Village Commission - Regular Meeting

recording in progress evening everybody

Village Commission meeting of 2025. I'm Mayor Rachel Streipold. I'll call the meeting to order. Let's go ahead and call the roll, Madam Clerk.

Commissioner Acosta. Here. Commissioner Cervone. Present. Commissioner Nodaro.

Here.

Vice Mayor Cook.

Present.

Mayor Streipold.

I'm also here and the Pledge of Allegiance. Okay, moving on to the order of business. I will jump in and pull 11E, 11H, and 11J. One second, please. E, H, J.

E, H, and J for discussion?

Yep. E is TDRs, H is Vogel Park Marine Construction, and J is our Village Hall site plan. Okay. Mr. Manager, I believe you had something that you wanted to pull.

Yes, Madam Mayor. Item 11D, we want to move that to January. We need to work on the agreement a little bit.

Okay.

That's the iPaddle program.

Okay.

Anybody else?

Madam Mayor, I just wanted to add, I will have to step away for about 30 to 40 minutes at around 8.30 to 9 o'clock to attend to a family matter. I will join over Zoom during that time.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Sounds good.

Thanks.

Okay. Seeing no further changes to the agenda. Can I have a motion on the order of business?

So moved. Second.

Is there any objection? Okay. Let's move on now. We do not have any proclamations or presentations this evening. We are going to present the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida with their proclamation in January. We just want to make sure that that a representative of the tribe can be here to receive the proclamation. But it is worth sharing that, you know, and Commissioner Acosta can chime in. But for many years, the Miccosukee tribe of Indians has been providing our community via the North Bay Village Optimist Club with dozens of turkeys on the Thanksgiving holiday. And it's just especially in times like these where things are so tight. It's an incredible addition of the quality of life in our community. Go ahead.

Thank you so much. As a proud member of the Optimist Club, I'm very excited for this proclamation. I've been a member for, I think, almost 16 years now, 17 years. And the Mikisuke Tribe of Indians have been part of our tradition of Thanksgiving baskets for over 26 years now. They come to our school. They provide a... When I first joined the club, it used to be around 200 turkeys, and the last, I would say, decade, it's been 100 turkeys for our families. And it's a wonderful tradition, and we owe them a lot of gratitude for coming from so far to our community and doing such a great thing during the holidays. So I'm very happy for the proclamation, and I was very proud to... ask that we do this for them and and you know and i would say just appreciation of everything that they've done for us and i really appreciate you madam mayor for immediately jumping on yeah number two no absolutely um all right so it's just a little teaser we will appropriately think uh the mikosuki is in january let's move on to oh

I don't want to be offensive to them. I would like to add an agenda item where we discuss proclamations in general.

Fine with me. Let's add an item for the February meeting. Discussion item sponsored by Commissioner Trevone, proclamations in general. Let's open the forum. Is anyone on Zoom who would like to make public comment? Is there anyone in the chamber who would like to make public comment? I'm seeing heads shake no. Madam Clerk, is there anyone on Zoom?

No, Madam Mayor.

Okay. The open forum is now closed. We have a couple of meeting minutes to approve.

and I'll move that we approve them both.

Thank you. Second. All right. Is there any objection to the meeting? Do we need to have a roll call vote for the minutes? Let's just do it.

Commissioner Cervone.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Koch.

Yes.

Commissioner Acosta. Yes. Commissioner O'Donnell. Yes. Mayor Streiffel. Yes. It passes.

Do we have any of our advisory board members on Zoom who are giving reports?

We do not, Mayor.

Okay. All right, let's begin. Village Commission reports. Commissioner Acosta, do you want to go first? Sure.

Thank you so much. Well, first of all, I want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and a wonderful new year coming up. I want to say thank you to all the members of our community. It's been a wonderful year. It's been my first year as your representative and commissioner. There's been a lot of firsts for the community. also for me to learn and grow with the team that I have here. And I'm very appreciative to everyone at the commission because it is a hard job to commit to. And it's nothing but an honor, honestly. Even when we disagree, it's always for the betterment of the community. And I appreciate everyone's work and dedication for everything they do here, for their neighbors and their friends here in the community and our own service to our own homes and families. This year, we started with... many of the gatherings that we usually have, which were extra successful, I believe. We had also a community center groundbreaking. We started to form our first youth board. We had our first internship program through my commission. And I'm very thankful for everyone and specifically the staff who work so hard to make all the things that we want to put together happen and work diligently to not just make them happen, but to be successful. And it makes us look really good. And it really helps our community, like I said, move forward. We are changing rapidly here in Northwood Village. And it is a big responsibility that we burden ourselves with when we make every decision here. So for us to know that we're working with a group of people that are just as committed as we are, it's a true privilege. I also want to thank our police officers for their daily work, putting themselves out there to keep us safe and to keep this community as special as it is. One of the things that we love so much about North Village, Chief, you're here, I wanted to say thank you to you and your staff, of course, for all the work you do. is that people know we're safe. We feel safe here. I know you can't take safety for granted, but we can be very appreciative for the safety we feel here in our own home, our children, our families. For all the people who participate in activities with us, like our coaches from the soccer program and their parents, our yoga instructors, our total body workout instructors, the people who feed our communities, even even more of the things that we plan here. It's the people who put all of these things together and they're also dedicated to those groups and help us really make this community, again, ultra special. I also wanted to thank Miami's First Neighbors They came by here. They come here for the past three years. They've been doing their Miami Shores Bowl Parade to benefit Jackson Memorial Children's Hospital. And this year, we were also first time part of the Watch Party event, which was right on Harbor Island and also with Benny Hanna participant. And they gave me this beautiful... gift for us and it's really an honor it's in thanks to spreading the joy at our 2025 holiday of miracles boat parade this is a drawing of one of the children that they use as a flag for their ships when they were passing by. Another successful event that keeps the community growing and happy to be here. As always, I have my weekly office hours every Wednesday from 12 to 1 here at City Hall. I'm always available for any questions or any assistance that I can provide. And again, I just want to say thank you so much for all of you here at the commission and at City Hall, really, for making this year truly special, my first year as a commissioner. And I'm very proud of all the work we've done. this year. So thank you again and happy holidays to all of you. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Darrow.

No report this month.

Waving of the report. Okay. Vice Mayor.

Also in my report, just Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holidays to everyone and Happy New Year.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Commissioner Trevoni.

I'll make up for the two missing reports.

I knew you were doing that.

I have a long one. Good evening. Is anyone going to hear this or will it fall on deaf ears? What the heck is going on in this world?

