Financial Advisory Board - Regular Meeting

years and she really knows the city pretty well yeah she will do a great job tag teaming with sandra who originally comes recording in progress yeah and has now the experience of being boss lady yeah no she will be a very very strong controller that's really good to hear so we're looking forward to her starting on friday okay

All right. Let's see.

Do we have a quorum yet? We have Liz.

Yes. Well, maybe we do.

No, Liz and you. That's it.

And Bill. Yep.

I'm here as well.

Oh, hi, Bill.

Yeah, Bill Pantagrassi.

Bill, how was it doing the minutes?

I was fine. Actually, I was going to ask you the same question now that you've seen the results. They look awesome.

Hey, for the first time, you did an excellent job, sir.

Okay, great. Yeah, I took quick notes, and I will today as well, from the actual meeting, but the AI transcription does make it pretty easy because a couple of times I go, geez, what did we say about that? And they go, oh, yeah, there it is, and then you can put it in.

It's easy.

Yeah, good. I'm glad it was okay. You did a great job at the ribbon cutting, by the way.

Thank you. I wasn't supposed to speak.

No. Oh, I didn't realize that.

I'm not going to say that I hate public speaking because I don't. But I was taught if you don't have anything nice to say, you don't say anything at all. And they forced me to say something nice. I took it to the extreme of the triple P.

It was a great turnout, though.

It was great turnout, surprisingly, even with the rain. And it turned out to be a hell of a project.

Yeah. I didn't get a chance to go inside at all.

Inside, it's still bare with signage as to this is going to be this, this is going to be that. Basically, the cafe is starting to take shape. Where the tent was is the paddle courts, paddle ball courts, and the pickleball courts. So they're going to go up quite quickly. The main field is ready.

I peeked through on my way out. It looked really nice.

We were supposed to have had the kids do a kickoff of the first kickoff with a ball. All the kids. Because of the rain, we couldn't do it. Uh, and yeah, their signs, second floor is going to be strictly for children because you have to be an approved adult class to certification, whatever. So it's going to be the Y going in there doing summer programs, afterschool programs, uh, the teen section, uh, You know, we'll have a room for the teams to just hang out and do whatever, play ping pong, table games, books, computers.

Programming. They rent from us. To have somebody. Yeah, no. It didn't work out. you know, that nature that you feel for Jim. All right.

Let's... Get cracking then with the formalities. Calling the meeting to order at 6.35 Tuesday, June 9, 2026. And let's do a roll call. Elizabeth Avalo. Here. Thank you. Sid Hart, Richie Mehta.

I am here.

Thank you. William Prendergast. Here. Thank you.

Marco, tell me he's logging in as we're talking.

Okay, great. Thank you. Commissioner Chevroni.

I am present.

Thank you. Village Manager Frank Rollison.

He's hanging out someplace here as well. I saw him.

Yeah, I'm here.

Thank you, Frank. All right. And we should have Marco momentarily then. Good.

And Mike Day will not be able to be at the meeting. Somebody in her family passed away, so she has to be excused.

Oh, okay.

She will join us together with Sandra at the next meeting.

Okay, great. Thank you. And I think that was Marco. Hey, Marco.

Yep. Hey, welcome. There he is.

All right. So we have a full house then with our board members. Great. Next agenda item, appointment of new board secretary.

It was done last meeting.

It was done? Yes. So I can skip that one? Okay, good.

Bill Pendergrass is our board meeting.

Perfect. Thank you, Bill, for signing up. Sure. Approval of the May 12, 2026 meeting minutes. I'll make a motion to approve. Anyone second? Second. Thank you, Sid. Motion passes. Meeting minutes approved. 3A old business status update on the Village Community Center project.

I believe this is the last time this will be in our agenda. I'll kick it off for you guys. Hopefully most of you were able to attend this last Friday. We had the groundbreaking, the ribbon breaking ceremony for the I mean, last Thursday for the community center. Fortunately, it rained. And it rained quite hard. But yet we still had a full house. We had to do a couple of switcheroos. Basically, we had a lot. For those of you that were not there, basically, Galleon Street was closed. And up and down Galleon Street, we had a bunch of little booths of sponsors and And I will not start by naming some and skipping others, so I will not name any. The food sponsors were giving treats of their restaurants so you could taste the foods they gave. There was massage tables. There was some other business sponsors who were promoting their businesses. There was a food truck that was giving out free food sponsored by the village to complement the restaurants that were giving out the treats. There was a bounce house or a big slide, whatever you want to call that for the kids. And the kids loved playing soccer in the rain. I mean, there were wet ducks, but they loved it. We were not able to use the actual stage that we were planning on, which is the area of the cafeteria where the steps are on top, because it was raining quite hard. So Brent, who was our MC for the evening, was at the beginning of the tent. Thank God we had a large tent, but it was packed. It was really literally packed. We had about 10 speakers. We had the former village manager there with some of his staff, which used to be part of our staff. So it was nice seeing some old faces. We had the whole YSAROTA team who was instrumental in doing the contracts for this project. And we had Joe Geller, the school board representing that partnership. The last 45 minutes of the event, I would say, after all the speeches were done and we cut the ribbon, there was tours of the facility. Basically, each area had a signage as to what's coming in there. The building is a shell being converted into the community center. Basically, the cafeteria is starting to take shape. Some areas of the second floor are starting to take shape. Second floor is going to be mainly for youth, for kids. The Y will eventually be the lead liaison for that second floor with the after school programs and the summer programs there for the kids. This is going to be an area for teenagers to either Play ping pong, play board games, computers, read, just hang out, basically, which will be used also, I imagine, by our youth services board that we are forming in the village that they asked for. Third floor is mainly for children and adults together. That's where Tai Chi is going to take place. We offered it to the yoga people and the strap people at the park, the ladies that do those exercises in the park. they decided to stay outdoors until rating season comes in. They're going to be begging to come indoors. Bill was a proponent of the gym. He was telling me, and no, we're not doing a full third floor gym. We cannot do a third floor gym because we lose our whole third floor. So basically what we're doing is we're talking about getting a couple of machines. We'll have a, a mini version of a gym. You can do some exercises as well on your own. But we plan to have activities. Any activities that you can think of, please feel free to send a quick text to Lily or Christina. We're looking for activities that the adults and the seniors will be interested in. Basically, in this coming week, I'm not sure exactly when, the FIFA Or the AFA people, excuse me, the PFL are going to do their small version of the ribbon cutting. Nothing outrageous. They're inviting very few people. It's basically the president of AFA is going to stop by. He wants to see the final rendering of what he paid for. So they'll do their version of their ribbon cutting. The team is not coming here at this time. By the way, there was a gentleman there representing the AFA, the ambassador for AFA. And sometime in the near future, during the World Cup, when they have a larger break, they're going to come. I believe they're now either in Kansas or Kentucky, one of those wonderful major cities doing their practices. And they have no games here in Miami, but they're going to try to bring them to Miami at least once, the actual Argentine team. And you will all be invited to show up that day to see. There is standing room only around the field, guys. There's no bleachers. This is not an exhibition game. And once you're invited, I'm going to ask that you keep it to yourself and your spouse if you want to bring them, because there's not going to be that much room. It's going to be crowded. But we don't want to advertise it because we don't want people coming in from the outside to crash our party.

