes on, but they're losing 75%, the math doesn't really math. And that's where the legislatures would have to step in and try to fix that if this does pass. The next one I wanted to just quickly go over is one that the speaker of the House really seems to be pushing.

I was actually reading about it again today. And it's going to pass out of the House floor next week. This is House Joint Resolution two zero three. And it's a phased out elimination of property taxes. Basically, what it does, every single year, it increases the homestead exemption by about $100,000 until homesteaded property taxes are gone for cities, counties, taxing authorities, but not for the school board.

Now, this one was somewhat difficult to be able to quantify. So I only was able to quantify the loss of revenue and the savings for the first year. As you can see in Broward County, again, there are 424,000 homesteaded properties. The median savings for property owners is about $798 the first year. But the first year alone, Broward County would lose about $193,000,000 10.7%.

The median household would be exempt from property taxes within about four years. The next page pertains to Pembroke Pines. And Pembroke Pines, again, is 41,000 homesteaded properties. The median savings of the first year for property owners would be about $12.41 dollars But the loss of revenue to Pembroke Pines would be about $20,000,000 which would be about a 17.4% decrease. It should be noted that the median assessed value in Pembroke Pines is right about $331,000 So what this means is that the median homeowner in Pembroke Pines would be exempt from property taxes within about three to four years.

The next page I'm not going to go through it, but I wanted to give it to you all. It just shows all the different oh, I don't have it in there. I have another page with all the different cities. Another section wanted to go through was one that also is gaining a little bit of traction in Tallahassee. And as you can see, this one, the impact is not as great as some of the other ones because it pertains to seniors, people over 65 years of age or over.

And what it basically says, it would eliminate all property except for the school portion of the tax bill if you're 65 and over. As you can see in Broward County, there is 163,590 seniors that own properties. If this were in effect, the median savings would be at $11.28 dollars Again, last year, Broward County levied about $1,800,000,000 in property taxes. If this were in effect, they would lose about $161,000,000 which would be a 9% decrease. It's a big decrease, but it's not as great as some of the others.

For Pembroke Pines, it's very similar to the county. Pembroke Pines, as you know, has a lot of seniors, especially in the Century Village area. There are about 15,475 seniors that are homesteaded in Pembroke Pines. The median savings will be a little over $1,000 Pembroke Pines will lose about $10,900,000 which would be right about 9.2% of what it collected last year in its property taxes. The next one I wanted to talk about is one that is also kind of gaining some traction up in Tallahassee.

And I've had a number of people on both parties talk to me about this. As you know, property insurance is a pretty big deal. I got my renewal recently, and I'm pretty angry about it. I think a lot of people have because that is really hitting people very hard. I wish the legislature would really heavily focus on property insurance because I think they can make a big dent there.

But this is the House's attempt to address property insurance and property taxes in the same ballot initiative. And what it basically says is if you have multi peril property insurance, then you will receive an extra $200,000 homestead exemption on top of your current homestead exemption of $50,000 And so what I did this was also very hard to quantify. What I did, I could not figure out who has homeowners insurance in Broward County. As a matter of fact, the only person I know that has homeowners insurance is me. You can't find it anywhere else.

And so I basically said under the biggest case scenario, if every single homesteaded property owner in Broward County had homeowners insurance, this is the greatest impact it could possibly be. It's not going to be this high, but that's the only way we could actually quantify it. And as you can see, Broward County has 424,000 homesteaded properties. If every single homeowner had multi peril insurance, median savings would be right about $2,217 which would also be about a $329,000,000 loss to Broward County government about 18.3%. In Pembroke Pines, again, are 41,000 homesteaded property owners.

If you assume that every single person has multi peril property insurance, the median savings would be about $2,400 But it would be a pretty significant hit to Pembroke Pines because you just have so many properties. You will lose right about $35,000,000 about 30% of what you collect in property taxes. It's not going to be that high because not everybody has it. But I think it puts in perspective how high it could be. The next one that I wanted to quickly talk about and I appreciate it, Mr. Mayor. I'm almost done. I just kind of find this to be exceptionally important. The reason being, as I said before, all of these would be consequential votes for the legislators to put on the ballot. And whatever makes the ballot, as residents, when we go and vote, it's going be the biggest vote we're ever going take as well.

And I just think it's fantastic that you allowed me to come so I can just talk about what's going on so people can have as much information as possible so they can make the best vote possible come November, whatever's there. Another one that actually is very important is portability. Now portability, as you know, is just a fantastic program. It gives people the opportunity to move from one home into another home and not be taxed out of that home. And here's the way it works. When you buy your home, you file for homestead. And when you do that, the Save Our Homes assessment clause of the Florida constitution kicks into effect that says that every year thereafter, the value you're taxed in cannot go more than a maximum of 3%. So over time, your market value gets very high. Your assessed value stays low because of that cap. You have all this value between your market and your assessed value you don't pay taxes on.

If you now decide you want to buy another home of equal or greater value, you can take whatever difference that is with you up to $500,000 of value to your new home and not pay taxes on it. If you buy a home of lower value, take a percentage of it, then you save a lot of money on your property taxes. There is House Joint Resolution two eleven, which actually eliminates the cap for all taxing authorities but the school portion of the tax bill. So what it basically means is if you decide to move and you have a cumulative more than $500,000 you can take that entire thing with you wherever you want to go and not pay taxes on it. If you buy a home of lower value, you wouldn't take a percentage of it.

You would just take it with you and wipe out whatever your value is. And the only concern that I really heard from many of the legislators in Tallahassee about this one, it wasn't about, hey, the people of Broward County. It was more about what's going to happen in fiscally constrained counties when the people of Broward and Miami Dade move there. Because what would happen is our values here are much, much higher than in places like Escambia County or Jackson County. And as people retire from Broward with a lot of portability value, they can move up there and basically wipe out the tax rolls for some of these smaller counties.

And that was kind of the biggest concern. What I did, though, I was very curious countywide how many people last year that utilized portability had more than $500,000 of value. And what we found was there were 5,464 people that ported their Save Our Homes value last year in Broward County. There are about three seventeen properties countywide that had more than $500,000 of value. And the average savings for a property owner, if they were actually able to report it, would have been $463 But as you can see, the loss of revenue to the county commission is very minimal when it comes to this.

It's a little over $1,000,000 which is less than 0.1% of their entire budget. For Pembroke Pines, five fifteen people utilize portability in Pembroke Pines. There are about nine properties that had more than $500,000 of value. The average savings for property would be about $2.00 $8 And as you can see, Pembroke Pines would have lost about $51,000 So this one, the impact is not so great. And then finally, Mr. Mayor, there's one other proposal that a lot of people in Tallahassee are really pushing. And that would actually change the way that we actually value properties. Right now, we value every single property in Broward County on January 1 of that year. Every year stands on its own. So on January 1, we look at the data.

We provide a value to your property, which we would then provide to you. You set your millage rate on it, and that is how you pay their property taxes. What this basically says is that for residential properties, for homesteaded properties, not including the school portion of it, but for you all, what we would do is we would assess every property that's residential once every three years. And over a three year period, it can't go up more than 3% over a three year period. And what would happen is I spoke to the legislature about this every single time somebody would sell a property, that kind of starts the year.