It was a time when Jews gathered. Hatred and violence. Down on light because. Later, I saw my friend. After the shooting. Dead and at least nine. Day before.

Syrian attacker killed three U.S. forces in an ambush just because he held extremist views. Where are we going? Can we not disagree and live in peace? Must we kill because of different skin color, religion or beliefs? We need to come together. as people and learn to eradicate hate and live in peace. I would like for our community to lead a roundtable discussion of leaders of all faiths, Jews, Catholics, Baptists, Muslims, Hindus, and people of all colors to come together and discuss our real differences and what do we have against each other, and most importantly, how to solve this. We need peace in this world, especially during the holidays, where I am not afraid to display my menorah publicly as I light another candle nightly. My neighbors celebrate the birth of Jesus in the upcoming days, and other neighbors will be celebrating Kwanzaa. We need to come together now and make peace amongst all people of all races, all sex, and all oranges. Now that I have my rant finished, and got that off my chest. I'll start my commission report. Time is flying by, especially when we're having fun. The day after our last commission meeting, we held an employee potluck lunch here at commission chambers, attended by the majority of our great staff. Special thanks to Lily for fabulous decorations and Janice for the turkeys we enjoyed. I left for a well-deserved vacation to Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. This allowed for my recharging the batteries and be ready for this upcoming season. Thanksgiving, we headed out at sea. We held a special commission meeting on December 1st, where we finalized some details on the community center at Tides. The project is coming in on time, and we're looking to pour the third floor of the community center this week. looking to have left the inauguration before the World Cup comes to Miami. Thanks to the mayor, I represented the village at the 2025 mayor summit against anti-Semitism in New Orleans for three days. Throughout the summit, we explored practical strategies to encounter anti-Semitism, examine how racism continues to affect black communities and address other forms of hatred. The range of ideas and proposed actions was truly inspiring. I have already begun to put some of these ideas into motion and you'll be hearing of some new initiatives being proposed for development in our village. At the same time on Wednesday, I was invited to attend the unveiling of Archer's new ETVOL or electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Being in New Orleans, I had to skip this one, but we'll be traveling soon to actually fly in one. A lot is happening on a fast pace to make South Florida a leader on this air transportation, and we will be a part of it. Meetings are continuously happening to have our vertiport, and I thank the commission and the village for allowing me to run with this one. Last Monday, I met with the manager and many Village staffers and went over our finances to see where we do stand in reaching our needed goals for the Ties Project Community Center and our Village Hall. I am very optimistic that we will be able to reach our needed budgets in each project to bring them to completion. This is a major feat for the Village. Last Tuesday, we finally held a monthly meeting of the FAB Board. We now have three new very active members who are requesting a ton of information, and I'm showing them where to find it. We had a great review of the Village CIP plan, thanks to Roger Hogg and Christina Viala. Thursday, we had our employee annual holiday luncheon and first pig roast, which truly will turn into a yearly event. Thanks to our roasters, Sergeant Manny Casais, Deputy Chief Sam Behar, and not forgetting from Public Works, Felix. Lily has always did an amazing job with the rest of the food, gifts, and setup. Last night, we lit the second candle of the public Chabad menorah. A great turnout for these times was had and a fun time in this, our 12th year doing this. To my friends and neighbors who observe, I want to wish a Hanukkah that is filled with bright opportunities and achievements, big and small. May each night's light spark confidence and open doors to all your dreams of doing. Shag Hanukkah Sameach. Special thanks to the police department. I have never felt as safe in North Bay Village as I did last night. Chief, you and your men and women did a fabulous job. Thank you. As we get close to Christmas, I want to recognize the North Bay Village Police Department's Breakfast with Santa. There will be breakfast photos, festive crafts, and presents from Santa for all the children who are registered. This event will take place here Saturday, December 20th, 10 a.m. to noon. Tomorrow we have our annual... holiday party at Bogle Park from six to eight. And definitely not last for the month, we commemorate the birth of Jesus and celebrate Noche Buena and Christmas. These are followed by Kwanzaa and as the clock strikes midnight will be the new year. In closing, I want to offer my best wishes for a happy holiday and a wonderful new year. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Commissioner, for that thorough report. I really, I said it on email, but I want to echo the remarks that you made, particularly about the security that was just visceral last night, thanks to the men and women of our North Bay Village Police Department. There's really not enough that can be said about what you all do for us. So I just want to associate myself with the comments of Commissioner Cervone. All right, I am going to keep this really limited to the business meetings that I have had. There's a lot of substance here, so just bear with me. First things first, I had the privilege, this is less substantive, but I had the privilege of... Every year, the Miami-Dade League of Cities hosts its Best Practices Conference. The conference is attended by hundreds of elected officials, municipal staff, county staff, our stakeholders, our vendors. It's a great conference. This year, I was tapped to speak on two panels. So during the morning session, I spoke about sustainability and resilience on a panel with the mayors of Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Coral Gables, and Commissioner Rosado from the city of Miami was also on that panel. And then in the afternoon, I was with our ethics lawyer, Robert Myers at Y Cerota. Another attorney, Ben Cooney, former City of Miami City Attorney Vicki Mendez and Mayor Corradino from Pinecrest was also there and that was more about quasi-judicial procedures. So good visibility for North Bay Village, got a lot of compliments. Super grateful to have been included in both of those panels. Okay, now for the substance. I was in Tallahassee on Monday, December 8th, and Tuesday, December 9th. I traveled to Tallahassee solo, no staff. Our lobbyist, Rana, accompanied me to most of my meetings. And our representative, Fabian Basave, was an incredible host, as always. So here's who I met with and what we talked about. On Monday, I sat down with the chair of the select committee on property tax reform. You guys know we've talked about this, that the legislature is very seriously considering a number of proposals to significantly reduce property taxes on homesteaded properties. And so I spent about 30 minutes with Representative Toby Overdorf, who is the chair of the Select Committee, giving him the lay of the land here in North Bay Village, explaining to him how heavily we rely on ad valorem revenue and what what impacts to north bay village would come if there were a complete abolishment of homestead property taxes um i'm going to say a little bit more about property taxes in a later a later item in my report so i met with toby overdose and then i also had the privilege of meeting with representative um oh my gosh why is his name escaping me now it's terrible Mike Redondo. So I had a great meeting with Representative Redondo. He will be not the next House Speaker after Speaker Perez, but following that. So this is a rising leader, rising star on the House side. He is a litigator, a trial lawyer from Southwest Miami-Dade. And we had a terrific conversation, both about North Bay Village's capital projects, about property taxes, and we also talked about statewide preemption of local land development regulations. We've been overhauling our land development regulations with purpose and vision to make it not just easier for us to capture the value of our properties to see more development but we also have sustainability goals and we have flood proofing goals and we have storm water management goals and it's really important for us to be able to continue implementing um those regulations so that was the bulk of of those meetings and then the following day i met with the chair of the budget committee who was going to hear our appropriations request for village hall The name of that person is Representative Pat Maney. He is a retired judge. He's a retired Brigadier General. He represents a more rural part of the state of Florida, and it was a great meeting. I walked him through our $750,000 appropriations request for Village Hall. When I told him that we were matching the request with over $40 million, obviously, his jaw hit the floor and his eyes got all wide and he said, well, I think that that should just about cover your match. But he did give me a verbal commitment that he would fund our project. in that very first round. So that is the most important thing that we can do is secure that funding in the first round so that our request gets into the draft budget. So I felt really good about that meeting. And there were a handful of other meetings. Mostly we talked about property tax reform and preemptions. The last thing I want to share with you about my trip to Tallahassee is that I attended the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee meeting. This is where the House and the Senate get together and they discuss different audits that they want to do of local government entities. On the agenda for that meeting, we have already seen committee meetings. What Miami-Dade County has done is that they have looked at each proposal, And they have run the numbers of how each proposal would impact their general fund. Bless you. So we have, bless you, we got the information about 34% of North Bay Village properties are homesteaded properties. And I think, Frank, you said homestead properties only account for 4% of our general fund. Is that correct? So that's encouraging. That's encouraging. But what I would like to do is... Ask staff. to also go through those proposals and run the numbers as best we can to understand how we will be affected or impacted by each of those proposals so that we can advocate more effectively. The county is going to be gathering all of this data so that they can advocate and so that they can tell the story. I want us to be able to get them the information that they need and I also want us to be informed about what proposals are the greatest threat, what proposals we might actually like i want us to be able to get behind something i certainly don't want to be the municipality of no this is going to happen we just want to be able to steer it in a direction that doesn't devastate our general fund so mr manager what do you think um we have capacity to do at this time in terms of evaluating these proposals