Remind me, Richard, this person whose first name is Mariano, what is his last name?

No, Mariano is the PFL person. He is the one that's running the academy. He runs the academies. Mariano, I don't know what I'm going to say. I'm not sure. No, he's not AFA. He's the Soccer Academy. He is the Soccer Academy. The person that's the ambassador for AFA, who was there, because I know you were there, wearing a suit and spoke, as well as Tomas Regalado. Yeah, Tomas Regalado. The oldest son of a property appraiser and the older brother of Raquel Regalado, who's a county commissioner. Oh, so he's the son of Tomas Regalado. Yes, he's the oldest son of Tomas Regalado. He's not the one that ran for office. He's the non-political one that's the ambassador for APA.

Yes, and he's brothers of Raquel. Right. Yeah, I know Raquel. Yes, beautiful. And then we also have the General Counsel of Argentina.

Yes, the General Counsel of Argentina was there as well. And I imagine he's going to be there this week and next week whenever Tapia shows up.

I think he's very good friends with Brent. I'm trying to remember his name. Frank knows everybody.

Frank? Yes? Do you know the Consul of Argentina?

Probably.

That was there?

I don't know his name. But he was there.

Yeah, he was there. Mark, those who asked him, he knew his name. If you need his name, Mark, I can get it for you.

No, no, I can Google it. I was just, it just came to mind and forgot it. Trying to find it here.

Tomas, I know when he was a little boy.

And what's Mariano's last name, Frank?

I don't know. I can't remember. It was always Mariano.

That's Mariano. Marcelo Lardoni. That's the... The console?

Wow.

So pretty much that's the... The community center project, basically they're finishing off what's left of any roadway for opening up. We have opened up the area coming in from...

Jewel?

Not only from Jewel, from the rehab center.

Yeah, North Treasure, where it comes in there on the gate.

So that entrance is already open as well. And the other entrances will be opening quite soon because we're getting the whole place ready.

Yeah. Sorry, Richard. Did you mention anything about the rooftop?

The rooftop garden is there. But basically, right now, it's just a place to go up, take a look because the cafeteria is not open to buy something and go upstairs and sit down and have it. If you want to bring your own, you're more than welcome. The elevator is open. But there's still workers working on the building. So that's why we haven't really said to people, come on over and start using the building. You'll be told as soon as we start, you know, the furniture's in, the workers are gone. You know, hey, come on in and

via the web we'll be announcing it yeah it'll be a while before the cafe is operational I think that'll be a big draw and the rooftop still needs some work the pergola is in but the planters are coming for the plants along the sides and that type of thing and you know we're We're at the tail end. I'm hoping by the end of June or maybe the middle of July at the latest that we'll be open for business. We're going to start ordering the equipment now and the furniture and so forth. And we haven't done it yet because we've got no place to put it. We need to be able to be on site and receive the delivery of whatever comes in and have our workers get it into place. So as soon as PFL gives us the word that it's ready for us to occupy, and we have the temporary certificate of occupancy. We got a special dispensation to have the event because it doesn't have a TCO yet. But I saw paperwork today flying back and forth from CAP, who was our permitting people, and MG3, who's doing the building, about getting the TCO finaled. So once we get the temporary certificate of use, certificate of occupancy, we will make a final walkthrough and make what's called a punch list of those things that have to be repaired or touched up or things that aren't right or keys that don't work, that type of thing. And then once they satisfy those things that we say are outstanding, then we'll get a certificate of occupancy for the building itself. The use of the fields is still a little ways off. They've now started to put the artificial turf down on a couple of the smaller fields. And, you know, they're out there working every day. They want to get it done. So it's moving along pretty good.

Yeah. No, it looks great. It does. It looks fantastic. It's like the village's crown jewel.

The only thing we need now is the fourth star up there by the Alpha sign. That means that they won the world championship again.

I like the building. I think it's beautiful. Congrats and kudos to everyone involved because I know it was a big project. talking to us about these financials for the last three to four years. And it's good that it's been materialized.

Yeah. Yeah, a lot of people were talking about it. Everybody's very pleased.

It's the first building that's owned by the village.

What's the deal, Richard, with the lights? Like, are people being bothered by the lights of the field?

Oh, yeah. Well, let me fill you in on the lights a little bit. This is Frank.

Okay. Hey, Frank.