And then it's three years from that. And so it's kind of like staggered. For commercial properties, we could assess all commercial properties once every three years. And it can't go up more than 15% over a three year period. This also can have a pretty significant impact to local governments. It's impossible to quantify, but it would change things a lot. And with that said, that's actually all the proposals right now that the legislature is currently considering. I wanted again to talk about these because, as I said before, it's very possible these could make the ballot or one could make the ballot. It's also possible none could make the ballot. It's possible nothing may get done in the legislature.

And it's also very possible that something else will make ballot in a similar form like this. So I just wanted to be able to talk to you all about it and also, as importantly, talk to the residents because I think it's exceptionally important that people have all the facts in a very nonpartisan, non biased way just saying, this is what it is so people can be able to make best choice possible when they go and vote in November. With that said, Mr. Mayor, thank you for having me today. And thank you for all the work you all do. As you all, I'm a big fan of this fantastic city. And I always say this all the time. I always got to give a big shout out to this guy, the greatest lawyer that I know that is one of the most astute individuals on the face of the earth. He's just a gentleman. He does a great job.

We are exceptionally lucky to have him. And that is Sam. And I have to say, I'm really sorry. My lawyer's here, Mila. You're the greatest lawyer I know. Sam, you're my secretary. But thank you all very much, Mr. Mayor, for having me today.

Thank you, sir. Mr. Property appraiser, I just Oh, thank you. We're just floored. Please, round of applause for

property appraiser. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.

How you constantly come here with great information, presenting it in a way that is easy to understand and easy to get your arms around. And I know that the clerk has a copy of the presentation.

And

sir, if you would, please share it with the entire commission. And let's make it available. Thank you. This is a difficult issue. Everybody wants a tax decrease.

You wouldn't be a red blooded American if you didn't like the idea of cutting taxes. But it's paradoxical perhaps, Marty, that in the age that we live in, the information age where just about anything is available to you at a thumb's command, how little people actually know about what their taxes buy them and how easy it is to sort of spread the assumption, however unproven, presumption that your taxes are excessive. And how the vast majority of our spending is actually in the private sector through sales tax. And nobody's dodging that. And yet I see proposals here that seek to offer some apologetic return on money lost through a reduction in taxes.

And it's possible that one or more of these proposals could actually get the threshold amount of votes to change the constitution. But what really sort of alarms me is that we are this far down the road and this loaded with sales pitch absent a clear plan of how it will work. I think that there would be instant buyer's remorse and instant sort of shock, even as some of our state officials and we thank them all for their service are off into private life, leaving the rest of us holding the bag as to how it is that their proposal is actually workable. I saw a tweet the other day from the CFO, said that if any mayor in Florida doesn't know how to make this thing work within their city, they should call his office. He should expect many phone calls because I haven't met a mayor who know who knows how to make it work yet.

Because we don't see what the other side of the equation is is gonna be. I did some quick research, and I found that Louisiana is the state in America with the highest sales tax now. It's at about nine percent. It is a statewide, very, very difficult issue to talk about politically because they're kind of ashamed that their sales tax is that high. Imagine in a tourist state, if laws went to 12, and we suddenly replaced Louisiana as the state with the highest sales tax in America.

Not New York, not New Jersey, not Connecticut, not California. Florida would have the highest sales tax in what would that do to tourism? What would that do to seniors? It's even more regressive seniors. I'm not surprised that 70% of the people in that poll said no.

They didn't want their sales tax increase because they know their own spending. They have to know it. They're spending more on sales tax than they are in property tax. And yet, if there's a way to make the property tax process more efficient, if there's a way to make government more efficient, I don't think anyone would have a problem with that. But if you take 40%, 50%, 60% of what's coming in, or even if you inch it along over a ten year period and there's no replacement revenue, how is that gonna work?

How are police and fire gonna be paid? Mister Dodge has indicated or CFO has indicated that about 63%, at least, of all of our property tax goes to public safety. How does that get replaced? What do we do about parks? What do we do about road construction, road bridge fund? What do we do about general administration of government? How does that get paid for? I'm not sure what the answers are. But we're headed down that road. So what bothers me isn't so much that they're talking about the sales tax thing.

Then to some extent, you could understand that this would come up. What bothers me is that they're deep into the sales pitch without having explained what the deal is. Do you have a sense that the people in Tallahassee are sensing that frustration at all?

So I'll tell you what is interesting. I've actually had a number of people on both sides of the aisle say the exact same thing you just mentioned, almost verbatim. And I'll tell you what I found. And you never know what can happen up in Tallahassee. But most of the people that I spoke to there are some outliers.

But most of the people, especially in the Senate and some of the leadership in the House, would say, listen, we're trying to figure out a way to put something on the ballot that doesn't diminish services. I know that the process I went through, that is not the case. But that's what most people would say, especially in the Senate. And the other thing that was very interesting to me is some of the people in the leadership up there that are going to be in leadership but aren't term limited are taking a little bit of a different approach than people who aren't going to be there and have to deal with the fallout. So one person that is a very powerful individual in the Florida House that will be in the leadership as the top person sometime basically said, you know what I'm concerned about, Marty, is this.

Anybody can kind of come out and say whatever they want. They can say eliminate all taxes, this and that. But if you're not going to be here to have to deal with it, we're the ones that are going to have to be up here to have to figure out, Okay, now how are we going to make local government be able to operate? Are we now going be the ones to increase the sales tax? And a lot of them up there are very concerned about that type of fallout. And I thought that was interesting. They won't say it publicly, but that's kind of what they're thinking. And so I do think there's actually I will say there's a lot of reasonable people on both sides of the aisle that are really trying to figure it out. And I felt very encouraged about that, much more encouraged when I went up there last week to talk to people, or the week before, than I had beforehand, when you would talk to people behind closed doors. And they would tell you really what they're thinking with this.

And so I am hopeful that whatever they put on the ballot, like you said, will provide people tax relief, but at the same time doesn't diminish the amazing services that cities and Pembroke Pines and others provide. Because as you know, what makes a place special is so much of what the city provides to its residents. And when you have a place like Pembroke Pines, we have incredible parks. You have incredible just tons of services. You have magnificent roads. All these different things that you all fund, it wouldn't be as special if you weren't able to fund any of those things and they all decided to be dilapidated. So I do feel somewhat confident based on my conversations with a lot of people in the leadership when I spoke to them two weeks ago.

Well, you know, I hope so. I also don't want to come off like I'm insensitive to the because I'm not. I feel the pinches as much as anybody else on livability. And if there's a way to help taxpayers, of course I want to do that. This is a city that for the last ten years has either reduced its millage or kept it the same simply because, as you know, our property values have increased.

Oh, yes.

I'm not sure I'm not sure that next year in fact, I don't wanna put you in a difficult position. But do you have any sense of my my understanding is that property values are starting to go down countywide. And there's a concern as we get closer to budget creation time that the kinds of numbers that we're used to might not pan out. I don't want to put you in Oh, That's a Federal Reserve chair position. But what say you to this, Mr. Chairman?

GREGORY Of course. Well, I'll tell you this. Well, first, I will say this. And I think I'm so glad you brought this up. As you know, I love all 31 cities equally. Have to say that, including Lazy Lake, which has 17 homes. But I could tell you this. I just as a person that lives in Broward But

nobody loves you more than us.

Thank you very much. I think as a person that lives here, you and this commission have been exceptionally fiscally responsible when it comes to your budget and the way that you handle your tax rate, which I think is pretty fantastic. And when it comes to where values are right now, it's the beginning of the year, and we're starting to look at them. And it's not going to be catastrophic. There probably will still be an increase in property values.