Well, we're going to do all the proposals of the ones that are getting traction from the House and the Senate. Some of them don't even have a companion bill in the Senate yet. But we can look at them and see what we can... I mean, we know what our ad valorem is, and we can see what the percentage... In other words, like, one, if you're over the age of 65, you're not going to... You know, how do we... come up with those numbers of how many people that have homestead exemption that are over the age of 65. So some of the data may not be readily available to us, but I mean, we can look at each one of them and see what we can figure out.

That would be great. And if there are questions or we don't have enough information to fully assess the impact, note that as well so that we can pursue getting the appropriate information. All right, we all need to take this very seriously. It is 100% that at the end of this legislative session, potentially over the course of one or two special sessions, there will be proposals on the ballot in 2026 for significant changes to how we can impose taxes. So it's something we'll be following. And that concludes my report.

Madam Mayor, based on that statement. Do you believe that we should create a delegation to go back to Tallahassee at the end of January?

I don't know that we necessarily need to create a delegation. I will probably go back in January and whoever wants to come is welcome to come. And we also, we don't even necessarily need to coordinate. I mean, if you want to coordinate, I'm happy to. I don't know when I'm going to go. I'm waiting on some dates from somebody else. But yeah, I mean, I think for us to go and talk about these issues is very important.

Let me know.

Absolutely. Okay. Okay. Madam Village Attorney.

Last week or earlier this week, I sent you an update on the conclusion of the 1353 lease litigation. You approved that last month. And that has now concluded, payment's been made, settlement agreement is executed, and case has been dismissed. The appeal for the property owner, Dr. Javitt, is still pending at the Third District Court of Appeal. So that's just a wait for the court to act. So there's nothing happening on that actively right now. And then I will transition to... The manager, you closed on a property yesterday. That's a big deal.

Yes, we did.

Congrats. And wishing all of you a wonderful Hanukkah. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Thank you. Mr. Mack.

Good evening, everybody. So as mentioned by our esteemed attorney and partner, We did close on the warehouse yesterday. It's a giant leap for mankind for us here in the village to have a place like that. We're going to have a little grand opening shortly after the first of the year. We need to buff some things up in there, but it's pretty neat. and has a lot of potential for not only serving public works, but other divisions within the city with the space that we have. Because we're always hurting for storing things and securing things and that type of stuff. And so that'll be great. Our attorneys did a great job. handling it through the process. And a special applaud that I think goes to Steve for locating the place. He was on the hunt since he came here and would drag us out to various places to check them out. And this one especially with the proximity to the village being so close is a real benefit for the workers to be able to go back to the shop and get a tool or something they have to have and come back and not spend a couple of hours on a road, just traveling way West to get back out here. So we're, we're, we got it. And now we go forward and, uh, and utilize it to the best advantage for everybody in the village. And let's see. Steve's got a report to give to you on the upcoming workshop on the solid waste. So I know he's got a few points he wants to make you aware of that are going to take place at that meeting. So Steve, you want to jump in?

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners. Yeah, I've been working very diligently to try to get this workshop put together. I've been dealing with a couple of representatives from Waste Management and Waste Connections to see work on the rates that they would have that we could piggyback with other contracts to simplify the process and also to try to get a good competitive rate. I've worked with our customer service department, tracking accounts, getting down to all the data that I need to do to make a cost comparison as far as what it costs us in-house versus contracting it out. We're looking at doing the solid waste. We're looking at doing recycling and we're looking at a bulk pickup as well. So we will put together a package that will,

identify what we would keep if anything in-house and what we would identify as proposing to go out out to a contractor steve when you're doing the cost comparison are you looking at a cost comparison in terms of just a snapshot one moment in time are you going to compare expenses over the course of the next like 20 30 years

I wasn't planning on going over the expanse of 20 years, but I'm looking at what it's going to cost today and what it'll cost me over the next five years. That's about as far as I was going to go with it. And I'm not looking at just a, you know, just here's the rate and here's the rate. I'm looking at everything, manpower, equipment, maintenance, all the things that have to go along with that. So it's going to be a very thorough cost comparison.

Okay. Okay. A lot of neighbors have started asking me about this. And the sooner we can get an informational flyer about the town hall out, the better. If we could do it before the holidays, I would really appreciate that.

I'll get with Lily tomorrow and get something worked up on that.