Yeah, people are being, especially on the west side of the big field, they are very upset with the lighting. We're seeing what can be done, if anything. One of the items is that this field is one of five that is a FIFA-approved field in the state of Florida. There's only four others. This is the fifth one, the only one down south. So there are soccer clubs that want to come and play on that field. And it has to meet those certifications. So we're in a quandary right now of how we can do something to alleviate the problems with those immediate homes. I don't know what the solution is, and I'm not sure there is a solution, but we're looking and seeing what can be done. but it is bothering people. And even people in the Lexi, it's not that it's shining right on either of the places, but it's so bright if you have your windows open or you want to have your windows open at night and enjoy the night air. It's like this big light outside. It's not shining in you, but it's shining in a ball to where it affects you. And the people in the Lexi are saying they can't use their balconies. When they go out there, they're in this bright light. They don't like it. So we're going to see. We're going to see.

What time did they turn off? Correct.

They were on pretty regularly while they did a lot of aiming and taking photo metrics in the field because there can't be any shadows and all of that. The other night it was on, last Saturday night it was on until after midnight and nobody knew why they were on. And so I got hold, you know, once I saw or I was told about all the discussions that took place on Facebook or wherever, I got with Gus and with Andrea who run the place or building the place, and they didn't know why the lights were on. So they were going to follow up on that Monday. There was a security guard there at night from 6 at night till 6 in the morning. And he evidently didn't have a clue what was going on either. So they are running down the problem as to why they came on or who turned them on or whatever. But they should only be on when the field is in use because it's expensive to turn those lights on. They draw a hell of a lot of electricity. So they're not going to be on at night just to be on. There's going to be, if there's activity on the field, then they'll turn the lights on.

Basically, the lights were on later than normal also because they were trying to glue down the turf?

Yeah, that was early on.

And they couldn't do it during the daytime because it was too hot. The sun was too hot. So they had to wait at nighttime when it was cooler and they needed the lights on to be able to glue the field.

Yeah, to see what they were doing.

Because we were in a rush to get it ready for the World Cup, for calling it such, have it ready, the inauguration before the World Cup. We had to work Saturdays and Sundays. Not we. The workers had to work Saturdays and Sundays. And Frank permitted them to do quiet work. Lights is quiet work, believe it or not.

Yeah. And the poles that are on the other four fields, the smaller fields, are not near the intensity of these. They are where you can play on it, but they're not like stadium lighting like it's on this field. This field's a FIFA-approved soccer field, and it has to live up to that criteria. So we'll see what comes.

Now, me asking, are we doing something with the basketball fields?

The basketball court is being restored and it will be there on East Treasure like it is now. They've already installed new lighting on that as part of the project, and that will be open for the children to use as it is after school. That's really a school property, that basketball court, or the several courts are there, several baskets. They do not want it open during the daytime. They wanted to open at, the rule was after three o'clock. So the kids are out of school. And we would keep it open until 11 at night during the summertime. And then the police would come by and lock it up and then open it. And Saturday and Sunday, it'd be open at seven o'clock in the morning all day long. So the kids can get out there on that. So that's still the plan with the basketball court.

Is that the same times as the field as far as being open to public?

Or I'm not sure what the... Well, there's a whole schedule at different times by the hour of who's allowed to be out there. Whether PFL is renting the fields or the fields are for the village use. On Saturday and Sunday, the small fields we have use of almost all day long. Um, the big field, which is one of the rubs with, with our local soccer club is that the premium time is in the early evening. And the agreement that we have right now, that goes to PFL because that's the period of time they can rent those things and make their money. The soccer club that we have wants the same time. Of course, they're not paying. to be on the field. When we have our hours, it's for our children to go on there free. And then there's some times during the day when the school is in operation that they have use of the fields. So it's a hodgepodge of times and days, and there will be an operator there who operates and leases or rents the pickleball, the paddleball, and the soccer fields on an hourly basis and like on the pickleball and paddleball courts they're they're by the hour so if somebody does not rent one of those courts in the first 10 minutes of an hour then a resident can use that court for the rest of the time for free so i anticipate we're going to have some residents hanging out i just surmise to see if a court comes open, especially during the weekdays when people are at work, that they may be able to get some free time in on the courts. So, you know, it's adjustable depending on what the market bears and how they do with their revenue, because it is a business and we get a share. And we have to make money to be able to pay the school the rent that we have on the properties that we're using as part of this project. So it's lots to be seen as it starts to unveil and get use as to how everybody does financially.

There is one of the small fields that is dedicated at all times for North Bay Village for free.

Yes.

By all times that there is no school going on. Let me rephrase that.

Right.

Once after school is out, there's one field at all times the park is open that North Bay Village can go in there and use that field.

The issue is, and Commissioner is correct, But those fields are managed by PFL. And they say that on the small fields, you can have 15 to 20 kids and that's it. And they have to have the right shoes. I mean, it's very, very controlled as to what you can do on those fields, how you have to be outfitted. You can't even take a water bottle out onto the fields. So all that stuff has to be off to the side and and more supervised. And so it'll be a learning curve, I think, because the kids are used to just going out on the grass field and doing whatever they want.

But then the other good news is a little bit farther down on North Treasure Drive. I mean, yeah, North Treasure Drive. We're going to have the Anson Family Park, which is right after the KLA school. That empty field that's there, that's being worked on right now, it's being graded. We haven't decided, by we, I mean the city hasn't decided what's going to go in there yet. We're waiting to see how this alpha field progresses, how we can work with it, before we decide what we're really going to have going at all times at the Anson Park.