Just it may not be as great as it has been in the past. And depending on the different property depends on where that will happen. So a good example is this. There is so much development going on all throughout Broward County and in Fort Lauderdale. So that new construction that's put in the tax roll is really going to continue to drive things up very, very high.

When it comes to people paying for single family homes, so far and I may be wrong about this, it looks so far like people are still paying more money this year than they did the year before. The only difference is things are on the market for longer. So that would still keep driving things up a little The condo situation is a little bit different. That's where you may see somewhat of a decline, especially in places potentially like Century Village and Kings Point. And that really is solely based on, I think, the ramifications of the Surfside Law that was passed a few years ago.

If that holds, we may see a little bit of a decline there. So far, all the different deeds that have coming through, it looks promising. But at the end of the it's just the beginning of it. So you just never know. I could be off from what I'm saying right now. But I feel confident, if that makes sense. I guess you could say cautiously confident.

I appreciate your candor. I remain concerned. But I appreciate DELL: your candor and your optimism. Commissioner Thank you. Commissioner Good.

GREGORY Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you, Marty, for all you've presented to us. And I can't speak any more than what the mayor has already done. I think he's probably covered all four corners.

I can say one of the most interesting conversations that I have with my constituents is it seems like the property taxes are synonymous with insurance. It's almost sort of like there's almost again, I remind people, you've got to separate the two. And then when you really separate the two, most the majority of people find that their insurance is actually much higher than the property taxes. And so there is an opportunity sometimes to look beyond the property taxes and see where those equivalent savings could be found. But again, we understand it's a heavy lift as much as this tax reform is a heavy lift.

So I would hope at some point that we are able to shift the conversation to where I think it's going to be more impactful than the property taxes. Because again, we've already spoke about the impacts. But probably the most important thing, too, is that you continue to bring information, very relevant information, very credible information, to the forefront, to the public for them to digest. You're not telling them one way or the other, but you're bringing it to them raw. And it's good for the public to recognize these issues that are happening and to be delivered, the type of data as you've done tonight.

I mean, it's clear that there was thought put into this. You probably had some accounts in the back probably crunching numbers to make sure that these things are accurate as you present them. Because I know you wouldn't present anything other than accuracy to the public as you always have. So thank you for all that you do in that regard. And I've got to say, I am continuing to enjoy as you build your legacy. And I'm very thankful that we get an opportunity to participate in that occasionally. So thank you for this presentation exceptionally well and exceptionally helpful for me as an elected official to bring it to the public.

Thank you. And thank you for the great work that you do as well. And also, I want to give a big shout out to your fantastic wife as well, as you know, who was a fantastic public servant for us, Patty, without a doubt. And the best selfie person ever when it comes to pictures.

He's the greatest.

Thank you, Tom. Thank you.

Vice mayor, did you have any comment? I

wanted to thank you for always I wanted to thank you, Marty, for always providing information. I am contacted often. This morning, for example, was a local radio. Last week, I was called by a newspaper for my thoughts on the potential impact of any kind of property tax reform. So I appreciate the information that you're sharing.

I understand there are difficult times, but to commissioner Good's point, and in particular, with respect to residents in Century Village, I I am asked very often, and it seems like this mixing of property insurance rates and our property taxes. And and that is troublesome. There's not really anything we could do other than explain the differences, But that is something that I have been dealing with with my constituents. I'm sure commissioner Goode has as well with Hollybrook and and those communities. I I have one ask of you, Marty.

Continue sending information, preferably numbers, on the potential impacts that any significant reduction in city operating revenue could have on our city. I basically summarize it for folks. I want my taxes reduced too, but there's no free lunch. It will have an impact on the type of municipal services that every one of the 31 cities can offer. So thanks, Marty, for always answering the call and for the very detailed information.

Thank you, Mike. And thank you for the great work you do as well. And I hope you feel better soon. I had the flu just like the mayor did, gosh, probably about a month ago. And that thing knocked me out. So definitely feel better. Rest and relax. And thank you again, Mike, like I said, for the great work that you do for Pembroke Pines. Appreciate it.

Thank you, my friend.

Mr. Schwartz? Marty, I'm thinking back. It's nearly twenty years that, one, you represented my family up in the State House. And now we have the honor of serving each other's families and the community in such a big way. But I do need to make sure that you don't walk out of here having a tug of war. This is how we're going to settle this thing. GREGORY We have the best municipal, and you have the best county attorney.

If we do it like that, I think you don't have

to Perfect. I can 100% agree with that without a doubt. Thank you, Jay.

GREGORY So what jumped out of the paper is the fact that Pembroke Pines has the largest homesteaded properties countywide, number wise. The 41,000 were larger than Fort Lauderdale at 38, according

to the Yes, you're right. It does. They're right.

To me was quite shocking.

So

I think that is certainly something our residents are going to find just intriguing. When people move to South Florida, move to the Pembroke Pines, they stay for good. And that's a good thing. That's why we have what we have here. And we can count on our residents making the smart decisions to make these things that you're concerned about. The good news is that Pasadena Lake Elementary is not closing. That's a good thing, Okay? Because we are losing a couple. And again, just thank you so much for doing what you do. You and your staff, always available.

And lastly, the amount of work that your office put in for this commission last year to get some things through Tallahassee, Tremendous. Just thank you, thank you, thank you for the amount of work you did. It was outside the box. It was on point. And unfortunately, we can't take full advantage of the end result. But the fact is that the work is there for potentially a future city in the state to do the same thing we try to do.

Thank you, Jay. I really appreciate that. I love having Pembroke Pines as a partner. And thank you for, of course, the great work that you do. Please tell your wife I said hi.

What I love about this job is you get to work with every single mayor, every single commissioner, every single government. And the only time you're actually really able to help people the best that you possibly can is when you have a great partner with the people that really represent the people. And when you're working with commissioners and the mayor, it is the greatest way to be able to reach people I can't reach on my own. And I can definitely tell you, your partnership with us is really what has made our office successful in helping people in Pembroke Pines, because you all always go above and beyond in helping us reach residents. And so thank you so much for that.

I appreciate it immensely. I I got to give a big shout out to your city staff because they always let us know when there are events. We have our tents there. We sign people up for homestead, owner alert. Pembroke Pines is just a great place. But thank you, Jan. Thank you for the great work you do.

Thank you so very much. Commissioner Rodriguez.

Thank you, Marty. Great presentation. And I appreciate the specificity in all the numbers here, particular to our city, because you do deal with those 31 municipalities. I'm sure pulling the numbers on all of those was not a fun task for whomever had that task. But we really do appreciate it.

I think one of the things and I was in Tallahassee for Broward Days a couple weeks ago is the line that it's not a tax elimination. It's a tax shift. And unfortunately, the tax shift is going to impact mostly renters, mostly business owners, all these properties that don't fall within that homestead exemption. And that conversation is, I think, missing a little bit in some of how we present these items, maybe because we don't have those impacts or how this will be implemented in the future than those implementation bills. But when it does, I as a renter don't have homestead exemption.

I continue to pay exorbitant amounts of rent each and every year. And they go up each and every year. And I don't have that homestead exemption and that savings that a lot of people do. If we continue to do that, the cities are going to have to shift that tax burden onto somebody else. And it's going to be young families.