Yeah. Okay. Cause I keep saying it's, it's what happened with, you know, this is not going to happen in the dark. There are going to be lots of workshops, lots of community engagement. We're going to have a very public process. And so I want to just give, I want the flyer to circulate so that people can talk about it with their neighbors and then it's out already. It's out already.

Okay.

Okay. Let's put it out. Again, and more and everywhere else.

Okay.

Thank you, Steve. Anything further, Mr. Manager?

No, I can close my report. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Nothing to add.

Okay. Bless you. Can I have a motion on the consent agenda? So moved.

Second.

Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Cervoni? Yes. Vice Mayor Cook? Yes. Commissioner Costa? Yes. Commissioner Darrow? Yes. Mayor Streifel? Yes. June Adams? Okay.

All right, let's move on to the items from consent that were pulled. 11E, Mr. Manager, this is your item. This is the authorizing a sale of density rights

um this is the yeah and mayor before we begin i'm gonna i gotta um excuse myself uh recuse myself from 11e uh i i worked um i helped the applicant uh in the process of securing the property this is 79 25 east drive uh 79 15.

79 15. okay all right see you in a bit don't go too far Okay, so we went out for, we took requested proposals. We have this one proposal. It's for 16 TDRs. It's what, $2.4 million? Yes, ma'am. Okay. You want to walk us through this?

Well, I would prefer that council, I mean, There are some issues that need to be addressed.

Sure. So as you know, the village put out a TDR RFP earlier this year that resulted in no one bidding. It was reissued. There was a minimum bid price that was set, and there was only one bidder that bid, which is the one that is on your agenda tonight. That bidder is not the current owner of the property, so I want to make that clear. The bidder is the contract purchaser of the site, and as a condition of their contract for purchase, the seller is required to purchase these TDRs and then obviously transfer them to the contract purchaser. The way we've set up the resolution awarding this request for proposals is that the bid by Urbanica Capital would be approved by the commission and we would be authorizing the manager to negotiate and execute the same documents that we did in the last round of TDR sales, but specifically they would be to effectuate that transfer to the current owner and that owner would then do whatever they need to do on that side.

Okay, so just to make sure that everyone's aware of what this is. So this is 7915 East Drive. The property is about 10,000 square feet under an acre. So let's just call it 65 units developable. They're getting, if we approve this, 16 TDRs, which brings us to 82 units. on that site, which allows them to go up to 312 feet. Of course, Tony, they pay for that height bonus as well.

Yes. Well, a piece of it. Yes. Yes. So they pay from 150 feet up to 240 feet. And then they can actually, with the TDRs, they can get up to 312 feet. Okay. So that comes with the cost of the TDRs.

Okay. Okay. All right. Does anyone have any questions? 7915. All right. Any questions? No questions? Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Actually, we don't have a motion. We need a motion.

I'll make the motion approved.

Is there a second?

Second.

Madam Clerk, will you call the roll? Commissioner Cervoni? Yes. Vice Mayor Cook?

Yes.

Commissioner Acosta? No. Mayor Streiffel? Yes. Motion carries. 3-1.

Let's do 11 H. Oh, okay. Let's do that.

Just don't forget Andy.

It's hard, Brian. Can't do it.

That was really nice of you.

We're not supposed to text each other during these meetings.

Okay, 11H, Mr. Manager, this is your item again. The reason that I pulled this, I am very, very happy for us to move forward and authorize the 69648 so that we can move forward with the kayak launch. Yay! Yeah, absolutely. Super pro moving forward with that project. What I want to I want to bifurcate. I want this second portion authorizing the village managers to negotiate and execute a construction contract for up to 85 K for additional improvements. I want that to come back with us because I want us to actually vet those additional improvements. So I'm gonna move to approve the first half of this resolution. Is it possible for us to do it that way?

For the 69,000?

$69,648 to the Dock and Marine Construction Corporation.

And to be clear, what we'll do and I'll do it right now is we'll eliminate all of the references to the expenditure of the 85,000.

That's it. Yeah. We'll bring that back with the, you wanted to see what it looked like, what we were going to do.

Yeah. I want us to not workshop it, but I want us to look at it and provide feedback.

So we'll bring that back in January.

That makes sense.

Okay.

That's my motion.

Give it to whoever's voice you heard.

I heard the vice mayor second.

I moved it. He seconded it.

Doris second.

Okay. Everybody seconded it. So why don't you give it to Doris? Okay. Yes.

I'm just excited about this. Commissioner Acosta. Yes. Commissioner Cervone.

Yes.

Commissioner O'Darro. Yes. Vice Mayor Cook. Yes. Motion carries.

All right, finally, this is the site plan modification for Village Hall. Several months ago we authorized budgeting and planning and designing a sixth floor to accommodate the growth in our police department and public services. And now we have a modified site plan. And I just wanted to, you know, give the manager an opportunity to present that in a little bit more detail. And, you know, maybe you can walk us through the timeline because we're in the middle of a big process now as well. So go ahead, Frank.

Okay. Yeah. So this, after the original site plan approval, we added the extra floor. And that would cause this to have to have the modification. And there's also an issue dealing with the parking. And I'll let Greg speak to that. But those are, and then as far as the schedule, We are set right now to break ground in early July, late June, early July. And we are now putting together the documents that are required by the county for us to be able to receive their first tranche that they will be giving to us at the time groundbreaking, which would be $2 million that they have to kick in at the beginning. And so there's a set of documents that we have to put together, and I've met with MITEI, and we're putting those together now to provide to them.

This is exciting, y'all. Who wants to move it?

I'll move it.

Okay. And a second? Second. Adam Clark, call the roll, please. Commissioner Cervone?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Cook?

Yes.

Commissioner Acosta? Yes. Commissioner Darrow?

Yes.

May you strive for.

Yes.

It's unanimous.

Okay.

We are, this is insane, by the way. Yeah.

Okay. Really? All right. We're not done.

You're going to keep us here for an hour on the island walk notices. Okay.

Get the soapbox ready.

All right. 12 a, this is an ordinance of the mayor and commission of North Bay village, Florida, amending chapter 8 zoning section 8.12 bonus height chapter 15 form based code section 15.7 point B. Summary table and illustrations 624 and 624 M. U. and 15.7 point C. Summary table and illustrations. T630 to provide for height bonuses in T624, T624MU, and T630 transect zones, providing for severability, codification, conflicts, and ineffective dates. Tony? Sure.