So let me bring up the speed on Anson Park. Rather than it sitting there fallow, it was a field that has had demolition on it. It wasn't smooth. You can imagine pulling all the foundations of the buildings out and all of that. So even though it looked like it was grassy, if you walked on it, it was potholes and all that. Mr. Anson gave a grant to the city along with the park. And we're using that money, as the commissioner was saying, we're grading the field. Today they put the first layer of topsoil on. They've got it smoothed out. The sprinkler system is going in. And then it's going to have a grass that the kids can play on. There won't be any lights, but we have those two big portable generator lighting units that I bought for the other field school. So the kids will be able to play on there at night. So if push comes to shove with the soccer club, with the hours that the parents want, there will be a place that the kids can go and play. And that field will be maintained by us and the grass will be cut. And then down the road, if there are decisions made by the commission of what we want to do there, what we may want to build there, you know, do we want to put a swimming pool in there for a community pool? There's a lot of just ideas being kicked around and, uh, and then the commission will decide. And of course, money will be another factor being able to, you know, afford whatever is coming. We will have a temporary restroom on the site, just like we do at, uh, Schaumburger Park right now, that unit will be moved on to this other field because once we're full run at the community center, there's another bathroom in the community center that's separate from the rest of the building. So the people that go to Schaumburger Park with their little kids have got a restroom they can use all the time without that building having to be open. So that's been thought of. So there's a lot of you know, potential possibilities coming and some options. Right now we're renting a place for the soccer for the kids underneath I-95 off of 79th Street. And that rental that we have will run out in the end of August. And by that time, this other field that we're putting the grass in should be in pretty good shape for the kids to play in.

But basically, if you have any ideas of what you want on that park, you better come with ideas of how to fund the things in the park. Yeah. Your work is being cut out for you guys, being very serious about it. I was at a function yesterday. And the topic of conversation, of course, is this property tax issue that's come up, which is not on our agenda. Basically, what the legislators are saying is that, yes, they have approved the property tax ballot measure. What they did was punt it to the public. See what the public wants. Immediately, the public is saying, hey, yeah, we're going to take a cut in our taxes paying in our homes. but they need a 60% approval rate. And some of the legislators that are in favor, I mean, truly in favor of the ballot question, and a lot of the people that are in office for the ballot question are leaving either in November after the elections for attempting to go for other positions, or are leaving in January when the Santa's term is up and the whole staff changes. So there's a lot of changes that are going to be forthcoming that we don't know about. Yesterday in speaking with some of the legislators, what their plan really is, is waiting to see A, if it passes, which they're hoping it does not because they're all legislators, but they're all residents of cities that are going to be affected with cuts in police, parks, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Thank God they saved the schools. But all the major departments are saying, why only the schools? So my question to him was, is there really time to do this? His answer was, well, they come in in January. We come in with a budget by the end of March, supposedly. And the new governor must approve the budget by the end of June 30th. Cities do it in October. So we have between June 30th or July 1st and October 1st to figure out our budget for the following year based on did the residents approve it? What are the cuts? What's approved? What can we get? What can we fund from our ad valorem tax? We have also done studies as to as of today. not the new buildings that are going up because we don't know what's going to happen with those new buildings. As of today, what is our loss for not obviously next year, but the year after when the, if it passes at $150,000 cut and what would happen in 28 with the $250,000 cut? I am pleased to say, and the key word is pleased. It could be much worse, and it is much worse in other places. We're down about a million dollars from our ad valorem taxes in 27 and close to one and a half million for 28 that we're going to need to look as to where to cut. And we're going to be looking at the finance advisory board to help us figure out where those cuts can be done. So that's what I'm saying. These meetings that are forthcoming right now are relatively short meetings. The last one was short. This one is short. But in the near future, your work is cut out for you. We're going to need your help in putting this city in the right place.

And this is, you said, not taking into account any new buildings going up, right?

Correct.

I don't disagree. I just wanted to know.

There's two buildings only going up right now, which is Continuum And Shoma.

Right.

We don't know when they're going to be through. Yeah, we don't know. We don't know if the buyers are first. Are they going to be homeowners here, first homeowners here? Or is this going to be their second or third homes? How are they going to be taxed? We don't know if the law is going to be passed. So we really cannot predict what the future will bring. I mean, it'd be nice if we had a little ball in front of us and we can say, okay, this building is going to come up in 28, this one will be ready by 29, and it's going to have 100 new people, and it's going to be divided in 50% first-time homeowners, then 50% second homeowners. I don't know. How can we predict what's happening?

Well, I think the only thing that we can... We have to work with what we have. I think the only thing that is for certain based on these uncertainties would be not to expand next year's budget because then we may have even more to cut the following years.

Yes, but there's a but. North Bay Village has been shorted In the past, and by shorted, I mean, I just said that this was our first official building owned by the village. We're breaking ground in our city hall. By the end of August, I believe it is. We are the only city, the only municipality in Dade County that does not have their own city halls. We can't cut out our city hall. We've gone too far. We've raised most of the money already. But then it's going to come time to furnish city hall. How good of carpenters are you guys?

Well, the good news here, too, though, is and I'm not saying I'm not for or against any of this stuff, but just in general, the tax basis once these buildings go up is going to be considerable.

Yes, but honestly, I don't foresee it for 28 or 29.

No, exactly. And it won't happen. It won't. Absolutely. But starting, I don't know, again, crystal ball, you're absolutely right. But starting 2030, it should be very significant.

2030 is a good target date because you've got to remember, once they're completed, the taxes run a year in arrears. Right. So if they're finished and – 28, 29, you know, you're looking at 30 before you start to really reap the benefits of the taxes. I think another thing you need to be aware of is not only is the people that are homesteaded going to get a break, but they also included in there that all other buildings, originally it was businesses, but then they changed it to all other buildings that are not homesteaded are gone, there's a maximum of how much percentage the tax assessor can raise their taxes. And on those properties, it's 10%. That's been changed to 5%. So now you figure if you got a homesteaded property, the most that can be raised is 3%. So probably what will happen is the most they'll be able to do anybody else is 5%. So when you look at the percentage of the homes that are homesteaded and all the other businesses and properties that are not, we're going to take a hit on those properties too, because they're not going to get the increase that they would normally get. They might not get 10%, but they get 6% or 7% increase in assessment. Because as these buildings go up, the values of these properties are going to rise. Homes properties are going to rise. Well, they're protected, the ones that are homesteaded, by Save Our Homes. So most they can get raised to 3%. But the other ones are fair game. So they have now said, no, no, you can't do more than 5% for those. So the people that have their second or third homes, they come down here in the wintertime and maybe spend a couple of months and you would get the advantage of the increased taxes off of those buildings, those homes, that's not going to happen either.