It's going to be seniors. And it's going be anybody who rents, as well as our small businesses who get impacted by commercial property. So when we're talking about that, we also need to all bring that to attention because it's very easy to appeal to the people who tend to vote, seniors, older people who have homestead exemptions. But when we're having these conversations, it's really important to bring in also those younger families that are renting right now because homes are so expensive. And we're going to continue to be burdened by that even more if it turns in into the sales tax.

So to have that as part of the conversation and as we learn more, if you could include how these decreases for homesteading would be better for those in homestead exemptions, but ultimately affect their families anyways. Because many people who have those homestead exemptions, they also have kids my age that are renting. And so whether one family is paying a little bit less, then your kids end up paying a little more. So making sure that that is also part

of the conversation is truly essential. You know what? And I really appreciate that, Maria. And I also want to say I'm so proud of everything you've accomplished just to see how hard you worked to get this, what you did beforehand. And you've done a fantastic job for the people of Pembroke Pines. And something you made me think about that said very interesting. The realtors actually did a study. And they said, Okay, if you eliminate homestead property taxes, what's that going to do to the price of housing? And they actually believe it will increase it, basically make things more expensive. And as you know, South Florida is one of the most cost prohibitive places around for younger people, especially if they don't own a property.

It's very difficult for a younger person to go out and afford the properties that we have here. And if something increases the sale price more, it makes it more difficult for renters and people who would like to have that home to be able to buy it. And that's actually, I think, a very important note. And you made me think about that. Because I do think at times when you have these conversations, people that aren't homesteaded property owners kind of get lost in the mix. They get forgotten about. And they are a huge chunk of our population that could have to shoulder a lot of the burden. So thank you for reminding me of that. I appreciate it.

Mr. Property appraiser, it's always a pleasure. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

The door is always open to you, so please visit us as often as you feel the need.

Absolutely. Thank you so much. And again, thank you for all you all do. You guys are fantastic. City I first city I ever lived in. And I love Pembroke Pines. Thanks, everybody. Thank so

very much.

Thank you

so much. Thank you. Appeals of the Board of Adjustment Decisions?

None, mayor.

Thank you very much. Announcement of board and committee appointments. Tonight, I have the pleasure of appointing Chantel Osborne as an alternate member of the Diversity and Heritage Board. You want to come forward? Chantel is a high school principal. She lives in District 1 No, District 2. And she has lived in Pembroke Pines a very long time and cares about the community. And I recently had the opportunity to meet and talk to her a little bit. She's fascinating. She runs a technical school.

Yes. I do.

And does a great job there. And I know that you will do a great job as an alternate member of the Diversity and Heritage Board. And Can you just mention your name and address for the record, please?

Sure. Chantal Osborne, 8781 Northwest, 7th Court, Pembroke Pines, Florida 33024. Thank

you. Hi.

My name is Chantal Osborne. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I really think it's important. I am an educational leader. I've been in the Miami Dade County Public Schools for over thirty years. I think it's so important that Pembroke Pines, being in this community for such a long time, there's such a diverse community. And I think it's really important not only to build partnerships but to bring communities together. It's a wonderful city to live in. I'm very proud to be a Pembroke Pines resident. I think contributing on this board is really going to allow me the ability to really work with our residents and really listen to hear what other cultural and what other wonderful things we can bring to the city.

Well, thank you so very, very Thank you

so much

for having me.

And commissioners, with this appointment, all of my positions are full. And I know that all of you are busy now trying to fill yours as well. If you need any assistance, please reach out to the clerk. It's important that we have a complete tab so that we can keep these boards moving. And I want to thank you. The clerk will be contacting you so that you can begin your duty on the Heritage and Diversity Board. And I want to thank you again for your good citizenship.

Sounds wonderful. Thank you for the opportunity again. Take care.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much. Okay. Today's consent agenda consists of items one, two, three, four, five. There is an addendum.

And that is what we have. Is there a motion?

So moved.

Moved by Commissioner Schwartz. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by the vice mayor, by Commissioner Good. Thank you so much. Why don't we take a two minute recess, and then we'll take the vote.

Yeah. I'm on the talk side tonight. Sorry. Yeah.

I can get the memo.

I usually have a red reddish. Not red red, but red enough.

Okay. Okay. Are there any polls on the consent agenda? Have motion and second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Show passes unanimously.

Thank you very much. And there are no other items but regular agenda. Mister mister Bonilla, regular agenda.

Yes, sir, sir. We brought an item to discuss the possible rescheduling of the April 1 commission meeting. That day is Passover. And therefore, we'd like to see if we can get some dates that we can do our commission meeting.

Mayor, I would like to propose the day before Tuesday, March 31.

Hold on one second. Let me just so this is the first. And that is a Wednesday, and that is Passover. Miss city attorney, we have have an election on the on the tenth. We do wanna swear people in, and I have to do a state of the city.

Mhmm.

And I'm wondering, commissioners, if doing this meeting on the eighth wouldn't be a better idea. It doesn't work for

me, sir.

It doesn't work for you? So you're saying Tuesday, the thirty first.

Thirty first. I can work prior to the first, but not after the first. So if you're looking at Monday, the thirtieth, we've commission meetings in the March in years past.

Yeah. I'm more asking the city attorney how long it will take to certify the election. Do you think we could have that meeting on the thirtieth or the thirty first and swear in the new commissioners?

Mr. Mayor, if I may quickly I looked at the charter, along with our city clerk and city administration, under section 3.07, which references the organization leading to which you just referred, Mr. Mayor, that requires that the first regular commission meeting following the certification of the election results pursuant to the Florida election code, as may be amended from time to time, the commissioner shall meet in city hall to hold an organizational meeting, at which time and place all newly elected officials shall take an oath of office and assume the duties of their office. So the consequence is the election is scheduled at the moment for March 10. And again, in the context of how the charter was rewritten at the direction of this commission in years past, the issue was you may have the results on the tenth, which are unofficial, but you won't have the official results for some number of days thereafter in connection with overseas balloting, military ballots, etcetera.

I've consulted with our city clerk who has some rational knowledge of the subject matter. And he believes that there could actually be results in certified format available within a week's time, at least from historical perspective. So if it be the wish of the commission to conduct a meeting on the thirty first as proposed. That certainly be sufficient time, I believe, just from a historical perspective, to have results in. City attorney?

I'm sorry. I have a family emergency. I have to leave. I'm Okay with any date.

Okay. I hope it's Okay. Thank you. Thank you, commissioner. City attorney, 03/17/2020.

We had an election. We had COVID. We did the swearing in in the organizational on the twenty ninth or March 30. I believe that the clerk is correct with respect to Timing. Forecasting timeline. Yes. I don't believe the thirtieth or 2026 would be an issue.

Well, it being Passover, would we end up going to jail if we swore in the commission on the thirty first and then had our organizational meeting on the fifteenth? It's Passover.

Passover, based on the calendar, appears to begin on April 1. That's a fact.

That's right. So the next regularly scheduled meeting is the fifteenth.

Mayor Ortiz called a special

meeting before the thirtieth So 20 the regular scheduled meeting is the fifteenth. Correct? So my question is, under these circumstances, would it violate the charter if we held the meeting on the thirty first and then did our organizational meeting on the fifteenth?

No. If the commission wishes to interpret the charter to permit that set of events to occur, you can certainly, commission, as collegially make that decision. Okay. But you've to be clear and unequivocal about what date you're hankering for.

Mayor, so am I hearing this right that we would or would not conduct regular business on the thirty first?

Yeah. The thirty first would be a regular meeting like we would on the first.