Craig? Yes. So what you have in front of you is pretty straightforward ordinance. If you look at Exhibit A, what it is providing for is a height bonus of up to 30 feet or three stories for T6 properties only, which are the properties either north or south of the causeway. What it clarifies in order to get this bonus is Community contribution fees applied to all of the other bonuses and all of the other bonus density. This is carving out a special, I guess, lane in lieu of the community contribution fee for this specific bonus, where it would be $100,000 per vertical lineal foot of bonus. And it would be due within 60 days of site plan approval. This was reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Board. The feedback that we got from the Planning and Zoning Board was that the community contribution fee that it was not appropriate necessarily for this and what had been discussed. There was a discussion item last time that we presented to them. When I say last time, there was a discussion item before this commission last time. Mr. Dolkart, Mr. Curtis are here. They had presented to this commission We presented that in connection with this, and we are prepared to speak about that as well, because that's kind of embedded in this. But this does, I wanted to clarify, this is not, this bonus would not be subject to that community contribution fee the way it is written right now. What it proposes is this $100,000 per vertical annual foot for these additional 30 feet.

Somebody want to make a motion?

I'll make a motion.

Second. Go ahead, Andy. Commissioner Navarro. Second.

Commissioner Schiavone.

No, no, she's calling for your vote. You don't have to say anything. We have a motion and a second. You're voting now.

My only question is, why are we including teeth My only question is why are we including T6MU? Will that affect us whatsoever as village property in the increasing heights of only being able to go three flights?

As was stated in the planning and zoning board, we don't have the money to even scratch getting up this high. So it's never going to be an issue.

you'd be surprised at the miracles that we've brought.

Yeah. Yes. It was painful to hear at that meeting, but, but, but it was, we were talking about going up.

Especially the way it was said. Did the chair say this?

Yes.

Yeah. In his special way.

Those are not my words. I'm just. Thank you for clarifying. And it was said with almost like a ha.

Yeah. Ryan tells it like, like it is. And we love him for that.

Basically we're limiting ourselves to just three stories. And T6, by we, I mean that we're limiting municipal to only go up to three stories if we can afford it.

No, no, municipal is- No, it's T6-24 MU. No, it's T6-24 MU. You have the ability to go to 24 stories. This would allow for an additional 30 feet above that.

The T6-24 MU zone is really just the Sakura lot.

Yes, that's correct.

Right? Yes. The Shell station, what's the zoning on that? Is it RM70?

That's still CG.

It's still CG?

Yeah. That's fine. It would have to be rezoned at some point.

Yeah, okay. If we ever want to go higher, we may want to.

You mean if we want to demolish the building that we're building?

Someplace there, a little skinny building taller than that, we can't. You can. Or we acquire any other property in the T624.

I am not worried about this because this is a decision. If the need changes... If there is a possibility that the village is gonna build something 30 stories on that site or whatever it is, but we, you know, the next, the people that come after us can make changes to this. There's only the one parcel and we're literally breaking ground on a six story building over the summer on it. I mean, I don't.

Andy might be generous and give us another piece of property.

There's no, that's what I'm saying. There's only one property with that zoning designation.

Because we are the only MU property there. But if we get deeded another property within the T24 area, there'll be another T24 MU property. Who knows what it is?

I hope that... Let's just send the vibes to the universe that there will be a T6 property quick claim to the village in the future. That would be amazing.

Surprisingly to us, we got both properties on West Drive. I mean, the one on West Drive and the one on North Treasure Drive.

Yep. Yeah. I appreciate the forward thinking. We should all be evaluating each and every proposal before us with the critical thinking skills that Commissioner Schiavone just demonstrated. I'm not concerned about it though.

Okay.

We have a motion and a second.

There is?

Yeah. Commissioner Schiavone.

Yes.

Commissioner O'Donnell.

Yes.

Commissioner Acosta. Yes. Vice Mayor Cook.

Yes.

Mayor Streiffel. Yes. Unanimous.

Hope you have to use those words.

What I said was I hope that someone quick claims a T6 property to us in the near future. That's what I said.

It's all good entertainment.

Okay. So that's 12A approved on first reading. um 12b is an ordinance of the mayor and commission of north bay village florida amending chapter 31 of the village code of ordinances to establish various village departments providing for severability codification conflicts and providing for an effective date um we have a motion to approve and a second is there any discussion Okay, will you call the roll, Madam Clerk?

Commissioner Acosta? Yes. Vice Mayor Cook? Yes. Commissioner Cervone? Yes. Commissioner Darrow? Yes. Mayor Streiffel? Yes.

And I want to take a point, you know, privilege of the chair to point out what I'm sure you all noticed on this new organizational chart that we are creating a Department of Community Engagements. And the new director of such department is our very own residents and colleague. And so. This is so well deserved. I can't even speak. I'm going to cry. Lily works so hard and is so good at her job and is so passionate about her job. All she wants to do is facilitate making memories and relationships in this community amongst our neighbors. And just take her to lunch and talk to her about it because you will cry. She's so dedicated to this job. You are going to do a phenomenal job. running this department we're going to make sure that we get you some support in the communications realm um but i'd i would say that december has been okay to you um i also want to congratulate lily on her engagement congratulations uh okay so that's we voted right yeah okay 12b uh

Mayor, going back to 12A, the community benefits presentation that Mr. Vecchio had, do you want to go over that this evening on the proposed?

I think we understood the benefits and we accepted. I'm okay.

We can do a separate item at second reading if that's Yes, a second, a second reading separate item.

Okay. So January.

Your eyes say too much.

We're ready. Sorry.

Don't be sorry.

It's true.

13A, this is an ordinance of the mayor and commission of North Bay Village amending section 15.3 specific to transect zones, Kennedy Boulevard districts of the village's unified land development code to provide for extensions of approvals of temporary structures, providing for severability, codification conflicts, and an effective date. We voted yes on this on first reading. Does anyone have any comments or questions about this item?

no make motion approved second okay commissioner sharboni yes vice mayor cook yes right commissioner yes commissioner darrow yes mayor striker yes Here we go.

13B, an ordinance of the mayor and commission of North Bay Village, Florida, amending chapter four, administration and enforcement of the village's unified land development code by creating a new division for reasonable accommodation procedures and a new section 4.25 to establish procedures for certified recovery residences, providing perseverability, conflicts, codification, and providing for an effective date. Do you want to share the feedback of the planning and zoning board, Mr. Vecchio?

Yes, right on cue. All right. Okay, so they were concerned and they wanted us to evaluate to extent legally permissible, which we proposed to do between this reading and the next reading. Second reading. Oh, this is second. Oh, that's right, because we had first reading.

Yes, this is second reading.

Oh, wow.