So it's going to be a hit. I mean, being very upfront, the commission has decided to stay silent on this property tax issue until said time that the governor signs this year's budget. Reason being... And putting a very blunt, excuse me, list, since you're the only female here, we don't want to piss them off. We have to be quiet. We have to let things settle down, have them signed. We have about a million dollars in the budget right now. $750,000 for City Hall and about $150,000 to $200,000 for some drainage in Harbor Island.

So we don't want to piss them off.

After that, we can talk.

Yeah, that's fair.

I am also very much pro-development and I'm not hiding it. At my age, I should not be pro-development. I should be pro-less taxes. But I have lived in this village much too long. Other politicians prior to me have promised these buildings are going up. We have approved eight to 10 buildings to go up. Only two are going up. Third one about to, excuse me, three are going up. I have to include two of them finally since 2018. And only, the only other one that broke ground is, or that had a groundbreaking is Pagani, but it's going to take about six months before they really break ground. All the others have a good shot at really being built. But what you said, Bill, is true, but you're putting it much too early in 2030. I'm doing the tax cut, the real profitable living in North Bay Village for us residents on the next generation, not my generation.

Okay. Yeah.

Now, being realistic, being realistic, I'm looking at even a little bit longer time than you are. I hope it's sooner rather than later, but it's not up to me.

Yeah. Well, hopefully the developers are going to be highly motivated to get them done quickly because obviously they don't make any money until then. So that will only help the situation with the taxes since they've already been approved.

But right now they're paying for an empty lot.

Right. And they're not making any money and their investors aren't making any money.

They're not making any money on their investment, but it's not a seller's market. It's a, you know. There's really no seller market right now. It's slow.

Yeah.

And I think the other thing that we need to keep in mind is that the infrastructure in the village is collapsing. Water, sewer, it's done its life. And we're continually patching leaks and breaks and lines. And we're dumping a lot of water into the ground from our potable water from the county because it's leaking. out of the pipes, and we're paying for that once it goes through the master meter coming over to the village. They don't care what you do with the water. You can dump it all in the ocean as far as the county's concerned because you're going to pay for every drop that came through that master meter. And so these will be massive projects that have to be undertaken to get into these rows and redo these sewers and drinking water lines. And at that time, If we're going to do that kind of work, you've got to consider start putting in fiber that the village could own because the future is going to be in that conductivity for all kinds of services that are going to come. And there's no reason that the village could not own its own fiber and get that out. So we need to look at that when the time comes. And that's going to be off the taxes that come from these big buildings.

Well, actually, I'm glad you brought that up because I wanted to see what, and I don't want to drag this on too much. I don't know if this is the right platform, but again, this is my wheelhouse. Is there, has the commission talked at all about setting up a development fund? No. Because I mean, that's like for specific examples, like my company builds shopping centers and own shopping centers. A lot of the communities that we work with, they'll either one have a development fund. So anybody that wants to do any type of development at all, you pay a percentage. It's just like a bill. It's almost like a like a building permit fee. You pay a percentage of what your permit fee, your build cost is going to be into that development fund and everybody has to do it. So any new developments they were contributing, something like the Tula, for example, where it could be like millions of dollars that go towards specifically only infrastructure. So it can't be used for anything else. So the developers understand that it's only going to help their project because the village wouldn't be able to support utilities if this fund doesn't exist. So that's why they contributed to it. Or we specifically, in some of the smaller projects that I've worked on, the county, and sometimes this is very nefarious and sometimes it's actually very logical, but I'm working on a property right now where they're simply saying, we're trying to build about 200 units on a property we already own, 200 residential units. And they're saying, well, this is a commercial shopping center. The sewer system outside going all the way to the sewage treatment center will not hold the capacity for these 400 units that you guys want to put in. So they're coming to us and we're doing surveys right now. And we've agreed basically within reason that if they need to enlarge those pipes in order for us to make that happen, the only way they're going to approve the project is if we pay to enlarge the pipes. And oftentimes that's what the developer will do because even that random number, whatever you want to say it is, a million dollars, if they're going to be making so many more millions on top of that, they'll put that into their budget and they'll move forward.

No, we're facing that and we're aware of that. And they have to get, all these buildings have to get a water allocation and a sewer allocation letter out of the system. And so we can supply so much with the size pipes that we have. And when somebody goes to build and they're the last one in the game, they're not going to get their allocation letter, and they're going to have to put that infrastructure in on their dime to be able to connect. So we're right now in the process with an outfit called Ardura, and they are doing a total evaluation of our total water and sewer system, capacity-wise, age-wise, you know, For instance, we know when we've had a couple of water leaks lately, we've gone into the valves to shut the water down and the valves don't operate because they've sat there for years. As long as the water's flowing, nobody cared. But there hasn't been a program where somebody is operating those valves every three or four months, opening and closing them, that type of thing, so that this stuff all stays operational. The village has not had a true maintenance program. They've had a repair program, but not a preventive maintenance. So hopefully with these buildings coming online, you're going to need training. You're going to need staff. You know, as this village grows with these buildings, you're not going to run it with the small four or five people we have in public works. That ain't going to happen. There's going to have to be other improvements and now when you look at the ad valorem tax thing that's on the table there are certain restrictions on how the ad valorem you get how you can even use it it's not at your discretion you have to use it for your police fire solid waste public works infrastructure but you can't use that money for running a community center or having special events so that type of thing so It's going to be very challenging for us to see how we're going to navigate this situation.

I mean, also, Bill, we have not had a development fund per se, but we have been very, at least the commissions that I have been on, have been extremely proactive in collecting enough funds, community development funds, to help us reach $45 million for a city hall. And about, well, just the third floor of this community center costs us $2 million. You know, so, We've collected quite a bit of money from the developers per se.