So the organizational is that's like a five minute discussion. What's the issue?

We have a bigger agenda for the first meeting in April. I have the state of the city to read. That's usually done at the organizational meeting. Just trying to manage our time. So we just have a regular meeting on the thirty first. We'll have the organizational meeting on the fifteenth. That'll give staff an opportunity to plan. Any objection? Without objection, so ordered. Okay, so we're going have a regular Well, meeting of we

don't know the result. The organizational meeting is for the purposes of just setting the dais. Am I correct?

Yeah. No. But I also have the state of the city to do. No, I understand. But

don't recall bifurcating that in all these years we've been here together.

Bifurcating. Yeah, like splitting,

swearing in an organization. It's happened on the same day.

Commissioner, what I've been told is that the agenda for the first is going to be especially They have a lot of items to bring on the first. So what I'm asking for is Okay. Cooperation so that we can have your meeting on the date that you're available, and we can have the organizational meeting on the fifteenth. So it's really no big deal. Okay. Okay? Without without objection Mister

Hernandez can't can't get in.

That's that's the way it'll go. The organizational meeting on the fifteenth and the regular meeting on the thirty first. Thank you. Okay?

Mayor, it's I've been mayor, it's, I've been trying to speak, but, apparently, I've been muted,

so I've been speaking

to myself.

Vice mayor. Go right ahead. Yeah.

Okay. Here's where I'm slightly confused. We keep talking about April. We have three meetings if we move it to the thirty first in March. We have the fourth. We have the eighteenth, and now we're talking about the thirty first. No one that I heard was mentioning the eighteenth. Are we canceling the eighteenth? No. No. Well, I don't understand.

We'll have the meeting on the eighteenth as well,

mister mayor.

Okay. That's the only clarification I needed.

If if in fact the the the the results are available, before the eighteenth, we can make we can make a a decision as to whether, the city attorney will advise as to whether or not the new commissioners will be appointed then or on the thirty first. Fair enough? Mayor, if I may, quickly. Yes.

I'm trying to reconcile the discussion with the vice mayor. What the charter tells us it's not an option per se, but it tells us that the commission shall meet to basically hold the organizational meeting upon the receipt following the certification of the election results. I can't know the answer, but our clerk has a good sense for things, having been in that seat for a bit and having worked in that office. It is highly likely that the recertified results could be available by the eighteenth, which is what the vice mayor just mentioned. Right.

So if they're available by the eighteenth, we'll swear in the new officials on the eighteenth. And if they're not available on the eighteenth, we'll swear them in on the thirty first.

And that's a legally logical approach.

Okay. Yes, sir. Then we will have the organizational meeting

Well, thank you.

Okay? Is that fair enough? Everyone understand? Understood. We good?

Yes. Just for the record, and Jacob is reminding us, the eighteenth is the date upon which the certified results are available, that is the organizational meeting under the charter.

All right. We will square this away. You know, I can't I can't talk to those. We will square this away. All right. But we're not gonna meet on Passover, which is which is the main. Correct. Okay. Because I'm sure the charter would would would support that. Yes, sir. So let's As I read it. Let's move on. Okay. Okay. Reports of the league and the MPO representatives. Commissioner Rodriguez is not available. Commissioner Schwartz, do you have any league information? I'm sorry, sir. Okay. I'm sorry?

Do you have any league information? What I? Well, you're not the alternative anymore. It's it's a commissioner it's vice mayor. Vice vice mayor. That'll be the vice mayor. Vice mayor, do you have, any league information?

No. Maria was, commissioner Rodriguez was going to report it. I've been out of town in the last several days, so I would defer to her.

Yes, sir. She was called away. MPO Yeah. MPO, report? Yes, mister mayor. So, we had

our meeting. Biggest item that is relevant for the city of Pembroke Pines, it deals with the park and ride lots for the I-seventy 5 Express buses out there at I-seventy 5 and the Pines Boulevard Intersection. So they've actually removed that project from what they call the cost feasible plan. And the primary reason is because they've moved that project up and merged it with another program so that we'll be seeing that project come to fruition a little bit earlier than what was originally scheduled. And the second thing is just and most everybody may already know, because we're at least putting that information out.

The Douglas Road from Pines to Taft, there's sidewalk improvements that are going to be completed starting like today, So it's a good project. It's good for mobility, and we're glad that it's finally coming to the city. Okay. Anything else? That's it, Mr. Mayor. Okay.

Reports of the city manager and city attorney. City attorney, do you have any items?

Not on the record, mister mayor. I'll consult with you all properly on any pending issues that need to be discussed on a private basis, but thank you for the opportunity as always. Thank you, mayor.

Report to the city manager.

Thank you, mayor. I think the mister Dodge is going to provide some feedback.

Mister Dodge?

Try. Can you hear me now?

Yes.

Hello? Okay. Mayor, I wanted to bring to the commissioner attention a town hall meeting that was scheduled by commissioner Jay Schwartz for February 25. I did have an opportunity to speak with the commissioner, and I asked him if there was a possibility to move his town hall meeting to sometime in March. He said that wasn't possible.

But what I really do wanna talk about are town hall meetings. The notice that went out, as I see it, is vague, and it doesn't provide any specific topics other than stating it's about the past, present, and the future. There are eight topics listed, but they failed to provide any transparency as to what the items will address. I know my experience with over forty years of attending town hall meetings and community meetings provided the public with specific information in order for the public to prepare for the meeting. The town hall meeting provided an opportunity for other commissioners to interject their comments, provide city staff to answer questions raised for providing accurate information.

I'm concerned because I've heard, a lot of information from people, and I was advised that only one person would speak from the administration, and that would be commissioner Schwartz. There is no information that is available as to what he's gonna present. So we don't know what the topic is. The accuracy of his comments could not be challenged that he was not permit permitting other elected officials or city staff to speak. The resources necessary to hold this town hall meeting for one person to make a presentation does not appear to offer objectivity nor transparency.

And my thought at this time since we do have these occasionally and they are published and we know what the topics are and the people are advised of that, perhaps now is the time for establishing a protocol for all town hall meetings that are all inclusive. The amount of resources necessary to do this, depending on what each and every commissioner may desire, is something that we do not budget. I know in the past, for the many town hall meetings I've attended, it's been in a hall. It's been in

a school

cafeteria, and, there was an agenda prepared. And the public as well as the staff was invited to assist that elected official, in handling the town hall meeting. So I'm just asking, for the future, is there something the commission would like to consider in in developing this? Because one commissioner may request a thousand things, and other commissioners may not require anything but a podium. So that's where we are at this point. So I just offer that to you as an observation.

I appreciate it. We'll start we'll start with the vice mayor. Vice mayor, did you hear the presentation?

I did. I I appreciate that the manager and the staff are looking at the at the process. I think all of this needs to be written down in a policy that administration presents, whether it be town halls or anything else related to the elected body. I'm obviously open to offering recommendations to administration, but it's their document. It's their policy that we have to adopt at the appropriate time.

But sooner rather than later, think this needs to happen. So I commend mister Dodge. I wish it wouldn't have come to this point where there's this gathering of land on the twenty fifth of of February, but we do need a policy. I don't know, mister Dodge, who you assign it to, if it's an assistant city manager or somebody else to develop it. But whoever it is, I have thoughts. I'm sure every other member of the commission, including the mayor, have thoughts, and I look forward to developing it.

Okay. Thank you.

Mister Goode?