This is it. What we discussed was that the recommendations from the Penny and Tony board that Tony will mention to you now In the interest of complying with the state law that requires us to have this done by January 1st, our recommendation is approve it as is. And if there are items that we can implement based on the PCB's recommendation, we'll certainly bring those back to you at first reading via a separate ordinance. What we're doing with this ordinance is simply establishing a process.

Thank you for clarifying that. This is a procedure for reasonable accommodation for these types of residences. Under this ordinance, which is what the state is requiring and requiring us to adopt, We have to establish and we have to have this procedure in place so that they can try to locate in this village. They have a way to do so. But it does not impose requirements on these types of uses. We would seek to, the Planning and Zoning Board's feedback was primarily aimed at that, at providing for criteria. for specifically these types of uses and it included a minimum spacing between certified recovery residences. This goes hand in hand with avoiding over concentration of certified recovery residences. They wanted to see how we could favor the location of these types of residences in non-residential areas over single family or multi-family residential. I'm not saying we can do, please. This is just what their feedback was. Wanted us to consider an application fee and occupancy limitations based on the administrative burdens to the village. That was their feedback.

May I make a motion to approve the item as stated and have legal research those requests and see if we can amend it at a future date.

Second.

Before we vote, certified recovery residents. Yes. Let's take the certified recovery aspect of this out of the conversation for a second, right? Essentially, we're talking about a group of adults living in typically a single family home. Okay, so... why would that be treated? Why would it even need a reasonable accommodation procedure? Like, do we have a prohibition? Like when I was in DC making no money, I lived in a group house, right? I had roommates. We lived in a single family home and there were five of us. How is that different than this?

So this is a state licensed use. They get a license from the state to operate as a certified recovery residence.

Are their staff also living in the residence?

I do not believe that the staff has to live in the residence.

Yeah, I don't think that's what it is.

I think it's just- It's not 24-hour staff.

So it's certified recovery residence because people who are going through programs have this as an option for them to locate for a temporary basis, six months, 10 months, whatever it is, right?

Yes, but there are licensing requirements, including some kind of supervisory supervision aspect.

Okay. And checkups and all of that. So in, in other jurisdictions, the example that I've given is you may have an outdated definition of what constitutes a family and in your single family residences, you may, I don't know that we do. I'm not saying you do. I'm saying in other jurisdictions, this is the example that I've given that a family needs to be, and the people who live in a single family residence needs to be a family. Well, what is the family defined as? people who are related by blood or marriage. So in using that example, not necessarily applicable here, they would need an accommodation from that to allow unrelated people to live together. So that would be the reasonable accommodation that they would be seeking. That's the easy example I've been using. But it's similar to other accommodations requests that whether we had this ordinance or not, we would effectively handle it the same way. Planning would receive a request, they'd evaluate it, they'd go back and forth with the applicant, get additional information, and do something like somebody would, if somebody were to need a ramp to enter or exit their home.

Okay. All right. We have a motion and a second. Commissioner Sharoni.

I'm in the motion and I believe Commissioner Darrow seconded it.

Commissioner Darrow.

Yes.

Commissioner Acosta. Yes. Vice Mayor Cook.

Yes.

Mayor Streiffel. Yes. Okay.

Right.

All eyes on you.

No, it's important that, you know, this one, and I know I'm sorry if this is difficult for some people to speak about. So if it becomes a hot item, it's not meant to be. Obviously, the island walk has been one of the most items that I think is the most important to North Bay Village. I think the community as a whole echoes that statement. When you ask anyone what's the most important thing that they would like to see in North Bay Village, the majority of the residents do say the island walk. It pulled very strongly in support of this in wherever I've seen it done. So The question is, what are we gonna do? Are we going to, as a commission, create the island walk and be part of the commission who creates the island walk? Or just sit by and say, when it's built with new developments, we'll have an island walk at that point. And I think that it is our job to, create the island walk. I mean, it's there, it's meant to be there. At the same time, I'm not recommending that we engage in any type of litigation or legal outside the fact of what my recommendation, speaking with city council, was just to send a letter simply asking the condo associations who are not following their site plans to get in compliance with what the intended use was for the space. In January, I had asked for a letter to go out that Heidi had, I think, maybe even started a draft or if not had expressed that she would. And we would ask these associations to have 60 days to cure. If the event that they didn't, well, then I guess it's a different conversation of, well, then what do we do? They're going to fight it. And all I'm saying is let's see who is... who's gonna fight it, and if they choose to, revisit this conversation in 60 days. So for now, I would like to put the initial communication that the city of North Bay Village wants to see the Island Walk, it is a real thing, and that we believe in the Island Walk. And let's see if we can, in 2026, start to make it a reality. So I'm open to what you guys think about this and seeing if there are any next steps that could be taken to start the island walk.

I'm open to supporting you on this direction. My ask for you and the village manager and staff is to consider what I imagine will be resident concerns around one cleanliness. I've seen a lot of complaints about just dogs and poop, people not picking up after their pets on the Moda roadwalk. So please consider some solutions to that problem. Enforcement, perhaps better enforcement mechanisms we could have. Also, just general safety. Those are the top two concerns I've heard from residents at 360 and at other condominiums, which is why they are reluctant to reopen their island walk. So if we can be proactive and offer some solutions with those two things, I think would help go a long way.

You want to hear from me? Gladly. This is my third reiteration of Island Walk. I've done the one over the water, the boardwalk, and now this one. I am totally in favor of pushing this yesterday, not tomorrow. I have always had a vision, a futuristic vision for the village. Not only am I looking at a third floor in T24MU. I'm looking at a vertiport. I'm looking at finances for Village Hall and Community Center. So I endorse your idea 150%. Thank you.

I would like to see how we can work towards the solutions on cleanliness and safety. I feel that a lot of the Excuses we hear are because of that. And maybe there's a way that we can start some type of ordinance and add that responsibility to the property owners who have the island walk in front of them. It is a shame that Moda has such a beautiful space, but yet every time I've been by there, it's putrid smell everywhere. And their responsibility, their answer is, well, the city should pick up Then I feel the residents also say, well, this should be something the building takes care of. I don't think we have a clear understanding of where the responsibilities lies as far as that. Cleaning is, again, unsafe.

No, the responsibility is on the pet owner.

But obviously, we're living in a world where ideally, of course, every pet owner picks up, but they don't.

Yeah, but it's certainly never going to be either the village's responsibility or the building's responsibility to clean up.

There should be, just like if it was garbage on the floor, it's poop.

Yeah.