Oh, that's great. No, that's certainly good to hear. I was going to say the developers are always willing to open their pockets for that stuff because compared to the, you know, it's usually a lot smaller of a line item than it compared to, you know, their income that they're looking at.

Sorry to have gone off the subject. Let's get back on the subject.

No worries.

Good discussion.

I think that was it then on the community center project. That's kind of where we took a tandem away from. I also see here on the agenda that we have discussion on next year's budget. Are we going to defer that until we have Mighty on next week?

No. We're going to defer it as far as figures go, but Right now, the city's in the process of creating some slides for the meeting of the 25th. As soon as those slides are ready, which will not be until at least next week, by the way, as soon as they're ready, Frank has said that he will go ahead and forward it not only to the commission, but forward it to you guys as well. The first budget workshop is a hybrid session. You can join it via Zoom. You can join it in person. It takes place on June 25th at 6 p.m. That's the first time the commission is going to get together and look at what's being proposed by the administration, give some yays, give some nays, and give some of our own ideas and how we can accomplish it with the budget that is being planned for. And I say being planned for because I'm being realistic. We have kept our millage flat in the general budget for the last four to five years because our property values have been going up. So it really hasn't been flat. It has been slightly increased. But with all these things that are coming up and all these funds that we need to run a community center and to finish building our city hall, amongst other things, We're going to need to raise our millage. Our debt millage is definitely going up because we have borrowed funds from our stormwater bond. We have to start paying off the premium on the village hall bond. And all those things are going to hit us now and we have to start paying them back. The geobonds. So are debt services also going to go up? So, you know, I'm not trying to scare anybody, but these are things that are going to be discussed publicly, openly, transparently. And we have to maintain as low as we can the increase. Let's be realistic. I'm not up for reelection. Thank God. I don't have to face the public afterwards and I can say the truth and I can spit it out because I'm not running again in two years. I'm termed out. So I'm off the day. It's basically in 28. So I'm speaking the truth and I'm saying it as it is. But I have fellow commissioners with whom I work extremely well with. And we partner in a lot of ideas. And I can tell you that they're running for office and they're running scared. And the higher we raise the millage, the least the voters are inclined to vote for them. So we have to be prudent about what we're talking about. We have to be realistic and open, transparent. I mean, this is what we're going to encounter. The first budget workshop is on June 25th. The second budget workshop is July 23rd. They're both at 6 p.m. I know the first one is hybrid. I'm not sure the second one is hybrid or it's going to be just physical at commission chambers. I'm sure that there'll be some minor discussion on budget issues as well. Our meeting this month was moved to June 29th because some of the commissioners had conflicts with the dates that we had. So then we moved it to June 29th. And then there may be some discussion on the budget at the meeting, not really heavy duty because we have other businesses to take care of. And the meeting in July is on July 28th. Basically, the month of August is when we buckle down and come up with our budgets, even though we're off for the month of August. And in September, we have the two public hearings that we must by law have public hearings with the public where we present a budget to be approved. The second meeting is the final approval of the budget. So you're going to be given all this information. I'm available to discuss it privately one-on-one with you guys. You're not allowed to discuss it amongst yourselves out of the meeting. Remember the sunshine law. but I'm not on your liaison. I'm not a member of the committee, so I can discuss it with you. If you have any questions, feel free to call me. If you're friendly or with another commissioner, feel friendlier to speak with another commissioner. If you don't like what I tell you, you don't want to believe what I tell you, go speak to another commissioner. You can speak to all five of us if you want. You have that availability, you know. That's the best I can offer you right now.

All right, let me point out another item in the legislation that's out to be voted on in the fine print. So that legislation, if it's passed, will go into effect in January of 27, which means we need to, when we prepare our budget for 28, that's when we will have to make the adjustments that we have to make. But one of the... One of the provisions in this is that when you go to prepare your budget in 27 for 28, you have to use the rollback rate. You can't use the rate that you're at. So if we raise the millage, whatever we raise it to, and then we get to where we're now going to prepare the next budget. If we haven't raised the millage enough to compensate for what we're going to get with the rollback rate, then you're even going to be deeper in the hole when it goes to the rollback rate, even after you raise the millage. So it's a, you know, we're looking at it and saying how, you know, we haven't, you know, talked to the commission yet, but we're figuring how high do we need to raise that millage as a safeguard so that come next year, when we go to do that budget and we have to use the rollback rate and we don't drop below where we got the millage this year and be in worse shape than we're in for the next year. I mean, you really have to read that legislation very closely to see all the snags that are in there that they've included, but forcing you to use a rollback rate to do your base your next year on If you don't adjust your millage this year, you're really going to be in trouble come next year. And we need to listen from the administration. We're going to be recommending a millage increase definitely to the commission. Now, how much we haven't figured out yet, because we're still looking at all the issues we know in our calculations to run that community center is going to cost about a million dollars a year. That's personnel. It's a, 8 in the morning till 8 at night. You've got to have two shifts of people. You've got to have people for all the activities that you want to put on in there for the seniors. The kids can't be left alone. You can't, you know, you can't just turn people loose on a floor and think everything is going to go nice. You've got to have gatekeepers and, you know, just like being at school, especially with the kids that are a little older and think they know everything. And so just building that community center is step one. Now to run the community center and have services and programs that the public really wants to participate in is going to be an expensive issue to do. And so when we come to the commission and we say, okay, we're going to do this, we're going to do this. And oh, by the way, here's this new animal that we have created. that what are you going to do? Close the doors on the weekends when the kids are looking for a place to go? That's not going to work. So I'm just saying it's a challenging thing that we're in right now to hit a balance that the people are going to, that the voters are going to buy into.