Mister mayor, this is really kinda hard for me to comment on because I really don't know enough information of purpose and things. But I will just give general comments of the way I see town hall meetings. So I have town hall meetings. And I have town hall meetings that are specific to my district. And when I have those town hall meetings, I typically request staff support primarily because they verify information.

They're also they're capable and able to document concerns that come forward that they may be able to address at a later time. And that's the whole purpose behind, for me, a town hall meeting is to serve the public in regards to what the town hall specifically was meant to do. When the town hall requires a larger scope of concern for the city in general, I normally invite the mayor for a purpose because the mayor is representation for the entire city. And the mayor has just as much interest in the specific concerns of my district as I would. And when it impacts a larger universe, being the city as a whole, then I want the mayor to participate because then the mayor can help coordinate amongst all of us district commissioners responses, actions, activities, funding, whatever those things may be.

Because I expect the mayor to be the lead collaborator amongst others to address any issues that extend beyond my district. I'm not comfortable if I would never hold a town hall meeting that would impact or ask for input from the entire city without having the mayor in attendance with the ability to participate at his full capacity in order to be able to address the concerns of other residents that may attend a meeting outside of my district. So generally speaking, that's where I stand. That's what I believe in. I believe in protocol and collaboration and cooperation.

And I think as a body, need to work together. And we need to direct staff together in order to be able to accomplish the goals and objectives that are being presented to us through concerns from our constituents. And I stand there. I don't want to create a process or a policy that's going to eliminate my ability to do that. I totally refuse.

I still want to be able to be accessible to my constituents within the district as I always have. I don't want to restrict that and restrict my voice to them, their voice to me. However, I do believe in being able to be very select or very careful about how broad the message is going to be if I, as a district commissioner, make a town hall presentation. So that's my comments for right now, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Commissioner Schwartz?

Thank you. Mr. Dodge, I would have appreciated the ability to have a conversation with you prior to hearing about this on live TV.

Run Well, we had a conversation, Commissioner Schwartz. And you were adamant that you didn't wanna have any discussion on it. It's it's your town hall meeting, and you didn't wanna have any other conversation on it. And I attempted to do that the other day, and, I was unsuccessful.

Mr. Dodge, with the greatest respect, sir, I'm going to choose not to share what I was asked of you because we are the city of Pembroke Pines. And professionalism and decorum is expected of all of us. Again, I'm hearing very specific detail that I did not hear from the manager, and I'm going to end it like that.

Well, it wasn't sent to me, commissioner. You you were sending it to all my staff asking for curtains, asking for videos, everything that normally a typical town hall meeting doesn't have. And I wasn't going to address that because we have never had that unless it was something the full commission was involved in, and it was a presentation, that we did. So I I tried to make that attempt with you, but you chose just to shut me out and say no. This is it.

This is what I'm doing. And the only one that's gonna be speaking is myself and no one else. So, I had no choice but to bring it before the commission, but I think it's important that we do establish some type of a policy, which all the commissioner would be involved in the development of it.

Mr. Mayor, I don't believe it's productive for me to have a discussion with the manager in this type of a setting. I received an email from city administration on February 3. They asked me, what do I need? They confirmed the chambers.

They asked me what type of setup I needed. So I responded. Curtains and the podium turned around with audio and video, just like property appraiser Keir and Representative Bartleman and everyone else. But we cover up the dais and we're able to have an intimate conversation with members of the public. I know why this is happening.

I don't know what reason for it to be happening. But it's certainly extremely uncomfortable hearing this from our city manager who knows that I spoke with his deputy city manager or hopefully he knows I spoke to his deputy city manager two weeks ago about one of the items that we're bringing forward in order to eliminate us getting multiple phone calls and emails unlike what happened with Walter C. Young. I am trying to resolve issues within my district that is potentially going to expand citywide depending on where the utility projects are at. So I don't understand honestly what's happening this evening.

But I can tell you this. I'm very thankful for the support that I have received, not only from my colleagues, but administration members who I've reached out to for information. So everyone is welcome to attend. It's a discussion with the public. I have a job to do, and that's to be able to hear from the public on some really big items that have come in front of us that we've discussed.

And now it's the people's opportunity for me to hear what they want to do and how they want to move forward with things. I mean, I honestly don't know. If you to put a policy on where we have town halls and all that, fine. But I can tell you that the public has been contacting me for a period of time seeking information. I have a job to do.

And the twenty fifth was available. I looked at the calendar. I looked at everything so it didn't conflict with any other thing going on in the city. Why? Because I don't want to put staff out.

I'm not going to drag them around for 17 meetings for a month that they can't be with their families. Very first thing let me tell you a quick story about who I am and how I try to handle my business. The very first day I went into City Hall, February 1632, I go upstairs to hang some pictures. Staff says, commissioner, what do you need? I said, I have it.

You don't have to wait on me. No, we're here to help you. Really, you don't have to worry about me. I can do things on my own. I'm constantly concerned about making sure that our staff can spend time during the holidays. We try to merge meetings. The information that I will be presenting has been in front of us. There's absolutely nothing new. But you know how many people watch these meetings? And then they have questions. They just see the meeting, no, I didn't have time. Commissioner, did you know? People want to hear

But I don't know. Please don't.

Okay, I apologize. Just trying I'm not asking you to I don't know why, Mr. Dodge, you're putting me in a very uncomfortable position. I'm not defending myself whatsoever. I'm just stating that when discussing information, when I'm asking our public works director who's providing me significant information about the impacts that utilities are going to have on the community, the community needs to know that.

It's not just District 2 in between Johnson and Palm. It goes beyond that. So I've been tasked by my colleagues to coalesce and bring back information. I thought I did a fairly good job two weeks ago on that subject. So I mean, if someone wants to come up with a format, I'll certainly look at the format.

But I don't want to get blindsided on live TV. That's not what Pembroke Pines does. It's just not what it does. I have a job to do. And the people have asked me for information. I'm going to provide it.

Okay, thanks. Mr. Dodge?

Yes, yes, mayor.

Let's go back, we could, and reconstruct these

I'm sorry.

I'll give you a moment. Are you okay?

Yeah. I'm okay. Thank you.

I'm so sorry you're feeling under the weather. Trust me. I know how you're feeling, and vice mayor as well. Let's let's try to reconstruct these events as they occurred. At the last city commission meeting, I heard commissioner Schwartz say I was planning a town hall meeting. And I asked him, what's the topic? And he said, well, I haven't worked it

out yet. No. I said, I'll be providing it to you soon is what I said, sir.

No. What you said was you also said that. But you said, I haven't worked it out yet. Right.

I haven't worked out all the details because I needed to make sure that

Like I said, you said you hadn't worked it out yet, but you were to a conclusion as to what it was going to be

I had a general sense of what it was. I was waiting on some other information from folks that I have no control of. There are organizations outside of the city of Pembroke Pines I was waiting on some information for. And so when I made that comment to you two weeks ago

And what organizations are those? Florida Power and Light. TECO. Okay. So this is a town hall about the installations in your community? In our city. Okay. And That's that's one that's that's one of the areas that's And

have you

you spoken with the city engineer about

what he knows on the subject? That information was actually provided to me by the city and by Mr.

Okay. Because when I look at your flyer, it says a discussion about parks, utilities, public safety, finance, capital projects, education, code enforcement, and governance. But it doesn't talk about installations in swales. Doesn't talk about that. That's not what's on your flyer. So let's start with why are people asking questions is because by the way, was that flyer put together by city staff or is that something commissioner Schwartz?