So people should have some kind of service where they pick up or a way to patrol it or a way to help. All I'm saying is it's a really tough one because every building suffers with this. This is why I have a fence in front of my buildings because we didn't before and people would just walk in like a park. And the same thing, I've seen buildings that have a camera now that says we're watching you. So everybody tries. There's a way for us. You've tried to research how we can either find people that don't pick up. So we're all just trying to say here is the reality is the Island Walk, it's a real dream that it's really close to reality and it's been stopped by certain buildings, right? I think there's a compromise here. I believe that if we can honestly come back to the buildings and say, okay, here is what can be done to resolve your concerns for this, then there might be more positive outcomes than forcing people.

I'm sorry about that, but I live in an island where I have

I live in an island where I have feral cats, I have iguanas, I have raccoons, and I have opossums. They also poop. Who's going to go after them picking up their stuff? And you're talking about an island walk. Iguanas are going to be there. Iguanas are going to poop. Cats are going to go by there. Absolutely.

My building pays a cleaning crew to make sure that we clean up after the poop for all these things. So there is a responsibility there.

I mean, with dogs, with dogs, it is definitely on the dog owner. I mean, this is like one on one. I mean, it's like human decency. I don't know why it is such an issue at Moda, although I go around Moda all the time. I don't think it reeks. I think it's beautiful. It smells a little bit.

It does. I'm always congested. I have a bad sense of smell. It depends on how dry it is, too. The drier it is, the worse it is.

Moda also has a lot of pet owners. A large number of the residents have pets.

The biggest reason for... kind of me rationalizing with some people about not opening, which none of you said is the lack of connectivity at the moment, which that to me makes sense. But I do think at the same time, there's a precedent to set with that, with how are we handling the island walk? Because similar to, as I mentioned, when Continuum opens, it's not going to connect to its neighboring properties yet. So are we going to allow Continuum to keep it shut because it doesn't connect on either side yet and that it's not ready? So I don't think, you know, I think it's a precedent that we're saying, okay yes your project you know your property there isn't the connectivity in space two pagani yet that goes around moda and it's not it's not fully there yet um but the the always the intent of the creation and from day one when your site plan was created and approved by north bay village it was it had the the public access space so um Hanukkah. So, yeah, I mean, I think on the connectivity, it's just it's a precedent that we sent that. Do we want the island walk to. To be real, I mean, it's been an NBV 100. So. how is it going to be real if we don't take the action and, and say that it's a real thing? It won't. I've expressed up here. I don't know how much, you know, I have another year, at least on this, this has always been even more so than seeing, you know, I support development of North Bay Village. I like that coming to North Bay Village, but number one for me was always pushing the walkability of our island. So I would like to see the progress here. and see at least how people respond to it. Overwhelmingly, I mean, it's not, the majority favor the island walk. So I do think it is a loud minority that we are concerned about. And if they wish to push back, then I think it's a different conversation.

Do you have a motion that you want to make, Andy?

My motion was to have the village attorney draft a letter to send to the associations to cure any island walk and public easement violations within 60 days.

The motion needs a second.

I'll second it.

Any further discussion?

I actually, honestly, after a whole year of hearing you speak about this and meeting even more with residents throughout the year, I'm coming to see a lot more what you're saying. I feel that There is, you know, we want to please our community, right? We don't want our neighbors to be angry that they want the privacy in their property, but we're trying to take that away from them, right? This is where I came up with, you know, joining in the conversation with, here are their concerns. How do we align into those concerns, right? but I do think that you're absolutely right. We have to start somewhere. And I think, I don't like the idea of an attorney letter that I feel that it's just aggressive. Anytime I receive a letter from an attorney, which is really rare, but even for a client, I get a letter from an attorney. I feel like that's a sign of aggression. I would like us to have a meeting with this building. It's not that many of them. And then, you know, then move on to like, let's start that kind of push. Let's push directly with the building owners. Yeah.

Yeah, I think on your note, I also want to please our residents. And that's why I want to open the Island Walk. Because I do think we'll never please everybody. But I do think the overwhelming majority of North Bay Village would love to have the Island Walk be a real thing. So I am trying to please the residents.

No, I get that. I get that.

Going back numerous years, and I'll let legal speak to it because they're the ones that have seen all the documents, and I've submitted copies of all the documents I had to legal way back when. Every time a building mainly on Treasure Island, on the north side, was going to go up, or a lot was being looked at, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We even did an overlay of an island walk district. So it is understood and known that there will be an island walk. Ever since Commissioner Darrow joined the board, the day is actually not the board, he has been pushing for an island walk to be continuous with Harbor Island, and we have... endorsed it in one way or another. I'm known for being crude and I'm about to say it. Shit or get off the pot.

Were you going to say something?

Just to provide some guidance that When we started these just we've had these discussions for several years now. And and Commissioner Darla has definitely made it a point of his time here in office. Under the prior administration, we worked with them to identify which properties had easements, which cases were stronger for the village, which ones weren't. So we did that analysis. And at the request of the commission, we did not send an attorney letter. we sent very friendly letters through the village manager requesting meetings with the property owners. And we did that. We, there were some properties that were receptive. We went out, we met with space. So one, I think we met with Bridgewater. Um, I, I went out with one of our real estate partners as well as Chris Molina at the time and, and, um, our former manager and, um, Some of those properties opened their island walk on the spot. Others, I think it was eloquence, indicated that they needed additional time to do the improvements that they would like in order to create an ambiance that they felt was safe for their residents. I think from what I heard from all of the different property owners was it was pretty consistent. There were certainly the concerns about maintenance of the island walk and the feces um but other concerns were about lighting and security and cameras and there were some properties that when you went out to the to the bay side of those properties you could see that they had units that were sort of ground level and and open to what would become the island walk um so they had concerns that extended beyond animal feces um So they were, I would say in most cases, very receptive to the concept of the island walk. But like I said, eloquence was one that really requested, they were in the process of doing other improvements to their building. And so they wanted to address this holistically. And so at the time the village agreed to give them, I forgot what the timeframe was, but there was an agreement that they would have time before we would enforce. So some of this has already been done. the friendly communications have occurred. I don't think there's any objection from the administration to re-notice and send out if that's the will of the commission. But if you want to have it sent from my office, we can also do that as well.

I'm okay with sending a letter from our office. I understand that before it was more of a, I think it was like a 60 day to comply or something like that, right? It was like a deadline situation, right? You were not here. It was before your time.

Even Eloquence, for a time, opened up their island walk. They closed it back down, but they opened it for a while. So there's no reason why they cannot do it. As a matter of fact, I'll make a motion that we send a letter. I don't care if it's administration from the village or whether it's from legal or Telling everybody they have 60 days to open up their own wall.

Commissioner Darrell already made that motion.

I'll second it.

Okay. Okay.

Sounds like we're ready for a vote. Commissioner Darrell. Yes. Vice Mayor Cook. Yes. Commissioner Acosta.

I don't want a letter by the attorney. So if it's a letter, it will be from administration and I will say okay to that.

The current motion is to drop the letter by legal.

No, I don't.

So your vote is no?

Yeah.

Okay. Commissioner Cervone?

Yes.

Mayor Streiffel?

Yes.

Motion passes 4-1. Hey, Commissioner Acosta, last item of the night.

I'll be fast to get us all going. Basically, as you all noticed, the city, it's enhanced every year where Christmas lights or holiday lights throughout the causeway. Not only it brings up areas of the causeway that normally are ignored, like the palm trees that are now led by the Christmas tree, but also I believe it creates this feeling of a residential community rather than a causeway feeling at nighttime. So my hope was that we can look into this. I know we have budget issues. Of course, we're very tight with the budget. But maybe just even start the conversation and understand what that could mean for the village to have some of the lights. And that would mean, I think it's two palm trees at the entrance of every island sign. That will mean, I think it's like eight palms by the Christmas lights, which is right on the water side. It's beautiful, too. And it provides more warm light to the Civic Park area, which a lot of people don't even realize we have. It just brings in more of that activating our areas. And also because our community has invested a lot of money. We have invested in monies for a bond. We have invested in all the monies, pretty much every penny we get, it's going to our community building or village hall. So as we're speaking right now, my association went through a big assessment. And one of the things we discussed was adding certain features that would also enhance the quality of life. So you need to get your plumbing done, your roof done, your windows and doors. But Maybe a heater pool will add on a little bit more of that quality of life. And I think the Christmas lights and holiday lights add on that. Many communities and municipalities do the same on their causeways or streets. We're not talking about a huge area, but for example, just the lighting that they added on the walls for North Bay Island. made a big difference as you enter the village. Again, it's just to bring more of that residential feel. We're getting new development. They're trying to sell units. We're trying to get new neighbors coming in. Our neighbors have been asked to spend more money. So maybe there's a way for us to bring back, again, that enhancement into something that affects us daily is to commute at nighttime from the causeway. So I believe the staff has some pricing quotes that they received. Yeah. Thank you so much.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. I was speaking extensively. I was speaking with the vendor extensively today, going back and forth on how much it would be for year-round Christmas lights on the causeway and the entrances of each island. That's roughly 45 palm trees per month. It'll be 3,150, totaling 37,800 per year. And that's also not including the reinstallation fee of the strands because we can't use the strands that we have up now. These are not year-round lights. So the installation of the year-round lights are an extra $42,750. If they need to be replaced, it's $30 a strand.

And nothing to be considered, maybe not this year, but maybe as we go into the, you know, planning for next year's holiday lights, we keep that in mind. So we start already with the lights that are more, I don't know, the outdoors lights that last longer too.

We are left with this contract, I think.

Oh, I'm not sure. You're right.

It's a three-year contract. I'm going to just be Debbie Downer here. So yeah, I'm going to be the mayor during next year's budget season too. And I don't think that our issues are going to get any easier. And this is, look, it would be so nice to have that. It makes such a difference. The curb appeal in the community is, I mean, everything that you said, I don't disagree with anything that's That you said. But I get it. Yeah. Look, we cannot afford this. So maybe in the future when we have some new residents and some new taxpaying buildings, if we still have property taxes, just kidding. But yeah, this is just not realistic.

I second the mayor's comments. Right now is not the time to be adding this type of expense.

I do want to just share that one of the items that we approved on consent, if we're talking about curb appeal, we authorized the contract for five new bus shelters. We've been talking about having new bus shelters for years. And we are finally going to have those new bus shelters. And that's going to make, I think, a really big difference for what the causeway looks like.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I also liked the idea in theory about keeping the lights on. It does look beautiful right now. Where do we get this $40,000 a year? What are those expenses from? Is that FPL mostly?

Which one?

Is that like an estimated power keeping it on? Or why does it cost...

Which charge? It's a service. You pay for the service.

You pay for the light service? I mean, they're already up. So what's the service? An ongoing service? They're not ours.

No, they have to be switched out. So the ones that are up now are not considered year-round lights. They won't survive the weather. So they have to be switched. To switch them to the year-round lights, it's $950 per tree. We have roughly 45 trees. So that would be a one-time expense. And then the $3,150 per month is the maintenance of it.

Yeah. And they're not ours. We don't own the lights. We don't have a bucket truck. We're not hanging them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's not just 40 something thousand of those expenses, but also additional time for public works to maintain and manage the lights. Yeah. It's it's not this isn't the year to do it. My priority is is truing up our employees with cola and merit that they missed out on last last season. So once we have that discussion during budget season, we can see if there's money left over for for that kind of stuff. But we just we can't do that right now. I agree. It's financially irresponsible.

agreed well this uh i appreciate the information julie that i i mean julie gosh i'm sorry i heard the numbers for the first time tonight too and that was also shocking to hear i was not expecting to be so high and uh definitely it's um as we look for more ways to not just enhance the causeway with lighting, but, you know, the quality of life for people. So I appreciate the research done for that. And definitely I'm going to consider it for the future because it is a lot of money. I did not expect it to be that ginormous number neither. So I'm happy that at least we have a realistic idea of what it costs to do that type of enhancement as other cities have done it.

Yeah, and also it's a good best practice in the future to gather facts like cost estimates before bringing it up to the commission meeting for the rest of the commission. Always. It's an easy thing to double check and understand where we're looking at in terms of cost.

She asked staff to work on it. They're working on it.

I'm saying before it's brought up to the commission.

How could I have something brought up to the commission? We could have gathered beforehand. That's all I'm saying. Great feedback, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Super productive. Before we close our meeting this evening, I just want to share with all of you the definition of family according to North Bay Village. Oh, that's good. This is our definition. An individual or two or more persons related by blood or marriage Or a group of not more than five persons who need not be related by blood or marriage living together as a single housekeeping unit in a dwelling. That is actually not as outdated as it could have been. I have read many, many, many other. I actually think that this is totally fine.

So I agree.

Do you want to weigh in? I wasn't using our code as the example.

No, I know. I know. I know. I know. But he made a comment about it. I mean, look, Lighthouse Point's definition of family used to be a man and a woman. Yeah. So, all right. Motion to adjourn?

Yes. Happy holidays, everybody.

We are adjourned. See you in recording.