I quickly pulled out my budget book just so I can... spew true information. Our current millage for this year is 5.7. I mean, I can give you all the rest of the fractions, 5.7, 0.62, 5.7. The current year rollback rate is 5.04. That's 0.65 millage more than than the rollback rate. So if we increase the millage and we figure out the rollback rate from the 5.7, we have to make sure that we're safe once we're forced to use the rollback rates. But it's that big of a difference. It's 0.65 mils, which is quite a bit. We need to understand that.

Yeah. The letter net is going pretty good.

Frank and I are the eternal optimists since we're both the old parts of the group.

Would it have there been any discussions on introducing fees to any of these programs to help fund this or is that a is that out?

Would you repeat that for me, please?

No, I was saying if we have or if there have been any discussions to introduce any fees for these programs as a source of funding.

This is something that we're looking at. Basically, most community centers are trying to offer as many activities either free or as low as they can be for the residents. Let's be realistic. For instance, for Tai Chi, I have not heard that there's a charge to the residents yet, but we're trying the Tai Chi, so we're in the experimental phase so far. I'm sure if we make it permanent, there will be a slight fee to the residents. Yoga, I believe they charge like $5 per session. which is minimal, and it's the fee to pay the instructor that's doing the yoga that night. Some nights you may make $100 if there's 20 people there. Some nights you'll make $60 if there's only eight people there. You know, it depends. But they accept that that's what they're going to make. We try to supplement where we can, but the city has to start cutting off those supplementals, and that's what this new... Proposal is forcing. We're going to have to go into the fee-for-service business where the parks have a fee and this has a fee and that has a fee. And let's be realistic and do business. We're going to have to put fees up on certain things. That's the way it's rolling.

You know, I mean, a nominal fee, I think, is okay for an operation of something like a swimming pool or a water park or... You know, it's the unfortunate reality that we currently live in. Yeah.

I mean, some of the things we're looking at, like we'll have dominoes table sets set up. That doesn't require, you know, seniors come and they want to play dominoes. It's an activity they can get out of the house. We're not going to charge for that. We have that there. Kids play ping pong or air hockey or whatever. But when you start having the structured classes, where an instructor has to come in and put those classes on, they don't come for free. They don't come for free. And so, you know, we're looking at how are we going to do this? And...

I mean, we started this year, the Paddle Club, actually started last year, but there was a change in it of ownership.

Right.

So they wanted to charge us more. Basically, the first 15 paddle board users... are getting a very steep discount. But then I said, okay, so the first 15, that means these 15 people are going to be there early every week. So I said, I want to see the list. I want to make sure that it is different 15 people. I mean, as long as you have over 15 people every week. So those that were here last week moved to the bottom of the list and the new ones that haven't gotten the discount get it the next time. Now, we're trying to be as fair as we can with the residents. Like, do I, when they do their after-school programs for holidays, et cetera, there has to be a nominal charge. I mean, there's something that they do that's called date night, so parents can have a date night. They bring the kids in. They feed them. More than likely it's hot dogs and beans. It's not going to be steak and potatoes for sure. But, you know, they feed the kids and they give them little classes or they show a movie or whatever. They take care of your kid for you. They're babysitting for your kids.

And it's a minimal charge.

But you have to pay something to the people that are working that night for the kids, taking care of the kids.

It's sort of going to be a trial as we go to see what kind of results we get from programs we put out, what's popular, what people ask for. And, you know, we'll adjust as we go along. You know, what kind of participation we get. I mean, the inference from the grand opening was that a lot of these people are looking forward for classes going on inside that building they want to have something in the village that they can go to after work on the weekends so you know there's high expectations from a lot of residents that we're gonna have some very uh viable programs in this building And we'd like to do that. We're just going to see how we do it. One other thing I want to point out about this legislation, which I, you know, as I'm racing through my mind with it, the governor says that he is going to set up a rainy day fund.

Does it exist?

Yeah. But it's not in the legislation, number one, and it's supposed to help certain counties, but primarily the rural counties. So in the list that they had, they showed a map, and Palm Beach County, Broward County, Dade County were not eligible.

So it's mostly rural communities that don't exist. The sheriff, this county, they don't have a lot of programs. They don't have a lot of people in the municipality. Such as this game. They're folding into the county. I believe is that enough. When Tommy's doing what do you do? We're making firms. yeah top three commission there the winning firm on july 28th we will have a true price for village hall at that time

We'll be scratching our heads, figuring out where we're gonna find the funds to, from where we are to what we need. That's, I have some TDRs up for sale event. If you know any developers that wanna build the North Bay Village. I need to make some money, not make, by me making money, I mean for the village, by the way. I make absolutely no money out of this. My salary is set by charter, thank you. And it hasn't increased in the last 45 years. But that's where we stand in Village Hall. Village Hall is a reality. It's going to be a six-story building, ground floor, three floors of parking, and two floors for us. And we're going to have our fire department back in Village Hall. The good news is we use the county fire department, so we ain't losing it. Miami may lose theirs, but we ain't losing our fire department. It's there for good. We have just built up a brand new fire station, so we're pretty confident that it's going to stay here. Great.

Yeah.

Good, thank you for that update. If nothing else on Village Hall or the budget, other items on the agenda, staff commission, liaison updates, but I guess there's nothing else from you guys. No. Public comments. I don't think we have anyone on Zoom except from the board. No. No public comments. Agenda items for next meeting scheduled for July 14. So, I mean, based on what Commissioner was telling us on the budget workshops, it means that there will be... There will be one workshop before that meeting, right?

There's going to be one workshop before the meeting on 6-25. Besides that, we're going to have news about what the governator, as I call him, what he signed and what he vetoed out, which line items he has vetoed out. So hopefully there'll be good news there for us to give you as far as, yes, we've got another $750,000 towards City Hall. I know that PNZ is looking at potentially, I'm not sure when they're looking at it because I'm not involved with the PNZ portion of it, but all new projects have to go to PNZ. And I know there's several projects that are in the design phase, right? By the design phase, they're submitting their designs to Village Hall, and Village Hall is asking questions about it before they present to P&Z. And after P&Z, they must present to commission for approval. Specific project is going to be, one specific project is coming up for the causeway. Shoma is considering, is in the process of submitting some changes to their development agreement within their SAP. And I know that Gran Vida is also working on their SAP diligently to try to get it approved as quickly as possible. So there's gonna be some potential financial I don't know if you want to call it an increase, some potential monies coming in that I will be happy to report what has been proposed and how, not development fees as you're talking about, but community contribution fees is what I go for. That's my specialty. The commission is squeezing that nut.