I did that all by myself.

Did? Oh. All by myself. So your flyer says parks, utilities, public safety, finance, capital projects, education, code enforcement, and governance. It's a pretty good list. It's a it's a pretty large list. But it doesn't say installation f f p and l installations. Maybe maybe it should if that's what if that's what you wanna talk about. However, that's not what that's not what it says.

Okay.

Mister Dodge, you then

Yes, mayor.

You and your, staff were then given this flyer. And one instruction was given to you by mister by commissioner Schwartz regarding the the the flyer?

There was no instruction. It was just presented to me. The only email I received from commissioner Schwartz directly, he asked me if the availability of, the commission chambers on a certain date, I had that checked. And, and we advised him that the commission chambers was available that day. But that was it. There's been some emails, not directed to me, staff, about things that he was looking for and conversations that were shared with me, but never a direct conversation with me about, this particular town hall meeting. Because I would have addressed those issues with him if he had.

On February 6, I received an email from the city manager, which was two days after our commission meeting. He asked me if staff can provide anything. I said, at this time, no. If I need anything, I'll let him know.

And he never did.

Well, because I don't need anything else, sir. Everything that I'm going to be presenting has already been presented up here on the dais.

It's all public record. It's about bringing information to our residents. I'm going to finish my We

don't have a quorum there. We

have to wait.

Thank you. We have a quorum now. Okay. All right. So look, how do say this? You are calling a town hall meeting thirteen days before an election. That has nothing to do with

me, sir. Have a job to do.

It is completely separate. Can I finish what I'm saying?

Well, I'm actually

It's my turn to speak. Go ahead. When you spoke, I did not interrupt you. Not much. Just listen to what I only interrupt people when they say something that is incorrect. So if you feel that I interrupt you, please go back on the record. I know you watch these videos. And you will see that in each and every case, it's because you said something that was incorrect. And for that very reason, at town hall meetings and I say this with all modesty I've become something of an expert, having done, what, 50 of them in my short time as mayor. The way to do them is staff present the content.

And the commissioner or the mayor, if it's a citywide meeting, then moderate a discussion of the public so that they are educated by the professional staff who are entrusted to deliver truthful, complete, accurate, up to date information in a non slanted, nonpolitical way, education, and then input from the public, we then use to make decisions. That is the purpose of the town hall meeting. There is no other purpose for a town hall meeting. Anything else is a political meeting. You came forward with specific instructions that this meeting was to be about parks, utilities, public safety, finance, capital projects, education, code enforcement, maintenance.

And then now there's the FP and L issue. If you had just said, I want to have a meeting within District 2 about FP and L issues, I don't think anyone would have cared when you did it. If you had said to this commission, I really think we need a citywide meeting to discuss utility connections, I would have been happy to call it. But I can't recall the last time a commissioner asked for a citywide meeting on anything without the agreement of this commission. In fact, I didn't even call a citywide meeting without the agreement of this commission, though I have the authority to do it.

I'm the only citywide official here. And I would never do it before an election because it casts inevitably a political appearance problem. And I got to tell you, we just went through a process of changing the charter because there were actions taken that the residents of the city felt were over the top with respect to elections. This is a tough subject right now, a very tough subject right now. And I have received many phone calls from people saying, Schwartz is at it again.

And I'm saying, please don't say it that way. He's my colleague. I have a responsibility to make sure that everyone is treated appropriately. But what we see now is, and it's a shame about the Sunshine Law because it keeps us from being able to speak about things personally that are best handled that way. And I understand your embarrassment of having to do this on the record.

But the fact of the matter is, the reason we keep having to create rules is because people don't follow the sort of pattern that has been safe and stable for this city for a long, long time, which is whether it was Flanagan or Fiketti or Sue Katz. Got rest of the social. She never called the town hall meeting or Ortiz or Castillo. The mayor calls the the the citywide meetings. And he does it typically either on his own or with the encouragement of the city commission.

And district commissioners have town halls as well they should, as often as they wish within their districts. And this has kept the peace on this commission for sixty five years. You chose to break from that tradition. You chose to tell staff that they were not needed to present on all of these issues when they are the subject matter experts, they are the ones that are the best source of information on all this. They are the ones who are capable of preserving the credibility of the city in terms of what's going on.

And if in fact you should stumble I'm not saying on purpose, even inadvertently and say something about any of those subjects, trying to undo the harm that that inaccuracy could create would be costly, time consuming, and annoying, and totally avoidable. Because that's what staff are for. They're here to support us. And nobody, including me, is in a position to say I know better than them about such things as parks, utilities, public safety, finance, capital projects, education, code enforcement, governments, or this FP and L issue, which you said got you into this thing, which would have been understandable within your own district, that is an engineering matter. And it will invariably raise questions.

The city attorney might have easement questions. The city attorney typically shows up to these meetings. But you chose to make this a one man show. We don't do that here in Pembroke Park.

Excuse me.

May I interrupt you if

you're inaccurate, you said? Let me finish. Sorry to interrupt you if you're inaccurate. The city attorney will be on hand.

I have discussed

I didn't say he wouldn't be on hand.

Well, no. I have discussed certain matters with the city attorney as far as how things will be presented. Not to put the city attorney on the spot. I also have again, I'm presenting information that has been on this dais and is in our minutes.

If you want a citywide meeting on utility installations. All

you have to do

is ask, and your colleagues will come running to your aid. And we will call a citywide meeting. And maybe we need to do it in the big room. And we'll have FP and L there. And we'll have our city engineer there.

And we will have maps. And we will have all this other kind of stuff and everything else. But if what you want is a meeting thirteen days before an election with a bunch of cameras and the thing turned around and you're the only speaker, it casts the appearance that this is a political event. And I think that in that spirit, mister Dodge, tell me if I'm mistaken because I wasn't even aware of this phone call with with you and and and commissioner Schwartz. But my sense is you were calling him with that in mind saying there are appearance issues with this. It sort of deviates from the way we've been doing things, and you're making us, the staff, uncomfortable. Is that correct?

Well, I was making me uncomfortable, and that's why I requested if he could move it to March after the election because then that would, eliminate any of those comments that I've been receiving from people.

Okay.

Both on topics as well as why is only one person permitted to speak and no one else.

Commissioner, I I really I really feel that you have a right to be heard within your own district. And you have a right to be in the room with your colleagues when matters are are appoint are are mentioned. But the other thing is that this rule, however it was communicated, that only you would be allowed to speak and that we would be invited but not allowed to speak. Did you actually request that? Did you

request that? No. I did not request that.

Okay. Mister mister clerk, were you requested or was it was it commented to you that the city commissioners and the mayor should be invited to Commissioner Schwartz's event? Like that they should not

I extended that.

That they should not be allowed to speak? No.

The commissioner did not say the commissioners could not speak. I asked in regards to whether I should post the meeting. He said I may, but he would be the only one speaking. And and he was Yeah. It's it's it's

no different than any other public meeting.

There was no mention.

He didn't use the word no commissioner.

Mister Dodge, how did you come to that conclusion that

I came to the conclusion because, when it is said that all of these people are invited, but he's the only one to speak, then what kind of conclusion does it come to? It means he is the only one that's speaking, and and that's how I came to the conclusion.

Well See, when this thing of who who can speak and who can't speak, this is just not that's just not how we do it. If it's in the mind I'll tell you what I would feel more comfortable with.

Tell me.

What I would feel more comfortable with is that we all as a team support you in whatever district town hall meeting you wish to have, that staff make themselves available and that that that that happen. I am prepared to I am prepared to to hold at your request a citywide town hall on this on this FP and L matter, which is not on your list of issues on your on your flyer. But I really think now this new commission should create some rules for how this happens so that we don't have this uncomfortable situation again where everyone sort of understands what a town hall meeting is. A town hall meeting isn't where an elected official is the only one that speaks. Town hall meeting is where there's a specific topic that staff has researched, that staff is presenting the people of the city with the facts that they have found, and that that commissioner for their constituency is there to moderate, to listen, to take notes, to respond.

Everybody gets the same opportunity to speak if there's a question of staff, if there's a question of the attorney. It's open. It's discussion. It's out in the public. And how these things are that citywide meetings should be called by the mayor or by commissioners that say, you know what, mayor? We really need a citywide. I can't imagine any mayor that we've ever had saying no to a town hall meeting citywide that any group of commissioners might ask him to

call.

But to get involved in this wide range of discussion where people are limited in terms of whether they can speak, thirteen days.

That's not the case, sir. Again, you're misstating. You just heard you asked the clerk a question.

I'm going to repeat the question because Please. Because I want to make sure. What reference was made about who who could could and couldn't speak?

He didn't reference any other people. GREGORY He said he would be the only one speaking when I asked in regards to the posters.

He would be the only one speaking?

Yes. No. What I said was it needs to be publicly noticed because we're all going to be in the room.

Right. But that he would be the only one speaking?

I'm the presenter.

Right. But the only one speaking is what was heard.

Mayor, let me be crystal

clear. Okay.

You had 40 or 50 meetings. At no point was there any commissioner on the list as a featured speaker other than you as the presenter. This is no different.

But they were allowed to speak. In fact, I called on you several times. I called on Commissioner Good several times when you raised your hand. And you had something to say. And in The

United States Of America, that's what you're allowed to do. However, under Sunshine, the clerk has to oppose the possibility of one or more elected officials of a governing body, which I'm hoping was the case with this restaurant roundtable. Mr. Clerk, was that posted? No. Why was that not posted?

He didn't say a word. He just showed up. He wasn't even invited. He showed up because he heard about it and he cared. He sat there. He didn't say a word.

What was

saying a word and being in the room are are two different things.

No. That's not the case.

If

You don't you need you need a refresher lesson in the sunshine law. Two commissioners can be in the same room. What what violates the sunshine is exchanges between them.

Correct. But it has to be publicly noticed that at least one or more public officials are going to be

I had no idea that any other public official was coming.

Well, if you

would Then just

show up. If you would ask

the cancel the meeting? Throw him out of the meeting?

No. Just ask the clerk to post it. That's all.

It's

I'm I'm gonna explain it again. I had no idea that any other elected official would be in the room, so there was no need to post it. He showed up because he cared, and he did it professionally. He didn't open he didn't say a word. He just sat there.

I wouldn't

And I acknowledged him and said, thank you for coming and and and showing that

you can there had I known.

Had you gone to the chamber of commerce breakfast the other day where I made the announcement, you would have known. But you were busy, and that I can understand that. But that's where that's what but but now you're now you're taking us off You some could've shared this on us. We gotta bring this back home. Okay? Let's bring it back.

Why not tell your colleagues that you're gonna be hosting a roundtable for restaurants? You could have done that.

I didn't do a roundtable. Let's bring it back home. This is about your meeting. You wanna bring up my meeting? Put it on the agenda.

The the manager just brought up this meeting. I think that the smart thing to do, because it has raised such a a a concern this close to an election, is that we simply decide, look, and it would be easier if you made the decision. Look, let's put this off until after the election. Give staff a chance to put together some reasonable rules that we can by resolution adopt on how this so that we can never have to have this conversation again. Shares how it is.

Town hall meetings will be run. Because the truth is, and in fairness to you, there are no rules. There are no rules. But no one has ever gone to where you're proposing. And if you want to have an FP and L meeting in your district, or if you want to have an FP and L meeting citywide, I'm sure everybody will disagree. But if you want to talk about all of these issues, sir, I don't trust you to do that on your own. I don't trust myself to do that on my own or anyone else on this desk. I trust them. They are the professional staff. They have to present on these issues.

Well, I think I think you'll be pleas

Mister mister mayor, if I may if I may interject.

Yes.

I'm going through my emails, and I did receive a copy of an email. It was directed to me, and it was from commissioner Schwartz. He says, please reserve the city commission meetings for February 25 at 06:30. I will be hosting a District 2 Town Hall. So at that point, I just thought it was a District 2 how it morphed yeah. I and I don't know how it morphed into citywide after.

But it morphed into citywide.

That was his that was his that was his original request. And I I think we need to have better communication, but I think the commissioner needs to communicate with me, not directly with staff, asking for video equipment and everything else. They don't have the authority to do that, and, that's why I was getting concerned with, all of the demands that were being made for this town hall meeting.

Mr. Dodge, I know you may be feeling under the weather, but pause for a moment, please. Okay? Please pause. On February 0 Christina,

when

was it? February 4 or fifth, an email came directly from Mr. Dodge, from your administration asking how they could be supportive. And when I respond

Of course. Support. We've all you're correct. We're always supportive, but that doesn't mean we're going to redesign the whole system. Normally, it's supportive. We open up the hall. We provide you with a mic, and that's it. Not videos, not curtains. That's a lot of staff time and expense. So I had a a a concern, and I thought it would be a very small event because you originally said it was just District 2.

But every time I turned around, there was another email to a different department asking for a, b, and c. I think, mayor, you're correct. I think let staff work on something that's fair for everyone, and we'll come back, and the commission can look at it and decide how they wanna handle it. And I think these requests need to come to me, and I'll direct staff what needs to be done.

And I I think I think that if we go down that road, we should go down that road collegially that that that it simply be known that this is gonna be rescheduled. No one wants to stop you, mister Schwartz May mayor. From having you say.

Mayor, the

the information The smear on this thing right now

DELL: The is is coming directly from the worst that Pembroke Pines can offer. And that's making this political. There's nothing political about having a conversation with the public.

And

mark this date. This is a terrible, terrible way of handling the people's business. I am going to have a conversation with people who I represent. I am elected by District 2. My vote carries throughout the entire city. I am asking for input. Are some people believe it or not, believe it or not, there are some people who actually call me and email me and ask me to do my job.

And on February it's too much for Mr. Staff we've had enough. We've had enough. It's time to bring this in for a landing. I want to keep this copacetic, and it's starting to get off the reels. Who wants to make a motion? What do you want to do? The suggestion that the manager is sort of making is that this town hall be postponed until after there are some rules and allow commissioner to perfect his idea for a district town hall. What is your pleasure? Well, my pleasure

is to allow me to do my job. If the manager does not want to provide curtains, doesn't want to provide turning stuff around, doesn't want to provide a microphone, That's the that's the manager's purview. Okay? Alright. So you want you

want you you wanna go as as planned? It's moving forward as as scheduled. Yes. Is there a second to that?

No. It's not a

motion. No. It is now in front of us. And you've just made a motion. And I'm asking I did if there's not a

make a motion.

Okay. Then there is an emotion.

I did not make

a motion. Okay. Then there is an emotion. Is there a motion before us? Mister manager, the meeting is canceled. Thank you very much. Good night, folks.