All right. So I guess then, Commissioner, that will kind of fold into next meeting's agenda item where we discuss the budget then. So we don't need to separate that out as an agenda item?

No, because we don't know when... Some of those funds don't come automatically at the time that we vote for them. Some of those budgets... I mean, some of those funds are... At time of pulling permits, some are earlier. I try to get the community contribution fees, depending whether they're TDRs or whether it's hype bonuses, within 60 days of DA approval, Development Agreement approval. So there's a lot of discussion to be had at the actual commission table between myself and my fellow commissioners in trying to let them see the light the way I see the light. So I can't tell you that, you know, I can't tell you that, hey, we got another $2 million that has been promised. You know, like Shoma has some fees that he has to come up with, close to $2 million, but it's not so little. Half of it is in a year from now, and the other half is upon receiving certificate of occupancy. I can't promise you when the CO is coming, so I don't know what year that's going to fall into. But I can start giving you an idea. By the way, the most important aspect that I want to bring up tonight before I forget, it's not early enough for me to put emphasis on this. I think we have finally a good financially advisory board. Unfortunately, once November rolls around and the elections are here, we have to resubmit all over again. I am asking all five of you to submit and I am staying on the commission for another two years. So, you know, and your term would be for two years at least. So you have a pretty good chance of falling back on the finance advisory board. So please, when you hear that we're asking for applications, please submit your applications. I will be reminding you at every FAB meeting between now and November, I'm trying to keep this group together.

I'll definitely be here.

I have a good group. Not necessarily that we all agree on everything. But, you know, it's a smart group. It's a good working group. I'm interested in keeping this group. More than likely, I'll be the liaison for this committee again.

You can count on me as well, Richard.

Thank you, Marco. I've been counting on you now for a couple of years.

Might be more than one time, but I'm always present when I am.

When I need you, I drag you in. I know.

So listen, I want to, uh, echo, uh, the commissioner sentiments about this board. I attend almost all the board meetings and, uh, And I'll say that this one is extremely important to the village. And the historical perspective of having long-term people that get a sense of what's going on in the village from year to year is so important to get some continuity and get a rhythm as to how we're looking. Here we are talking about Raising the millage. Why do we raise it so much? Are we going to face a rollback millage? Those kind of strategies, you need people that, number one, understand them, and number two, will be around to see the process go forward and influence the other commissioners views just the financial interests of the city. And like the commissioner says, you're not always going to, certainly not always going to go along with what I may be recommending from the administration, but there needs to be a coherent third party that the commission can look to and say, how do you see this? You're the ones that are the financial advisory board. So I think consider staying. And I'm very pleased with the support and the input that we have just in these meetings of your interest and what you bring forth. So I'd like for you all to stay too, if that's within the realm of what you feel.

There is one other thing I want to add. I believe at this coming meeting, The Sustainability and Resiliency Board is gonna bring forward the potential redoing of at least our recycling program. I am privy to see the recycling program that's gonna be presented in advance, and I have a meeting with Dave Dobler, which I'm going to invite to join this meeting, the next meeting. Because there's something very curious, and I'm going to throw it out at you now, give you a little heads up. But I want you to listen to him, and maybe after he leaves the meeting, because I don't need him to hang around for the whole meeting, we can discuss it even further. He is coming up with basically a three-pronged plan for recycling. or three separate programs for the city to try to create in recycling to have to manage three different contracts. Those that follow the rules of recycling 100%, one that follows it to argument say 50%, and those that really don't follow it, and each one has a different price. Of course, that who follows it at 100% gets a steeper discount. And I'm saying to myself, how the hell is the village going to be able to manage three different contracts? That's my personal thought right now. I have not heard it personally from him. I'm meeting with him before the commission meeting and I'm going to hear him out at the commission meeting and I will question him. But I think that if the commission is leaning to continue looking into that possibility, I'll invite him to our next meeting so he can present it to you guys and you can look at the financial feasibility of that program.

I'd love to see it. I'm looking forward to that.

Well, if you're looking forward to it, I can send you what he sent me so far.

Yeah, no, it just sounds fascinating. I'm always a big proponent of whatever recycling we can do.

I'm all for recycling, but to break it up into three different contracts for the city is going to be tough.

Yeah, that seems a little suspect. Anyway, I'd be interested in seeing any help I can provide. I'm happy to.

And I've always been a fan of recycling too. You know, I look forward to use this opportunity to understand the cost benefits. You know, anything that being proposed justifies a three different contracts. But, you know, it's a waste for me when you go to an organization or to a city that does not do recycling. It's like...

I will invite David to join us at the next meeting. We'll have him first on the agenda so he can do his presentation. Whatever questions we have or you may have, You ask him, then he can leave. And then, unless he's busy, he gives me a time certain that he's going to join us. And then we'll continue the meeting with Adam, if that's okay with you.

Sure.

Sounds like a plan. All right. So you got all those items, Bill, then? I think I summarized it. We have an update on the proposed property tax changes. We have the budget discussion and recycling initiative. Did I get that right?

You got that right. And you'll also get an introduction to Sandra.

Yes.

Correct. But treat her kindly. Of course.

We did that when she was part of the board. At least she was there in one or two meetings after I joined it.

Yeah. Okay. All right.

Next meeting is going to be busy for sure. Yes, I'm glad this was a short one. I'm optimist. All right. So I think we're done for the day then. I'll make a motion to adjourn.

Second.

Thank you, Bill. Meeting adjourned. Thanks, everybody.

Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys.